Where were you?
My Boss and I were in Quebec City. We were due to fly to Chicago, present a paper on. Thursday. We had scheduled a meeting at noon and had not gone down to the Trade Show floor. I was in my room working on my expense report. Phone rang ...."Are you watching TV?"
"No" "Turn it on" One tower was on fire ..."Meet me in the lobby." We were on an Executive floor that had a large screen TV in the lounge/lobby. We watched the second plane hit ...I told Mark "I'll go down and get a Hertz to drive to Chicago, no one will be flying for a few days." Went to the basement and they had just received a teletype to not rent cars to Americans. Coming back up, Mark informed me that cell phone traffic was so bad, he could not get through to our office in Tampa. So we sat and watched as the towers came down ...An American had packed and was headed out to catch a cab and go to the airport ...We stopped him ..."The airport will be closed before you get there. We are not flying today or possibly the rest of the week." Mark's phone rang ...."Yes, we are not flying. Yes." "Here, you are more important than me." I took the phone ....Ron Westfall was on the phone "I've got messages for you from Washington. Your daughter and the Grandkids are in Maryland, the last to leave the base." "AND MARC?" (Son in Law) "Still in the White House." "Ron, you were a Navy Fighter Pilot ....what chance does a team of Marines have against a passenger jet, using pop guns?" "None. Last message for you and Mark ....Do not fly, we'll get back to you." My Son in Law had the squad of Marines at the White House that day. He was a Captain at the time ....Later we found out the squad of Marines and two remaining Secret Service took the elevator to the bunker. On the way down, Marc asked "Did anyone remember to lock the doors before we left?" The White house was wide open.
Later we got through to my Rep in Montreal ..."We're staying here tonight and will catch the train to Montreal in the morning."
I called back minutes later ....."We need to be in Burlington, Vermont by noon on Thursday. We have a Hertz car waiting for us, the last reservation." We spent the day with Jean Guy when we got to Montreal ...."I know how to get across the border to Burlington. No problem" The borders were shut down. Little two lane road to the border ....US Customs ...Not too sure we'd get through. "These guys are my buddies, they'll let us go." We explained what we were doing and handed over our passports. Minutes later, I told Jean Guy ...."Your buddies are standing behind the car with machine guns. These guys are scared out of their minds." We were handed our passports, then the Super told Jean Guy "We need seven bags of tomatoes ..." I looked a Jean Guy "Your bribe is bags of tomatoes?" We stopped at a framer he knew and loaded up eleven bags of tomatoes ....Got to the airport which was closed, got out and ran into the terminal ....Beat the clock by five minutes .....Lady comes to me and says "Are you Ray?" "Yes Ma'am" "Come with me you have the last car." "And all these people?" "Waiting for you not to make it." Told Jean Guy good bye and went to the ferry to cross Lake Champlain. Jean Guy had said "One hour to cross" Bad weather it took us three hours ...."Mark, remind me to punch Jean Guy in the mouth when I see him next" We both laughed .....Drove until eleven that evening and stopped at a hotel. I could not sleep, Mark called me at 3AM ....."Ready to go?" "Dressed and waiting ...let's go home." That drive down the coast was amazing ....Flags everywhere, banners on the overpasses ....Cranes had come out and huge flags handing from their rigging. We were outside of Jacksonville, Fl and saw planes flying out of the airport. They had received special authorization to get their empty planes out and away from the hurricane coming across Florida. We went through Ocala just after a tornado had ripped through the town ....Finally on I-75 on our way to Tampa ....raining so hard, we had to look down at the sides of the car to make sure we were on the road and between the lines. Finally Tampa Airport ....Drove in and asked about drop off charges ..... Hertz guy told me ..."There are no drop off charges. We have over five thousand cars here. Go home." Got my truck and went home. Held my wife all night ....
It didn't stop there ....The next weekend, I went to my Dad's house. He explained "In 1969 at CIA Headquarters in Virginia, NORAD and the CIA put together a plan to get all planes out of the skies if terrorists ever hijacked planes and started crashing them into buildings....tears in his eyes "We never knew they would use passenger planes."
My Boss and I were in Quebec City. We were due to fly to Chicago, present a paper on. Thursday. We had scheduled a meeting at noon and had not gone down to the Trade Show floor. I was in my room working on my expense report. Phone rang ...."Are you watching TV?"
"No" "Turn it on" One tower was on fire ..."Meet me in the lobby." We were on an Executive floor that had a large screen TV in the lounge/lobby. We watched the second plane hit ...I told Mark "I'll go down and get a Hertz to drive to Chicago, no one will be flying for a few days." Went to the basement and they had just received a teletype to not rent cars to Americans. Coming back up, Mark informed me that cell phone traffic was so bad, he could not get through to our office in Tampa. So we sat and watched as the towers came down ...An American had packed and was headed out to catch a cab and go to the airport ...We stopped him ..."The airport will be closed before you get there. We are not flying today or possibly the rest of the week." Mark's phone rang ...."Yes, we are not flying. Yes." "Here, you are more important than me." I took the phone ....Ron Westfall was on the phone "I've got messages for you from Washington. Your daughter and the Grandkids are in Maryland, the last to leave the base." "AND MARC?" (Son in Law) "Still in the White House." "Ron, you were a Navy Fighter Pilot ....what chance does a team of Marines have against a passenger jet, using pop guns?" "None. Last message for you and Mark ....Do not fly, we'll get back to you." My Son in Law had the squad of Marines at the White House that day. He was a Captain at the time ....Later we found out the squad of Marines and two remaining Secret Service took the elevator to the bunker. On the way down, Marc asked "Did anyone remember to lock the doors before we left?" The White house was wide open.
Later we got through to my Rep in Montreal ..."We're staying here tonight and will catch the train to Montreal in the morning."
I called back minutes later ....."We need to be in Burlington, Vermont by noon on Thursday. We have a Hertz car waiting for us, the last reservation." We spent the day with Jean Guy when we got to Montreal ...."I know how to get across the border to Burlington. No problem" The borders were shut down. Little two lane road to the border ....US Customs ...Not too sure we'd get through. "These guys are my buddies, they'll let us go." We explained what we were doing and handed over our passports. Minutes later, I told Jean Guy ...."Your buddies are standing behind the car with machine guns. These guys are scared out of their minds." We were handed our passports, then the Super told Jean Guy "We need seven bags of tomatoes ..." I looked a Jean Guy "Your bribe is bags of tomatoes?" We stopped at a framer he knew and loaded up eleven bags of tomatoes ....Got to the airport which was closed, got out and ran into the terminal ....Beat the clock by five minutes .....Lady comes to me and says "Are you Ray?" "Yes Ma'am" "Come with me you have the last car." "And all these people?" "Waiting for you not to make it." Told Jean Guy good bye and went to the ferry to cross Lake Champlain. Jean Guy had said "One hour to cross" Bad weather it took us three hours ...."Mark, remind me to punch Jean Guy in the mouth when I see him next" We both laughed .....Drove until eleven that evening and stopped at a hotel. I could not sleep, Mark called me at 3AM ....."Ready to go?" "Dressed and waiting ...let's go home." That drive down the coast was amazing ....Flags everywhere, banners on the overpasses ....Cranes had come out and huge flags handing from their rigging. We were outside of Jacksonville, Fl and saw planes flying out of the airport. They had received special authorization to get their empty planes out and away from the hurricane coming across Florida. We went through Ocala just after a tornado had ripped through the town ....Finally on I-75 on our way to Tampa ....raining so hard, we had to look down at the sides of the car to make sure we were on the road and between the lines. Finally Tampa Airport ....Drove in and asked about drop off charges ..... Hertz guy told me ..."There are no drop off charges. We have over five thousand cars here. Go home." Got my truck and went home. Held my wife all night ....
It didn't stop there ....The next weekend, I went to my Dad's house. He explained "In 1969 at CIA Headquarters in Virginia, NORAD and the CIA put together a plan to get all planes out of the skies if terrorists ever hijacked planes and started crashing them into buildings....tears in his eyes "We never knew they would use passenger planes."