9/11 attack: Remembering when the world watched America come under attack, two decades on

Steven Walker was later handed a 21-month suspended sentence in 2004 for admitting the manslaughter of a 71-year-old woman at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Yet even as Gazette readers were settling down to read the story about the surgeon and shaking out the pages of the paper, an event was starting to unfold across the Atlantic that would be felt across the entire world.

A co-ordinated set of attacks by the terrorist group al-Qaeda saw four commercial airliners hijacked by 19 members of the militant Islamist organisation.

Following the first plane hitting the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8.46am (1.46pm GMT) the world watched as horrific footage and images were shown throughout the following hours, days and weeks.

The attacks on the United States resulted in 2,977 fatalities – the single-deadliest terror attack in history – causing international outrage and leading to then US President George W. Bush’s war on terror.

Ceremonies at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, the Pentagon and Stonycreek, Pennsylvania – the site of the attacks – are set to take place today.

Because of how devastating the events were, many people can remember where they were when they heard about the attacks and recollect their memories of the day.

Coun Tony Williams, leader of the Conservatives on Blackpool Council was working at Blackpool Zoo at the time and recalled how dozens of staff crowded round a sole television to watch the news unfold.

He said: “Everyone remembers where they were on certain days in modern history.

“I was a very young musician rehearsing in the Queens Ballroom in Cleveleys when I heard about JFK being shot.

“On December the 8 th 1980 I’d just stepped out of the shower when I was told John Lennon had been killed. And I was celebrating my birthday in Italy when I heard the news about Elvis.

“On September 11, 2001 I was sitting at my desk eating my lunch In Blackpool Zoo where I was head of marketing when the Zoo’s director Iain Valentine came into my office telling me to switch the TV set on adding that a plane had hit the World Trade Centre.

“At first, I thought he had meant a small light aircraft had accidentally crashed into the building, but as the pictures and the news started to appear on the TV Screen the horror and reality of the situation was there for the world to see.

“As we watched the scene unfold, we at first didn’t relate the situation to a terrorist attack and we thought it was just a freak accident.

“By this time my office was crammed with zoo staff watching the incredible images on the zoo’s only office TV set. As we watched the unbelievable scenes that were being transmitted from New York we suddenly saw a Boeing 767 slam into the South tower.

“Everyone at the zoo was shocked and an audible gasp filled the room as we all realised that America was in fact under attack.

“Not much office work was done that day as we continued to watch the devastating collapse of the towers and the carnage that ensued.

“Those images and the sounds of sirens together with the horrors we were witnessing are burned indelibly into my memory.

“The following Year Iain Valentine and I were travelling to Arkansas to conduct some elephant research and we changed aircraft at Newark Airport which is on the other side of the Hudson River.

“It was late at night and in the second part of our journey the aircraft took off and flew down the river adjacent to Manhattan.

“Ground Zero could be seen out of the aircraft window and they had erected two huge spotlights which emanated from the sites of the two towers shining up into the night sky emulating the presence of the now non-existent towers.

“There was an eery silence on the aircraft as we flew over this living memorial to the hundreds of innocents who had perished below. It was a very poignant and extremely moving experience.”

Blackpool Mayor, Amy Cross, encouraged the resort’s residents to spare a minute today to remember the victims of the attacks.

She said: “September 11 is a date that we have permanently imprinted on our minds. We remember those that lost their lives or had their lives changed irreparably forever.

“Can I take this opportunity to say we remember the damage extremism has on our communities both here and across the globe and uniting our communities is how we fight back.

“I will be taking the time to remember those affected by 9/11 on Saturday by having a minute silence at home. I would ask others, who feel able, to do the same.”

Blackpool South MP, Scott Benton, said even 20 years on it is ‘vital’ that homegrown terrorism must be rooted out of the UK.

He said: “I’ll never forget getting home and putting the TV on to see the harrowing scenes of 9/11. Those people who tragically lost their lives, including 67 British Citizens, will always be in our thoughts.

“The UK can be extremely proud of its contribution in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to the British personnel who served there and we will remember the brave British, US and allied soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

“The recent events in Afghanistan have firmly brought this back to the fore. People will reflect on whether the world is a safer place 20 years on, but it’s clear the threat from those opposed to our way of life is as real as ever. This is evidenced by several terrorist attacks, and numerous thwarted attempts, on the UK in recent years. It is vital we continue to drive out homegrown terrorism and our foreign policy must ensure countries cannot become breeding grounds for terror.”

How Gazette reporters remember the day:

Shelagh Parkinson, Local 
Democracy Reporter

“I was on my way back from interviewing someone for a story when news broke on the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers.

“Like many, I assumed this to be a small aircraft until I arrived back into the newsroom where images were already being broadcast on TV.

“There was complete disbelief at the scale of the disaster, and at that stage no-one knew if this was a devastating accident or an attack.

“Everyone was already in shock when the second plane crashed into the South Tower and we realised these were deliberate acts. As the tragedy unfolded it was impossible to take in the enormity of what was happening.

“For me it was particularly difficult to comprehend as just months previously I had stood on the top of the World Trade Centre as a tourist.

“In February that year on a holiday to New York with my husband Clive we had travelled up to the observation deck on the 107th floor of the South Tower called Top of the World.

“Before ascending we had bought lunch from one of the ground floor kiosks, queuing alongside workers, and people watching as we ate our food.

“It was sad to think some of those people had probably been caught up in this terrible tragedy less than seven months later.”

Tim Gavell, Business Reporter

“The newsroom of the Lancashire Post had 24 hour news rolling on the TV screens dotted about the office. It was a bright, calm autumn day outside, and many of us were looking forward to getting some fresh air in a late lunchtime walk.

“When the first reports of an aircraft hitting one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York it piqued our interest, with most thinking it would be a light aircraft, possibly a tourist flight gone wrong. When the first pictures came through of the fire on the upper floors of the North Tower, there was a sudden realisation that this might be serious. What about those trapped above? Will it be like Towering Inferno with rope rescues and a helicopter?

“The increasingly confused reports coming out of America began to seem like there was something bigger about the incident and many of us gathered on and off around the TVs to watch. Seventeen minutes later we saw the moment that changed our world.

“An airliner arced into picture and flew straight into the South Tower with a splash of flame and smoke. The normally boisterous newsroom was stunned into silence.

“At that moment we all realised this was a deliberate, horrifying act of terrorism. An attack on our way of life.

“As we all watched the horrific story unfold throughout the next minutes, none of us realised just how bad the fire and damage was and when, an hour and forty two minutes after the first impact, the first tower collapsed in a cascade of smoke and dust we stood there with our hands over our mouths. The pictures from New York that afternoon were at once horrifying and compelling.

“We knew it was the biggest story since the Second World War. The rest of the day flew by in a blur of writing, phoning, contacting anyone we knew who was in the US at the time.

“Once the newspapers were put to bed, only then could we properly reflect on what had happened. The worst Terrorist atrocity since the war. The finger pointed at Al Qaeda and we knew that there could only be more bloodshed to come.”

Tony Durkin, Lytham St Annes

“The memory of that day is still crystal clear. I was between Gazette stints at the time and working producing a trade newspaper in a St Annes ground floor office.

“I was still a few months away from my first mobile phone and the internet was in its infancy but turned to the BBC site when a colleague returned from lunch to,say he had heard on the radio about some kind of major emergency in New York.

“We looked in disbelief at the accounts and images which gradually emerged and tried to find out more via radio and then the office TV.

“Disbelief is still the over-riding impression from that Tuesday afternoon our time - it looked like scenes from a movie, but tragically all too real and we wondered what on earth might follow.”