If tears could build a stairway, and memories were a lane,
I would walk right up to heaven to bring you home again.
No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye;
you were gone before I knew it, and only God knows why.
My heart still aches in sadness and secret tears still flow,
what it meant to lose you, no one will ever know.
On September 11, 2001, our world changed forever.
However, as a united global community, we will rise above this tragedy.
As a whole, we are good, honest people striving for peace, striving to
care for our families and to understand and appreciate the differences
in those around us.
As a nation, we extend our deepest sympathies to those who lost innocent loved ones.
We extend both our sympathies and our eternal gratitude to the friends
and families of firefighters, police officers, and emergency personnel who
have been lost. The heroism of the rescue workers allowed other mothers,
fathers, and children to return home.
Our thoughts are with everyone as we move forward during this difficult time,
The informed defense officials laid
out a timeline of the events surrounding the series of terrorist attacks
as follows: Times are EDT and reflect actual, rather than scheduled departure
times of flights.
7:59 a.m. American Airlines flight
11 takes off from Boston's Logan International Airport.
8:14 a.m. United Airlines flight
175 takes off from Boston's Logan International Airport.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines flight
11 stops transmitting IFF beacon signal while over the Hudson River.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines flight
77 departs Dulles International Airport near Washington.
8:38 a.m. Boston air traffic
center notifies NORAD that American Airlines flight 11 has been hijacked.
8:43 a.m. FAA notifies NORAD
that United Airlines flight 175 has been hijacked.
8:44 a.m. Otis Air National Guard
Base in Mass. orders to fighters scrambled.
8:46 a.m. American
Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 en route from Boston's Logan Airport
to Los Angeles International with 92 people onboard, slams into the
north tower, 1 World Trade Center.
9:05 a.m. Approximately
18 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767 enroute
from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people onboard, hits the south tower,
2 World Trade Center.
9:21 a.m. New
York City Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in New York
City.
9:24 a.m. President
Bush calls the crashes "an apparent terrorist attack on our country."
9:32 a.m. New
York Stock Exchange closed 9:40 a.m.
The FAA orders the entire nationwide air traffic
system shut down. All flights at U.S. airports are stopped.
9:43 a.m. American
Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 enroute from Dulles Airport outside
Washington to LAX with 58 passengers and six crew members, crashes into
the Pentagon. One of the building's five sides collapses.
9:45 a.m. The
White House is evacuated.
9:59 a.m. The
south tower of the World Trade Center collapses in a plume of ash and
debris.
10:00 a.m. United
Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, NJ, to San Francisco
with 38 passengers and seven crew members, crashes just north of the
Somerset County Airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Shortly
before impact, a passenger called on his cell phone from a locked bathroom:
"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" At this time there was
concern the plane was headed to Camp David.
10:24 a.m. The
FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic flights are to be diverted
to Canada.
10:28 a.m. The
World Trade Center's north tower collapses.
12:15 p.m. The
United States closes some border crossings with Canada and Mexico.
1:02 p.m. New
York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani orders an evacuation of Manhattan south
of Canal Street.
1:04 p.m. In
a speech at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, President Bush announces
that security measures are being taken and says: "Make no mistake, the
United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these
cowardly acts."
1:44 p.m. The
Navy dispatches aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New
York and Washington. Around the country, fighters, airborne radar and
refueling planes scramble. The North American Aerospace Defense Command
goes to its highest alert.
1:44 p.m. President
Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base for Nebraska's Offutt Air Force
Base, home to the U.S. Strategic Command.
4:30 p.m. President
Bush leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for Washington.
4:45 p.m. The
City of New York announces that 200 firefighters have been killed and
78 police officers are missing.
5:20 p.m. Seven
World Trade Center, a 47-story tower, collapses from ancillary damage.
The terrorist attacks killed 2973 people.
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