The Sun Day Remembers 9/11

My recollection of 9/11:

I was riding the Metra from Geneva to Chicago and the cell phone rang. “Dad, where are you?” my son’s strained voice bellowed. “I am on the train to Chicago,” I said. All I heard was, “Get off the train. Didn’t you hear about what just happened in New York?” All I could think of were our families in New York and immediately thought the worst. “Dad, a jumbo jet crashed into the Twin Towers. They think it’s terrorists. They might hit Chicago. Get off the train.” Just then, the conductor announced that the train was terminating in Wheaton, IL. The rest of the day became a blur as we scrambled to confirm that our families were OK in New York. That night we went to a prayer service to pray for those who succumbed to the attack and for world peace.

Don Grady
Frugal Forum Columnist

I was driving to work on the I-90 Tollway when I happened to switch from listening to my usual classical music radio station to WBBM newsradio 780. When I heard the announcement of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, I remember thinking, “My God, I bet this is something we never thought of. How did a suicide hijacker gain access to the cockpit of an airliner?”
Then I heard the announcement of the second plane, and I got real scared. I stopped my car on the emergency lane and just listened. When I heard the information about the plane hitting the Penatagon, I called the office of the newspaper I worked on and asked what kind of coverage we would be doing that day. “How long was this going to go on?” I recall asking myself.
I vividly remember feeling scared and confused. “These threats have come home to one of our cities. These people are serious and capable,” I thought. Being musically inclined, I recall thinking the phrase “Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears” in America the Beautiful, was no longer true.
 
Dwight Esau
Sun Day Reporter

I was in my 6th grade art class at the time.

Mason Souza
Sun Day Reporter

I was home on that particular morning, and my husband, Chris, had already begun work. For some reason, I happened to turn on the morning news, something I never did. The image that met me was of black columns of smoke rising from the first twin tower. Confused momentarily of what I was seeing, my mind grappled for an explanation and quickly settled on mechanical failure. I remember changing channels to try to garner a definitive explanation and hearing a wash of speculation from accident to an attack. I found the latter to be a rather odd theory, unthinkable, actually. Why? How? By whom? It wasn’t long before the unthinkable became a reality. I watched in dismay as the second plane crashed into the towers and heard the cries of surprise from the newscasters and crews as they announced exactly what my mind concluded, “This is on purpose.” The phone rang, and it was my husband, 40-minutes away from home at work. Our conversation was brief, but I remember thinking that he should come home because if something like this was happening in New York, it could be planned for Chicago. My thoughts were on making sure other members of our families were aware of what was occurring. I remember calling my in-laws, who were already informed, and then my mother and brother. I was particularly worried about my brother, who was at school in Park Ridge, and I had no way of contacting him directly. As reports poured in of more attempted attacks, and the Pentagon was hit, I prayed for the safety of our country and all the loved ones who were lost on that day.

Erika La Pelusa
Sun Day

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