Free The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede Page B

his father. McKeon’s father was a firefighter for thirty-five years in West New York, a town just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. There wasn’t a place in town from which you couldn’t see the towers.
    “Are the towers really gone?” McKeon asked his father.
    “They’re all gone,” he said.
    “And the firefighters?”
    “Yeah,” his father said mournfully.
    Hearing it from his father was the first time McKeon believed the unimaginable had happened.
     
     
    M oving around the plane, Vitale had an idea. He was a talk-radio junkie who loved listening to the stations in the city. The pilot was probably right; parked on the ground, they couldn’t pick up most commercial radio stations, but Vitale knew 770 AM, WABC, had a particularly strong signal and at night could be heard as far away as Maine.
    Maybe tonight they’d be able to pick it up in Newfoundland.
    The pilot, Tom Carroll, was willing to try and gingerly played with the dials on the receiver. The copilot was seated next to him and several flight attendants were also in the cockpit, as was Vitale. Carroll could feel their eyes staring at him as he tried to locate the right frequency. At first all he could find was static, but when he struck upon the New York station, a small cheer erupted in the cockpit. Before the celebration went too far, they were floored by the words spilling out of the speakers. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, were thought to be dead. For hours they remained glued to the radio.
    At 10 P.M. in Gander, Vitale, the pilot, and the crew huddled in the dimly lit cockpit and listened to the president’s address to the nation.
    Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror .
     
    The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong .
     
    A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve…
     
    Listening to the president’s speech, Vitale was in a state of shock. How could this be happening? he thought to himself. How could somebody do this? Staring out the pilot’s window, he looked across a darkened airfield, which only added to his sense of isolation. He felt overwhelmed. Tears welled up in his eyes.
    America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining .
     
    Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America—with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could…
     
    Standing in the doorway of the cockpit was McKeon. As the president spoke, he couldn’t help but imagine that this must have been what it was like for his parents and grandparents during World War II. Gathered around a radio, learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and then listening to the president, searching for hope and strength in his words.
    The search is under way for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor