Remembering 9/11: Ten years

Take a moment to remember University of Tulsa and Memorial High School graduate Jayesh Shah, who worked on the 103rd floor of the north tower for Cantor Fitzgerald, and to pray for his family, who are there at Ground Zero for today's commemorations. This 2002 story from the Houston Chronicle tells about Jay's family and their desperate search for some hopeful word.

Links, thoughts from myself and others:

Hot Air's Allahpundit was in his downtown Manhattan apartment when the planes hit the towers. Two years ago he serialized his memories on Twitter; Lori Ziganto put them in order and posted them on her blog for posterity. [Fear not: Despite her blog's name, it is entirely safe for work.]

Gerard Vanderleun watched events unfold from across the East River in Brooklyn Heights. He had been online on a message board, posting his reflections; these are his contemporaneous notes of the attack and aftermath.

Ron Coleman was in midtown Manhattan when the planes hit. He writes of the confusion of the day and his journey back to his home in New Jersey.

Robert N. Going went to Ground Zero as a volunteer at a respite center in November 2001. He has reposted his diary of four weeks there.

Also on Robert's site: The reflections of legendary baseball player Buck O'Neil, then 90, on the first anniversary of the attacks:

America was asleep. We were all sleeping. We had seen these kinds of men before with bombs tied to their bodies, killing people in Israel and Ireland and other places. These men were heroes to their people. They were martyrs to their families. Their mothers and fathers were proud of them for killing, you understand? We all knew what was happening over there.

But that was over there. We thought it would always be over there. We were fast asleep. And what happened? We took these murderers in. We taught them how to fly. We are such a trusting country. Yes, you can see how it happened.

Here Is New York: A photographic witness to the events of 9/11 by thousands of amateur photographers. (We had the privilege of seeing this powerful exhibit in person when it was shown in Tampa in fall 2002.)

The Telegraph: 9/11: How the drama unfolded aboard Air Force One, inside the White House bunker and at the Pentagon

History Channel: Witness to 9/11: 102 minutes that changed America: Videos from eyewitnesses around New York City.

From 2010: Remembering 9/11: Where I was when I heard: My personal recollections of the day and the weeks following.