StoryCorps Presents: The Lasting Toll Of 9/11
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2021
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
In this episode, a special collaboration between NPR and StoryCorps, we hear stories about the lasting toll of 9/11, recorded by StoryCorps in partnership with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. You can learn more about that initiative and find out how you can record your reflections on the life of a loved one at storycorps.org/september11.
Also in this episode: the story of how an Afghan translator's life was shaped by 20 years of conflict in his home country, culminating in a desperate attempt to help his family escape. Said Noor's story first aired on Morning Edition and was originally produced by Steve Inskeep, Arezou Rezvani, and Danny Hajek. More here.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One morning, 20 years ago, a dullest international airport, two men were running late for their flight, so late they almost didn't make it. |
| 0:08.0 | But at the American Airlines Check-in Desk, an employee was helpful. He worked efficiently, running through the security questions. |
| 0:14.0 | Did you pack your bag yourself? Has it been with you the whole time? |
| 0:18.0 | Well, the two men made it on board Flight 77 to LA that day. |
| 0:23.0 | The airline employee, Vaughn Alex, had done his job. |
| 0:27.0 | I didn't know what I had done. It wasn't until the next day, September 12th, that I started finding out what happened. |
| 0:35.0 | Back at the airport, on September 12th, someone handed Alex the flight manifest. |
| 0:40.0 | I just stared at it for a second, and then I looked up, I go, I did it. Didn't I? |
| 0:46.0 | As Alex would come to learn about half an hour after takeoff in the air over South Eastern Ohio, Flight 77 had turned around. |
| 0:54.0 | I checked in a family, it was a retiree and his wife. I had time to talk to them. |
| 1:00.0 | By 9 a.m., the plane was heading back east, descending from 35,000 feet. |
| 1:05.0 | There was a student group, and I checked in a lot of those kids and parents' teachers. |
| 1:11.0 | At 934, the plane made a looping descent, miles from Washington, D.C., and minutes later, nose down, traveling 530 miles per hour, |
| 1:21.0 | Flight 77 crashed into the side of the Pentagon. |
| 1:25.0 | And they were gone. They were just all gone. |
| 1:31.0 | 189 people were killed, including the two men Vaughn Alex had checked into the flight that day. They were among the hijackers. |
| 1:41.0 | Once it became known, people wouldn't look at me in the eye. People didn't talk to me. |
| 1:48.0 | I might go weeks or months and everything would be just going along fine, and then there would be something that would trigger it. |
| 1:55.0 | I was checking in somebody, and what she said was, my husband got killed on September 11th. |
| 2:05.0 | And what I heard was, you killed my husband on September 11th. |
| 2:10.0 | Consider this. This weekend, the nation marks 20 years since 911. |
| 2:15.0 | A day we are reminded to never forget. But no one marks September 12th, or any of the days after, when so many lives were suddenly so different. |
... |
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