Six Years Ago

9-11-01 (from my personal journal)

This day will go down in the History books as one of the most violent terrorist attacks against America. This morning 2 passenger planes were hijacked and smashed into each tower of the World Trade Center. Then 2 other hijacked planes crashed: one into the Pentagon and one in Pennsylvania (its possible destination the Capitol or White House?) There was also a report of a flight crashing on or around Camp David.

I first heard of the story when I came into work. Around 9:00 a.m. Karlene came in and told me a plane had crashed into the side of the World Trade Center. At that time I thought it was a possible accident or something but a few minutes later Karlene's sister Pam from Florida called and said that another plane crashed into the second tower (just 18 minutes after the first one). Then Jeff called and other clients were calling, buzzing about the news. At this point, these phone calls were our only source of information.

Then we tried plugging in our TV but it didn't work without a cable so Cesar and Jose found us a cable and hooked up the TV in my office. The four of us (C, J, K) and Tony all sat at the TV to watch...apparently while we were hooking everything up the first tower completely crumbled to the ground, totally collapsed. We were watching Channel 3 with Dan Rather, and they showed the smoky New York skyline, now with only one Twin Tower, and they kept showing actual footage of the 2nd plane exploding in the side of the second tower. Anchor newspeople gave first-hand accounts , found eyewitnesses, and everyone speculated who was behind the attacks. (Afghanistan? Palestinians?) Then they showed the lone 2nd tower standing on its own, billowing with smoke. Cesar had just said it looks like it's leaning a little, when all of a sudden on live TV the 2nd tower crumbled and vanished, disappearing without a trace. People ran through the streets in mass chaos, inhaling smoke, getting hit with debris and covered in inches of ash.

Everything major occurred between 8:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. We found out about the Pentagon shortly after New York City which is still burning now at 10:45 p.m. The number of casualties at this point remains unknown, but 50,000 people worked at the Trade Center, 200 firefighters are missing and many people got trapped under falling materials, or even incinerated as they sat in traffic.

9-13-01

2 days later. God I can't even spell or write anymore. As you can imagine, it has been an emotionally draining few days for everyone. The 18 hijackers have been identified by the FBI but there are still between 20-30 accomplices at large possibly in the U.S. and Germany. Most of these Middle Eastern men have ties to Osama Bin Laden, a millionaire who has been living in Afghanistan.

Over 4,000 people are missing at the WTC, and about 94 confirmed dead. This is because the rescue effort, although large and amazing in its dedication, is moving along slowly due to the tons of steel and concrete that buried so many people. There have been a few glimmers of hope such as cell phone calls from beneath the rubble as well as the rescue of about 14 people alive under it all. But for the most part, Manhattan is full of many relatives with pictures and stories of their loved ones, breaking America's heart. From answering machine messages to last minute cell phone calls, from people's biographies to their tears and prayers...

Everyone waits for a sign that their brothers, husbands, wives, etc. will be among the survivors. America has united in this attack--Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, young and old--in an effort to overcome these "acts of war" as President Bush called them. 700,000 people went to the Red Cross to donate blood in 24 hours, and constant donations of clothing, food, water and money have been in supply. Thousands of volunteers rake the scene for any signs of life, although many become terribly affected by what they see.