- Montana Charley
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- Lest We Ever Forget...
Hello Everyone!
Where were you September 11, 2001? If you were over about age eight, you’ll never forget watching or hearing about those Twin Towers smoldering and crashing to the ground.
A bit later we heard about the Pentagon crash. Then there was Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. As the emotional shock waves spread across the country, we sat glued to the news; in total disbelief of what happened that morning.
I was working from my home in Billings. My friend Lynn Cornwell a rancher from Glasgow spend the night at my house having flown into town that morning on a Big Sky flight. He was supposed to fly to Washington D.C. for a National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting.
We ate chicken wings and drank a couple Scoonies at Tiny’s Tavern.
All was well that Monday evening.
Early Tuesday morning I drove Cornwell to the airport.
After dropping him off, I drove home from the airport and had a cup of coffee with my Dad who was living with me. A few minutes later while checking messages on my computer my cell phone rang.
It was Cornwell. He said I’d better come back up to the airport and get him. His flight to Denver was cancelled…
Yep, I remember.
But, this post isn’t for those of us who remember. It’s written for those who don’t remember.
This is not a fun post—but it has to be written.
Charley Pike
Our Lives Changed Forever
The September 11, 2001 attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history, directly causing the deaths of 2,996 people. The chaos born that day has echoed across the world for 23 years.
Early that morning 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda, a pan-Islamic terrorist organization hijacked four commercial jet airliners from three different East Coast airports—Boston, Newark, and Washington Dulles. The hijackings came after years of calculated planning by al-Qaeda—lead by Osama bin Laden.
The terrorists trained at flight schools in Florida. They assimilated into U.S. society. They chose large planes with long flights because they would have more fuel.
It was a new type of terrorism to which U.S. intelligence agencies struggled to adapt. Much of the intelligence community had not even imagined the specific type of hijacking and terrorism carried out on 9/11.
They were preparing for threats such as the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and bombing in 2000 of the USS Cole.
While the United States and U.S. citizens were the target of the terrorists, at least 372 foreign residents died that day.
Sixty-seven people from the United Kingdom were killed, 41 from India, 28 South Koreans, 24 Canadians, 24 Japanese and 16 Mexicans are among the identifiable deaths.
Forty-seven residents of the Dominican Republic died— most while working at the Windows on the World restaurant complex located in the top floors of the North Tower.
Headquartered in the North Tower, financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald lost all 658 employees who reported for work that morning.
New York City’s first responders took a heavy toll; 343 firefighters and paramedics died along with 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority police officers.
Roughly 1,100 victims of the World Trade Center attack remain unidentified.
The massive effort to identify World Trade Center victims still continues.
President George W. Bush was at the Emma E. Booker elementary school in Sarasota, Florida that morning visiting students during a reading lesson. He was only eight months into his presidency.
Kay Daniels' classroom students were reading "The Pet Goat.” White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card interrupted the lesson, whispering to the president: "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
“Let’s Roll” — The Fate of United Flight 93
United Flight 93 was 42 minutes behind schedule when it left the runway at 8:42 am. The delay meant that the passengers on the plane knew other suicide attacks had already taken place in New York City.
After 46 minutes in the air, the hijackers murdered one passenger, stormed the cockpit, and struggled with the pilots as flight controllers listened in. They aimed the plane on a southeast heading.
Passengers and crew using airphones and cell phones began making calls to family members and airline officials starting at 9:30. The plane was 20 minutes away from its suspected target, either the White House or the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
The plane wandered from its course after the passengers revolted and the hijackers began maneuvering the plane violently in response. Flight attendant CeeCee Lyles called her husband and told him some passengers were forcing their way into the cockpit.
At 10:03:11, near Indian Lake and Shanksville, PA, the plane crashed into a field killing everyone on board.
Vice President Dick Cheney in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center deep under the White House, authorized Flight 93 to be shot down. But upon learning of the crash, he said, "I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane."
Beyond The Lost Lives
The U.S. federal government eventually set up a Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) established to compensate for physical harm or death caused by the terrorist attacks. The $7.375 billion VCF provides a no-fault alternative to lawsuits and is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The landscape of American culture was changed forever; increased airport security, years of war, and countless other changes were ahead.
U.S. immigration policy changed, border crossing procedures were tightened. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security signaled a new era in government oversight and intervention into our lives.
Thousands of people still struggle with cancer and lasting chronic health problems relating to the toxicity from Ground Zero. The CDC estimated that as many as 400,000 people in Manhattan and surrounding areas were exposed to potentially harmful airborne substances as a result of the attacks.
The rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the aftermath of 9/11 has had a profound effect on the growing number of Muslims living in the United States.
Counterterrorism spending alone has been 16% of the entire U.S. discretionary budget since 2002.
The Timeline—Sept 11, 2001
1) 7:59 AM EDT – American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston, headed for Los Angeles—76 passengers, 11 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
2) 8:15 AM – United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston, also headed for Los Angeles—51 passengers, 9 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
3) 8:20 AM – American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles, outside of Washington, DC, headed for Los Angeles—53 passengers, 6 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
4) 8:42 AM – United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark after a delay due to routine traffic. It was headed for San Francisco—33 passengers, 7 crew members, and 4 hijackers on board.
5) 8:46 AM – Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North Tower. All passengers aboard are instantly killed, and employees of the WTC are trapped above the 91st floor.
6) 9:03 AM – Flight 175 crashes into the WTC’s South Tower. All passengers aboard are killed instantly and so are an unknown number of people in the tower.
7) 9:37 AM – Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. All passengers aboard are instantly killed along with 125 civilian and military personnel in the building.
8) 9:59 AM – The impact from Flight 175 causes the South Tower to collapse.
9) 10:02 AM – Flight 93 plows into an empty field near Shanksville, PA. It was likely heading for either the White House or the U.S. Capitol.
10) 10:28 AM – The impact from Flight 11 causes the North Tower to collapse.
