September 11, 2001 by Don Ford

 

                I am sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on Tuesday, September 11^th, 2001.

                A friend suggested I might consider putting my memories of that date and the following days, in an article and post it to the blog.

                It should be understood, I was in New York State but not in New York City.

                I was working at the Do it Best Corp’s Service Center, in Montgomery New York, as interim manager.

Montgomery N. Y. is probably best known for Orange County Choppers, they make chopper motorcycles and had a TV show for a while.

As I am sure most would say, that day seemed to be just like any other day until…

I learned of the attack when a supervisor came into the manager’s office and said, “A plane has crashed into the world trade center”.

                To be totally honest, I had no idea what the world trade center was, until that day, never having been in the City of New York.

One of the supervisors had received a call telling him what had happened saying, that is all that’s on the TV.  

                Shocked by such an event, we wanted to see what was happening. I asked where the TV was located. They did not have a TV in the office or break room.  I knew we stocked some portable TVs so I asked the supervisor to get one out of stock quickly and set it in the break room so everyone can see it during break.

                Not having a TV meant they did not have cable either. We attempted to watch this portable TV with rabbit ears for an antenna. The picture was poor but we could see some of what was happening. I remember as most of us were watching and listening to the announcer, there was little if any conversation in the break room.

                They had a radio in the office which was providing additional information.

Two planes had flown into the world trade center buildings. We now knew these were terrorist attacks. We had also learned there was a third plane that evidently had been hijacked, and they were not sure where it was.

I briefly thought, our building is large, what would we do if the plane decided to crash into it. There was nothing we could do, other than evacuate. If we had no advanced notice that a plane was heading our way we could do nothing preemptive.

Some of the staff members had friends or relatives who worked in those buildings. I remember a couple people asked if they could leave and try to find out if their families were ok.  

The FAA was grounding all flights. Those that were already in the air were instructed to land immediately.

We learned somewhat later that the third plane had crashed in a field with no survivors.

Considering all the tragic events unfolding during the day, the staff at the Montgomery center somehow were able to complete that day’s work. I would say they all should be commended for their ability to stay somewhat focused on their work during that day, and the following days. 

All flights were canceled meaning no civilian planes were flying anywhere and they were not saying when they would be allowed to fly again. This meant all travelers (including me) that were relying on flying to their home destination, were just out of luck.

There was a message sent to DIB travelers stating something to the effect, if you are traveling for the company and have a rental car, you should keep your rental car, do not turn it in. You may be required to drive home.

The rental car I had was a full size boat of a car. Even though the company rented smaller vehicles, occasionally the rental company would be out of the size you had requested and you would get something larger. If I were to need to drive home, it would be a long drive but it would be comfortable.

The New York State police were marshaling in the Stewart / Newburgh area, which is just a few miles from Montgomery and where my hotel was. The state police were gathering here before being dispatched to New York City. It was amazing the number of state police vehicles you would see on the roads. There were literally hundreds of state police vehicles in the area. One evening as I was driving to the hotel there were at least five state police cars in front of me and more than that behind me, while there were others driving on the opposite side of the highway. I felt as if I was the misfit in a parade of police vehicles.

Authorities were considering all terrorist possibilities even to the point of having guards stationed at area water reservoirs.  

Unfortunately, during this time of turmoil, one employee pushed another employee which subjects him to termination. After all the necessary calls to the HR department it was decided to terminate this person. During the time this decision was being made, another staff member told me this person had said, “If they think they are going to terminate me they better have the police here”.  

                Being a person who likes to accommodate the wishes of others, I called the police and explained the situation. They explained that they were very busy, but they would send someone over when we were ready to terminate. I explained that we were ready now. In just a few minutes the officer arrived. I remember this officer as, “a walking mountain”, he was big and strong.

We called the employee to the office. When he arrived, the officer walked up to him, got in the employees face and said, this man has something to tell you, sit down and listen.

The officer turned to me and said go ahead. When I finished, the officer got back in this person’s face again and asked, “Do you understand what this man has told you, will I need to come back? The person replied I understand and you will not need to come back. 

After several days there were a few flights taking to the air. The airport at Stewart where I normally would fly into and out of, was still closed.

I received a call from the home office with instructions to go to the Stewart airport the next morning. When I went to return the rental car there was instructions on the closed gate to take the car several blocks away from the airport. A rental car employee brought me back to the airport.

There was an airport employee who met me and another lady outside the building. We were put in a taxi that drove us to an airport near White Planes N.Y.

I should not have been surprised at the amount of security present. We went through a police road block in which the officer looked through the taxi and the trunk before allowing us to get close to the airport. The two of us got out of the taxi and went into the airport to check in. I checked my suit case for the flight home and they opened it to be sure there was no bombs or weapons.

I always carry a pocket knife and have done so since I was in the third grade. When I flew, I would put the knife in the suit case and check the bag. The fellow opened my bag and saw the knife. He immediately called his supervisor and a police officer to see what he found. They looked at the knife (it wasn’t a small pocket knife) and then looked at me. I said, the bag is checked, is there a problem? As soon as they realized it was a checked bag, they shut it and patted me down, just to be sure I had no other knives and then let me go through security.

There weren’t many travelers in the airport, I assume only people trying to get back home were flying. As I remember it, there was as many, if not more, uniformed officers and soldiers in the airport as there were civilian travelers.

The flight from White Planes to an airport just outside New York City (I can’t remember which airport it was) was very short. As we were beginning to descend to the airport I looked out the window to see the New York sky line, and I thought I might see the remains of the two buildings. I did not see the destruction, what I did see was a military jet plane flying on the right side of our plane. It was a little unsettling to know that he was there to keep our plane away from flying into a building.

We landed safely, I along with the other passengers went into the airport. I found my gate and took a seat. There were National Guard Soldiers and police carrying guns throughout the building. There was no one talking, very little noise of any type, everyone was very sober acting. I sat in my seat the entire time without saying a word.

I am here to tell you, I was more than happy when we boarded the plane heading away from New York. My flight took me through another airport but I can’t remember if it was Philadelphia or Chicago. I can say I was much happier when we were descending to the Dallas airport. All the flights that I took that day were late starting and arriving.

Arriving at the Dallas airport I saw extra security and even though they were on high alert the atmosphere was not as intimidating as the New York air ports.

The flight from Dallas to Waco which only takes about 25 minutes left Dallas after midnight. I arrived in Waco about 1:00am on a Sunday morning. My wife met me at the Waco airport. 

Arriving this late, or early, however you want to look at it, I missed the annual profit sharing meeting. This was the first profit sharing meeting that I had missed during my employment at DIB. I was to receive a service award for thirty years of employment (a ring) at that meeting. My wife accepted the award for me, but it would have been nicer if I could have made it home in time to accept the ring for myself.

                                  

Those are my memories of September 11^th, 2001.

 

 

Don Ford