Please remember John Bruce Eagleson

Today on this fifth anniversary of the tragedy in New York City, we remember John Bruce Eagleson. Bruce, a resident of Middletown, Connecticut was a vice president at The Westfield Group, a company running retail shops at the World Trade Center and was only seven years from retirement. He was attending a meeting on the 17th floor of the second tower when the first aircraft hit and had received a phone call from his oldest son, Kyle, urging him to leave the building right away. In midst of the tragedy, he spent his last moments helping his friends and colleagues evacuate. Of the 11 Westfield employees working there that day, 10 survived thanks to Bruce. Bruce was last seen going back into the tower to get two-way radios to stay in touch with others, just before the building collapsed.

He is survived by his wife, Gail, and his three sons: Kyle, Timothy and Brett. He has left quite an impact on those that around him. Relatives from abroad and co-workers on that day. Different memorial sites have comments from those around the nation, from Marietta, GA to Issaquah, WA. Bruce is remembered as someone who always had a kind word and a smile, and that he liked to laugh. The words I read the most are those like: selfless, concerned and thoughtful

He was avidly concerned with education and a memorial scholarship award was created to help high school students who excel in the arts. He had spent all of his life helping and nurturing others from giving swimming lessons to disabled youth, to coaching sports, to the assistance he had given those in business-related endeavors.

John Bruce Eagleson was a lot of things, what he IS though is missed. Missed by any and everyone whose life he had touched. I would have liked to have known him, and I feel slighted at the fact that I never will.


To read more tributes to the innocent victims of September 11th. Go to the 2,996 Project.