9/11 - 23 years on

When this post is published, it will be exactly twenty-three years to the minute that the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center in New York. The events of what is now referred to as 9/11 are only too well known.

My thoughts are with all victims, whether identified afterwards, or not. In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

My thoughts are with the passengers and crew on the four flights destroyed. My thoughts are with the victims killed in the World Trade Center. My thoughts are with those emergency workers who lost their lives trying to save others'.

My thoughts today are with the families of those who perpetrated these atrocities, for they lost too.

But first and foremost, my thoughts are with Norberto Hernandez, whose tribute I first filed on Northern Trip, the predecessor to Atlantic Lines and A Cobbled Road, in 2006. The searches for Norberto on Google are contaminated with references to the Falling Man, who was in fact another victim, Jonathan Briley. This confusion has led to much anger and anguish, something the families of both men could do well without.

Norberto, rest in peace.

This entry, as stated above is dedicated to the memory of




Norberto was a pastry chef from Elmhurst, working in the restaurant Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. After the attacks, he was reported missing for a week until parts of a torso and an arm were found in a collapsed stairwell. DNA testing and finger printing reveiled that these were the remains of Norberto. It also invalidated claims that the image of the Falling Man was that of Norberto; this was another victim of 9/11 who will be the subject of a different tribute.


At the time of the attacks on the WTC, Norberto was aged 42 and had been married for 25 years. He was the fourth of ten children by his parents’ marriage, and also had six half-siblings through his father. His parents separated when he was young. Norberto himself had three daughters, three grandchildren and 37 nephews. He was a man of Puerto Rican origins, and had hoped to spend his final days there. Instead, after 9/11, a funeral service was held and his remains cremated in Puerto Rico.

His sister Luz described Norberto. “He was quiet, kind”, she said. “He was a handsome man. Everybody loved him, you know. Everybody.” Norberto’s nickname was Bible, as he was very dependable. Together Forever was his motto.

Norberto started work in Windows on the World at the age of 17, washing dishes. He was interested in cooking, so a manager paid for his tuition at cooking school. Norberto became pastry chef and worked up to 10 hours a day. His sister Luz said that he made cakes, desserts, cookies and bread. His cakes were fabulous.

Outside work, Norberto loved sports, and was a fan of a Puerto Rican boxer, Felix Trinidad Jr. Four days before the attacks, he rang his mother and asked her to play “I would cry but I have no more tears” four times.

In the immediate aftermath of the plane striking the North Tower, Norberto called his sister Luz. “He said: ‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’m OK”.They were disconnected, and when Luz tried to call back she could not get through. Other accounts from Windows on the World tell that smoke and dust filled the restaurant after the strike, and that people lay on the floor to escape the worst of it. Air was beginning to run out at the time of the last contact.

These are the facts that I have managed to pull together from the Internet.

From the little that I have learned of Norberto, he came through as a gentle giant. Although 6’2” (1.84m) tall, he was always listening, and talked later. His family suffered a double loss, as Claribel Hernandez (his sister-in-law), a secretary working elsewhere in the North Tower, was also killed in the attacks. Norberto was close in the family and responsible, which earned him the nickname Bible. He loved his work, and by the look of one of the images, loved to impart that knowledge to others around him.

September 11th, 2001, dawned as a brilliantly sunny morning in New York. Two planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center, leading to their collapse within 2 hours. The destruction of so many lives was brought about by mindless hatred and madness, fuelled by religious zealotry which was not based on any writing in any scriptures in any religion.

Norberto may have heard of that on news reports, but it was probably quite far from him. He was a man that lived for his family, always there for them. A diligent worker, putting in up to 10 hours a day, loving his creations from the oven. Travelling to the WTC on the Subway every morning, his thoughts were probably far from what was to happen not that much later on that fateful Tuesday.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six are known to have died that day, or in its immediate aftermath. Norberto’s ashes were scattered in his homeland of Puerto Rico. His memory lives on in his family, and in the memory of those that read this. He is deeply missed by those close to him.

To Norberto Hernandez

Rest In Peace


Links
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/terror/sep19/three_lives.asp
This link is no longer operational

I have attempted to contact the University of Columbia to use the material in this link, but have not received a reply. As it is central to the tribute, I have used it, and acknowledge the writer, Sarah Clemence.

http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw6/pg05.htm


This is a poem by Barbara Phillips, from which I have used some factual references to Norberto. It refers to him being the Falling Man though.

I have been granted permission by United In Memory (website no longer operational) to reproduce the commemorative quilt for Norberto.


http://www.queenspress.com/archives/coverstories/2001/issue38/coverstory.htm
Link no longer operational
The poster, pictured above, proclaiming Norberto as missing after the attacks, hung on a walkway of Manhattan for more than a week

This is Norberto's inscription on the memorial at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York.

9/11 - 23 years on

This tribute is published on the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001, under the auspices of Project 2996.

Jeffrey Dwayne Collman

Image: Family photograph, via http://guy-at-judson.blogspot.com.

Source: Aurora Beacon News, Aurora IL 9-23-2001
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman, age 41, of Novato, California, formerly of Yorkville, IL, a flight attendant for American Airlines, died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:45a.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Jeffrey was a 1977 graduate of Yorkville High School in Yorkville, IL. Jeff was formerly employed, for over 10 years, at All-Steel in Montgomery, IL. He had then worked, for a brief time, at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California before attaining his dream of being a flight attendant with American Airlines. Jeffrey loved his job and traveling to other countries around the world. He also loved to play and watch tennis. Jeff was a true people person who enjoyed visiting with and getting to know others. He became a flight attendant in 1997. Two years later, Jeff received the American Professional Flight Attendant Award and was considered a spirited and dedicated flight attendant. He liked to entertain children on his flights, and he was fond of playing tennis and traveling, friends said.

He is survived by his parents, Dwayne and Kay Collman of Yorkville, IL and Beverly Sutton of North Aurora, IL; his close companion, Keith Bradkowski of Novato, Ca; his brothers, Charles Collman of Fort Meyers, FL and Brian Collman of Las Vegas, NV; his sister, Brenda Sorenson of Aurora, IL; his step-brothers, Steve (Linda) Gengler of Yorkville, IL and Chuck (Lakshmi) Gengler of South Orange, NJ; his step-sister, Susan Bohan of California; a god-child, Marlene Wakelin; his half-sisters, Laura Kries of Brooklyn Park, MN, Caroline Sutton of Joliet, IL and Vickie Michel of Aurora, IL; several nieces and nephews, many loving aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Jeffrey will also be missed by 100 other flight attendants.

He is preceded in death by his grandparents and his brother, Mark Allen Collman.
A memorial service was held on Monday, October 1, 2001 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Yorkville, IL with Pastor John Leaf officiating.

Father’s thoughts
Dwayne Collman's imagination gets the best of him when he thinks about the final minutes of his son's life on American Airlines Flight 11. He's filled with horror thinking about what the 41-year-old flight attendant from Yorkville went through as terrorists with knives steered the plane into the first World Trade Center tower. Collman knows his son received safety training in flight school, but he doubts it ever could have prepared him for the challenges he would face on the morning of Sept. 11. The grieving father is sure of one thing about his son, though, even if the details about his death are not certain:
"He would have fought like hell."

Jeffrey Collman, an American Airlines flight attendant for five years who grew up in Yorkville, died Tuesday morning when his hijacked plane, destined for Los Angeles, crashed into New York's famous landmark at 8:45 a.m. Though his body has not been recovered, his parents knew he was gone when he didn't call within a few hours after the tragedy. He had sent his stepmother, Kay, an e-mail the night before, telling her he would be flying from Boston to Los Angeles the next morning.

"I knew he was in that accident because every time there was something going on with airplanes, he would call and say, 'Hey, I'm all right,' " said Kay Collman. "So I knew that, when he didn't call, he was on that plane."

His parents [...] say Jeffrey Collman wanted to be a flight attendant because he loved to travel and meet people around the world. After working for years at Allsteel in Montgomery, he moved to California about five years ago to pursue that dream. Lifelong friend Dolores Humphrey, who went to school with Jeffrey Collman at all grade levels in Yorkville, said she feared he was killed when she heard the news because he often flew early-week flights from Boston to Los Angeles.
She said Collman never lost contact with his friends, even though his job took him around the world.

"Every time he got into town, he would call anyone he knew to meet for breakfast," said Humphrey, who last talked to Collman [5 days before 9/11]. "He would talk for a couple hours, then have to go fly somewhere else."

His stepmother said Jeffrey was the type of person who could "sit down next to someone on a plane and walk away knowing their life story." His father said Jeffrey loved tennis and flew around the world to watch professionals play. Kay Collman says her stepson never went anywhere meekly, and he loved his job so much that she's sure he didn't back down in the face of terror. "He took it seriously," she said, "and he would not have let anyone walk on him."

Humphrey said Jeffrey talked of flying even when he was a child, and his dream came true when American Airlines gave him a job. He was never afraid to fly, she said, always asserting that he was safer in the air than anyone on the ground. Collman's parents have begun to realize how their son died, and that he will always be remembered as a victim on one of the saddest days ever in the United States.

"It's completely different than just someone dying," Kay Collman said. "We'll have the pictures forever. We'll always see where he died. It's part of history."

Seattle Times, 17 September 2001
His partner, Keith Bradkowski, said Collman was courageous and safety-conscious. "He was so focused on safety," Bradkowski said. "If there was a threat, he would have done anything in his power to prevent it." He didn't normally work the Boston-to-Los Angeles route but made an exception to get vacation time at the end of the month. Collman grew up in Yorkville, Ill., and besides Bradkowski left behind four brothers and a sister. (Seattle Times)

Further information: the fate of Flight 11.

Postscript
Blogger Nathanael V.  found out 5 years after 9/11, that Jeffrey Collman was a neighbour's grandson.

Sources
http://www.afacwa.org/memoriam/jeffreycollman.htm
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=jeffrey_collman_1
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5767989

and as attributed above.

85 years ago today

85 years ago today, a state of war commenced between Great Britain and Germany. It was to last for a little under 6 years, until May 8th, 1945. The toll in human lives stands at 75 million, of whom 40 million were civilians - of those, half were Russians. Trying to placate an aggressive dictator did not pay off. Have we made the same mistake with Vladimir Putin? Isn't it cruelly perverse that the ruler of the country which suffered so much, and contributed so much towards the ending of Hitler's rule, now seems to be following his example. I hope sense prevails, out east (image courtesy Wikimedia). 

The Bayesian, the Titanic and the Norge

I offer my condolences to those who have suffered a loss in the sinking of the yacht Bayesian. I hope those who are awaiting news of loved ones soon have a resolution, preferably a safe return.

Not that far away each year, hundreds of people drown in the attempted crossing of the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy. They are usually dirt poor, having shelled out their last money for a desperate bid to flee appalling conditions in their homelands.

It reminds me of two tragedies at the start of the 20th century. In 1904, the emigrant liner Norge sank at Rockall, with the loss of 700 souls. Here in Stornoway, their fate is known, because some of the survivors were brought ashore here. Nine succumbed to the effects of their ordeal, and lie buried in Sandwick Cemetery. Dirt poor migrants, in a desperate bid to flee appalling conditions in their homeland.

The sinking of the Norge could have had a positive legacy, had the recommendations of the inquiry that followed its sinking been enshrined in law. These included the mandatory provision of sufficient life-saving apparatus on board all vessels. But that was not done.

So, eight years later, the Titanic sank, with the loss of 1500 souls. Many were well in the money, rich and famous. We still remember Titanic. A film was made of its fate.

But nobody remembers the Norge. Only a tombstone on a shoreline cemetery, about a mile east of where I am typing this.
 

The newsbulletins are full of the fate of the Bayesian and its crew and passengers.
But Lampedusa is hardly ever mentioned.
Titanic still fills up my Facebook feed.
But nobody remembers the Norge, captain Grundel and the Scandinavian and east European migrants on board.
In death, money no longer counts. So where's the difference, eh?

August 2024

 This month saw me turning 60. I don't feel sixty. 

The world is becoming more and more fraught. It was bad enough that three young girls were stabbed to death at their dance class in Southport, near Liverpool. The explosion of anger and violence that followed was frightening. Fortunately, the police and prosecutors made sure that this was but short-lived. 

I still don't know what to say about Gaza. More than 1,200 people were massacred on October 7th, 2023, when an extremist group went on a killing spree in Israel. Forty thousand civilisans have now been killed in Gaza by Israeli reprisals, designed to destroy the extremist group. Without much success. I just wished everybody butted out of the Middle East. It remains the powder keg of the world. 

Today, I went for a walk in the moorland. It has been a long time, and the distance was only a mile or so - from the Marybank Quarry to the Newvalley peat road. It was not unduly difficult, and I came across this freshly cut peat bank.

Funeral

Attended a funeral at the Free Church, Kenneth Street, this morning. Very large attendance. The cortège commenced at the County Hotel and stretched all the way up Kenneth Street to Scotland Street, then up Lewis Street as far as St Columba's. Numerous shopkeepers and residents stood outside their premises and homes, and the priest stood outside the Roman Catholic Church on Scotland Street. Total distance 700 yards, which is indicative of a huge funeral. Police had closed the roads, which allowed the males in the congregation to file up the street, on either side. A strangely dignified spectacle, as two rows of men in dark garb slowly marching up the street. At the head of the procession was the coffin, borne by alternating mourners, six at a time. Not everyone was able to participate in the lift. The deceased has now been laid to rest in the Eye Cemetery at Aignish, some 4 miles east of Stornoway. I close this post with an image of the cemetery. The word Eye has nothing to do with the sensory organ; it is a corruption of the name of the area, Braighe na h-Aoidhe, where the latter word has been transmuted into Eye.

Different

Summer is on its way here in the Western Isles, and mass tourism has arrived. Today's cruiseliner, the Rotterdam, has spewed hundreds of passengers ashore, who throng the streets of our wee town. Stornoway has a population of roughly 6,000, which increases to 9,000 if you taken in outlying districts like Laxdale, Parkend and Newmarket. In the past, large cruiseliners like the Rotterdam would have to lie at anchor outside the harbour entrance. Now that the Deep Water Terminal has been completed, they can go alongside. Passengers are ferried to town in double-decker buses, a novelty in Lewis, by the hundred at a time. 

What is also different from before the pandemic are the large numbers of campervans. It is a delicate subject in the islands, leading to lively discussions on Facebook and other forums. Research has shown that their economical contribution to the islands' economy is low, as they fuel up on the mainland, and do their shopping on the mainland. Generally speaking - I should not generalise.

Our roads are good, but many are single-track, only wide enough for one car. Passing places allow opposing traffic to meet and safely move past each other. But you have to know the unwritten rules of the road when using these narrow lanes. Other road users have horns or antlers, and are oblivious to the fast-moving chunks of metal. Many accidents are caused through deer collisions. 

By all means, cross the Minch and come to the islands. Especially in weather like today, warm sunshine and a respectable 15C on the thermometer. It's not always like this, our winters tend to be punctuated by high winds, hail and snow. A gale only gets noticed when gusts exceed 75 mph. That's the time when the ferry gets cancelled, and our supply chain is interrupted. Don't be surprised at the sight of empty shelves when you've just struggled to get into Tesco against ferocious winds.