Some days are memorable but a few days will be etched into our memories as long as we live. Those memories are reinforced by national anniversaries, pictures, TV/Radio, and re-telling of the events.
No, this is not just a remembrance of “9/11” but of three events that shocked all of us Americans. Many of us in Sun City are old enough to remember where we were when all three of these events occurred:
– The Attack on Pearl Harbor
– The Assassination of President Kennedy
– The 9/11 Attack on the World Trade Center Towers
You may think that a 1-year-old baby would not remember the day “that will live in infamy.” All I remember is my dad, my brother, and with my mom closely holding me in her arms as they listened to our Philco radio intently and sadly. Everyone was crying. It was the first time I had seen that – but not the last.
When I grew old enough to understand what had happened on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor Hawaii was viciously attacked, I learned they were crying at the huge loss of life – 2,402 were killed and 1,282 injured in that surprise attack. My father had been in the US Army in WW-I and understood the military gravity of this event and the future. (Over 60 million people were killed in WW-II, including over 400,000 US Military.) Mom feared that my brother would become involved. He did by joining the Navy as soon as he graduated High School. Gratefully, WW-II ended before his ship engaged in combat.
At age 23, freshly graduated from college and a new employee in training at IBM, I was feeling on top of the world as our group of engineers returned to our training class from a lunch in downtown Chicago. It was November 22, 1963. We were passing by the showroom window of Philco, where 20 of their newest TV models were constantly playing. A crowd had gathered around the window, watching and listening intently. We all stopped and were shocked to learn that our young, vibrant President, John Kennedy, had been shot in Dallas, Texas, earlier. Then the announcement was made from the hospital that the President of our United States of America was dead. Tears flowed, and sobbing began. We all returned to our classroom to find other shocked trainees and teachers, some in private prayer for our country, sitting in disbelief. Who would do such a thing? Those who had been in the military were on edge because no one knew what forces were behind this act. After all, the Cuban nuclear missile crisis occurred the year before, when by the grace of God, President Kennedy confronted and negotiated with the Communist U.S.S.R. – avoiding a catastrophic WW-III.
At 60 years young, I was boarding an American Airlines jet filled mainly with “business-suit types” headed for St. Louis from O’Hare airport. As I came up to my seat, a man who appeared to be from the Middle East sneezed right on the top of what was to be my assigned seat. He just rubbed his nose and moved on with a scowl on his face. I decided to wait a moment before being seated to let the germs settle and then wipe off what I could with my handkerchief. Surprisingly, many people around me were on their cell phones and had worried looks on their faces. I asked the business man across the aisle if there was a problem. He said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Tower in New York. It was 9/11.
Was it a small Cessna or a cargo plane? No one knew yet. It then occurred to me that as I had rushed to make my flight, the TVs that report news in the airport waiting areas had been turned off. We all started to sit down as the Pilot informed us that there would be a takeoff delay. I had foreboding about all this as I looked out the window and saw no planes moving in or out. When the Pilot announced that the flight would be postponed indefinitely, I grabbed my computer bag and immediately exited. As I walked the hallway, people on cell phones said another passenger plane had hit those Towers. By the time I got to the line to rebook my flight, someone said the Pentagon also had been hit by a passenger plane. People were crying and sobbing at the loss of innocent lives. What would be next? Who were behind such unthinkable acts? (Killed were: 2,753 at the WTC, 184 at the Pentagon, and 44 in Pennsylvania.)
As I walked to the exit of the airport, I again tried to call my wife by cell phone, but there were so many cells in use that I still couldn’t get a dial tone. Suddenly, someone grabbed me by the arm and asked, “Ken?” Startled, I didn’t recognize him at first. He was an engineer with Xerox, our employer, and had been trying to rent a car to get back home to Ohio, along with two other engineers. No more rental cars were available.
I immediately offered to drive them to our suburban office, where there were a number of car rental companies. We piled into my car in the parking lot. No one knew when their checked baggage would be returned, so we just brought what we had carried aboard. It was comforting to each of us that we were together. Two of us were Air Force veterans, so we speculated on what was happening from a command and control level. Still the cell phone towers were jammed and we could not call anyone. When we got to the office, we finally were able to call our loved ones from the land-line office phones. We all were alive and well – Americans helping each other – and headed back home.
9/11 was another date that “lives in infamy” and is etched into our memories. The resultant war continues even now, with brave soldiers defending us, some dying for us (7,000), and some suffering great injuries for us (32,000). We are thankful for God’s blessings to get us through all these disasters.
Is there hope? It took years, but Japan, Germany, and the Russian Federation finally all became friendly allies. Some Middle East countries are friendly now, but some others will take time. It will take us time also. There is hope. God bless America, the land of freedoms and the home of the brave.
