A September 11th Story

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for October 6, 2025.

This is a shorten version of a wonderful book I read a number of years ago. ‘The Day the World Came to Town’ 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, written in 2002 by journalist Jim DeFrede. This story is a bit longer than the usual blogs and this happened 24 years ago, but I hope you will find it worth your time. This portion is written by the air hostess with the airline:

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that “All Business” look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta’s main office in Atlanta and simply read, “All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination.”

No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately — no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request. While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

We decided to lie to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland, to have it checked out. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that’s nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed at Gander International Airport in Canada. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM …. that’s 11:00 AM EST.

There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the US. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason.”Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.

The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were US commercial jets. Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.

People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed. Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm.

We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament. We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane. Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing.

And they were true to their word.

Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the “plane people.” We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time. Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days.

What we found out was incredible…..

Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the “guests.” Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered “Excursion” trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.

In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.

It was absolutely incredible.

When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

And then a very unusual thing happened.

One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said “of course” and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte. “He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000! “The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

I don’t know if this will hit a small emotional cord in you, as it has in me, even addressing this book again, if you are able to find this book at your local library or Amazon, etc, it is well worth the read, to hear the complete story of how the Gander people made these strangers feel as at home, as humanly possible during a very uncertain time.

I wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there really is. In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.

This is one of those stories that needs to be shared. Please do so…     

On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday, November 3, 2025

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Please if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the subscription form below to receive my blog by email on the first Monday of each month.

A Queen Loses Her Stacks

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for September 1, 2025

Some months ago, I wrote about the SS United States, the liner often called ‘America’s Liner’, when she was towed from her berth at Pier 80 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Mobile, Alabama in February of 2025, where she had been waiting for 30 some years. I have followed this ship for many years, with the ships manifest, memorabilia and photographic images, because it was on this ship my parents and I immigrated to this country from Great Britain in the mid 1950’s. She was the ‘Queen of the American’ fleet of liners during her time between 1954 and 1969, until air flights took the place of ships moving people from continent to continent.

As she will become, the world’s largest artificial reef, the story of the ‘SSUS’ will be told to thousands of divers from around the world as they explore her unique design and features. She will also benefit the surrounding ecosystem and become home to countless marine species that will thrive from the presence of her structure. A land based museum will be built to teach the many students, and general public about William Gibbs, an American Navel Architect and his creation. The winner of the Blue Riband, for the fastest transatlantic passenger crossing between Britain and the United States, she would continue to hold that title.

This article today is about the removal of the smoke stacks (funnels) that will be used as a part of the land based museum. For the present time the ship is docked in Mobile, Alabama. Her story will continue but in another form and in a different way.

Moving the last stack by barge.

The Queen without her iconic stacks.

Now she waits, her propeller, while having been removed and placed on her deck 30 years ago, will be stored along with her funnels. Her fuel tanks, are sterilized and anything harmful to marine life and the surrounding water is cleaned and made safe, she will then be moved out to sea, to become the world’s largest artificial reef.

Thank you to the SS United States Conservancy, for the updates and images and all they have done over these last many years, to find a new home and salvage her history for further study and enjoyment.

On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday, October 6, 2025.

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Please if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the subscription form below to receive my blog by email on the first Monday of each month.

Finding A Permanent Home

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for August 4, 2025

In 2020, my second book for Arcadia Publishing, ‘Macomb Township’ was published, culminating when finished, a very large learning experience for this author! Having moved to Macomb Township in 1980, at 21 Mile and Garfield Road, we built a house and along with my husband, we raised our two children, and lived there till 2007. Having found out after my first book on ‘Washington Township’ when I naively thought that EVERYONE wants a book about the area they lived in, I found that usually we have to get a bit older, before we really appreciate where we came from, and I was also, a perfect example of that mind set. It wasn’t until I had moved away and started the Macomb book, that I finally got to ‘learn’ about the township/area I had lived in for twenty-seven years! I had watched all the changes but never realized the significance of those changes.

While replenishing my Macomb books at the tax department at the township hall, where they have graciously offered to allow these books to be purchased, I sort of ran into a long time ‘friend’ once again. The ‘original’ township hall.

The original hall was built in 1919 for $1,600, and rested at 19925 23 Mile Road, it would serve the community until a ‘new township hall’ was built in the same location behind the original building in 1974. This was the township hall that we would use to pay the taxes, etc. The original hall, shown above was sold to a farmer/nursery on Romeo Plank Road just north of 23 Mile Road, and used as a shed for machinery for the next almost forty some years.

‘Old Township Hall’ with the “New Hall’ behind it

While the township would eventually purchase the Wade Nursery property, the ‘old township hall’ was again part of the Macomb Township, on property that was slated for a park area. Renovations took place, with the vision of a learning center for the hall that resembled so much of a late century school house. The township was kind enough to allow the use of the newly renovated ‘township hall’ to host the book launch of the book that was bringing the history in vintage images to life in the middle of covid, safely, with masks, no less! Before long this property was again sold, and the hall was once again moved, this time to it’s permanent home in the expanded township complex on Broughton Road off of 25 Mile Road, along with the recreation center, library and newest township hall.

The 1919 era Macomb Township original Hall T it’s new home.

On this ‘wee note’ till next month Monday September 1, 2025.

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Please if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the subscription form below to receive my blog by email on the first Monday of each month.

‘Lighthouses of the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States’

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for July 7, 2025

I have been very fortunate to have had six previous local history books published by Arcadia Publishing since 2019, and nothing compares to the feeling when the first package of finished books are delivered to my door. All the work, research, time, love, and aggravation in bringing this ‘new baby’ to life, Arcadia will then compensates you by giving you the first five copies that are printed, and don’t mistake my thoughts, this is what you wait for!

Working on these books, takes about 6 to 8 months of my time, when all your time is focused on getting the written work on the page and for me with the lighthouse books, making sure the right lighthouse goes with the correct postcard. And getting the written material correct! Then you wait for roughly 6 months, for Arcadia to go through your written work and give you a copy of a rough draft of what your book will look like. You then go through their draft, answer their questions as to why you might have done, such and such. You look for corrections and no matter how diligent you are in looking for mistakes, there is always some silly ones that need attention. After you have completed that portion, it is sent back to the publisher for another review, and when that is completed you are sent your last correct manuscript, and now it has to be as corrected as it is going to be, because it’s now going to print.

The publication date for ‘Lighthouses of the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States’ is the 29th of July. This is the last of the four lighthouse books I decided to bring to light. It covers as many lighthouses in vintage postcards for the different parts of the United States as has been possible to gather. The states covered in this book are Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Gulf States (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.)

The lighthouses on the Southern Atlantic coast are built and maintained with their sandy shores that create never ending continual erosion of the soil, and they have different difficulties, such as the years of the Civil War and the hurricanes than you would find on the Pacific coast lights with their high rocky cliffs and earthquakes. In Michigan, we have many pier lights in the water on the Great Lakes, as well as some on sandy beaches, where erosion also takes its toll. My hope is if you are able to get a chance to see with the different area books, how the landscape of the United States can change from coast to coast, and have an effect on the many lighthouses that have guarded the coastal waters in and around this country.

On this ‘wee note’ till next month Monday August 4, 2025.

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Please if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the subscription form below to receive my blog by email on the first Monday of each month.

Preserving a Legacy

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for June 2, 2025

Preserving a Legacy, The United States Lighthouse Society: For the past 40 years, the United States Lighthouse Society (USLHS) has been in the forefront of efforts to preserve this essential part of maritime heritage. The USLHS has built a comprehensive research library, both in the physical form and digital form. The library contains books, maps and documents that detail the history of lighthouses in America and around the world. The Society’s mission goes beyond simple restoration, but seeks to keep the stories of these remarkable structures alive, for future generations to understand the vital role that lighthouses played in the safety and development of coastal communities.

Part of the mission of the USLHS is to offer national grants specifically for lighthouse preservation. These grants have enabled the restoration of many lighthouses, many of which have been in danger of being lost forever.

Long before the invention of the compass or modern technologies, early seafarers went on voyages using the most primal of tools, the sun, stars, the wind and the sea tides. The North Star holds it position in the northern sky about the earths axis, in a fixed position. But even before the tools for sea faring voyages improved, navigation remained very dangerous. The sea was open to hidden reefs and shoals, the rocky coastlines, unpredictable weather, and treacherous currants. But because of these hazards to navigation, it is the reason lighthouses began to rise as the guardians of the coastlines.

Each lighthouse is positioned to warn mariners of these hazards, while also providing a point of reference that could mean the difference between life and death at sea. As the technology advanced the lighthouse evolved from simple bonfires to towering stone structures with powerful Fresnel lens, that had the ability to project their light across miles of open water. They would always be a symbol of hope to the seafaring mariners.

So why do lighthouses continue to capture the heart and minds of people all around the world? They are symbols of solitude and community, standing along on rocky cliffs or the sandy shores, yet always offering a guiding light for those in need. Through their work, the USLHS, whether through research, restoration or education, it ensures that the legacy of lighthouses remains an essential part of our nation history.

I want to give thanks and my great appreciation to the people at ‘The United States Lighthouse Society’, their 40th Anniversary edition of ‘The keepers Log’, Number Four, 2024, for the information as written here today. When ever visiting a lighthouse, and if from Michigan you can’t go very far in any direction with out running into one of them, in your thoughts, and remember this group when every you see a lighthouse still standing.

On this wee note, till next month Monday July 7, 2025.

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Please if you haven’t already, enter your email address in the subscription form below to receive my blog by email on the first Monday of each month.