America's Tragedy

In Memory of America's Tragedy
September 11, 2001

"We will not tire. We will not falter. And we will not fail."
George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

Disaster In America - Written by Andrea Yehle

The morning was quiet, yet loud, in New York City from all the people,
For the next week the families and friends will be at the steeple.
Mourning their loved ones killed in such a disaster,
If only they could have gotten out a little bit faster.

They had no warning, the working women and men,
For their supposedly safe building will collapse just after 10.
Now America is in shock from all this grief,
Nothing can survive this, not even a leaf.

Four days has passed and still many missing,
Streets are crowded with families and friends hugging and kissing.
Helpers from all over the world come to see,
If they can find at least SOMEONE among the debris.

Not only did the innocent workers lose their lives,
But now its the innocent helper who dies.
All around America people are giving their love,
Donating, hoping, and praying for those above.

All at the same time, everyone is upset and mad,
Just thinking about all those families without their mom or dad.
It just makes me want to cry all inside,
God bless and rest in peace for all those who died.

Written by Andrea Yehle
Copyright 9/15/01


Story From Nazim-Amin - A Delta Employee - Cockpit Crew
Who Was in the Air on September 11, 2001

This was written by Nazim-Amin, a Delta airline employee one of the cockpit crew, who was in the air on an overseas flight on September 11, 2001. It is so uplifting! How lucky we are to have the Canadians for neighbors!!!

We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic and I was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled rest break. All of a sudden the curtains parted violently and I was told to go to the cockpit, right now, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had one of those "All Business" looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. I quickly read the message and realized the importance of it. The message was from Atlanta, addressed to our flight, and simply said, "All airways over the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport, advise of your destination."
Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land immediately without suggesting which airport, one can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly given up control of the flight to the captain. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly decided that the nearest airport was 400 miles away, behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the island of Newfoundland.
A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic controller and a right turn, directly to Gander, was approved immediately. We found out later why there was no hesitation by the Canadian controller approving our request.
We, the in-flight crew, were told to get the airplane ready for an immediate landing. While this was going on, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area.
We briefed the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we went about our business 'closing down' the airplane for a landing. A few minutes later I went back to the cockpit to find out that some airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown into buildings all over the US. We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the passengers for the time being. We told them that an instrument problem had arisen on the airplane and that we needed to land at Gander, to have it checked. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy passengers but that is par for the course.
We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after the start of this episode. There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world. After we parked on the ramp the captain made the following announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. But the reality is that we are here for a good reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander was 12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST)
Gander control told us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near the aircraft. Only a car from the airport police would come around once in a while, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so, all the airways over the North Atlantic were vacated and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags. We were told that each and every plane was to be offloaded, one at a time, with the foreign carriers given the priority. We were No.14 in the US category. We were further told that we would be given a tentative time to deplane at 6 pm. Meanwhile bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the US were either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some time late in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash.
Now the passengers were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept reminding them to look around to see that we were not the only ones in this predicament. There were 52 other planes with people on them in the same situation. We also told them that the Canadian Government was in charge and we were at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11 AM, the next morning. That took the last wind out of the passengers and they simply resigned and accepted this news without much noise and really started to get into a mode of spending the night on the airplane.
Gander had promised us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word.
Fortunately we had no medical situation during the night. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without any further complications on our airplane despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th we were told to get ready to leave the aircraft.
A convoy of school buses showed up at the side of the airplane, the stairway was hooked up and the passengers were taken to the terminal for "processing" We, the crew, were taken to the same terminal but were told to go to a different section, where we were processed through Immigration and customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we were isolated from our passengers and were taken in a caravan of vans to a very small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no idea where our passengers were going.
The town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross told us that they were going to process about 10,500 passengers from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander. We were told to just relax at the hotel and wait for a call to go back to the airport, but not to expect that call for a while. We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering things and enjoying the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they just knew that we were the "Plane people". We all had a great time until we got that call, 2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made it to the airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1 hour and 30 minutes.) But that's not what I wanted to tell you. What passengers told us was so uplifting and incredible and the timing couldn't have been better.
We found out that Gander and the surrounding small communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had closed all the high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to a mass lodging areas. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer taking care of the "GUESTS".
Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There they were put in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were given no choice, and were taken to private homes. Remember that young pregnant lady she was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care type facility. There were DDS on call, and they had both male and female nurses available and stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and Europe were available for every one once a day. During the days the passengers were given a choice of "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went to see the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.
Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the school for those who elected to stay put. Others were driven to the eatery of their choice and fed. They were given tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their clothes, since their luggage was still on the aircraft.
In other words every single need was met for those unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. After all that, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single one missing or late. All because the local Red Cross had all the information about the goings on back at Gander and knew which group needed to leave for the airport at what time. Absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. It was mind boggling. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply stayed out of their way. The passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And then a strange thing happened. One of our business class passengers approached me and asked if he could speak over the PA to his fellow passengers. We never, never, allow that. But something told me to get out of his way. I said "of course". The gentleman picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He further stated that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of the town of Lewisporte. He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number.) The purpose of the trust fund is to provide a scholarship for high school student(s) of Lewisporte, to help them go to college. He asked for pledges of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, it totaled to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. he gentleman who started all this, turned out to be an MD from Virginia. He promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.
Why, all of this? Just because some people in far away places were kind to some strangers, who happened to literally drop in among them? WHY NOT?

Nazim

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." -- George W. Bush, Address to the US after hijack attacks on the US World Trade Centers and Pentagon, September 11, 2001


...“When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.” President George W. Bush. Source: Newsweek, September 24, 2001; http://www.msnbc.com/news/629589.asp



In the days since September 11, 2001, we have realized that we MUST GET Bin-Laden. The best way to do that seems to be to send an agent, undercover, to pose as one of Bin-Laden's Group. There is only one man for the job...

Secret Agent Man




Bumper Sticker Spotted on I-95

It's God's responsibility to forgive Bin Laden.
It's our responsibility to arrange the meeting.
United State Marines Corps


Spooky...Q33 NY

Go to the Word program on your PC. Type in the following:
Q33 NY
This is one of the flight numbers in the tragedy.
Now enlarge it to any size of your choice and change the font to Wingdings.
Spooky to say the least.

To read more information about the Wingdings/Webdings
"I Love New York" symbols, see:
Urban Legends at: www.snopes.com/rumors/wingding.htm



We should rebuild the Towers with the names Freedom and Unity.
Let the terrorists figure out what the initials stand for.

Links to Special Articles, Inspirational Items


America Mourns - 
http://americamourns.tripod.com/index.htm 

America Will Never Forget
http://www.joygreetings.com/remember.shtml 

American Spirit
Written and Designed by Bobette Bryan, 2001 

Can't Cry Hard Enough
A Tribute to the Victims of September 11, 2001 By Jason Powers
http://www.cantcryhardenough.com. (This is EXCELLENT! Give it a few moments to load.) 

Changed Forever
Good September 11th Web site - with a great links page for other September 11th Web sites. 

Light A Candle - In memory of the fallen. In the name of peace. http://www2.postcards.org/go2/candles 

Mark Phillips Controversial Photo
In a photo from the Associated Press, many claim they see a strange shape in the clouds of smoke in the photo. They say they can see eyes, a nose, a mouth and horns. Others say they see heavenly images above the face. The AP says the photo was untouched and unaltered. The AP photo was transmitted within 40 minutes of Tuesday's attack by freelancer Mark D. Phillips who has been working with the AP for 15 years. To see this photo and read more, click here: http://9news.com/newsroom/13294.html 

A Prayer For Peace - September 11, 2001
This page is dedicated to my fellow American Airline employees and their families, United Airline Employees/families. Those that lost their lives & their families. Those injured. Rescue workers. Clean-up Crews. Our Government officials. Our Military. And all others affected by this tragedy. Please join me in lighting a candle for them and a moment of prayer. http://www.homestead.com/CherubimsReflections/peace.html (Submitted by FrogLady) 

September 11, 2001
A poem written by Jody Henderson. http://www.funnygreetings.com/sept11.htm
(Submitted by Cicec) 


"The Legacy"

As the third anniversary of the 911 tragedy approach’s we thought we would send you this web page: www.webruler.com/odyssey

In the aftermath of the attacks Doug & Pam Champagne wrote and recorded a song "The Legacy" as a memorial to all who perished on that horrific day. The song’s sole purpose is to touch the hearts of as many people as possible and have them stop and remember all those that lost there lives.
The decision was made from the beginning that "The Legacy" would not be used for monetary gain by any individual , therefore "The Legacy" is only available via the internet as a free download.
We do not, nor will we allow, advertisement’s on the web page. Emails have been received from around the world including The White House/The New York City Mayors Office/ The Ambassador to Canada as well as firefighters and family members who lost loved ones in the attacks. 
Most recently "The Legacy" has been chosen as the official memorial song of the world trade center in New York City, and we will be performing the song live on board the USS aircraft carrier Intrepid on September 18, 2004 for a memorial event for Search and Rescue (SAR).
As of this date just over 461,000 people have visited our web page and listened to or downloaded "The Legacy". We recently received emails from The World Trade Center Memorial and www.Firehouse.com linking our page to theirs this is truly an honor. We have performed "The Legacy" at numerous memorial and charity events and continue to do so when requested.
In closing we ask that you take a few moments out of your busy day to stop by and listen to or download "The Legacy" then pass it on to your family and friends.
May you find comfort in a song written from the heart and meant to touch yours. God Bless.

Sincerely,
Doug & Pam Champagne





Attack On The US
Newspaper Headlines From Around The World
Major U.S. newspapers headline the terror attacks on New York and Washington yesterday. A total of four passenger jets were hijacked, with two flying into the World Trade Towers in New York and collapsing them, one flying into the Pentagon and the fourth crashing in a rural area of Pennsylvania. 

"It Didn't Seem Real"
Time Exclusive Photo Essay. Moments after Tuesday's attacks, volunteer firefighter and amateur photographer John Albanese drove into New York City determined to help. He spent 12 hours at ground zero. See his pictures and his story. 

Sandy, Utah Remembers the Victims of September 11, 2001.
Excellent Page! A Must See!
By Cal Hasley, Nov. 15, 2002. Page has photos of 3,031 flags erected in Sandy, Utah. A tribute to the victims of 9/11
http://members.aol.com/Z321go/Flags.htm 

"Shattered"
Time Exclusive Photo Essay. A remarkable collection of photographs by photojournalist James Nachtway 

Where was God on 9/11 and 3,031 Flags. Page has photos of WTC and Pentagon plus a short essay on what God was doing on 9/11. The following page has photos of 3,031 flags erected in tribute to the victims of 9/11. Links to other patriotic pages: Ted Nugent, letter from an airman, good thoughts, clean jokes, much more. 

The World Reacts
How People Around The World Are Dealing With The Tragedy. A Time Photo Essay 

The Eagle
Web site has the song (lyrics AND music) "The Eagle" by Waylon Jennings.
Music for your listening enjoyment only. Support the artist and buy the CD!! 

Original Song Site
Every American was touched by the 9-11-01 attack on USA, and our songwriter's put their feelings into words and music. See Web site for lyrics and listen to the music. 

United We Stand
My husband, Pete DuBarry, wrote the lyrics to this song I composed as a tribute to the hero's of that day that will live forever in our memories and hearts. Please visit our Web site and click song title for the full audio. www.patriciawelch.com/united.htm 

United We Stand
United We Stand is a photo tribute to the American patriotic spirit in the face of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. http://www.ctlegalguide.com/SlideShow/slideshow.htm 

Canine Search & Rescue Tribute.
"Over 250 canine search and rescue dogs worked around the clock at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the September 11th terrorist attacks. These heroes worked without the benefit of gas masks and protective clothing. They climbed and searched places considered to be be dangerous for humans. This photo tribute is in their honor in recognition of their bravery and heroic efforts." http://www.ctlegalguide.com/SlideShow/caninetribute.htm 




Inspiration &
Motivation
Thoughts... 
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
-- Confucius

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. (Submitted by BabyGrande)

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS." -- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher, nonviolent movement.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." -- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)