story3306.xml

story3306.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Hello,

My name is K.Langley. My husband, who is an American Airlines pilot, had just returned home in the early morning hours of September 11th. He is based out of Washington, so he flies out of Dulles, Washington National or Baltimore Maryland.

I was watching Barney with our 18 month old son. Our other three children were at school. My husband called into his guard unit (He's also a military pilot)to see when they needed him to fly next, and someone there had asked him if he saw the plane. We immediately turned the channel and were shocked! I thought it might have been a small plane that got turned around, but my husband said no, that was an Airliner. We were both stunned. He said, that was no accident. I was mortified. Then the second plane hit. Now there was no dening the fact that we were under attack. I cried.

The news media announced that one of the planes was an American Airliner and the other was United. I was so relieved that my husband was home, but felt a sense of horror and loss that I have never experienced before. And Anger!!! That is one emotion that is still churning around inside my soul today. I cried....

The aviation industry is a small tightly knit group. We know people at every airline, in every city. So we quickley ran through the list of all our "air crew" friends, and called to make sure everyone was home safe and sound. We were relieved to find everyone okay, but felt so saddened for the ones who would never again return home, and those families left behind. I cried....

Then the American plane hit the Pentagon. That was another major blow. The Pentagon, to me, is like the heart of our military. My brother inlaw used to work there, my husband is a military pilot, and it is such a symbol of American freedom...and the liberties so many have fought for all these years. I cried.

I felt rage. "How dare these people come to our country and take our planes and kill our people...They cannot even be classified as people, nor animals..only devils and monsters". How could any human being devise just a horrific attack on innocent civilans? How could they kill just for the sake of killing? What fosters such inhumanity? I was mad....and shocked, and scared, and wondered, When would this end??? I cried.

Later that day we heard about the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. I was sickened inside. What those folks must have been going through, Knowing what they knew about the previous attacks and trying to devise a plan to foil the terrorists plot. They fought hard, and saved others from peril. I was numb,inside and out. I just prayed that no one suffered.

My husband called the guard unit back after the first plane hit, and told them he would be there. What ever they needed him to do, he would be there. I was proud of his bravery, but was also worried and scared and angry. I cried.

I picked my kids up early from school. I wasn't worried that they would fall to harm, I just wanted to hug them. They all were sad, confused and a little shocked too. But I think they were holding up much better than I. That evening my eldest son's girlfriend came over and we all talked about the days events. I had them each record their thoughts and feelings down on video. They did a great job. We all prayed. We Thanked God for his mercy, and asked him to comfort everyone who was touched by the days events. We asked that those whom perished,left this world without suffering...and that those left behind to pick up the pieces, would have comfort and support and healing. I cried....

My daughter wrote a poem in the car on the afternoon of September 11th. I found it in the glove box of the car a few days later. This is what she wrote:

My Home: My home is stricken now by evil cowards.
Yet I am not afraid.
Soon we may go to war.
Yet I am not afraid.
I am not afraid because our nation is linked to heaven in which God is the building stone.
The Angels-My dad,(the pilot)firefighters,police and civilized people..trying to help, The U.S. Soul.

I wept when I read this poem. My 13 year old daughter wrote this touching and endearing poem. She is tough, and she knows those who protect us are tough. And we, the people of America are tough...I cried.

I'm not as eloquent as my daughter. My anger took over..my way of coping was to write this song--to the tune of (Oh Mr. Tali-man--you know, the banana song)

"Oh Mr. Taliban, hand over Osama
If you don't here's what a we going to do
Oh Mr. Taliban, hand over Osama
If you don't we going to come after you..

Oh, better do what we say
Cuz if you don't We going to blow you away
Oh, you've got one chance to reply
If you don't do it Taliban you must die..

I know, I know...sounds pretty morbid. My mother didn't care for my song. But It helped me get by. My other way of coping was by painting this huge 5' by 8 ft flag. All the stores were out, so I decided to make my own. It was very therapeutic.

The second hardest part of this tragedy for me was the fact that my husband had to go back and fly with American just a few short days after the tragedy. No one knew what to expect. We had never shut down the flying industry like this before. We had never had our own planes used as weapons. Civilan planes to kill civilans. What would happen on this first day of flights?

My husband said he wasn't afraid to fly..It's his job..he's just doing his job. (Ya, well the job description just changed dramatically)..He comforted me as he walked out the door and told me not to worry. I did. I think the fear of the unknown is worse than the knowing. I didn't know what would happen next. Hopefully nothing, but this world of ours would never be the same.

My husband called when he arrived in Baltimore. (I told him to call at every stop!!!) He said someone hung a huge American flag over a freeway overpass, and another sign read United We Stand & God Bless America. It comforted him I think, to see such patriotism...His first assignment was to take a plane from Baltimore to Chicago for re-positioning. He said it gave him an eery feeling. Chicago was stopped. The busiest Airport in America, and it looked like a ghost town. Only he and one other plane were moving. Very surreal.

ATC was great. They all would come on the mike and say "Great to have you back" and he would reply, "It's great to be back" One of the controllers, and lady was even in tears...It really touched him. Everyone was so nice and patient. The loads were quite empty, but as time went by, things slowly got back to normal. Well, I can't say normal, things will never be normal. But let's make them better for everyone. Let's treat people with kindness and caring..like we were taught in kindergarten.

Now it is the one year anniversary of September 11th. I can't believe it has been a whole year.

My husband got activated with the miltary and is now flying somewhere over in a foreign land. I just say "the Stans" Pakistan, afghanistan,Ubekistan, etc...I don't know where he is. It's classified. I don't know what he is doing. Also classified. But I know he is proud to be doing his part to serve America, and it's people. I am proud of him. I miss him. The kids miss him. And we worry about him too. He told me that if he couldn't be home on September 11th, with his family, this is where he wants to be, serving his country.

I feel so lucky to live in America, where we have brave souls who sacrifice so much, so that we may live free. To my husband and all the hero's serving America, Thank you.
Lets not forget what happened, lets band together to prevent anyone from taking what is ours..our freedom.

My prayers will forever be with those touched by this tragedy..

Fondly,
K.D.Langley