Update 9/11/2001: The 2996 Project server is hammered. Here is an alternate list of tributes at The Blogging Times.

The 2996 Project is being mirrored at http://www.madmommajen.com/ due to the ISP telling the blogger he’s way exceeding his traffic quotas..:)

A man born in 1967 died the morning of September 11th, 2001 in New York City, New York, USA. He was 33 years old by the records I can find. Web search engines don’t place this man in history other than he is in the many places where the victims of 9/11/2001 have been posted. The specifics are merely Mark was 33, and a resident of New York, and died in the vicinity of the World Trade Center buildings.

Some of the lists I found would contain a company name of job of some of the victims, but this information about Mark wasn’t posted.

The purpose of this post is to highlight Mark, separate from, but as one of those who perished that day. I intend to keep searching for information on Mark, so as to make his memory more concrete, not just as a letters on a list. Please check back for updates.

Update 9/12/2006: Because of the power of the net and this project, Naya posted a link to a letter of Dec 7, 2002, to a Rockaway newpaper that told who Mark Gilles is:

Loss That Slipped Thru Cracks

Dear Editor;

Many local heroes and victims of the 9/11 tragedy have been honored in our community. The loss of Mark Gilles has slipped through the cracks. Mark, a resident of the Shoreview Cooperative in Far Rockaway, formerly lived in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and moved to Rockaway in November 2000.

An accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Mark was very interested in cooperative living and management. Shortly after moving to Shoreview, Mark joined the Board of Directors and volunteered his accounting skills.

In the process of making a career change, Mark was employed by Account Temps and assigned to Cantor Fitzgerald in the WTC on 9/11/01.

Mark was 33 years old. He is survived by his fiancé Sherice, their daughter Jasmine, who is now nine, and his mother Giselle, of Brooklyn.

Mark’s life ended too quickly for him to really enjoy the new community he joined.

NORMAN SILVERMAN

Mark’s daughter, Jasmine is 13 years old and without her father today. By his assignment that day, he was one of the many who perished working for the financial firm Cantor-Fitzgerald.

Mark also had a sister. She was quoted:

“It’s been over two weeks, and we haven’t heard anything,” said Myriam Gilles, whose brother Mark Gilles, 33, of Brooklyn, is missing. “We’ve got to get some closure instead of waiting, waiting, waiting.”

The death was hard enough, but I imagine his temporary work status was cause for confusion and lack of notification, and more anxieity for his fiancé, daughter, mother and sister.

At Legacy.com, there are several entires by Mark’s friends:

July 19, 2002
Your infectious laugh and sense of humor always made people smile. Nothing was ever wrong in the world when seen thru your eyes. I can’t believe you are gone but I know you are up there making everyone laugh during these trying times. The one regret I have is that we never got back on the court and played one more game. God bless and when my time is finished here, have the ball and your laugh ready for me. I will always be proud of the way you lived your life, my friend.
Ray Whiteman (Dallas, TX )

Mark played pickup ball, and he was an optomist, and most likely a cut up, as well as a good friend.

August 28, 2002
Coming up on almost a year and I still have the hardest time believing you are not around.

You have come up in so many of our conversations. Those good ole days – back in the days – riding through the Stuy in the Buick, going to the Shadow, Finn Bogging on the Deuce, balling in the Nine, 211.

You’ll always be miss Finns.

Gregory Bentham (Brooklyn, NY )

Ray comes back again to talk to his friend:

September 10, 2004
another year, another tear. want you to know that there are still folks missing you. seems like yesterday when i last heard “come on b” from you. keep laughing “big man”, keep laughing…..
Ray Whiteman (washington, DC )

At the 911 Heros site, I found this post to Mark:

I miss you; it took a long time for me to accept that I was never going to see your face. I regret all the things left unsaid and undone between us. All this time has passed: nearly three years now. And I am vacant and lost without you. I have read the reports and sorted through all the paper work, only to realize there is no comfort in them. I long for Justus and I am striving to find my way without you.
May God Have Mercy on Us All

*** Posted by Teri Johnson on 2004-07-24 ***

Other Posts of note:

Steeljaw Scribe was at the Pentagon on 9/11 and remembers some of his shipmates here and here. He tells his story of that morning in two posts: Part I and II.

Black Five has a memorial to retired Army Officer and former British Army soldier Rick Rescorla, who died while “running to the sound of the guns” on the morning of 9/11/2001. He wasn’t there and he didn’t have to go, but, like the first responders and other heros of that day, he put others above his own life. He is credited with savings thousands, for pushing an evacuation plan for his company after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Rick is a real hero, serving the Queen, our Presidents, the Constitution in Vietnam and then his fellow Americans on 9/11/2001.

Trackbacked at:
Stop the ACLU

The 2996 Project Blogroll site is here.