On the 9th September 2001 I took my wife for her first visit to my old barracks in Chichester, West Sussex (UK). She'd not known me when I had joined the Royal Military Police and I wanted to show her where I served and our small but fine museum. When we got to Chichester I asked her if she wanted to see the barracks first or go into town, she said she wanted to see the museum and then go to town for dinner and a tour of the Cathedral. We went around the museum and then headed into town where we had dinner and did a bit of shopping in the antique shops. When we came out of one shop we heard some private school pupils talking about 'something' happening in America but we couldn't make out what they were saying; then we heard more people talking of a disaster in New York. I phoned my Father who gave me the terrible news about the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. My wife and I went into Chichester Cathedral and said a prayer that the loss of life wouldn't be that high and that everyone had got out; we had no idea the disaster that had befallen the FDNY. As we headed home we past my barracks which now was in complete shutdown; we listened to the radio until we could get home, about 2 hours later, to watch the news. As the son of a Fireman & Firewoman and myself an ex-Junior Fireman the news that so many Brothers had died was heartbreaking.