We shall never forget that morning

September 11, 2001,
Eastern Time, United States of America.

By: Maria Teresa Villaverde Trujillo
ashiningworld@cox.net

Photograph by Sander Buijsrogge

Almost 3,000 death certificates were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks. Of these, 1,614 were identified from recovered physical remains. 343 of these
deaths were New York City Firemen, 84 were Port Authority Employees,of whom 37 were Police. Another 23 were New York City Police. Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed only 20 of these people were pulled out alive.

-The site of the Twin Towers has been transformed into Ground Zero.-

At 8:46 a.m. Al Qaeda suicide hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 with 11 crew, 76 passengers and 5hijackers from Boston’s Logan Airport into the northern facade of the North Tower,creating an impact hole that extended from the 92nd to 98th floors. Boston air traffic controllers hear and realize that they're dealing with a hijacking.
Send warnings up the FAA chain of command. A hijacker is heard saying "We have more planes. We have other planes..."
After the impact fires could be seen on several floors, the South Tower was hit. The 102 minutes allowed -between the impact and collapse- the vast majority of its occupants below the crash zone to escape to safety. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed about 30 minutes after the South Tower did.
Large orange flames bellowed out from the collapse zone.

At 9:03 a.m., a second team of hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts with 9 crew members, 51 passengers, and 5 hijackers, arrived in Boston from Florida, into the southwest face of the South Tower, creating an impact hole
that extended from the 78th to 84th floors. When the jet hit the South Tower, it cut off several routes of evacuating
the 30 floors above the impact zone. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower began its precipitous collapse less than an hour after being hit... At first the portion of the tower above the crash zone began to tilt to the southeast, while the first explosions of dust began at the crash zone. Only 14 people escaped from the impact zone of the South Tower after it was hit, and only four people from the floors above it.It was the only impact seen live on television around the world.

American Flight 77, with 6 crew, 53 passengers and 5 hijackers from Washington's Dulles Airport. After smoothly executing a 360-degree turn over the Potomac,it crashes into the western side of Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. The plane hits an area of Army and Navy offices. Dozens of people witnessed the crash. 125 Pentagon workers were killed and but the 184 victims of the attack are memorialized in the Pentagon Memorial adjacent to the Pentagon. United Flight 93, with 7 crew and 33 passengers and 4 hijackers,from Newark International Airport is hijacked over eastern Ohio. Around Cleveland,it veers off course and begins heading back toward Washington. Tom Burnett said to his wife that he and a group of passengers are planning to take action against the hijackers. Flight 93 crashes in rural Pennsylvania, near Shanksville. Its intended target is most likely the US Capitol, or less probably the White House if it hadn't been brought down by the passenger revolt. The last entry on the voice recorder was made at 10:03:09. The last piece of flight data was recorded at 10:03:10. At that morning: President George W. Bush was in Sarasota, Florida.

Vice President Cheney and National Security Adviser Rice were in their offices in the West Wing of the White House. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld were at the Pentagon. Secretary of State Powell was in Lima, having breakfast with the president of Peru. CIA Director Tenet was having breakfast, and counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke was attending a conference three blocks from the White House. General Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was flying to Europe. Attorney General Ashcroft was flying to Milwaukee. The new FBI Director, Robert Mueller, and Transportation Secretary Mineta were both in their respective offices
in Washington, DC. FEMA Director Allbaugh was in Montana.
The Coast Guard closed all harbors in the United States.

The Empire State Building was shut down. The Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center,
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art were also closed.

World Trade Center

The North Tower was the first of the Twin Towers to be completed. The South Tower was the second of the Twin Towers to be completed The three remaining buildings in the WTC plaza sustained heavy damage from debris.
Later that day, 7 World Trade Center collapsed at 5:21 p.m.
from fires that had started when the north tower collapsed.

South Manhattan, late morning of September 11.

September 11, 2011
ashiningworld@cox.net