9/11: SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER...BUT WE MUST NEVER FORGET

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     On September 11, 2001, I anchored my Florida radio station's all-day local coverage of the tragic attack on our country.  It was without question the most heart-wrenching and difficult broadcast of my then 28-year professional career.

     In no way would I ever - in the slightest - compare myself to Walter Cronkite.  But idolizing him since childhood...before I went on the air, I remembered an interview that Walter gave years earlier where he talked about November 22, 1963 and covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the interview, I had recalled that Walter discussed the importance of remaining professional as he reported the story.  But that it was an emotional time and, therefore, his own emotions were revealed...especially when the news of President Kennedy's death was confirmed.  As my microphone went live on 9/11/2001, it hit me on how tough this might be.  It was in that one tick of the clock on the wall...when I thought of Walter Cronkite...and that he had acknowledged that it was "tough"...to announce that JFK was dead.  I knew then...that no matter what the outcome...I would make it through the day in a professional manner.  But that if my emotions did show for a moment...it would be okay.

     I - along with the rest of America - were witnesses to a monumental disaster...a catastrophe unlike anything we had ever seen before in the United States. We didn't know, at the time, the amount of lives that would be lost. But suicide terrorists killed 2,977 people and injured more than 6,000 others that day when four airplanes were crashed by al-Qaeda hijackers.  Each of those 19 radicals also perished.

     American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were deliberately flown into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City at 8:46 A.M. and 9:03 A.M., respectively.  American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed into The Pentagon, outside Washington, DC, in Arlington, Virginia at 9:37 A.M.  And United Airlines Flight 93 - which was presumably headed towards our nation's capital with a possible intended target of either The White House or the U.S. Capitol - crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after a group of passengers fought the four hijackers.  In order to thwart the terrorists, the cockpit recording confirmed there was a dramatic struggle as - it is believed -one passenger attempted to ram the cockpit door with a beverage cart while another passenger tried to overtake the cockpit with a fire extinguisher.  Once it became evident by the hijackers that the passengers might overpower them and take control of the aircraft, the terrorists - officials suspect - flipped over the plane and sped it - at 500 miles per hour - straight down into the ground at 10:03 A.M.

 

     Watching the second airplane slice into the South Tower in lower Manhattan was numbing.  Plumes of billowing black smoke engulfed the New York skyline as the blazing buildings broiled and began to crumble before our eyes.  The exquisite beauty that was yesterday was now gone.  But when the Twin Towers toppled to the ground below and disintegrated in to ruins - first the South Tower at 9:59 A.M. - that's when my emotions hit me hardest.  I was on the air at 10:28 A.M. when the North Tower collapsed to become a colossal cloud of dust.  That very instant was my Walter Cronkite "President Kennedy died" moment. That passing fragment of time will forever be ingrained in the fabric of my soul.

   

     The horrendous images from that devastating day must remain in the forefront of our minds...and we cannot ever forget how our hearts were broken.  Throughout one of America's darkest days, I painfully broadcast a dreadfully harrowing experience.  But when I signed off for the night - following a physically and emotionally draining day - I am cognizant of the fact that my drive home was one of silent reflection. However...when I entered my house, I could no longer hold back the tears.  I mourned the thousands of people who were savagely murdered by madmen whose vicious hatred had changed our country and our world forever.  I prayed for countless more who had been injured.  And I grieved for the families and loved ones of all the victims.  I absorbed the heroic efforts of firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other first responders who bravely rushed to Ground Zero and risked their own lives to help strangers in need.  The vision of their courage is seared in my memory.

   

     So now...seventeen years later...each of us must never forget how we felt on September 11, 2001...how we coped...and how we were saddened by this evil assault on our land.  God willing...it will never happen again.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

                                                                        "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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Photo credits: Tamara Beckwith/REX/Shutterstock (Photo 1), YouTube (Photo 2), The Tennessee Star/J C Bowman (Photo 3), YouTube (Photo 4), Quora (Photo 5)

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