Editorial:
Today’s publication date of La Prensa San Diego is 9-11! This date is forever seared into our minds with visions of the World Trade Center’s twin towers destruction by Boeing 767s. First one, then 18 minutes later, the second tower was hit by an airplane loaded with commercial passengers. Soon after, another jet airliner crashed into the Pentagon. And later that morning, by the grace of God there was a delay in take-off, and passengers on the fourth terrorist-controlled airplane had time to hear about the previous hijackings. The heroic passengers derailed the hijack attempt and caused the airliner to crash into a rural field. All of the passengers were killed, but their sacrifice prevented the certain death of civilians on the ground.
Everyone knows exactly where they were when these tragic events occurred. It was surreal. Our first thoughts were that this must have been an accident. But then the second plane slammed into the tower…. We fearfully realized that the U.S. was under attack!
On the West Coast we were just waking up and having our coffee when these events occurred. Local schools called home to tell us to keep our children home that day. We watched on television as the first tower became engulfed in flames, then the second tower exploded upon impact. Thousands of New Yorkers were trapped as first responders rushed to their aid. Many of us went to work in a daze, unsure what was happening.
This was just the beginning. The real horror occurred less than fifteen minutes later when the first tower collapsed, followed by the second, with office workers and first responders trapped inside. All of this was caught on camera for the world to see.
There were 2,977 people who died in the World Trade Center and its vicinity, including a staggering 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors. Only six people who were in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived.
The images of people staggering away from the area completely covered in soot will not be forgotten. The images of the collapsed towers, and the subsequent months of searching for victims and the cleanup will always be remembered.
We will also remember the heroic act of the passengers on a United Flight 93, hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground. Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection. One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett Jr., told his wife over the phone that “I know we’re all going to die. There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey.” Another passenger–Todd Beamer–was heard saying “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll” over an open line. Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were “Everyone’s running to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.”
The attackers were Islamic terrorists, financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
For the United States and Americans this was the first ever terrorist attack of this magnitude on our homeland, besides Pearl Harbor. Since then we’ve had to deal with other attacks such as the one during the Boston Marathon.
The fact is, the sense of security that we once took for granted has been pierced by the realization that a terrorist attack can occur at any time.
On 9-11-2015 we remember the events of 9-11-2001. We say a prayer for all the victims of the attacks. We wish a continued recovery for those still affected by the events of the day. We honor the heroes who sacrificed their lives to save others. And we embrace those who lost loved ones. We will always remember and honor those heroes of 9-11.
We thank the History Channel for some of the information and quotes used in this editorial.