On September 11, 2001, EES lost a good client. We had the control system on the central chilled water plant at the World Trade Center. EES was scheduled for service at the site that day, but was postponed due to a hang-up on the purchase order, fortunately our visit was re-scheduled, to never. We knew many of the operators, some of whom stayed at their posts when the building went down.

Pat, our CEO at the time, was reaching out to each of us employees to find out where we were and ensure our safety, as we had a number of people working in New York that day. All of us were safe, but it took many hours to find that out due to lack of phone service. I, myself, was working at a pharmaceutical plant due west in New Jersey, up on the roof. I could see the tops of the towers. My wife had called to let me know a plane hit one of the towers, as she worked for the Blackberry carrier and they got a report the antenna on top of the tower went out. From her window, she could see them in the distance. At first, we thought it was a tragic accident, but when the second plane hit, we knew this was not an accident. We decided to call it quits for the day, as no one could concentrate on the tasks at hand. As I was packing up and looking towards the smoke rising from the towers, two military jet fighters flew right over us, flying low and very fast heading for Pennsylvania.

Many tragedies, acts of heroism, and stories came from that day. All of us remember where we were and will never forget the emotions permanently etched into our beings. I still have my WTC access badge as a memento.

God rest those souls who were lost.