September 11, 2001: Pausing to remember those who were lost

If you’re age 30 or older, you probably remember what you were doing when you heard about the events of September 11, 2001. It’s one of those indelible, where-were-you moments, like the attack on Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination for earlier generations.

This month, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of “9/11”—that instantly recognizable, vastly inadequate shorthand to describe a day that killed nearly 3,000 people and launched the longest war in modern U.S. history.

Two stories in this issue explore 9/11. One’s an on-the-ground report from Afghanistan. The other features still life photography of seemingly ordinary objects—a pair of boots, a watch, a snapshot—that aren’t ordinary at all. These objects, some never before displayed, came from the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York, a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Those were the sites where al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes, instantly creating a frightening new world.

The plane that hit the Pentagon was American Airlines Flight 77, bound for Los Angeles. At 9:37 a.m., five hijackers slammed it into the building’s west side, killing themselves, 59 others aboard, and 125 on the ground. Among the dead were eight people traveling to an ecology conference sponsored by National Geographic. Every year on September 11, at our Washington, D.C., headquarters, we pause to remember them.

Three of the National Geographic travelers were 11 years old: Bernard Brown, Asia Cottom, and Rodney Dickens, each with a future whose promise would never be realized. Each child had been selected to attend the conference. Each child, according to tributes written at the time, was smart, determined, kindhearted. Today, when Bernard, Asia, and Rodney would be 31 years old, it’s devastating to think of our collective loss.

On 9/11 we also lost three caring teachers: Sara Clark, James Debeuneure, and Hilda Taylor, who accompanied the students. Sara, 65, and her fiancé were making wedding arrangements. James, 58, a father and grandfather, enjoyed golf and collecting art. Hilda, 58, a mother and grandmother, loved to cook and work in her garden.

The others whose passing we mourn were National Geographic employees. Ann Judge, 49, arranged trips around the world for our journalists and executives; Joe Ferguson loved teaching children about geography. He was 39.

We salute those we lost 20 years ago with this quote from the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial: “We claim this ground in remembrance of the events of September 11, 2001. To honor the 184 people whose lives were lost, their families, and all who sacrifice that we may live in freedom. We will never forget.”