story1040.xml

story1040.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-17

The Morning of Sept. 11 was trhe same as all the rest, get up, go to work, but when the radio broke in and told what had just happened, my partner and myself(we own a siding business in northern WI) stopped what we were doing, and just stared at the radio, almost glued to it,I had the most awful sickness way down deep,almost hard to describe,all I could think of was,"WHAT NEXT" when we got home that day, and I saw the pictures on T.V. I just cried ( I suppose I should mention that I am a volunteer Firefighter/EMT so it really hit home) and for the next three days I couldn't help but think"I need to do something more than what i'm doing here" and on Sunday the 16th myself and 3 members of our Dept. and 1 from a neighboring Dept. made the trek to NY with the help of the local car dealerships in the area, we got a free rental car, and $700.00 cash to go out there,it took 18 1/2 hours to drive straight out to manhattanas we got closer to the GW bridge I felt my stomach knot up like nothing I ever felt before.We all stayed on the U.S.S. Comfort at pier 94, and worked for the Red Cross down at ground zero for the week doing everything from sorting clothes to giving the workers down there basic first aide, and eye washes to relieve some of the pain from all the dust down there,I would rather not get into the details of what we all saw down there, you can probably just figure that part out on your own.
I still think about the whole experiance like it just happened yesterday, and sometimes just can't help but shed a tear just because, it will be with me fore the rest of my life, but I wouldn't have done it any other way, I was planning on going out there for the one year anniversary, but lack of funding will not allow it, so I think i will just spend the day reflecting on it all, and being greatful to GOD and my family that we live in the greatest place on earth. Always remember where you came from, and NEVER FORGET to love eatch other always, because you never know, tomorrow may be too late! GOD BLESS....