Norfolk and 9/11

I'm at work right now and Rod just copied/pasted this article to me from yesterday. It makes him more excited and proud to become a police officer, and a Norfolk one at that...

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Filed by Mary Kay Mallonee
Norfolk Police remember their contribution to the 9/11 recovery

Sep 11, 2007 05:02

"I will never forget that smell," said Captain Dave Huffman at the Norfolk Police Department, remembering the unmistakable and inescapable stench of decaying bodies at Ground Zero in New York City.

Soon after the terrorists attacked, exactly six years ago today, Huffman cobbled together a small group of fellow Norfolk officers and drove all night. They had no real plan. They just knew they could not stay here and watch the chaos on television.

They approached the scene in stunned silence.

"The sun was coming up and we could see the smoke," said Huffman. "We all just kind of froze for a minute and looked at the magnitude of it."

They got within a half mile of Ground Zero and had to hoof it the rest of the way.

Lugging all their gear, the men passed things they've never seen in all their years patrolling the streets of Norfolk. They pressed on, passing squashed fire trucks and ambulances that only came up to their knees. They passed a dusty, banged up laptop computer that had been blown out of someone's office in the towers and landed about 12 blocks away.

"What really stood out to me were the firefighters. I could see off in the distance crawling into those holes, those pockets that were made when the buildings fell. They were crawling in there, not thinking anything of their own safety," said Officer Dave White.

The firefighters were scrambling to find survivors, but only found bodies.

The Norfolk officers reached the base of that mountain made of twisted metal, crumbled concrete and mangled bodies. They immediately jumped in on the "bucket line" helping to clear away that mountain - one bucket at a time.

"We saw teeth, chunks of flesh, jewelry, wallets," said Captain Huffman.

A firefighter's helmet went through the line at one time.

Office Dave White remembers finding a plaque in the rubble. When he thinks of September 11th, he thinks of that plaque, realizing that at one moment there was a businessman sitting in his office with that plaque on his wall - and the next moment, there was a Norfolk police officer holding that plaque, standing atop a massive pile of debris and bodies.

Sergeant Bill Thompson worked the bucket line next to a New York fire chief. He was an older gentleman and looked to Sgt. Thompson like he had seen a lot in his career.

"He looked at me and saw my uniform and asked me if we had come up from Norfolk, Virginia. I said we had, and he put his bucket down and hugged me and held me. I'm starting to break up thinking about it," said Sgt. Thompson, trying to keep the tears welling up his eyes from falling.

Capt. Huffman said, "I talked to a fireman who had taken the day off and his whole company got wiped out."

As they worked the "bucket line" and helped move countless stretchers to make-shift morgues, the Norfolk officers each noticed the American flags. They had popped up everywhere, waving pride and patriotism for all to see.

People would hand the officers food and when they unwrapped it, they'd find notes from New Yorkers thanking them.

The men worked until they could barely stand any longer. Then, they worked some more. When they finally walked off for a break they were met with something that brought these strong, tough police officers to tears.

"There was a massive crowd of people and all they wanted to do was touch us and thank us for coming," said Capt. Huffman, choking back his tears.

"I was awestruck and happy to be there," said Officer Leldon Sapp.

Officer Rich Deleo is from Long Island. He's been to the Twin Towers dozens of times.

"It was a huge awakening to the amount of terror that is out there, how devastating it can be and how quickly it can take place," he said.

Sgt. Thompson returned to Ground Zero days later with the Norfolk Police Department's Honor Guard. They attended one funeral after another, amazed at the outpouring of love and support.

"It felt like we were family," he said.

Officer James White came home from that unreal trip and soon after his son announced he had joined the Marines to help fight back. His son spent seven months in Iraq and came home safe and sound in February, to a very proud father.

These officers believe that the U.S. and Hampton Roads are more prepared for terrorism now than ever before.

"We can never forget this. Never forget it, or we are going to pay the price again," said Captain Huffman.

This group of brave men ask us now to remember the victims, remember that day, for those memories will help us stay vigilant and safe.

Missing Family

It's Labor Day weekend... the last weekend of the summer. ): We've been spending most of it outside, at the beach, and today we're going to take advantage of the pool since it closes after Monday. We saw Vertical Horizon at the strip last night with Stacey, and went to Smokey Bones with her, Lee and Brett the night before. We saw "Superbad" yesterday with them plus Kaley and Billy. It was really stupid but hilarious, of course.

Right now we're being bums until around lunch time, then we'll probably head over to the pool with a picnic or something. Roddy's on the phone with Grams and Pop. Trudy and the family are there and we wish we were there, too! We hate being so far away from our families.

Aside from that, everything's going great. Rod has another interview on the 5th for the Academy, and my work is going great. Rod's been enjoying his last month before he starts working again. He's gotten kind of bored at the house by himself, I think... I don't know why he doesn't go out and see friends more... he says because he's on vacation and doesn't need to see anyone. He's gotten a lot done as far as errands and chores and things he's wanted to do, though, so that's good.

The dogs are doing well, too (just thought I'd throw them in there).

We saw Ray last night. He came over on Friday while I was at work and he and Rod went to the pool together and then to a movie, but I missed him so we decided to stop by his apartment last night. He misses us and we miss him, but we're still glad to have our own place. I really missed him in general, along with his little quirks like not letting me leave his room until I'd helped him pick out a complete outfit for the club.

There are fireworks tonight at the beach. That should be fun. I haven't seen Steph and Jay in a long time and it was her twenty-first birthday on the 29th, so I really need to get together with her... not to mention we have to discuss what's going on with me decorating for her wedding (which is in THIRTEEN days and I still haven't picked out and gotten a dress).

Well, not much else to tell....

BBQ at the W's

This video is from sometime in June, but I just got ahold of it recently. It was a BBQ we went to at Nick and Candi's house and Baker, Nick, Crosby and another guy (whose name I don't remember) attacked Roddy and tickled him - it was hilarious.

Check it out.

Get em"!!!!

At Work

OK, I'm at work and Aidan just went down for a nap. I've been researching different infant exercises and activities to stimulate their growth and development and found a bunch of great stuff.

My classes started again today. I'm only taking one this semester: English III.

Tomorrow I get paid, yay, and then we're going over to Candi and Nick's for a barbecue. Right now I'm working on figuring out my options for health insurance since being on my dad's plan will expire in September.

Rod had his police academy "informal" interview yesterday and said it went great. They asked him basically the same, predictable questions they've been asking him all along... has he ever abused prescription drugs, etc. We're so excited to hear about a final date for the class to begin and proof he has a spot in it (which of course, he does).

My plan is to be a nanny until I get an Associate degree, at which time Rod will probably be out of the academy and will have worked in Norfolk the amount of time they need him to before he can transfer to wherever he wants, and then maybe we'll move back up north and I'll work in a child care center or nursery school for a little while. Then, eventually I'll get a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Development or Psychology, and maybe then a Masters in Literature. I want to be a published author someday, too!

These are my hopes and goals. I'd really like to have my own daycare... I just never thought it'd pay enough or impress my family enough like being a nurse or a biologist would, but I realized after going to Maine and thinking about it that it's about what's best for me and what is most rewarding and important to me.

When I have children of my own, I could still be with them during the day before they start school instead of having to hire my own nanny or child care, which ironically I think I'd be too scared to do with all the horror stories you hear these days.

I want to make child care and education better for babies and toddlers, instead of these places you see these days with a woman with twelve kids in her one bedroom apartment watching soap operas and not doing any developmentally proactive activities.

Watching children (people) grow and learn is the most fascinating and rewarding thing in my opinion.

Anyway... I'm going to stop babbling and clean up some of Aidan's toys around the floor since it's already 2:45. He'll probably be waking up in fifteen minutes or so.

<3

New Stuff

I got a new job a few days ago. I'm a nanny again, now for a 3-month old boy named Aidan. He's such a sweet and HAPPY baby.

I've thought a lot more about getting into Child Psychology, Social Work or Child Care. Talking with Grams about her life and her running a nursery really inspired me to do something I want regardless of any doubts or difficulties. In high school I was always told that I should get into social work with children, which could be difficult and rewarding at the same time. And I've always enjoyed being a nanny and working with children.

A year and a half ago, Ashley and I wanted to start a daycare because we both loved taking care of children, but I'd just moved to the area, we were just getting to know each other, and then she got pregnant with a child of her own! =) It wouldn't have been a good idea, it would've taken a lot of money and planning, and I don't even plan on being here permanently.

More later... I got distracted and now it's hours later and I need to go to sleep, I have to be up in 6 1/2 hours. Night!

Home

We're back in Virginia Beach... I'm really tired right now, so this won't be long. Daniel's here visiting us for the week, we fly him back to CT on Friday afternoon. I "lucked out" (if you can call it that, things have been kind of screwed up) not having to work this week, so I've gotten to spend time with the boys. Today we went to Ocean Breeze water park, they're having Military Appreciation week so we got in cheap. It was a lot of fun. Tonight we went to Cinema Cafe to eat some dinner and watch "Knocked Up." Any of you who haven't seen it yet and enjoy ridiculous comedy--we recommend this one.

It's 1:50 AM and I'm exhausted... I don't know why I'm up on my computer. I got thirsty, went into the kitchen to get some water, and got tempted by my computer to check my e-mail and my MySpace and all that.

Goodnight.

Vacation

Our trip to Maine was amazing, as always!

We drove up Monday morning with Daniel and stayed with Roddy's grandparents all week. We just got back to Connecticut a couple of hours ago. My parents are going out for dinner and we're hopefully spending a little while over here with Ken and Bry and maybe Lauren and maybe Daniel swimming in the pool... but it sounds like Ken and Bryan might have some other things to do, which is too bad because we haven't seen Bryan recently.

Daniel comes back down to VB with us tomorrow and spends the week before we fly him back up to CT.

The week was great in Maine, except for a day that was rainy, we had a blast sailing, boating, hiking, sight-seeing, eating, shopping, relaxing... it was great, maybe even better than last summer, if possible.

Last weekend in CT before Maine I got to see an old friend I haven't seen in a couple years, one of my previous best friends. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time together, but it was still nice to see her and hang out for a bit. We had a celebratory dinner for Roddy with our parents at Cuckoo's Nest which was nice, and visited the C's at Oliver's for lunch on Sunday, and saw Trudy and Bruce and Sammy on the way up to Maine. Their house is incredible! Samantha and I have a lot in common... she loves horses like I used to when I was younger.

I did a lot of thinking about my career possibilities this week. I talked to Mary (Roddy's grandmother) a lot about her life and how she got involved with Rod (Roddy's grandfather) while he was in the Marines and she moved around with him and had to make friends. He got out of the service after a short time, like Roddy is, and Mary started a nursery school. That was something I used to think about doing, but never thought I could or that I wouldn't get very much money doing it. I realized that a lot of my focus on what career I choose has to do with money and security in it, which I forgot is one of the reasons I get stressed and pressured about picking a field I may not even be interested in.

I just need to keep in mind there are other things, too, that I may really be great for and not considering.

Ahh... back to reality on Monday for me. Hopefully my work week won't be too packed because I want to spend time with Roddy and DJ and do some of the things they have planned with them. So sad vacation is over... I'll never forget flying mints and "the shit."

Thanks to everyone for our house-warming gifts... Grampy and Joyce for the gorgeous bowl and plate and Grams and Pop for the dishes, clock and wicker table and chairs for our balcony. And Grandma and Grandpa for the pictures! And thanks to Sharon and Dan for watching the pups for us. (:

Now we get to look forward to Martha's Vineyard!