The Scene staff
Everyone over a certain age can remember where they were when they first heard about the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But if you’re a student in 2014, the events of 13 years ago may not be so clear.
Where were you on September 11, 2001? Most Forest Park students were in kindergarten or elementary school. I was working on the railroad.
My employer was the consulting firm Transystems Corporation, which inspected the installation of fiber-optic cable along CSX railroad right-of-way in Pennsylvania.
On 9-11, the contractors, along with two other inspectors, were on a flatbed rail car being pulled by a Hi-Rail, a pickup truck modified to travel on the track. It seemed like a normal morning.
But on our slow ascent up the mountain, the Hi-Rail and flatbed bounced right off the track. At first, I thought we had hit a bear. I assumed this because the week before, we had found a mangled bear that had been killed by a train.
We looked at the overhead telephone lines, and they were bouncing up and down like a child’s jump rope.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was happening. Was it an earthquake? The next few minutes were filled with ringing cell phones. The United States was under attack.
My office called about 10:30 a.m. and told me to go back to the motel and wait for further orders. Upon arrival, I watched footage of planes hitting the Twin Towers in horror.
The north tower was hit at 8:46 a.m. and collapsed at 10:28 a.m. The south tower was hit at 9:03 a.m. and collapsed at 9:59 a.m.
Every TV channel was showing the mass chaos, over and over and over. Then the video shifted to the Pentagon, where Flight 77 had crashed.
It was soon apparent why we had been derailed. We were in Ohio Pyle, Penn., only 10 miles from Shanksville, the site of Flight 93’s crash.
The impact was so severe that, even though the mountains blocked the sound of the crash, the force of the jet hitting the earth at more than 500 miles per hour knocked us off the rails from 10 miles away.
It was the first time that the railway system in America had ever been shut down.
If you don’t know about the heroes on Flight 93, I encourage you to read about the brave men and women who fought back against the hijackers and crashed the jet, giving their lives to keep it from being used as a weapon.
Lisa Beamer, widow of Todd Beamer, a Flight 93 victim, wrote a book entitled “Let’s Roll.” She details her life with Todd and describes his last phone call, to an operator.
“He had somehow gotten through,” she wrote. “He informed the operator that his plane had been hijacked, he was being assisted by a flight attendant sitting next to him, and he was providing details about the flight.
“He informed her that several passengers were going to try and overtake the hijackers.”
Todd Beamer’s last words were, “Are you ready to do this? Let’s roll!” That was the last communication from Flight 93. Upon impact, the plane disintegrated. It is estimated that it was traveling 600-plus miles per hour.
Just imagine, that crash occurred within 10 miles of where I was working. A few seconds this way, or a few seconds that way …
9-11 was the first time in my life that attacks had occurred on American soil. It brought many things to the forefront of my mind … All those innocent people dead. Why? Mostly, I kept thinking that you never know when your number is going to come up.
What lessons have I taken from that day? Many. But the most important lesson is that life is short, so live the way you want to live.