I also remember 9 11, I am proud to be an American, and wouldn't have it any 
other way.  Yes, they all are heroes, but particularly those who died while 
trying to save others, fighting fires, etc.

Although I would never forget 9 11 because so many have given their lives 
for our country, I also have a personal reminder of the event.

At 7:00 am., I was boarding a train from Salem to Portland to be with my Mom 
when she went into surgery to have the lower portion of her right leg 
removed.  She had diabetes, and the leg became infected.  When boarding the 
train, the conductor said something like:  "You won't believe what just 
happened."  I asked him what happened, but he was already moving to someone 
else and saying the same thing.  I found my seat and awaited the conductor 
to come and take my ticket.  When he did, I repeated my question, "What 
happened?"  He said that a plane just crashed into one of the towers at the 
World Trade Center.  As he hurried away, I wondered if it was an accident. 
Of course, by the time I got to Portland, after my sister picked me up, I 
found out the truth.  For all that day and the following day,   we watched 
the TV coverage, while my Mom had her surgery and came out of it ok, (or so 
we thought.)

After the second day, I went back to Salem, as I was working at Talking 
Books and couldn't take too much time off without prior notice.  Only to 
find that a day later, my brother called and said that if I wanted to see 
Mom alive once more, I'd better get back to Portland and to the hospital. 
She had just had a massive stroke.  She died on September 16, 2001.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2015 12:37 PM
Subject: I Remember 9 11


>I wrote this 13 years ago.
>
>
>
> I stayed up late to watch the stories of 9 11 on the biography
> channel.  Throughout the evening, I told myself that I didn't need
> to watch it any more, yet something deep down inside made me feel
> otherwise.  Finally, when it was time, I turned the TV on and
> watched it all over again as I had six years ago.  I kept asking
> myself why?  Why watch it all again?  The answer is twofold. First, it 
> dawned on me that the people who died that day deserve
> my respect and honor for their individual bravery.  Yes, I mean
> all who died were heroes to me.  For example, just think of the
> tremendous courage it took even for those who jumped to their
> deaths because they had no way out.  Many died without even
> knowing why, but I know why, and out of honor for them, I watched
> it all again and cried again and prayed again for those who lived
> and are still suffering.  I promised the dead that I will never
> forget them and I won't.  As I sat once again tonight and watched
> it happen all over again, as if it were yesterday, one thing
> clearly came to mind, It is true.  We are at war.  What is below,
> I wrote a year following the original tragedy.  It is the second,
> and perhaps most important, reason why I watch it happen again
> tonight.  I trust we never forget who we are and what we stand
> for and I hope we never forget who did this to us as Americans. If we do, 
> perhaps we who remain should not call ourselves
> Americans any longer.
>
> A year ago, I was listening to the morning news at the report of
> the first plane which crashed into tower number one.  When the
> second plane crashed into the second tower, I knew then it was no
> accident and that we were under some sort of terrorist attack.  I
> even told my wife that day that we could expect more planes now
> and in the future any place in the country.  You can't, after all,
> read any of Tom Clancy's books or Steven Coonts without knowing
> that their are people out there that hate our way of life and will
> do anything they can to destroy what they hate.  They will even
> kill themselves in the process.  I can easily say I probably
> listened to at least 70 or 80 hours of TV and radio that week a
> year ago.  I even awakened during the night and unable to sleep,
> got up and listened for hours to all the reports.  A very good
> friend of mine flies for United.  I believe it was the first plane
> that crashed into the first trade tower that was the flight out of
> Boston to Los Angeles.  My friend flies that same Boston to L A
> route all the time.  I finally got up the courage to call his home
> here in Denver to ask his wife if he was home or off flying that
> week.  I was so relieved when she said, "He is home.  Let me put
> him on the phone."  He flew over 200 combat missions in jet
> fighters in Vietnam but my friend could hardly talk on the
> telephone that day he was so shaken.  The first flight he was
> assigned to fly when the airlines were allowed to fly again was
> the return flight from L A into Boston.  At any rate, today I
> listened to TV all day once again and all evening just about.  I
> often think of my oldest son now living in New Jersey and how one
> time his company flew him to New York and he had to go to the top
> of one of the towers to teach company employees some new software. In 
> fact, he had a meeting scheduled for yesterday in the city but
> the security was becoming so tight, everyone was canceling their
> meetings so he canceled his.  I couldn't help think today, as I
> did a year ago, my son could have easily been in one of those
> towers.  All day today something was gnawing at the back of my
> mind but I couldn't put my finger on it.  Yes, I cried several
> times today listening to all the stories just like I did a year
> ago and I prayed, too, for the families who suffered such a great
> loss just as I did a year ago.  As I listened to how minute by
> minute decisions were being made by our nationally elected leaders
> and by the police and fire fighters and hundreds of others, I
> suddenly said out loud, I sure am glad to be an American.  That's
> what had been gnawing at me all day and when it finally came to
> me, I literally spoke it out loud before I realized it.  I've
> never fought in a war or carried a weapon or ever done anything
> any more patriotic than fly an American flag outside my window.  I
> can truthfully say that today, for perhaps the very first time in
> my life, I honestly felt proud to be an American.  I wasn't just
> proud of all the people who helped save lives a year ago as I
> listened to the news coverage today and I wasn't just thankful
> that it happened to somebody else and not me or my family.  I can
> honestly and truthfully say today, fellow Americans and the way
> they lived and died, made me proud I am one of them.  People died
> in the air, on the ground, and in buildings and most died without
> even knowing why.  We know why now.  they didn't die because they
> were black or white or because they spoke English or Japanese or
> Spanish or French.  They did not die because they were old or
> young; male or female.  they didn't die because they were
> religious or atheists.  They died because they were Americans.  I
> believe I now have some understanding of what it really means to
> be an American and I wouldn't have it any other way.
>
> Phil.