September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001 is a tragic day in our history that we will never forget. That morning 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger airplanes to commit suicide attacks. These attacks included two in New York City, one in Arlington, Virginia, and one near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
At 8:46 am, the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City was hit by American Airlines Flight 11. Just 57 minutes later United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower. Everyone on board the airplanes died, including many workers from the towers. Both towers collapsed in two hours, in the process destroying and damaging nearby buildings. The attacks on the World Trade Center resulted in 2,752 deaths, the majority being civilians from 70 different countries, but also including 343 firefighters and 60 police officers. One of the victims was said to have died from lung disease from the dust of the buildings.
American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon, located right outside of Washington D.C., at 9:37 am the same morning. The number of victims at the Pentagon attack was 184. Finally, after passengers fighting with the hijackers, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed at 10:03 am near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The actual target for the plane was either the Capitol or the White House. Everyone on board of the plane died.
Several consequences resulted from the 9/11 attacks. Over 3,000 children were left without one or more of their parents. The United States launched the War on Terror, invading Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban. It also caused the Unite States to take action on Iraq. The USA Patriot Act was also put in place. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established a Department of Homeland Security as an executive department on the US. The economy of Lower Manhattan was also hurt. The air traffic in the United States also slowed way down following the attacks, and many people were afraid to fly.
I don’t remember very many details about the September 11 attacks. I was in 1st grade and age 7 at the time. The one thing I have always remembered, though, was coming home from school, sitting down Indian style on the floor in my living room, and watching the replay footage of the World Trade Center attacks on the news. While watching, I remember thinking that the smoke clouds from the buildings looked like ice cream cones. I don’t know why, but at the time I thought they did. I also remember teachers going around to other classrooms/teachers’ lounge quite frequently during the day. I don’t remember if we, the students, ever watched it in the classroom. I don’t recall this, but my dad does – I guess after the attacks I was very afraid to fly. I was scared to fly anyway because I’ve always been afraid of heights, but I guess the attacks made things worse for me. He also told me I was the reason we didn’t fly to Chicago back in 2006, I was still too afraid to fly (even though the attacks had been 5 years prior). While I was in Chicago then I remember being in the elevator of the Sears Tower, afraid of turning out like the victims of 9/11. I also remember looking around the building for suspicious airplanes or people. I was super scared. Then, after returning home, I heard about the planned attack on the Sears Tower and do I even have to add I was even more afraid? So as you can tell, the attacks on September 11 really scared me for years afterward. Luckily, it doesn’t bug me anymore (I love flying… but I’m still afraid of heights), but I will never forget watching those ice cream shaped smoke clouds on the television that afternoon.
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