In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, our Clinton School of Public Service/Sturgis Hall volunteers look back at where they were on September 11th, 2001 when they heard the news.
“When the first plane hit, I was outside in my backyard raking leaves on a beautiful Arkansas fall day. My husband called, he was in Birmingham, AL on business, and he told me to immediately go inside and turn on the television. I was watching live as the second plane hit. I must have watched CNN for hours that day. He wasn’t able to get home on a flight until Friday, September 14th.” – Jo Paulus
“I was having coffee in the kitchen that morning in my home in Little Rock and casually watching television when the first alert and scenes of the first plane hit the screen. At first, it was hard to make sense of what I was seeing, and I soon concluded it was an accident. (Being older, I remembered when a plane accidentally hit the Empire State Building years ago). Soon, the second plane hit and it immediately was clear that it was a purposeful act. I was stunned, and glued to the tv for rest of the day (and many days after). That, for me, was the beginning of realization that terrorism had found our shores, and America would never be the same.” – Don Castleberry
“I was at my home in Little Rock, having just returned from a trip to the West Coast the night before. A friend called to tell me about what was happening and told me to turn my television on. I turned the tv on about 5 minutes later… just in time to see the second plane fly into the tower. I was hooked to the tv for the rest of the day and into the night. For a prior commitment, I was on one of the first planes to leave Little Rock after 9/11. I remember there was no increase in security at the airport or along the way. My first flight to Dallas was a Delta 737 with only about 9 people on board. My next flight was a 757 to Portland with less than 20 people on board. There were more people on the return trip a few days later, but I remember the planes were less than a third full.” – Bob Gee
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