WeGetLetters

Date: 11/11/01
From: garvoon@aol.com (Gary Garvin)
To: Boca High classmates

Hello fellow alumni,

   Today being Veteran's Day, I feel the following letter is in order.

Two nights ago, after running some errands in northern Virginia with my brother-in-law (Bill), we happened to take Rt. 395 on our way to grab a bite to eat in Crystal City, VA.

   Rt. 395 was crossed by the hijacker's plane on his way to crashing into the Pentagon.

   Sure enough, as we rounded a bend in the highway, there it was ... all lit up like a baseball stadium. The Pentagon accompanied with a full view of the senseless and destructive damage that had taken place two months ago. Our conversation simply stopped. Our jaws dropped. One cannot describe the magnitude of the damage that was caused on that black day. Emotions silently welled. We were really quiet. The silence WAS deafening.

   I can't count the number of times I've seen the Pentagon from land and air, but I had forgotton its mammoth size ... something that one cannot comprehend by viewing it on a TV screen. The place is enormous.

   On top of this experience, we had made a wrong turn off of Rt. 395 ... right into one of the Pentagon's parking lots ... closest to the crash site. We had a little explaining to do to security, but the officer questioning us knew how confusing the highway system was in that area, let us go. BUT, while I was there, what I saw will stick with me the remainder of my days. Sure, a lot of the debris had been removed, but even that late at night, what appeared to be ants, were working to clean-up and rebuild the icon of our nation's military.

   We finally made it to the nearby sports bar in Crystal City for a late night bite to eat. In the foyer, on the way into the establishment, there was a large 3' x 5' poster on the wall. It had a photo of the Pentagon, still on fire, and it listed EVERY victim. Some names were accompanied with photos. Some of those people were "regulars" at the sports bar we were visiting. That's when it really hit me. All of a sudden there were faces and names were attached to the dreaded event. Sadness and anger were the emotions of the moment.

   Being dwarfed by the numbers from the World Trade Center, one can understand why maybe the Pentagon tragedy was an "oh, by the way" topic in the news (not here, locally, though). But let me say this ... the same people were sitting unknowingly in their offices, in meeting rooms, working on PCs, gabbing at the water cooler, etc., as those were doing at the WTC. They were people like you and me. They had families. Some weren't killed but have horrific amounts of third degree burns over their bodies. They have a tough road ahead.

   There is a lot of rebuilding to do.

   So, on this Veteran's Day, 2001, while we have service people over in a very unfriendly environment, PLEASE take a moment to offer thanks to them for the sacrifices that they are making. It has got to be scarier than HELL over there ... wouldn't you agree?

   You all have a nice weekend, and THANKS for listening,

   Gary

Subj: Sept. 11th
Date: 12/18/2001
From whnorris5@msn.com
To: garvoon@aol.com

Dear Gary;

   Have been out of touch for a while as I changed servers and lost all my E-Mail addresses. Got a card from Kathy and got back on today and took a look at your BRHS site and the letters about Sept. 11 and thought I might share my experience with you.

   As you know, I am a 737 Captain for Continental Air Lines. I had traded my regularly scheduled flight that day for one that went from Newark, NJ to Seattle in one of our new 737-800 models so I could have dinner with my oldest son who is an engineer for Boeing and lives in Seattle. Little did I know that when I left Newark that morning that I was 5 airplanes (and 4 minutes) behind United flight 93, which ended up crashing in the Pennsylvania countryside. We had just crossed Lake Michigan into Wisconsin when I got a call from the Air Traffic Control Center ordering me to land at the nearest suitable airport. When I asked what the reason for the request was, I was told that it was a matter of "grave national security" and I would be told when I got on the ground by my company. My first thought was that I had a bomb on the airplane. I turned the airplane over to my co-pilot while I briefed my flight attendants, and turned back to land in Milwaukee. After landing, the station manager for Continental in Milwaukee came on the airplane, and told me what had happened in New York and Washington, and I passed this on to my passengers. One girl in 8D immediately began crying (her dad worked at the Pentagon) and another from first class ran off the airplane (his brother worked in the World Trade Center). Neither were hurt in the crashes, by the way, but I spent the next several days in a hotel in Milwaukee with my passengers. My daughter, who is a college student in Los Angeles, just wanted to hear my voice. As she put it "I'm glad you weren't one of the pilots, but I know they were somebody's dad's". Quite true, I'm afraid. I did get to Seattle later that week , but not before we all sat on the airplane together, passengers and crew, and prayed for our president and families of those who had lost so much on Sept. 11. It was quite a humbling experience.

   If you've flown since then, you know quite a few things have changed in our industry. Continental will lay off 993 pilots (485 so far) although our customers are coming back.

   We will all be changed in other ways, some of them good in my opinion, but this will be the first Christmas for those families who have lost someone either on those flights or on the ground on Sept. 11. Our prayers need to be with them.

   Hope we can all get together some time in the near future-I'd sure be up for that if we could put it together.

Hope, too, things are going well for you this Christmas season.

Your BRHS friend,

Bill Norris
Class of '68

   Gosh Bill, sounds like there were some pretty anxious moments for you. It almost seems like everybody knows someone from either the Pentagon or World Trade Center towers in one fashion or another. I'm glad everything worked out for the passengers, the crew, and of course, yourself!

Gary

Date: 01/03/02
From: Jim Davidson
To: garvoon@aol.com
Subj: Great to Read About All of You

Hello Everyone from Class of '68.

I've been out of touch with all of you since our 20th reunion except for Hud Sturm. He hears from Lee Bishop and others and passes e-mails to me overseas. Good to hear of old friends Cookie Tylander, Pat Madden, and Jeanie Kolinski.

I joined the Foreign Service in 1994, after a couple of years as a civil servant with the State Department, seven years with other federal agencies, four years in the Navy, six years at FAU, and six years as a surf bum. I married an FAU graduate in 1989; we have a seven year-old daughter. Our first assignment in the Foreign Service was American Embassy Lima, Peru. It was very exciting with occasional terrorism, beautiful geography, and a great job. Next we went to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for four years. Another fun place--Dominicans know how to enjoy life. Since August 2001, we've been in Muscat, Oman. My job in the embassy is information programs officer. It's a combination of IT specialist and communications officer. Most of my staff are foreign nationals--some speak English.

Oman is the most foreign place that I ever imagined. I also worked in Panama, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Guam, and Diego Garcia, before joining the Foreign Service. In Oman, we work Saturday thru Wednesday. Omanis are very pleasant and traditional people. Their lives revolve around family and religion. Muscat is probably the world's cleanest, safest, and hottest capital city.

I am still surfing as much as possible. The water was cold in Peru most of the year, but we still managed to travel for waves (including Chile) and get some good surf in warmer waters of North Peru. The Dominican Republic has much better waves than I expected. The last year there, a friend had me out in the surf almost every weekend. Oman also has great waves, but they are hours south of Muscat. I haven't seen much wavewise in town yet, but did see some 2-3 footers in Dubai, UAE last week. I plan to get south for surf as soon as I can find someone else in this country that surfs!

Please e-mail and tell me what you are doing. For some reason, nobody wants to visit the Middle East for a vacation this year. Your 1968 classmate . . .

Jim Davidson