Remembering 9/11: 25 years of healing after the dust settled
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- 9/11 is a day that Americans will always remember. It is the day that terrorism came to American soil.
September 11, 2001, in New York City, American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines flight 175 hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m.
Both buildings collapsed less than two hours after being struck, resulting in the death of 2,753 people, which is the highest death toll of any city attacked by the al-Qaeda terrorist group that day.
Now, 25 years after the attacks, citizens, first responders and volunteers are still reliving the moment America fell to her knees.
“It was like a war zone,” said Paul Eliacin, a teamster by trade who was a volunteer with the local 817 Theatrical Teamsters. He was there after the buildings collapsed as a part of the recovery and rescue team, bringing equipment.
“My job was to make sure these things are dispensed to them and make sure that they are connected to the generator so that they could light the pile,” Eliacin said.
He assisted in illuminating ground zero where rubble and debris remained in search of saving a life. Eliacin said all walks of life were there hand in hand, digging to find hope.
“Everybody was one, rather, no matter what creed, color, or nationality, we all were helping out,” he said.
FEMA deployed over 3,000 employees to New York to help locate survivors and victims. New York City officials stated that the pile consisted of 1.8 million tons in debris both structural and biological.
Eliacin recalled the moments that are still tattooed in his mind of first responders removing remains of those who died from the clutter.
“I did eventually hear the word from the fire fighter to get a body bag and so when I heard that I lost it. Everybody stood in attention and everybody saluted when they took someone out,” he explained.
He was not the only one feeling the new fear that spread over the U.S.
Earlier that morning before the attacks, Regina Smith, founder of Katlady Productions, lived in the Bronx and continued on with her normal routine of taking her son to school and going to work.
She said before she clocked in, she turned on the news and a normal day turned into a nightmare. “I couldn’t believe it was true until I saw that plane hit that building and I ran to my son’s school. I ran,” Smith said.
More news began to flood screens about the other al-Qaeda attacks.
“By the time I got back with my son, the plane was going all over the place,” she explained. Then it began to set in, the realization that Americans were experiencing.
“We were being attacked. That was the first thing, because there’s no way in ever that, that’s supposed to happen in America,” Smith said.
Four planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda. Two planes were flown to New York. One crashed into the Pentagon, and one never made impact but crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day and many more have died due to the exposure of chemicals in the dust from the buildings. Many are also facing lingering sicknesses like Paul Eliacin.
“I have illnesses that I can’t even pronounce. You know, I have respiratory, I have PTSD. I have sleep apnea. I have mental health. You name it. I have several illnesses and for me to stay alive, it’s a lot of medication that I have to take,” Eliacin explained.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum reports that after 9/11, over 49,000 first responders and survivors were diagnosed with cancers, verified by the World Trade Center Health Program, established under the James Zadroga Act.
The impact that 9/11 had on our nation was not just a one-day thing, the aftermath still haunts those who lived to tell the story.
Some are closing that chapter and embracing the life that lies ahead.
“What we decided to do is to dedicate 9/11 to self-love but we’re still healing,” said Smith.
