Throwback Thursday: 25 years later, remembering September 11, 2001

Twenty-five years ago, Americans woke up on a Tuesday morning and went about an ordinary day. They went to work, took children to school, boarded airplanes, grabbed coffee, and some said goodbye to people they expected to see again that evening. And then, in less than two hours, the world changed forever.

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes in a coordinated attack against the United States. At 8:46 a.m. Eastern Time, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower, an impact witnessed live by millions of people already watching television across the world.

At 9:37, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, passengers and crew, having learned what was happening elsewhere, fought back against their hijackers and crashed the plane into a field near Shanksville, Penn., at 10:03. Its intended target at the U.S. Capitol was never reached.

By the end of that morning, both towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed. There were 2,977 innocent people killed. They were office workers and travelers. Flight crews and military personnel. Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics who ran toward danger as thousands of others were trying desperately to escape.

But September 11 didn’t end on September 11. It reshaped security at airports and of all kinds, and changed air travel. It changed American foreign policy and led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thousands more Americans would serve overseas in the 20 years that followed, and many would never return home.

And now, an entire generation has grown up in a world shaped by what happened that morning.

But for those old enough to remember it, this reporter (Telia Butler) was in elementary school in music class when the school started buzzing with the news. September 11 is also remembered for what happened afterward. People lined up to donate blood, churches filled, American flags appeared on front porches and overpasses. This reporter will never forget how eerily quiet the skies were, with no trail of planes to watch overhead in the days that passed. Strangers helped strangers, and for a brief moment, Americans were reminded how much we depended on one another.

Now, 25 years later, remembering becomes even more important because millions of Americans alive today weren’t yet born when the towers fell. Here in Bowling Green, our community will gather at Aviation Heritage Park and Museum on Friday, September 11, at 1 p.m., to mark this milestone together.

The remembrance will include the presentation of the American flag, prayer, a guest speaker and the playing of taps, with local law enforcement and fire service leaders invited to join the observance. It is a fitting place to remember a day whose story unfolded, in so many ways, through aviation, and to honor the passengers, flight crews, first responders, service members and ordinary people whose lives became part of American history that morning.

Twenty-five years have passed. The world changed.

We remember the lives that were taken, those who ran toward danger, and those who answered the call to serve in the years that followed. And 25 years later, we keep the promise made by a grieving nation:

We will never forget.