NYC 2011. Ground Zero is on the right side of the photo and is the black building with the crane on top. This view is looking south from mid-town Manhattan.We all know where we were when 9/11 happened. I'm sure it's like some of the older generations when JFK was assassinated and Pearl Harbor was attacked. I know it's something that will never leave my mind.
Cathy, my wife, came out to the garage while I was getting into my car to go to work. At the time I was working at Eli Lilly & Co. in photo and video production. She said that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Of course my first thought was that a small plane by flown by some private pilot struck one of the buildings. We didn't know what was going on.
During my drive to work I heard on WIBC radio that another plane had struck the WTC. I remember how my stomach just jumped up to my throat. Everyone knew at that point this was bad. By the time I got to my office everyone was in a state of shock and some in panic. Since I was in video production I had plenty of monitors in my office and the only satellite TV receiver in the area so I turned on CNN and soon my office was filled with people wanting to see what was happening. I received a page from the police department (I was a reserve for 24 years) to see if I was interested in going to NYC if the county was going to send people. Sure, I said. Turns out that I didn't need to go since the whole country seemed to be mobilizing at the time and there were plenty of specialists already heading that way. When I left work that afternoon gas had shot up to $5/gal in some places from the usual price of $1.50/gal, the radio waves were full of excitement and dread and the skies were eerily quiet. Remember how it was so strange there were no planes in the air?
Everyone was home watching the news if they were not working. My son still remembers Cathy and I in front of the TV with tears in our eyes for all the loss of life in NYC, Washington DC and Pennsylvania.
Our country, our world and ourselves changed on that day in 2001. Now, 10 years later, I finally got to see Ground Zero for myself.
It is strange to be there. 13 years ago my wife and I were at the World Trade Center. We shopped there. We ate lunch there. Now it was gone. It's hard to imaging while walking the area what actually happened. The streets we walked just last week were covered with debris, papers and even human remains. Yet, here we were, strolling around the area.
There is a lot of progress now in building on the site. The memorial will be open in time for Sept 11, 2011. New buildings are going up and the area is a beehive of activity.
Cathy, my wife, came out to the garage while I was getting into my car to go to work. At the time I was working at Eli Lilly & Co. in photo and video production. She said that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Of course my first thought was that a small plane by flown by some private pilot struck one of the buildings. We didn't know what was going on.
During my drive to work I heard on WIBC radio that another plane had struck the WTC. I remember how my stomach just jumped up to my throat. Everyone knew at that point this was bad. By the time I got to my office everyone was in a state of shock and some in panic. Since I was in video production I had plenty of monitors in my office and the only satellite TV receiver in the area so I turned on CNN and soon my office was filled with people wanting to see what was happening. I received a page from the police department (I was a reserve for 24 years) to see if I was interested in going to NYC if the county was going to send people. Sure, I said. Turns out that I didn't need to go since the whole country seemed to be mobilizing at the time and there were plenty of specialists already heading that way. When I left work that afternoon gas had shot up to $5/gal in some places from the usual price of $1.50/gal, the radio waves were full of excitement and dread and the skies were eerily quiet. Remember how it was so strange there were no planes in the air?
Everyone was home watching the news if they were not working. My son still remembers Cathy and I in front of the TV with tears in our eyes for all the loss of life in NYC, Washington DC and Pennsylvania.
Our country, our world and ourselves changed on that day in 2001. Now, 10 years later, I finally got to see Ground Zero for myself.
It is strange to be there. 13 years ago my wife and I were at the World Trade Center. We shopped there. We ate lunch there. Now it was gone. It's hard to imaging while walking the area what actually happened. The streets we walked just last week were covered with debris, papers and even human remains. Yet, here we were, strolling around the area.
There is a lot of progress now in building on the site. The memorial will be open in time for Sept 11, 2011. New buildings are going up and the area is a beehive of activity.
Workers coming and going all the time.
Pedestrian crosswalk over West St.
Memorial wall at an FDNY station right by Ground Zero.
This sphere was in between WTC 1 and 2. After the attacks it was moved to Battery Park until rebuilding is completed.
St. Pauls Chapel and churchyard across the street on the east side of the WTC. This chapel became an impromptu staging area and rest station for rescue workers. It's hard to believe that this pretty little cemetery dating back to the 1600's was covered in debris and witnessed so much destruction.
Looking west from the churchyard to Ground Zero.
Signs still hang inside. It had pews but they got beat up pretty bad with all the use by rescue workers sleeping/resting/eating in the church.
The wrought iron fence in the churchyard facing Ground Zero became one of the places where, firstly, missing persons signs went up, then became a memorial. All the signs have been moved into the chapel to remain on display. It's very moving to see the photos and mementos of all the slain Americans.
There is a 9/11 Memorial preview just north across Vesey St. from the church yard that has more items.
Items include this twisted support beam that buckled under the heat of the inferno.
And the personal effects of a slain firefighter.
But, happily, one can still still the American flag waving in the breeze through the trees of the churchyard.www.sauterphoto.com
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