On September 11, 2001 the world changed forever. It impacted the lives of everyone, not just those on the planes, or those in the World Trade Center or Pentagon, but every American and every human around the globe. The results and consequences of that day are still being felt today, in Iraq, Afghanistan, across our national borders in every direction and in the homes of survivors and victims. No one was more affected than the families of those that were lost in the horrible attacks.
In tribute today, I remember Bojan Kostic. He was like so many of us an immigrant. He came from Yugoslavia. He originally came to America to attend college in Iowa. He later completed his college education in Connecticut. He was working for Cantor Fitzgerald as a successful sales trader. He was working in Tower 1 on the 104th floor that fateful day.
Bojan is described as a honest man who loved the West side. He has left behind a Father, sister, brother-in-law and niece. I don’t know much about Bojan, but I know he was the epitome of what it means to be American.
Since I don’t know much about Bojan, I thought I would tell my experience from 9/11. It began with hubby waking me up very early, telling me a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. They were still debating about what had caused this, was it an accident, what happened with the pilot and so on. We watched together in stunned belief while the second planed hit. I watched as news came in about the third plane crashing into the pentagon and the fourth plane crashing in a field in Pennsylvania. I watched in horror as the towers collapsed. By this time Hubby had been mandatory recalled, but he was on his way anyways, knowing that he needed to be at work. The kids were getting up by then, and starting to get ready for school. It seemed odd, that they should go through all the normal every day activities when the world had just changed so drastically. I wasn’t sure if the base schools would be open. Hubby had already called and said base was in complete lock down, no one came in, no went out. Even Active duty personnel trying to get in to work were forced to wait at the gate for someone from their units to come pick them up and visually ID them. NO ONE came in.. and NO ONE went out.
I stepped outside to see what was going on. The base is very rural, and we had wild animals like raccoons, turkeys, deer, hawks, squirrels and numerous other critters around our house all the time. We also lived in neighborhood so there were always kids and traffic, lawnmowers and sprinklers – the noise of neighborhoods. Not that day. That day it was completely silent. Eerily silent. No noise of any kind. No wind, no traffic – It was as if Mother Nature herself was in a stunned silence.
I decided I wouldn’t send the kids to school that day, and we were notified shortly after that there would be no school. The following weeks we watched in horror as the rescue workers tried in vain to find and save survivors. On base we had our own stuff to deal with. It took up to 3 hours once they opened the Main gate to get on or off base. No one left if they didn’t need to. Teachers had to bused by military on base or they would arrive hours late. Armed security forces patrolling the fence perimeter on quads became a familiar sight and sound.
Terrorists took more than lives that day. Sometimes we forget what it was like. Seeing those pictures of stunned people wandering around Ground Zero. Learning of the heroic efforts of rescue and police. Finding out that American bravery still existed in the face of certain death with the passengers and crew of flight 93. Watching as picture after picture showed the American pride, resolve, and determination to not let these people take away our spirit.
So here we are, 5 years after. And I for one, still remember the day America changed. And I remember in tribute: Bojan Kostic.
