JLynn, Ash, & Stacey  

     September 11th, 2001. The day that shook the world. Many people woke up on that bright and sunny Tuesday morning, not knowing what was heading their way. As they scuffled off to wherever they worked, may it be an office job or working at a store, the people who worked at the World Trade Center on that day was about to get the scare of their life.

     Four airplanes from two different airlines departed from their gates, with two of the airplanes going in the direction of Los Angeles. Unknowing to the flight attendants and pilots, four to five hijackers took over each plane, killing the pilots and some of the passengers using box cutters and knives. Flight 11 and Flight 175 redirected their route from Los Angeles straight to New York City, where their targets would be the two twin towers of the World Trade Center. At about 8:46 AM, Flight 11 crashes into the 1 WTC (North Tower) building. Many New York civilians were confused as to what was going on. Everyone began running from the debris and smoke, trying to get somewhere safe. Some of the workers inside the building could not escape as the plane crashed into the 94th and 98th floors, and the 78th and 84th floors of the 110-story, steel building. The workers who could escape, either climbed out of windows, jumped off the roof, or made it down to where they could walk out. At 9:03 AM, Flight 175 crashes into the 2 WTC (South Tower) building. Flight 77 had other plans though. Their direction was rerouted to Washington DC, where they crashed into the Pentagon, killing most of the passengers inside the plane, as well as many people in the building itself. This occured at 9:37 AM.

      Flight 93 took a little while longer to leave from its gates because of heavy traffic. As soon as ground control heard about the hijacked planes, they immediately sent out an announcement to ground all planes from flying. They recieved many cryptic messages from the hijackers which puzzled them as to what they said. Flight 93's target was either the Capitol Building or the White House. The passengers who had cell phones called their loved ones to let them know that their plane had just got hijacked and that they would crash somewhere in Washington. They also let them know about the WTC attacks. Some of the passengers on Flight 93 all agreed that they must do something to stop the hijackers. They decided to try to retake the plane from the terrorists. The hijackers got word about the passengers retaking the plane and tipped the plane down as to throw them off. Most of the passengers were scared for their lives. They did not want to say goodbye to their loved ones, knowing that this would be the last time they would get to hear them, or see them. 10:03 AM, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing most of the passengers.

     No one knew who to blame for putting the terrorists up to these attacks on America. Some said that it was Afghanistan resident, Osama Bin Ladin, who was responsible for setting the attacks up. This, in turn, started the War on Terrorism in Iran, as well as in Iraq. This also caused President George Bush to send troops out to these countries to fight the numerous terrorists that would be coming their way. Many lost their lives in this battle, which caused many families to rage against the war and asked President Bush to bring the troops home so that they could be safe. President Bush declined. News reporters were all over the war in Iraq/Iran. There wasn't a day where you didn't hear about what was going on in the East.

     September 11th, 2001 changed the lives of everyone who was living in the world; didn't matter if they lived in NYC or not, everyone was affected by the lives lost that day, as well as the ones that survived the attack. Everywhere you went, you saw flags hanging from flagpoles, waving proudly to signify innocence and the fact that we would make it through anything else that happened in the coming years. People also began saying such phrases as, "God Bless America" and "United We Stand". Vigils and memorials were being held all over the world to honor those who perished that fateful day.