9/11

[5Lauren]

BEFORE

DURING

AFTEROn September 11, 2001, was one of the worst days in America's history. 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and took over the plane. There plan was to crash into the the Twin Towers, which killed everyone on board and people in the buildings. The two buildings collapsed all the way, in approximately two hours. It destroyed many buildings surrounding them. Not only did the group of hijackers crash into the Twin Towers, but the Pentagon outside of Washington DC, too. There was an attempt at a fourth plane, but it failed and landed in a field in Pennsylvania. There were no survivors from any of the planes. I never want to have the feeling of excitement at an airport waiting for your loved ones, and never see them again in your life. Wow, I can't even imagine it.There was a total of 2,993 people including the hijackers that died from this attack. That is more than half of Harlan! I don't even know how you can do that to a country. There were nationalities from 90 different countries and there was one person who died from lung cancer because the ash and smoke was so heavy. At 8:46am on September 11, the first plane flew into the North Tower putting everyone in shock. The second plane hit the South Tower at 9:03am. While the people were worrying about that attack, a third plane was hijacked and flew into the Pentagon on 9:37am. Since everyone was still in shock and not knowing what was going to happen next, the fourth flight failed and landed in Pennsylvania. The fourth plane was attempting to hit the White House or the US Capitol, but some passengers on board took the hijackers in a fight.Now how the hijackers took over three almost four planes, you may ask? Well, they used knives to stab the pilots, stewardess, and passengers. They also used pepper spray and other harmful sprays. Some of the passengers were able to use the airline phones to give details of the hijackers, but it was too late and nothing could be done at that point. There were many, many emergency officials help on the scene shortly after, but still 411 of them died from too much smoke. New York City lost 341 firefighters and 2 FDNY paramedics. The New York City Police Department lost 23 officers. The others were paramedics and other emergency operators. After six months of the attack, there were estimated to be 6,000 deaths total. Many died instantly and others tried to suffer through it, but couldn't.This was an extremely sad day for America. I was in first grade when this happened. I don't remember much of it from school, but I remember having nightmares about it after seeing it on the news for days straight. I still don't know why you would want to do that to someone. It's just cruel! There are at least two movies out dedicating them to that day. World Trade Center and Flight 93, they are both realistic and put you in their shoes and what the families were going through. I feel so bad for the loved ones that were lost that day. I was standing on one of the Twin Towers a year before that happened, and I still get chills on my spine just thinking about it.