story9410.xml

story9410.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-08-10

September 11th 2001 was the fourth day of our holiday. We had been planning this trip for over two years and because it probably would be the last one of our family together (mother, father and two sons of 22 and 26 yrs old), we had great expectations. We planned to go to California and did not include Las Vegas in our three week trip. When upon arriving in San Diego, it was cold and slightly raining. Then we decided to spend some time in Las Vegas. And so we woke up in the morning of the 11th in a motel room next to Las Vegas Airport. Marion, my wife, was already awake and had turned on the television. We saw the twin towers on the screen and then we saw, that one of the towers was burning. The next moment we saw a plane crashing in to the towers. Feelings of disbelief, pain and fear arose. Both our sons awoke and we told them what we had seen. We watched the tragedy unfolding before our eyes in silence, not believing that people could intentionally destroy so many lives for whatever cause.
We discussed among us what to do, our holiday feeling was gone completely. Being a policeman myself, I got the urge to do something, to help, to be able to stop this. We talked to several American people in the motel, on the street, in restaurants. Everybody told us not to be intimidated by these terrorists and their cowardly acts. And so we were assured by our American friends, to continue our vacation.
By that time, all air traffic above America was stopped. At that moment my wife, our sons Patrick and Arjan, and myself were walking along the fence of Las Vegas Airport.
It was very, very quiet. And then we heard a bird singing in a tree nearby. That was the moment, we realized, that whatever stupid acts people would do to hurt other people, a greater power decided, that life should go on.
In the two weeks that followed, we visited many beautiful places in California. We attended memorial services, talked to volunteers on the streets who were raising funds
for the victims and their family's and followed the news in every motel we stayed.
We developed great respect for the way America reacted to this terrible tragedy and the response this great nation gave to the heroes of the 11th september and their family's.
When we came back in our home town in the Netherlands and among our family, nobody asked us how our vacation had been. The only thing that was talked about, was september 11th.
One thing is certain; we will never forget and our thoughts and prayers are with those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the family's that were left behind.

Peter van Gent, Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands