It’s the strangest thing when somebody tells me that it was my voice that first told them about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. I never know what to say.
Trying to explain what was going on live on the radio when we actually knew very little and then quickly becoming aware of the importance of my role during a national crisis was overwhelming. Luckily I was surrounded by ultimate professionals who taught me through their actions how to just “get it done” and freak out later. Nobody was tweeting, or snap chatting the details. Radio folks like me were in charge trying to answer the questions, listening to the crying callers, and promising to do our best no matter what was to come our way. Bloomington became my forever home town after the community outdid themselves during the American Red Cross Radio Bloomington Fundraiser which raised over $1 million dollars. The best hugs I’ve ever had happened that weekend at Schnucks. We Americans all came together as one, and even though I despise the horror that caused it, I will never forget that unified spirit we all shared and hope that someday we will feel that again.
On this day, the eleventh of September, 2015, I found this story that I wanted to share of true heroes. You may smile and cry simultaneously when you watch these videos, but because we live in the land of the free, that’s alright.
EarthCam partnered with the National Park Service, National Park Foundation and Friends of Flight 93 to document the site from August 2010 to August 2015. Watch over 1,800 days of construction with this time-lapse video!
Yesterday, on September 10, 2015, the Flight 93 National Memorial opened the new Visitor’s Center in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Newsweek notes:
The United Airlines plane was one of four hijacked by Al-Quaida on September 11, 2001, and the only flight that didn’t reach its target after passengers forced the terrorists to deliberately crash in a rural area. Everyone on board–forty crew and passengers, as well as four hijackers–were killed in the crash. The $26 million visitor complex, which is operated by the National Park Service, focuses on the plane’s passengers and their stories. It also contains recordings of cellphone calls to family members as the tragedy unfolded
I leave you with a photo taken during the Red Cross Fundraiser in the Bloomington, Illinois, Schnucks parking lot on September 14th, 2015. These are the faces of September 11th, that I will never forget.
