Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.
Of course you’ve seen in the news for some time now…
refugees fleeing to Europe; as well as many here in the US preparing to open
doors to Syrian refugees.
Perhaps, last week you had the chance to learn the untold
story of the 911 Boatlift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18lsxFcDrjo;
where ordinary citizens worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to evacuate nearly
500,000 people from Manhattan, by water; it took less than nine hours.
Today I offer another little known 911 story… one told by a
flight attendant who was onboard Delta Flight 15 that fateful day (I
will read it from the flight attendant’s perspective):
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 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 in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM …. that’s
11:00 AM New York time.
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, an 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.
You may be interested to know… the
Lewisporte Flight 15 Scholarship Fund is at nearly $2 million and has assisted
an estimated 199 students (corrected since 9.13.15, with the most up-to-date information) with their college educations.
SO, you may be wondering why I chose
this story, of all the stories to be told of that tragic day. Of course it touches my heart as a high
school educator; and because I know people like this. People who have been called and have picked
up their cross to follow Jesus.
It’s because when the people of Lewisporte heard of the
unimaginable evil which visited up the United States on September 11, 2001…
they could have just as easily said, “Double the population of our area with
complete strangers??? No, no way… we’ve no room or resources.
Instead, they remained calm… welcomed those seeking
refuge. They showed God’s love to those around them.
They told Satan to get behind them that day… and in doing
so, reshaped the world around them.
The people of Lewisporte and the Gander area are
ordinary people who exhibited extraordinary spirit. Amen.
Donald Field Burr, II
September 13, 2015; Pentecost XVI
Christ Episcopal Church
East Norwalk, CT
