A Day That Changed America: Remembering September 11

Today is the 25th Anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States.

September 11, 2001 unfolded when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46am.

While millions watched the disaster on live television, any thoughts that it was an accident were erased when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03am.

The attacks didn’t end there, at 9:37am, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense at the Pentagon, collapsing a section of the building.

Learning of the previous attacks via cell phones, passengers, and crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 93 heroically fought back against the hijackers. The plane crashed in an empty field at 10:03 a.m. near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, missing its intended target—believed to be either the White House or the U.S. Capitol.

Locally, Rodney Hensel remembers watching the attacks on a small black and white television on a busy day at his business, Hensel Ready Mix, “I just remember being busy, and you’re basically in shock the whole day. You still had to function, you still had to do your job, but just not knowing, and probably the best thing was being busy because you weren’t sitting there stewing and worrying over it.”

Richard Katterjohn, who worked for Time Warner at the time, remembers how he heard about the attacks, “I was in the warehouse yard doing cable inventory. Two contractors came up and said ‘what’s going on in New York? Have you heard?’ And I didn’t know for sure. We ran inside, turned on one of the tv’s that we had, and we saw the plane hit the second building.”  

The attacks remain the deadliest act of terrorism in world history with 2,977 victims losing their lives, excluding the 19 hijackers.

More than 400 emergency workers—including 343 New York City firefighters and 60 law enforcement officers—were killed while trying to rescue people from the Twin Towers.

The victims ranged in age from a 2-year-old child to an 85-year-old adult, representing more than 90 different countries.

All of that took place 25 years ago on September 11, 2001.