Toshihiro Onda

Ten years is a long time.

For many of us a whole lifetime can happen in ten years.  Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, new careers, kids growing up, major life changes, etc.

Yet it seems like 9/11/2001 just happened yesterday.  Or at the most, just a couple of years ago.

And virtually every one of us who was at least of school age that day remembers where we were and what we were doing when the news first trickled down to us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

Most of us thought at first it was some ghastly accident.  That thought perished with all of us when we heard of the second plane (some of us seeing on TV) hitting the South Tower.

And then we heard the even more unthinkable news that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon.  Soon we were treated to the horrid spectacle of the Twin Towers collapsing, first the South, followed a little later by the North.  By then most of us were in total disbelief.  Some of us were in a panic.  We were obviously under attack, and there seemed to be no end to it.  Rumors started flying about other attacks.  We wondered where else was going to get struck.  If it was going to be a city we were near, or lived in.

Over the next few days the only good news we heard, other than there being no more attacks, was that the passengers of one of the hijacked airliners apparently sacrificed themselves to bring down their plane well short of it’s intended target.

But all of us knew, from the moment of the first reports of the attacks taking place, that our world had suddenly, irrevocably changed.

And particularly for the families of those 2,996 victims, whose only mistake was to go about their daily lives that fateful Tuesday morning.  To show up for work.  To board a plane for a business trip, a vacation, or just to go see some family member in Chicago, or somewhere.

Here is a repost of my contribution to Project 2,996 a couple of years ago, a tribute to one victim who dutifully showed up for work but never left:

Toshihiro Onda was a 39 year old corporate banking senior manager for Fuji Bank, whose offices occupied floors 79-82 of WTC2 (the South tower).  That morning he was supposedly working in the business office of Fuji’s Americas division, which would place him on the 82nd floor of WTC2.  According to several reports, many of Fuji’s employees were evacuated by some of the senior executives after WTC1 was hit, only to be told by security that they were safer inside the building.  Some returned to their offices, where they were caught by the second plane hitting between floors 78-84.  A few of these people were able to make it to the one undamaged stairwell in the building and escape, but most of them were trapped up there.

Sadly, there is not much information about Toshihiro Onda and his life, or his actions during 9/11.  Did he try to evacuate with the rest of his coworkers only to return to his office, believing there was no danger and loyally fulfilling his duties to the company?  Did he stay in his office the whole time?  Was he one of the heroic managers that helped usher everyone else to safety?  Did he initially survive the impact of the second plane, and if so, was he able to help others to live?  We may never know.

From what little info I was able to come up with, he was regarded by acquaintances as having a “small build as a boy”, but “active, excellent at sports, and also a high-achieving student”.  He residence was in NYC, and there is no mention anywhere of any family, so they were all likely back in his native Japan.  Beyond that, there is not much else to go on.  Sadly, not even a picture.

Toshihiro represents perfectly the average worker whose only mistake was showing up for work that day.  He was one of 24 Japanese nationals, 12 of them working for Fuji Bank, that was killed in the attacks.  Being Japanese, and a senior manager of a large bank with international offices, he was undoubtedly dedicated to his job and his company.  I hope his surviving coworkers and bosses remember his work and contributions to the company.  I hope that his friends and acquaintances remember any good times they spent with, or around, him.  I hope his surviving family, wherever they may be, remember him with dignity and honor, knowing that their son was successful with his life and his professional pursuits.

Here is a link to a basic memorial site for Toshihiro that I came across:

http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=147168

And the few sites where I was able to come up with any meaningful information about Toshihiro and what went on in the WTC2 offices of Fuji Bank that September morning:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2001_Oct_1/ai_79581097/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002-09-02-choices-usat_x.htm
http://www.prayersforpeace.org/people/memory1918.shtml

Whether he was another hero that tried to save those around him, or just another victim in the wrong place at the wrong time, we don’t know and probably never will.  But we won’t forget him.  My prayers and blessings for Toshihiro Onda and all those that knew him, that they be comforted and his name always be remembered.  And that we never forget 9/11, and all those who perished that day.  Rest in peace.

 

May we never forget the victims of that day and their families.  Or the sacrifices of those first responders who tried to save as many as they could, and often at the cost of their own lives.  Or the men and women of our armed forces who have been placing their lives on the line the past ten years to root out those responsible for the atrocities of 9/11, to bring them to justice or simply put them out of society’s misery, and make our country and the world a little safer.

And most important, make sure our children and grandchildren, and their children, know what happened that awful day.  That, like the Holocaust, it really happened and was the full responsibility of a gang of terrorists intent on sowing the seeds of evil in this world.  Tell them to never, ever, let some crackpot conspiracy “theorist” (i.e. flat-earther) tell them otherwise, to allow crass and deliberate attempts to revise the truth sway them.  Tell them so they will elect leaders (or run for office themselves) who will fight such evil, who will take sensible steps to prevent anything similar from ever happening again to America.

Never forget.