I was on the interstate highway driving to an Army Reserve center to work on tactical radios and night vision equipment. Around 8:55 a.m. I heard on the local AM station that an airplane had flown into one of the WTC towers. Remembering the 1944 incident where a B-25 flying in fog had collided with the Empire State Building, I assumed this too was an accident. Minutes later the talk show host announced that a second airplane had flown into the second WTC tower; he grew very agitated and could go on no longer and turned the local AM show over to network feed.
I arrived at the Reserve armory and ran up and down the hall shouting, “Something terrible has happened, turn on your radios and TVs!!” In the motor sergeant’s office I watched in numb horror as the first tower to be hit imploded on national TV. Two reservists who were making up their weekend drill looked at the TV screen and asked,
“Does this mean we’re going to be activated?”
(I wanted to throttle those two)
Driving back, I thought things are different now.
I had the same thought about the Empire State Building.
I was very sad and very proud of the USA that day.
So many generous unselfish people...It’s a much better country that the wags of popular culture would want us to believe.