Where were you when you first heard of 911, back on September 11, 2001? I will go first. I was in the dental chair in Gridley when there was some back and forth discussion about a plane crashing into a building in New York City. The dentist mentioned something about a attack at the World Trade Center a few years earlier. After my dental appointment, I made a delivery to the Gridley Telephone Company and their cable had news on the incident. All the news was without specificity -- and at one point the announcer thought "about 50 were injured, with perhaps a dozen ." Later we learned of the much larger tragedy.
So, I ask each of you to jog your memories. Likely you have a lasting memory of that day.
From the Homestead....Perry, I
11 comments:
I definitely remember that day. I was on my way to work at Meadows and heard on WJBC that a small plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. When I got to the Campus Center, I turned on the TV and watched with horror as it unfolded and the plane crashes kept coming! It was "exercise day" at Meadows, so the ladies came and we did our exercises, then I went home and was glued to the TV the rest of the day. It was - and still is -- almost unbelievable.
I had just gotten home from working the night shift and I was crawling into bed when I got a call from Nick about the plane crashes at the Towers. I usually immediately fall asleep when I go to bed in the mornings, and I definitely did not understand the impact of what was going on until I woke up about noon and tuned in to the TV. To me, even more memorable than the planes hitting the towers, are the pictures of people running in the streets, the white clouds chasing them and overtaking some...how tragedy can shut down a city, even a nation, in one quick action by a few determined people. It's scary to think of all the little children and young people being trained at this very moment with only objective in mind...to destroy America. It makes me wonder about the fact that further major attacks have been averted so far. How many incidents are happening that we are not privy to? Is Bush and the government really on top of it and stopping schemes before they are carried out, or is the enemy biding their time for the right attack at the right moment? It's a scary world, and I'm just thankful for God's promises for a new and perfect eternity!
I was at work (Xenia Christian High School, Xenia, OH) and the school secretary had just put down the phone when I walked in the office. She said a parent had called about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Xenia is very close to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base so we had quite a few students whose parents were either in the Air Force or employed at the base. I spent the rest of the morning in my office listening to the radio, and then the calls started flying to cancel all athletic events that evening.
That evening I got in line for gas which thankfully the price hadn’t been gouged because I had a meeting the next day about an hour away. I sat in line wondering if that meeting would be cancelled. I, too, spent the evening glued to the television. During the night I woke up and turned on the television then. Guiliani was having a press conference, and they still had no idea how many had died.
It was very strange for the next few days to not hear airplanes or see the jet lines in the skies. On Thursday at a couple of athletic events it was interesting to hear several parents who had been traveling for work discuss the arrangements they had to make and the added expense of getting back to SW Ohio.
On Friday of that week I was on an errand and listened to the National Prayer Service or whatever it was called and sat in my car and cried. Our country was under attack not by a country we could identify but by an ideology without geographical boundaries.
I remember calling Jason after seeing on the news that a plane had crashed into the first tower, then the second. He told me not to worry and said soemthing about "if there's one more incident, I promise I'll come home." While we were on the phone, I saw the news about the Pentagon and told him he had to leave. He said, "Gotta go...they're evacuating the building." At that time, he was only a few blocks away from the Sears Tower, which is what made me worry in the first place.
I think Union Station was completely a mess (as were the streets downtown) so he wasn't sure how he would get home. Turned out my parents were downtown for a doctor's appointment, so they somehow found Jason amidst all the people and picked him and a few of his coworkers up and brought them all home.
[hit publish when I wasn't finished yet]
So after he got home safely, one thing that worried us was that my sister Eileen was in Washington, DC for work and couldn't find a way home. I believe she ended up renting a car and driving most of the way, but even those arrangements took about a week.
Also, a good friend of ours is a piilot for United. He was in the air at the time and says he got told to choose from one of 3 cities and land the plane. He asked them to repeat and they just said, "Pick a city. Where are you going to land?" So they had to land and he eventually flew that plane home but only after they had removed and reinstalled all the seats in the plane to check them.
Weird to think about how long ago that was. And how big and little things in our lives have changed since then because of it.
Interesting! I was teaching at the Peoria Alternative High School and the secretary got a call about the first hit (school district gossip line). For the rest of the day, the classes mostly watched the TV, in the name of seeing history as it was happening. It was truly tragic and frightening. Pres. Bush flew to D.C. later that afternoon from Omaha, Nebraska. If you look on a map, Peoria is directly in the middle of that path. Many, including Crystal, were outside and saw the only plane in the sky -- AirForce One with 2 Fighter Planes flying close beside it - heading eastward.
Heinold Commodities once had an office in the World Trade Center.
Cleve
If you are intrigued by the 9-1l accounts (and who isn't?), I'd recommend renting the movie "Flight 93". It is a true account of the plane that went down near the small town of Shanksville, PA and was believed to be headed for the Capital or the White House -- (the Todd Beamer Story). Kathleen and I visited the actual site of the crash last year and it was an extremely emotional experience. The local natives there give informal free "tours" of the site with trivia, etc. If you are ever on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the site is just a few miles off and well worth your time!
Cleve & Kathleen
Joey's company was supposed to be featured on GMAmerica that morning, so we had both decided to go into work a bit late in order to watch it. He tuned in to catch the feature story just after the first Twin Tower crash and called me to come look. We were sitting there in disbelief when we saw the second plane hit the second building.
When we heard the report about the PA plane turning around he knew it was headed for Washington. We sat there together and watched it all unfold for quite awhile, finally leaving for work.
I for one think that Bush deserves much more credit for the fact that there has not been another attack on his watch. I realize the enemy is biding time until we are lulled in to complacency, but Bush has been no nonsense about standing up to the terrorists.
You may have read "Let's Roll," the story of Todd Beamer, who helped take down Flight 93. It's also very insightful and very inspirational.
I was in Science-Ed lab. Our Prof's habit was to set up an experiment, then work in his office for awhile until it was time to start us on something else. That morning, he told us about the first "small" plane, set up the experiment, and left. At that point, we thought it must be a tragic accident.
He came back, told us about the second plane, set up the next step, and left. Two hits couldn't possibly be an accident. Several people were upset that something huge was happening and we were expected to study!?!
We were discussing whether we should walk out when he came back, told us about the Pentagon, and invited us to watch the news in his office. All 30 of us crammed into his office for the next 2 hours, many in tears, all in shock.
I was monitoring a study hall when the math teacher (she was our Paul Revere that day) came down the hallway letting every teacher know what happened. A few minutes later she was back with news of the second strike. That was before the days of internet and streaming video in the classroom, but we turned the radio on and listened spellbound for the rest of the morning. I had a class of juniors who realized the magnitude of the attack; the horror showed on their faces. But after them I had a class of 9th graders who didn't recognize the threat and asked really silly questions. The difference in maturity levels between the two grades was obvious.
We live on the main flyway between Atlanta and the northeast corridor and the absence of planes overhead was very prominent for several days.
My "story" is similar to the others. I was at State Farm, and someone realized that something was going on, so we all sat in a conference room all day, watching the day's events. That evening from my home in Gridley (which sits on the location where the family animals used to be, I think!), I saw Air Force One fly over. Jerry, who had served in the Gulf War, was much more upset about it all than the rest of us ere, although we did all watch it for days. I was supposed to go to Chicago the next day for a meeting in teh AON building, but we cancelled our plans.
A couple weeks later, I traveled for business and while in the airport in Minneapolis, saw the news that a plan had crashed in NY. Not wanting the girls to hear about a plane crash and worry about me, I called the school and asked the secretary to tell them I was OK. She called them in and started by saying, "There has been a plane crash today..." and Kelsie is still traumatized today by what she felt in that moment. The secretary went on to say, "...but your mom called to let you know that was not her plane and she is safe." Kelsie really worries when I travel now, and I think it's because of that.
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