THE DAY THAT CHANGED THE WORLD:
STRIKE 1
8:45 a.m.
An ominous black cloud obscures the top of the World Trade
Center's North Tower moments after American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767
carrying 92 people, crashed into the building. As fire rages, those who were not
killed or seriously injured by the impact - or were not trapped on floors above
the inferno at the point of impact - begin to flee the stricken building.
On the streets of Manhattan, the first emergency workers and many heroic
civilians attempt to provide assistance as shocked onlookers stare at the
gruesome spectacle. But the horror is not finished yet.
STRIKE 2
9:03 a.m.
Smoke billows overhead and as United Airlines Flight 175,
another Boeing 767, approaches the South Tower. The hijacked jetliner smashed
into and through the building, sending flames and debris showering down on
Church Street and buildings on the east side of the base of the twin skyscraper
towers of the World Trade Center. The second impact compounds the toll, sends
survivors and onlookers scattering once again for cover, and adds to the horror
of the day - something that, only moments before, would have been unimaginable.
STRIKE 2
9:04a.m.
Still and video photographers, their attention and their
lenses already focused because of the earlier impact, record the immediate
aftermath of the South Tower strike. Raging flames and roiling smoke burst
forth, literally and figuratively darkening and otherwise marvelous late-summer
New York morning. The effects of damage to the structure of the 31-year-old
building are not yet fully evident, but soon will be.
STRIKE 2
9:05 a.m.
Debris from the South Tower rains down on New York streets,
falling some 60 floors from the point where Uni8ted Airlines Flight 175 smashed
into the building, blowing out two sides of the tower and setting off a
fireball.
STRIKE 3
9:43 a.m.
A colossus crumbles despite exterior walls two-feet thick, the
southwestern section of the Pentagon collapsed like a child's cardboard box fort
after American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into it at full power. The
jagged wound cut through three of the building's five rings, trapping hundreds
of people.
STRIKE 3
9:48 a.m.
Fed by thousands of gallons of jet fuel on board the Boeing
757, a tragic firestorm sent smoke rolling across Washington. Despite
quick action by firefighters, rescue crews were kept at bay for hours.
SOUTH TOWER
9:58 a.m.
While firefighters and police were working to save people
trapped in the burning South Tower, the 110-floor super skyscraper groaned and surrendered
to its mortal wounds. Support beams pushed to the melting point by 2,000-degree
flames superheated by the jet fuel buckled outward, no longer able to support
the upper floors. Like a poorly made layer cake, the South Tower collapsed, trapping office workers and hundreds of rescue workers caught by
surprise.
NORTH TOWER
10:28 a.m.
A death cloud of smoke and dust lingers over the area where
the World Trade Center towers stood less than two hours before. The proud
symbols of American economic might were transformed into a pile of twisted
girders and shattered concrete. As smoke from the still-burning ruins billowed
into the air an eerie silence descended on the city. Then, sirens could be heard
everywhere as rescue workers rushed to the scene.
There are no words to describe
the tragic events which have
forever
changed our nation.
AMERICAN # 11
American Airlines Flight # 11, a large Boeing 767, lifted off
the Logan Airport runway in Boston just before 8:00 a.m. on September 11th.
Aboard and bound for Los Angeles were 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and
two pilots. Flying west at 524 m.p.h., it suddenly turned south-southeast
a half hour later and headed toward Manhattan, slowing to 390 m.p.h.
Unimaginable panic must have occurred inside, where four
terrorists broke into the cockpit and commandeered the plane - holding sharp
blades to the throats of the crew. They slashed the throats of two flight
attendants and a passenger, leaving them dying in pools of blood on the carpeted
aisle. Determined not to be stopped in their grisly mission, the
terrorists herded all the passengers toward the rear of the cabin, as far away
as possible from the cockpit, lest anyone should try heroics to halt them. At the controls, with the pilots presumably dead, one of the
terrorists himself took direct aim at the huge skyscraper looming ever closer
and closer in front of the jet's windshield.
At 8:45 a.m., the big Boeing slammed into the 110-story North
Tower of the World Trade Center, about 25 floors from the top. The plane
disintegrated in a huge orange and yellow ball of fire, debris raining down from
the plane and an enormous hole in the building.
Before midday, the towering steel and glass behemoth sagged
inward and downward, collapsing with a roar in an ocean of thick smoke and
fragments.
UNITED # 93
Two minutes after the Boston flight left, and a few states
away, United Air Lines Flight # 93 taxied out onto the runway at Newark, N.J. to
begin its long journey to San Francisco. The Boeing 757 carried 38 passengers, five flight attendants,
two pilots and 9,370 gallons of aviation fuel. Sitting quietly among the
passengers: several terrorists ready to hijack the aircraft and die.
Flight # 93 was all the way across Pennsylvania and almost to
Cleveland, Ohio, when it made a double left turn and took a path toward
Washington, D.C. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said authorities
determined that the terrorists planned to crash into the White House.
The hijackers either miscalculated as they headed for their
secret target - or crew and passengers fought them in a desperate struggle for
survival. "There had to be a struggle - and someone heroically kept the
plane from heading to Washington," said Rep. Joh Murtha (D-PA), member of
the House Defense Appropriations Committee. These courageous individuals, facing certain death,
exemplified all that is best in America as they used the final moments of their
lives to speak of their love for their families and with their last breath, give
a warning to their country.
This plane was airborne longer than the other three, staying
aloft until it nose-dived sharply and blew apart the ground in a rural field
outside Somerset, Pa., southeast of Pittsburgh.
Everyone aboard died in the violent crash in Pennsylvania
field, far from their target at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When it tore into the
ground at full speed, it dug a huge crater - leaving nothing but tiny pieces
scattered wide, the biggest only five feet long.
AMERICAN # 77
Not content with the fatal skyjacking of two aircraft,
suicidal terrorists infiltrated the passengers boarding American Airlines Flight
# 77 - ready to leave for Los Angeles at 8:10 a.m. from Dulles Airport, some 20
miles due west of the Pentagon. The Boeing 757 carried 58 passengers, four flight attendants
and two pilots.
The Jetliner traveled some distance westward before turning
back and flying northeast for the Potomac River. An easy target, the five-sided Pentagon lies on the Virginia
bank of the river - a huge star-shaped complex easily visible from the air,
right across from the Lincoln Memorial and downtown Washington.
Swinging the big jet around to the southwest face of the
Pentagon, the skyjackers at 9:41 a.m. slammed it into the outer wall so
violently that the craft penetrated from the outermost "E" ring almost
all the way through the "A" ring and into the inner courtyard.
On all four flights the terrorists presumably used
undetectable knives to subdue, or kill, all crew members on board.
The explosion and flames set a fire that burned for days, and
Defense Department officials counted hundreds of military and civilian workers
missing.
UNITED # 175
Boston was again the launch pad for the fourth deadly flight,
United Air Lines Flight # 175. The Boeing 767 lifted off at 8:14 a.m.,
destination Los Angeles, carrying 56 passengers, seven attendants and two pilots
- plus full fuel tanks of about 10,000 gallons. The FAA air traffic controllers last heard from # 175 when it
was halfway between Newark and Philadelphia - just before it doubled back for
New York.
Terrified passengers and crew undoubtedly saw, up ahead and
off to the left of their aircraft, the thick smoke and huge hole in the side of
the World Trade Center's North Tower.
At 9:03 a.m., barely 18 minutes after the first aircraft hit,
Flight # 175 swooped in, its left wing banked downward 45 degrees.
Millions of Americans were already watching, when helicopter
news cameras picked up live the incredible headlong crash of the United plane
into the South Tower about halfway up.
POLITICAL QUOTES
GEORGE W. BUSH
President of the United States
"The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But
make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass this test."
COLIN POWELL
Secretary of State
"We're mad. We were assaulted. But our spirit
wasn't assaulted. And our fighting spirit wasn't assaulted. You don't
attack America like this and get away with it."
RONALD REAGAN
President of the United States 1981-1989
"The ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now
going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets, but a test of wills and
ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish,
and the ideals to which we are dedicated. You and I have the courage to say to
our enemies, 'There is a price we will not pay.' There is a point beyond which
they must not advance. This is the meaning of the phrase 'peace through
strength.' "
TONY BLAIR
British Prime Minister
"As for those that carried out these attacks, there are
no adequate words of condemnation. Their barbarism will stand as their shame for
all eternity. This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world. The people who
perpetrate it have no regard whatever for the sanctity or value of human life,
and we the democracies of the world must come together to defeat it and
eradicate it. This is not a battle between the United States of America and
terrorism but between the free and democratic world and terrorism. We here in
Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of
tragedy."
GERHARD SCHROEDER
German Chancellor
"This is a declaration of war against the entire
civilized world. Whoever helps or protects these terrorists violates all the
fundamental values that make it possible for people to live amongst each
other/"
YASSER ARAFAT
Palestinian Leader
"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable. We
completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to
the American people, to the American President and to the American
Administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian
people."
QUEEN ELIZABETH II
Queen of England
"On behalf of the British people, may I express my
heartfelt sympathy to the very many bereaved and injured and our admiration for
those who are now trying to cope with these unfolding tragedies. Our thoughts
and prayers are with you all."
ARIEL SHARON
Israeli Prime Minister
"Even if the war against terrorism takes time, there will
be nowhere in the world where terrorists, their accomplices and their commanders
will be able to find refuge. The fight against terrorism is an international
struggle of the free world against the forces of darkness who seek to destroy
our liberty and our way of life."
SILVIO BERLUSCONI
Italian Prime Minister
"I am shocked at the terrifying, insane terrorist attack,
which has hit the people of a friendly nation as well as the conscience of the
entire world."
JACQUES CHIRAC
French President
"In these terrifying circumstances, the French people in
their entirety stand beside the American people. They express their friendship
and their solidarity in this tragedy."
QUOTES FROM WITNESSES & SURVIVORS
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"I saw this very, very large passenger jet," said
Terrance Keane, 35, who was in a nearby building when he heard loud engines
right above him. "It just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon.
The nose penetrated the portico. And then it sort of disappeared and there
was fire and smoke everywhere - it was sort of surreal."
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Mike Slater, a former Marine, was inside the Pentagon, 500
yards from the jet's impact. "It was like a bomb," he said.
"I saw a mass of oily smoke and thought of the oil fields of
Kuwait."
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The jet's impact was like a bomb blast. "The doors
blew out and debris just came flying out. It blew me 10 feet," said Defense
Department worker Peggy Menacle. What were once cool, calm hallways became
deadly ovens. "We're having a lot of trouble in there. It's about 3,000
degrees inside. The walls, the water and the metal are hot," said Lt.
Willis Roberts, U.S. Army Rescue.
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"In my 30 years as a journalist, I've never seen a story
like this," CNN's Judy Woodruff reflected o -air.
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"My God, the southern tower is just collapsing in on
itself - this is a place where thousands of people work!" yelled ABC News
anchor Peter Jennings while on camera.
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Tom Brokaw, anchor for NBC News, told the nation: "This
is war. This is a day without end. For we do not yet know the price in lives
lost, whether there are other targets to come, and more importantly, how we will
respond to this terrorist attack, how we strike back militarily, how we defend
ourselves at home, how we heal all the wounds of the day."
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Michael Benfante, 36, and John Cerqueira, 22, employees of
Network Plus, a Boston-based telecommunications firm, were at work in Suite 8121
in the North Tower when the first plane hit the building several floors above.
"No one knew what had happened, but I ordered everyone out of the office
and down the stairs," said Benfante, the branch manager. "I saw flames
flickering to the side of the building. I could feel the building swaying."
They carried a woman in a wheelchair stranded on the 68th floor to safety.
When they finally made it to the lobby they were shocked by what they saw.
"It looked like Iwo Jima," said Cerqueira. They managed to get the
woman into an emergency van. "We made it a few blocks when the building
just exploded," Benfante said. "Everything went black. Smoke and
debris were everywhere."
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Andrene Denniston, 36, a vice-president with brokerage firm
Salomon Smith Barney, was working in the World Trade Center Building Seven
across the street from the Twin Towers when the first plane hit. She said,
"We heard a booming noise. We looked around and saw debris falling off the
building. We looked up and saw that Number One (the North Tower) had been hit. I
was on the 28th floor of our building looking directly at a huge gaping hole on
about the 90th floor. Then we saw more debris, what we thought was more building
shrapnel, but in fact it was people jumping 90 floors ... hoping to survive. We
watched about 5 people jumping out of windows, about every five minutes. It was
horrifying. They had no chance of living. We watched them hit the ground, just
landing on the street right in front of us. It was the most horrible thing I
have ever seen in my life." "I was working in the Twin Towers during
the explosion in 1993. I was on the 90th floor then. We felt the building shake,
but we did not hear the boom. This time we heard the crash and the lights
flickered. But no one knew what was going on. At that point Number Two (the
South Tower) still had not been hit. The phone rang and it was my sister. And
just at that moment we heard another incredible bang. My sister yelled that a
plane had just hit Number 2. She then screamed, "Get ... out of there!' We
took the stairs down al the way and then began to head for the Brooklyn Bridge.
"I suddenly heard this rumble and I looked back. I saw the building coming
down and I saw people start running. So I ran faster than I'd ever run
before."
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James Smith was working in the World Trade Center building
number four when he felt the impact of the first collision and ran out into the
street. "Ashes were falling like snow. People were crying. The street was
littered with smoldering flakes and soot. There were shoes on the street. Women
had run right out of them."
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Rusty Wood, 30, was working on a nearby rooftop when he saw
the first plane tear into the tower. "Both wings broke right off. Then the
tail fell off. The plane burst into bits like was paper held together by thread.
The impact just tore it apart."
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Frank Jones was working at his security post at nearby 222
Broadway. "I was on the 15th floor when I heard a loud blast. All the glass
windows in our building shook. Out on the street, everyone was watching the
World Trade Center burn. Shortly after that the second plane hit. By the time
the first building imploded, soot was falling everywhere. All I could do was
pull my suit jacket over my head to cover my face. Three to four inches of
debris covered the street."
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"We're mad. We were assaulted. But our spirit wasn't
assaulted. And our fighting spirit wasn't assaulted. You don't attack America
like this and get away with it."
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"It looked like the end of the world," said Abdullah
Jones, 44, an office assistant who was standing a few hundred feet from Tower 2
when it collapsed. "It was a massive inferno, worse than any movie. It was
... breaking loose."
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Louie Cacchioli, 51, is a firefighter assigned to Engine 47 in
Harlem. "We were the first ones in the second tower after the plane struck.
I was taking firefighters up in the elevator to the 24th floor to get in
position to evacuate workers. On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think
there was bombs set in the building. I had just asked another firefighter to
stay with me, which was a good thing because we were trapped inside the elevator
and he had the tools to get out. There were probably 500 people trapped in the
stairwell. It was mass chaos. The power went out. It was dark. Everybody was
screaming. We had oxygen masks and we were giving people oxygen. Some of us made
it out and some of us didn't. I know of at least 30 firefighters who are still
missing. This is my 20th year. I am seriously considering retiring. This might
have done it."
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"People were crying," said witness Tony Schmitz.
"They were transfixed by what they saw. You don't know how to respond to
something like this."
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Mike Walter, 46, correspondent, USA Today Live television:
"This morning the traffic near the Pentagon was just crawling along. I
looked out the window and saw a plane coming over, loud and very low. I could
read the "AA" on its side. It looked like it was 20, 30 ft. up in the
air. It was coming in a direct path to the Pentagon. I started to say to myself,
'This plane is going to crash.' It disappeared behind the trees, and there was a
massive explosion. I kept muttering, 'Ohmigod, ohmigod.' It was surrealistic.
The traffic had stopped. A woman was screaming, 'Turn around, turn around. The
Pentagon has been hit!' It was just pandemonium. I pulled over and ran to see
what I could see. There was debris from the jet on the overpass. I was watching
the military personnel set up a triage. These tarps, red and green and yellow.
And flags. They were running around with stretchers. All of a sudden they
grabbed them and started running for the Pentagon. Three or four military
officers came running up saying, 'You've got to get back! Another plane's been
hijacked and is heading our way.' People were saying it was 25 minutes away,
others said 25 miles away. Then an F-16 came screaming by the Pentagon, and
people cheered. There was a staff sergeant standing next to me saying, 'What do
they do if it's a passenger plane and they shoot it down?' I tried to stay busy,
tried to work (filing television reports). When all this was over, an Army guy
came over and said, 'The FBI want to talk with you.' I dissolved into tears. He
said, 'Don't worry about it. You're in a state of shock.' "Psychologically
this is pretty jarring. So often (reporters) show up, and the yellow tape is up
and it's after the fact. To be there and watch it was very tough."
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"There, but for the Grace of God...," said
Continental Airlines pilot Jim Moore, whose 8 a.m. flight out of Boston took off
just moments after one of the doomed American Airlines planes hijacked in the
nation's worst-ever terrorist assault.
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"I thanked God for my life. There's no reason the people
who died today shouldn't have been me," said Brian, a 41-year-old World
Trade Center worker who was in his 64th floor office when the first tower was
struck by an airplane but managed to escape safely before the building
collapsed. |
America mourns
We Are Americans CD - check it
out!
(in honor of all of the brave souls that were lost, as well as the survivors)
God Bless The USA Webring
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Photos, captions, information & quotes from the following publications:
God Bless America
People
U.S. News & World Report
News & Record
YOU CAN HELP BY CLICKING ON ONE OF THE LINKS
BELOW:
F.B.I.
To call FBI with information on the attacks:
1-866-483-5137
To call the NYPD with info:
1-718-765-4300
Kids can help too!
President Bush encouraged each American child to contribute one dollar to go
toward helping the children of Afghanistan. Send your donations to:
America's Fund for Afghan Children
C/O The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC
20509-1600
Questions about terrorism? Click HERE for more
information!
Terror-Alert.com
Music courtesy of
Don
Carroll
