Yesterday marked the eight year anniversary of the coordinated terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. These horrible events killed about 3,000 people and shook our nation to its very core. I have decided to write this hub as a way to ensure that everyone remembers what happened and in hopes that we will never forget!

September 11, 2001, started off like any other day, the sun was brightly shining and people were going about their daily activities. Little did we know that there were approximately 19 terrorists, that were set up in teams of four or five people, had hijacked four commercial airliners and had turned them towards targets that had been chosen for destruction.

Two of the planes, loaded with fuel and passengers, were flown at top speed directly into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. For the innocent people that were on those two flights, they were killed instantly due to the impact and explosion of the crashes.

The buildings burst into flames and after a short period of time, collapsed, killing thousands of innocent people. New York firefighters rushed to the scene from stations across the metropolitan area and helped thousands of people evacuate from towers and building nearby.

The horrible reality for many of the World Trade Center workers was that there was no means of escape. Many people realizing that they were going to die, jumped from their office windows rather than waiting to suffocate or burn to death.

The Twin Towers were designed and built from 1966 to 1973; the architects had designed them both to be able to withstand the impact of a jetliner crash and remain intact. However, the planes that were hijacked were Boeing 757s; these jets are much larger in size than their earlier counterparts and as a result are equipped to carry larger amounts of fuel.

The heat from the burning jet fuel was so intense that it eventually melted the interior steel supports in both towers. As a result, the steel supports gave way in the burning parts of the tower and the floors above fell into the lower portion of the building.

 The weight of the falling sections quickly caused the lower floors to pancake. More than four hundred workers, including more than 300 New York firefighters, were crushed in the ash and rubble.

Meanwhile, American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Washington Dulles International Airport right outside of Washington D.C. at approximately 8:20 a.m. with 6 crew members and 58 passengers on board. This flight was bound for Los Angeles just like the prior two flights and its fuel tanks were both filled to capacity. About 40 minutes into the flight, the hijackers turned the jet around and flew back towards Washington, D.C. The jet, flying low and at a high speed smashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

The jet took a chunk out of the building and dozens of offices and the people who worked in them were incinerated. The jet’s burning fuel spilled through the ruins as military and civilian workers blindly tried to make their way through the smoky and burning offices to look for colleagues to rescue. 184 people lost their lives at the Pentagon that morning, including all of the people aboard Flight 77.

There was a fourth jet that was also hijacked on September 11, 2001. This jet was United Airlines Flight 93. This flight took off from Newark, New Jersey at approximately 8:40 a.m. and was headed for San Francisco. Since this was the last of the four planes to be hijacked, passengers had heard about the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks through telephone conversations with family members and friends. Several male passengers decided to rush the cockpit and attempt to regain control of the aircraft. This was to no avail and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at about 10:03 a.m.

The world was in shock at the mass destruction that happened on that day. Many innocent lives were lost in a deliberate attempt to attack our country. President George Bush announced on live television that fighting terrorism and preventing future attacks would be his administration’s top priority. Governments around the world were told they must make the decision to stand by the United States in this antiterrorist effort or face the wrath of the U.S.

The people of the United States of America had to adapt to new security measures that complicated their travel, work and recreation activities. Local governments scrambled to make preparations for new potential terrorist attacks, possibly involving biological, chemical, or even nuclear weapons.

Since September 1, 2001, the United States has not been a victim of any other type of terrorist-related attacks. For as long as I am alive, I hope and pray that I will never ever witness another event like this one. God Bless all of the families that lost loved ones as well as the individuals that lost their lives trying to help others survive. It makes you truly understand why this is such a great country to live in!