Tyler McKay | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: A fire truck heads towards the Twin Towers. | Aaron McClamb/New York Daily News
TRAGEDY
It was a morning like any other. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Tuesday, September 11, 2001. New York City. People were arriving at work to begin their day. Little did they know that in a few minutes, the world would be changed forever.
The Howard Stern Show was airing live on the radio when the first plane struck the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. Stern said: “I don’t mean to interrupt the fun but, uh this is a breaking news story, a serious news story. A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center is on fire.”
He was met with disbelief and confusion from the guests on the show. Ralph Cirella, Stern’s stylist, was on the phone and he had a view of the towers from the skyscraper that he was in. He looked out his window and said, “Oh my god! I gotta go out on my roof. This is incredible. The whole thing is on fire! I mean not a little fire! Oh, it’s huge!”
Ro Sheffe, a now retired journalist, was there that day. Sheffe was born in California but has lived in many places across the globe. He began as a newspaper reporter, then editor, and eventually moved on to being the editorial director of several magazines for Ziff Davis Publishing Company.
When asked of his experience of the September 11 attacks, Sheffe says, “I lived two blocks away. A friend called to tell me something had happened. We both assumed that a tourist helicopter had crashed. I looked out my window and saw a plume of smoke. It looked like something bigger than a helicopter crash.”
Then at 9:03, the second plane hit. At the time, NBC News Today was broadcasting live. Just after the second plane hits the tower on live television, Matt Lauer asked a witness, “Did you see this happen?” Jennifer Oberstein responded, “Matt, it looks like a movie. I saw a large plane, like a jet, headed directly into the World Trade Center. It just flew into it, into the other tower. I watched the plane fly into the World Trade Center.”
Sheffe commented, “My friend called back. He said the news was reporting that this could be a terrorist attack. I laughed.”
“A few minutes later, I heard a thunderous roar. A tall building obscured my view of the second plane hitting the trade towers, but I heard and felt the impact, and I saw the aftermath. Imagine a party, with people batting at a pinata? This was like that, but a thousand times larger. I was watching the fluttering remains of paperwork from the desks of people who are now dead. Some were not dead, yet. I watched as many jumped from the burning buildings, to their death. I wish I hadn’t seen that.”
Lauer, still on the air, said: “And now you have to move from talk about a possible accident to talk about something deliberate.”
At these particular moments, President George W. Bush was at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. He was about to begin reading a book to the kids when, at 9:05, his Chief of Staff Andrew Card leaned in and whispered to him, “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
At 9:37, a plane flew into the side of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and at 9:45, the airspace surrounding the United States was shut down.
Come 9:59, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed live on CNN, just as they were about to confirm that it was indeed a plane that had hit the Pentagon. CNN was showing the smoke from both towers over the shoulder of reporter Aaron Brown along with a shot of the smoking Pentagon. The shot was being narrated by a reporter describing the scene in Washington D.C., when Brown cut in to say, “I need you to stop for a second. There has just been a huge explosion, we can see a billowing smoke rising and I can’t see the second tower.” The South Tower had collapsed with first responders and employees still inside.
At 10:03, a plane crashed in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania as the result of an altercation in the cockpit. It has been reported that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes, and decided to take heroic action. The passengers raided the cockpit in an attempt to wrest control of the flight. It was believed that the target of this plane was either the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House.
At 10:28, the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed; again, with first responders and employees still inside.
AFTERMATH
A total of 2,977 victims were killed that day, with more than 6,000 people injured. Many more died after the fact due to illnesses acquired from cleaning up at Ground Zero or just from being near it. Later that night, President Bush wrote in his journal: “The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today.”
Bush also gave quite a memorable speech through a bullhorn at Ground Zero in the following days, saying: “I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation sends it love and compassion to everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for making the nation proud, and may God bless America.”
When asked if he went anywhere after the attacks, Sheffe said: “Yes, I was forced to evacuate. For several weeks. Fortunate that I did not die.” Sheffe also mentioned that he’s had a few life changing experiences in his life, but this is one in particular he will always remember.
After the U.S. airspace was closed, planes destined to land there had to be diverted. Most of these flights landed in Canada as a part of Operation Yellow Ribbon. As a result, 238 aircrafts were diverted to 17 different airports across the country. Forty-seven planes landed in Halifax, 34 landed in Vancouver International Airport, and, most famously, 38 planes landed in Gander, Newfoundland. The records indicate that somewhere between 30,000 and 45,000 passengers were accepted into Canada that day.
In the following weeks and months, toxic dust from the buildings still filled the air surrounding Ground Zero. Powdered concrete, powdered glass, asbestos, lead, and mercury are just some of the contaminants that were found in the air after the towers collapsed. Many other substances were found to be carcinogenic, leading to an elevated risk of prostate, thyroid, and blood cell cancers. Residents and first responders were exposed to copious amounts of this debris.
Many rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers also contracted respiratory diseases. A study was conducted on 5,000 rescue workers and found that 100% of them had reduced lung function. The health of the workers remained an issue in the years that it took to complete the cleanup.
RESTORATION
From the ashes of the Twin Towers arose the One World Trade Center. This new Trade Center is currently the tallest building in the United States. It stands at 1,776 feet tall which is a nod to the year 1776 when the U.S. declared its independence. Construction on this building began in 2006 and it opened to the public on November 3, 2014. Condé Nast, the famous magazine publisher, resides within the tower and the company occupies floors 20 to 44.
A museum and memorial were also constructed on those grounds in New York City. The memorial was opened to the public on September 12, 2011 while the museum was opened on May 21, 2014. The memorial is a park populated with swamp white oak trees with two reflecting pools built where the towers once stood.
The museum is below ground. It contains “wrecked emergency vehicles (including a fire engine deformed from the collapse), pieces of metal from all seven World Trade Center buildings, recordings of survivors and first responders (including 911 phone calls), pictures of all victims, photographs from the wreckage and other media detailing the destruction (including the crashes, collapse, fires, those who jumped, and the cleanup).”
In addition to Sheffe’s narrative, his partner Andrea McKenzie adds: “What Ro didn’t mention is that shortly after 9/11, he joined the local community board—Community Board 1—which advises NYC’s City Council about issues in downtown Manhattan, including the World Trade Centre area.”
“Ro served on the Financial District Committee (including the WTC area) for 13 years, and was Chair of the Financial District Committee for 8 years, until 2016. In this capacity, he was involved in trying to ensure that recovery funding went to small businesses, like Mom and Pop local stores, and in ensuring that people knew about the grants available to them for recovery and how to apply for them.”
McKenzie also adds that “when Ro resigned as chair of the Financial District Committee and from Community Board 1 in 2016, the Borough of Manhattan declared a day in March to be ‘Ro Sheffe Day’ in honour of his accomplishments for the community. The proclamation specifically mentioned, within a long list of achievements, that quality of ‘humanitarianism’ that he had shown during all those post 9/11 years.”
Sheffe was also an active participant in the campaign to get the Zadroga Bill passed by the U.S. Congress. The Zadroga Bill was written to ensure that first responders, cleanup crew, and residents whose health was negatively affected by the attacks receive free healthcare benefits/monitoring and financial aid from the U.S. government. The Bill was named after James Zadroga, a New York Police Department officer whose death was linked to exposure to the toxic pollutants released from the fallen towers. The Bill was first passed in 2010 and was signed by President Barack Obama in 2011.
This particular Bill was in the news recently this year when funds were scarce. As a result, payouts for pending claims were reduced by 50% and new claims were reduced by 70%. This led to a campaign attended by, most notably, comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart. The following day after Stewart testified to the Judiciary Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, that very Committee voted unanimously to permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
On another positive note, a musical was recently in the news for its Canadian connection to the September 11 attacks. The play is called Come from Away and is set in the week following the attacks. As previously mentioned, after the American airspace was closed, planes were forced to land elsewhere. In total, 38 planes landed at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland. The play tells the story of how the passengers were housed and looked after by the Gander residents. Approximately 7,000 passengers were housed in this small Canadian town. The play was universally acclaimed and was nominated for seven Tony Awards. Come from Away ended up winning in the category of Best Direction of a Musical.
REMEMBRANCE
September 11, 2001. A date that will live in infamy. Events on that day tore families apart, but people were still able to come together in spite of the hardships and struggle.Those attacks are unquestionably events that changed the future of the United States and the world. The effects are still being felt today.
There are those who were too young to remember those events, but now there are university students at York who were not yet born when this tragedy occurred. It is our duty to preserve the memory of the carnage and of those who lost their lives.
9/11. Never Forget.
