Where Were You 20 Years Ago on 9-11?

Note: This article originally appeared in the L.A. Times special section on September 11, 2002 commemorating the one-year anniversary of 9-11.

September 11, 2001 9:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time  

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. We are being diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia by order of U.S. air traffic control. We will be on the ground in Halifax in one hour.” 

So began my September 11^th odyssey at 35,000 feet, two hours outside my destination, JFK airport in New York City. I was returning from Paris after a trip to Copenhagen with my friend, Mark. During our landing the flight attendant said, “look out the window, you’ll never see a scene like this again.” The runway was a sea of transatlantic airplanes from around the world. We were the 40^th of 42 planes being diverted to Halifax. On a typical day, three or four large jets land there. 

After landing, still no word on what was happening. I just figured there was a major glitch with the air traffic system and that we’d be underway again before too long. After a while, a few people were able to get through on their cell phones. We heard amazing, conflicting stories about the World Trade Center, White House, Pentagon, NORAD, and on and on. Mark and I knew right then that we couldn’t keep listening to all the different stories and speculations. As unbelievable as it must have been watching the events unfold on TV at home, it was unfathomable to be hearing these things from strangers cooped up in an airplane. The pilot finally came on over the speaker: “there has been a major terrorist attack on the United States. It is a dark day for our country and the world.” Now we knew we were in unprecedented times, we just didn’t know what they were.  

We disembarked after 12 hours on the ground in the plane. Add that to the transatlantic flight and it was 18 hours + in the airplane. There were sandwiches and drinks waiting for us in the terminal; the first of many instances of Canadian hospitality. By the time we got through Customs, all the hotels, gymnasiums, and shelters were full. Halifax had over 10,000 unexpected guests. We were bussed 60 miles out to Canadian Armed Forces Camp Alderstop in Kentville, Nova Scotia. A Canadian official boarded the bus in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere and gave us the straight facts of what had happened. Along the way, a “Pray for the USA” sign adorned a lonely convenience store. Finally, we entered the dormitory-like army facility at 5:00 a.m. local time, 20 hours after the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. A TV was reflecting from the end of the hall. I saw a few of the images that we’ll all never forget. I didn’t watch any more of that footage and Mark never did see it. We knew we still had quite an ordeal in front of us and just wanted to get home first. 

The Mess Hall gave us three warm, full meals a day. The Canadian Red Cross took over the operation in a friendly and orderly manner. Phone operators gave us free phone calls to the States. The town of Kentville welcomed us like family in a time of crisis. Our three days at Camp Alderstop were spent sleeping, eating, reading, talking with other stranded travelers, and waiting…and waiting. Finally, on Friday, 2:00 p.m. over the loudspeaker: “Attention everyone. TWA Flight 925 has been cleared for takeoff this evening. Please report to the main building in one hour.” That got the heart pumping! 

The rest of the trip was a sleepless blur of lines, airports, and planes. It was 10 hours after the announcement until we took off from Halifax. Shortly after takeoff we became one of the very first blips on the screen back in U.S airspace. JFK was an eerie ghost town. We ended our 14-hour stint there by taking off into the afternoon sun; out the window Ground Zero casting a billow of smoke over the Manhattan skyline. On to St. Louis, another unscheduled stop on our itinerary. It hit me there, that while people at home were wrapped up in the events of terror, people in the nation’s airports were avoiding the new world reality. We were all just running around shell-shocked trying to get home to our loved ones. We got to San Francisco in the early morning hours of September 16^th. We were scheduled to fly home to San Luis Obispo. Instead, our girlfriends had driven up in the middle of the night to pick us up. To say they won points for that is quite the understatement. We were home. It was finally time for us to begin digesting and comprehending what happened on September 11^th.