Remembering 9-11

Published Sept. 10, 2011
By Kevin McManus and Craig Schultz
315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Members of the 315th Airlift Wing share their experiences on the morning of September 11, 2001

SMSgt H.L. Wiggs 315 OSS

"When the terrorist attacks of September 11 occurred I was at Homestead ARB, Fl. I was part of the 315th ALCF at the time. A few of us from the unit were down there to help the 482nd FW deploy for their Southern Watch rotation. The afternoon after the attacks we immediately went to work on helping the Miami-Dade Urban Search and Rescue Team as well as the Miami FBI Rapid Deployment Team get to New York City to help with the recovery efforts at Ground Zero."

Lt Col Burt Bailey 300 AS

"On September 11, 2001 I was flying a local, we had just finished shooting an approach to the runway here at Charleston when the controller comes over the radio and asks, and "Do you have a second?" I'm thinking oh boy what did I do now when the controller said that two planes had struck the twin towers. We shot one more approach at Charleston before the controller called again. This time he called us by our call sign and said this is not command post directed, you need to land now. At that time I knew something big was happening. As our crew walked into base ops we saw the footage of the aircraft striking the twin towers, it was all over the TV."

SMSgt Tim Schnaible 701 AS

"The morning of September 11 I was at the Boeing Simulator building doing an Anti-Terrorism CBT, this was back when we could take cell phones into the sim. My wife called me and said, "An airplane just hit the twin towers." They let us out of the sim so that all nonessential base personnel could be evacuated and we saw the second plane hit the twin towers on TV."

Lt Col Charley Richardson 300 AS

"September of 2001 I was an American Airlines pilot flying the 767 out of New York; however on September 11, 2001 I was on military orders in Guam. I received a call in the middle of the night telling me I was being placed on a "modified alpha" I thought there was no such thing as a "modified alpha" status and one of my buddies is playing a trick on me. Command post called and said, "Sir turn on your TV and call us back." We watched just after the second place hit the twin towers. I went back to New York two weeks later to go back to work for American Airlines and I could see the still smoking ruins of the twin towers."

Lt Col Derek Bishop 317 AS

"On September 11, 2001 I was out on a C-17 here at Charleston. I was pre-flighting the aircraft for a local flight when one of the other crew members got a call from their girlfriend saying that a plane had struck the twin towers. I had heard over the airplanes radio that Charleston tower was denying take off clearances. The tower told us that no one was allowed to fly because a plane had crashed into the twin towers in New York City. After that our flight got cancelled, and we walked back into the building from the flight line we saw the towers fall on live TV. When I saw the replays of the aircraft flying into the twin towers I knew it was a deliberate act of terrorism."

SMSgt Elvis Tull 701 AS

"I was stationed at Keesler AFB the morning of September 11, 2001. It was a pretty routine morning so far, I had been doing my post mission reviews when someone came in and yelled "Get all your stuff ready to go, a plane just wit the world trade center!" We watched on live TV as the second plane hit the tower. We started getting our mobility gear put together, I called my girlfriend at the time and asked her to go over to my house and feed my dogs because I was not going to be home for a while. It was not long after September 11, 2001 that we were mobilized for active duty."

TSgt Traci Johnson 315 FS

"When 9-11 happened I was working at Wachovia Bank on Broad St. I remember hearing about what had happened from a customer. We had no televisions in our building so there was no way of watching what was going on. All I could think about was my daughter Lindsey, she was in school at the time. The only way I could keep up with what was going on was by asking customers that were coming into the store. It was a very scary day for me and my daughter Lindsey."