TERRE HAUTE —
The Tribune-Star and Tribstar.com recently asked readers to recall the memory of where they were at the moment they learned of the 9/11 attacks. Here is our first batch of responses:
Send your memories to opinion@tribstar.com or click here for a form in which to write and send your message.
•••
On 9/11/2001, it was my 21st birthday. My husband and I were camping at Prairie Creek Park. We will never forget the tragedy and the deaths that day. Every year on 9/11 I will never forget. It is now a part of my memory that will never be forgotten.
Kimmie Dycus
Terre Haute
•••
I was enjoying the day off and was shocked to see one of the towers burning on the television. I called a close friend and we both watched in amazement as the plane flew into the second tower. As the news report went crazy about other attacks, the shock set in. We are being attacked on our own soil. Words can’t express the feelings that fell over me as I realized what was at that moment a reality. God bless us all, and the fallen.
Mr. Chapman
Terre Haute
•••
The early morning of 09/11 began rather traumatic for me right from the start. My dad had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, and he and I drove over to the VA Hospital in Indianapolis for him to undergo a surgical biopsy procedure.
We had just gotten into the hospital and went to the cafeteria so I could get a cup of coffee, when the first televised report had come across that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. The pictures were so devastating. I immediately had tears come to my eyes. As the time went by my dad was taken into surgery and then it came across that the second plane had hit the other second Twin Tower, and then the Pentagon and that a plane had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
By this time, since we were in a government facility, we were immediately put under lockdown. No one was allowed in or out of the facility except through the emergency room and we were told they were bringing in the National Guard for security.
This was very upsetting, not only was my father sick, our country was under attack and I was under lockdown. My sister had flown to Texas for a conference and I was not sure when/if she would make it back, and I felt all alone, but I knew I had to be strong for my dad.
In the days to follow I was so proud to be an AMERICAN and of the way our country pulled together in a time of great tragedy.
I am also happy to say my sister made it home, she had to rent a car and drive back, but at least we were back together with our dad.
Kim Alabaugh
•••
I was a junior in high school in a N.Y. boarding school. I remember being in one of the activity rooms where Comedy Central was on. I saw the footage of the first tower on fire and we all laughed thinking it was a joke, being that Comedy Central was in the bottom of the TV screen. I walked back to my dorm to find my old roommate sitting in the hallway crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me his mom was in the World Trade Center. I ran to my dorm parents’ apartment just in time to see the second plane crash into the second tower. Cell service was nonexistent and land lines were jammed and busy. In all the panic, someone said the Sears Tower had been hit, sending me into a panic since my dad worked there and with no phone service I couldn’t call my parents. That’s one day I will always remember crystal clear.
Kipp Hoffman
•••
I’d just returned home from taking my daughter to school. She was in fifth grade. I turned on the TV to the Today Show and I saw Katie Couric talking and showing the plane at WTC. She thought it was an accident and I thought so too. So I turned the channel to watch “All in the Family,” and when that show was over, I turned back to the Today Show and there was a second plane. A few minutes later they came on with another plane crash and then another. I was scared at this point. I thought these people are everywhere! But nowhere to be found. I started crying, I felt like this was the end for us. A red scrolling bar started at the bottom of the screen and places like federal buildings and schools in our capital city were on lockdown or were letting out. I sat glued to the TV all day watching the news. By 1 p.m., the school called and told me to come get my daughter because she was ill. I went to pick her up, but before I did, our newspaper put out a second copy of the daily paper and I went to pick one up. (A second copy of the paper was not typical for our local newspaper.)
My daughter said that they watched the WTC crash all day. She saw people jumping out of buildings and people running and crying, the buzzing from the lost firefighters. It all made her sick. We sat glued to the TV for the next few days. We started hearing “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood, and lots of interviews. Oh, it was so horrible, I immediately thought of Pearl Harbor when those attacks came. I have never been so scared. I went to my knees. This is the day that the world really changed for me. Things have never been the same since. I am more aware of my surroundings and I go out less frequently.
Cynthia Clarke
•••
I was an OTR driver on my way to a delivery in North Carolina. That previous evening I had driven until around 1 a.m. and was still sleeping when my wife called me about 9 a.m. and asked me if I was watching TV. She then told me and I went inside and watched the news reports.
All that day I tried to keep up on what was going on while at the same time reassuring my family members that I was NOT in New York and was safe.
That next day I went through Norfolk, Virginia, with my next load and saw all of the military people getting to the naval base. The radio station I was listening to kept playing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and raised everyone’s spirits.
The attacks terrified my two youngest daughters and my wife was left at home trying to reassure them. I can remember my sister being afraid to even go to the airport. I more or less raised her spirits when I told her I refused to be afraid of the terrorists and would NOT let them dictate to me how to live.
David Smith
Lawrenceville, Ill.
•••
I was a senior at Terre Haute South. I was sitting in my journalism class that morning studying for a test I had later that day. Most students were in the middle of taking the ISTEP tests and because of that the class schedule was changed around.
Our teacher had on the Today Show that morning, as she sometimes did. She would ask us to pick a news story and re-write it for Terre Haute or write about something that happened in Terre Haute for a national scale.
Katie Couric said they thought there may have been an explosion possibly by a bomb in the building but at first did not know what caused the explosion. We saw the video live as the second plane flew into the second tower. I had no idea what was really going on.
Our teacher told one of the students to run to the main office and tell the principal. Shortly after that an announcement was made saying school was put on lockdown and that more would be said after ISTEPs were over for the day.
We watched the news all morning watching video from all of the crash sites and President Bush’s address to the country. I’ll never forget that morning, being in a journalism class and now being a journalist, it was the first “news item” that showed me that it was OK for a journalist to be affected by the story. Because once they saw the second plane, Matt’s voice was shaky and he was obviously shaken up by the situation.
Later that year, Mr. Mann, the economics, government and history teacher, announced he wanted to take his class on a trip to San Antonio to visit the Alamo. Most parents were against the idea because they didn’t want us to be on a plane. Mr. Mann told the parents “Don’t let the terrorists win. Don’t let your kids grow up in fear of flying or of being in a public place for fear of a terrorist act. If you do that, they have won. Help me show these kids not to be afraid.” And I, along with several of my friends who were in Mr. Mann’s class, went to the Alamo and to LBJ’s ranch house.
During our graduation the video from that day was played. Saying we were the first class to graduate after the country had changed … and had come together.
Rebecca Pullen-Bennett, THS class of 2002
Current resident of Indianapolis
•••
Where was I on 9/11?
I had awaken earlier than my wife. I turned on the TV in the family room as I headed to the kitchen for breakfast and immediately saw the result of the first building hit. I don’t know the channel I had on, but the reporter said that the plane must have been off track. Shortly after, the second plane hit and the same announcer said something like, “There must be something wrong with the airport tracking signal.” Then came the word that it was an attack. My wife and I sat by the TV all day, mesmerized by the events as they happened and wondering what was going to happen in the future.
September 11 is my birthday. There was no celebration on this one.
James Wood
Terre Haute
•••
On 9/11 I was living in Southern California. I was getting ready for work and listening to the news as usual (radio). On hearing the broadcast about the first tower I yelled at my husband to wake up and I turned on the TV. Just as I sat down to watch it the second tower was hit. I grabbed the phone and called my brother (he worked for a congresswoman) at the time. I fell on my knees ant prayed for all those in the buildings. It is one of those moment that the mind and heart will never let you forget.
Carol Hawn
Terre Haute
•••
I came in that day early to work at Columbia House, at 7 a.m. We had been very busy on the phones at that time, due to pre-holiday sales. I worked an hour on mail, then turned on the phones, expecting a deluge of calls, but getting no calls at all. The 8 o’clock people started coming in, and each shift had more outlandish reports of what happened in N.Y. and elsewhere. I finally saw the footage for myself in the break room. I never heard the sound of such silence as the reports were coming in on the cable news channel as I did that day. I heard about the gas prices going way up, but could do nothing about it. After leaving work that evening at 7:30 p.m., I drove to Baesler’s to pick up supplies I had planned to get that day. I never saw such a rush for supplies — it was like the people getting their “bread and milk” prior to a snow storm. I finally found some gas at a “less outrageous” cost of about $1.99 a gallon at the Shell on U.S. 41 near ISU.
Afterwards, it took several weeks before we received very many calls at Columbia House. It was as if they had canceled Christmas.
Rich Hardcastle
Westfield
9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
Readers share their 9/11 memories
- 9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
-
-
Delores Ann Day
Delores Ann Day, 77, of Terre Haute, passed away at 2:10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Union Hospital.
-
Wabash Valley lights the night in memory of those lost to terrorism
As the sun set and skies turned pink Sunday, about 30 people worked to light 9,200 tea candles at the Fairbanks Park Chauncey Rose Memorial.
-
‘September Souls’ a 9/11 story told one piece at a time
Amid the mourning, artwork was born.
The resulting quilt, “September Souls,” will be on display in Indiana State University’s Cunningham Memorial Library through October, along with a short video about its creator, the late Rosemary England. -
Terre Haute South site of 9/11 ceremony to ‘remember the fallen’
The morning was clear, warm and comfortable, not unlike 10 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers on suicide missions murdered nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
-
Donors remember times of need as they let the ‘red’ flow
The music floating about Fairbanks Park was serene, but inside the air-conditioned RV nearby, the blood was pumping.
-
Service honors those who boldly leap into the face of danger
Religious services around the Wabash Valley marked the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, including a special service honoring America’s emergency responders Sunday at Good Shepherd Baptist Church on the south side of Terre Haute.
-
ISU ensembles honor memory of 9/11
Vocal and instrumental music blended with visual images as Indiana State University student performers joined Sunday in songs of reflection and hope in memory of 9/11.
-
EDITORIAL: Inspired by resilience in our post-9/11 world
The places directly linked to 9/11 can seem so distant from our own surroundings here in the Wabash Valley.
-
True heroism: Flight 93 rewrote conclusion to plot by 9/11 terrorists (see VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Last of a three-part series
The place — chosen by fate — holds a powerful silence. -
MARK BENNETT: Value of every minute deeply realized on 9/11 (related VIDEO)
Editor’s Note
This summer, the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett visited New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., sites where the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now memorialized. He observed the cityscapes and landscapes forever changed by the events of that day and talked with people he encountered there, many of whom witnessed the attacks and their aftermath from close range and had personal ties to its victims. -
Three sites ... a shared goal: Travelers will experience 3 distinct environments at 9/11 memorials
A national sense of tragedy provides a common, connecting thread to these three places.
A broad plot by al-Qaida terrorists sent hijacked commercial airlines crashing into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a remote field near Shanksville, Pa., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. A decade later, most Americans old enough to vote know the basic story and remember where they were on 9/11. -
Pilot recalls escorting Air Force One on 9/11
Piloting his F-16 fighter jet on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, then-Lt. Col. Chris Colbert of the Terre Haute-based 181st Fighter Wing, could see that the shimmering object in the distance was a very, very large aircraft.
-
Volunteers turn out for 9/11 Day of Service
Building handicapped ramps, pulling weeds along a city park trail and assembling packages for U.S. military personnel were all part of a 9/11 Day of Service on Saturday organized by Terre Haute Ministries.
-
Pentagon Memorial pays tribute to 184 lives lost in 9/11 attack on Washington (related VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Second of a three-part series
The latch clicked loudly, and Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey pushed open a door inside Corridor 4 of the Pentagon.
He entered an area that resembles an urban alley, but with a roof.
“This is where the final pieces of the aircraft had crashed through,” explained Ditchey, Pentagon press officer for the Department of Defense. -
Sept. 11, 2001 — A date seared into the minds of Americans
There are events so important in our lives that we remember every detail. Sometimes, these are personal celebrations such as weddings, births and graduations. But other events, sudden and tragic on a national scale, such as the brutal terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, become defining moments for a generation.
-
B.J. RILEY: Quieting the roar of the presses …
There are memories branded forever in our minds. They are as clear as if they occurred just yesterday. I will never forget that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, or the days that followed …
-
A CHANGED NATION: After 9/11, air travel, privacy, security all took on new rules
A lot has changed in the decade since passenger planes were used as missiles to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and to damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
-
9/11 Day of Service in Valley: Consolidated 5th-graders swept away with helping others
After the 9/11 tragedy, many saw a spirit of unity emerging across the country as Americans pulled together and helped each other during a dark time in U.S. history.
-
WHY I SERVE: The soldier
On the wall of his office inside the Myers Technology Building, Chris Pfaff pointed to a map of Afghanistan, a place about as different from the Indiana State University campus as one can imagine.
-
'ALMOST SURREAL': A decade later, two men who witnessed the attacks look back
The underground Metro train shook noticeably.
Something had happened. William Hanna, a retired U.S. Army colonel living in Virginia, was on board the Metro and could feel the shock. -
WHY I SERVE: The firefighter
Big red trucks and blaring sirens always held a special appeal for Jason Kame.
“I always wanted to be a fireman. I was one of those kids that always knew what I wanted to do,” he said inside the Terre Haute Fire Department’s Headquarters Station at First and Spruce streets. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: Attacks created new chapters for the history books
The 9/11 terrorist attacks permanently changed the daily routine for students in the Vigo County School Corp.
-
WHY I SERVE: The police officer
Joe Watts heard the calling to wear a police uniform early in life.
“I tell everyone that as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a state trooper,” Watts says. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: 9/11 attacks were a ‘historical turning point’
Incoming college freshmen this fall would have been about 8 years old when 9/11 occurred, and college faculty find that with each passing year, students know less and less about the terrorist attacks.
-
Ralston took part in congressional terrorism study before 9/11
Years before the terrorist attacks in 2001, Terre Haute resident Patrick R. Ralston was part of a national panel that would assess how the U.S. government could assist state and local responders in combating terrorism.
-
IN GOD WE TRUST: Many sought comfort in prayer, religion after attacks
In times of tragedy, many people turn to prayer to help them begin to cope with myriad emotions.
-
LIFE & LIBERTY: Americans won’t let lives be ruled by fear, prof says
In the post-9/11 world, Americans have been willing to make some concessions in the name of national security, but not many, says a St. Mary-of-the-Woods College faculty member.
-
Ten years removed, 9/11 attack on NYC remains on minds of many (see VIDEO)
First of a three-part series
A decade later, images from Sept. 11, 2001, remain vivid in the minds of most Americans. Plane crashes. Collapsing skyscrapers. Staggering people covered in dust. Horror. Shock. Confusion. Fear. Heroism. -
9/11 Memorial Event to honor those killed in attacks
Late last year, Terri (T.J.) Coonce had a vision for a 9/11 memorial event.
Inspired by an uncle and cousin who had served in Afghanistan, she wanted to honor not only those killed in the terrorist attacks, but also all American service members who have since lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
-
‘Remember those who were heroes that day’
Half-time shows at college football games are normally reserved for some relatively light entertainment and a chance to buy some snacks.
- More 9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage Headlines
-
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Okla. Teens Get Video of Deadly Tornado Overhead
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Britain Attack Believed Linked to Radical Islam
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
Raw: Scuffles in London After Hacking Death
Texas Students Coach Teachers on Fitness
9-year-old Tornado Victim Loved Family, Singing
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Today in History May 22
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
Raw: Costa Rica Volcano Roars to Life
Chain-Reaction School Bus Crash Injures About 50
Johnson: Don't Blame Islam or UK Policy
Tim Cook Defends Apple's Tax Accounting
Today in History May 23
Paperless Scanner, Vision of the Future
AK-47-wielding thug may be the most bumbling crook ever
Trout's cycle a boost for Angels
Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece
NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery
Shakira's Shocking Talent
Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air
GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape
Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public
Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls
Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place
Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill
DWTS Crowns a Winner
Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff
Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House
Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
