Where Were You Sept. 11, 2001?

I was married, working as a news correspondent, and living 45 minutes outside of New York City when the Director of a local animal welfare organization (and friend) called me shortly after 9 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Oh my God, Julia! They are attacking us! The World Trade Center has bombed," Mandy screamed through the telephone. "Turn on your television!"

She disconnected.

The soul-searing fear in Mandy's voice caused me great anxiety. My hands trembled as I turned on the television. I watched the news footage of the first plane hitting a twin tower. 

It didn't seem possible. I felt shock and disbelief.

I called my husband, who was at work. Everyone at his employer knew about the attacks. His employer allowed workers to go home early.

I called an older couple who were neighbors and antique dealers scheduled to be in New York City that day to attend an auction. I could not reach them, but later learned they made it home from the city safe. They had to walk across a bridge with thousands of devastated people.

I remember feeling the deepest dread, sadness, helplessness and fear for others as I watched news footage of terrorist-operated airplanes in different parts of our nation strike and attack.

There are images of the aftermath seared into my brain that I sometimes wish I could forget. I cried for the victims, people in desperate search of "lost" loved ones, and the emergency personnel who risked their lives to stop the terrorists, find survivors and clean-up the devastation.

I am proud of, and forever grateful for, the actions of our nation's emergency services, law enforcement, and military that day.

The brave passengers - ordinary people like you and me - of United Airlines Flight 93 who attempted to regain control of aircraft hijacked by four al-Qaeda terrorists will never be forgotten. They diverted the aircraft off it's course of terror and it crashed into a field in Stoneycreek Township, Pennsylvania.