story10659.xml

story10659.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-06-17

I was on Active duty in the Army stationed in Giessen, Germany. It been a long day, not bad, but long. My thoughts drifted off to going home and relaxing. Around 3:30 pm that day someone started talking something about Washington D.C. had been "hit" (bombed) and the World Trade Center. (Keep in mind that Germany is 6 hrs ahead of Eastern Time.) My first reaction was go tell your crazy story somewhere else, not here. Well as I prepared to go home and relax that crazy story was confirmed and I wasn't going anywhere. It was mass confusion. They sent us out on "Guard Duty" to the housing area. No one knew what was going on anything else. Some Germans came and expressed their condolences. Some sincere and some drunk and were just being stupid.
As I said it was mass confusion!!!! I didn't get home until 1 p.m. the next day, 12 Sep 2001. It was quite possible the longest day of my active duty career.

Note: I am writing this because I was just in Washington D.C. over the Memorial Day weekend when they dedicated the WWII memorial. I was intrigued by the veterans that were there and the stories they had to tell. There were people there recording their stories as most WWII veterans are dying off.