Remembering February 26, 1993

What were you doing on February 26, 2008? Do you remember what happened 15 years ago on February 26, 1993?
...it was the beginning of the pain, the sadness, and the terror.

On February 26, 1993 12:17 PM, a truck filled with 1,500 pounds of explosives was planted by Ramzi Yousef and detonated in the underground garage of the North Tower, opening a 100 foot (30 m) hole through 5 sublevels of concrete leaving six people dead and 50,000 other workers and visitors gasping for air in the shafts of the 110 story towers.

Many people inside the North Tower were forced to walk down darkened stairwells which contained no emergency lighting, some taking two hours or more to reach safety. As the Port Authority was a bistate agency, the towers were exempt from New York City building codes. Subsequent to the bombing The Port Authority installed emergency lighting in the stairwells. It is believed that this lighting saved many lives during the events of September 11, 2001.

In 1997 and 1998, six Islamic extremists were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the bombing. According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to destabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks.

As a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who had been killed in the blast. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, relief workers found a single fractured piece of the fountain etched with the word "John"; to date it is the only remaining part of the 1993 memorial that survived the collapse of the towers.
- Quoted from Wikipedia

A fragment of the memorial to the 1993 victims
that was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.


Did you take time to pray for the families who lost so much on that day? For those who will always have that day so painfully etched into their hearts? Freedom Quilts took time to reflect on the families and to pray for them. We also took the time to make quilts for the families and let them know that yes, it's been 15 years but we still have not forgotten. It is when we fail to stop and remember that things happen.

May we always hold in blessed memory
those who were killed during the attack on February 26, 1993

Stephen Knapp
John Di Govanni
Bill Macko
Bob Kirkpatrick
Wilfred Mercado
Monica Smith, who was pregnant

Please take time to think of all who died on that day and pray
that God will continue to give all mourning families comfort and the strength to carry on.