Here, that Tuesday wasn’t a bright sunny day, perhaps an overcasting shadow of how the day would soon unfold!
To my parents generation, they can tell you to the precise moment what they were doing when Walter Cronkite broke into the afternoon soap operas to tearfully let the nation know that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, TX. Their parents can tell you how the voices sounded as the newswires announced that Japan had attacked our fleet in Hawaii on that December 7th, a day of infamy.
For us, and for our children, the vision of those airplanes flying into the World Trade Center towers will be forever etched in our minds. The sight of the Pentagon burning after it was hit will be indullable. And the visualization of the heroics that ensued on Flight 93 as its proud victims helped to avert its disasterous attack, forcing it down into a field in Pennsylvania instead of allowing it to take out its target in Washington DC.
The victims and the survivors of 9-11 will always be remembered as our heroes. The firstresponders who valiantly charged into the Towers….. those who lost their lives that day, or the next, or are now suffering from the illnesses that filled their lungs and their bodies as the rescued loved ones and colleagues.
The military and civilians who were killed or injured at the Pentagon are forever memorialized in our minds.
And the recorded messages and phone calls that emanated from the passengers and crew on Flight 93 will forever play again and again, and the words “Let’s Roll” will always evoke a heroic symbolism.
Thus, this September 11th, 2008, seven years after our history changed forever, we will again pause and reflect. We will remember those lost that day, and their families who have attempted to pick up the pieces of their lives. We will think of the small children who lost family that day, who are now in school. We will think of those spouses and parents who deeply miss their loved one. All who lost their lives at the hand of those terrorists that day, those who survived that tragedy, and those who valiantly worked in the rescue attempts, we will remember the sacrifice that their service meant on that day.
New York City today is a different place. Having had the opportunity to dine at the Windows on the World restaurant high atop the Tower, it is eery to see the void in the skyline, but so very easy to recall the beauty of the view. One cannot walk in the area now referred to as Ground Zero without feeling the quietness that falls on those few blocks, feeling and knowing that this place is the beginning of a new chapter in our history. A place where the true heroic nature of the heart and soul that has always embodied the American ideal, will forever be interred and forever be memorialized as a reminder to the next generation that we must never forget, we must always be diligent, and we must never take our lives and our freedoms as Americans for granted ever.
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September 9, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Interested Bystander
Hey All,
As the day approaches, it is a time for reflection.
I will always remember that I was on vacation, and out playing golf on that fateful day. I was on the 4th Tee at Hoosier Links Golf Course, by myself, and had my headphones on listening to the Bob and Tom morning radio show on Q95. I remember them saying that there had been an “accident”, and something (maybe a plane) had hit one of the Twin Towers. A little while later, they said that the second tower had been hit by an airplane, and it did not look like it was an accident. I can remember stopping and telling all of the “greenskeepers”, and them immediately going up to the Club House. Myself, I didn’t think too much of it, just thought that there would be a fire, and it would be put out, and I continued my round. I remember Tom saying that it looked like two smoke stacks from a factory. I stopped at the Club House at the “turn” and saw for myself what was happening. I was on hole 12 when the first tower fell. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I remember driving by those towers in 1989 when I went to Ft. Dix NJ for my annual training. A group of us, after driving the 12 hours to Dix, decided we wanted to go up to New York, and just drive through to see the city. I had a full sized van, so I told them I would drive. There was probably 5 or 6 of us. We took the Jersey Turnpike up to NY City. I remember getting off on 5th Avenue, and driving down 5th Avenue, past Central Park, past the Mt Sinia Hospital that John Lenon was taken after he was shot, beside the Empire State Building, and then through one of the tunnels back to the Jersey Turnpike. This was at about 2am. We wanted to see NY City that bad. I remember stopping at red lights, and the people behind us honking because we didn’t run them. Then they’d zoom past us, and look at us like we were idiots. We did go back that Sunday, and took in all of the sights. I will never forget how those towers stood out on the skyline, and I have video of us driving right beside the towers.
The second tower fell a while later, I don’t remember if I was on my way home, or exactly where I was, but I distinctly remember where I was when I heard about the first tower being hit.
I remember listening to 700 WLW on my way home from my round, and them talking about what had happened. I was glued to my TV the rest of the day, and the next day. I remember Ashley Banfield was made a big star that day, she was reporting from downtown NY City all day, and you could hear the emotion in her voice. I remember when building 7 fell, and Ashley had to go in to a deli when the dust came. I remember the feeling when I heard Bush announce on that megaphone that the people who brought these towers down “will hear from all of us soon”. I remember all of the rescue workers stopping for a moment of silence whenever remains were taken from the site. I remember that everything was canceled that weekend. No Football, or NASCAR, people went to church, and prayed and remembered. The patriotic spirit that this whole country felt during the next few months was amazing. Flags flown, bumper stickers, magnets for cars, hats, T-shirts, everyone was all for America. I remember the members of Congress singing on the steps of the Capital.
Oh how I remember, it was a time that defines America, and true patriotic spirit. It showed that we can and will come together in a time of crisis.
I will never forget, the next September 11, because that is the day I retired from the Army. That’s how they wanted it. I wanted to do it in July, but my Commander wanted me to be a part of the 9-11 Ceremony.
Always Remember Americans, Never Forget.
September 11, 2008 at 5:51 am
mrje
This is LONG. Most of it was written as it occurred. I did not change 99% of it because it shows the panick and uncertainty of the moment – some things I added to explain what it is like to live in another culture. It appears rambling and the format is not broken down into paragraphs.
As I recall, it was 3 days before the Chinese government reported this disaster to their people via their government tv channels – the only form of media to the masses. Our group of Chinese friends knew many foreigner’s who had international news, so some had seen the video of the falling buildings way before their neighbors. This document is part of the Smithsonian Archive.
How did you witness history on September 11th?
Edited Version Journal Entry Place: Tianjin, Peoples Republic of China Time: Around 9am USA EST or 9pm China Time Titled: Over Here (Expatriates in China) XXXX had just finished his conference call at the Hyatt at 9pm, Tuesday, September 11. I met him for dinner. We walked over to the newly named Carolines Under the Bridge (formerly Cozy’s) to eat. A waiter whom we knew well greeted us. Not too many places to catch dinner at that time of night. Ordered a couple of beers, our favorite dishes and started noticing the affects of the new ownership at the little place. He delivered our second beer when my cell rang… I assumed it was a work-call for XXXX, but it was my sister, XXXX, pouring the news in his ear of the first aircraft that hit the World Trade Center in NYC…… while they were talking, the second building was hit. They talked for a while and I knew something terrible had happened but I didn’t know what it was until XXXX handed the phone to me and she repeated the story. She continued to explain that it was reported that there were several other planes in the air with suspicious flight patterns and they thought one was headed to the White House. We hung up and sat stunned. Our waiter friend was curious so I tried to explain. His English is fairly good by Tianjin standards, and I spoke in my simple ‘Chinglish’ stating that ‘in NYC, two commercial planes hit two very important buildings full of people.’ I received a sort of “smile smirk” (hard to explain) of misunderstanding from him. I was already too frustrated with him to try to explain the magnitude of it all, as there wasn’t enough days in a year to illustrate this. I asked him to turn on the TV but he said they no longer had a signal there. (some establishments visited by foreigners had CNN broadcasted – though sometimes it was recorded) I started to shake… this has to be a bad dream. Then, I called our American friends in Beijing to alert them. No one in China seemed to know the news yet. They stayed on the phone with XXXX, together, listening to CNN (they live in foreign housing so they had international news) while I tried to contact two other American’s using another cell phone. One friend was out of the city somewhere and the other did not have English TV so he would have to depend upon his Chinese wife to translate the ongoing events for him but they could not find any news about this crash. I felt his frustration on the phone and I tried to repeat the disaster as it was occurring. Our Beijing friends to XXXX, XXXX to me, me to another friend on another cell phone along with a totally out-of-touch group of Chinese waiters listening in. Out of desperation to be understood, as well as trying to grasp the story myself, I felt the need to explain the situation to our Chinese friends at the restaurant (again). There was absolutely no one else in the place to talk to about this terror. This attempt was futile, as they had no comprehension whatsoever as to the meaning of this disaster and the impact on the world. This was an American problem. At this point, I wasn’t sure that my mind could put all that was happening in any sort of orderly understanding. The story was developing bigger and faster than we could consume at the moment… we ordered a couple more beers as we were not sure if we would have an international broadcast at our apartment or not… at least we were getting the story via the cell phones that seemed to be well connected. Finally, before 10pm, we made it to our apartment and saw absolute horror. Cell phones and apartment phones ringing and email flooding in… we managed to watch, talk and type until late into the night. It was too chilling, too unbelievable, we didn’t have many thoughts exchanging amongst ourselves… we were on overload. What will happen next? This must be some sort of freak accident! Maybe something was wrong with the air traffic controllers? This cannot be happening!!! It cannot be on purpose!!! It just could not be happening!!! We knew we had business visitors here from the USA and realized that there was much to be done to contact these people and to make arrangements for a longer than planned stay. The COMPANY management was on top of this situation and contacted them. During the night we discovered that my sister’s brother-in-law (a pilot for American), and HIS brother-in-law (another pilot) had not been in contact with their respective families. Also, a Chinese friend of ours from Tianjin (the Mother of a coworker), was making her first international flight in her life, from China to the USA – a United flight. She speaks no English, and her son had arranged special assistance for her to help her find her connecting flights. (he lives in the USA) We received frantic emails from him that his Mother had not contacted him and he didn’t know where her plane was located. I don’t know why, but I started to feel some shame and embarrassment that this first time visitor was experiencing the worst disaster I’d ever known in my entire life, on our turf.
Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001?
We slept two or three hours and got up to catch more news. CNN USA had replaced the CNN Asia newscasters and more information was pouring in. We cannot access CNN on line (The Great Red Firewall) so we must rely on TV and phone calls. XXXX went to work expecting a tremendously busy day. By morning, we had discovered that one of the pilots we knew had been sitting on a runway in NY, getting ready for take-off when he received instructions to “abort the flight”. He and his family member are in New Jersey; they are safe. He witnessed, firsthand, the explosion of the second tower. My Chinese friend who was searching for his Mother all night, finally made contact with her around 9a.m. the next day, as her flight was diverted to Calgary until further notice. Luckily, he had friends there that took her in to their home. Despite reports that the passengers “were taken care of” that is not the word we received from our friends. I stayed glued to the TV until around noon (9/12 in China). By 11a.m. it seemed that there was no new information pouring in – I had forgotten about a lunch date with my Chinese friends -and a knock came to the door. My Ukraine girlfriend came to the door to pick me up – she speaks better Chinese than English and she knew nothing of the nightmare going on in the USA. She watched the news for about 20 minutes and I could tell the facts started to sink in… We met our friends (all Chinese), one of them from Australia. The Australian/Chinese friend seemed to be much more informed than any of our other cohorts – we met with understanding eyes. As for the rest of my local friends, well, I can in no way update the masses by giving them information about a history they know nothing about. The general consensus among them was that we (the USA) must have made a mistake, which is why this happened. They cannot conceive the complexities of the world. They do not know about international terrorism. They do not have international news. They only know that Chinese people have suffered for years and there just wasn’t enough sympathy for us concerning these horrific events. They do not know what the Pentagon is and they do not believe that such a thing would ever, ever happen in China. “No problem, XXXX, you are safer here!” I recall when our military observation plane was hit and was forced to land in South China, and our Chinese friends not believing that the ‘whole world spies’. Another squashed conversation. I know better than to pursue this conversation. I was trying to manage my disgust at their innocent, ignorance (compounded adjectives must be used). I know better than this. It is useless for me to boast about our strength in the world.. my arrogance wanted to jump out and scream, “but WE are Americans!” and instead I was saying, “ni bu dong, ni bu dong!” YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I finally mentioned to them that some Chinese people must have died also! Now, I had their attention. They do not grasp nor digest that American’s are of all color, all nations, all beliefs. They live in such a homogeneous society. So pure. They feel they can always detect the enemy, as he could not possibly be Chinese. I stared at my friends at the lunch table. I was on the edge, about to tell them in a more serious tone that they were the ones that needed to learn something here and now. I must have had a certain look of disbelief on my face as the mood changed a little. I came to my senses and realized that there was no way I should expect them to be a comrade to my feelings. I needed to be around other Americans for that – but that would have to wait. I took a deep breath and gave up the task of instilling my grief in them. And because we are truly friends, I could feel that they were trying to muster up some kind of empathetic remark… We had known each other for 3 or 4 years now and we had exchanged many “secrets” about our beliefs relating to China and the world. They had confided in me. I knew they trusted me. And I was close to losing my patience … they would have been shocked had I done so. It wasn’t the right thing to do. Intellectually, I knew better than this. I really knew better. We had arrived at a crossroad that revealed stronger than ever, our differences. Our knowledge of world issues could not be shared. Our respective belief systems held strong. It was all relative to our own cultures, our own lives. Our communication gap stretched creating a web of barriers that were so much wider than the oceans and lands between us and there was nothing I could do or say to make a difference. It just didn’t affect them. It was not their world that was going to change any time soon. I suppose people from all nations perceive their country to be the center of the world, the driven force of all that will make the earth turn, progress everywhere hinge on decisions made in our homeland, showing the greatest strength to those who need us, and to our enemies. There is nothing more frustrating than believing that this is only true for your country. I think this is the one feeling we (my Chinese friends and myself) shared that afternoon. All day long, I listened to hear if there was any condemnation from Zemin or Zhu Rong Ji regarding this senseless attack… nothing. I needed to hear that Bush had heard from China… nothing. I saw several Arab nation leaders speaking of their shared grief… and at one point, I started to believe that THEY realized how negatively these actions could affect world relations… and our support to them.. they were nearly believable in their statements. But we have not yet heard anything about support from China. Later that night, I received a phone call from one of my Chinese girlfriends who had been especially unsympathetic during the lunch hour. She is married to an American. She was frustrated, as her husband didn’t seem to want to talk to her about this horrible attack. She explained that he was quite visibly upset. She’d gone to his place of employment where she met face to face with other Americans and felt their heavy-hearted mood. She wanted to be a part of it. She wanted to know more so she could understand.. in her mind, this could not just be about people losing their lives.. that just wasn’t enough. She told me she’d heard about the American students on a campus here in Tianjin who were hanging out at the only place on campus that had a T.V (and it broadcasts limited satellite sites). Ironically, the name of the place is Ali Babba’s. Weekly, the students go there to watch Star TV, an Asian, English speaking channel… the kids gather to watch stuff like The Simpsons and re-runs of Ally McBeal. These American students speak fluent Chinese and most of the Chinese students that go with them, speak pretty good English. Apparently, a brawl started as the American kids started defending our nation. I am quite confident of one thing – it wasn’t a fair fight; as it is extremely uncommon for a Chinese person to fight back against a foreigner. I am sure it felt good to hit someone…. I know I wanted to do it. But, all in all, I am sure the heat of the moment is regretted, as these kids have to live together. Our youth is fighting our battles – their parents must have done something right. This morning, in an email, I received a note that said Zemin called Bush to extend his apologies.. we have not heard that here, yet. When I get out to the streets today, I will see or feel what mood is established among the people. They usually follow the leader. We will enlist all of our patience during this time.. and not strike out immediately. Nobody wants a regrettable situation lingering. I just hope we don’t wait too long; I hope we don’t wait until all the fires are out. God Bless America
What do you think should be remembered about September 11th?
We should always be prepared. They are.
Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th?
No. Not available.
September 11, 2008 at 6:16 am
mrje
related to above.
There were a few other scuffles amongst American’s & some of our Dutch and British friends during that time. Some friendships were not mended.
About one month after 9/11/01, we were transferred to Penang Malaysia for a while… now, THAT was interesting. It was the first time I ever looked over my shoulder, while traveling abroad.
September 11, 2008 at 7:08 am
JAMES
mrje: I would assume that one gets a different perspective of our world events as they are unravelling to you within a foreign land, especially one where information is so monitored. It is that exact fact that makes the recent world poll regarding our elections that much more disturbing, given that not all information is flowing freely to them—- we know its not because our own media is so biased as it is. OK, sorry for a political rant on this solemn day.
Because of the uncertainty of what was happening that day, I simply remember wanting to get our children home and to believe in the safety of our own homes.