This past Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11. Four commercial airlines on their way to California were hijacked by the group al Qaeda. The hijackers separated into four separate groups, three with five people and one group with four. The goal of the hijacking was to crash each aircraft into an eminent American building. The targeted buildings included the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and another unconfirmed location in Washington, DC, mostly likely either the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
The first aircraft struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46am. Hundreds died right when it struck them, but the people who were on the top floors were trapped. Some had no other option but to jump out of the building, up to 110 stories above ground.
At first, no one knew what to think. The reasonable answer would’ve been a freak accident. However, that was not the case at all. Less than twenty minutes later, another aircraft crashed into the South Tower as well. Jon Keefer, a social studies teacher at GHS, recalled, “When we heard about the second plane, we all knew it was a terrorist attack.” In only a couple of hours, both buildings had collapsed straight to the ground. Ash and smoke surrounded the city of New York.
The third hijacked aircraft struck the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The West side of the Pentagon is the nerve center of the American military. The fourth aircraft was the only one that did not hit its target, but instead crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when the passengers on board attempted to retake the cockpit.
Jon Livingston, the journalism teacher at GHS, was in his second year of teaching at the time. “I didn’t even teach my lesson that day,” he stated. “We all sat and just watched the news in complete shock.”
The 9/11 attacks stunned the world, and America shut down for that day. The result was over 2,900 deaths and 25,000 citizens injured.
The effects of 9/11 still remain in America today, according to GHS English teacher, Armene Mkrtchian. “The pain and loss that we all felt as a country, as a human race, and the images we saw that day was just devastating. Even talking about it right now, it’s like you go right back to that day. It was traumatic.”
Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. May they rest in paradise. We will never forget them.
