9/11: Remembering the Horror
First published: Sunday September 11th, 2022
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New York
The Twin Towers collapsing is probably the most remembered of the events of the day. And while 9/11 was more than just New York, it's what we tend to remember most. The cameras focused on New York more than Washington. New York is where the first plane hit. It's where the documentaries focus most. It's where the presidents go every year to honor the victims. I'm lucky enough to say I don't know anyone lost in 9/11. But I almost can. On that very day, my father's cousin was supposed to be on American Airlines flight 11 (the one that destroyed the North tower). However a family emergency at the last minute forced him to cancel. This is something I think about every 9/11. I've only met my father's cousin Pete once. At his home just outside of Boston. And at the time I met him, I was unaware of the fact that instead of seeing him in Boston, I might have seen him at the memorial in New York.
That same day, my father was in New York City on a business trip. In the afternoon, he and his colleagues went to donate blood. They then proceeded, on the subway back to their hotel. The NYC subway was quieter than usual. But there was still some light chatter. At the next stop some people got on and off etc. The last person to get on was a fireman. He was covered, head to toe in ash and debris. The whole subway car went silent. Whenever my father tells me this story, he says it was "so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat doubled in two seconds."
Aside from my stories relating to 9/11 in New York, there are thousands of others. New York had the most casualties of any site that day. And for every person lost, dozens of lives were impacted. Because everybody lost that day, whether in New York, Washington or Shanksville, was a mother of a father. A husband or a wife. A son or a daughter. An aunt or an uncle. A grandmother or a grandfather.
Washington D.C.
The Pentagon. It has since been rebuilt and repaired. But on 9/11 when flight 77 crashed into the building, hundreds were killed. As previously mentioned, we tend to remember the Twin Towers more than the Pentagon. We see the Pentagon as a second thought. But it too was an important aspect of 9/11. Unlike the Twin Towers, it had only a few stories and had a much larger base. Therefore only one of the five sides was severely damaged. But what about flight 93? We will never know where it was headed. Most people speculate it was headed for the Capitol building and there is even a plaque in the Capitol, honoring the heroes of flight 93 (see below). However some also speculate it was headed for the White House. Luckily, if it was, George W. Bush wouldn't have been there at the time.
Shanksville
Shanksville. It is a town that currently has a population of 162. However millions in America know it well. The previously mentioned Flight 93 was the least of the four planes. It only had four hijackers (not five) and was the only fight of the day that didn't crash into a building. It crashed into a field.
The brave heroes of Flight 93 likely saved the lives of hundreds (potentially thousands) and protected a sacred American building. At the cost of their own lives. They knew of the other planes that had destroyed buildings and taken thousands of lives. And we may never know what was going through their head when they decided to take over the plane. But what we do know is that they stormed the cockpit and attacked the hijackers, resulting in the plane crashing into an empty field in southern Pennsylvania. What most don't know about Flight 93 is something involving the U.S. Air Force. If not for the heroic actions of the passengers on Flight 93 two combat jets would've destroyed the plane. Not by shooting at it. By ramming into it. One plane would take the tail, the other the nose. They would launch a kamikaze style attack on Flight 93.
(If you don't believe me, watch the Nat Geo documentary series 9/11: One day in America.)
Timeline of September 11th 2001
7:59 AM – Flight 11 takes off from Boston, headed for Los Angeles, California. There are 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
8:15 AM – United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston, also headed for Los Angeles. There are 51 passengers, 9 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
8:19 AM – A flight attendant on Flight 11, Betty Ann Ong, alerts ground personnel that a hijacking is underway and that the cockpit is unreachable.
8:20 AM – American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles, outside of Washington, DC, headed for Los Angeles. There are 53 passengers, 6 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
8:24 AM – Mohamed Atta, a hijacker on Flight 11, unintentionally alerts air controllers in Boston to the attack. He meant to press the button that allowed him to talk to the passengers on his flight.
8:37 AM – After hearing the broadcast from Atta on Flight 11, Boston air traffic control alerts the US Air Force’s Northeast Defense Sector, who then mobilize the Air National Guard to follow the plane.
8:42 AM – United Flight 93 takes off from Newark, New Jersey, after a delay due to routine traffic. It was headed for San Francisco, California. There are 33 passengers, 7 crew members, and 4 hijackers are on board.
8:46 AM – Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. All passengers aboard are instantly killed, and employees of the WTC are trapped above the 91st floor.
9:03 AM – Flight 175 crashes into the WTC’s South Tower. All passengers aboard are killed instantly and so are an unknown number of people in the tower.
9:28 AM – Hijackers attack on Flight 93.
9:37 AM – Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. All passengers aboard are instantly killed and so are 125 civilian and military personnel in the building.
9:45 AM – US airspace is shut down under Operation Yellow Ribbon. All civilian aircraft are ordered to land at the nearest airport.
9:55 AM – Air Force One with President George W. Bush aboard takes off from Florida.
9:57 AM – Passengers aboard Flight 93 begin to run up toward the cockpit. Jarrah, the pilot, begins to roll the plane back and forth in an attempt to destabilize the revolt.
9:59 AM – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:02 AM – Flight 93 plows into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Although its ultimate target is unknown, it was likely heading for either the White House or the US Capitol.
10:18 AM – President Bush authorizes any non-grounded planes to be shot down. At that time, all four hijacked planes had already crashed but the president’s team was operating under the impression that Flight 93 was still in the air.
10:28 AM – The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:53 AM – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld orders the US military to move to a higher state of alert, going to DEFCON 3.
11:45 AM – Air Force 1 lands at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana.
12:15 PM – Airspace in the United States is completely free of all commercial and private flights.
1:30 PM – Air Force 1 leaves Barksdale.
2:30 PM – Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, visits the fallen Twin Towers of the World Trade Center at what becomes known as Ground Zero.
3:00 PM – Air Force 1 lands at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and President Bush is immediately taken to a secure bunker that is capable of withstanding a nuclear attack.
4:30 PM – Air Force 1 leaves Offutt and heads back toward Andrews Air Force base near Washington, DC.
5:30 PM – Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapses.
8:30 PM – President Bush addresses the nation.
Timeline source
#neverforget
Being in the UK I heard it on the radio as I was driving down the A30 road in Cornwall. The general consensus at first was that a plane had mechanical problems and had crashed, until the awful truth appeared just over a quarter of an hour later.
The tragedy unfolded during the rest of the day. I think everyone in the UK was shocked to the core.
My thoughts are with you on this day as are, I'm sure, many others from across the pond.