In memoriam: September 11, 2001
On the 17th anniversary, Taoseños remembered and honored those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when al-Qaeda militants commandeered four U.S. planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 attack, both when the planes struck and in the aftermath as emergency workers rushed into the twin towers in New York City and attempted to rescue as many people as possible.
Taos Volunteer Fire Department displayed a flag on its ladder truck Tuesday (Sept. 11), in honor of the 343 New York City firefighters who died on Sept. 11 while helping victims at the World Trade Center.
At the Not Forgotten Outreach Wellness Center in Taos, Navy veteran Dutch Shultis organized a group of veterans, supporters and AmeriCorps volunteers in a ceremony to lower the U.S. flag. In his opening words, Shultis said, “We lower the flag in respect for our country and for all those who died.”
Jacy Yang, AmeriCorps team leader at NFO, was selected to lower the U.S. flag. “This is my first time doing this. I feel very honored and privileged to do so,” said Yang. This AmeriCorps team has been helping at NFO since July. They leave in October.
Town councilor Pascualito Maestas, a Navy veteran, attended in his capacity as program director of Vet Corps at NFO.
“With Vet Corps, we are starting a brand-new program helping vets work through post-traumatic stress and brain injury. We are helping them reintegrate back into society with eco-therapy. There’s no other program like it,” said Maestas.
Marine veteran Jim Cox said he is attending school to be an instructor for the new eco-therapy program. “In 22 weeks I graduate to teach agriculture, a new farming way called Cube Farming,” Cox said.
On The Taos News Facebook page, we asked readers to share their memories of where they were when it happened. The following is a selection of comments received:
‘I was at our ranch (no TV, no communication), and heard the news on the radio,” posted Sheila Roberts. “I initially thought it was an accident, and then they announced the second plane, and then the Pentagon, and finally the Pennsylvania crash. My husband left for work before the towers collapsed. He worked at a retreat center that had absolutely no outside communication and had the horrible task of telling the guests about the attack. He took many of the guests (some were from New York) to a high area near the retreat center, so they could get cell signal and call their families. I was extremely insulated from the footage, but he had to share the news with people who were from the area, so our experiences were very different.’
Edwina R. Tenorio wrote: ‘My mom and I were in New York two weeks prior to the attacks on the twin towers. If I had known they would be gone, we would have gone to see them. I thank God we were not there on that day. My mom and I were home. May God bless all the lives that were lost on that day and God bless their families.’
Michael Bryson Montoya was a ninth grader at Taos High and was attending a Native American conference in Santa Fe. “The high school called our teacher who was with us and asked us to come back to Taos that minute,” he wrote, noting they had a police escort from Santa Fe to Taos.
The terrifying attacks set the career path for some. In Kauai, Hawaii, Janet Stingley was working as a security officer. “I had successfully ended my first third shift of work as a security officer at a resort,” she posted. “I had moved there from Taos recently, and my folks woke me just in time to watch the second plane fly into the tower. Watching them fall, was one of the most shockingly horrifying moments of my life. It cemented me into my security career thereafter.”
The attach affected whole families. Charlotte Stevi Madueño wrote: “I clearly remember being at school and time stopped. Every TV was taken, and the library had dozens of students watching the news as well. My parents left work and picked me up early. We got home and mourned as a family and as Americans. I will forever remember the pain and disbelief of that day.”
Those who were firefighters and police officers knew the sacrifices their counterparts in New York had made. “I was a firefighter from Ohio in Taos for vacation and scheduled to fly home on the
12th,” posted firefighter Steve Kimple. “Many changes after that .... ”
Randy Johnson was in New York City when the planes struck the twin towers. “I was at the dentist on 6th Avenue and 10th Street in Manhattan. After I left there, everyone on
6th Avenue was turned facing downtown. I worked at Bankers Trust Plaza, just south of the World Trade Center across Liberty Street. I would cross the WTC plaza nearly every day. Never to cross again...’
Jeremy Torres was returning from overseas duty on that day. “My memory of the tragic day was I was in-flight on a C-17 cargo plane on my way home from a deployment in Kuwait working A-10s,” Torres said. “We had launched out our 12 A-10s from the Azores islands off the coast of Portugal. While inflight it was announced that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Everyone in the plane thought it was a joke. When landing in Massachusetts it was nothing but craziness!! While checking into our rooms, the second plane hit live on TV. We then caught our 12 A-10s with our pilots very emotional. A few days passed, and there was talk of us packing up and going back to the Middle East. That never happened, and we returned back to home station in Tucson, Arizona. This has forever changed the world and how we live our daily lives.’