Updated 02-21-2004
09-11-2001
My Story by John E Hoyt
I decided to go fishing about 6:30 am, before Barbara awoke to get ready and drive to her work, at MMPC, Inc., in Grand Rapids, MI. I was fishing, casting lures out, and it was one of only a few times, that I didn’t carry my cell phone out with for emergency use. Then I saw our neighbor, Bob Curtiss, 2 doors down, getting onto his pontoon boat, and speed rapidly towards me. He pulled up to me about 9:05 AM, and started telling me that he had been trying to call me at home, because he knew of my 2 sons, that lived in New York City, at that a plane had flown into one of the Trade Towers, maybe an accident or Terrorist Act.
He and I speed back home within 6 minutes, I had the TV on at my home watching the First Tower burn, when all of a sudden, another plane came into the second tower and blew out a big hole. AGHAST & DISBELIEVING..(At That point, WE ALL KNEW it wasn’t an accident but a TERRORIST ACT.).
I had chills running down my back, and my chest was aching
with grief for all those thousands of people whom were dying in
I went to the phone machine and there were 17 messages on it. Usually three is too much. I had to sit there and, patiently, hear every last one of them. It was all Barbara and Bob Cutiss calls. Barbara, “John! Pick up the phone! Where are you!? She was nearly in tears trying desperately to get a hold of me. Why don’t you answer your cell phone, etc, etc. She had unsuccessful in trying to get a hold of Jason & Joshua.
I started calling my 2 sons, Joshua and Jason on their cell phones, at their NY City apartment number,
but to no avail. All lines were either cut or busy. I knew Joshua’s workplace was not far from the Trade Towers, and I knew he knew friends there, but what scared me, was that, Jason had just told me a few weeks before, of his company, (out of Redwood City, CA), having an office in one of the Trade Towers, and that he sometimes will visit there, but that he mainly works out of Joshua’s apartment, on E. 73rd Street, or anyplace when he is Traveling to different states and countries for Merant Corp. Joshua had lived in New York for over a year and a half, now, and Jason had left CA, and stopped here in Rockford, MI to surprise me with his moving visit during my birthday on June 19th, 2001. He had a Ryder Truck moving van, he stayed for 3 days and left, I watched his rented van turn the corner, and leave for New York City, to live with his brother Josh. I had not seen either since my visit out to CA that previous year.
I tried calling Merant Corp. headquartered in Redwood City, CA. Asking if they knew where my son, Jason C. Hoyt, was today, where his itinerary placed him. They did not know, except that they knew he might be flying to CA to come to Headquarters. Well, by that time, around 10:00 AM, there was another plane, missing and presumed to be trying to maybe hit the Capitol or Congress Building, or The White House. WAS, my son, Jason, feverishly worried, as I had no phone call from either of the 2 sons), was he, chokingly, either in the trade towers that fell, or on that one plane, left in the skies. NOW, I started to panic. I had to watch the TV, top see if I could see one of my sons, and PRAY for all those people and Families, ”GOD, accept these people into your arms, and help comfort their Families.”
Then came the crashes at the Pentagon Building, and then came the Crash of Flight 99 in a PA farm land, and all aboard were presumed dead. I feared the worst, my 2 sons missing!!!
Finally, I heard from Joshua around 2:10 pm, he had been in New Jersey, leaving by car, early that morning, to the A T & T World Headquarters, not far from Manhattan, NY. Joshua was living a short ways away, as he had been doing a project for AT & T, and it was cheaper for Joshua to get an apartment there for the time period of the Project he was working on for his company, KMPG Consulting. They had all been evacuated, as this building had communications that were vital, and possibly was an attack point. He had not heard from Jason either, but told me he thought Jason was headed to, or in VT., but didn’t know what mode of transportation he was taking.
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Joshua, called me back around 4:00PM, and told me that he had heard from Jason. That he, Jason, was in a meeting in VT. Whew!!
Jason called me and his Mother about 5:00 PM. I just literally exhaled all my lungs air capacity, and I started coming down from the adrenalin and tight muscles that kept me in frozen fear. He was in a first meeting with this new client, and they would not let anyone out, to call, nor do anything, that morning or afternoon.
He was really upset about that, as he hardly knew what was going on that fateful day.
Mind you, ALL AMERICA, has stopped working, to watch, crying, screaming, calling other loved ones, while this one company will not let anyone out of the meeting rooms to call, or to watch this horrific, historical moment in time! Can you believe this?
Justin had called me, earlier, so I had all 3 sons to be comforted, and acknowledge there safety,. Justin was really upset about this terrible hateful crime. He was mad, as hell, very Angry, as were most of us that day. I asked all my sons to remember this day by writing down there thoughts about a week later. Justin was the only one son to do so, at the time. It was asking too much for the other 2, has they had close and fellow co-workers whom died or escaped that fateful day out of the falling towers.
That evening, I heard from my older
brother Jim. His son, Nathan Hoyt, was living in New York City also, working as
a waiter in a Restaurant. Jim had told me how Nathan was working only a block
or 2, from the World trade center, and that they had to run and then walk
across the bridge and go about 5 miles, along with many other thousands of
working New Yorkers. Nathan’s New York girlfriend lost her room mate in the top
restaurant of the World Trade Center.
She was devastated and grieving so bad. Nathan came home to Jim &
Sherry Hoyt at
Jason & Joshua have never much mentioned this day to any of us, and I’m sure this will be a behind the scenes, behind the minds of both of them, as long as they live.
While, we, has children, had the frightened possibility of Nukes falling near Detroit. I had envisioned a mushroom cloud coming up over the elementary school building in Clinton, Lenawee County, MI, from a nuke, from Russia, hitting Ypsilanti or the Detroit auto factories, to disable our US manufacturing capacities.
My other later thoughts were to get the bad guys, get OBL. Since, I was disabled and thought I could one thing well, is fire a high powered rifle, a 300 magnum high velocity shell, about 1/3 of a mile to cut down this terrible man whom is so hated. Yes, I believe I could do it, just drop me off at a mountain pass and wait, but reality sets in, but I could not climb anywhere’s with my heart condition, I would become the casualty, let the men whom are trained to do this kind of a job, do it, but SUPPORT them with all you have. This is one thing I can do, to relieve my tensions and sorrow about that awful day on September, 11th, 2001.
Update, as of February 20th,
2004, UBL has not been captured or killed, and Saddam Hussein has been captured
by American Coalition Troops, in Iraq. I strongly, “Support our Troops”, hate
the French & Germans for not standing with us, against another terrorist
and tyrant in Iraq. I Support, George W. Bush, as President
of the
Sincerely,
John E. Hoyt
7325 Hessler Ct, NE
Rockford, MI 49341