Tucson remembers 9/11: Strangers comfort strangers

That Tuesday, my wife and I spent the day watching live news. It all became personal around noon when our son, who was getting settled with his new Navy aviation squadron, called. He was just out of tech school, barely a year in the military. His call lasted just a minute. He was unnerved, as he was being rushed onto a plane to fly north to link with an aircraft carrier. By that night, he was among the thousands of naval personnel patrolling off of New York City, the first military reaction of the 20-year War on Terror.

 ─ Craig Suter

It was a glorious September day in Washington, D.C. as our group of scientists walked by the White House on our way to a meeting. Little did we know that in the next two hours our lives and that of our country would change drastically.

The ensuing 36 hours in D.C. was a combination of terror and concern for our families and friends. No cabs, no traffic, the Capitol, White House and monuments cordoned off. Military police stationed across the city. Looking south, smoke from the Pentagon billowed skyward and the number of private jets leaving National Airport was constant. That evening after the FBI said it was safe to go back to our hotel, we walked back to Georgetown and the city felt besieged.

Three days later as two scientists and two lawyers drove across the country to our homes in the West, we stopped and talked to people at rest areas, restaurants, hotels and gas stations. The trauma of the event has somehow allowed people to show understanding and compassion to each other and to find ways to connect and be kind. It was a sense we were all in this together and that as a country and people, we would work through the trauma and find a way to be human. I continue to have hope that the political differences that divide us now can heal. We did for a few weeks in 2001. I hope we can do it again.

 ─ David Wegner

It was my first summer out of college and I started a new job at a high fashion magazine company. I remember walking to work in midtown, looking up and seeing a bright blue, clear sky, and feeling the crisp fall air of my favorite city. I was an advertising assistant trying to understand my position in the corporate hierarchy. At the bottom of the ranks, I was chasing after lunch orders and organizing conference calls before there was one button that connected multiple numbers.

I heard an advertising director yell out to everyone in the hallway, they had to come into the publisher’s office who had a TV. I watched as two planes collided with the World Trade Center. I ran to my post, immediately picked up the phone, called my parents to let them know something bad happened and I was OK. Then, the phone went silent.

My heart and head told me that the world was shifting at that very moment. We all evacuated the building and our eyes met with fear as we saw people moving toward us in debris with looks of terror. It looked like a horror movie. People were covered in dust, not knowing what was happening, and all headed uptown escaping death. I met my friends at their apartment right under the Chrysler building to watch our lives change forever. We didn’t share many words but just held on to each other.

 ─ Brie Seward

My husband Ed and I were up in the White Mountains enjoying a wonderful weekend. We were watching TV when the first plane hit The World Trade Center.

We were mesmerized and in awe at what we were watching.

The second plane hit the building, followed by the crash in Pennsylvania and then the Pentagon. People fleeing the fires and debris.

We went to other people in our area to hear their responses. They were in shock and disbelief as well.

We forgot to eat or rest, we just kept looking at the carnage and sorrow.

Finally, after watching TV for the whole day, we ate and fell asleep. That night I dreamt about the planes, fires, and the people. It was a disturbing night, one I hope to never have again.

 ─ Elaine A. Halley

In 2001, my husband, Paul, and I were living in Minneapolis. Paul worked at Northwest Airlines Corporate Headquarters. One of his duties was training NWA airport managers in procedures. On the morning of Sept. 11 he had a class of managers from across the nation to meet with FAA.

I had just turned into work when the first plane hit. I called Paul, knowing that his class had not started, and told him to get to a television. Paul said that pagers had just started going off all over the classroom. I was watching TV in our break room when the second plane hit.

FAA & NWA managers hit the deck running. Hearing that planes were grounded, Paul told the managers to head to the car rentals and start renting cars to get back to their airports. Managers from Minneapolis to Seattle rented one car and they dropped off the manager at their station as they crossed the northern part of the country. This happened in every direction on the map.

One of the strangest things was how quiet Minneapolis was for those 3 days with no planes.

 ─ Sandra Gassan Joubert

Sixteen of us were traveling on the Yangtze in China when the news arrived. When the ship’s captain called us together, he said, “We are an old country, with a history of hardship. You are a vigorous, young country and you will surmount this.” He offered free phone services to Americans checking on family and made news updates available in English. Our excursion that day was a small craft trip up the “Little Three Gorges.” Our rowers expressed their sorrow to us and sang a Chinese lullaby to us as they rowed us up the stream. The kindness and courtesy of our Chinese hosts was something I will never forget.

 ─ Sue Ward

In Alaska on a dark. snowy winter morning, in my bed, it happened. I heard a voice (much like my own) commanding me, "get up, get up, and turn on the TUBE!" I argued, "I don't want to! I'm in grad school, and I read until midnight, and I'm tired!"

I meandered down the hallway towards the living room and turned on the TV. CNN was on. In my near stupor, I went through the motions of making coffee. It was now 4:30 in the a.m. (the time zone in NY is 5 hours later). When I returned to the living room, I saw a really horrific sight. It was an airliner hitting a very tall building in a huge city. Shortly thereafter, another plane hit. I'm now saying, "Oh my GOD, this is not a bad movie, this is real!" Now I'm numb, in a state of shock and disbelief. "OH my GOD, what on earth is happening?!"

I slowly walked back into the kitchen as if in a trance and fixed a tray of coffee for my husband, still in bed, sitting up (glued to the same station). I asked him, "Are you watching this?" He replied in a quiet but somber tone, "yes." We did not speak further. It was like a sinister darkness had invaded our quiet Alaskan landscape. We went about our day in a state of nervous limbo, listening and watching for more terrible news.

 ─ Janice Campos

The day began like any other day with me in the copy room getting ready for my middle school students. As they arrived, they were telling me what they heard on the radio. Of course, I said it had to be an accident, but we soon learned otherwise. I had a radio in my classroom, so we turned it on.

As background information, I was a teacher in a small private school in Northwest Indiana and was fortunate to have many religions and cultures in my class, many of whom were Muslim. At this time, we were reading "Farewell to Manzanar," which is a memoir of a Japanese American girl whose family had been taken to an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The book prompted much discussion as my students could not comprehend how American citizens could be treated in such a way.

Obviously, my regular schedule for the day did not occur. The students needed to talk about what was happening and how it was going to affect our country. Soon into the discussion, I realized that one of my sixth-grade students was sobbing. When I asked what was wrong, she wanted to know if she and her family were going to be taken to an internment camp as she was a Muslim.

There were many horrific things to remember from that day, but my student's reaction is forever etched in my mind.

 ─ Theresa Giovanelli

Sept. 11 was a work day starting like so many others until the announcement on the radio about the first plane hitting the first tower. Quick — turn on TV! People everywhere were in shock watching the United States of America being attacked by an enemy.

I worked at Tucson International Airport and to see the airport empty of all passengers, families, and most employees was so eerie. All planes were ordered to land at the closest airport. It seems like it just took moments to have all planes out of the Tucson-area sky. Neither Air Force nor Air Guard were flying.

Tragedies bring opportunities. The United States of America truly is an amazing country. Citizens everywhere were asking "What can I do?" People showed respect to police and firemen knowing that they risk their lives to protect us and so many were killed in New York trying to help others. People hung flags, prayed, and hugged neighbors to offer support. There were many fundraisers to send money to help emergency personnel and the families affected by the attacks. Young men and women joined the military to fight for our country. We were all shocked in a way that would take time to heal. When planes started flying again, it was the beautiful sound of freedom flying. Twenty years later, and the United States of America needs a return to patriotism.

 ─ Claudia Wright

In 2001, I worked at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. This is an excerpt from the diary entry I made on 9/11/01:

Such a beautiful late summer day it has been, and such a nightmare for our country. We are at war — but with whom? Terrorists hijacked four jets this morning, two from Boston, one from Newark, and one from Dulles, and flew two of them into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon; the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania, apparently failing to reach its target. It started this morning shortly after I got to work. The radio mentioned a report about a plane crashing into the WTC. I didn't think much about it. Others in the office turned on the TV, by which time the second plane hit the second tower. Then one of the secretaries rushed in to tell us to look out the window, and we could see the smoke billowing up from the Pentagon. An announcement over the emergency system said the State Department was being evacuated as a precaution. I walked home from Foggy Bottom, unwilling to rely on the subway. By the time I got home (it took an hour), both towers had collapsed. All airports in the United States and Canada are closed until at least tomorrow. For the first time in the history of aviation, there are no commercial planes in the sky. Rather than passenger jets from National Airport, all we hear are helicopters and military fighter planes overhead.

 ─ William Duffy

The nursing home was quiet the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. My mother lay close to death after 12 years battling the ravages of dementia. My three sisters and I prayed for God to take her peacefully. She took her last breath at 1 p.m.

It wasn't until later that night that we realized just how many people had died along with her the same day. We talked about how, at 88 years old, Mom, on balance, had lived a long and beautiful life. In the end, her death was a blessing. But here were thousands of people in the prime of their lives robbed of so much the future might have held for them. Then, too, there were their families who, unlike me and my sisters, had no chance to say goodbye to their loved ones or hold their hands as they slipped away.

Our mother was borne away surrounded by love. The victims of 9/11 were not so lucky. Yes, we cried for the loss of Mom but we cried even more so for all those who left this world that day frightened and alone.

 ─ Claire Drozd

My husband Marty and I smiled widely. We had ridden 32 miles through pine forests, then around the beautiful De Parentis Lake to the small town of Biscarrosse on the first day of our bicycle tour of southwestern France. We felt happy and like we had accomplished something.

The driver who took the tour groups’ luggage and made sure arrangements were in order at our accommodations was waiting in front of our hotel and looked distressed. Our exuberant group would soon learn that in New York City, where it was nine hours earlier, an airplane had struck and crumbled one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

The rooms in our small hotel did not have TVs or phones. Any news we could see on TV was in French. Marty and I headed to a pay phone to call our daughter in NYC. Of course, we were so glad to hear that she was safe, but we knew that our world had changed forever.

The next day we set out feeling the horror of 9/11, but looking forward to our next stop to climb sand dunes along the southwest coast of France. Our eyes filled with tears of gratitude as we saw flags flying at half-staff in small town after small town. Shopkeepers came out to hug us and to share our grief. The world had changed, but we knew it still held much love and beauty.

 ─ Becky Schulman

The morning of 9/11 I was up early with my husband who was leaving for a business meeting in Phoenix. It was about 30 minutes before I would wake our kids up to get ready for school. The phone rang. I answered it and my sister-in-law said, “Turn on the TV, someone is flying planes into The World Trade Center.” I couldn’t even wrap my head around what she was saying. Thus began a day of being glued to our television and watching both towers fall from my kitchen. I had a very difficult time explaining what was happening to our young children because I didn’t understand it myself.

 ─ Julie P. Hubbard

As a native New Yorker, I have some very vivid memories of 9/11 and the devastation we all felt. Three especially come to mind.

My friend Maureen, who now lives in Chandler, is a nurse practitioner who was working at New York Hospital in Queens that morning. All medical personnel were asked to stay on once the news had reached them of the planes hitting the Twin Towers. Some had to leave because their loved ones were first responders. Maureen stayed as she and the others braced for an influx of victims. They waited all night and nobody came — the victims were all dead. Every year she commemorates the day at the Healing Field in Tempe Town Park. It is an overwhelming display of American flags, one for each of the thousands who died, at the towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. It is impossible not to have an emotional response to this amazing tribute to those who lost their lives on that horrific day.

My mom, Helen Hurwitt, a New Yorker from Brooklyn, was living outside of West Palm Beach at the time. She was watching the news that morning and saw the first plane hit and thought it odd that they were replaying footage of the B-25 Bomber that hit the Empire State Building in 1945. On that day, she was working across the street and saw the plane crash into the building. Fourteen people died. It wasn't until the second plane hit the other tower that she realized this was happening in real time.

Lastly, the day impacted me personally for a variety of reasons. Originally from Long Island, I was working as the director of field experiences at Geneseo State College outside of Rochester, N.Y. Many of the staff volunteered to stay through the evening to counsel students who wanted to stop in. So many were traumatized, and we all were walking around like zombies. One of the students who I knew quite well was doing her practicum in an elementary special education setting and came to see me that evening. Her mom was very ill with breast cancer. When word of what had happened in NYC got to the principal, she went to every classroom and whispered what had occurred to the classroom teachers. Concerned about their students’ vulnerability, the teachers were told not to tell them, but rather to allow their parents to deal with the situation at the end of the school day. Amy, however, was not told. When she saw the whispering, she immediately assumed that her mom had died and the principal was whispering so they could wait for her dad to get there to break the sad news. When she learned later that her mom had not died, she felt a sense of relief that the whispering referred to something vastly different. Yet at the same time, the grief of our collective loss was hitting her. So much emotion for a young woman to absorb!

From that day, as New Yorkers, fellow Americans, and citizens around the globe rallied together, I felt a sense of hope that we would feel a sense of renewed kinship and kindness towards our neighbors near and far. Unfortunately that feeling was short-lived as we confront the divisiveness that exists today. Perhaps the memory of 20 years ago will snap us back to realizing what really matters and we will begin anew to understand and accept our differences to forge a path of compassion and support for one another.

 ─ Beth H Scott, EdD

I was in Glasgow, Scotland, the day of Sept. 11 having just landed as a crew member for American Airlines. While walking Sauchihall Street — their pedestrian walkway — I noticed many people looking through a glass window of an appliance store, watching the TVs. I asked what was happening and was told that American Airlines and United Airlines planes flew into buildings in America! I returned to my hotel, the Thistle Hotel, and as I was entering, American Airlines agents approached me, asking for our captain. Our entire crew gathered that late afternoon to be informed that we might be in Glasgow for more than a week.

The people of that city could not have been more welcoming to us who were grieving for our company and all the souls who were lost on that fateful day. On Friday, the city had a memorial service at St. George's Square and more than 1,500 people attended. It was remarkable as our crew walked down the city streets in our uniforms and carried the American flag from our hotel to this event. We all were welcomed with open arms by all Glaswegians at this memorial service attended by many denominations.

Our crew returned to Chicago seven days after Sept. 11 with a full compliment of passengers, since we were only the second plane to depart Glasgow after 9/11.

 ─ Pat Avery