story6651.xml
Title
story6651.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
My family and I had been traveling the Alaskan highway for 4 days on route from Fort Richardson, Alaska. We awoke that morning in Canada just as before, trying to get back on the road at a resonable hour.
Turning on the television in search of cartoons for our two young children I heard a voice say that all planes were grounded in the United States. I turned in disbelief as I watched the second tower get hit.
My husband watched with me. I remember saying, "Oh my God, we are going to war." - and husband would be part of that war. He is a Sergeant in the United States Army.
He immediately called his former unit in Alaska. We were told to continue on to our next duty station.
We drove all that day thru Canada listening to Canadian news and Canadian perspectives. Whenever we stopped for food or gas, no one seemed to be affected by this news- it was a country away, a world away from where we were. But to us, American citizens & members of the military we were closer to home than we had ever been.
Crossing the border into the United States never had so much meaning to me then it did on that day. We tried to prepare for what lay ahead as I looked at my son who would be celebrating his first birthday the next day.
Christine Duffy
Fort Polk, LA
Turning on the television in search of cartoons for our two young children I heard a voice say that all planes were grounded in the United States. I turned in disbelief as I watched the second tower get hit.
My husband watched with me. I remember saying, "Oh my God, we are going to war." - and husband would be part of that war. He is a Sergeant in the United States Army.
He immediately called his former unit in Alaska. We were told to continue on to our next duty station.
We drove all that day thru Canada listening to Canadian news and Canadian perspectives. Whenever we stopped for food or gas, no one seemed to be affected by this news- it was a country away, a world away from where we were. But to us, American citizens & members of the military we were closer to home than we had ever been.
Crossing the border into the United States never had so much meaning to me then it did on that day. We tried to prepare for what lay ahead as I looked at my son who would be celebrating his first birthday the next day.
Christine Duffy
Fort Polk, LA
Collection
Citation
“story6651.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 17, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/18340.