9/11 in Gander

Dorsey, a dear friend of mine raved about a musical “Come from Away” and urged me to see it. I love watching plays, but sometimes the cost is more than we can afford to pay. This is the case with this play coming to our city. I was disappointed, but decided to buy the book instead. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim Defede took me back to the day the Twin Towers came down. I remember clearly being at a hotel adjacent to the Cleveland Hopkins airport for a Continuing Education training with other IRS Agents. At our first break I ventured to a lobby area where a TV was on, right after the first plane hit. I lamented about the poor passengers and the people in the plane. Then the second plane hit, and that lament turned to horror; this was no accident. As we all watched the happenings of the two remaining planes the training ceased. Since we were government agents and there were so many of us in one place, it was decided to disperse to our homes. There our eyes were glued to the TV with our families.

This book gave me a different perspective through the eyes of pilots and passengers who were prevented from entering U.S. airspace and had to be diverted to other non U.S. locations. Thirty-eight planes and 6,595 people landed in Gander, Newfoundland. The stories of the “plane people” and the Canadians that opened their arms to them for several days were tragic, heartwarming, and inspiring.

Juel A. Fitzgerald has a degree in English and is a Toastmaster trained public speaker, loves to travel, walk long distances with friends, and is a driving instructor for teens. She writes in four blogs and is the author of “Lives of a Gem! God’s Treasured Possession”, “Bible Trek: Reading the Bible in Thirteen Weeks”, and “The Twelve: Fishers of Men”.