The View From Here September 10, 2002 NEBRASKA & 9/11 A look back at Nebraska on 9/11 and an inspirational plane ride By Jim D. Berryman MissingNebraska.com Editor Red. Elevated. Orange. Heightened. Extreme. The latest terror alerts from the U.S. government have us all on edge, but before September 11, 2001, these words could have easily been used to describe the Nebraska football team. For example, The Big Red, elevated from an extreme blowout over Penn St., now in a heightened position for Orange Bowl berth. Ok, so I’m pushing it, but my how times have changed. One year since the terrible terrorist attacks on America and we’re getting that awful queasy feeling we had one year ago. At least that seems to be the case amongst people here in the greater New York metropolitan area. The news media and government warnings certainly don’t help the situation. The big 3 cable television networks (CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC) are in a bitter battle for terror ratings. Each one is guilty of trying to top the other in terms of “Breaking News”. They issue advisories at the drop of a hat these days. I remember back when “Breaking News” meant something on CNN. It was a huge deal. Today, Vice President Dick Cheney sneezes and news directors at cable news networks are yelling “Put up the Breaking News graphic!” Even though I’m in the general industry as the broadcast networks, and a loyal viewer of cable news, I think the networks are fighting so hard against each other for ratings that it makes them forget what they’re doing to the people who are listening to their messages. On September 11… I was in Nebraska on September 11, 2001. I had been in Lincoln for the Notre Dame football game and enjoyed a terrific time. Lincoln was alive with activity on Friday night before the Husker-Irish game. So much so, “O” Street was closed for a few hours because of mobs of Husker partiers. It was great to savor a Husker victory against much-hated Notre Dame. On the following Tuesday, what happened over Notre Dame weekend didn’t matter. I was in disbelief over the immediate response of Nebraskans to what happened that day. Most had never been to New York or Washington D.C., yet everyone was out doing something to help. I think about what I saw in Lincoln those three days after 9/11 on a regular basis, and will never forget it. I later found out that these scenes were repeated across the country. Being about an hour and a half from Ground Zero on September 11, 2002 feels much different than Nebraska did last year. When I saw the first plane hit on video from my mom’s living room in Lincoln, (I did not see the planes crash live, but saw the towers collapse live) New York seemed so far away. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had this sense of urgency to “get home”, then realized I was. Today, what happened on 9/11/01 makes me miss Nebraska. I was glad to be stuck in Lincoln with family and friends during the few days of waiting for a flight out of Lincoln. It was a good place to be at a time like that. I was in constant phone contact with everyone from my father in Wyoming to friends in Connecticut finding out what was happening closer to the scene. Finally able to get out of Lincoln on the Friday after 9/11, I connected with a flight to Hartford in St. Louis. On the flight from St. Louis, I witnessed the reason America is stronger today than we were last September 10. On that particular Friday, airports in New York and Boston were still closed. Hartford was open. My plane was filled with people from Boston, but mostly New Yorkers trying desperately to get home from business trips and vacations. We were still sitting on the plane at the gate in St. Louis when I overheard a group of Brooklyn women across the aisle from me making friends with a New York couple in the seats in front of them. They all decided to rent a car from Hartford to New York and drive together. Then he walked on the plane. The New York City firefighter. He had his engine ladder company 13 proudly across his chest and back on a t-shirt. Everyone in the plane took notice of him, slight in stature and bulk, but so visible in his FDNY t-shirt. He sat next to me in the aisle seat. It was his assigned seat. I guess the last thing I expected on that day was to be sitting next to a New York City fireman on a plane in St. Louis after watching non-stop coverage of what happened to his firefighter buddies. He had been in Las Vegas on vacation on September 11, and had just settled into bed after a night of gambling and partying in the casinos. It was about 4 a.m. when he went to bed Las Vegas time. The phone woke him up at 5:45 a.m. He had checked out of his hotel by 6:30. The NYC firefighter had been on a bus from Las Vegas to St. Louis, and finally found Lambert Field to be open with a flight going somewhere close to New York. He told me that at that time, three of the men from his fire station were missing and feared dead. I’m sure the numbers went higher in later days. He said he felt guilty for being so far away and having a good time during the attacks. He commented on how friendly Nebraskans were to him on his bus trip across Nebraska. Needless to say, he began hearing the New Yorkers’ conversations in the seats across the aisle from us. He joined the conversation. He wanted in on the Hartford to New York car pool. He was laughing. They were smiling. The scene just kept developing. The co-pilot of the plane came back and told the group of New Yorkers that a flight attendant told him about their New York car pool. He said that he could get everybody a deal on their rental car as long as he could come with them. “I just wanted to be with some New Yorkers right now,” he said. The group accepted his offer, were glad to have him join the car pool, and firmed up plans. The co-pilot went back to the cockpit. The fireman tried to get a little sleep. The women from Brooklyn talked about all they could do when they got home. And me…a Nebraska boy who had always heard about rude, crass New Yorkers…had a lump in my throat and smile on my face. There sitting on that TWA plane were a group of New Yorkers who had never met before, coming together in the face of tragedy, determined to get back home to begin putting their city back together. That’s when I knew America was going to be all right. We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences about 9/11. Feedback September 11, 2001: We Will NEVER Forget