Americans are commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.
Friday’s milestone anniversary brings memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils, bell ringing and readings of victims’ names — and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime.
September 11, 2001 included devastatingly tragic events that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans. That included the crashing of two jets into New York's World Trade Center towers, and when Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania thanks to the efforts of passengers on board.
The passengers on that plane included Bloomington, Minnesota-native Tom Burnett. He, along with other passengers, formed the plan to retake the plane from the hijackers, and led the effort that resulted in the crash of the plane into a field, thwarting the plan of the hijackers to crash the plane into a building in Washington, D.C., most likely either the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House.
Burnett's sister, Martha Burnett-Pettee, says that looking back, she is actually filled with gratitude despite such a personal loss.
"I do have to say that not on that day, but since then I've been the recipient of hundreds, probably thousands of well-wishes, prayers, love in my email, in my texts, in my social media feed this morning," Burnett-Pettee told WCCO's Jason DeRusha. "There are scores of messages from people I know well, and don't know very well, who are saying I love you, I'm thinking about you."
One of the many cities in chaos on September 11th was Washington D.C. which the Pennsylvania flight was intending to hit, and of course another plane struck the Pentagon that morning.
Tim Stout currently serves as the Senior Manager for Civilian Staff for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, and was on staff at the White House on 9/11. He told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News that three days before the attack, he was actually in a World Trade Center tower before returning to D.C.
"I remember going to the window and rapping on the glass and it looked like bank glass. And I said to my friend, this is indestructible," Stout recalls.
Just four days later, both towers laid in a pile of rubble in lower Manhattan, a shocking and tragic image forever seared in the minds of Americans.
"Came in, we thought it was a pilot error, maybe a health issue and tragic," Stout said of the initial response at the White House. "And then of course the South Tower was hit and then we knew it was a terrorism. And just grief and sadness and watching those images play out. For me, it got real when I looked down and down the South Lawn of the White House and we could see then the Pentagon was on fire. And so we were quite concerned at that point."
Stout said when they heard Flight 93 turned back, likely heading towards Washington, fear struck across the Nation's Capital.
"The Secret Service burst into our office and said, 'run for your life,' and we ran," said Stout. "And I will never forget seeing the women throw their high heels off on the North Lawn so they could run faster to get out of the complex. So the staff, we all exited and dispersed and what happened then for the next few hours is, D.C. is mainly bridges, the Key Bridge, 14th Street Bridge, so everyone was trying to get out into the suburbs. And the traffic, we just were stuck for hours sitting in the car listening to the radio of all the things that were happening to people we knew."
The tragedy of the day also brought out incredible heroism, with Burnett and his famous "let's roll" line frequently cited as example one. Burnett-Pettee says it's something she lives with 25 years after that heroism took her brother's life.
"I believe that, hearing the flight recorder, the cockpit flight recorder, everybody was very calm," she remembers. "Nobody's screaming or crying, or they are very deliberately trying to get into the cockpit because they believed, I know Tom believed, that somehow they could figure out how to land the plane. I think humans are capable of things that they don't think they're capable of. They're capable of courage, and compassion, and empathy, and bravery, and the ability to act when faced with really, really difficult situations."
For all who are remembering that fateful day, 25 years later, it’s an occasion for private reflection — or, in many schools, education — about the attack that unfolded in a single morning but left thousands dead and a decades-long trail of aftermath, from personal grief to far-flung wars.
