25 Years Later - Remembering 9/11
The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville is a time to remember those who lost their lives, honor survivors and their families, recognize the extraordinary efforts of first responders and relief workers, and reinforce the importance of preparedness, resilience and service in our communities.
This 25th anniversary also is an important moment to remember and recognize the tremendous work by so many Red Cross staff and volunteers to respond to a nation facing a new normal after a series of attacks that had been considered unimaginable.
The American Red Cross Alumni Network (ARCAN) asked those who responded to 9/11 to share their memories and stories from those days, when one of the worst days for our nation brought out the best of its people.
ARCAN thanks everyone with the Red Cross across the country who responded to 9/11; and we are grateful to those who have shared their stories 25 years later.
Earl Johnson
NHQ and Spiritual Care Aviation Incident Response (SAIR) Team
I moved from lower Manhattan to Arlington, Virginia, on September 9, 2001. I looked back on the Twin Towers after transiting the Holland Tunnel glimmering in the light from the sunset. I was in our backyard in Arlington when I heard the plane hit the Pentagon. Seven World Trade Center fell on my classroom where I taught at Borough of Manhattan Community College. I joined the American Red Cross national headquarters soon after to manage disaster spiritual care and join work that continued supporting families and loved ones in New York City, Arlington, and Shanksville. I would be at NHQ for the next ten years. I worked next to Jane Morgan and Susan Hamilton. It has been the honor of my lifetime serving those so profoundly impacted by the events of September 11th.
Katharine Kim
The Pentagon and WTC
People ask why I'm getting a little (a lot) sentimental on this 25th anniversary of September 11. I was at the Pentagon about 5 hours after it was hit. It was my first day as a Red Cross Disaster Relief volunteer, after five and a half years as a communicator and fundraiser for the Arlington County Chapter. I handed out water, snacks, and sometimes hugs to military personnel and first responders who were still standing in the wreckage of that morning. One of our own Red Cross volunteers was the mother of one of the pilots on the plane that hit the building we were standing outside of. A few months later, I was deployed to the World Trade Center site -- this time in disaster public affairs, helping people affected by 9/11 get help, and helping people who weren't affected figure out how they could give help.
Louie Avila
Greater New York Chapter – Immediately deployed to the Twin Towers
I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you from the [affected] Chapter perspective. As one of the 5 of us that ran from the towers and had to shake the dust off and keep going, all of you that came in support of us, and those affected will never be forgotten. I truly believe many of you saved lives by the work you did- including those of us working the operation in our backyard. Regards to all my friends and colleagues.
Stephanie Millian
Biomedical Communications, NHQ
I'll never forget September 11, 2001. I was at my desk in the New England Region when the attacks occurred. Within hours, people were lined up outside blood donation centers across the country, eager to help. As the blood supply quickly became strong and it became clear there would be few survivors needing transfusions, I believed it was important to communicate honestly with the public. I issued a press release throughout New England encouraging people to support the response in other meaningful ways rather than continue donating blood unnecessarily. It was a reminder that our responsibility isn't just to inspire people to act—it's also to provide clear, accurate guidance when circumstances change.
Cristina Hammond
New Hampshire/Vermont Chapter - 6-12-2002
I went to New York City October 5 as a volunteer member of the American Red Cross’s Disaster Services Human Response team and was assigned for 25 days to a Respite Center in the Marriott Financial Center, 85 West St.—2 buildings south of the south tower. I spent my days with the workers at ground zero - police, fire, construction, sanitation, FEMA, OSHA, Secret Service, FBI, Army, Navy -to name a few. What I remember most, what I'd like to share with you, are images - small snapshots of my time there that assailed my senses and touched my soul.
Most of my images are studies in contrast, yet from contrast I've found balance. A few of the special images that come to mind: The day I arrived at the Marriott was the first day it opened as a Respite Center. Coming in the door of this upscale hotel we had to step over debris and navigate around newly placed electrical cables and special salvage equipment there to dry out the building. We had no heat or air conditioning, no clean water, inconsistent electricity, and everything that wasn't filthy was covered with plastic. But by days end, we had served 7000 meals to the workers at ground zero, given out untold numbers of hard hats, respirators, clean socks, overalls, boots, and other equipment, and had turned banquet and meeting rooms into sleeping areas, first aid, counseling and relaxation rooms.
One of the strongest visual images was of a young black army reservist who came in one day needing to rest. At over 6 feet, dressed in battle fatigues and armed, he was by all accounts the picture of health, masculinity and raw power. I escorted him to our sleeping area, and he asked if I would wake him in 15 minutes. When I returned to do so, I found him fast asleep, with combat boots, gun and equipment neatly stacked next to the cot, lying curled up on his side naked from the waist up and hugging a donated white teddy bear.
Another image was auditory: After a week or so, we set up a row of donated video games in the "Oasis room" our relaxation area. I didn't think much of it until two men started playing some car racing game and we suddenly heard them laugh - a sound most of us hadn't heard in days or weeks there. We looked at each other and smiled. Sometimes a simple look said a lot.
Once while carrying a load of supplies through the respite center, I dropped something as I passed a group of exhausted firemen quietly waiting in chairs for a turn with the chiropractor or massage therapist. Before I could retrieve the fallen item, the fireman closest to me jumped up, came over, picked it up and placed it back on the pile of things I was carrying. He was already turning away as I said, "Thank you" then he stopped, looked me in the eye and, after a long pause, said, "No, thank you. We don't know how we'd do this without you."
Who were some of the extraordinary people working there, "doing this" with me? A manager at the Marriott who was there September 11th and who hadn't slept since but came to work with us every day asking what he could do to make our job easier. The two old Italian construction workers who made it a point to find me and say "hello" and "thank you" every day at lunch. The young firefighter who had been searching every day - he was off on September 11th and lost every person on his shift. There were the Otis Elevator maintenance men who worked tirelessly to repair elevator after elevator after elevator…. The Puerto Rican maid who came daily – always with a smile on her face - to help clean the restrooms for us and who cried the day I left. The construction foreman who left his crew on the 85th floor of tower 2 at 8:30 in the morning to go check on another site - he was back every day to honor his friends and co- workers.
When I think of last fall, I picture New England at the height of foliage season - crisp fall air, the smell of freshly baked apple pies, and the laughter of children jumping in piles of colorful leaves. I shift my focus to Time Square (where my hotel was) – here your senses are equally assaulted by color and sound and life but it's quite a contrast from Hanover. Finally, I picture lower Manhattan 3 weeks after the collapse of the twin towers. The air is acrid; everything is covered with a thick coat of dust. It’s the dust of 21st century life, the crushed remnants of concrete, wallboard, glass, and metal, of desks and chairs and computers and wiring and - human beings. It’s the dust of 21st century death. The images there didn’t just assault your senses; they violated your senses and your sensibilities.
How can man do this to man? How can we survive and go on? How will our lives change? Man does these things because we are capable of turning passionate hatreds into heinous actions. We will survive and go on because man is capable of turning passionate goodness into heroic acts. Our passions and actions are no more new than our fears and inactions. The world is not a different place nor are we a different people but we've just been tragically reminded of how precious and fragile life is, how strong the human spirit is, and that it is our responsibility to live in a way that honors each of us and never forgets.
I went to New York with an emptiness in me. I had lost my faith in mankind and was fearful for our future. I came back from New York with strengthened faith. I was humbled by what I saw and who I met and by the privilege of being a Red Cross worker, an American, a human being. Thank you for allowing me to serve and supporting me while I did so.
Anna Caldwell
Arlington County Chapter; NHQ DOCC
When 9/11 hit, I worked in IT at National Headquarters. We were having an off-site at my director’s house. Someone called and said we were under attack, to turn on the TV. We did and watched the second tower fall. We sat in stunned silence for what seemed like a long time but was probably just a few moments, and then Mary Schafle, who supported Disaster Services, said quietly, "I need to go" and left for the DOCC. The rest of us stayed long enough to hear about the Pentagon, and then we all left one by one and headed home.
I remember driving home looking furtively at the sky. I had been working at Jefferson Park for a little over a year, and my customer was Health & Safety Services. Cristina Vetrano and I were working on the first pilot of online learning for teaching H&S classes. When the attack occurred, I think many of us felt initially at loose ends. How could we help?
The Arlington County chapter was the focal point for the Pentagon response and was also one of our blended learning pilot chapters, and Cristina and I called our contact there. We asked how we could help, and they said they needed "intelligent people to answer the damned phones" and that's what we did. A blur of days of answering phones, trying to connect the public to ways they could help, eating sandwiches made by well-meaning co-eds and cupcakes and cookies baked by scouting groups, hauling donated food at the end of the everyday to local shelters.
From there I joined an IT rotation in the DOCC. Armed with a list of phone numbers for all the software developers for every platform Disaster Services, used along with an equally long list of acronyms for the systems and services they supported. If anything went wrong with a system, my job was to track down the person accountable for that system. I knew very little about Disaster Services, about the complexities of a response. I remember being nervous, hoping I would be fast enough, knowing how important every cog in the wheel really was.
Maybe ten days after the attack, Cristina and I were on a plane to continue our pilot work for blended learning. Getting on a plane no longer felt like a normal thing to do. I remember walking through the airport, stunned when I first encountered a soldier, automatic weapon across his chest. Nobody was smiling. A sea of fatigues and guns surrounded us as we clumsily attempted to comply with a host of new security requirements. There were barely any people on that first flight. I studied every face as I walked down the aisle to take my seat. I bet they were studying my face, too. I spent the entire flight wondering what I would do if we were hijacked, and flinching every time someone got up to use the restroom.
Bee Kong
Red Cross youth volunteer in Long Beach, CA – served as blood donor ambassador
I was a youth volunteer when 9/11 happened, the summer before starting undergrad at UCLA. I remember seeing the news and feeling helpless to do something, so I went to my local Red Cross chapter in Long Beach, CA and saw the longest line of people waiting to donate blood because they wanted a way to give back. I helped volunteer as a donor ambassador that day and became an employee in 2005 after graduating. 25 years later, I'm serving as the Executive Director for our Western Los Angeles Chapter and appreciate my time as a youth volunteer being involved in meaningful service and 9/11 was part of that journey. Proud to be a Red Crosser and be connected to each of you in service.
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