September 11, 2001 I remember...

I remember that day so well, as I’m sure that everyone who is old enough to remember does. I woke up that morning to hear the TV on downstairs in my mother-in-law’s home where we were living at the time. I went to the landing to see why she had it turned up so loud and saw the loop of the air planes being flown into the World Trade Center. We watched in horror and prayed that the people would make it out okay. The TV reporters were talking about what had happened so far and were commenting on how the buildings were built in such a way that they were strong enough to take this hit. They didn’t show the actual horror of people trying to escape the buildings, just the buildings from a distance getting hit by the planes, over and over. And suddenly they stopped the loop to show to our horror that the towers were falling. We still prayed for miracles and we cried too and we watched our TVs for days trying to find out all we could and make sense of it all. We had to explain to a three year old what was going on…there was no explaining why this had happened. And finally after a day or two we had to turn off the TV because there was nothing more to learn and all they were showing it seemed was the same loop tape.

No one that I knew personally died that day that I know of. So I feel at a loss on how to begin a tribute to a man I didn’t know.

Here’s what I do know about him:
Joseph Plumitallo, 45, bond broker shared love of horses with his son
The Cantor Fitzgerald employee owned several trotters
Date of Death 9/11/2001
By Frank Williams
Advance staff writer Staten Island Advance
Tuesday, 11/27/2001
Joseph Plumitallo loved owning horses.
The former Oakwood resident could be seen most Saturdays "scoping out" his trotters at the Freehold (N.J.) Raceway with his 5-year-old son, Joseph.
"He loved the excitement and the animals themselves. Always, even as a kid, he loved the races," said his wife of 18 years, the former Doreen Manno. "My son loves the horses, too. The two of them would go to the barn for a visit after my husband picked my son up from karate. It was something they did together." Some of the 45-year-old's favorite trotters were El Diablo, Almahurst Frontier, Rebel Rouser and Apple Picker, which was his first.
Mr. Plumitallo, who is among the missing in the attacks on the World Trade Center, had been a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald for 18 years. He was at his desk on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, talking to a friend when the plane hit the building, and the call was cut off. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Plumitallo moved to Oakwood in 1989 and settled in Manalapan, N.J., in 1992.
"He was very happy. He was a guy who always saw the glass half-full," said his wife. "He found good things in everybody. He loved life itself." And he was always there to help out his family and friends.
"He was the big brother I never had," said a friend, who asked not to be identified.
Mr. Plumitallo, who loved getting the family together on weekends, enjoyed taking his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, to father/daughter dances and watching them perform in dance competitions.
An avid sports fan, he regularly attended Rangers, Mets and Jets games as well as many Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and World Series games, including last year's Subway Series.
Mr. Plumitallo, a member of New York Sports Club in Travis, also enjoyed playing racquetball and golf in his spare time.
"I'm going to miss everything about him," said Mrs. Plumitallo. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
In addition to his wife, Doreen, his son, Joseph, and his daughters, Genna and Lisa, surviving are his father, Louis; a brother, Louis, and three sisters, Phyllis Volpe, Joan Pecocaro and Nancy Brady.
There will be a memorial mass Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Manalapan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Another memorial that I found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From A&P to Wall Street

Hey, tell the guys in Bensonhurst: Joe's horse came in first at Freehold the other day.

Yeah, the same Joseph Plumitallo who used to be the stock boy at the Stillwell Avenue A&P, where at 17 he caught the eye of Doreen Manno, 16, the meat wrapper. Got married and lived in a room in his parents' house on Lake Street. Talked his way into a bottom-rung job on Wall Street. Rode the F train to his future, as a Cantor Fitzgerald bond broker. Went from a polyester suit at the 1976 Lafayette High prom to wearing pinstripes, buying a few horses, and, at 45, treating clients to Super Bowls.

He was quite a talker. He would start that story of how Ms. Manno nodded off after one drink on a date at Dangerfield's, slept through dinner, dessert, "the whole show, asleep" and — here's where his smile would widen, eyes locked on Ms. Manno's, for the punch line — "in the ladies' room." And so many other stories.

Dressed impeccably, he would take his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, in new white outfits, to the hometown Father- Daughter Dance in Manalapan, N.J. He would drive his son, Joseph Jr., 5, over to the stable at Gaitway Farm on a Saturday to watch his favorite, El Diablo, get ready to race.

Are Diablo and the others still racing? You bet. It was Genna's wish, and Lisa's, and Joe Jr.'s. And you have to believe it would have been Joe's.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 11, 2001.


JOSEPH PLUMITALLO, 45, of Manalapan, N.J., loved the ponies. A bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, Plumitallo could be found most Saturdays checking out the horses he owned at the Freehold Raceway with his young son. "He loved the excitement and the animals themselves," said his wife Doreen Plumitallo. "Always, even as a kid, he loved the races." Plumitallo was talking on the phone to a friend when hijacked airplanes hit the World Trade Center Sept. 11. Besides his son, Plumitallo had two daughters. "I'm going to miss everything about him," his wife said. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."

Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
********************
I found that New York City named a street after Joseph in Staten Island. They renamed a lot of other streets as well, look here There was also a Memorial Golf outting in his name

Blogger isn't letting me post any pictures today...I'm guessing it's because everyone else is also posting these tributes...which is a good thing. To see a picture of Joseph click here. And here is a picture of a memorial that was placed in his hometown.

I know from what I’ve read that Joseph was a good husband and father. I know that a huge hole was torn in all our lives that day but nothing compared to what happened to those families. I still pray for them all.

While I didn't personally loose a friend or loved one that day this has touched me personally. My next-door neighbor's Son is currently stationed in Iraq and his wife could be sent over too leaving their 9 month old son. My brother is going to Kuwait for a year. My friend's husband is going to Afghanistan for a year. And there is always a chance that my DH could go too although currently his position is taking care of our homeland.

There were 2996 Victims/Heros/Angels that day. Men and women who gave their lives because of some man who is believed to be hiding in a cave half a world away hates Americans. Part of me wants Bin Laden to be dead and rotting in a cave and another part wants him to be alive and still rotting in that same cave.

My Pastor said that he saw a comic strip after 9/11 that had in the first square people wearing t-shirts that said African-American, German-American, Asian-American, etc. The caption read "Before 9/11." The next square showed the same people with shirts that said American. The capition read "After 9/11."

If the goal of the terrorist was to separate us, they failed miserably. All they've achieved is to stir up a hornet's nest.

We'll never forget and we'll never back down.

I borrowed this from Maremagnum. I thought that we could use a little Hope. It takes a few seconds to load.