Print this story |
E-mail story |
This story has 12 comments | Add your own |
iPod friendly | Bookmark this
What is this?
Residents remember 9/11
Published Thursday, September 10, 2009
Unthinkable. Appalling. Tragic. No adjective can capture what people felt on Sept. 11, 2001 as two hijacked commercial airliners crashed into the World Trade Towers in New York City.
The living nightmare continued as another plane smashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth flight crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside after passengers engaged in a fight with the hijackers.
Friday, on the eighth anniversary of the attacks, the memories are still clear to Chilton County residents who heard the news that day, especially those who had loved ones nearby.
“I was scared to death,” said Ann Mims, whose son worked for American Airlines at the time. “They said it was an American Airlines plane, and I had no idea which plane he was on that day.”
Mims was on her way to a Chilton Leadership meeting at the Alabama 4-H Center in Columbiana when she heard about the first plane crashing. On her way back to work at Peoples Southern Bank in Clanton, she heard about the second plane.
As she entered the back door, coworkers told her that her son, Dale, had called and said he was OK.
“My knees were just weak,” Mims said. “I just sat down because I didn’t think I could walk on to my desk.”
Jemison Mayor Eddie Reed was driving a school bus on Sept. 11 when he was stopped by a former student from Calera. At first, Reed thought he was joking.
“You couldn’t imagine something of that magnitude happening to the United States,” he said.
Another former student of Reed’s, an Army lieutenant colonel, was supposed to attend a meeting in the Pentagon that morning, but the meeting was cancelled.
Pennie Broussard, director of the Chilton County Chamber of Commerce, first found out while talking to her mother on the phone.
She then turned on the radio in her office.
“She said, ‘I’m sitting here watching the craziest thing.’ Then she said, ‘Oh my goodness! A plane just hit the other one!’” Broussard recalled.
Chilton County Superintendent of Education Keith Moore said he watched the events unfold from a TV in the Verbena High School library. He saw a plane strike the second tower as it was broadcast live.
Moore said he thinks of that day often.
“You always think about it because there’s always some type of reminder,” he said. “You watch a game being played in New York, or you see the numbers 911.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?
Comments
Posted by AZSneed (anonymous) on September 10, 2009 at 10:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was shocked by what I saw on TV, on Sept. 11th.
But, It was inevitable that something like this was going to happen. It was pay back to America for all of the interference in the Middle East by our Government. The shameful part of this was all of the people that died, because of our Government. Look at what was hit by the planes, the WTC, a major financial hub, and the Pentagon, our main military headquarters. They tried to cripple us, and they failed, because we are stronger than they though, and I mean THE PEOPLE, not our Government.
We will never forget the ones murdered on 9/11, but unfortunately our Government did not learn the hard lessons from this atrocity.
Posted by bama6983 (anonymous) on September 10, 2009 at 10:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My heart goes out to anyone that lost someone during 9/11. I can remember exactly where I was standing when I heard the news and how my heart fell to my feet. Watching the newscast that day and the days that followed was unbelievable. I can remember thinking it looked like something you would see in a movie. It was horrific what those people went through and what their loved ones had to go through.
Posted by Likeitreallymatters (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 7:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is one of those things where you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at the moment you heard the news. i can remember I was in Pell City, teaching a class full of 3rd graders when one of the special education teachers came to my door to tell me that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I can remember being shocked that an accident like that could happen. Then a few minutes later the same teacher came back by to tell me about the 2nd one. It was then that I knew that something truly horrible was happening. The world would never be the same. I wanted so badly to turn on the news, but I didn't want to frighten my young students. When they went to PE, i finally did watch, horrified by the images that were flashing in front of me. It was sad, depressing, frightening, and infuriating at the same time. I can only hope that some day we will find bin Laden and put him to justice.
Posted by shenley (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 8:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I remember very well what went on at my office. We had a meeting that day and we had 3 people there that had flown from Washington DC and after we heard about the attacks, they began calling trying to find a way to get back to DC and it seems so weird that even though they began as soon as they heard, there were no rental cars available, no way at all to get back to DC. They stayed on the phone all morning trying to find a ride back. We had some folks at the meeting that had driven to Montgomery from CDC in Atlanta, and they caught a ride back to Atlanta and I don't know how long it took them to get back to Washington DC.
Posted by getbizi (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
AZSneed..I think that you are confused at who the enemy is. The Middle East has been in turmoil long before the U.S. ever tried to bring stability. The Middle East has been ruled by dictators and autocrats for years. Our country's influence has done much more to help. Muslim extremists are the ones who we need to focus our wrath upon. What happened to the outrage that we all had on 9-11 toward the ones who flew the planes? Our country has done more good in the world that ANY OTHER COUNTRY!!
Posted by southernpride (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree that the Middle East has always had trouble and will always have trouble. However, I don't knnow of very many people that disagree that our country meddles in the business of other countries and sometimes even supports unpopular dictators. Agree or disagree with doing so, that is just the way it is.
Unfortunately you can not ever fully stop terrrorists acts when people are willing to give their life to do us harm. I feel for the thousands that lost their lives as well as for their families.
I also feel the same for the lost militairy and their families. I am not sure however, that we should of been in Iraq and not sure how much being in Afghanistan has helped either.
I don't believe taking down Hussein was worth one American soldier's life. I have relatives in the military and suppirt the military just not the politiicans that control them.
I would love to hear others thoughts on this matter as well.
Even though it is not politically correct, I say "God Bless America".
Posted by pheadley (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 11:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I didn't know a thing happened until i got home from school at Verbena at 3:30. They didnt really get the word out much..
Posted by rolltideroll (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 2:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was a tragic day. It changed the way that Americans lived, at least for a while. I was at school getting prepared for my Kindergartners to arrive & did not learn about the attacks until about 9:30 am. I said a prayer for our country & my husband who had flown to Egypt. Thankfully, he had arrived safe & sound. (He learned about the attacks while visiting the pyramids.) I didn't concentrate on the tragedy because I had a classroom full of 5-year-olds that needed me to stay focused on teaching them. It really hit me after I got home in the evening.
While many of you may disagree with me, I feel that we needed to go to both Afghanistan & Iraq. My husband has been to both & will return to one in the near future. He saw the need to for us to go & went willingly. Even though I know the danger that he faces every time that he goes, I know that God goes with him & directs all of his paths.
Regardless of your feelings of whether or not we should be in (or have gone to) Afghanistan or Iraq, we are there. Now that we are, please tell your politicians to let us finish the job so that our children do not have to complete this fight for us. If we do not finish what we started, it will open us up to even more attacks because we will be seen as an "easy" mark.
As someone that is married to a career soldier, I only ask that you pray daily for our military members & the leaders of this country. Even if you did not vote for the person, you still need to pray diligently that our leaders will do what "is right in the sight of God and man".
May God Bless America!
Posted by dixiedreaming (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard it all unfold, live, while sitting in traffic on I-65.
Pheadley, I cannot believe no one told the students at Verbena. My child was in Jemison Elementary and knew all about it by the time she came home. She and I watched the videos on TV together but her teachers explained what was happening. I mean their reactions told the kids something was terribly wrong.
I know it is a day even she will not forget.
Posted by shenley (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I cannot believe that the students at Verbena were not told what was going on. That's unreal!!
Posted by November162000 (anonymous) on September 11, 2009 at 3:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To the 'blame America first' crowd, had it not been for America's "meddling" around the world over the last few decades, there likely wouldn't be such a thing as a democratic, or representitive republic form of government anywhere in the world. Including HERE. I'm proud to have been a part in some of that "meddling", and I'm proud to have a son-in-law that is doing some "meddling" too.
Posted by Harley2009 (anonymous) on September 12, 2009 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
9/11 is still affecting Americans and the economy. How ? I was in several different airports today and you could look around and feel the tension. On any other day Atlanta would be packed but I wouldn't be surprised if they were running half capacity today. Its been 8 years and it will be like this for another 8 years i believe. People will carry this terrior for a long time our economy will still be affected by this terrible thing these men did to our country.
Post a comment (Terms of Use Policy)
(Requires free registration.)