The Only Plane in the Sky

by Garrett M Graff

  He was in the lobby with us: 9/11, directed by Jules Naudet, Gédéon Naudet, and James Hanlon, CBS, 2002.

  That’s when the whole building shook: Jennifer Senior, “The Fireman Friar,” New York, November 12, 2001, at http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5372/.

  One of the firefighters put the light on him: Ibid.

  I took an arm: Ibid.

  I saw the firemen carrying a man: “The Long Good-Bye,” New York, March 18, 2002, http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5788/.

  I noticed some rescue workers carrying this man in a chair: Running Toward Danger, 99.

  I remember looking up: “Bill Cosgrove,” StoryCorps, September 9, 2011, at https://storycorps.org/listen/bill-cosgrove/.

  At the time: “How 9/11 Changed Us,” New York, September 11, 2003, at http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/2003/n_9196/.

  We carried him to a street corner: Senior, “The Firemen’s Friar.”

  We knelt down: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget, 63.

  The firemen took his body: Quoting Father Duffy’s homily, “No Greater Love: Chaplain Mychal Judge, OFM,” at https://www.franciscanmedia.org/no-greater-love-chaplain-mychal-judge-ofm/.

  Mychal Judge’s body was the first one released: “Slain Priest: ‘Bury His Heart, but Not His Love,’ ” NPR, September 9, 2011, at https://www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140293993/slain-priest-bury-his-heart-but-not-his-love.

  The first official casualty of the attack: Naudet, Naudet, and Hanlon, 9/11.

  I think he wouldn’t have had it any other way: Hagerty, “Memories of Sept. 11’s First Recorded Casualty Endure.”

  After the Collapse

  I can’t tell you how long: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I remember walking north on West Street: Ibid.

  All of Lower Manhattan was covered: Ibid.

  Maybe I’m exaggerating: Ibid.

  We came across the marina: Ibid.

  Aboard Air Force One, Somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico

  I called the president: University of Denver, “Recalling 9/11: Condoleezza Rice.”

  Among Those Who Knew

  “Does al-Qaeda have to hit the Pentagon: Matt Schudel, “Michael A. Sheehan, Counterterrorism Expert Who Warned of bin Laden, Dies at 63,” Washington Post, August 1, 2018, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/michael-a-sheehan-counterterrorism-expert-who-warned-of-bin-laden-dies-at-63/2018/08/01/5497830c-959b-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_term=.c6741c4bba85.

  The first time I ever heard: “The Man Who Knew,” Frontline, PBS, at: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showsknew/transcript/.

  In 1998, I sat with Osama bin Laden: John C. Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell, The Cell (New York: Hachette Books, 2002), 4.

  In June of 2001, the intelligence community: “The Man Who Knew,” Frontline, PBS, at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showsknew/transcript/.

  John O’Neill was frustrated: “Fran Towsend,” [sic] Frontline, PBS, October 3, 2002, at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/fran-towsend/.

  The night of September 10th: “The Man Who Knew,” Frontline.

  The system was blinking red: U.S. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, “The System Was Blinking Red,” chapter 8 in 9/11 Commission Report: The Official Report of the 9/11 Commission and Related Publications (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2004), at http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch8.pdf.

  Time ran out: Ibid.

  When the first plane hit: “Fran Towsend,” [sic] Frontline.

  John O’Neill had spent the better part of 10 years: Miller, Stone, and Mitchell, The Cell, 315.

  Escaping the Pentagon

  All the credit that public safety: Oral history in the Arlington County Public Library Oral History Project (Virginia), at https://libraryarchives.arlingtonva.us/index.php/Detail/objects/195.

  Among the responding units: Ibid.

  The smoke was so bad: Oral history in the collection of the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia).

  Colonel Anderson and I went into the building: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We were so jacked up on adrenaline: Ibid.

  In Between Collapses

  To understand all this: U.S. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, “Testimony of the Former Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department Thomas Von Essen.”

  They told us to evacuate Tower One: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Billy and I coaxed the gentleman down: Ibid.

  When we came upon Josephine: Ibid.

  I started down with Josephine: Ibid.

  Everybody was trying to push us along: Ibid.

  The whole building started to rock: Ibid.

  Then everything went black: Ibid.

  The Second Collapse

  Billy and I finally got Ralph to the lobby: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I heard this sick cracking noise: Ibid.

  This police officer came up next to me: CNN, Facebook post, September 11, 2016, at https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10155290144326509.

  We went over by Kennedy: “Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Duffy and Leslie Filson.”

  People are screaming: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We were pushing people: Ibid.

  I lived about nine blocks north: Jenny Pachucki, “The Actor: Robert De Niro,” 9/11 Memorial and Museum, March 24, 2016, at https://www.911memorial.org/blog/new-yorkers-tell-their-911-story-new-podcast-series.

  I have no memory of any noise: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  You’re choking, trying to breathe: Ibid.

  Every time I’d breathe in: Ibid.

  Trapped in the Ruins

  I said to my sergeant: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Nobody trained for this: “Last Man Out,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, November 23, 2004, at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/last-man-out/.

  Immediately, you look at yourself: Ibid.

  Somebody was watching over us: OWN, “The Angel of Ladder Company 6,” YouTube video, 4:17, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paffg3F83q4.

  After the Collapse

  I started crawling my way out of there: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  People started calling out: Ibid.

  At the Waterfront

  A makeshift, unorganized armada: “List from 2011 PortSide Exhibit ‘Mariners Response to 9/11,’ ” Portside New York, undated, at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/50dcbaa5e4b00220dc74e81f/t/57d559dcb3db2b1e5a13a5c3/1473599965084/PortSide+NewYork+list+of+9-11+boatlift+boats.pdf.

  I heard a lady yell: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  He was a real cutie: Ibid.

  I carried her down to the water: Ibid.

  An NYPD harbor boat pulled up: Ibid.

  There were one or two fireboats: Ibid.

  It was like being the last lifeboat: DuLong, Dust to Deliverance, 45.

  Mothers and nannies with infants: Magee, All Available Boats, 40.

  There was a small boat: Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience, directed by Eddie Rosenstein, Brooklyn, NY: Eyepop Productions, 2011, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=428&v=18lsxFcDrjo.

  At any given time, Battery Park: Magee, All Available Boats, 58.

  We went back and forth: Boatlift.

  When we arrived at the pier: Magee, All Available Boats, 76.

  We decided to make the call on the radio: Boatlift.

  Tugboats—I’ve never seen so many: Ibid.

  There were thousands and thousands of people: Magee, All Available Boats, 130.

  A blue New York Waterway ferryboat: Ibid., 86.

  There was dust all over the boat: Ibid., 66.

  If we had injured people on board: Ibid., 52

  As we got off the boat in Jersey City: Ibid., 98.

  I was told the command center: “Nigro,” New York Times.

  Midmorning at the Pentagon
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  I grabbed a DPS guy: Oral history in the collection of the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia).

  Very early I knew we didn’t have enough people: Ibid.

  We transported 94 people: Oral history in the collection of the Arlington County Public Library Oral History Project (Virginia), at https://libraryarchives.arlingtonva.us/index.php/Detail/objects/195.

  NEADS wanted to know: Filson, Air War Over America, 66.

  With the Secretary of Defense

  These Doomsday and Continuity of Government plans: C-SPAN, “Aviation Officials Remember September 11, 2001.”

  Midday in New York City

  It was like the scene from The Ten Commandants: Gray, After the Fall.

  We kept walking and wiping our faces: Barbash, On Top of the World, 4.

  I thought my fiancé, Kevin: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I got in the car and drove in: Ibid.

  At a rally point in Cunningham Park: Ibid.

  We couldn’t even hear our own footsteps: Ibid.

  As I got farther up into the East 50s: Gray, After the Fall.

  I went to get the girls at school: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  I decided to go to my brother’s firehouse: Ibid.

  We had to break in: Ibid.

  The boss [NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik]: Ibid.

  I’ll never forget one obviously homeless gentleman: Maury Thompson, “Pataki Looks Back at 9/11, and the Days That Followed,” Post Star (Glens Falls, NY), September 10, 2011, at https://poststar.com/pataki-looks-back-at-and-the-days-that-followed/article_beae9b6a-dc23-11e0-9030-001cc4c03286.html.

  Airborne, Somewhere over the Plains

  In each cabin on board Air Force One: Covering Catastrophe, 190.

  At Mount Weather

  I was heading out to Andrews Air Force Base: C-SPAN, “Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on September 11, 2011.”

  I ended up at an undisclosed location: Oral history in the collection of the U.S. House of Representatives Historian’s Office (Washington, D.C.).

  We didn’t know what was facing us: Ibid.

  At Ground Zero

  As they were pulling the trucks out of the wreckage: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  At the Hospitals

  I spent the rest of the day: Ibid.

  I walked back to Saint Vincent’s Hospital: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  We spent that day marshaling state resources: Oral history in the collection of the 9/11 Tribute Museum.

  The 9/11 Generation

  My son was going to turn one month old: Sheryl Meyer, post to Associated Press Facebook page, August 3, 2011, at https://www.facebook.com/APNews/posts/10150259303741623?comment_id=17960249&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%2360%22%7D.

  My mom worked at one of the high-rise buildings: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Jingqu,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9443823702/9-11-jingqu.

  The sky was gray as my babysitter woke me up: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Katiewhy,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9520540790/9-11-katiewhy.

  All the adults seemed weird: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Tumblingalma,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9491800730/9-11-tumblingalma.

  There were Black Hawk helicopters: Monica Hesse and Caitlin Gibson, “This Was 9/11 If You Were a Kid,” Washington Post, September 8, 2016, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/this-was-911-if-you-were-a-kid/2016/09/08/b3371eb6-754c-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html?utm_term=.cb662d2333ac.

  I was a pretty shy and quiet child: Ibid.

  My teacher walked me up the steps: Dan Reimold, “ ‘Why Is the Sky Dark on the TV?’: Students Share 9/11 Memories,” USA Today, September 11, 2014, at https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2014/09/11/why-is-the-sky-dark-on-the-tv-students-share-911-memories/37395955/.

  I was the new kid in school: Hesse and Gibson, “This Was 9/11 If You Were a Kid.”

  That was the first time I realized that truly awful things: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Barelyasleep,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9485063973/9-11-barelyasleep.

  “Is your mom OK?”: Reimold, “ ‘Why Is the Sky Dark on the TV?’: Students Share 9/11 Memories.”

  The banner on the screen appeared: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Undermyhijab,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9364021710/9-11-undermyhijab.

  Everyone was distraught: Dina Spector and Kevin Lincoln, “Here’s What Celebrities Were Doing When They Heard About 9/11,” Business Insider, September 10, 2011, at https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-remember-september-11-2011-9.

  I was a figure skater: Karen Zhou, post to Associated Press Facebook page, August 3, 2011, at https://www.facebook.com/APNews/posts/10150259303741623?comment_id=18401186&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%2328%22%7D.

  I didn’t know what the Twin Towers were: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Justliziam,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9655398573/9-11-justliziam.

  I couldn’t understand why anyone: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Kristincamillechez,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9694959141/9-11-kristincamillechez.

  My mom told me that some planes had crashed: Hesse and Gibson, “This Was 9/11 If You Were a Kid.”

  It was the tradition in my elementary school: Ibid.

  The events unfolded well before I got up: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Godinezzz,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9575583896/9-11-godinezzz.

  When my siblings got ready for school: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Alterposer,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9573861880/9-11-alterposer.

  I was looking up the World Trade Center: Hesse and Gibson, “This Was 9/11 If You Were a Kid.”

  I was trying something new that year: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Wastebaskets,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9532243332/9-11-wastebaskets.

  It was the first time I completely understood: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Oocbear,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9515356892/9-11-oocbear.

  At around seven in the morning: “Reader Memories of 9/11: jonmichaelkay,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9357751088/9-11-jonmichaelkay.

  September 11th was also picture day: “Reader Memories of 9/11: notnadia,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9997558234/9-11-notnadia.

  We were told we should leave school: Joanna Fischetti, post to Associated Press Facebook page, August 3, 2011, at https://www.facebook.com/APNews/posts/10150259303741623?comment_id=17959833&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%2382%22%7D.

  A long line of people waited: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Mallory,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9365066210/9-11-mallory.

  It was my first real time living away: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Shortformblog,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9603515777/9-11-shortformblog.

  Suddenly being out in the world: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Courtsomething,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/9508426372/9-11-courtsomething.

  At Offutt Air Force Base

  We didn’t know who was friend or foe: Oral history in the collection of the 9/11 Tribute Museum.

  He said, “We’re going to find out: CNN, “9/11: What Really Happened?”

  The whole tenor of the presidency changed: Ibid.

  The Secret Service thought the White House press room: Karen Hughes, “Karen Hughes Remembers the 9/11 Terror Attacks,” Fox News, September 9, 2011, at https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/karen-hughes-remembers-the-9-11-terror-attacks.

  Afternoon in America

  My husband worked in the South Tower: Oral history in the collection of the Arlington County Public Library Oral History Project (Virginia), at https://libraryarchives.arlingtonv
a.us/index.php/Detail/objects/195.

  A melancholy silence crept in: Covering Catastrophe, 209.

  I remember the silence of the sky: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Intellichick,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/10006807702/9-11-intellichick.

  The world seemed to have stopped: Anne Marie Reidy Borenstein, post to Associated Press Facebook page, August 3, 2011, at https://www.facebook.com/APNews/posts/10150259303741623?comment_id=17959917&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%2378%22%7D.

  All I wanted to do: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  Searching

  There was a “worst moment” for me: Covering Catastrophe, 165.

  My brother was a pilot: Kimberly Archie, post to Associated Press Facebook page, August 3, 2011, at https://www.facebook.com/APNews/posts/10150259303741623?comment_id=17959995&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%2372%22%7D.

  Why did we get out?: Fink and Mathias, Never Forget.

  It was a day of lefts and rights: Ibid.

  Once you got to the top of the rubble pile: Oral history in the collection of the 9/11 Tribute Museum.

  Evening in Washington

  We walked across the East Front: C-SPAN, “Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on September 11, 2011.”

  Daschle came up and spoke: Ibid.

  I remember the chills: Ibid.

  In the hours and days and weeks later: “Reader Memories of 9/11: Breakthecitysky,” Los Angeles Times, 2012, at http://latimes.tumblr.com/post/10009875778/9-11-breakthecitysky.