story6235.xml

story6235.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I had taken my mother to the doctor's office for surgery to
remove a cancerous growth. We were there for quite a while.
The doctor's office had piped in music so we were oblivious
to what was going on. Around 10 AM the doctor came out to
the waiting room and announced that a plane had hit the WTC
building. I thought that it was only a small commuter plane
and that this was nothing more than an unfortunate accident.
A few minutes later he came back to say that there were two
large planes that hit both WTC buildings and that one had
collapsed. By now other patients were arriving and stating
that another plane was unaccounted for and that the Pentagon
had been struck as well. I went out to listen to the radio
for updates. I had difficulty reaching my husband on the
cell phone - he was working in Philadelphia. He was to have
been doing field work at the Verizon building across the
street from WTC that day - by luck, that visit was resche-
duled and he was not there. It was a very eerie time - to know that such tragedy was occuring only 75 miles from us (to the North and South). Later that day I remember the strange silence in the skies as we are in the landing pattern for Phila International Airport - no commercial planes were flying. We are also close to McGuire AFB.
We had many fighters and large military aircraft flying over
our house. I also found out that our neignbor had been attending a seminar in NYC and had been staying at the WTC
Marriott - she survived. I will remember the many tears I shed that day and how I wanted to be there to help. Even now, the tears flow quite freely. We lost many local folks that day. Our region was very devastated. God bless America! We will endure as a nation! 9/11 - We will remember!