September 11th - 20 Years Ago

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
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Date: Sep 11 2021 2:35 PM

GOD BLESS THESE - THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:     It was 20 years ago today that America watched as the United States of America came under attack.

Within three hours, New York's tallest buildings were reduced to rubble , the Pentagon - the nerve center of the American armed forces - was burning and partially collapsed. Thousands of civilians had lost their lives and were seriously injured, and the entire country was in collective shock.

A collection of 19 would-be hijackers made their way through security  at airports in Boston, Newark, and Washington D.C.

Four flights: Flight #11, American Airlines, BOS to LAX, 92 occupants: Flight # 11, United Airlines, BOS to LAX, 65 occupants:  Flight # 77, American Airlines, IAD to LAX, 64 occupants: Flight # 93, United Airlines, EWR to SFD, 44 occupants. 

These four flight played an essential role in what unfolded that morning.

7:59 AM  American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, departs from Logan International Airport in Bostin, bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:14 AM  United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and 9 crew members, departs from Logan International Airport in Boston, bound for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:14 AM, Flight 11 is hijacked over central Massachusetts. There are five hijackers on board.

8:20 AM, American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 58 passengers and 6 crew members, departs from Washington Dulles International Airport, for Los Angeles International Airport.

8:42 AM, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 37 passengers and 7 crew members, departs from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco International Airport.

8:42 - 8:46 AM,  Flight 175 is hijacked above northwest New Jersey. There are five hijackers on board.

8:46 AM, Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower ( 1 WTC ) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99. All 92 people on board are killed. The plane was loaded with 20,000 gallons of fuel.

9:03 AM,  Flight 175 crashes into the south face of the South Tower ( 2 WTC ) of the World Trade Center, between floors 77 and 85, All 65 people on board are killed. This was 18 minutes after the first plane flew into the World Trade Center.

9:28 AM, Flight 93 is hijacked above northern Ohio. There are four hijackers on board.

9:37 AM, Flight 77 crashes into the western side of the Pentagon. All 64 people on board are killed.

9:45 AM, The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 56 minutes after the impact of Flight 175.

10:03 AM, Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Later reports indicate that Passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes and were resisting the hijackers. All 44 people on board were killed in the crash.

10:28 AM, The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 1 hour and 42 minutes after the impact of Flight 11. The Marriot Hotel at the base of the two towers is also destroyed.

10:50 AM, Five stories of the western side of the Pentagon collapse due to the fire.

Two and a half hours after the first plane left Boston, the iconic "Twin Towers" lay in ruins in Lower Manhattan, and brave First responders and military personnel were scrambling to save lives and secure the country.

The hijackers was Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Al Qaeda terrorist organizations of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, they were allegedly acting in retaliation of America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military prescence in the Middle East.

Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Other slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and acted as the muscle in the operation.

The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four early morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after take off, the terrorists commandeered the four places and took the controls, transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles.

UNITED FLIGHT 93 was delayed in taking off. Because of the delay passengers on board learned of the events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground.

Knowing that aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection.

One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett, Jr., told his wife over the phone that " I know we're going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey." Another passenger, Todd Beamer, was heard saying " Are you guys ready? Let's roll" over an open line.

Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were " Everyone's running to first class. I've got to go. Bye".

The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of 500 miles per hour, crashing into a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 AM.

All 44 people were killed, Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S .Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard.

A total of 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including 19 terrorist hijackers aboard four airplanes, Citizens of 78 countries died in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

At the World Trace Center, 2,763 died after two planes slammed into the twin towers. That figure includes 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors.

At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, including 64 on American Airlines Flight 77, the airliner that struck the building. On Flight 94, 44 people died when the plane crash-lander in Pennsylvania.

TODAY, We Remember ...

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