Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 9-9-16 Online Edition

Feature
Citizens Discuss Their Memories Of 9-11 Attacks
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
This weekend, the nation will remember the Terrorists attack. It was the most devas- tating attack on American soil in history.
The attacks began at ap- proximately 8:45 a.m., on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when an American Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Loaded with 20,000 gal- lons of fuel, the plane struck the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper.
It killed hundreds of peo- ple instantly and hundreds of others were trapped in the burning building. Television cameras captured the crash
and as the country tried to un- derstand what had happened, at 9:03 a.m., a second Boeing 767 United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the 60th Floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
At this point, the country knew that the United States was under attack. As millions of Americans watched the live broadcast in horror, American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the west side of the Pen- tagon at 9:45 a.m. Meanwhile, passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 heard about the attacks and took action. The airplane crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.
In the aftermath of the at- tacks, it was learned that 19 members of the militant
one reported
that a plane
crashed into
one of the
twin tower
buildings in
New York
City. I turned
on the television to see the news reports and we all thought it was a tragic acci- dent. Then, while we were huddled watching the live broadcast of the burning building with flames and smoke bellowing out of it, an- other plane appeared out of the distant sky plunged into the other tower.
“We were shocked and
said, “I had
taken my first
day off for the
year and was
planning on
fluffy pillows,
a good book
and a quiet
house. I
turned the tel-
evision on to
breaking
news as my telephone rang ... Back to work...all federal de- volution plans were acti- vated.”
group al-Qaeda, had hijacked the four planes and carried out the suicide missions. In its wake, more than 3,000 people died. The dead included hun- dreds of first responders, in- cluding police officers, firefighters, and Emergency Medical personnel.
The question of the week posed to some Sentinel read- ers was: “What were you doing on that day 15 years ago when you learned of the at- tack?”
James Ransom said, “On 9/11, I
was at work
when some-
stunned with disbelief. Com- mentators then starting re- porting another plane crash into the Pentagon, in Wash- ington, D. C., and suspicion of another plane that possibly targeting the White House but had been diverted to Pennsyl- vania, possibly by passengers who were using phones in- flight to communicate they were fighting with hijackers until that plane crashed into the ground.
“The whole experience was surreal. I called family members who worked in the Twin Towers and the Penta- gon and they were all safe.
“Since then, our country has properly memorialized our family members, friends, visitors and fellow country- men, women and children who lost their lives. We have appropriately recognized our leaders and heroes and she- roes for their efforts to rescue and save lives. We have others dying in the streets in our cities throughout the country everyday from senseless killings and this too must not be tolerated. We must watch as well as pray and take action to prevent these tragedies.”
Mrs. Bonnye Crews
demolished)
Special
Events Center
at the Univer-
sity of South
Florida when
we received
word about
the Terrorist
Attack. What
a sad day that
was, and con-
tinues to be!
are quite vivid and those I hope I will never have to re- visit.”
Pastor Karen Sims
JAMES RANSOM
PASTOR KAREN SIMS
said, “After
spending
some time ob-
serving in
classrooms, I
returned to
the office to
find the secre-
taries doing
something
that was quite unusual...watching the news on TV. While the television reporter gave details about the first plane crash, we all watched in disbelief as a sec- ond plane plowed into the other twin tower on live tele- vision. At that point it was dis- turbingly clear that America was under attack.”
Danny Green said, “I was a Man-
ager at Brinks
Armored Car
Billy Wheeler said, “I was teaching
a class of 6th
graders in
East Tampa.
We watched
the attack in
real time so
we saw the
second
plane’s im-
pact and
eventually, the collapse of both towers. President (George) Bush was also in a Florida class- room at the same time. His reaction when an aide whis- pered the news to him seemed somewhat detached, even nonchalant.
“I remember hoping he was “maintaining his cool” for the children’s sake. I stepped outside briefly to check the sky and wondered how far the attacks would go. There was silence, and I thought, ‘Is everybody inside waiting, mo- tionless and in fear, for the next plane to fall?’”
Attorney Clinton Paris
DR. SAMUEL WRIGHT
My memories
Company at
the time. We
had a whole
area on lock-
down. Be-
cause we
control all the
money in the
Tampa Bay area we thought that we might be attacked. Everyone at work stopped what they were doing. We were glued to the TV. We were very shocked at the events.
“I will always remember that day. It was a very sad day for Americans.”
Dr. Samuel Wright
said, “While at USF for nearly 27.5 years, most of my time was spent in the Division of Student Affairs. On that day, September 11th, we were hav- ing a division-wide staff meet- ing in the old (now
said, “On the
morning of
September 11,
2011, I was
working as an
associate at
the Tampa
Law Offices of
Squire,
Sanders and
Dempsey, lo-
cated at One City Center in downtown Tampa.
“The firm was housed on the 21st Floor of the Verizon Building. The lawyers and staff all crowded into the firm conference room and watched the smoking towers crash to the ground. We were then told to vacate the building be- cause it was a terrorist attack.”
BONNYE CREWS
DANNY GREEN
BILLY WHEELER
ATTY. CLINTON PARIS
PAGE 2-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016