September 11, 2001 burned its way into the memories of many people all over the world – and here in our region as well. A number of readers offered their personal recollections of the day that prompted today’s “new reality.”

Where I was on Sept 11, 2001

Joyce Kuntz, Realtor

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This day will never be forgotten in my lifetime. The memories are still as fresh as though it happened yesterday. I was working at Andrews AFB, MD for Office of Special Investigations at the time. We were just beginning our staff meeting with the general when his aide came into the conference room, motioned the general out of the room, then came back in and announced that an airplane had just flown into Tower #1 and he turned on the TV news and projected it onto our large conference screen.

As we began to watch, next thing you know, we were witnessing the plane actually flying into Tower #2. We then knew that this was no accident! We were then instructed to get to our office promptly until further notice because another plane had just crashed and one was suspected to be heading towards Washington, D.C., area. We all faced many fears at that point – what were they targeting? Was it our base (home of Air Force One), the White House, Pentagon?

Then on the loudspeaker it was announced that a plane just flew into the Pentagon. From that point on, it was a nightmare! Many of my co-workers had family members working at the Pentagon and were frightened to death. Many of us were thankful that we did not have business at the Pentagon that day. Panic remained most of the day because no one could get through to their loved ones. Even my family members from ND were trying to get ahold of me but could not.

Communication was non-existent until well into the later part of the afternoon.

A friend of mine that I worked with at Minot AFB had been transferred to the Pentagon and his office was hit, but fortunately he was not there at the time. A couple of co-workers did lose a family member and my neighbor lost her cousin.

The people working at the Pentagon and other offices in the DC area were released from work to join their families. Traffic became deadlocked and many did not arrive home until well after 6:00 that evening and to make it worse they weren’t able to communicate with anyone. One can only imagine the turmoil of that day!

A couple days later I did go to the Pentagon and the devastation was horrifying. There were people all over the hillside crying, praying, all had candles lit and flowers and personal items were placed all over in memory of the loved one they lost. I still can remember the strong smell of fuel oil and that smell lingered in the Pentagon for months.

On Nov 1, 2001, my friends and I took a bus trip to NYC and our goal was to go to “Ground Zero.” The line was extremely long and all seemed to accept the 2-3 hour wait and there was a silence among the crowd. Along the route one could still see debris hanging on trees etc., soot and dust on parked cars, bikes still locked to street light poles, flowers and personal belongings hanging everywhere.

What really struck me, though, was a large sign that read “Norsk Hostfest, Minot, ND”. It had signatures of all that attended the 2001 Hostfest. I felt compelled to take a picture, of course, and I enlarged the picture, placed it in a frame, and gave it to the Visitors Center when I came home that summer. Many people stopped to also put their name on the sign.

Once at our destination, we had to climb a stairway to better see the deep hole and the work being done to clear all of the debris. There was a church and little cemetery next to the stairway area. We could actually see tombstones that had been charred or damaged and there were several signs reading “stay off grass” but no grass was to be found – only black ground and debris hanging all around. My thoughts went back to the memory of seeing many bodies flying out of the buildings and it ran shivers down my spine.

Where I was on Sept 11, 2001

Marilyn Hudson, Parshall

It was an early Tuesday morning, a seemingly normal day in the early fall in Parshall, N.D. My husband and I, both age 65 and settled in the comfortable routine of older people, were reading the Minot Daily News, drinking coffee and watching the NBC news about 9 a.m.

Suddenly, a picture of a commercial airliner striking the World Trade Center in New York appeared on the TV screen. What a horrific accident, we thought, pilot error. Shortly thereafter, another plane hit the second tower. We knew then it was no longer an accident but something more ominous, more sinister and more deadly.

In two hours’ time, the World Trade Center towers were destroyed, the Pentagon had been badly damaged, 3,000 people had lost their lives, and another 6,000 were injured. Around 9 a.m. (CDT) several passengers aboard United Airlines Flt. 93 bravely decided to take matters into their own hands, storm the hijackers and bring the plane down in a field in Pennsylvania. These heroes stopped the plane from crashing into its intended target, our White House or our Capitol.

We watched in horror the rest of that day and the next as our country came to grips with a new enemy, the terrorists. The attack triggered a full range of emotions – fear, anger, hope, sorrow – but also pride in our country as our nation’s defense went into action. Firefighters and police officers climbed the stairs of the towers in a desperate attempt to save people knowing that they themselves would probably not be coming back down. We will never forget the victims or the heroes of that day when America cried.