Just like on Sept. 11, 2001, millions of Americans will be wondering today what they should do.
One year ago, terrorist hijackers crashed four passenger aircraft, destroying the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, damaging the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and killing hundreds more airplane passengers in a crash in an open field in Pennsylvania.
While all this was happening, the people of South Whidbey were watching, transfixed in front of their television sets and wondering what would happen next. Thousands of miles away from the events on the East Coast, Whidbey Island remained physically unaffected by the events of 9/11. Emotionally, however, many are still scarred by what they saw that day.
Hal Seligson, a former New York City hospital administrator who moved to South Whidbey in May, has a unique perspective on the events of 9/11. Calling today’s anniversary of the event “unnatural and unprecedented,” he said he can still remember the smell and sight of the falling towers, and the hours of waiting at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for the flood of injured patients that never came.
Noting that he, like the rest of his South Whidbey neighbors, are insulated in a way from what happened a year ago, he said he will not forget the day the towers fell.
“One doesn’t completely leave it behind,” he said.
To say Whidbey Island was unaffected by 9/11 would not be entirely true. Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley said his agency had to deal with the fear rampant in the aftermath. When anthrax started showing up in a number of locations around the nation after 9/11, sheriff’s deputies and detectives were busy tracking down dozens of anthrax hoaxes in Island County.
At the same time, actual crime dropped noticeably for more than a month after the tragedy.
Hawley expects the same feeling of calm on the island during this first anniversary. His agency has received no warnings from the federal government or any other agency of possible violent activity today.
“We’re not expecting anything at this point,” he said.
Neither are the county’s other emergency services. T.J. Harmon, Island County’s former director of emergency management, said nothing could be like the day of the terrorist attacks. On 9/11, Harmon was on her honeymoon, far away from television, radio and newspapers. She first heard about the attacks from her brother and, at first, did not believe him.
When she got back to Island County, she found the county’s emergency and police services dealing with a barrage of phone calls from “very frightened people.” But as the days wore on and the edge came off the fear, Harmon said most callers to her office and to the county’s 911 system had only one question.
“They kept asking ‘What can I do to help,?” she said.
Some people knew what they could and had to do to help. Red Cross volunteers from Island County headed to the East Coast to work in teams with victims of the attacks and their families.
Don Cronk, a Red Cross volunteer who lives in Greenbank, headed for New York City with his wife, Kaye, to help anyone they could. They counseled and assisted people whose apartments had been damaged or destroyed by debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers. In the process, they discovered that some people — those who lived, worked, ate and enjoyed recreation in the few blocks around the World Trade Center — had no idea what to do after the attacks.
“It was one of the most tender, fascinating and emotional experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” Cronk said.
What this year’s anniversary means to people on Whidbey Island may depend on the person. A number of gatherings in churches and downtown Langley will draw people who need to remember. A sea of blue uniforms is also expected to be moving from one event to the next as Fire District 3 volunteers turn out to mark the sacrifices of their colleagues in New York.
Cronk said he knows what will be on his mind today. It’s the same thing that’s been on his mind for the past 12 months.
“Every day that goes by and nothing happens, I’m grateful,” he said.
