In Memoriam.. Year Six.

Due to current operations, I was unable to post my annual 9/11 EMS memorial on time. I hope fighting in a war to prevent its recurrence is a reasonable excuse.  I had planned on making it the index of this site for the whole day.  Unfortunately, computer access was not anywhere nearby, or a priority, so I am posting it now.  The memorial page has now been made a permanent part of this site as well. 

It was six years ago yesterday that I heard the news.  I was offshore and read the news on Slashdot first.  I made it to the dayroom TV just in time to see the second tower fall.  I didn’t know who, or really why, but I knew immediately that it was terrorism.  The unfortunate side effect of being in the Intelligence Community for 9 years.  Nobody moved from the TV that day.  Operations on the rig continued, but everyone at work got updates as often as possible.  I sat there and watched it all develop on CNN and listened to others comment on the unfolding situation.  It was surreal, and a lot of them didn’t believe what they were seeing and hearing.  People were leaping from the buildings to their deaths, and as fire engulfed the buildings, they collapsed trapping thousands of people inside, killing most instantly.

In the wake of that event, a war started – eventually two.  The country and the attitude of its citizens changed.  Many memorials were raised, and a national holiday proclaimed.  As I watched these events unfold, I felt a deep sadness and connection to the rescue workers at Ground Zero and who had died that day.  I was proud of the firefighters, police officers, and EMS personnel.  I noticed, however, that one very large segment was being mentioned hardly at all.  They were lumped in with “rescue workers” and all but forgotten.  They were the EMS professionals that were on scene.  The paramedics and EMTs that died running into the buildings along side the firefighters.  The ones that volunteered their time and showed up on scene, unpaid, to help those in need.  Not all EMS in NYC is fire controlled, and myself as well as many in the EMS field felt (and still feel) that these unheralded heroes were slighted. 

So I decided to do something myself.  It is not much, only my personal tribute to those who gave their lives that day answering the call for help.  I created my September 11, 2001 EMS Memorial Page in the hope that those who died in an EMS capacity would not be forgotten among the other heroes and victims.  I pledged to never forget them and to post the page every year that I continued my blog on the anniversary of that fateful day.

I ask you to remember those that fell victim to evil that day.  Never forget the blow that was struck against us that day.  Never let it happen again.