Sept. 11th: "The Whole Building Has Collapsed!"

The late Peter Jennings (ABC TV) reporting on the destruction
of the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Everyone remembers where they were when they heard about the planes crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. I heard about it about 6:20 AM PDT (9:20 AM EDT) after reading emails from two friends of mine in the U.K. Both said essentially the same thing: "We are sorry for what happened in New York City!"

Since I had just woke up, I didn't know what they were talking about, so I immediately turned on my TV -- and remained glued to it for days on end. I was filled with anger at the terrorists who caused these two planes to crash into the Twin Towers -- and at their counterparts who caused another plane to crash into the Pentagon and a fourth plane to crash into a field in Pennsylvania.

Peter Jennings

ABC-TV's Peter Jennings remained on the air all day and a good part of the night on September 11th. Jennings, a journalist's journalist (1938-2005), reported on seeing people jumping to their deaths from the burning World Trade Center. At first, viewers saw a few of them jump, but then ABC-TV wisely decided not to televise the horror of other jumpers as they fell to their deaths.

I remember seeing firemen and policemen rushing to the Twin Towers, many never to return. I remember seeing people running from the Twin Towers as fast as they could to escape the crashing buildings, cloaked in dust and debris as they ran to safety.

I remember seeing a TV reporter interviewing Franciscan priest Father Mychal Judge, Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York, who was about to enter one of the Towers to administer last rites to firefighters. But Father Judge did not come out alive.

Father Mychal Judge being carried out of the World Trade Center.
Photo courtesy of Reuters.

Father Judge was designated as "Victim 0001" -- and recognized as the first official victim of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Other victims perished before him including air crew, passengers, and occupants of the Twin Towers, but Judge was the first certified fatality because his was the first body to be recovered and brought to the coroner.

And I remember the dust. Everyone was covered with dust from the collapsing buildings as they ran for their lives. Brave TV reporters and their crews were in the streets below, trying to talk with people, then running with them away from the collapsing buildings, everyone covered with dust.

Our nation was stunned. How could this happen in America? Who were these terrorists? Where did they come from? Was Osama Bin Laden behind the 9/11 attack?

In the days that followed, we learned just how many died because of the attack on Sept. 11th -- nearly 3,000 people!

As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th, let us pray for those who died and their loved ones.

And let us pray that nothing like this ever happens again.

George Spink
Los Angeles
Email Me

You'll find links to web sites devoted to 9/11 by following this link: http://bit.ly/mQRh9A