We Remember 9/11: Two Decades Later, The Enduring Legacy of September 11, 2001

By KEVIN WING | Chairperson, Archive & Museum Committee

Today, we offer our reflection of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, when our United States of America was attacked by terrorists. The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks against our country that morning 20 years ago.

Four commercial airliners traveling from the northeastern United States to California were hijacked mid-flight by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m. Eastern, the South Tower of the World Trade Center was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story towers collapsed within one hour and 42 minutes. A third flight, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the west side of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. Eastern. The fourth and final hijacked flight, United Airlines Flight 93, was flown in the direction of Washington, D.C. The plane’s passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft away from the hijackers and ultimately diverted the flight from its intended target, crashing into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. Eastern.

The attacks resulted in 2,977 fatalities.

Today, we remember those 2,977 lives, the more than 25,000 who were injured, and their families, friends and loved ones. We will remember the heroes of that fateful day. All of them. They will not be forgotten. We will never forget.

The Media Museum of Northern California and the Archive & Museum Committee of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences invited our readers of this website an opportunity to reflect and remember that day 20 years ago. Here are a few of our stories.

 

DON SANCHEZ | Retired KGO-TV ABC7 News Anchor 

It is such a horribly sad, emotional day. I was co-anchoring the ABC7 morning news with Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bermudez.

There was a report of a plane that had hit the World Trade Center, so we cut to it briefly with a quick VO.  Not much in the way of details. We thought it was a small private plane. We went back to our newscast and cut back for a last update with a New York camera shot just before 6.
Starting the 6 a.m. hour, we went back to New York City and as we’re describing it,  the second plane hit. We were shocked. “We’re under attack,” we said.

The network quickly took over.  We were in the studio for hours, watching the horror unfold. We dare not leave the anchor chairs because we didn’t know what would happen next.

I called my brother in Danville, woke him up, telling him to turn on the TV.

When the first tower collapsed, the emotion in the studio was overpowering.

Tears, shock.

Twenty years hasn’t erased the nightmare  I still have trouble watching the video.

I went to the top twice long before the terrorist attack. Once to the restaurant, another time to the roof observation space.

It is a tragedy forever etched in my mind.

JIM WIEDER | Former KGO-TV ABC7 Reporter/Anchor

The 9/11 episode was a Pearl Harbor cavalcade of shock, followed by intense patriotism and war which ended last month. Life as we knew it was on pause. Airports closed, roads emptied, most folks hunkered close to home. Sound COVID familiar? The actions of these people on Sept. 11, 2001, come to mind.
 
San Ramon housewife Deena Burnett was grace under fire. She transformed albeit unwillingly, into a “cause celeb re” as Tom Burnett‘s widow. Burnett, a passenger on United Flight 93, helped lead a passenger mutiny to “attack the attackers.” His actions helped guide the United jumbo jet away from the Capitol and into the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Despite intense grief, Deena managed to memorialize her hero husband before dozens of cameras. I frequently drive by Tom Burnett’s memorial sign in San Ramon on Interstate 680 at the Fostoria Drive overcrosing, north of Crow Canyon Road, sometimes with a heavy heart.
Menlo Park Fire Capt. Harold Schapelhouman was my next call that week to pursue the story. HIs “worldwide strike team” specialized is disaster rescue. Schapelhouman was among the first Bay Area rescue units to Ground Zero. They searched in difficult, dirty, dangerous conditions. Despite the obvious risk and little chance for success, they pressed on for several weeks. After a long and distinguished career, Harold rose to chief and retired last month.
For Bay Area media getting to Ground Zero required intense hovering at Northern California airport counters. Until Friday, Sept. 14, there were no flights to book commercial or private. KABC-TV reporter David Jackson refused to wait and drove his own car from Los Angeles to New York! One thousand miles per day in three days. KPIX-TV anchor Dana King also arrived on Sept. 14 on one of the first commercial flights. We arrived a few hours later after a wild “Mad Hatter” rental car ride from the Philadelphia airport.
 
Susan Kennedy, now at KCBS radio in San Francisco, was among the lead anchors at 1010 WINS-AM in New York. In her usual clear and calm style, she was a reassuring voice for days with “bathroom breaks few and far between”. WINS was also an immense help to us as a quasi-assignment desk alerting us to potential stories. We filed well over a dozen live shots per day until Sept. 17, and it was time to pack for the flight home.
That night, I walked down a deserted 5th Avenue in downtown Manhattan, and went into an empty movie theatre for a showing of Apocalypse Now Redux. Midway through the movie, it hit me and I started making calls.
Pitching the ABC7 and KGO Radio managers to send a local reporter to Pakistan was at best problematic, and potentially a response of “are you nuts?” But, 9/11 was that powerful. even at the local level. So, I spent the next two months chronicling the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, arriving in Islamabad minus a few stolen bags! Despite some immense challenges, it was truly an honor to grab a front row seat in history to cover the biggest story of our generation.

 

DAVID MILLS | Former KPIX5 Writer/Producer

I arrived at KPIX-TV in San Francisco at 10 a.m.for my writing shift on that day. By that time, the terrorist damage had been done, but what is still the hardest day of my 44-year journalism career had just begun.
CBS had wall-to-wall coverage so we didn’t write that much on September 11th.
What we did was log video and sound bites. And watch videos of the attacks over and over again on the network news feed.
The planes flying into the Twin Towers.Over and over.
The smoldering ruins of the Pentagon.
Raw footage of people who jumped from the World Trade Center before it fell, choosing to die from the leap rather than be burned to death.
The endless soundbites of distraught and devastated people.
Near the end of my shift, I noticed the faces of many of my younger co-workers as they became blank and drained. From my years of crime reporting, I knew post-traumatic shock when I saw it.
I went around the newsroom, turning off the TV sets and telling people to go home.
I told them they were being traumatized. That they needed to go home and keep their television set blank.
Get some rest, I told them. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult and emotional day.
And it was.

 

BROOKE LEWIS BELLAS | Actress/Producer

As an East Coast native, I can close my eyes and feel the devastation of 9/11 in my heart all over again! I had, literally, just packed up my life in New York City and moved to Hollywood to pursue my career, after working as an actress in Tony n’ Tina ‘s Wedding Off-Broadway, TV, and film.

I remember waking up on the morning of 9/11 and, as per usual, looking at my old school answering machine. But, on this day, instead of a few messages, my answering machine number light flashed 36. I immediately panicked, thinking something tragic must have happened to my family back East. I played message after message to learn about this catastrophic event at the World Trade Center from my East Coast family and friends who were three hours ahead. I had a few close actress friends who were regularly temping in the Twin Towers, and I remember my heart stopping and desperately trying to call them. But, the cell phone lines were down. I ran down to my neighbor’s apartment crying, as she was a Boston native. Several of us gathered in her apartment for the day and held each other, while attempting to reach those we loved.

I will never forget 9/11, and since marrying a fire chief, this date has annually become even more powerful for me. I am grateful to the Media Museum of Northern California for this special remembrance on Sept. 11. Please join us in prayer on this day and always! 

 

KIM STEPHENS | KMPH Fox 26 News Anchor

I was doing the morning business reports for the KNTV NBC11 (now NBC Bay Area) morning newscast with Brett Cannon and Laura Garcia.

We were 45 minutes into a normal newscast when our producer said there was breaking news. A plane hit the World Trade Center building.

There were no pictures yet. There was little information. The assumption was that it was a Cessna.

After that brief report, we went back to the rundown and continued with our newscast.

Then, we saw live pictures and knew this was much more, though it was difficult to make sense of it.

I emailed my husband to contact our friend, who worked for a big financial company in Los Angeles to ensure his safety because we were getting alerts that financial and federal buildings could be targets on the West Coast.

Not long after the second plane hit, which we were airing live, did Brett and Laura toss to the network.

We all went into the newsroom and I witnessed something impressive.

I think we were all in shock.

Our news director started giving us jobs – in other words, assigning who was in charge of covering what aspect of the story.

Many of us got on the phone and started making calls while keeping an eye and ear to the network broadcast which just kept stupefying us as the morning unfolded.

Others grabbed cameras and ran out the door.

It was beautiful teamwork, as is often the case on heartbreaking news days.

Later, I remember hearing about Todd Beamer. His mother lived in the Bay Area. I was floored by her composure and grace as she was interviewed.

 

DAVID MANOUCHERI | KCRA 3 Special Projects Producer

I was at my Fort Worth-area home with bronchitis on Sept. 11, 2001.  My phone rang and my colleague, Ginger Allen, had called me by accident.  A plane had hit the first World Trade Center tower in New York and she told me to turn on the TV and look.  Minutes later, reporter Bennett Cunningham called and said to grab my go-bag, that we had tickets to go to New York. Three-fourths of the way to the airport, the second plane hit the second tower, another hit the Pentagon, and another possible crash in Pennsylvania.  They grounded all flights before I got to the airport.

I asked to start driving to New York, but there were already four crews on the way.

Our news director wanted us to begin digging into how this could have happened. What did officials know or not know?

Not long after flights were allowed again, Ginger and I flew to Washington, D.C. Helicopters and soldiers filled the streets. The Inspector General from the Clinton administration said the visa system would be easy for terrorists to exploit.  INS, the predecessor to ICE, literally told us “we didn’t change anything after that report.”

But, I’ll never forget driving to Virginia to get video of the Pentagon.  We rounded the curve and we were speechless.  The damage looked like a giant hand had reached down and grabbed a part of the building. Words cannot really express the scope of how large it really was.

 

ROBERTA GONZALES | Former KPIX5 Weather Anchor

I was working as the weather anchor at KPIX, delivering the weather in a bright red suit as I have done for many years before 9/11.

I was on television at the time of the attack and we were interrupted by a special report with Bryant Gumbel from New York.

The report stated there was some kind of a plane accident slamming into the World Trade Center. The report stated there was some kind of a plane accident slamming into the World Trade Center. I immediately jumped from the news set and ran into master control.

I watched all the news feeds pouring in and I stood up and said, it’s 64 degrees with a cloudless sky in New York City. That’s no accident.

I hustled to my locker. I pulled out a black suit and changed wardrobe quickly.

I bolted down several staircases until I ended up in the newsroom. I telephoned Dana King at her home and then Ken Bastida and woke them both up individually. I told them they needed to come to the news station immediately.

I then called our news director, Dan Rosenheim, and said to him, “America is under attack, please come to the news station, we need you”. I then called downstairs to security and direct them to secure the building and do not let anybody in or out without a badge.

Coming from a military family and having worked in Chicago during some dire times, I knew exactly what was going on. I gathered many in the newsroom around a table. We held hands and we said a prayer, then went back to work.

About 24 hours later, I drove home to get sleep. I hugged and clung to both of my little boys and held them closely and tightly, never wanting to let them go. I tried to explain to them, to truthfully explain to them the horrors of 9/11, and I promised I would keep them safe.

There were many more phone calls I made that day, because there’s always a San Francisco connection. But, those are my initial memories and reactions from a day that changed America and carved an indelible scar in our country‘s history.