09-11-01 A Tragedy Remembered

9-11 is the day the World Trade Center Twin Towers fell. In this interview I will be interviewing my Dad Damon Butler about the 9-11 tragedy. The 9-11 tragedy is a sad historical event that everyone will always remember. On this day four commercial passenger jet airliners were hijacked by 19 Al-Waeda terrorists and two were crashed into the Twin Towers. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. I was only 3 years old when this happened but always see information on it when the date September 11th happens. Almost 3,000 people died that day.

The following is an interview with Damon Butler on his memory of the 9-11 Tragedy:

Question: Where were you when you first found out about the 9-11 attacks?

D.B.: At home getting ready for work. My Wife Nicole called me and told me to turn on the TV. She said that planes were crashing into buildings in New York City.

Question: What was your first reaction when you saw what was happening on TV?

D.B.: Confusion. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I remember the newscaster saying that a plane hit one of the Twin Towers. Then they showed the building. Minutes later, another plane hit the other Twin Tower. I thought, what are the odds? It must be terrorists. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen. So many emotions.

Question: What happened next?

D.B.: They kept reporting on the tragedy, showing the burning towers. Then other reports came in on other planes being off course. A report came on that another plane hit the Pentagon. At around that time, the next thing I saw was footage of people running away from the Towers, people falling from the windows, rescue workers running to the Towers. Then the unthinkable happened. One of the Towers collapsed. It was like holding your breath. Watching with silence as no one could even talk or think knowing that people were still in that building. Then the second Tower collapsed.

Question: After you saw all of this, what were you thinking?

D.B.: Anger. I remember thinking, how dare someone attack us right here in the United States. I knew it had to be a terrorist attack. Then safety and protection. I remember thinking about my Wife, Children, and Co-Workers. I called everybody I could. The crazy thing is that I had some of my staff going to Chicago for training and I called them and told them to turn around and come back to the Quad Cities. They had no idea what had happened. I’ll be honest. As a former Officer in the United States Army, I wanted justice and had many emotions running through me.

Question: How did things change after 9-11?

D.B.: It will never be the same for me personally. Security at airports got extremely tough. I don’t think anyone was comfortable flying. So many things changed. So many things. The world as we knew it changed forever after that day.

The date 9-11 means so much too so many people. It’s tough to imagine what it was like when the attacks happened back in 2001. Anger, sadness, frustration, fear, revenge...hopefully I’ll never have to experience a tragedy like 9-11.

Drake B.