by Michelle Delaney, South Lake Tablet
Four coordinated suicide attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda, an Islamic terrorist organization, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The next two flights were targeted in or near Washington, D.C. The third team succeeded in crashing into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt.
The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and led to long-term health ailments and horrific memories.
Remembering the Day
I was traveling on I-4. I believe most of the people in the cars were listening to their radios just like I was because when the news of the attack was reported, all traffic stopped…just stopped. It was like the whole world came to a halt for a few minutes. It was surreal.
My husband, who had helped with the construction of the World Trade Center mourned the loss of the building as well as the men and women who lost their lives that day.
Others remember 9/11.
Pat Pizzonia: “My brother Vinny Pizzonia was a New York Police Officer. He served that day and many days in the horrific aftermath. The skies were eerily silent that day and the next. The prevailing concern at that time was “What’s the next target?” I went that day to give blood on Long Island and the line to the Red Cross Station was 2 miles long”.
Judy Pizzonia: “My mother and father (Joe and Mary Peterman) strolled the beach. The weather was beautiful, offering no indication of the foreboding event immediately ahead”.
Marie Von Hugal: “I remember the day very well. We were driving to Florida and were on the beltway around Washington DC when we heard the terrible news on the radio. When we got off the Beltway, we stopped at a diner in Vigininia and saw the devastation on TV”.
Anthony Caughell: “I was working on a 4-story condominium complex in Winter Park which was directly under the flight path to Orlando International Airport. I remember we suddenly realized that planes had just stopped flying overhead. One of the contractors told us what had happened. Work stopped and we just hung out listening to the radio the rest of the day”.
Debbie Batchelor: “I was teaching that day and concerned about family in NYC”.
Dick Batchelor: “I was in a meeting when I heard about the terrorist attack. I immediately turned on the TV and saw the horrific impact. My wife and I gathered our (at the time) young sons and tried to explain to them what had happened”.
The day left an indelible mark on the United States and horrific memories for those living through that day.
Twenty-two years later, Clermont Police Chief Charles Broadway, a former New York City Police detective who responded to Ground Zero and assisted with search and recovery efforts, and Clermont Police Chaplain Mike Saxe, a retired New York City Police officer, and 9/11 first responder, along with Clermont Fire Chief David Ezell hosted Clermont’s annual tribute to the fallen heroes of 9/11. May we never forget.
