On The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede
By Kay Kennedy
Hello. I am Kay Kennedy, from Amarillo, with a message about my summer read for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Cub.
Twenty-five years ago, on September 11th, 2001- we all remember where we were when we heard the news- the unbelievable was happening, The United States was being attacked by four coordinated hijacked passenger planes. Our illusion of always being safe on American soil was destroyed and as the story unfolded our collective hearts were broken.
Immediately the world responded - how can we help?
My book choice The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede, published in 2003, tells the story of one response and the good that happened in one of the darkest moments in our history.
While we were focused on what had happened in NYC, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania, at 9:45 am Eastern time, for the first time ever and in a move to protect our borders, the Federal Aviation Administration closed the U.S. airspace, leaving 4,546 aircraft within that space scrambling to find places to land.
Options were to turn around or head to Canada. Despite the risk of another terrorist on board, our Canadian neighbors did not hesitate and more than 250 planes carrying 43,895 passengers landed at one of seven Canadian airports.
This story is about the 38 planes with 6,595 aboard that landed in Gander, Newfoundland, population 10,000. As the author stated, “For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed.”
Why Gander? The choice was based on their airport, which, when it was built by the U.S., England, and Canada in 1938, was the largest in the world. Virgin Air Flight 75 headed to Orlando from Manchester, England, was the first to land. followed by planes from England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Belgium, and from the U.S. - TWA, Delta, Continental, American, USAir, and Northwest.
The “Plane People” included two couples with their newly adopted daughters from Kazakhstan, the mayor of Frankfort on her way to an event honoring the New York mayor, the chairman of Hugh Boss on his way to Fashion Week, a policeman whose widowed sister worked inside the Trade Center’s South Tower, a couple returning from a family wedding in Ireland, an Army brigadier general serving as the director of intelligence for the U.S. military, Beatle impersonators, five executives from the Rockefeller Foundation, a Nigerian princess, an Orthodox Rabbi, 9 dogs, 12 cats (one with epilepsy), and two rare Bonobo monkeys.
All of them required food, drink, medication and a place to sleep, and for the humans- showers and changes of clothes - as their luggage was still on their planes.
The people of Gander and the surrounding towns opened their hearts and in some cases their showers to these unexpected guests. I encourage you to read The Day the World Came to Town. There is so much more to the story- deep sadness, unexpected friendships, and how to manage 6,000 plus surprise guests.
In September the Amarillo Little Theatre opens their 99th MainStage season with “Come from Away,” the musical telling of the story of how on 9/11/2001 the citizens of the little town of Gander, Newfoundland said to the world “Today we are all Americans.”
For HPPR Radio Readers Book Club, this is Kay Kennedy
