Happy Saturday!

Yesterday afternoon Jeanne and I visited the traveling 911 memorial / exhibit, which is at the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque, Iowa.  It was raining at the time and traffic in Dubuque on Friday afternoon is a real pain but we wanted to visit it and pay our respect.  The main attraction for me was there were New York Fire Fighters (who experienced 911 first hand) at the display sharing their experience and knowledge of that day.

The line was surprisingly short when we arrived and we only had to wait a few minutes to get out of the rain.  The entire time in the display you can hear the radio traffic between the firemen as they came upon the scene and their communication with each other as they entered the twin towers.

They do have some incredible artifacts from that day and amazing large-scale images on the wall.  I watched the events on television that day as most Americans did.  But the enormity of the destruction never really sunk in until I saw this 12 foot high image at ground level captured the day after the attack.  Mind boggling is the only thing that comes to mind.

One of the firemen told us what made the loss of life in the fire department so high was that the attack occurred right at shift change.  So not only did the on duty officers respond but the off duty ones did as well.

One of the lost firemen was just coming off his shift and was going to play golf with his three brothers.  He suited up with 75 pounds of gear and headed for the Twin Towers.  he perished in the collapse.

There were quotes throughout the display of survivors of that day and their emotions raw with anger, fear, shock, and sadness was evident.

I made a point to thank each of the four firemen for their service and pay the respect they so much deserve.  We also made a contribution to the fund that helps sustain the surviving families of the fallen heroes.

It was a moving display and well worth the effort to go.  It will only be in town two more days so if you live around Dubuque or it comes to your community I encourage you to go see it.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.