WHERE WERE YOU?
Readers share memories of Sept. 11, 2001 The News-Times asked local residents to share their memories of learning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
According to reporting by the World Economic Forum, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into Tower One at the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. It was reportedly a clear, crisp day, and early reports on the incident assumed it must have been an accident. At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into Tower Two.
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the southern side of The Pentagon shortly afterward, at 9:37 a.m. At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. It was later reported that passengers on Flight 93 learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon mid-flight and resisted
hijackers on their plane.
At 9:59 a.m., Tower Two collapsed, and at 10:28 a.m., Tower One fell. At 10:50 a.m., five stories at the Pentagon building collapsed.
The two and a half hours from the first plane’s departure to the partial collapse of the Pentagon signaled a change in American life that has continued for the last 20 years — from two wars to the founding of the Department of Home Security, every day like looks very different than it did at the turn of the century.
Below are some of the memories readers shared:
Buster Norris, of El Dorado, said he was at work when his wife called to tell him about what was going on. At first, he said, he was in disbelief, thinking it must have been “some kind of prank or hoax.”
Angela Moore, of El Dorado, was just arriving at work; she was carrying her four year-old, who was asleep on her shoulder. One of her co-workers was sitting at her desk, Moore said, watching a small television set; as she laid her toddler down for sleep, she heard her co-worker curse loudly.
“Another plane just hit the other building,” she wrote. Moore was 32 at the time of the attack and said she too couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Didn’t know what was going on at all,” she said.
Brian Welch, of El Dorado, learned of the attacks from a breaking news cast on the KMLK radio station.
“I was very shocked and thought ‘who would intentionally crash two airplanes in a building?’” Welch said.
Cecile Sheppard, of El Dorado, said she was driving to her job in Bearden when she heard about the attacks. She was shocked, she said, and very sad.
Ben Knight, of Magnolia, was working at home when he heard about the attacks. He said he felt “shocked and saddened for the loss of lives and our country.”
Joni Preston, of Camden, was home sick from work. She was watching the morning news from her couch when news of the attacks began to stream in.
“I actually was watching in real time when the second plane hit the towers,” she said.
Along with “horror and deep sadness,” Preston said she also felt acute respect and honor for the first responders she saw running toward the danger to help others.
Keith Owens, of El Dorado, was preparing to head to his job at Office Depot when he learned of the attacks, he said.
“I was mad at the people who did this, sad for all the lives lost and their families and scared that there may be more to come,” he said.
Kristi Cates, of El Dorado, said a friend called her at home that morning and told her to turn her TV on. She said she was shocked by what she saw, and had a feeling of emptiness in reaction to the scenes that played across the news.
Latie Roberson, of El Dorado, was a 14 year old student in the fall of 2001. The school day had just started, and she was still in her home room class.
She, too, watched the second plane hit Tower Two live.
“Initially I didn’t know what to think — I was just confused. Once we got settled into classrooms and started watching it on TV and saw the second plane hit, it sank in to me that what I was witnessing was unprecedented,” she said. “I was devastated. Even at 14, I understood the massive loss of innocent lives.”
Lisa Mayer, of El Dorado, was working in Englewood, Colorado at the time of the attacks; someone working in the field called her office to inform them of what was happening.
“I was sad, angry and scared,” she said.
Carol McLemore was at work when she heard what was happening. She said she felt “so sad.”
Marsha Parham, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was at a clinic in the Louisiana State University Hospital waiting for a patient; she and others gathered in the break room to watch the news unfold on a tiny television set.
“How could this happen?” she recalled thinking.
Patricia Herring, of El Dorado, said she was at El Dorado City Hall when she learned of the attacks; she felt sick, she said.
Pamela Raines, of Strong, was teaching in Texas in fall 2001, and was at work when she heard about the attacks. She said she thought the person who told her about what was happening must have been joking.
Requebia Stanley was at South Arkansas Community College when the news came in; she said she felt heartbroken.
Rita Jones was working at the News-Times on Sept. 11, 2001. There was no internet in the office at the time, so her husband brought in a portable television set so the newspaper staff could watch the news unfold. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she said, but eventually her feelings turned into “unexplainable grief.”
“I wanted my family close, and to be with my church family,” she said.
Sean Green, of Bossier City, Louisiana, was a junior at El Dorado High School when the attacks occurred; he said a classmate “made a passing comment about it in the hallway between first and second period.” He said he was afraid for what was coming, because he didn’t have a clear picture of what had happened.
Hollie Cross, of Three Creeks, was in her fourth period class in her senior year of high school when she heard about the attacks. She was confused and in disbelief, she said.