Messages received at SNAME Headquarters following the World Trade Center attack

Jack Spencer/Americas/ABS on 09/12/01 09:50 AM

Forwarded message from Frank J. Iarossi:

TO ALL EMPLOYEES OF ABS AND ABS GROUP AS YOU PROBABLY HAVE ALREADY HEARD, A PLANE CRASHED INTO TOWER ONE OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IN NEW YORK CITY AT 8:48 AM EDT. THE POINT OF IMPACT WAS JUST ONE FLOOR ABOVE OUR OFFICE. I AM VERY RELIEVED AND PLEASED TO REPORT THAT ALL ABS EMPLOYEES THAT WERE IN THE OFFICE AT THE TIME MADE THEIR WAY SAFELY OUT OF THE OFFICE AND OUT OF THE BUILDING. FRANK

Marty Toyen

Everyone, My daughter was in the World Trade Center #1 on the 106th floor. We have not heard any inormation about her status. Marty

A TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.

America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian tele- vision commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -! not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

STAND PROUD AMERICA!

This is one of the best editorials that I have ever read regarding the United States. It is nice that one man realizes it. I only wish that the rest of the world would realize it. We are always blamed for everything and never even get a thank you for the things we do.

I would hope that each of you would send this to as many people as you can and emphasize that they should send it to as many of their friends until this letter is sent to every person on the web. I am just a single American that has read this. I SURE HOPE THAT A LOT MORE READ IT SOON.

In these hours of rage and sorrow for the atrocious attack on US I join my prayers for the victims and all the US people. May God save mankind from evil.
Francisco Fernandez-Gonzalez AM67 #1772040
Prof. Francisco FERNANDEZ-GONZALEZ
Dept. Naval Architecture and Shipbuilding E.T.S.Navales.
Univ.Politecnica de Madrid
Avda. Arco de la Victoria, 4
28040 MADRID - SPAIN

Dear Mr. Naresh M Maniar,
We the members of the Institute of Marine Engineers(India)Cochin Branch express our condolence for the families who lost life in the terrorist attack. Kindly convey this message My personal condolence to the families who lost life in the tragic incident
Yours sincerley
K.A.Varghese Hon Secretary & SNAME member

WE WOULD LIKE TO SEND OUT CONDOLENCES TO OUR FRIENDS AND THEIR FAMILIES THAT HAVE LOSSED LOVED ONES BYT THE TRAGIC TERRORISTS ATTACKS.

OUR PRAYS ARE WITH ALL OF YOU.

PLEASE BE INFORMED THE SCHEDULED SNAME TECHNICAL PRESENTATION TO BE HELD TODAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Best Regards,
Paul Marr
Connecticut Maritime Association, Inc.
Communications Committee

Subject: With love from Oslo - We got this from a friend in Norway. You may pass it on to who ever you think may appreciate it.

" Dear friends: It's almost midnight on Wednesday evening in Oslo, and I have just come home from a walk down to the American Embassy, where I added my flowers and candles to those already there. I'd like to describe it to you:

* A perfect evening, very dark, but lots of stars, around 60 degrees, not a breath of wind.

* On one side of the street the embassy itself, where they were hard at work adding a second row of concrete barriers.

* On the other side of the street, in front of the railings alongside the palace grounds, a hundred yards or so of outpourings of sympathy from the people of Oslo.

* Thousands of candles, all sizes, some standing alone, others arranged in patterns - hearts, crosses, the letters USA.

* Bouquets of flowers of all kinds, from the simplest wildflowers to beautiful bouquets.

* An exquisite wreath from the firefighters of Oslo.

* Norwegian and American flags.

* Letters and cards in many languages. Messages of hope, love, sympathy - and outrage.

* Children's paintings and drawings - some depicting the horror of the plane about to hit the tower with childlike simplicity, others showing children on their knees praying to God to give America comfort.

* A placard with the words "The Atlantic is a creek, our sympathy is an ocean, America is the world"

* Many, many people of all ages, walking slowly, reading cards and letters, and adding their own contributions.

* Not a sound to be heard, except for that of people trying to control their tears.

It was extraordinarily beautiful, and incredibly moving. I think it was the utter silence that was the most powerful aspect. The silence of grief and mind - numbing outrage.

I thought you would like to know. God bless you. Love, Jan"

From: Robert McDermott [mailto:rmcdermt@singnet.com.sg]

As I sit here on a Sunday afternoon halfway around the World from the USA, I find that I cannot concentrate on the work I came into the office to do but instead keep thinking about the recent unspeakable tragedy in NY and Washington. Like everyone else, I've gone from shock and disbelief to sadness to quiet and abiding anger at the motherless scum that perpetrated this crime. And like everyone else, I feel the frustration of knowing my anger is impotent because there is nothing I can do at present to impact these criminals one way or another.

However, I also considered a report I heard on CNN that the US airline industry is in financial crisis, due not only to the three to four day service interruption but because, overnight, Americans are changing their travel habits. Out of fear (obviously justified) I read that traveling Americans are avoiding flying on American Flag carriers or avoiding flying altogether. I read that corporations are adopting travel policies that seek to discourage use of American Flag carriers. In the same story I hear projections of 100,000 Americans loosing their jobs in the airline industry and of possible bankruptcies. It seems to me that if we, as Americans, adopt this attitude that the terrorist bastards have won another victory. We ask ourselves in our grief and rage what we can do when the answer is obvious. We can refuse to be intimidated and we can carry on our lives and business as usual.

Accordingly, if you want to strike a quiet blow against terrorism, I suggest the following:

1. If you regularly travel on business or pleasure, don't change your plans but continue to fly.

2. If you have a choice and it makes financial sense, fly to places even when it is possible to take other transportation.

3. If you are a decision maker in your organization, support the use of American Flag carriers. If you are not a decision maker, urge the appropriate people in your organization to support American Flag carriers.

4. If you are planning a trip for business or pleasure sometime in the future, book it now to show your support of our airline industry.

5. Be patient and considerate of the security and airline personnel in our Nation's airports. The new and necessary procedures are sure to cause delays and longer waits but remember that they are for your own safety.

6. Travel with the sure and certain knowledge that by your act you are telling the terrorists of the World to go to Hell!

My intention is to send this to every American in my address book. I do so with no little fear that many of you will think I'm somewhat nutty. However, I have to do something and this is all I could think of. I ask each of you as you feel it appropriate, to take the few moments necessary to forward this email to others in your own address book. Perhaps if we can get a groundswell of support going, it will provide needed moral and financial aid to our fellow Americans whose livelihoods are in danger and help prevent this tragedy from impacting our country more than it already has.

God Bless America!

Best Regards, Bob

From: alexbreck [mailto:alexbreck@msn.com]

Take a look at this. Straight forward isn't it?
Forwarded Message:
From: mobil
Subject: Leonard Pitts Jr.-MIAMI HERALD
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 14:26:45 -0500

We'll go forward from this moment by Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald
"It's my job to have something to say. They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

"You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard. "What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

"Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.

"Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.

"Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.

"Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae-a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though- peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

"Some people-you, perhaps-think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals. "Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before. "But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

"I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future. "In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined. "You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold. "As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

"So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started. "But you're about to learn."