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9-11 2022

 
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 4:29 pm    Post subject: 9-11 2022 Reply with quote

On this the 21st anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on America, my thoughts go to all the victims past and present of that horrendous day.

I can't help thinking back to my witnessing the actual destruction of the Twin Towers, from the vantage point of Academy's Hoboken garage on that late summer morning. USA Ribbon
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver:

I was in BORDER's book store on the street level of the WTC when the first plane hit.

At first, I thought a truck or a bus had plowed into the building; then, when I saw the debris falling from the upper floors, I thought, perhaps, a transformer on an upper floor blew.

The chaos and panic that ensued afterwards was surreal; forever etched in my mind like a living nightmare.

What I saw.....heard....and FELT that horrific day, again, was like a nightmare you could not awaken from.

I was with two of my lead supervisors when the Towers can down; with no windows, we had no idea what was going on.

This was on the floor of the NYSE; I now know what it is like to experience an earthquake.

We huddled together at the manager's desk, not knowing if our building was going to come crashing down on top of us.

In the early afternoon, remember walking through streets of abandoned vehicles and vendor's carts, everything covered in dirt and debris, hearing unseen helicopters buzzing overhead......walking with a buddy of mine all the way uptown.....then back downtown again (to the Chelsea Pier area), where a chartered dinner cruise boat took us over to Weehawken, where we managed to find a bus going up into my general area; we were able to catch a "#22 HILLSIDE" at Nungessers to get to my home.

How ironic, on that beautiful morning, after getting off the PATH tubes at the WTC, I had thought of taking a same-day personal day, and then take a cruise on the SI Ferry, take the subway to Brooklyn to visit the Transit Museum, then, head back up to Times Square, and take a ride on the #7 IRT Redbirds, and enjoy a nice "El" ride.

To this day, I still feel as though it were a nightmare that I never woke up from.

Sadly, I know several people who worked in the WTC, who also rode the "BOULEVARD EAST" bus to and from Hoboken, as I had for years, never returned.

I still pray for the thousands who never returned home on that fateful, horrible day.

For days afterwards, a massive cloud of smoke could be seen from my town, just across the Hudson, ominous and frightening to behold.

I remember calling it "The Cloud Of Souls".

Cannot believe it is now 21 years ago, now.....thank God we are both alive to talk about our experiences today.......

"NYO"
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYO—
My experience pales compared to what you went thru.
It took me 12 hours to get home that day.
At first, only emergency responders were allowed into the City on the NY Waterways ferries, that assisted in the evacuation of the City. My company told me that if I couldn’t get home to Queens, to try to get a nearby hotel. They were all full. They told me then I should take one of our buses from the lot, and deadhead it to Kingston, where they could get me a hotel. I walked over to Lincoln Harbor, and heard they were going to let pedestrian’s cross the GWB. So I caught an NJT bus to Fort Lee., and then walked to the bridge. At the bridge we walked up the stairs to the bridge plaza, and then were separated into men’s and women’s screening lines. We were then physically searched, before being allowed to board one of three NYC Bus shuttles, that took us across the bridge. We then walked down the stairs to street level. By then it was about 8:00 PM, and the subways began running again. Took the A, and E, and the Q64 home, reaching there about 9:00 PM…
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver:

NONE of us will EVER forget a single miniscule detail of that horrific day, if we were involved personally in its events.

The chartered dinner cruise boat (I cannot recall the name of the vessel) took us to Lincoln Harbor (recall, the HBLR had not yet been extended to LH at that time); it was mass confusion, and it took much searching to find a bus going near Fort Lee.

As I had said earlier, I had my friend from work with me, who then lived in Little Silver; I told him to come home with me (he was then using NJT's North Jersey Coast Line to commute) as I told him it would be easier to stay by me than to try to get back home to the Shore.

It was almost as though the MCI were were on was a charter run; I have no idea where it ran to, after we got off at Nungessers, where, thankfully, we caught a "#22 HILLSIDE" for home*.

How THANKFUL I was to be ALIVE, and going through such a simple motion as flagging down a #22 bus, heading back home!

It was chilling (and sobering, to say the least), when our boat pulled out into the Hudson, and headed for Weehawken.

The massive tower of smoke and ash at Ground Zero simply silenced everyone on board; no idle chatter, no conversations, hust a few terse, nervous whispers now and then.

That you and I BOTH both survived that terrible day is something we shall both always be thankful for....

"NYO"

*We were allowed to leave the NYSE some time after noon.

We walked up to the 42nd St. area (near the Hudson) and then back to the Chelsea Pier area, where we stood on a MASSIVE line for well over an hour, before we were able to board the chartered dinner cruise ship.

I still remember so vividly, pausing to rest near Union Square, buying a cold soda from a street vendor, and seeing a large group of people listening to the latest reports over a large boombox, that was on someone's tailgate.

Of course, the PATH tubes were completely out, so there was no chance of catching a train out of 33rd St. to either Hoboken or Journal Square.

There was SILENCE.....everyone was simply to shocked still to even make any sort of comment.
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYO—
Amazing story.

I was bound and determined to make it home, by any means, as I had my elderly mother to care for. If I couldn’t get back into the City, my “Plan B”, was to deadhead a bus into NY by way of the first open bridge across the Hudson, even if I had to go clear to Albany, and then down to Bridgeport, Connecticut to catch the ferry to Port Jefferson, L.I., and then back to Queens.
Thankfully that crazy scheme wasn’t necessary…
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in 2001, Mom was still quite well (ironically, she broke her hip that November; one of my older brothers had passed away earlier that year)

2001 was, for many reasons, a year I have relegated to the back of my mind; nothing that happened that year to me or my family was pleasant.

What really haunted me was an image taken not long after the attacks; the photo showed the destroyed PATH concourse, with a huge ceiling beam crushing the SAME turnstile I usually used in the PM rush, going for my Hoboken train.

Also sobering were the images of the partially destroyed PATH train at platform level; one of the cars on that train had been on a Hoboken run, just the previous day.....and I had ridden aboard it.

Thinking back, it is almost hard to decipher whether it was REALITY, or, a hellish nightmare that I dreamed one night, but never fully recovered from.......

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver:

You and I both greatly interested in NY-area maritime transport, so you might be the one for this:

Recall, I told you my friend and I traveled from Manhattan back to Weehawken (on 9/11) aboard a chartered dinner cruise boat.

Any idea what vessel this might have been, and what company was operating it at the time?:

Appreciate any info....

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was doing some "hunting about" on the 'net earlier to see if I could find out anything regarding the dinner cruises in NY Harbor, at the time of 9/11; so far, I've found nothing.

All I can remember is that the vessel we traveled over to Weehawken on reminded me of a modern cruise ship (smaller in size, of course), and the cabins were quite spacious.

I actually feared that the boat was overloaded, so great were the crowds aboard, trying to get back to New Jersey, amid the chaos and confusion.....

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am also now wondering if the dinner cruise boat I mentioned (from 2001) regularly docked at or near the Chelsea Piers?

On that fateful day (9/11) my mind was too much focused on just getting home to New Jersey safely, to noticed the name of the boat I was crossing back to New Jersey on.....

"NYO"
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Circle Line, IIRC, purchased World Yacht around that time...perhaps it could have been one of their boars?
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