Remembering September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001 I was away from home. My job had taken me to Omaha, Nebraska to help manage a roofing company working claims as a result of a large hail storm. The night before, I arrived back from spending a three day weekend with my family. As usual, I was at the office very early in the morning, making sure the crews knew where to go and had the materials they needed for their jobs. As I was getting everything organized for the day, my friend John called me and told me the news that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center in New York.

Immediately one of my associates and I began listening to a portable radio that picked up the local NBC television station. We listened as the Today Show reported another plane flying into the other building. Someone went and bought a television and brought it to the office, sadly in time to watch buildings collapse, fires burn, and lives lost.

Within hours, Omaha was swarming with military jets. As the center for the Strategic Air Command, this city in the plains of Nebraska became part of 911 history. Later in the day, the President would fly into Offutt Air Force Base for a brief meeting.

Being away from home was very unusual during a crisis and the most difficult. I wanted to go home. For the victims and families of 911, they also wanted to go back home. To the home they knew before a day an ordinary September 11, became known as 911.