September 11 September 11 I The Day the World Changed
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The day the world changed
PIONEER NEWSPAPERS • September 11, 2011
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September 11 I The Day the World Changed
I R OF THE HEROES OF
9/11
10 YEARS AGO
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Thursday, 8, 2011 I Page Page 33 Sunday, Sept.Sept. 11, 2011
About this publication The Day the World Changed: Some changes were dramatic; some were subtle. In countless ways, our lives changed after the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. We feel it’s important to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. with special coverage to remember, honor and respect — and to step back for a look at what’s different. We’ve witnessed attacks, reforms, wars, surges, withdrawals, recession and executions — worth some analysis. Pioneer newspapers participating in this special section include those located in: Ellensburg, Wash.; Klamath Falls, Ore.; Driggs, Nampa, Pocatello and Rexburg, Idaho; and Logan, Utah. We wish to express our gratitude to all those staff members as well as businesses who supported this tribute.
9:21 a.m.: All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan closed. 9:26 a.m.: Federal Aviation Administration bans takeoff of all civilian aircraft. 9:31 a.m.: President George W. Bush announces United States under “apparent terrorist attack.” 9:37 a.m.: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. 9:45 a.m.: U.S. Capitol, White House evacuated.
Ten years ago today AP photo
9:59 a.m.: The south tower starts to collapse as smoke billows from both buildings of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
Sept. 11, 2001 7:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 87 passengers, leaves Boston for Los Angeles. 8:14 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 with 60 passengers, leaves Boston for Los Angeles. 8:20 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 59 aboard, leaves Washington’s Dulles Airport for Los Angeles. 8:42 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 40 aboard, leaves Newark, N.J., for San Francisco. 8:46 a.m.: American Flight 11 hits the north tower of the World Trade Center. 9:03 a.m.: United Flight 175 hits south tower of the World Trade Center.
❛ I was worried because my mom was worried. I was scared. She said there might be a war coming to the U.S. I just wanted to watch cartoons again. ❜ — Casey Owens, recalling the Sept. 11 attacks
Recruits: Growing up in the shadow of 9/11 Owens’ mom started crying. “I was worried because my mom was worried,” he Casey Owens remembers said. “I was scared. She said this about Sept. 11, 2001: he there might be a war comwas home from school sick, ing to the U.S. I just wanted to watch cartoons again.” lying in his mom’s bed and watching cartoons on TV. A decade later, Owens He was 7 years old. sits in an Army recruiting office in an eastern South The phone rang, and Carolina strip mall with Owens’ mom changed the his mother. When he graduchannel to a news station. ates from high school, The Twin Towers were burning in New York, some the 17-year-old will go to 750 miles from the family’s boot camp next June. Sept. Summerville, S.C., home. 11 attacks, he said, were TAMARA LUSH Associated Press
his inspiration. The tens of thousands of young men and women like Owens who have enlisted in the military this year grew up in the shadow of 9/11, often too young to remember the world well before it. Some say they want to serve a country that’s been at war against terrorism since early childhood; others say they want to find control in a world that’s seemingly spun out of control.
See RECRUITS, page 4
9:59 a.m.: South tower of World Trade Center collapses. 10:03 a.m.: United Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, Pa., after passengers struggle with hijackers. 10:28 a.m.: North tower of the World Trade Center collapses. 4 p.m.: U.S. officials identify Osama bin Laden as being involved in attacks. 5:25 p.m.: The evacuated 47-story Seven World Trade Center collapses. 8:30 p.m.: Bush addresses the nation, vowing to “find those responsible and bring them to justice.” ■ ■ ■
Sept. 13, 2001: White House states there is “overwhelming evidence” Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks. Sept. 14, 2001: President Bush authorized by Congress to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against those who aided or committed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Oct. 4, 2001: British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces that three of the 19 hijackers identified as “known associates” of Osama bin Laden.
See TIMELINE, page 4
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Page 2011 Sunday,Sept. Sept.8,11, 2011 Page 44 I Thursday, TIMELINE, from page 3 Oct. 5, 2001: In a terrorist attack unrelated to 9/11, letters containing anthrax are received by news organizations and Senate members. Eleven people infected, five die.
Oct. 7, 2001: U.S. begins bombing strike against Taliban military installations in Afghanistan. Dec. 17, 2001: Northern Alliance defeats Taliban forces in the battle of Tora Bora, defeating the Taliban resistance and effectively ending the Afghan war. Dec. 22, 2001: Richard Reid, a British citizen, arrested for attempting to use explosives to blow up a Miami-bound jet. Reid pleads guilty to all charges and declares himself a follower of Osama bin Laden. March 19, 2002: CIA Director George Tenet claims there are links between Iraq and al Qaida. March 18, 2002: President Bush gives Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq, threatening military action. March 20, 2002: President Bush orders an attack against targets in Iraq. Troops from the U.S., Britain, Australia and Poland invade Iraq. April 19, 2002: Baghdad falls to U.S. forces. Dec. 13, 2003: Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein captured near Tikrit. Oct. 29, 2004: Osama bin Laden takes responsibility for Sept. 11 attacks in a videotaped message. Dec. 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein executed. May 2, 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan.
RECRUIT, from page 3
In seven out of the past 10 years, Sept. 11, and was interested enough recruits have cited “patriotism” as to enlist. “I believe that terrorists will a reason for joining, Haygood said. The attack that happened on U.S. have plans in the future,” said Tim But he’s reluctant to say that Sept. Freeman, 20, a Marine recruit from 11 was the sole motivator for people soil 10 years ago, he said, is even harder to stomach now that he’s an Beaufort, S.C. “But our military’s to enlist in the Air Force. adult. going to be waiting for it.” “For those who were interested in “Now I see the footage of the Ten years ago, Freeman was in joining, Sept. 11 gave them a confir- towers crumbling and I can’t even fifth grade. His dad pulled him out mation that their decision was the stand to watch it,” he said. “It’s just of school after a somber thing in the the first plane consciousness of my hit and Freeman mind.” remembers being Waiting confused because Stuart Gaskins, all the grown-ups who has been a were crying and Marine for a year stone-faced. and is stationed Military at Parris Island, recruitment did S.C., was eager to not surge in the celebrate his 15th years after Sept. birthday on Sept. 11, 11; the Army met 2001. its recruitment Instead, he goals in 2001 and watched the attacks 2002, but by 2005, on TV in his second had fallen short of period world hisits 80,000-person tory class in Bowie, goal. Md., and went home Yet there were soon after. Gaskins’ people who enlistAP photo father worked at the ed because they were angry at the Inspired: Casey Owens, 17, an Army recruit from Summerville, S.C., was Pentagon and it was 7 years old when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks happened. He said hours before Gasterrorists. kins learned that his the event was one of the things that inspired him to join the military. And the weak father was alive. economy played a As a young teen, Gaskins said he right one,” he said. role. Branches of the military now was “kind of a pacifist.” His father, report that they are meeting — or A long process even exceeding — their recruitment Matthew Locklair, a 22-year-old who had served in the military, goals and are attracting better Army officer candidate recruit from often traveled around the world for qualified recruits, largely because South Carolina, said it took years to conflicts. “9/11 changed my mindset,” Gasof the lack of jobs for young people. process the effect that 9/11 had on Military service ensures a paycheck his country, years before he thought kins said. “It changed something inside of me. It made me want to and benefits. about enlisting. GI Bill When his seventh-grade science fight for my country. We all became Another perk: the post-9/11 GI teacher announced to the class that vulnerable. It became real.” Bill, which pays for full tuition and “there’s been an attack on America,” fees for all public universities and Locklair remembered, “I thought colleges and a monthly housing she meant there was an attack on allowance for those who have at Summerville’s town hall. I couldn’t ❛9/11 changed my mindset. It least 90 days of service since Sept. really comprehend the loss until changed something inside of 11, 2001. years later.” me. It made me want to fight Angelo Haygood, the deputy chief Locklair never thought about of recruiting operations for the Air joining the military until he went for my country. We all became to school in Egypt, at The AmeriForce, said that all recruits are vulnerable. It became real. ❜ can University in Cairo. There, he asked their top three reasons for learned about defense policy and joining the service.
Watching on September 11 The first indication of the horrors to come was a single camera shot that suddenly appeared on television sets throughout the world: a skyscraper bathed in the morning sun, smoke pouring from a ragged hole in its side. The images grew even
worse, as the entire world witnessed the death and destruction of Sept. 11, 2001. Whether in a bar in Tahiti or office building in New York, television was the central gathering place for people to experience 9/11.
■ ■ ■
Tom Brokaw was relieved to be in New York Sept. 11 and not out of town on assignment when the biggest story of his career broke. NBC News’ chief anchor found out later just how huge a relief it was to be. “For those of us on the air, we were out there without a net of any kind,” he said.
“We had no idea what was going to happen next. No one else did either.” Most Americans learned what happened on Sept. 11 and the ensuing days through three men: Brokaw of NBC News, Peter Jennings of ABC News and Dan Rather of CBS News.
See WATCHING, page 6
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Local perspective: Real-time remembrance I still find it very hard to think of September 11th. It’s easier as the years go by, but still quite difficult. Ultimately, I figure that’s a good reason to write about it. I was living in Jersey City, N.J. and working in New York City in September 2001. My husband Stephen and I had a cute little apartment on the Palisades — a long cliff set back a bit from the Hudson River — that overlooked the New York skyline. The view from our kitchen window and the window in our shower went from the Verrazano Narrows bridge at the southern tip of the island all the way north to the George Washington Bridge. If you flattened your left cheek up against the window and peered south you could even see the Statue of Liberty. The towers were the most prominent feature of the view. Like everyone else, I spent the rest of the day watching the whole thing unfold. The difference was I had the view from my window as corroboration of the unbelievable images on the screen. I looked like I was at a tennis match. TV, window, TV, window. Much of the footage was shot from New Jersey so they often looked the same. It was very strange. Stephen had already left for the city that morning, taking the midtown PATH train, when I woke up to workers outside my window talking about something I couldn’t quite make out. But it was clearly bad and got me up out of bed seconds after the second plane hit. I saw the smoke pouring from the tops of towers as I was turning on the TV to find out what happened. They were just realizing it wasn’t an accident. Thankfully, I was able to talk to Stephen early, before calls stopped going through, and hear that his train — his usual one didn’t go through the WTC terminal, but you never know when someone will change up their routine or get diverted to another
Photo by Kisa Koenig
Stephen and Lisa Dyer train — took him safely to where he was going. He was uptown, far from the action. Though he started trying in the late morning, he wasn’t able to make his way home until much later that evening. One train station finally opened up to run trains on a direct route to a sigle terminal in New Jersey. Police pushed silent, frightened commuters (many of them covered in ash) through as fast as they could — no charge, no stops along the way, each train filled to capacity just to get people off the island. He was lucky, others had to walk through the tunnels and many of our friends who lived in Brooklyn had to walk home across the Brooklyn Bridge.
I thank god I didn’t have binoculars or a telescope and that I don’t have to be haunted by the images of the people jumping from and burning in the windows. I probably would have looked. It’s just my nature. But I think it would have damaged me, deeply, for life. One of the starkest realizations of the day was when the first tower fell. For minutes on the news they were saying, “Something just happened! We don’t know what just happened! We’re waiting for news of what’s going on.”
But I knew. The perspective of distance gave me a leg up on the reporters and eye witnesses on the street who had been engulfed in a cloud of smoke and ash. I could see from my window that the top of the first building no longer stood even with its neighbor. I could see that it was falling. I watched as the top plummeted like an express elevator going down. I was telling them. Standing there in the kitchen, I was answering their questions, telling them that the tower had fallen. They didn’t hear me, or the thousands of other people who were probably looking out their windows saying the same thing. Telling the TV the horrible thing they’d just witnessed. But the reporters, and everyone else in America, figured it out soon enough. By that afternoon, the air where I lived was filled with fallou — ash, tiny bits of office paper, tiny bits of god knows what else. It was horrifying. I didn’t leave my house for over a week. And I didn’t go back into the city to work for more than two weeks. It wasn’t fear of something else happening. I was just rocked to my core. I was scared, but I was scared more of the emotion, I think.
My first trip into the city was horrible. I cried the entire way. The train stations were filled with flowers and every light pole was an impromtu missing persons bulletin board. The faces of the dead were everywhere. Even weeks later, people put their hands on strangers shoulders at street corners and asked if they were okay. People showed ou pictures of their mothers and brothers and asked if you’d seen them. I was a zombie, and almost a full hour late to work because I inadvertently walked past a midtown fire station and couldn’t make myself walk away from the faces of firemen staring at me from the memorial pictures set out on the sidewalk. It got easier, but not for a long time. We had been ready to leave the city before September 11th, but the attack definitely strengthened my resolve. That and the nightly kitchen window progress reports that went on for six months after. It’s still smoking. It’s still smoking. Still smoking. Still. It smoked for so long. And the smell. There’s nothing like looking out over the stinking graveyard of a national tragedy every single day as you stand naked in the shower or sip your coffee. We were gone by the spring of 2002. Now I live in the middle of Teton Valley, Idaho. Unless you count Dick Cheney or the chairman of the IMF when they’re in Jackson on vacation, there aren’t any targets anywhere in the vicinity. Not that that’s why we picked this place. I think we picked it because of the beauty, the pace, the people and the overriding feeling of calm those things inspire. The no terrorist targets thing is just a little bonus. So, there. Done. Tenth anniversary catharsis achieved. Moving on now ...
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AP photo by Mary Altaffer
Never forget: This Aug. 10, 2011, photo shows posters on a wall of the garden behind a tent which houses a chapel and storage of the remains of victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center near Chief Medical Examiner Office Forensic Biology Lab in New York.
❛ You can find DNA from the Civil War, World War I and World War II. But you can’t find DNA from first responders or civilians? ❜ — Russell Mercer, whose stepson, a firefighter, was killed at the World Trade Center. His remains were never found.
Identifying remains: ‘We are working nonstop’ Despite DNA technology, all the missing have not yet been found CRISTIAN SALAZAR Associated Press
EW YORK — His family has his spare firefighter uniform, but not the one he N wore on 9/11 — or any other trace of him. Killed at the World Trade Center, 32year-old Scott Kopytko’s remains were never recovered — a painful legacy of grief for families looking for answers, closure or final confirmation that their loved one was actually a 9/11 victim. “Very painful and very hurt” is how Russell Mercer, Kopytko’s stepfather, describes it. “And mistrusting of everybody.”
Numbers tell the story in the decade of search and recovery of the remains of Sept. 11 victims — one of the largest forensic investigations ever, marked by a Supreme Court appeal of families who wanted a more thorough search, and discoveries years after the attacks of even more remains in manholes and on rooftops around ground zero. ■ Tens of millions have been spent, including on the painstaking extraction of DNA from tiny bone fragments, using technology refined from a decade ago. ■ Of 21,000 remains that have been recovered, nearly 9,000 are unidentified, because of the degraded condition they were found in. More than 1,100 victims have no identifiable remains. ■ And the pace of the process is telling
❛ There are certain pieces of footage that make the hair on my arms stand up or bring tears every time and probably always will. ❜ — Nicole Rittenhmeyer, writer/producer
Watching on September 11 Continued from page 4
On the rainy night of Sept. 10, 2001, Brokaw attended a reception for a blind mountain climber. Later, the event’s organizer told him that it had been rescheduled because Brokaw was unable to make the original date.
— in five years, only 25 new identifications. “I can’t give a time frame of when an identification is going to be made, if at all,” said Mark Desire, who heads the World Trade Center identification unit for the city medical examiner’s office. “But we are working nonstop.” Desire, assistant director of forensic biology for the medical examiner’s office, says the office won’t give up. “The dedication of this team ... is as strong as it was 10 years ago,” he said in a recent interview. But the extended search baffles family members like Mercer. “You can find DNA from the Civil War, World War I and World War II,” he said. “But you can’t find DNA from first responders or civilians?”
■ ■ ■
That was to have been Tuesday morning, Sept. 11 — at the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the World Trade Center.
Nicole Rittenmeyer remembers screaming at Brokaw on Sept. 11. Not him personally. Seven months pregnant and with a toddler under foot, she was watching the coverage in Chicago and saw the
first tower crumbling into a cloud of dust and a tangled mass of steel and concrete. Brokaw didn’t see it as quickly, and perhaps Rittenmeyer figured yelling at the TV set might get his attention.
See WATCHING, page 7
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10 years, 21,000 bone fragments, no closure for victims’ families The struggle to identify the 9/11 dead began almost immediately after the attacks in New York City, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijacked planes crashed in the woods and plains before reaching its intended target. Forensic teams at the three sites were faced with challenges in identifying victims and the hijackers — some of whose remains are now in the custody of the FBI. In Pennsylvania, the heat caused by the high-speed crash into a field caused 92 percent of the human remains to vaporize, leaving very little to work with, said Wallace Miller, the county coroner who helped to identify the victims. DNA was used to make matches to the 40 victims, plus four sets of remains from the terrorists. Remains are still embedded in the field where the flight went down. All but five of the 184 victims at the Pentagon were identified using DNA. But nowhere was the forensic detective work as demanding and daunting than at the 16-acre World Trade Center site. Few full bodies were recovered at all. Some remains were so badly burned or contaminated that DNA could not be analyzed. By April 2005, the city’s chief medical examiner, Charles Hirsch, told families his office would be suspending identification efforts because it had “exhausted the limits of current DNA technology.” And the mystery of who died in the trade center hasn’t yet been solved by science. Twenty-seven profiles DNA generated so far don’t match any of the approximately 17,000 genetic reference materials that were collected. Scientists aren’t sure who they are. “It’s an open investigation,” Desire said. “There may be some victims where there are no bone fragments. And they are never going to be identified.” — Cristian Salazar
Watching on September 11
Thursday, 8, 2011 Page I Page77 Sunday, Sept.Sept. 11, 2011 Lost history
AP photo
Mystery surrounds the loss of records and art on Sept. 11
AP photo
Down to DNA: Tatyana Gryazeva, a criminalist at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, extracts DNA at a training lab of the OCME Forensic Biology Lab.
iDeNtity SeeKeRS Five scientists work seven days a week trying to make new identifications at a lab in an ultra-modern building on the east side of Manhattan. About 400 bone fragments are looked at and analyzed every month. DNA analysis is done by comparing the remains’ genetic profile to DNA found from victims’ possessions, like toothbrushes; from relatives; or from previously identified remains. The fragments are examined, cleaned, and pulverized into powder to extract tell-tale genetic traces — a process that can take up to a week.
“There’s a process that you go through that automatically puts up a kind of barrier, Continued from page 6 because you’re working on it,” said Rittenmey She’s seen that collapse countless er. “There are certain pieces of footage that times since. Starting with the “Inside 9/11” make the hair on my arms stand up or bring documentary she made for National Geotears every time and probably always will.” graphic in 2005, the filmmaker estimates ■ ■ ■ she has spent five years on projects about Dan Rather had little time to think about the terrorist attacks.
it when David Letterman asked him to be part of the first “Late Show” since the attacks. The night turned out to be one of the memorable television moments of the weeks after the attacks. The idea of resuming life had become a delicate issue in itself, with
NEW YORK (AP) — Letters written by Helen Keller. Fortythousand photographic negatives of John F. Kennedy taken by the president’s personal cameraman. Sculptures by Alexander Calder and Auguste Rodin. The 1921 agreement that created the agency that built the World Trade Center. Besides ending nearly 3,000 lives, destroying planes and reducing buildings to tons of rubble and ash, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed tens of thousands of records, irreplaceable historical documents and art. In some cases, the inventories were destroyed along with the records. And the loss of human life at the time overshadowed the search for lost paper. A decade later, agencies and archivists say they’re still not completely sure what they lost or found, leaving them without much of a guide to piece together missing history.
See LOST, page 18 10 Recovered: (Above) A damaged photographer’s proof sheet was found by a recovery worker a few blocks away from ground zero.
events such as the resumption of Major League baseball and a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden important milestones in that journey. The tone was particularly important for a New York-based comedy show and Letterman nailed it with the raw anger of his opening monologue.
See WATCHING, page 18 10
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Witness to tragedy looks back at 9/11
JOYCE EDLEFSEN jedlefsen@uvsj.com
The memory he most likes to remember is the feeling among his co-workers and others of mutual support and concern. Raichart is a Blackfoot native. His wife Joanne’s family is from Driggs. He was visiting family in the upper valley in late August when he agreed to talk about what he saw and felt shortly after he arrived at work the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. The support and concern he recalls from that time includes his co-worker “adopting” him and taking him home to New Jersey. Raichart lived in an apartment building in the financial district — walking each day to work through the trade center area. On Sept. 11 he had left his wallet, with his identification and money, in his apartment. Because of the location of his apartment, he couldn’t get home that day. And it would be some time before he could get back. Ten years later, much has changed and much has stayed the same for Raichart. He still walks in the ground zero area to work each day for the same agency, the New York Teachers Retirement System. That agency has moved from the building on Worth Street to one on Canal Street not
ST. ANTHONY — Randy Raichart’s most vivid and powerful memories of Sept. 11, 2001, are sensory. “Hearing and seeing the plane, the women in the office screaming, watching the south tower fall,” he recalls without taking a breath. He remembers seeing people waving white fabric from the restaurant on top of the north twin tower. “We couldn’t figure it out; why were they waving? Why didn’t they escape? ” he says, knowing now they were doomed. There was a lot of confusion in those first few minutes, he says. At his office on the 14th floor of a building on Worth Street, eight blocks from the World Trade Center that day, “first we were told to wait, then to evacuate, then to wait,” he says. The day after the tragedy in the phone interview, Raichart told then Standard Journal Publisher Rich Ballou he thought the first plane was a fighter jet flying low to the ground when he heard what he thought was a sonic blast. He looked out the window to see a huge hole in one of the twin towers. A b out a h a l f hou r later, he heard the second plane. T hough he couldn’t see it hit the second tower, he saw the huge fireball when it crashed into the building, and then both towe r s c r u m ble d t o t h e ground. “ I fe lt t he g r o u n d shake,” he told Ballou. He says the memory he would most like to forget from that day is the sight of people jumping in desperation from the buildings. Witness: Randy Raichart.
AP Photo/Jim Collins
Collapse: The south tower starts to collapse as smoke billows from both buildings of the World Trade Center in New York.
too far away. He and his wife have moved from the apartment in Battery Park City a couple of blocks from the ground zero to a home north of the city. Neither move was the result of the tragedy of 9-11, he says. The agency’s move was in the works before, and the apartment move was unrelated. “ We didn’t r un away,” he says. T h e t r a g e dy s u r e ly h a s affected him and his family, but in more subtle than traumatic ways. “I don’t dwell on where I walk every day,” he says. But the events of the day did take time to shake. He lived in Battery Park for some time before the fires were out in the rubble of the trade center. He said for five or six years after, he would be walking in downtown New York and Special to the Standard Journal catch a whiff of the acrid smell of those smoke fumes.
❛ Hearing and seeing the plane, the women in the office screaming, watching the south tower fall, ❜
he recalls without taking a breath.
— Randy RaichaRt, witness to the tRade centeR attacks.
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Local perspective: From the ship Ezra Peters Victor 10 years ago, I was active duty military stationed in San Diego, Calif. I remember standing on the pier tending to mooring lines and fiber optic cables that ran to onto our ship. Shortly before 7 a.m. PST, my executive officer came darting down the pier instructing all personnel to get back onboard ship immediately. I initially thought the ship’s crew was about to get a stern lecture from the commanding officer over personal responsibilities, but when we turned the television on in our workspace the images from the news reports left me and my fellow sailors and Marines with a
Ezra Peters
wretched and sickly feeling in our stomachs. I remember trying to comfort
the individuals who were from New York City as they scrambled to try to contact their friends and families. The focal point of the news was on the World Trade Center, but we soon discovered that the Pentagon had been struck as well. What made it more sickening was the fact that the wing of the Pentagon that had been struck was the communications wing, which was the rating or job that I was assigned. What made it worse for the service members who were from the NYC area was the fact that our entire command as well as the base went into complete lockdown. No one was allowed to leave our ship, let alone the base. We spent the next 72 hours on-
board as we stepped up pier and waterfront security and drilled for security breaches. My personal feelings were that of being numb, disillusioned, and angry. I had these same feeling on my first western Pacific deployment in 2000, when our command was summoned to assist in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the USS Cole in October of 2000. We spent over two months in the port of Aden, Yemen. The only difference was the fact that I was a first-person witness to the aftermath of the bombing, and I wanted nothing more to partake in a full-scale assault and takeover of that loathsome country. That’s what I remember.
Local perspective: Overseas Dave Fassnacht Tetona/Idaho Falls
As an expatriate American living in Singapore, I was far-removed from the dayto-day news in the United States. Instead of Fox News, I watched local Singapore-based channels. Instead of football and baseball, I watched soccer and Aussie-rules football. Interestingly, while I was living surrounded by countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, who are heavily populated with devout believers of Islam, I felt totally safe. Until 9/11. After a typical hot and steamy day in Singapore, my good friend Narinder and I decided to have a drink at a local pub. People were smiling, laughing, playing pool and socializing. Narinder and I were engaged in a friendly game of darts and bantering back and forth when I glimpsed one of the World Trade Center towers on the television. The music was loud, I could not hear the television, and life was continuing as it normally does in this small Singapore pub. What I didn’t notice the first time I saw the tower was that it was damaged and had smoke pouring out of it. We continued to play darts. A few minutes later, I looked back at the television at what we all know now as a terrorist-driven nightmare in the making. The first tower was going to go down and the second was about to be hit. I said to my friend, “World War III is beginning — let’s take a break and watch this.” And so we did. We watched as the towers were hit and as they fell. We watched in horror
as innocent people of all races and creeds were uselessly murdered and as some took their own lives by leaping out of the burning towers. I will never forget the faces of those who looked on as their loved ones were trapped in the burning buildings. There is a feeling of safety that we enjoy as Americans living in our country. For me that feeling of safety comes from the strength of our nation and from our military. I enjoy the feeling of freedom. Freedom of Photo courtesy Dave Fassnacht Dave Fassnacht, left, with friends in Signapore. speech. Freedom to exercise religion. These good feelings of freedom and safety felt as if they were removed friends about their opinion about what hapfrom me in an instant as I realized what had pened. Every single one of these people I spoke happened and why it had happened. Suddenly, was so nice, so peaceful, and devoutly religious I felt very alone. Suddenly, I didn’t feel very — and none of them could rationalize the safe. I was a 24-hour flight away from the behavior of these terrorists. nearest American city, surrounded by Islamic In my own heart I suppose I have come to people on all sides and living in a country accept that there are religious people in this where personal freedom comes in the form of world, and then there are religious people gifts from the government. Singaporeans are in this world who are radical and who may not as “free” as we are. actually have a screw or two loose. Those are The next day came and went, and none of the ones who caused this awful event. Let’s my Singaporean friends said anything to me not hate Muslims for what happened. Let’s about what had happened. I’m still not sure if not blame religion for what happened. Let’s it’s because they didn’t know what to say or bejust re-build, try to love each other — oh, and cause they are so insulated living in a country keep watching out for those radicals with loose that a fit person can easily run across that they screws — because they’re bound to do it again didn’t really care about a couple of buildings someday. Let’s also give thanks to our U.S. that fell down in New York City. military for all that they do. We owe our freeBut I did. I began to study what Muslims dom and our feelings of safety to them. believe. I began asking many of my Muslim
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September 11 The I TheDay Daythe theWorld WorldChanged Changed A decade of change for the military
❛ ... the military is bigger, more closely connected to the CIA, more practiced at taking on terrorists and more respected by the American public. But its members also are growing weary from war, committing suicide at an alarming rate and training less for conventional warfare. ❜
AP photo
In the rubble: Firefighters walk through rubble of the World Trade Center buildings on Sept. 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed two airliners into the towers.
LOST, from page 7 The first tangible losses beyond death were obvious, and massive. The Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage, where more than 650 employees were killed, owned a trove of drawings and sculptures that included a cast of Rodin’s “The Thinker” — which resurfaced briefly after the attacks before mysteriously disappearing again. Fragments of other sculptures also were recovered.
building in the complex. Helen Keller International, whose offices burned up when its building, a block from the trade center, was struck by debris, lost a modest archive. Only two books and a bust of Keller survived. Classified and confidential documents also disappeared at the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into it on 9/11.
Afghanistan war A private disaster response company, BMS CAT, was hired to help Trading back to the 1840s recover materials in the library, where The Ferdinand Gallozzi Library the jet plane’s nose came to rest. The of U.S. Customs Service in 6 World company claimed it saved all but 100 Trade Center held a collection of docu- volumes. But the recovery limited ments related to U.S. trade dating access to information related to the back to at least the 1840s. And in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the same building were nearly 900,000 1980s, as the U.S. prepared to launch objects excavated from the Five Points an attack a month later. neighborhood of lower Manhattan, a In New York, CIA and Secret Serfamous working-class slum of the 19th vice personnel sifted through debris century. carted from the trade center to a Stat The Kennedy negatives, by phoen Island landfill for lost documents, tographer Jacques Lowe, had been hard drives with classified informastowed away in a fireproof vault at tion and intelligence reports. The CIA 5 World Trade Center, a nine-story declined to comment.
‘It was modern, It was dynamIc. It was not In perIl’ After Sept. 11, “agencies did not do precisely what was required vis-a-vis records loss,” said David S. Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, in an email. “Appropriately, agencies were more concerned with loss of life and rebuilding operations — not managing or preserving records.” Jan Ramirez, the curator of the
Watching on September 11
National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said there was no historical consciousness surrounding the site before it was destroyed. “It was modern, it was dynamic. It was not in peril. It was not something that needed to be preserved,” she said. “Now we know better.”
broke down in tears twice. “I was just engulfed, consumed by grief,” he said. “I’ve never apologized During 9/11 coverage, Rather worked for that — didn’t then and I don’t now. hard to keep his emotions in check while Because, one doesn’t apologize for grief.” on the air for CBS News. It was a grueling ■ ■ ■ stretch that had the veteran anchor, then age 69, awake for 48 hours at one point. On Sept. 11, 2001, Nathaniel Katz, who grew up in New Jersey, But with Letterman, Rather briefly Continued from page 7
Transforming the way the U.S. military fights WASHINGTON (AP) — The Sept. 11 attacks transformed the Pentagon, ravaging the iconic building itself and setting the stage for two long and costly wars that reordered the way the American military fights. Compared with a decade ago, the military is bigger, more closely connected to the CIA, more practiced at taking on terrorists and more respected by the American public. But its members also are growing weary from war, committing suicide at an alarming rate and training less for conventional warfare. Recovery time The partly gutted Pentagon was restored with remarkable speed after the hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 slammed through its west side, setting the building ablaze and killing 184 people. But recovering from the strain of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will take far longer — possibly decades. The Pentagon’s leaders will have to adjust to a new era of austerity after a decade in which the defense budget doubled, to nearly $700 billion this year. The Army and Marine
opInIons
on the mIlItary
The military as a whole is viewed more favorably by the American public. A Gallup poll in June found that the military is the most respected national institution, with 78 percent expressing great confidence in it. That is 11 points higher than its historical Gallup average dating to the early 1970s.
Corps in particular — both still heavily engaged in Afghanistan — will struggle to retrain, rearm and reinvigorate their badly stretched forces even as budgets begin to shrink. And the troops themselves face an uncertain future; many are scarred by the mental strains of battle, and some face transition to civilian life at a time of economic turmoil and high unemployment. The cost of veterans’ care will march higher. Terrorism was not a new challenge in 2001, but the scale of the 9/11 attacks prompted a shift in the U.S. mindset from defense to offense. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7 in an unconventional military campaign that was coordinated with the CIA.
See MILITARY, page 19 11
was about as far away from New York the screen. About 30 other people quias you can get: studying in the Ausetly streamed into the lounge behind tralian capital of Canberra. A friend Katz, the only American. brought him to a student lounge so he To the others in the lounge, it could watch “The West Wing” for the seemed like a Hollywood movie. To first time. The series was interrupted Katz, it was home. He broke down and to show what Katz thought was a pricried uncontrollably. vate plane crashing into the trade cenSee WATCHING, page 19 11 ter. He watched as other images filled
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CHANGED LIVES
AP photo
cLASSrooMS
Teaching kids about 9/11
Wounded: A priest prays over a wounded man at the Pentagon as emergency workers from all services help the wounded on Sept. 11, 2001.
10 MILITARY, from page 18
On
the battlefield
—
unmanned aircraft
The new technological star is the drone aircraft, like the Predators that surveil the battlefield and fire missiles at discrete targets. Their popularity has spawned an effort to field unmanned aircraft to perform other missions, such as a longrange bomber and even heavy-lift helicopters.
Watching on September 11 Continued from page 18
“I pride myself on having a fair bit of self-control and I completely lost myself in this situation,” said Katz, now a ministry fellow at Harvard University. “I could feel all these eyeballs in the back of my head. But I didn’t care.”
Staying secure in the air
SkIES
post-9/11 U.S. military power. In percentage terms, the biggest growth in the military has been in the secretive, elite units known as special operations forces. They surged to the forefront of the U.S. military’s counterterror campaign almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks, helping rout the Taliban in late 2001 and culminating in May 2011 with the Navy SEAL team’s raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. And even though al-Qaida’s global reach has been diminished, the increased role of special operations forces is likely to continue.
(AP) — For most of us, the romance of flight is long gone — lost to Sept. 11, 2001, and hard-set memories of jets crashing into buildings. We remember what it was like before. Keeping all our clothes on at security. Getting hot meals for free — even if we complained about the taste. Leg room. Today, we feel beaten down even before reaching our seats. Shoes must be removed and all but the tiniest amounts of liquids surrendered at security checkpoints. Loved ones can no longer kiss passengers goodbye
See SKIES, page 20 12
AP photo
Security: An airline passenger holds his shoes and has an unloosened belt while waiting to go through a checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Parenting in a 9/11 world FAMILIES
That heralded one of the most profound effects of 9/11: a shift in the military’s emphasis from fighting conventional army-on-army battles to executing more secretive, intelligencedriven hunts for shadowy terrorists. Still in debate is how the Taliban, which had shielded Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida figures prior to the U.S. invasion and was driven from Kabul within weeks, managed to make a comeback in the years after the U.S. shifted its main focus to Iraq in 2003. That setback in Afghanistan, coupled with the longer-thanexpected fight in Iraq, showed the limits of
(AP) How do teachers handle the daunting task of trying to explain the significance of 9/11 to students who don’t remember when anyone could walk right up to the gate at the airport or when Osama bin Laden wasn’t a household name? The answer isn’t simple, and it has changed over time as the country’s rhetoric about the attacks has evolved. AP photo Students across the country will gather for Teaching: Ivy Preparatory Academy assemblies, hold moments of silence and spend history and social studies classes focusing on sixth grader Colby DeWindt raises her hand as teacher Jacob Cole leads Sept. 11 this year. a class in Norcross, Ga., on the 9/11 See CLASSROOM, page 20 12 terrorist attacks
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(AP) — David Rand cheerfully acknowledges he’s an overprotective father. An exMarine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’s also a single dad to 5-year-old Emma. And so when Emma’s grandmother suggested recently that the girl come visit her in Texas, flying from California as an unaccompanied minor, Rand had a blunt reaction: “Heck, no!” He cites Sept. 11 as part of the reason. “The images just go through your mind,” he AP photo says. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself Protective dad: David Rand with if something terrible happened and I wasn’t his daughter Emma, 5, at their home See FAMILIES, page 20 12 in Sacramento, Calif.
Ashleigh Banfield was working at MSNBC that day, and disregarded a suggestion that she go to the network’s New Jersey headquarters. Instead, she headed downtown in a cab as far as it would take her and then on foot. Banfield was close enough to be enveloped in the black cloud created as the second tower collapsed. A companion kicked
in a nearby building’s door and she sought refuge with a police officer who also was looking for a safe place to breathe. She emerged when the cloud began to lift and flagged down a nearby NBC truck that could film her as she gave reports into a cell phone.
“For whatever reason, I thought all of
the buildings were coming down,” she said. “If these two were coming down, what was next? I was so scared. So many people said you were so brave to do that reporting that day and I think just the opposite. I was just so childishly scared.”
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AP photo
History lesson: Students watch TV footage from Sept. 11, 2001.
T hough it ’s been a decade, just a few states and school districts have a set curriculum for teaching Sept. 11. For the most part, states and school districts leave it up to the teacher, which can mean some students don’t hear about it at all. L ou isv ille, Ky., f if th-g rade teacher Carla Kolodey sta r ts her lessons with a description of life before Sept. 11. She tells them they can leave the classroom if necessary, then shows them TV footage and newspaper clips of the attacks. She brings i n spea kers who lost a fa mily member in the World Trade Center or who have other personal connections to the day. “I’ve had kids in tears who have t o st ep out a nd c ol lec t themselves,” said Kolodey, 31, whose social studies textbook dedicates just one page to Sept. 11.
with her. If she were alone, and it was an attack — the guilt would just be too much.” Ten years after the attacks, there’s no question that Sept. 11 continues to impact our national psyche, and some of that can be seen in how we raise our children: Tightening curfews, givi ng ch ild ren cell phones to keep better track of them, even barring them from air travel. R a nd , t he ex-Ma r i ne, now a 31-yearold college student in Sacrame nt o, s ay s his daught er “ h a s n’t AP photo asked” about 9 /11, “a nd I Talking to kids: h ave n’ t v ol - When the time is unteered the right, David Rand i n for m at ion. will tell daughter I w o u l d n ’ t Emma about the want to scare 9/11 attacks. a 5-year-old to death.” W hen t he ti me is r ight, though, he will tell her. A nd he’s also open to bringing her to New York some day. “The odds of the same thing happening are so remote,” he says.
‘God Bless America:’ A new ritual at the ballpark (AP) — Six days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Major League Baseball returned to the field with a new ritual. During the seventh-inning stretch, a moment typically reserved for “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” another song played at parks around the country: “God Bless America.” Everybody sang along, that night and for weeks afterward. In a World Series that year between the Diamondbacks and the Yankees, one of the most enduring memories came during Game 3 in New York, when 56,000 people at Yankee Stadium joined in a melancholy rendition of the tune as a tattered flag recovered at the World Trade Center site fluttered on a pole above the center field scoreboard.
BaseBall When America was still in shock, baseball was there to help start the healing. “It sent chills down and a lot of tears,” Commissioner Bud Selig remembered. “Almost overpoweringly emotional.” Ten years later, “God Bless America” has become woven into the fabric of baseball. It’s still played every game in the case of two teams, the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. But most teams have scaled back, and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Torii Hunter sees nothing wrong with that. “I think it’s OK to move forward,” Hunter said. “Most ballparks do not play ‘God Bless America’ every game. But you’ll never forget that day, the people who fell, the people who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan since then.”
SKIES, from page 19 11 at the gate. “Anytime I walk into an airport, I feel like a victim,” said Lexa Shafer, of Norman, Okla. “I’m sorry that we have to live this way because of bad guys.” F r e q u e nt f l ie r s k n o w t h e ever-chang ing set of secur ity rules. Most others don’t.
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Knowing the location of his wife Katherine’s office and the trajectory of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, Charles Wolf eventually became convinced she was killed instantly on
“ I ’m n o t r e a l ly c o nv i n c e d t h at a ny of t h i s s e c u r it y i s d o i n g a ny t h i n g o t h e r t h a n making people feel safe,” said M at t hew Von K lu ge, of C h icago. But D i a ne D r a g g, of Nor man, Okla., said: “I’d rather do it than be blown up.”
Sept. 11. He never heard from her that morning. For most people, television that day was a way to experience a terrible story that did not yet involve them. For Wolf, it was a lifeline. TV is where he got his information, learning areas that were set up for possible survivors or places to find
AP photo
God Bless America: In this Sept. 17, 2001, file photo, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks meet in the infield to hold the American flag during “God Bless America” and the national anthem to mark the first game in Denver’s Coors Field, since the Sept. 11 attacks.
out about victims. “You’re looking for shreds of evidence of whether she’s alive or dead,” he said. He watched the coverage for hours, even though deep down he knew Katherine’s fate when he saw the north tower collapse. What grew excruciating was when
networks played key footage over and over, particularly of the second plane hitting the south tower. He has no interest in watching 10th anniversary coverage, which he calls “made-for-ratings television.” Instead, he will attend a public memorial at ground zero. — By the Associated Press
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Iconic images — Sept. 11, 2001
Lenses shield 9/ll photographers By The Associated Press
People look at some news photos shot on Sept. 11, 2001, and wonder how those who took them could bear to keep working in the face of such tragedy. Five whose images of that day became iconic discussed how the photos came about and how their lenses helped shield them from what would come later. ■
AP photo by Marty Lederhandler
Marty Lederhandler had pretty much seen and done it all.
Marty Lederhandler
After 65 years with the AP, Marty Lederhandler had pretty much seen and done it all. In 1937, a year after joining the wire service, he’d helped cover the Hindenburg disaster. Seven years later, Lt. Lederhandler waded ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day, two carrier pigeons stowed safely in his bag to wing his undeveloped film back across the English Channel. “The only other story that compares to this is D-Day,” he said. Lederhandler retired three months later. He died last year at 92. ■
Richard Drew
In 1937, he’d helped cover the Hindenburg disaster. Seven years later, Lt. Lederhandler waded ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day, two carrier pigeons stowed safely in his bag to wing his undeveloped film back across the English Channel.
AP photo by Marty Lederhandler
As a 21-year-old shooter for the Pasadena Independent-Star News, Richard Drew was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, where Robert Kennedy, fresh from winning the California Democratic presidential primary, was shot. Drew was one of only four photographers to capture Kennedy’s last moments. On Sept. 11, Drew was on assignment, when his cell phone rang. “A plane’s hit the World Trade Center,” photo editor Barbara Woike said. Drew rushed to the subway and took the No. 2 train to Chambers Street. He took up a position near a line of ambulances to wait for casualties when suddenly a paramedic shouted, “Look! There’s people coming out of the World Trade Center.” But she wasn’t pointing down the street. She was pointing up. “I just sort of clicked into automatic pilot,” Drew recalled, “and started taking pictures of the people falling out of the building.” ■
‘The only other story that compares to this is D-Day,’ Lederhandler said.
AP file photo
Doug Mills
Photographer Doug Mills was covering President George W. Bush on the road on Sept. 11. The day’s first event — a visit with kids at Emma E. Booker Elementary School — proved anything but typical.
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AP photo by Richard Drew
AP photo by Doug Mills
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ICONIC, from page 13 21 About five minutes into the visit at the school, the classroom door opened, and White House chief of staff Andy Card stepped inside. Mills’ antennae immediately went up: Card almost never attended events like this. After a few moments, Card walked to the front of the room, leaned in and whispered something into Bush’s right ear. The president’s face went blank. ■
AP photo by Daniel Shanken
Amy Sancetta
Ohio-based AP national photographer Amy Sancetta caught a cab and rode down Broadway until a police barricade stopped her from going farther. By then, the second tower was already smoking. She got out her 80-200 mm zoom lens and began scanning the rows of windows of the south tower for faces. Suddenly, she heard a thunderous rumbling. She watched through her lens as the tower’s top “kind of cracked and started to fall in on itself.” She could squeeze off only about a half-dozen frames before the tower disappeared. People were rushing past, buffeting her as they ran pell-mell from the rising debris cloud. She ran about half a block, then turned into a parking garage — just as the cloud whooshed past. When she finally emerged, she stepped into what looked like a “winter wonderland of debris.” She began picking her way back toward the trade center, shooting as she went. When she heard a second rumble, she lowered her camera and ran. At last, she reached the office and was able to see what she had: the beginning of the south tower’s end. ■
AP photo by Amy Sancetta
AP photo by Amy Sancetta
She got off one more shot before someone nearby screamed, ‘RUN!’
Gulnara Samoilova
Gulnara Samoilova’s apartment was just four blocks from the World Trade Center. She grabbed her camera and a handful of film, and headed into the street. Entering the south tower, she quickly decided the scene was too chaotic to shoot, and retreated. Back outside, she was standing right beneath the south tower when it began to crumble. She got off one more shot before someone nearby screamed, “RUN!” The force of the collapse “was like a mini-earthquake,” knocking her off her feet. People began trampling her. “I was afraid I would die right there,” the 46-year-old photographer says. She got up just as the cloud was about to envelop her. She dove behind a car and crouched. “It was very dark and silent,” she says. “I thought I was buried alive.”
Entering the south tower, Gulnara Samoilova quickly decided the scene was too chaotic to shoot, and retreated. Back outside, she was standing right beneath the south tower when it began to crumble.
AP photo by Mark Lennihan
AP photos by Gulnara Samoilova
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Twenty-two and willing to give up everything for his country RACHEL SNOW rsnow@uvsj.com
The devastating terrorist attacks on the New York twin towers on September 11, 2001, engraved themselves on one 16-yearold boy’s mind, giving him the impetus to put his own life on hold and protect his country from future threats to U.S. liberty.
Courtesy Photo
Selfless: Jim Holtom, a Madison High School senior and later tank commander in the Army Reserves, gave his life for the country he loved after serving 3 1/2 years.
Sgt. Jim Holtom, 22, was one of three Idaho Army Reservist soldiers killed with another one severely wounded in an attack in Iraq back in February 2007. These soldiers were on a mission to recover bodies that were shot down in a Blackhawk helicopter in Iraq’s Al Anbar province west of Baghdad. Holtom’s mother, Reyne, said he never told her this, but his tank was the 1st in line to drive the dangerous roads at 1-2 miles per hour speeds in this recovery mission. His tank was the victim of a remote detonation of a 400lb missile buried under the road. Holtom left his parents, six brothers and two sisters that day. Holtom was serving as a sergeant and tank commander during his 3 1/2 years of service in the Army. Holtom’s commanding officer said his rank was unique, too.
Holt om was the youngest soldier to become a sergeant in his platoon. This major responsibility given at such a young age denotes the dedicated, noble life Holtom lead previous to his military career. Reyne says while Mike Vogt/Idaho Press-Tribune her fa mily was watching the chaos Honoring : General Lawrence Johnson, top right, hands James of t he S ept emb er Holtom’s parents, David and Reyne, with another flag during the com11 attacks on their mittal service at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery on Tuesday afterTV, she looked into noon. Holtom was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Holtom’s eyes and Reyne remembers when Holtom was saw a determination that never did leave his eyes. Although a young child, he’d spend time creating Holtom was only 16-years-old, he decided adventures and challenges for his seven he was going to do something about these younger siblings. And all the siblings attacks. When Holtom was ready to join would do whatever Holtom asked because the military, Reyne and his father David of the trust he’d built with them. were curious as to his motivation. Holtom Holtom was a sophomore at Boise State said the money wasn’t the reason as they University majoring in engineering when suggested, but that he had a sense of duty he was deployed in Iraq. He was sharthat was too strong to deny. Holtom told ing an apartment with his brother Ben at his parents he was ready to go to Iraq, and the time, and working a construction job that he knew this as soon as the twin tow- with him. Ben definitely remembers the ers fell years previous. organized and time-oriented manners of One memorable conversation Holtom Holtom. Ben would wake up in the mornhad with his family changed the way ings to Holtom saying “Come on Ben, I they viewed the American military. He have your stuff,” and urging him to be explained to them of the difference the prompt to work. Holtom would have Ben’s soldiers had made since first arriving in lunch, coat and tools ready by the time their area in Iraq. He said when the sol- Ben awoke. diers first arrived, “ T h at ’s t he most of the people way he wa s,” l iv i ng t here were said Reyne. “He home-bound because just took care of He had a quiet confidence that people it was too dangerthings.” ous to walk outside. T he Holt om followed, and people looked up to him. Holtom was anxious fa m ily si nce — Reyne Holtom, motHeR to inform his family dedicates their that he saw a mothlives to loving er with her family and rememwalking to the market that day, and he bering Jim Holtom’s sacrifice for freedom was proud of the American military for of all people within the United States of bringing increased safety to the people. America. The family attends a formal vetThe soldiers also brought water treatment erans ceremony at his grave site in Eagle, facilities and school facilities to the people. Idaho, every Memorial Day. The family Holtom was a strong leader as a tank carries a gold star on their license plates, commander over his rapidly changing his mother still makes his favorite descrews, but Reyne says he had always been sert on his birthday, and three babies have a leader. been named after him. “He had a quiet confidence that people “We remember him always,” said Reyne. followed, and people looked up to him,” “I can’t help but be proud that he grew up said Reyne. to be such an honorable young man.”
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September 11 I The Day the World Changed
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