Project to document Lewisporte connection to 9-11

The Town of Lewisporte has decided to properly document the role its citizens played in the aftermath of 9-11.

It’s been nearly 17 years since the attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City.

Books, television documentaries and movies have told the story from many different perspectives. And this province — and particularly the town of Gander — received special recognition for the help provided to the hundreds of airline passengers who were stranded there when North American airspace was shut down and planes were ordered to land immediately.

Yet Gander wasn’t the only town in central Newfoundland to aid those passengers.

The nearby town of Lewisporte, just a 40-minute drive west of Gander, was also called to action.

Mayor Betty Clarke recalls how all the churches, the Lions Club, the Kin Centre and other venues in the town were filled with people from all over the world during that time.

People in the town also opened their homes to the stranded passengers.

Yet the story of the Lewisporte connection to 9-11 has not been well documented; it exists only in the memories of its citizens who were part of that event. That’s about to change. The town, with funding from a JCP program, is hiring a researcher for 16 weeks to collect local 9-11 stories and information.

“Rather than lose that information, we felt we should document everything,” Clarke told The Central Voice.

Chris Watton, the town’s director of recreation and tourism, is leading the project.

He said the idea for the project came about last year when a United Airlines pilot, re-visiting the area with her family, came to Lewisporte.