Posted by Introspective I watched everything unfold the morning of September 11, 2001 on television at my friends parents home. We were watching the news on CNN to find out what was going on in New York at the World Trade Center. One of the first things we saw was a close up of people jumping out of windows from the trade center tower to their deaths. On the day America was attacked my friends grandparents were also watching everything unfold on television. My friends grandfather on his fathers side was one month shy of his 101st birthday and his grandmother was one month shy of her 91st birthday on that faithful day in September. They are an interesting Jewish family not devout in their faith but decent and kind people and I very much enjoy being in their company. My friends grandfather who I enjoyed calling Mr. Christi assumed the pilot flying the plain had problems and that it was a tragic accident. When the second plain hit the second tower we knew it was a deliberate act and it was extremely difficult watching the towers collapse knowing thousands were killed. We were glued to the TV set the entire day watching the news as the events unfolded. Mr. Christi said it is Osama Bin Laden and his organization because Osama hates America and the Jews. Later we learned that the pentagon was hit and a plain went down in Pennsylvania. My friends grandmother said that she hopes that the White House and the Capital Building doesnt get attacked by the Arabs. I never imagined that such a thing could happen, Mr. Christi said, in our great city of New York and Washington DC. I stopped in to see them again on September 12, 2001 to see how they were doing and I had lunch with them. Mr. Christi was slowing down physically due to his age and he could no longer walk and he had difficulty hearing out of his right ear. However, his mind was sharp and he enjoyed telling stories about his life experiences and I really enjoyed listening to him. He told me about how he parachuted in to France during World War II in 1944 when he was 43 years old. He said that he didnt know what the Nazis were doing to the Jews at that time or the millions of Jews the Nazis killed in the concentration camps. He didnt become aware of that until he returned home and read about it in the news paper. He loved serving his country he said but he was fighting the Nazis with solders that were in their late teens and early 20s and he was 43 years old. However, he was proud of his war record and his service to his country. His tone of voice changed and a smile came over his face when he began to tell me how he parachuted and landed way off course in France. He landed on top of a chicken coup and next to a pig sty. When he landed on top of the chicken coup he lost his balance and fell on top of the pig. Both the chickens and the pig made such a commotion that the owner came running out of his home yelling in French with a broom in his hand. The owner thought his chickens were being attacked by his neighbors dog that was also barking at Mr. Christi. When the owner saw Mr. Christis American uniform he kissed Mr. Christi on top of the forehead and rushed him into his home so that he could clean him up. The only problem Mr. Christi had is that he could not speak a word of French and he didnt have a clue where he was in France. The Paratroopers had little clickers that they would click to let the other Paratroopers know they were American. The only problem that Mr. Christi had was every time he clicked his clicker the dog would go berserk and start barking. The Frenchman ran over with his broom to quite his neighbors dog which upset his neighbor and caused a shoving match between the two Frenchman. That was until the neighbor saw Mr. Christi in his cleaned up uniform. The neighbor quickly grabbed his dog and dragged the dog into his house. He then ran back out and kissed Mr. Christi on the forehead. Eventually Mr. Christi met up with the 101st division and made it through the war in one piece. The French were so glade to see us he said, that was also one scary experience landing in France and being lost with the Germans looking for American Paratroopers. Continued below in Part 2 Introspective
on 9/13/2004, 5:23 am
64.12.116.21
Remembering September 11, 2001 and Mr. Christi.......
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