Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. On September 11, 2001 my husband and I were to board a plane to St. Louis Missouri. Our 18 yr old son was to graduate U.S Army basic training on September 13, 2001 and we wanted to attend the parents reception on the 12th. Our flight was to leave San Diego Internation airport at around 10:30am. My husband woke me earlier than usual, I was up at right around 5:45am. As I usually do, I turned on the local ABC station to watch the news and then some of Good Morning America. I was having trouble processing why it appeared to be a movie on instead of the local news. When I saw the picture of the plane hitting the first tower, I did not understand what was happening. Then the live picture of the plane hitting tower two came on and I understood that this was all too real. Our youngest son, Stephen, who was 9 at the time had come in and he asked me why I was crying. I tried to explain why, but I wasn't doing a very good job. Then he watched the replay of the planes hitting the towers and he began to understand that something really bad was happening. He watched with me until 7:45am when his father took him on to school. By now I knew that we would not be traveling to St. Louis that day. Peter Jennings had announced that the airports had been closed accross the entire nation and that all flights had been called out of the sky. My first thought was "No one is going to keep me from seeing my son graduate basic!" I called Southwest Airlines and actually got through to a ticketing agent and asked when flights would be back in the air. She told me then not to count on going out that day but maybe by the next afternoon. I would have to just keep calling. I then called my travel agent and told my husband that I would go into work, I needed to be doing something and away from the TV coverage. I did miss my son's graduation from basic. It was just too far to drive and the commander of the base had asked that parents not try to make the trip. My son in the Army became very determined that he had chosen the correct life path. We talked for a long time that night. I appologized over and over again that we could not make his graduation. Our youngest son had many worries about his older brother for a long time. He has always been proud of his brother and that he is part of what fights anyone who would try to hurt America. Our daughter, who was away at a preforming arts college took in the picture of her brother in his uniform and many of the students took him on as the symbol of what they cared about. They were working on a piece that was about young solders and those who knew them in WWII. Throughout the year when ever they worked on that piece they had Jacob's picture and a picture of New York up as what the peice was all about. I saw it performed twice, and was amazed at the feeling each time. I believe that those who would hurt America failed because even now we are again proud to be Americans in this country. They failed because we managed to again be able to mention God in public and it isn't wrong. They failed because we are stronger as a people than we were on September 10, 2001. God Bless America! NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource nmah4389.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 199.35.29.243