Remembering 9/11 Victims From Wisconsin 20 Years Later

WISCONSIN — Anyone older than 25 in Wisconsin likely remembers where they were on 9/11.

Americans felt a collective trauma as first one and then another plane flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. As the truth dawned on people watching from their TVs that America was under attack, another plane took aim at the Pentagon. A fourth was brought down in a field in Pennsylvania in a final act of heroism by passengers who realized their flight had been hijacked.

Nearly 3,000 Americans, including 10 from Wisconsin, were killed in the suicide attacks carried out by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida.

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, our state remembers and mourns:

• Ann. N Nelson was born on May 17, 1971 in Ashland and attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam. Nelson lived in New York City and worked at the World Trade Center, WSAW reported.
• Michell Lee Jean Robtham was born on Jan. 18, 1969 in Chippewa Falls. She lived in Kearny, New Jersey and worked for Aon Corporation at the World Trade Center.
• Patricia J. Statz was born on Jan. 25, 1960 in Chippewa Falls. She finished a degree in theater at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1983. She lived in Takoma Park, Maryland and worked at the Pentagon as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army.
• John Patrick Hart was born on Feb. 27, 1963 in Eau Claire. He lived in Danville, California and was visiting the World Trade Center for a business presentation.
• SFC John J. Chada was born on Sept. 13, 1945 in Milwaukee. He was a two-time Vietnam veteran and worked at the Pentagon as a civilian employee for the U.S. Army. He was living in Manassas, Virginia.
• Andrea Lyn Haberman was born n Feb. 2, 1976 in Milwaukee. She lived in Chicago and was inside the World Trade Center on a business trip.
• Gregory Kamal Bruno Wachtler was born on Feb. 7, 1976 in Milwaukee. He lived in Manhattan and worked in the World Trade Center.
• LTC Dean E. Mattson was born on March 30 in Luck. Mattson was living in Alexandria, Virginia and was serving as the executive officer for a support center in the Pentagon.
• Kirsten Lail Christophe was born on Nov. 20, 1961 in Racine. Christophe lived in Maplewood, New Jersey and worked for Aon Corporation at the World Trade Center.
• LTC Dennis M. Johnson was born on April 1, 1953 in Port Edwards. He lived in Virginia and worked in the Pentagon for the Deputy Chief of Staff.

All 9/11 victims will be remembered at memorial services planned across the nation on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Here's a list of 9/11 memorial events across the state put together by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

At the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, New York — an area known for years after the attacks as “Ground Zero” — the names of the fallen will be read aloud.

“Throughout the ceremony, we will observe six moments of silence, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93,” the 9/11 Memorial & Museum wrote on its website.

The annual “Tribute of Light,” which are lights pointed to the sky in the shape of the Twin Towers, will go on that night.

Most 9/11 victims were from either New York or New Jersey, where many who lived across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center recall the horror of watching the twin towers collapse from their homes in Hoboken and Jersey City.

More than 2,700 people died at the World Trade Center alone on 9/11, including the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Another 184 were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 44 died on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.