|
My God, I can't tell you what we went through this morning. Lindsy and
I were at Newark, about to catch a flight from Newark to San Francisco.
We pulled into the parking lot, and heard of a commuter plane crashing
into the World Trade Center. By the time we were in the airport,
we saw a second plane crash into the World Trade Center. At that
point Lindsy called California to tell them that our flight was canceled,
and we learned that the Pentagon was also attacked. Shortly after
that, phones went dead - cell phones and public phones - and most
of the airport TV monitors froze. Police who were near us also turned
off their radios, and walked around in radio silence, until they
were all told in person to switch to a designated channel - I was
standing next to a group of officers when they were told - that's
how I know.
We were eventually evacuated from the airport - but not by anyone official.
Instead one young guy on a radio got word from some airport personnel,
that they were to leave the building. By the time we got outside,
no one was there to give anyone any direction - and as we stood outside,
we watched the towers collapse - easily visible from Newark. Many
of the people standing there also worked in New York - many just
stared with panicked awe - stunned that a familiar cityscape just
vanished. Some WWII vets who stood with us, said simply, "I
never thought I'd see this again." Later adding, "now they'll
see." In the midst of all this, we were eventually told that
the police were sending in buses to take people off the airport grounds.
When asked where they would take us - the officers had no idea - "just
off the airport," we heard. Eventually, we got back to our car
- the highway - the NJ Turnpike was closed when we go to it - then
they let us on - going in the other direction - a caravan of ambulances
- just terrifying. I'm still very shaken - especially after hearing
about the downed flight from Newark to San Francisco - same route
we were taking - left just minutes before our flight. Absolute sadness.
We're okay. Just very shaken - and very scared.
Click the following link to view our What's
in the News Archives.
As always, please email me with any questions,
comments or article suggestions you might have. Many thanks to all of you who write. Good-bye for
now, Carlos. About the author.
|