The LuLac Edition #938, Sept. 12th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: OUR INTERVIEW LOGO.

INTERVIEW

This is a posthumous interview that I have kept in my files since Sept. 15th, 2001. The subject was related to me by marriage, was a proud native New Yorker plus an ex Marine to boot. Here were his thoughts on 911 from 8 years ago.
Q: Where were you when it happened?
A: I was working in my home office. I had just gotten settled.
Q: Dragging yourself out of bed?
A: Hell no, I’m not one of those. Working from home for me is just like when I was employed on Wall Street. I get up, shower, shave even if it’s the UPS guy coming to pick up something, I look professional.
Q: Sorry to get you off track there.
A: So I’m working in my home office and I hear this ungodly explosion. Then I see smoke billowing. After I turned on the TV, the first thing I did was call my wife who was at work in midtown. Then I started getting calls from my friends at the Armory.
Q: How were you connected with that?
A: My Marine Unit and the Fighting 69th is based there. We set that place up as a rescue, evacuation, comfort center, whatever people needed.
Q: Were there a lot of volunteers?
A:Yes, everyone bonded together. It was New York at its finest. I’d compare it to a baseball team where everyone picked each other up.
Q: Do you think it touched more people in New York?
A: Absolutely. I had co workers who lost their sons and daughters on Wall Street. Some people who are gone I worked with and had associations with.
Q: Comparable to Pearl Harbor?
A: Yes and even more. These were civilians. They weren’t engaged in policy or combat.
Q: So it is safe to say this will affect you and everyone in this nation the rest of your life?
A: Until the day I die, I will never forget the sick feeling I had and the determination that if I had anything to do with, we should never forget.
Editor’s Note: And until the day he died, he never did forget.
Fighting 69th website: http://www.sixtyninth.net/