Remember those lost in Run for the Fallen

  • Published
  • By John Harrington
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – The Wright-Patterson community is encouraged to remember those lost in the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by participating in the fourth annual Run for the Fallen, scheduled for September 11, 2017 beginning at 8 a.m. at the intersection of Loop and Spaatz roads on Area B.

The 5k run and 2k walk events are free and open to all Wright-Patt military and civilian employees, as well as their families. To register, use Internet Explorer and go to https://cs2.eis.af.mil/sites/21146/CGOC/Events/

Run%20for%20the%20Fallen/site/index.htm

The event will include moments of remembrance from 9/11 including time hacks reflecting what was happening at those precise times on that morning in 2001 and volunteers who will offer their personal reflections on how the attacks impacted them then and now.

The run and walk will start at 8:46:30 a.m., the exact time American Airlines Flight 11 was flown into the north tower of World Trade Center 1.

Now, nearly 16 years past, the events of 9/11 changed the lives of Americans who witnessed the events as they happened. Joan Cook, a psychologist and associate professor at Yale University, wrote in Time magazine that psychological effects weren’t limited to the World Trade Center, Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania; the anger, fear and sadness felt in response to the lives lost spread throughout the whole of the United States and, indeed, throughout the world. While many adults can reflect on exactly where they were and what they were doing as the day’s events unfolded, many serving today were too young to remember the attacks.  

It was a clear Tuesday morning as Flight 11, loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, crashed into downtown New York City, instantly killing 76 passengers, 11 crew members and hundreds inside the building, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. News reports broke into regularly scheduled shows to highlight what was initially thought to have been an accident. That would change in less than 15 minutes.

As United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., killing 51 passengers, nine crew members and, again, hundreds inside the building, it became clearer that America was under attack.

Less than a half hour later, American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 53 passengers, six crew members and 125 military and civilian personnel on the ground.

For the first time ever, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all civilian air traffic over the United States at 9:42 a.m., requiring aircraft in flight to land and prohibiting any further departures.

The South Tower collapsed first at 9:59 a.m. after burning for nearly an hour. More than 800 civilians and first responders perished.

Roughly 21 minutes after all civilian air traffic was grounded, United Flight 93 crashes in a field near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers and crew stormed the cockpit; 33 passengers and seven crew members were killed.

At 10:28 a.m, the North Tower collapsed after burning for more than an hour and 40 minutes. In all, more than 1,600 people died in the attack on the North Tower.

Run for the Fallen pays tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks of 9/11, keeping the promise made on that day by many to “Never Forget.” The event averages more than 1,500 people in attendance each year.