By Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD
Special to NKyTribune
“It started as a beautiful day on the East Coast of the United States. Not a cloud in the sky. By the end of the day things had changed.”
These words are etched on the Northern Kentucky 9/11 Memorial in Crescent Springs Community Park. They summarize what many of us remember about that fateful morning 25 years ago, September 11, 2001.
My New York City relatives and friends echo those very words when recounting that day. The sky seemed so calm and stunning. New Yorkers, walking to work, were literally looking up at the sky and taking in its beauty. Then, the calm collapsed into a sea of unimaginable and horrific destruction, as two separate planes hijacked by terrorists flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Another plane struck the Pentagon, while yet another hijacked plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In total, 2,996 people died.
The tragedy of 9/11 became indelibly etched upon the memories of all of us across the United States that day. We remember what we were doing when we first received the news, and we still replay in our minds—and in our hearts—the endlessly-repeating video of the falling towers. At the time, the events seemed surreal. But the painful reality rushed in very quickly.
The catastrophe came too close to home, with incredibly sad news that Brian Patrick Williams had died in his office at the World Trade Center. Born in Covington in May 1972, Brian attended St. Pius Elementary School in Edgewood and Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, where he participated in varsity basketball, football, and track. After graduation, he attended Columbia University in New York City, receiving a degree in Economics.
Brian accepted a job at Cantor-Fitzgerald L.P., a financial services firm with offices located on the 101st through the 105th floors of the north tower of the World Trade Center. At 8:46 a.m., a hijacked plane struck the north tower in the vicinity of the 94th-to-98th floors, destroying the stairways. At 10:28 am, the north tower collapsed. Cantor-Fitzgerald lost every one of its employees in the tower that day — literally 658 people — more than any other tenant of the World Trade Center or of any entity that helped in the rescue efforts that day.
At Northern Kentucky’s 9/11 Memorial at Crescent Springs Community Park, the words “It started as a beautiful day on the East Coast of the United States” capture your attention immediately. It is an emotionally-moving monument.
Dedicated in 2015, the base is a pentagon, obviously a reference to the Pentagon which was also struck by a hijacked plane that day.The story of the separate attacks, including the heroic efforts of the hijacked passengers near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, is recounted. An I-beam from the towers provides a central focus, as well as two vertical stones depicting the twin towers. A separate marker is dedicated to the memory of Brian Williams.
The Islamist extremist organization alQaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Twenty-five years later, the broader Middle Eastern landscape remains fraught with unresolved conflicts and instability.
Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Editor of the “Our Rich History” weekly series and Professor of History at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). To browse more than ten years of past columns, see: https://nkytribune.com/category/living/our-rich-history/. Tenkotte also serves as Director of the ORVILLE Project (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Engagement). For more information see . He can be contacted at tenkottep@nku.edu.
