We used to see signs saying “We will never forget” referring to Sept. 11, 2001. Anyone currently between 25 and 30 years old or younger doesn’t remember because they were too young or not born at the time. Even in the face of that tragic day, events have happened which have knocked the sharp edges and reduced the impact of the events of that momentous day.
Movies have been produced showing the grief to individuals. The video of the shock felt by a president reading to second-grade students at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., when he received news of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The national angst as Americans tried to comprehend the first attack of a foreign entity on American soil since the Revolution, when the foreign entity had no nation, no face, and a sketchy identity. The magnitude of that attack was Incomprehensible at the time and the product of the deepest or strongest hate experienced since Hitlers concentration camps.
Those “Never Forget” T-shirts have faded into memory for Hamas and Ukraine support and countless other modern-day issues created by weak national leadership. Regardless of ANY current issue, any current protest target, any event occurring in my life, the events of 9/11 are forever etched in my mind as vividly as the terrorist group who pulled it off.
Sept. 11, 2001, I am sure many of you have stories and all of you will remember where you were. For context, I was 42 years old with four school age children and travelled by air 39 weeks of every year.
I flew into Newark airport on Monday, Sept. 10, and took a limo to Philadelphia for a series of meetings to plan a software rollout in 13 manufacturing plants with a team I would be leading. On the Tuesday morning of Sept. 11, 2001, our team met in a hotel conference room. Shortly into the meeting, cell phones in purses and briefcases started vibrating and buzzing. Texting was not as widely used at the time as today. After it became clear an event of a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers had happened, we adjourned for our team to reach out to family who knew we traveled to let them know we were Okay.
I went to the lobby of the hotel, which was filled with travelers glued to a big screen TV. I asked around, but became aware no one knew any more than me. I was watching the live feed when what I thought was a replay of the first event was actually a live feed of the second plane hitting the second tower. Everyone was shocked and some cried because, to them, it became clear it was no replay, rather a live feed of the second jet hitting the second tower. People were arriving with rolling baggage who had just left New York, many had friends or family working in those buildings.
A collective gasp followed by gentle sobs rose from the crowd huddled around the television as the first, then second tower cascaded downward into twisted steel and broken concrete all hidden by a cloud of dust and topped with paper documents floating down as if to cover the carnage.
Cell phone traffic jammed the system making it impossible to reach my family to let them know I was OK. During that time in my career, I had been flying each week for two years, leaving on Sunday evenings and flying back home on Thursdays. Many of our planning trips I flew into New York’s Laguardia and took a car to Greenwich. It had become so routine to the family that only my wife knew what city I would be in.
The kids were at school here in Richmond County when everything broke loose and had no idea where I was, simply that I was somewhere I had flown. They knew New York, specifically LaGuardia was a frequent destination of mine, New York City a common destination. I had clients in the Grace Building and an office in Greenwich.
Teachers shut off televisions due to the level of calamity, I judge not that decision. I do know my children were old enough to understand what was happening. They were worried of my involvement and status, even whether I was alive or not.
That was when we knew something bigger was happening. When air traffic was halted, my team decided to disband and everyone was directed to try to get home, reporting back to leadership so no one was stranded. Each team member laid out what they had at their disposal. Some had driven, some had rental cars. Those with cars volunteered to go out of the way to help team members get home. I had no transportation having flown into Newark and taken a limo to Philly, and there was no one going my way. Newark airport was shut down and that is where the rental cars were located.
By grace, I found a remote car rental office in Newark, and a friend drove me to get a car.
I drove that evening and night until I could drive no more. The trip took me through Washington, D.C. where I observed the smoke still rising from the Pentagon. I was alternately sad, weeping quietly, and yet proud of our country. American flags had been hung from overpasses, as the American spirit started to rise. Red, white and blue cups forced through cyclone fences to form flags.
The skys were eerily vacant. The absence of contrails in the sky as all air travel was grounded was startling and accentuated the seriousness of the times. I saw car after car packed full of businessmen riding home. Their jackets removed, ties either taken off or pulled down. I knew they, as my team, were improvising to get home.
Sometime that night I could drive no more, drained from the emotion of the day. I stopped in a hotel in North Carolina, secured a room for the evening. I can’t even tell you the city.
I was able to reach my wife, and we debriefed one another. She had assured the kids I was OK, and was relieved to have that confirmed (what with the crash in Shanksville).
I will never forget. Nor will I ever again be so naïve as to think we are safe. I will not, however, surrender my freedom for security. I have learned much about the Islamic belief, Muslim dogma, and their hatred towards nonbelievers and followers of their Allah. We are known as Infidels. Doubt me? Many infidels have been beheaded since.
I know many of you know this story. Some may not. Many of you have similar stories engraved in your brains. Regardless, we must never let Americans forget the devastation, the Death, the Destruction of 9/11/2001. Nor should we forget who was responsible that day.
Today, terrorism takes on many disguises. Fear is spread by many different means and entities, including our own government and the media. If we didn’t learn anything during covid and Dr. Fauci’s lies of mask up, vax up, stay at home, etc…, we are deserving of the next occurrence.
Be ever vigilante, fellow patriots. Never forget and teach our children what we saw, what we felt, and what happened so they may escape a repeat.
God bless America
