The events of 9/11 are still more clear in my memory than I would like. The dry, clear morning. The call from my wife from the mezzanine of the World Trade Center after the first plane hit the North Tower. The orange blossom of flame when I saw the second plane hit the South Tower. The maelstrom of dust, smoke, and fire after the towers collapsed.
There was a part of that day, however, that was not only worth remembering but worth celebrating — the amazing, virtually miraculous, spontaneous maritime evacuation of somewhere between 300,000 and one million people who were trapped in lower Manhattan on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. It truly was an American Dunkirk.
I was a beneficiary of the incredible evacuation, as my wife made it home safely early that afternoon from across the river. It seems appropriate to repost the video below that captures the madness, wonder, determination, and commonplace heroism of that Tuesday in September, nineteen years ago today.
Just to reiterate, the book, American Dunkirk, at the linked review, is a very good and compelling read, with lessons to be learned. Highly recommended.
Something about boats brings out the best in us. Or makes it possible for us to be our best?
Seafarers (and anyone who’s daily life is water-borne) are always aware of ‘there but for the grace of God’and will always, if at all possible, go to assist those in peril. It is not something that many city dwellers have to consider in their daily life.
Coming across several boats overloaded and sinking in the Caribbean while transiting on the surface, we could have very well just marked the location and called the USCG for a rescue. However, that is not what sailors do, while we had no room onboard and no desire to take a bunch of filthy lice ridden Haitians below decks, we could pull them up the side of the sub, give them water and hose them off, treat any medical issue we could, etc.; until the USCG showed up to transport. I know the feeling those captains and pilots felt during the Manhattan evacuation. It is what sailors do. The USCG should be commended for helping, not hindering the evacuation. And the real heroes are the survivors that patiently wait their turn.