Nine Eleven – Twenty Years Later
Monday, September 10th, 8:10am eastern time - Twenty years ago, millions of Americans went about their business, never suspecting that in the next 24 hours their lives would be changed; the country would be changed. People were either on their way or already at work. Tens of thousands were riding the New York subway system, riding public transit, walking. Kids were in school or at daycare. People were looking forward to the end of the school day; end of the work day. Dinner plans were made. Homework was done. Kids were bathed and put to bed. Parents breathed a sigh of relief, maybe had an adult beverage, relaxed and eventually went to bed themselves. Tomorrow would be a “rinse and repeat” kind of day; just another work / school day. Another day in America.
But it wasn’t.
Tuesday, September 11th, 8:46am eastern time - American Airlines Flight 11 is flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. By then, the other three hijacked flights were all in the air: United Airlines Flight 175 that had taken off from Boston; Flight 77 that had taken off from Dulles International just west of Washington DC; and United Airlines flight 93 had taken off from Newark, NJ. Flight 93 had only been in the air a few minutes when Flight 11 impacted the North Tower.
Less than twenty minutes later, at 9:03am eastern, Flight 175 impacted the South tower. Up until that time, while several organizations (including the U.S. Military) were aware of the multiple hijackings, most of America was only aware that a plane had hit the North Tower. Most of America was likely thinking about the terrible accident that had occurred. After Flight 175 hit the South Tower though, it was obvious something more than an accident had occurred. One plane crash can be an accident. Two plane crashes, each impacting a twin tower was an obvious attack. (Author’s Note: That morning as Flight 175 hit the South Tower, I was watching on television in a corporate conference room. The company owner was standing next to me. When Flight 175 hit the South Tower, he turned to me and said, “Oh my God. We’re at war!”)
Across the country, remembering that on the west coast it was just barely after six a.m., Americans were coming to the same realization. East of the Mississippi River, many parents decided to pull their children out of school. People went home early from work or turned around and never even got to the office. In the Washington DC area, the radio airwaves were full of information, both good and bad, about car bombs, more hijacked flights and eventually the crash of Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37am eastern.
The evacuation of government buildings and other facilities across the country was undertaken. The FAA ordered all flights grounded. Passengers on board Flight 93 were alerted to what was going on and they became the first casualties in our war against terror. They banded together with the courageous decision to try to take the plane back. While we’ll never know for sure what the intended target was of Flight 93, we know that thanks to the heroes on that flight it wasn’t used as a missile to attack more Americans. At 10:03am eastern it crashed into a field in Shanksville, PA. Just minutes before, at 9:59am eastern, the South Tower had collapsed. Americans watching television were being bombarded by emotionally overwhelming images and new terrible realities almost faster than they could process.
At 10:28am eastern the North Tower collapsed; a sight America never thought it would see outside of some science-fiction movie CGI. There it was: real and live on international television. The realization that somewhere in the world there were people – enemies of America – cheering that collapse, fueled the anger and rage Americans felt from coast to coast.
Just minutes after 11am, NYC Mayor Giuliani ordered the evacuation of lower Manhattan. With most of the land-based traffic channels overwhelmed to a stand-still, the largest maritime evacuation in recorded human history began. Using commercial, private and government owned boats, it’s reported that almost a half million people were evacuated across the water.
The day continued… the emotional punches kept coming. Eventually people got home. Children were entertained, distracted and comforted. Fears of additional attacks, unseen threats and what the next days would bring circulated.
The official number of lives lost in the attacks of September 11th, 2001, is 2,977. The remains of many have never been found but the efforts to identify victims via DNA identification is on-going.
Wednesday, September 12th, 2001, 8:00am eastern time - It was a new day in America. Schools were closed. Most government buildings were closed. The only people working were emergency services personnel, public safety personnel, government leadership and the thousands of volunteers that showed up at all of the attack locations to support search and rescue/recovery efforts.
From coast to coast, stores sold out of American Flags. Flags were being flown on homes, cars, trucks, business buildings, restaurants, bars and more. If the building had a flag pole or someplace a flag pole could be mounted, the American flag was flying. Americans were united stronger than they had been since December, 1941. Our nation had been attacked and, at least for a brief time, we weren’t separated by race, gender, ethnicity, age, politics… we were simply all Americans.
This author hopes and prays never to live through another day like Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. But by the same token, I wish to see America as united as it was on Wednesday, September 12th.
We can never forget the events of that day, as much as we might like to. We should never forget the innocent lives lost and we should certainly never forget the lives sacrificed in the rescue efforts. We should never forget all of the lives given in the war against terror that followed. We should never forget that there are those in the world who hate America simply for our values, beliefs and way of life. We should never forget the value of standing united as one, not divided and not allowing ourselves to be.
Lt. Frank Borelli (ret), Editorial Director | Editorial Director
Lt. Frank Borelli is the Editorial Director for the Officer Media Group. Frank brings 20+ years of writing and editing experience in addition to 40 years of law enforcement operations, administration and training experience to the team.
Frank has had numerous books published which are available on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and other major retail outlets.
If you have any comments or questions, you can contact him via email at [email protected].