28Prowler525
09-11-2006, 08:12 AM
The Friday before September 11th my business partner (Gary) and I flew to New York City to visit and stay with my sister and soon to be husband Doug Irgang http://www.irgang.com/., before heading to Pennsylvania for a business meeting. We spent the long weekend eating pizza, laughing and just screwing around along with taking Gary to lower Manhattan. On Sunday evening Gary and I drove a rental to Malvern PA to visit a customer with plans to return to NY Tuesday (9-11) morning and fly back home Wednesday morning. On Tuesday I woke up when I heard Gary in the shower and turned on the TV. They were showing the Tower burning and a couple minutes later the second plane slammed the second Tower. Being from the west coast and still a bit hazy from cocktails the night before, I find myself relieved that it’s only around 6:00 a.m. my time. Thank God Doug isn’t at work yet, and the Towers aren’t filled with people, I say to Gary who has just come out of the bathroom. Of course he is clear headed and tells me it’s 9:00 whatever O’clock. I immediately get that sick to your stomach feeling, and grab my phone to call my sister who is teaching in the City. Her phone just rings and rings, my Moms phone is busy. I call my Dad to see if he new what was going on and had heard from my sister. He had just turned on the TV so we decided to call each other if we got in touch with her. I called my step Dad’s cell and he picks up and tells me that my Mom is talking to my sister and that my sister got a voice mail from Doug when the first plane hit saying “don’t worry it hit the other Tower, I’m fine I’ll call you back when I can”.
I also spent a lot of time on the phone with my wife who was scared to death when the plane hit in Penn., and basically in hysterics with the possible/probable death of Doug.
Gary and I hung around the Hotel for the next few hours as I stayed in touch with my family waiting to hear the words “we heard form Doug and all is good”. Finally Gary got me in the car and we drove down toward Baltimore to get my mind on other things, which turned out to be impossible. At about 6:00 Tuesday evening we got back to the Hotel with still no word from Doug. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!
We decided that on Wednesday morning we would drive up to Connecticut to GaryÂ’s AuntÂ’s and UncleÂ’s house and from there I would take a train into the city so I could get to my Sister. IÂ’ll never forget crossing the Tappan Zee bridge and looking back over my shoulder at the smoke covering Lower Manhattan. We got to GaryÂ’s family and I spent a restless 15-20 minutes before being taken to the train stop. I remember sitting on the train staring out the window in complete shock, and looking around at the people with me and seeing the same look on their faces. I have never felt more connected with people in my entire life. We all had something in common that day.
I pulled into Penn Station got off the train and walked outside to meet my sister, DougÂ’s brother and his wife. My sister cried on my shoulder for 10-15 minutes before we even spoke. We all had hope, but we all knew deep down inside that DougÂ’s chances were very slim. Yet none of us spoke about the possibility of him being dead. We spent the rest of Wednesday traveling from hospital to hospital from Jersey to Long Island. The hospitals had hand written lists of names of some survivors that were being faxed back and forth and posted on bullitin boards for people to look at and search for their friends / family. People were equally delirious with depression and rumors of survivors. It was very strange. We got home to DougÂ’s brothers apartment on Wed. night and he went up into the loft with his wife and wept for probably 20-30 minutes.
On Thursday morning we decided to go down as close to the site as possible to get some information and post pictures of Doug in hopes that someone would recognize him. Rumor had it that one of DougÂ’s friends even made a sandwich board with his blown up picture and walked around all day somewhere in the lower Manhattan area.
Any way my sister being the realist that she is brought DougÂ’s tooth brush with her so that we could turn it for future DNA usage. When we got down close to the site you could smell and hear things like it was the first time you were smelling or hearing anything. It was like being in a huge wake, with everyone walking around wearing blank stares on their faces. People were passing out photo copies with pictures and descriptions of their loved ones. Some were just sitting on the curbs or benches weeping and feeling lost and helpless. There were people reminding everyone to please take care of missing peoples pets who need food and water. Police cars and fire engines moving up and down the streets in what seemed like organized chaos. There must have been a million flyers posted in every open spot. We moved through lines to get and give information. And dropped DougÂ’s tooth brush into and envelope with my sisters contact information written on it.
My Mom, Dad and step Dad made it out on Saturday afternoon and I got home on Monday morning.
I guess the third time is not a charm, as Doug walked from the 104th floor in 1993 after the car bomb exploded (he still had his smoke blackend shirt that he wrapped around his head for the walk) and he was also 1 car away from Colin Ferguson on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993.
Doug was a great and giving person who donated his time and a lot of money to teach inner city kids how to swim. The last check he wrote was to Make-a-Wish foundation for $2500.00.
Sorry about the long and rambling post, but itÂ’s the first time I wrote out my experiences. I could have written 10 times as much to capture the whole week.
I also spent a lot of time on the phone with my wife who was scared to death when the plane hit in Penn., and basically in hysterics with the possible/probable death of Doug.
Gary and I hung around the Hotel for the next few hours as I stayed in touch with my family waiting to hear the words “we heard form Doug and all is good”. Finally Gary got me in the car and we drove down toward Baltimore to get my mind on other things, which turned out to be impossible. At about 6:00 Tuesday evening we got back to the Hotel with still no word from Doug. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!
We decided that on Wednesday morning we would drive up to Connecticut to GaryÂ’s AuntÂ’s and UncleÂ’s house and from there I would take a train into the city so I could get to my Sister. IÂ’ll never forget crossing the Tappan Zee bridge and looking back over my shoulder at the smoke covering Lower Manhattan. We got to GaryÂ’s family and I spent a restless 15-20 minutes before being taken to the train stop. I remember sitting on the train staring out the window in complete shock, and looking around at the people with me and seeing the same look on their faces. I have never felt more connected with people in my entire life. We all had something in common that day.
I pulled into Penn Station got off the train and walked outside to meet my sister, DougÂ’s brother and his wife. My sister cried on my shoulder for 10-15 minutes before we even spoke. We all had hope, but we all knew deep down inside that DougÂ’s chances were very slim. Yet none of us spoke about the possibility of him being dead. We spent the rest of Wednesday traveling from hospital to hospital from Jersey to Long Island. The hospitals had hand written lists of names of some survivors that were being faxed back and forth and posted on bullitin boards for people to look at and search for their friends / family. People were equally delirious with depression and rumors of survivors. It was very strange. We got home to DougÂ’s brothers apartment on Wed. night and he went up into the loft with his wife and wept for probably 20-30 minutes.
On Thursday morning we decided to go down as close to the site as possible to get some information and post pictures of Doug in hopes that someone would recognize him. Rumor had it that one of DougÂ’s friends even made a sandwich board with his blown up picture and walked around all day somewhere in the lower Manhattan area.
Any way my sister being the realist that she is brought DougÂ’s tooth brush with her so that we could turn it for future DNA usage. When we got down close to the site you could smell and hear things like it was the first time you were smelling or hearing anything. It was like being in a huge wake, with everyone walking around wearing blank stares on their faces. People were passing out photo copies with pictures and descriptions of their loved ones. Some were just sitting on the curbs or benches weeping and feeling lost and helpless. There were people reminding everyone to please take care of missing peoples pets who need food and water. Police cars and fire engines moving up and down the streets in what seemed like organized chaos. There must have been a million flyers posted in every open spot. We moved through lines to get and give information. And dropped DougÂ’s tooth brush into and envelope with my sisters contact information written on it.
My Mom, Dad and step Dad made it out on Saturday afternoon and I got home on Monday morning.
I guess the third time is not a charm, as Doug walked from the 104th floor in 1993 after the car bomb exploded (he still had his smoke blackend shirt that he wrapped around his head for the walk) and he was also 1 car away from Colin Ferguson on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993.
Doug was a great and giving person who donated his time and a lot of money to teach inner city kids how to swim. The last check he wrote was to Make-a-Wish foundation for $2500.00.
Sorry about the long and rambling post, but itÂ’s the first time I wrote out my experiences. I could have written 10 times as much to capture the whole week.