With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, Americans are recalling in vivid detail where they were when they first learned of the terrorist attacks.
It is certainly a moment — and a day — I’ll never forget.
I arrived in my office just after 7:30 that morning and was organizing my schedule, paying no attention to the news wires at my fingertips. I was alone until a few minutes past 8 a.m. when colleague Sheila Ter Meer arrived, set a few things on her desk and quickly hustled toward the television in the back of the newsroom.
Odd, I thought to myself. I wondered, “What’s going on?”
I walked from my office toward the TV, which Sheila was now watching intently. She told me that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center, and within moments we were watching the first replays of the second plane hitting the south tower. My reaction was immediate, and most likely no different than other Americans watching and processing those initial images. “This is no accident.”
While those first minutes seemed to move in slow motion, the rest of the day was a blur.
And that’s the way it was, it seems, for lots of people.
The coordinated attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are defining moments of a generation. Whenever the topic of that day comes up, people often share recollections of where they were when they first saw on TV or heard about the commercial airliners striking those iconic buildings on the New York City skyline. It is a highly personal experience no one will ever forget.
As part of our coverage of the upcoming 10-year anniversary of 9/11, the Tribune-Star and Tribstar.com are inviting readers to share their recollections of that moment with us. Just send us a brief message via email to opinion@tribstar.com describing where you were. Or send me a printed letter at the Tribune-Star, P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute IN 47808.
We will compile responses and post them online in coming days and incorporate them into our print edition as well.
I also urge you to watch the brief video we’ve posted to our online edition (www.tribstar.com) featuring people at each of the affected sites where terrorists struck that day. (Just click on the “9/11: Where were you?” link.) These testimonials were produced by the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett as he collected information this summer for his upcoming three-part series, “Walking in the Shadows of 9/11,” which will begin Sept. 9 in the Tribune-Star and Tribstar.com.
I’ll write more about Mark’s series in next week’s column.
Max Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by email at max.jones@tribstar.com.
9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
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Max Jones, Tribune-Star editor
Discussion
MAX JONES: 9/11 ‘moments’ still vivid 10 years later
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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.
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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.
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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
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Volunteers turn out for 9/11 Day of Service
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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.
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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 …
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A CHANGED NATION: After 9/11, air travel, privacy, security all took on new rules
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9/11 Day of Service in Valley: Consolidated 5th-graders swept away with helping others
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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.
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'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
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WHY I SERVE: The police officer
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“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.
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Ralston took part in congressional terrorism study before 9/11
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LIFE & LIBERTY: Americans won’t let lives be ruled by fear, prof says
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First of a three-part series
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‘Remember those who were heroes that day’
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