By Ashley McCarty

People’s Defender

It has been 20 years since the terrifying and heart-wrenching events of September 11, 2001.

That day, 20 years ago, began at 5:45 a.m., when hijackers passed through the security screening in Portland, Maine. It was an ordinary day, with no indication of the terror lingering at its door.

That morning, a total of 19 terrorists would hijack four California-bound commercial airplanes shortly after their departures from airports in Boston, Massachusetts, Newark, New Jersey, and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Hijackers Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari passed through security at Portland International Jetport in Maine at 5:45 a.m. Atta and al-Omari board a commuter flight to Boston Logan International Airport, where they connect to American Airlines Flight 11; three other hijackers will join Atta and al-Omari aboard Flight 11.

Less than two hours later, five terrorists who will hijack American Airlines Flight 77 are videotaped as they pass through Washington Dulles International Airport’s west checkpoint. Three of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Majed Moqed set off metal detectors, but no weapons are found. They proceed to the gate. The hijackers are carrying concealed knives on their persons or in their carry-on luggage.

At 7:59 a.m., Flight 11 takes off from Bostom. There are 11 crew members, 76 passengers and five hijackers on-board.

At 8:15 a.m., Flight 175 takes off from Boston for Los Angeles, Ca. There are nine crew members, 51 passengers and five hijackers.

At 8:19 a.m., Flight 11 attendant Betty Ann Ong alerts American Airlines ground personnel to a hiking underway. Ong reported that the cockpit was unreachable. Using an inflight phone, Ong transmits detailed information for 25 minutes. Shortly before her call, a hijacker, suspected to be Satam al-Suqami, had stabbed the passenger seated in front of him in first class, Daniel M. Lewin.

Lewin was likely the first person to be killed in the September 11 attacks.

At 8:21 a.m., two minutes into Ong’s call, the hijackers turned off the plane’s transponder, a device that allows air traffic control to identify and monitor an airplane’s flight path. Meanwhile, American Airlines authorities relay details from Ong to their operations center in Texas. Five minutes later, Ong provides the hijackers’ seat numbers to American Airlines.

After several failed connections, at 8:32 a.m., flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney reports the hijacking of Flight 11 to a friend on the ground, a manager at Boston Logan International Airport. Over the course of approximately 12 minutes, Sweeney provides key information about the hijacking, including a description of the perpetrators.

At 8:20 a.m., Flight 77 had departed Washington Dulles International Airport, en route to Los Angeles. There were six crew members, 53 passengers and five hijackers on board.

At 8:24 a.m., Flight 11 hijacker, Mohamed Atta, presses the wrong button while attempting to communicate with passengers and crew, broadcasting to air traffic control and alerting them to the attacks. Minutes later, Atta makes another unintended transmission to ground control.

At least one transmission is picked up by pilot of Flight 175, Victor J. Saracini, who informs the Federal Aviation Administration minutes before his own plane is hijacked.

At 8:30 a.m., The World Trade Center buzzes to life as morning activities commence.

At 8:37 a.m., Boston Air Traffic Control alerts the military.

At 8:42 a.m., Flight 93 takes off from the Newark International Airport after a routine traffic delay. There are seven crew members, 33 passengers and four hijackers on board. The flight is destined for San Francisco, Ca.

At 8:46 a.m., Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower, skewering through floors 93 and 99. The 76 passengers, 11 crew members and hundreds inside the building are instantly killed. The crash severs all three emergency stairwells – hundreds of people are now trapped above the 91st floor.

At 8:46 a.m., New York City emergency dispatchers mobilize police, paramedics and firefighters to the scene.

At 8:50 a.m., former President George W. Bush is alerted of the attacks.

At 8:52 a.m., a flight attendant on-board Flight 175 – likely Robert John Fangman – had reached a United Airlines operator in San Francisco and reported a hijacking underway. By 9 a.m., passengers Garnet Ace Bailey, Peter Burton Hanson and Brian David Sweeney have called family members.

At 8:55 a.m., the South Tower is declared secured.

At 8:59 a.m., Port Authority Police Dept. (PAPD) Sergeant Al DeVona issues orders to commence the evacuation of both towers. One minute later, PAPD Captain Anthony Whitaker expands the order to include all civilians in the World Trade Center complex. The evacuation order would be broadcast in the South Tower as well at 9:02 a.m.

At 9:03, Flight 175 cuts through floors 77 through 85 of the South Tower, killing the 51 passengers and nine crew members on-board, as well as an unknown number inside the building.

The impact renders two of the three emergency stairwells impassable and severs a majority of the elevator cables in this area, trapping many above the impact zone and inside elevator cars.

Shortly after hijacked Flight 175 strikes the South Tower, some workers in the building jump or fall to their deaths, a phenomenon already witnessed after the attack on the North Tower. Estimates of the number of people who die as a result of falling from the Twin Towers range from 50 to more than 200.

By 9:03 a.m., in addition to requesting the shutdown of airspace over New York City, the New York City Police Dept. calls for a second mobilization, bringing total deployment to almost 2,000 officers. The New York City Fire Dept. issues a fifth alarm for the South Tower, deploying hundreds of additional firefighters. Additional companies and off-duty personnel from across the metropolitan area travel to the scene.

At 9:05 a.m., while visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Fl., Bush learns from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that a second plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. Bush is stoic as he hears the news, a vision of strength in front of impressionable youth.

Before leaving, Bush remarks on the incidents, calling the attacks a “national tragedy,” and noting he had spoken with several officials, including U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, New York Governor George Pataki and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

At 9:12 a.m., Flight 77 attendant Renée A. May calls her mother, Nancy May, and tells her that hijackers have seized control of the plane, forcing passengers and crew members to the rear. When they are disconnected, Nancy May calls American Airlines.

Minutes later, Flight 77 passenger Barbara K. Olson calls her husband, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who is at his desk in the Department of Justice. She tells him that hijackers have taken over the flight using knives and box cutters. Theodore Olson alerts other federal officials.

At 9:37 a.m., Flight 77 spears into the Pentagon. The 53 passengers and six crew members on board perish. The crash and ensuing fire kill 125 military and civilian personnel on the ground.

At 9:42 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration grounds all flights in U.S. airspace, ordering departed flights to land and prohibiting further departures.

By 9:58 a.m., thirty-seven telephone calls are known to have been made from hijacked Flight 93, most placed from the rear of the plane. One of the last calls is made by passenger Edward P. Felt, who uses his cell phone to dial 9-1-1 after closing himself in a restroom to avoid detection. By 9:58 a.m., Flight 93 is flying so low that he succeeds in reaching an emergency operator in nearby Westmoreland County, Pa.

At 9:59 a.m., after burning for nearly an hour, the South Tower collapses in 10 seconds. 800 civilians and first responders inside the building and in the surrounding area are killed.

At 10:03 a.m., Flight 93 impacts the ground in a field in Somerset County, Pa., after passengers and crew storm the cockpit. All 33 passengers and seven crew members die.

By 10:15 a.m., the damaged section of the Pentagon collapses.

At 10:28 a.m., after burning for scarcely over an hour, the North Tower finally buckles. The North Tower collapses. More than 1,600 people are killed as a result of the North Tower attack.

At 12:16, p.m., U.S. Airspace is officially closed. The last flight still in the air lands.

By 12:30 p.m., a group of 14 survivors were located in the ruins of North Tower’s Stairwell B. As the early afternoon continues, rescue efforts continue at the World Trade Center site. First responders, search and rescue teams, and volunteers continue to converge on Ground Zero throughout the day. Rescuers use special tools to peer into voids and search for remnants of stairwells and elevators that might shelter survivors.

At 5:20 p.m., 7 World Trade Center collapses. The 47-story tower had been successfully evacuated, and there were no casualties.

At 8:30 p.m., Bush addresses the nation from the White House.

“The search is under way for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them,” he said.

Around 10:30 p.m., rescuers located PAPD Officer William Jimeno and PAPD Sergeant John McLoughlin, injured but alive in the debris of the World Trade Center. They free Officer Jimeno after three hours of dangerous tunneling work. Sergeant McLoughlin’s rescue will take another eight hours.

Workers will extricate the 18th survivor, Genelle Guzman, on the afternoon of September 12.

She will be the last person to be rescued. By mid-late September, the rescue had turned to recovery, and from then on, crews endeavored to unearth the missing and deceased.

Two decades have passed, but it is a day anchored securely in the memories of those old enough to digest its contents.

MLSD Superintent and Navy Veteran Brian Rau vividly remembers that day.

“Similar to hearing stories of individuals knowing their whereabouts for the assassination of President Kennedy, I remember distinctly where I was on September 11, 2001. I was working for a contractor at DP and L Stuart Power Station. I remember our supervisor running frantically towards us waving his arms and acting in an irrational manner. We were thinking,“What in the world is his problem?’ Once he gave us information, we were told to immediately leave work,” said Rau. When he returned home that morning, he, like millions of others, were glued to the television.

“We could not return to work for at least three days, from what I remember. I remember spending those three days not doing much other than watching the news. I watched multiple times the planes crashing into the buildings, then, in seconds, the buildings imploded, leaving a dense fog of white ash. I was old enough to understand what was occurring, so I watched as many news stories as I could. We did not have iPads, iPhones, or anything back then to get second by second updates,” said Rau.

As he witnessed the event, over and over, Rau was in shock.

“It wasn’t until watching it over and over did I get the true sense of what actually occurred. As bits of information were released to the public, my feelings changed to disbelief as to how this intricate plan could come together on the safest grounds in the world. I cannot say that was anger, because the shock of this event overtook every other emotion,” said Rau.

Now is more a time for remembrance, especially hearing the stories of those who lost loved ones so long ago, he said.

“The memories of the planes and the collapse of the building will forever be embedded in our minds. Our feelings should be with those families who continue to suffer today,” he said.

Common Pleas Court Judge Brett Spencer, as usual, was dedicated to fulfilling his duties that day, unaware of the peril.

“I was at work at my law office and my staff advised my bride, Sherri, was on the phone and sounded troubled. It was shortly before 9 a.m. As she was telling me about a plane that had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, she went silent, and then explained a second plane had slammed into the South Tower on live television. Stunned in the realization that America was under attack, I drove home to be with my family,” said Spencer.

As he watched television coverage, he experienced a feeling of disbelief and nagging questions – how and why?

“My feelings as it happened, after the how and why, was what the reaction of the United States would be. One of the poignant moments for me during the crisis, was when Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, approached President George W. Bush and whispered in the President’s ear the news of the unfolding attack on America. I still admire that President Bush received the news with a stoic reaction, so as not to alarm the elementary students he was joyfully, moments before, reading to in furtherance of the First Lady’s education and reading programs. Blissful to full-blown Commander in Chief, in the matter of a few seconds,” said Spencer.

As the anniversary approaches, Spencer realizes how history often repeats itself.

“Examples being the unprovoked attacks on American soil, such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In both instances, as tragic as they were, it displayed the reverence of a united country, exercising its energy, resources and might towards common, versus individual goals and agendas. I am profoundly proud that America has not, and will not, genuflect at the altar of fear, and my hope and prayer are that we can respectfully define our common goals as Americans, and work together towards achievement of the same. Jeff Parness wrote, ‘when Americans lend a hand to one another, nothing is impossible. We’re not about what happened on 9/11, we’re about what happened on 9/12,’” said Spencer.

On September 11, 2001, then People’s Defender publisher Rory Ryan was sitting in the publisher’s office.

“Our reporter, Amanda Crago, was across the street picking up the weekly reports from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. She came back and told me something was going on in New York. We did not have a television set at the Defender, so I turned on WLW Radio and heard the initial reports about the first tower at the World Trade Center. I immediately called my wife, Pam, and told her to turn on the TV at home. She asked, “which channel?” I told her that it wouldn’t matter. This was huge. It would be on all channels. One of our advertising representatives, Kent Staten, asked if he could make a quick trip to Mrs. Greene’s on Route 41 south. He didn’t need to explain,” said Ryan.

Ryan can remember thinking that it would be a tragic day in the history of the nation.

“Immediately, I thought of my wife and our three young children and their safety. How many more attacks were planned?

After initially contacting my family, I think my feelings were very similar to Kent’s and others in the community. Frankly, I was angry and concerned for the country. As we later learned, after the World Trade Center attacks, there were attacks on the Pentagon and at least one other planned attack with a commercial airliner as a weapon. Because of the heroic actions of the 40 passengers and crew aboard Flight 93, the attack on the U.S. Capitol was thwarted,” said Ryan.

As the publisher of The People’s Defender, after putting his family on alert, he also knew he had a job to do.

“We had a newspaper to publish. We were on deadline. We did our jobs, knowing the reality of what was happening. The Defender staff was very professional in focusing on what we had to do,” said Ryan. The Defender covered the breaking news through radio reports. As Ryan recalls, there was no television in the office then, and the internet at that time was “hit and miss.”

“Whether we care to recognize it or not, as Second District Congressman Brad Wenstrup said on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks: “We are engaged in a war between good and evil. If we’re to have any chance of winning it, we must remain united and committed to the fight. United we stand, divided we fall.” It is painfully obvious to me that recent actions by our current commander in chief have weakened our nation. I hope I am wrong. To all those who have served and continue to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, may God eternally bless you; and may this great nation forever be indebted to your service,” said Ryan.