BY DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY
Would you believe about one-third of Americans are too young to have any personal memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks? It’s also hard to fathom that 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of that horrendous day.
In 2001, I was working from my home near Grimes that Tuesday morning, writing articles for AgWeb.com. My landline phone rang shortly before 9 a.m. My colleague demanded that I turn on the TV.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I went to the living room and grabbed the remote control. Like millions of other Americans, I watched in disbelief as a second airplane hit the World Trade Center. I couldn’t turn away as more updates came in. Something hit the Pentagon! A plane crashed in Pennsylvania! What next? Would one hit Chicago? Omaha?
In the days ahead, we learned that terrorist attacks had left nearly 3,000 people dead in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
A day no one will ever forget
I recently asked my friends and acquaintances about their memories of 9/11.
“I was working in the Sac County courthouse,” said JoAnn Ellerbrock of Lytton. “I heard the breaking news on the radio when the first plane hit. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Our son was in college. I remember calling to check on him. It was kind of like when I was in grade school, and our superintendent told us President Kennedy had been shot.”
Jon Hollatz, a Garner-area farmer, was hauling old-crop corn to town. “The news came across the radio tuned to KWMT 540 AM in the ‘69 Ford straight truck. My grandpa and I turned on the TV during the lunch hour. That day reminded him of Pearl Harbor in 1941.”
Katie Daniel, whose family farms in Carroll County, was eating breakfast when the morning news was interrupted. “It sounded like an accident involving one of the World Trade Center towers. Within minutes, the second plane came, and terrorism was mentioned. I was in disbelief the rest of the day and was praying through it all.”
Sac City-area farmer Gary Langbein was headed to the Clay County Fair when he heard the news on the radio. “We found out it was not an accident. A lot of people at the fair were watching all the TVs for sale at the vendors’ booths. I remember some people were worried that the fair might get hit.”
For Lake City-area farmer Barb Richardson and her husband, Eric, Sept. 11 started as an ideal day to chop corn silage. “The weather was so perfect. Not too hot, and the sky was a bright blue with the prettiest puffy clouds. When the first plane hit, I heard the news over KWMT. We only had AM radios in those straight trucks. It sounded like a tragic accident. And then the next plane hit the towers, and the third into the Pentagon. My mother-in-law videotaped the news broadcasts, so we could watch them later.”
Melanie (Hjelm) Bloom, the ag teacher and FFA advisor at Sioux Rapids High School, was a senior at Iowa State University. “Some friends met me after class and filled me in. I remember how quiet the campus was, maybe an hour after the attacks happened. The phone lines were so busy it was hard to get a call home.”
Remembering why it still matters
What a different world that was.
Today, a quarter century later, we must never forget the tragic day that changed America. We must continue to share our memories so those born after 9/11 learn its significance and enduring legacy.
What are your memories of 9/11? Email me at yettergirl@yahoo.com.
Darcy Dougherty Maulsby lives near her family’s Century Farm northwest of Lake City. Visit her at www.darcymaulsby.com.
