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Twin Towers Flight 93Aftermath

Pentagon

9/11

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Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Lindsey Warneka under the direction of Dr. Christy Keeler during a Teaching American History grant module. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.

9/11 Museum

Standards References

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Twin Towers

Eyewitness accounts

from inside the WTC towers

on 9/11 posted online

9/11 Museum

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Flight 93

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Pentagon

Audio of Police Officer on Duty

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Aftermath

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9/11 Museum

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The mission of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, located at the World Trade Center site, is to bear solemn witness to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The Museum honors the nearly 3,000 victims of these attacks and all those who risked their lives to save others. It further recognizes the thousands who survived and all who demonstrated extraordinary compassion in the aftermath. Demonstrating the consequences of terrorism on individual lives and its impact on communities at the local, national, and international levels, the Museum attests to the triumph of human dignity over human depravity and affirms an unwavering commitment to the fundamental value of human life.

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On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack. (History Channel)

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This is a picture of the Vescey Street stairs, now known as the Survivor's Stairs. Before the towers collapsed, hundreds of people escaped down them.

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The oral histories released on August 12, 2005 contain many recollections of the sights and sounds of explosions. The excerpts on this page describe perceptions of the South Tower collapse, except where noted otherwise.

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Saeed ALghamdi, Ahmad Ibrahim A Al Haznawi, Ahmed Alnami, and Ziad Samir Jarrah were the four hijacker for flight 93. The flight was delayed for more than 25 minutes, and the only plane out of the four planes that were hijacked the day of 9/11 to be delayed. The plane was heading to San Francisco, California and less than an hour into the flight the four Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked the plane and turned it to heading towards Washington D.C. The passengers started using airfones to start reporting of the incident and warning authorities. They quickly learned of the other event of 9/11 and realized that they were a part of a large attack on the United States of America, and this is when they decided to fight back. It only took 30 minutes for the passengers to fight for their lives where ultimately the plane turned upside down and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03 am. It was the only plane out of the four hijacked planes that day to not reach its destination due to its courageous determination of its passengers. It was only 20 minutes away from Washington D.C and if it would have reached its destinations it would have caused more loss and destruction to 9/11.

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On the day of 9/11/2001, 40 people boarded United flight 93 just going about their normal busy days not thinking that today their lives will change forever. Boarding the flight as strangers and crashing as heroes these 40 men and women will never be forgotten. From men and women, ranging from ages 20 to 79 they collaboratively came together and make the decision to stop four Al Qaeda terrorist from crashing the fourth plane into Washington D.C. Some aboard were still students, some old enough that they were retired, even parents, executives, managers, attorneys, or even computer engineer but they all had a common goal; to stop flight 93 from its destination whether they go down with it. It was obvious that the forty passengers knew their fate due to audio recordings from the airplane phones of them saying goodbye to their loved ones, but their bravery will live on forever.

Passengers of Flight 93

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“This peaceful place was not chosen by the terrorists — they had other targets for their violence and hate. This spot was chosen by the passengers of Flight 93, who spared our country from even greater horrors.” -former first lady Laura Bush

The memorial of Flight 93 will be at the crash sight in Pennsylvania where people can go and remember the 40 different men and women who gave up their lives on that fateful day. The memorial wants to impact people and to inspire them to be heroic like the passengers of flight 93. It will span across 2,200 acres and will have have a field of honor, wetlands, 40 memorial groves (representing each passenger), and a learning center which will have interactive exhibits using the latest audio and visual technology. To exit the memorial you have to go through the tower of voices, which is wind chimes that are set 93 feet high with 40 wind chimes in total. This will represent the courage of each and every passenger on the plane on their voices and decisions they made on that day.

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American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington-Dulles International Airport crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. William Lagasse, Chadwick Brooks, and Donald Brennan were Pentagon police officers on duty at the time of the attack. Lagasse was in the process of refueling his police car when the American Airliner flew past him so low that its wind blast knocked him into his vehicle. The third officer, Donald Brennan, described standing in jet fuel amidst the wreckage and bodies of the deceased. In this audio of his interview on November 18, 2001, he told of how he attempted to rescue people in a section of the Pentagon before it collapsed.

Police Officer on Duty Audio Clip

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Sam Kaplan had the honor of capturing still life images of objects on display at the National September 11 Memorial Museum. These images where used in an interactive storytelling piece in the Washington Post titled: “Artifacts of Loss and Courage: Objects from the Pentagon at the 9/11 Museum.”

*More photos

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French researcher Eric Bart posted on his website an extensive compilation of eyewitness accounts of the September 11th attack. The compilation, perhaps the most complete anywhere, is mirrored here.

Eric's compilation is in two parts:1. eyewitness accounts2. press reports

Entries within each part are alphabetically sorted.

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The American flag (shown above) was destroyed in the 9/11 tragedy. Seven years after 9/11, the American flag was pieced back together, using donated flags from survivors and people around the world. The American flag was finished being stitched together on May 21, 2014, and will be on display in the National September 11th Museum, in New York, by the end of the summer of 2015. On display, the various American flags pieced together, will symbolize strength and support.

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At 8:46am, a plane crashed into the North Tower. When the firefighters on the Ladder 3 truck arrived on scene, they immediately called for a five alarm fire, which sent a request for additional fire engines and firefighters. By 9am, there were about 235 members of the FDNY on scene. At 9:03am, another plane crashed into the South Tower, but this did not slow down the men of Ladder 3. The men of Ladder 3 put on 100+ pounds of gear and clothes, and trenched through the North Tower. While in the North Tower, they received news of the second crash, and headed towards the South Tower. At 10:28am, the North Tower collapsed and killed the 11 Ladder 3 firefighters. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on the scene, with 346 active and inactive firefighters of the FDNY. Members of Ladder 3 who died trying to save the lives of others included: Patrick John Brown, Michael T. Carroll, James Raymond Coyle, Gerard P. Dewan, Kevin W. Donnelly, Jeffrey John Giordano, Joseph E. Maloney, John Kevin McAvoy, Timothy Patrick McSweeney, Joseph J. Ogren, and also Steven John Olson.

Heroes

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The FDNY Ladder 3 fire truck (shown above) was on the scene when the North Tower collapsed. As the North Tower came tumbling down, the Ladder 3 fire truck was smashed. The truck, cab and ladders were all contaminated. Ladder 3’s truck was so badly damaged, that it could not be repaired. On July 11, 2011 Ladder 3’s fire truck was hung upside down and draped with a flag while it was lowered into its new home, the National September 11th Memorial & Museum. This memorial stands where the twin towers had fallen. While the original Ladder 3 fire truck was on its way to the museum, the new Ladder 3 truck escorted it.

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Standards• 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical

maps and other historical sources. • 16.A.4a Analyze and report historical events to determine cause- and-

effect relationships.• 16.A.4b Compare competing historical interpretations of an event. • 17.B.3b Explain how changes in components of an ecosystem affect the

system overall. • 17.D.3a Explain how and why spatial patterns of settlement change over

time.

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Resources• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmedslmeiUc

• http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/oralhistories/explosions.html

• http://www.september11news.com/Flight93Hijackers.jpg

• http://www.honorflight93.org/presskit/index.html

• http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/september11/file.html

• http://www.candacegelman.com/2014/06/25/sam-kaplan-shoots-911-museum-objects-for-washington-post/

• http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/911_pentagon_eyewitnesses.html

• http://www.911memorial.org/sites/all/files/imagecache/blog_post_medium/blog/images/51228514481998212_K4et5lWC_f.jpg

• http://national911flag.org

• http://www.911memorial.org/sites/all/files/TheFinalRunofLadder3_0.pdf

• http://www.911memorial.org/sites/all/files/TheFinalRunofLadder3_0.pdf

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017061/Fallen-9-11-Ladder-Company-3-engine-returns-Ground-Zero-years-lowered-new-memorial-home.html

• http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/national-september-11-memorial-museum-n105646

• https://www.911memorial.org

• http://www.firstpost.com/world/eyewitness-accounts-from-inside-the-wtc-towers-on-911-posted-online-1104049.html

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