Every American can tell you where they were and what they were doing on 9/11. My husband and I were traveling home from Yellowstone and only caught snippets of the news as we went in and out of radio range. It was when we got to Las Vegas and went into a convenience store that we saw what was really happening. All I heard up until then was a plane had hit a tower. I assumed it meant an air traffic controller tower. I had no idea.
I remember every one standing, rapt, in front of the small tv in the store. By then the towers were down and everyone was in shock.
A few years ago John and I visited Ground Zero and saw the Ten House station. The firemen were right across the street from the towers. This is the only surviving fire engine from there. I took a picture of it and it was not until I got home that I realized that you could see the new construction of the towers in the glass.
It was a humbling day to be there and watch as people filed past the monument, saying prayers, leaving flowers, sitting in silence. There was a cemetery across the road from the collapse and the tombstones were black from the fires. There is where I sat and took in the enormity of the incident. Even though most of us were not there, we are all touched by someone or something that happened that day.
You can see more about the brave men of Ladder Company 10 at
