classic bike ramblings

Classic Bike Ramblings

NEVER FORGET! Well my friends, once again my article is going to stray from the "normal" as it often does for you see a ten year anniversary is this very month.Ten year ones seem to be the "big marker".

Ten years of marriage, your ten year high school reunion, ten years on a job its an entire decade. It's the first one rememebered or celebrated on a large scale, the one to build on. But I'm a firm believer of the fact that this events anniversary should be just as important at nine or eleven years, for it is when terrorists who want to "end America" brought their fight to our shores, to our own cities, it my friends, is the tenth anniversary of September 11th 2001. Anyone of age knows what happened, if you don't quit reading this. If you're young your parents should have told you the what, why and how and if they didn't go learn about it for many 10-20 year olds now were but just born or too young to grasp it. You see, I think most Americans not you my 87 loyal readers of course, but I think many "have forgotten" what happened ten years ago and it makes me angry, my good people.

No, I won't get into the hows, the whys, the politics of it nor any serious opinion of it. No, im going to give you one of my well known "trilogies", three stories all linked to Sept. 11th that some of you may know and many may not. But I will tell you that everyone in these next pages will "Never Forget". My first link to that day ten years ago begins as it should with a military connection and it is about a ship that is truly "connected" to this event.

I give to you the story of the USS New York (LPD 21 launched 19th. Dec. 2007) the fifth San Antonio class amphibious transport dock constructed. She is 684 feet long, 105 feet wide.

She is powered by four sequentially turbocharged diesel engines coupled to two shafts for a total of 41,600 horsepower.

With a crew of 360 and the ability to carry up to 700 Marines, and if needed for a "surge" landing 800 marines in battle gear.

She carries 2 LCVC's and 14 AAV's (landing craft) for beach landings. She also can launch and land 2 CH-53 E Super Stallions, 2 MV-22B Osprey tilt rotor aircraft, 4 CH 46 Sea Knights and either 4 UH-1 Iroquois or AH-1 Sea Cobras. She is also the first ship designed specifically to interact with the Marines

large air cushion landing craft while at sea.

The New York can travel in excess of 25 knots and only needs 23 Werner & Mr. 500 feet of water to float, amazingly shallow for a 684 foot 25,000 ton ship. But what sets the USS New York apart from the rest of the Navy Ships is the fact that 7.5 tons of steel used to construct this cutting edge C.A.D. designed ship is that this steel came from the rubble of the World Trade Center. The steel was melted down at Amite Foundry and Machine located in Amite, Louisiana.

This steel was used to cast the "Stem Bar" the strongest point of the ships bow, the first to part the seas of any size, the first part to meet any enemy head on, and the first part to bring its crew home to safety and to family and friends.

It was poured into the molds on the 9th. of Sept. 2003 at the foundry only two years after our nations tragedy. It's well reported that the foundry workers and ship yard staff treated the steel when being poured and when the New York was under construction at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of Louisiana with a "reverence usually accorded religious relics" as most workers would touch the bow area gently as they walked by. One worker who after 40 years of devoted service, put off his retirement just to be part of the New York project.

Northrop Grumman also constructed the USS Arlington (LPD24) named for Arlington, Virginia the location of the Pentagon, and steel taken from the Pentagon after the Sept. 11th. 2001 attacks will be displayed aboard her. The Arlington was launched in Nov. of 2010. The USS Somerset (LPD-25 under construction) will be the next and she honors the passengers of the United Airlines flight 93, whose herioc actions thwarted the terrorists from their intended target. The plane crashed in Stony Creek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. on Sept. 11th. 2001. 22 tons of steel from a crane that stood near flight 93's crash site was used as the great ships "Stem Bar". Secretary of the Navy Gordon England stated "The courage and heroism of the people aboard the flight will never be forgotten and the USS Somerset will leave a legacy that will never be forgotten by those wishing to do harm to this country". It would be on Nov. 2nd. 2009 at approximately 8:00 am that the mighty USS New York came to a standstill across from where the two massive steel towers once stood, dipped her flag and volleyed off a 21 Gun Salute, for

you see my friends it was the first time she, the ship which had part of the once great towers in her had visited New York Harbor, on the shore members of the NYPD, NYFD, family and friends of the 9/11 victims and many survivors and veterans who lined the shore would return with a salute.

New York Governor George Pataki stated "On Sept. 11th. 2001 our nations enemies brought their fight to New York, the USS New York will now bring the fight to our nations enemies well into the future".

The USS New Yorks C.A.D. design allowed its designers to take the average Marine In full battle gear and run them through the passageways of the ship in a three dimensional model. It allowed for piping systems, hatch sizes and bulkheads to be changed and or re-located to let the Marines move through out the ship un-encumbered. It was the first assault ship built with ideas of the sailors and the Marines very different needs to be addressed together. Both the Navy and Marines came together early in the ships beginnings in order to improve sleeping, eating and common spaces and as one of the Navy designers put it "In reality the Marines are our customers, we should make it easier for him to perform his mission". Im glad to know shes out there and the saying on her official Navy battle patch well it fits her heritage its "Never Forget".

My background as many of you know is not of motorcycles but of racing sailboats, running research vessels and the charter boat business which my Hatteras 53 "Desperado" and I still do, occasionally doing VIP Charters for a couple different agents. It would be a fellow Charter boat company that would become a huge part of the 9/11 tragedy but in a way as to show Americas determination and resolve. Certain images in history last forever , the flag Raising at Iwo Jima

by Joe Rosenthal, the image of the Arizona at Pearl Harbor and the loss of the Hindenburg are just a few, but one that ranks high on the list of imagery, one that we have etched into our memories is called " Raising the Flag at Ground Zero" or "Ground Zero Spirit" taken Sept. 11th. 2001 by Thomas E. Franklin of the Bergen Record. The photo has often been

compared to Rosenthals famous shot (due to the desire of men trying to get our flag raised). Thomas shot this shortly after 5 PM the day the towers fell. He stood at the Northwest corner of the Trade Center foot print, near a pedestrian walkway that connected to the World Trade Center. The firefighters were about 150 yards away and the crumpled remains of the once great towers were about 100 yards beyond that, he used a telephoto lens to shoot the three firefighters, two from Brooklyn based Ladder Company 157 George Johnson and Dan McWilliams and the third Billy Eisengrein from Rescue Unit Two. Franklin had talked his way onto a tugboat to get across the Hudson River and arrived at the World Trade Center around noon after both towers had collapsed and the rescue was moving into full swing. So you my patriotic readers are saying "whats the charter boat connection you spoke of "? Well you see the flag that was raised in this now classic picture was taken off a yacht docked nearby behind the World Trade Center in the Hudson. Firefighter Dan McWilliams spotted the flag on its yardarm pole and using a trusty K saw took it from the stern of the yacht rolling it up so that it would not touch the ground. They would then take it to "Ground Zero" there

they found a long metal flag pole jutting out at an angle about 20 feet above the ground and began rigging the flag to it, and the rest as they say is history. The yacht was the 130 foot "Star of America" owned by Shirley Dreifus and chartered for VIP parties, large weddings and special events on the Hudson River by her company, The Majestic Star Company.

She noticed the flag was missing when they came to inspect the yacht for damage after the attack. Other yacht owners and crews informed Shirley that it was indeed her yachts flag that had been raised as a symbol of American courage at Ground Zero. The three firefighters later signed an affidavit that they did remove the flag from her boat and it was the very one they raised that day.

The $50.00 dollar flag had a true American heritage being removed from an American flagged and built yacht and the flag itself was made in America by Elder Flag Manufacturing of Oakcreek, Wisconsin, which is amazing in itself because these days an amazing amount of our flags, yes, Old Glory are produced in China, Indonesia, India and such. So truly when you look at this picture also known as "The Spirit at Ground Zero" everything you see is truly "American" and

I think everyone should appreciate that. But now its a flag thats a bit of a mystery, you see, its now gone yes missing. In August of 2002 Shirley Dreifus was hosting a benefit aboard the "Star of America" for the children of firemen lost during 9/11. The plan was for the firemen to hoist the "Ground Zero" flag one more time aboard the yacht and replace it with one that flew over the capitol. But the flag the City of New York gave Ms. Dreifus back was a larger 5x8 foot while the one taken from the yacht by the fireman 9/11 day was a smaller 4x6 foot one. You see this flag had been "loaned" out and it flew on numerous US ships serving in the Mideast conflict of Afghanistan, in fact it was returned to the USA flying aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71).

It flew at Yankee Stadium and at New York City Hall. Rudolph Giuliani and George Pataki signed it. The photo and flag was the inspiration for the "Heroes 2001" U.S. postage stamp and a 40 foot bronze statue was dedicated at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park at Emmitsburg, MD. No one knows when the flag switch was made, days after or while it was on tour but an investigation continues by all parties involved. The flag had an appraised value of $525,000. The owner of the Star of America did not fair so well. Their office located in the World Trade Center gone and them struggling financially after 9/11, well they had to close their charter yacht business in late 2008 , yet they still want to find the flag and donate it to the Smithsonian Institution. As Shirley put it "The only good memory that came out of 9/11 was the raising of the flag from our boat over Ground Zero, that moment shown in the now famous photo gave us as much hope as the rest of America".

A lot has been written about the last firefighters out of the towers, the last workers, the last police or EMT's who were near the last out. Everyone who did make it out has said it has had an amazing impact on their lives, and you know it should. The confusion, the smoke, burning jet fuel and noise that they all overcame, all the while making their way down 30, 50, a 100 stories before the great towers imploded on their own weight, 110 stories of steel and glass all coming down yes it would change you. But I wanted to find out who was the last person found alive, who made it out of this horrible day and with some research and some determination I found her.

It was just after 12:30 PM on Sept. 12th. 2001 the World Trade Center towers had fallen 27 hours earlier. Genelle Guzman, thirty years old and a single mother of a 12 year old lay inside a twisted mass of steel, cables and glass. It was dark and

she remembers hot like an oven from the raging fires below her. Her head pinned by concrete and steel, her legs twisted in stairwell and both had gone numb many hours earlier.

Only her left hand was free, she tried using it to tap, to move debris around but to no avail. She could hear rescuers voices, sirens, even the back up alarms from trucks. Yes my friends she tried calling out but the dust and with a parched throat, she could but whisper. It was an agonizing wait for rescue at first she thought and then for death, she says she talked with God and the Angels often. She remembers thinking "I knew this building consisted of 110 stories and I knew that no one was going to find me under 90 something floors".

But 27 hours later, after the building and the world came down around Genelle, she heard one of the firefighters say "We have a survivor", there would also be two volunteers who drove in from from Massaschusetts and a police officer with his rescue dog from Nova Scotia that would partake in the rescue that would make Genelle Guzman a part of history as the last person pulled alive from the twisted rubble that was once the World Trade Center. There were an estimated 25,000 workers in the seven building complex of the World Trade Center and at 8:46 AM Sept. 11, 2001 the first of two hijacked jet liners would strike the north tower and in what would become one of the most epic large building evacuations in history, most would make it out. But when the towers fell 2800 or more people died with over 6000 injured.

Only 20 people trapped in the rubble would survive with most found within the first few hours of rescue work. A First Union Bank worker Tom Conavan crawled with another man through 30 feet of concrete, heat and cables in the underground shopping mall, getting out only 29 minutes before the North Tower would fall.The north tower was struck at 8:46 am and would remain standing for 102 minutes after impact the south tower was struck at 9:03 am and remained upright for 56 minutes it would take each of them 12 seconds to fall.

One of Guzmans co-workers Pasquale Buzzelli passed out in the stairwell in the North Tower as it fell away from his feet, he awoke atop 60 feet of rubble. 14 others including 12 firefighters, massed together in the north stairwell also, but their section held together as tons of burning rubble fell around them and around noon they battled, clawed and climbed those very stairs and they stood atop what was once the World Trade Center. Port Authority Police Officer Will Jimeno was cut out later that evening and his partner Sgt. John Mc Loughlin was pulled out of the wreckage around 7 AM on Sept. 12th.

Many news reports had Sgt. Mc Loughlin as "The last person out" but 6 hours later Genelle Guzman who had been a Port Authority Clerk for only 9 months would truly be the last person out of of this tragedy. She often wonders why? She wasn't any stronger or smarter than the others, no she never took a "How to survive" a 110 story building collapse on you

course, 27 hours buried alive and mostly conscious the entire time and she wonders why? And when asked she can only attribute it to being a miracle. She says now many people who make bets or buy lotto wish for her to touch their money or hold their ticket, but she doesn't like this fame, not even letting her new neighbors in a new town know of her past, of her as she puts it, miracle. Shes back working for for the Port Authority again. Same job but a new location and many new faces.

Her last day at the old office would start out as a normal perfect sunny New York morning on the 64th. floor of the north tower. 16 workers waited there that fatefull day. The jet liner had just cut through their building 30 stories above them, the rest of their floor had emptied out 30 minutes ago. Why had these 16 stayed behind you may ask ? Some said the Port Authority instructed them to stay, but official transcripts show that the commanding officer for the Port Authority, Capt. Anthony Whitaker had in fact ordered a full evacuation before the second jet liner hit the south tower. She will not answer why on orders from her employer. It is known that Mr. Buzzelli and a group tried to seal the doors to prevent the smoke and burning jet fuel from entering the room, but wet towels and duct tape would not stop it, so after an hour the group of 16 would head for stairwell B. Mr. Buzzelli would lead the way, and Guzman with her 2 inch heels on would grab her best friends hand Rosa Gonzales and the group would descend down 54, 44, 34, the numbers counted off agonizingly slow, she then felt a horrendous shudder like an earthquake beginning, it was the south tower imploding but they didn't know that in the darkness of stairwell B, north tower.

As the group chanted "We are almost there" Guzman would slow at the 13th. floor it was time for the high heels to come off and as she reached down, she heard a violent explosion and never made another step. She says "The wall I was facing just opened and it threw me on the other side". She remembers her friend Rosa trying to climb the stairs, but the rubble rained down upon them and she would never see Rosa Gonzales again. Genelle said "Everything just kept coming harder and harder, I just kept my head down. I dont know how I ended up the way I was. I dont know how I landed". She then remembers a man calling for help, then nothing.The building still shaking and debris shifting and falling. Then complete and utter silence. And she remembers the darkness,unable to even see her watch,unable to move. Hot from the fires and wet from broken pipes,with her only free hand she felt around and grasped something soft,it was a body. After her rescue she would find she landed on a dead firefighter, within feet was another. And it would be the reflectors of a firefighters coat that brought the 5 rescuers to this 7 story pile of wall and rubble. As they examined the coat they heard Genelle Guzman, an ironworker arrived with a portable torch and cut away the steel trapping her for the past 27 hours.

She was then put on a stretcher and passed man to man down the mass of twisted steel and rock.As she neared the bottom of her would be tomb the last person rescued on

Sept 11th would ask "Am I out yet?". Of those 16 people who started out from that 64th. floor an hour after their tower was hit,only Genelle Guzman and Pasquale Buzzelli would live.

Yeah im ok with the answer being a "miracle", I think we need more of them. Of all 20 survivors found after the tragedy all would be from the north tower and none from the south one. Although no numbers are exact 2606 died in the WTC towers, 343 firefighters would die, 60 police officers and 8 EMT workers. American flight 11 had 87 souls on board and United 175 60. At the Pentagon 125 would die along with 59 on American flight 77. And United 93 would have 40 heroes perish.There would be 105 billion dollars lost to NYC business in the month afterwards alone and the NYSE would drop 685 points when it did reopen.

So please my patriotic page turners do something this September 11th. and every one that follows. Yes our military and black ops have done an amazing job in preventing another large scale attack.But we must remember this event this tragedy we must keep a strong military and intelligence network out there. We and our children must "Never forget" the day the terrorists brought an unthinkable plan to a nation caught off guard. To our capital, to the two greatest buildings in our land and to the skies over Pennsylvania where our first patriots of this war on terror showed them American fight and resolve. Remember all that were involved and all that still are, remember the business owners who couldnt make it in a shattered economy, remember the thousands that died at the Trade Centers, the Pentagon, the firefighters, police and EMT's and all the airline passengers on those 4 doomed flights on that post card picture perfect day ten years ago when America was attacked at three locations. Yes ten years later we have overcome this, rebuilt the damage and hunted down and killed many of the leaders and masterminds of that terrible day. We have our flaws my fellow patriots but one thing other countries have found out is that from Pearl Harbor to the Cuban Missle Crisis to our current conflict in the Mideast is that us "True Americans"..........."Never Forget" Robert "All the Way" De Moss

P.S. If you would like to contact me and discuss any article or ideas for future atricles you can e-mail me at mr500@FloridaFullThrottle.com To view some cool videos or see the entire article online please visit www.FloridaFullThrottle.com and click on the Mr. 500 link