story1665.xml

story1665.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-02

After working all night I was home in bed when my wife woke me at about 10am with tears in her eyes. I had no idea what was wrong until I looked to the television. At first I thought it was just some terrible accident but when the second plane crashed I was terrified. I am a Gulf War Veteran and I have seen terrible things, but nothing will ever compare to what I was witnessing at that moment. My first instinct was to make contact with every member of my family including my mother in Boston. I was afraid at the thought of War being waged right here in my homeland where my family is, where my son and daughter live. I was not suddenly driven to pick-up the fight against these terrorists, instead I was trying to figure out how to protect my family from the horrors that I was sure were to come. In the following days I struggled to function, I was afraid to even go to work and leave them behind. How could I send my daughter to school? What if something happened? The one sight that I will never forget was not the buildings crashing to the ground, it was the sight of the Combat Air Patrol that was circling over my home.

God Bless You, and God Bless America.