20th Anniversary of 9/11

Stevens staff reflects on 9/11

Jennifer Dame, Adviser|September 10, 2021

theatlantic.com

Twenty years after the Twin Towers collapsed and the Pentagon was attacked, Stevens staff reflects on their memories, what they wish people knew about it and what life has been like after it happened:

“It is absolutely true for me and for so many others, that we will always remember where we were and what we were doing when we realized what was happening in New York City on September 11, 2001.  It was a moment when what was real seemed just impossible.  I was getting ready for my day as a college student attending USD working on my Master’s degree and commuting to Vermillion from Yankton where I lived with my husband.  My dad called at about 7am which was very unusual. We talked often, but never early in the morning so I was worried it might be a family emergency.  I think I had a cordless phone on a land-line.   He said, “Are you watching this?” and proceeded to explain that what at first had seemed to be an accident, was more than likely an organized terrorist act.
All day long we went the places we had to go, but TV’s were on everywhere and no one was working or teaching or learning, we just huddled around the TVs with our eyes wide.   One plane had hit in NYC, then two, flight 77 was highjacked and hit the pentagon. There was just chaos near the World Trade Center.  The news showed interviews with men and women that were absolutely terrified. The emotion in their voices made us cry watching.
People were talking about whether Mt. Rushmore or Ellsworth Air Force Base could be targets and worrying and wondering about other important US places.  We weren’t worried about little Vermillion, SD itself but we all knew people in bigger cities and many of us had friends and family in New York City.  We worried and prayed and watched the news late into the night.  News footage of regular people being heroic helping and saving others was inspiring. I remember one story about a group of 14 people being saved after being trapped in a stairwell for hours.  Loss was deep though and there were many stories of firefighters and others that had rushed in to help but didn’t get out before the towers collapsed.  First responders and people off the street searched through the rubble for days looking for survivors.  We were so sad and so angry.
In the days that followed the news reports helped us put together a timeline and understand a little better what had happened. We heard recordings of phone calls made from the airplanes involved – which was very upsetting emotionally, and also surprising to me because I wouldn’t have thought you could even make a call from a plane, but these were big planes and the technology was new.
Today I looked at footage of the memorial and it is a beautiful remembrance of the almost 3,000 people that died.” – Mrs. Conway

“I can recall vividly where I was at the morning of September 11th, 2001! Outside of it being my grandmother and sister’s birthday, I was in my classroom preparing for my first class when a student, Robby C., came in and asked me if I heard the news. (I am still grateful to this day this student came to my classroom immediately after arriving to school prior to the first bell.) I immediately turned on the tiny box television in my classroom and our day was consumed with the horror of what was happening. Osama Bin Laden was now a name everyone knew as was Al-Qaeda.

As for one of the more notable things that has changed for me personally, prior to 9/11, I could present my ID and get my boarding pass and get on an airplane. There was no screener, no TSA, no limits of liquids in your carry-on bag and you could even bring your own beverage onboard with you! It was simple and quick: get your boarding pass and get on the plane. I really miss the simplicity but understand the necessity given the times we live in today.” – Ms. Cuno

“It happened during the start of my second year in Canton, SD.  I went to talk to our janitor about a class issue and he said, “Hey, you should watch the news, one of the twin towers was on fire.”  So I went back to my classroom, turned on my tv and watched the other tower get hit live on TV.  It was chilling.  I didn’t teach at all for the rest of the day.  I just had my classes watch the news all day.

Life changed that day.  No one had ever attacked the United States on our soil.  It was a wakeup call for our country.” – Mr. Dannenbring

“For me, it was terrifying. I was newly married, looking forward to having a family. It was a very scary day trying to piece it all together. For some reason I took the day off work and was watching the Today Show when the planes hit the towers. The first person I called was my brother since he was in the Air Force. He was on his way in to work when I called. He flew for two weeks up and down the East Coast.” – Mrs. Dame

“I was in my sophomore year in college when 9/11 happened. When I turned on the news, I saw the second plane enter the second building. I was in awe of how awful people could be. I instantly started thinking about the people on those planes, the people stuck above the fire, and I watched as people jumped off the building in order to die by falling rather than burning to death. It was horrific. That night, the college held a candlelight vigil. I cried the entire time for the people who died, the people who lost loved ones, the heroes on the planes and in the buildings, the people still living in New York, and for our country. It was incredibly heartbreaking that people would do such a thing to so many people.” – Mrs. Hansen

“On 9/11 I awoke in Hawaii to a phone call from one of my Soldiers to turn on my TV.  As a company commander with 15 helicopters and 60 Soldiers we went to 13 hour shifts as we assessed future attacks and awaited the FAA to open airspace.  9/11 solidified my duty to stay in the Army to help serve our country and Soldiers to the best of my ability.

The longer term effects of 9/11 went beyond losing friends in the war (LTC Baldwin, LTC McMahon, MAJ Reich, and SGT Galvan) and consuming a large portion of my life.  I was deployed to Iraq for 30 months over the course of four tours, and my wife departed the Army after 11 years of service to make sure we would not both be deployed with two children without their parents.

9/11 also had an impact on me becoming a teacher.  The loss of friends and the absence of my friends in their families lives helped me gain appreciation for being able to spend time with my family.  Our fallen no longer have time with their families.  Teaching has provided me the opportunity to spend more with my family.” Herr Hasse

“After 9/11, I remember thinking at first it was an accident and then finding out it was terrorism.  I certainly can remember exactly what I was doing at the time of the first tower getting hit.  The anger I began to feel escalated when I heard about flight 93 that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania because the passengers tried to regain control of the plane.  I wanted our country to avenge the deaths from that day.  My anger boiled when I saw pictures and videos of people jumping out of the windows of the twin towers to avoid being burned alive.  These images are forever burned in my memory.  I started to contemplate other ways that terrorists could really hurt us and I felt fear and anxiety.

The thing I remember the most about the days and weeks immediately after was the patriotism that occurred all over the country.  We took a trip to Denver for training, and I was amazed at how people in Rapid City, Denver, and the places in between had decorated their cars with American flags and wrote pro America sayings on the windows.

In the months and years that have followed, we have been inconvenienced with obvious travel changes such as having to take your shoes off and going through more stringent security measures in order to board a plane.  My mom worked at the Rapid City Regional airport as a security screener and had just retired a month before the attacks occurred.  She was glad that she wasn’t doing that job at the time of 9/11.  She empathized with the screeners that were working that terrible day.  It is a day that has forever changed America.  The thing I wish people would people know about this attack would be the emotions of watching it happen, the shock, anger, fear and feelings of retribution.” Mr. Horn

“I will never forget that day!

I was getting ready for work when my husband yelled to come look at the tv. I was like, I’m trying to get ready for work. He insisted on me coming to see the tv. As I watched the tv, I asked what movie he was watching? He told me it wasn’t a movie but it was actually happening live. I said no way! What I was seeing, was the first tower in smoke and then all the sudden I remember seeing a plane flying towards the second tower and crash into it. We just stood there in awe for a few minutes. I hurried up and drove to work. I worked at the Pennington county sheriff’s office as a civil deputy. When I arrived, everyone was scrambling to find tv’s to watch what was happening. Police officers were being sent to the airport to ground all flights and take control there. There was talk about “what if they try to come for Mt. Rushmore”? Everyone was on edge and just waiting for orders. I remember trying to work and listen to everything around me. The pentagon was hit, then the plane crashed into a field. What was happening and WHY? I remember all the tv stations played live coverage nonstop for days. I watched people on tv jumping to their death from the towers before they collapsed because they were trapped. You couldn’t sleep much because you were constantly thinking of everything happening. It’s a day I will never forget!!!” – Niki Kruse

“I was a freshman in high school. Marching Band season was in full swing, so I had been at school since 6:15 in the morning. There were no smart phones, so no blaring emergency alert was heard across the field. I hadn’t turned on a TV or a radio and didn’t know anything was amiss until homeroom. My teacher was reading the daily announcements and, at the end, added, “Also, someone hit the Twin Towers”. Having never been to New York, I was unaware of what the Twin Towers were. It wasn’t until I got to my next class that I realized the severity of what I had been told. There was an attack.  A group of terrorists had deliberately high jacked planes and ran them into buildings full of people in New York City. My Geometry teacher didn’t know what to do. We tried for a little math but ended up with a TV rolled in and the news turned on. My friends were talking about the people they knew in the city, cousins that were in school miles from the Trade Center. I knew no one, and had just learned what those buildings even were, but I could see from the chaos on TV and panic playing out around me, that this was going to be something I would remember for the rest of my life.” – Ms. Ullrich