story5843.xml
Title
story5843.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
The horrific events of September 11 actually occurred on September 12 in New Zealand. 8:46am in NYC was 12:46am New Zealand Standard Time on September 12. When the South Tower of the World Trade Center fell, it was 1:50am in NZ. When the North Tower fell, it was 2:29am here.
Although it was the middle of the night here, I saw some of the ghastly September 11 events unfold on TV. My mother had been listening to the radio and heard about it, so switched on the TV. After the South Tower fell, she came and got me and together we saw the North Tower fall. I remember the aerial on top of it disappearing into the dust as it collapsed, a bit like the mast of a ship sinking into the ocean.
Anyway, I would like to share what I wrote in the September 12 entry of my 2001 diary, and entry around which I put a black border as a symbol of mourning. A little disclaimer: there are some inaccuracies (in particular my estimate of how many had died plus calling Flight 93 a 747), but in the immediate aftermath of such a catastrophic incident, it takes a little while for the full story to emerge.
OK, here is what I wrote in my diary for September 12, 2001:
"An act of unspeakable horror and incredible audacity has been committed in the United States of America. We're talking tragedy on a monumental, staggering scale. The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City have been utterly destroyed, almost certainly killing well over 10,000 people. And in Washington, D.C., the Pentagon has been damaged by fire, with part of it collapsing. How did this happen? Well, terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, two belonging to American Airlines and the other two to United Airlines. One of the American Airlines jets and one of the United ones had taken off from Boston bound for Los Angeles. When the terrorists took them over, they changed course for New York and were deliberately flown smack into the World Trade Center Towers. The North Tower was hit first and went up in flames pretty quickly. The South Tower was hit 15-20 minutes later. Meanwhile, an American Airlines flight bound for LA was hijacked after taking off from Washington's Dulles International Airport. It was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. Finally, a United 747 flying from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco was also hijacked but failed to reach its target. It crashed in a field near Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania.
"All 266 people on board the four aircraft, not counting the hijackers, perished in the crashes. Countless more have died in the World Trade Center buildings, though some did manage to escape with their lives in the immediate aftermath of the plane strikes. But the towers were ultimately unable to withstand the impact of the crashes and the explosions that followed them. As people jumped to their deaths to escape being burned alive while others waved distress signals from the upper floors of the 110-storey edifices where they were trapped, the buildings collapsed, just totally disintegrated. The South Tower, though hit later, went first, and the North Tower followed it soon thereafter. Needless to say, New York was in utter chaos and pandemonium, though there was probably not as much panic as there could have been.
"The US Government responded by shutting down all airports to prevent further hijacks. International flights were diverted to Canada or their departure points. Air New Zealand cancelled all flights to the USA.
"I once visited the World Trade Center, in July 1983 when I was 11. Have actually stood on the roof of the North Tower (correction: it was in fact the South Tower), which until today was the world's highest outdoor observation deck. So to see those twin towers collapse the way they did was truly sickening and heartbreaking."
That's about it, although later I note that when I had a walk in the afternoon, "it felt good to get away from all the insanity on TV for a while".
My walk took me along a street that runs parallel with Wellington Airport's runway. One thing I didn't note in my diary, but will always remember and now note here, was seeing a plane come in to land and experiencing a sudden feeling of irrational fear that the terrorists had come to New Zealand. The feeling did not last very long, and I quickly berated myself for it. The plane was on a normal approach path to the runway and sure enough, landed safely without incident. But I guess that seeing this plane approaching, even though what it was doing was totally routine, brought back the memory of what I'd seen on TV. I have never felt scared to see a plane before or since. But on that day, for half a second, it terrified me.
So there you have it: immediate first impressions of the horrors of September 11 as seen from one of the few countries in the world where it was actually the 12th and not the 11th. But it was all absolutely shocking and horrific regardless of the date. And certainly in 2002, we marked the anniversary of September 11 on the 11th, just as everyone else did. Indeed, New Zealand started the "Rolling Requiem" going.
Some final notes before I close: I didn't get a lot of sleep after seeing Twin Towers fall. It was probably two or three days before I started to get over the shock of it and began to feel a little bit normal again. One reason why I felt so affected by it was because my parents and I spent two years in the USA from 1982 to 1984. We lived in Bethesda Maryland, and my father worked in Washington DC. To this day I follow the Redskins and the Orioles, and although a Kiwi, feel a little bit American. We'd driven past the Pentagon on plenty of occasions (it's near to one of the bridges that crosses from DC to Virginia). And of course, we'd visited the Twin Towers. So when they were attacked, it felt a little personal. The thought went through my mind: "What if it had happened when I'd been there?"
I had enjoyed my visit to the Twin Towers, and it was a happy memory for me. I have some souvenirs from there too, which obviously have special value, historical and personal, now. But whenever I remember that visit, I will also remember the dreadful images of September 11. So this happy memory has been tarnished forever. I almost feel like a small part of my childhood has been robbed. But that is nothing compared to the robbery experienced by those who lost loved ones on September 11, and I fervently hope and pray that nothing like that will ever happen again.
Thank you for allowing me to share my story from far, far away on this site. God Bless America, and God Defend New Zealand, now and evermore.
Although it was the middle of the night here, I saw some of the ghastly September 11 events unfold on TV. My mother had been listening to the radio and heard about it, so switched on the TV. After the South Tower fell, she came and got me and together we saw the North Tower fall. I remember the aerial on top of it disappearing into the dust as it collapsed, a bit like the mast of a ship sinking into the ocean.
Anyway, I would like to share what I wrote in the September 12 entry of my 2001 diary, and entry around which I put a black border as a symbol of mourning. A little disclaimer: there are some inaccuracies (in particular my estimate of how many had died plus calling Flight 93 a 747), but in the immediate aftermath of such a catastrophic incident, it takes a little while for the full story to emerge.
OK, here is what I wrote in my diary for September 12, 2001:
"An act of unspeakable horror and incredible audacity has been committed in the United States of America. We're talking tragedy on a monumental, staggering scale. The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City have been utterly destroyed, almost certainly killing well over 10,000 people. And in Washington, D.C., the Pentagon has been damaged by fire, with part of it collapsing. How did this happen? Well, terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, two belonging to American Airlines and the other two to United Airlines. One of the American Airlines jets and one of the United ones had taken off from Boston bound for Los Angeles. When the terrorists took them over, they changed course for New York and were deliberately flown smack into the World Trade Center Towers. The North Tower was hit first and went up in flames pretty quickly. The South Tower was hit 15-20 minutes later. Meanwhile, an American Airlines flight bound for LA was hijacked after taking off from Washington's Dulles International Airport. It was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. Finally, a United 747 flying from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco was also hijacked but failed to reach its target. It crashed in a field near Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania.
"All 266 people on board the four aircraft, not counting the hijackers, perished in the crashes. Countless more have died in the World Trade Center buildings, though some did manage to escape with their lives in the immediate aftermath of the plane strikes. But the towers were ultimately unable to withstand the impact of the crashes and the explosions that followed them. As people jumped to their deaths to escape being burned alive while others waved distress signals from the upper floors of the 110-storey edifices where they were trapped, the buildings collapsed, just totally disintegrated. The South Tower, though hit later, went first, and the North Tower followed it soon thereafter. Needless to say, New York was in utter chaos and pandemonium, though there was probably not as much panic as there could have been.
"The US Government responded by shutting down all airports to prevent further hijacks. International flights were diverted to Canada or their departure points. Air New Zealand cancelled all flights to the USA.
"I once visited the World Trade Center, in July 1983 when I was 11. Have actually stood on the roof of the North Tower (correction: it was in fact the South Tower), which until today was the world's highest outdoor observation deck. So to see those twin towers collapse the way they did was truly sickening and heartbreaking."
That's about it, although later I note that when I had a walk in the afternoon, "it felt good to get away from all the insanity on TV for a while".
My walk took me along a street that runs parallel with Wellington Airport's runway. One thing I didn't note in my diary, but will always remember and now note here, was seeing a plane come in to land and experiencing a sudden feeling of irrational fear that the terrorists had come to New Zealand. The feeling did not last very long, and I quickly berated myself for it. The plane was on a normal approach path to the runway and sure enough, landed safely without incident. But I guess that seeing this plane approaching, even though what it was doing was totally routine, brought back the memory of what I'd seen on TV. I have never felt scared to see a plane before or since. But on that day, for half a second, it terrified me.
So there you have it: immediate first impressions of the horrors of September 11 as seen from one of the few countries in the world where it was actually the 12th and not the 11th. But it was all absolutely shocking and horrific regardless of the date. And certainly in 2002, we marked the anniversary of September 11 on the 11th, just as everyone else did. Indeed, New Zealand started the "Rolling Requiem" going.
Some final notes before I close: I didn't get a lot of sleep after seeing Twin Towers fall. It was probably two or three days before I started to get over the shock of it and began to feel a little bit normal again. One reason why I felt so affected by it was because my parents and I spent two years in the USA from 1982 to 1984. We lived in Bethesda Maryland, and my father worked in Washington DC. To this day I follow the Redskins and the Orioles, and although a Kiwi, feel a little bit American. We'd driven past the Pentagon on plenty of occasions (it's near to one of the bridges that crosses from DC to Virginia). And of course, we'd visited the Twin Towers. So when they were attacked, it felt a little personal. The thought went through my mind: "What if it had happened when I'd been there?"
I had enjoyed my visit to the Twin Towers, and it was a happy memory for me. I have some souvenirs from there too, which obviously have special value, historical and personal, now. But whenever I remember that visit, I will also remember the dreadful images of September 11. So this happy memory has been tarnished forever. I almost feel like a small part of my childhood has been robbed. But that is nothing compared to the robbery experienced by those who lost loved ones on September 11, and I fervently hope and pray that nothing like that will ever happen again.
Thank you for allowing me to share my story from far, far away on this site. God Bless America, and God Defend New Zealand, now and evermore.
Collection
Citation
“story5843.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 26, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15948.