Sept. 11, 2001 is a day that will live in our memories forever. The images of that day are burned into our collective consciousness, a reminder that we must always be vigilant against those who would seek to attack the principles upon which our country was founded.
At approximately 8:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sept. 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists aboard three hijacked passenger planes carried out coordinated suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, after passengers and the crew attempted to gain control from the hijackers. All passengers on the planes and nearly 3,000 people on the ground were killed.
That day, we witnessed just a glimpse of what makes our country great. While terrorists sought to destroy our way of life, thousands of firefighters, police officers and ordinary civilians were risking their lives to help those who were trapped in the World Trade Center. Passengers on a hijacked plane fought back against the terrorists, saving perhaps thousands of lives. Great courage and selflessness were displayed that day in the face of an unknown danger.
Some of the staff of Richland Source paused for a moment today to remember where they were on 9/11. Where were you when you heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center? Comment on this story, or visit our Facebook page and share your comments there.
Reporter Brittany Schock
I was in sixth grade on this day 13 years ago.
Sixth grade is such a defining year in a girl’s life under normal circumstances, but the year is now permanently engrained in my brain. I had just turned 12 three days prior, and was sitting in Mrs. Dunn’s classroom at Mad River Middle School when she received a phone call from the front office.
I can’t picture the look on her face, but I remember she hurried over to the television mounted in the upper left corner of the classroom and hit the power button right around nine in the morning. And as the screen snapped into focus, we watched in horror as the second plane flew into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Certain moments stay with you forever. I know I will never forget the feeling of watching that plane hit, and the stunned silence felt by the rest of my class. At the time no one knew it was a terrorist attack, certainly not a room full of sixth graders, but we all had the sinking feeling in our gut that this was bad.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. Many students were pulled out of school by their parents, terrified that the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was the next target. Later that day two planes taking off from the base broke the sound barrier, and the sonic boom resonating throughout the city was thought to be a sure sign that the end was here.
I remember feeling like what was happening wasn’t real.
Assistant Editor Tim Busbey
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was working as an editor at a daily newspaper. I worked 2nd shift so I was home with my 1-year-old daughter watching TV at the time of the attacks. I remember changing the channel shortly before 9 a.m. to ABC and being shocked to see the image of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, plumes of smoke billowing from its upper floors as the result of a plane crash.
In those first moments after the crash, my first thoughts, and the comments of the TV newscasters, were not of terrorism, but of some kind of accident. That quickly changed minutes later as we watched a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, slowly come into view on the TV screen, followed by an explosion as it collided with the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
The second explosion left no doubt that our country was under attack. I remember rushing into work as we scrambled to keep up with the emerging details of the attacks, including the other planes that were hijacked. I remember feeling uncertain that this was the end of the attacks. We all were on edge, wondering what other terror was planned.
Watching the horrific scenes as the towers crumbled to the ground was an image that most stands out for me. It looked like New York City had turned into a war zone as the clouds of ash and smoke blanketed lower Manhattan.
The rest of the day was pretty much a blur as we scrambled to talk with local officials about what they were doing while continuing to stay on top of the story that was developing minute-by-minute. It wasn’t until I got home from work late that night that I finally was able to really begin to process what had happened that day.
Editor Rhonda Bletner
I was getting ready to go to classes at Ohio State – Mansfield and my younger sister called, crying. She told me to turn on my TV because a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center towers.
I turned on the TV and watched as another plane struck the other tower. I was dumbfounded as we learned it was a terrorist attack. How could this happen—here—in America?
I wasn’t oblivious to terrorist threats to our country. My boyfriend was in the Air National Guard and we often talked about war and protecting our country and how fighting on foreign soil perhaps keeps the wars from coming here. But despite all of those talks, before 9/11, I wouldn’t have imagined an attack on our soil as a possibility of that scale.
At OSU, the big screens ran coverage all day and I checked in between classes as the other events unfolded. Americans were seeing just one event like our military personnel see when they are deployed—and it was here. Never again, I thought: We can’t ever let that happen again. They can check my luggage all they want when I go through security at the airport; that’s hardly a sacrifice.
Reporter Curt Conrad
I woke up a little earlier than usual that Tuesday morning and stepped out onto the tiny wooden balcony of my third floor apartment in Lexington. It was a spectacular early autumn morning, a slight chill in the air and not a cloud in the sky.
The first high school football state poll of 2001 was due out later that day and I wanted to get a head start. Mansfield Senior, Madison and Ontario all were 3-0 and my plan was to put in an early round of calls to Senior High coach Stan Jefferson, Madison’s Matt Godsil and Ontario’s Scott Valentine for the story I was writing for the Wednesday edition of the Mansfield News Journal.
It’s funny how plans change.
The clock on the cable box read 8:57 when I flipped on the TV. The time is seared into my memory.
The North Tower already had been struck, smoke billowing from its upper flanks. The announcer said a plane had crashed into the iconic skyscraper and, like a lot of people, I remember thinking it was a terrible accident.
When United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the South Tower six minutes later, I was terrified. I tried calling my future wife, who was in vet school at Ohio State. I couldn’t get through.
I threw on a clean shirt and a pair of jeans, jumped in my old Jeep and raced to the office. By the time I got there, the Pentagon had been hit.
It was a time before smartphones, iPads and handheld devices. People still relied, at least in part, on newspapers, so we published an extra edition. I helped out where I could, but mostly I stared at the tiny television in the newsroom and read wire reports.
What I remember most about that day is how small and helpless I felt. Those feelings have never completely left me.
Editor David Yoder
I was in the seventh grade that year. Some of the students became distraught and my teacher let us out for recess. He took time to comfort some, but mostly he just wanted to assure us that everything was going to be ok. But none of us, including him, could be too sure.
My grandma’s birthday party was that evening and I remember all of us watching President Bush address the nation.
I remember it was a really sunny, yet really sad day.
Our reflection
Today, for those who lost loved ones, for those who witnessed, and for those service responders who made valiant rescue efforts, we remember. The world has changed since that awful day 13 years ago. Our country has changed. We have changed. We are scarred, but we are still standing. We are still strong.
