Reliving 9/11 Through WJR's Live Coverage

0:00So everybody remembers where they were that day, 25 years ago today, 9-11, 2021, when the United States came under attack, planes flew into the World Trade Center, 2000, what did I say? 2001, 25 years ago today. And we remember where you were, and some of you were listening to this very station. And of course, we had comprehensive coverage right here on W.J. We want to take you back into what that sounded like 25 years ago. Good morning to you. It is Tuesday, September 11th, the 254th day of 2001. There were 111 days left in the year. New York City residents are heading to the polls today to choose candidates to replace Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the Democratic primary in New York remains up in the year. Mayoral primaries are also being held today in Southfield, Pottyac and Dear

1:00Board. In the W.J.R. weather center on a picture perfect day. It is indeed, especially here in the Detroit area. Lots of sunshine as a matter of fact, over the entire state, they're reporting sunny skies at this time. And if you're going to be on the road, don't forget those sunglasses you'll be needing them. W.J.R. sports here, Frank Beckman. You won't have Charlie Batch to kick around anymore. He's benched. Batch is benched by Marty Morningway after one game. And now, now, you have Ty Debtmer as the new quarterback of the Detroit Lions, the new starting quarterback. Right now, Paul, we are going to interrupt our sports cast because of a breaking news story out of New York, a major incident at the World Trade Center. We're going to join ABC News for coverage on this breaking story. The huge tower in New York City in Lower Manhattan, the World Trade Center is on fire on the upper stories of that building. There is an unconfirmed report that a plane has crashed

2:04into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I heard the plane very close to the top of the building. I looked outside and I saw a hit and it exploded immediately. Before the explosion, I noticed a very, a sound like something was very low and shrieking across the sky. And then I heard the explosion. I heard this incredibly low noise and I knew something horrific was about to happen. I will tell you from the size of the gas that the wingtip had to be at least 150 to 200 feet wide. Oh my God. The next building is another one. Oh my God. Oh my God. Another plane just ruined. I knew I hit. The explosion is incredible. Oh my God. Another plane as we were going to leave this. Two planes, first one, then another, crashing into each of the twin towers of the 110 Story Tall World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. No official declaration yet, but it would appear to be the

3:05work of terrorists of some kind. Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. We now have fire confirmed at the Pentagon. We want to hold our breath here. It just seems to me for a second and not to get to a mode that the country is under attack. But we now have two attacks on the twin trade tower center. US buildings, city buildings completely evacuated in New York City. The second building that was hit by the plane has just completely collapsed. The entire building has just collapsed as if a demolition team set off. When you see the old demolitions of the gold buildings, it's all that down on itself and it is not there anymore. The whole side has collapsed. The whole building has collapsed. Oh, my God. Did they seem to have a problem with the North Tower of Peter? Let's look at the North Tower. Quickly coming down. Oh, my God. It's hard to put it into words and maybe one doesn't need to.

4:10Both trade towers were thousands of people worked. On this day, Tuesday, have now been attacked and destroyed. There is simply no way to accurately describe the emotion this is folks. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and acquired, unyielding anger. Terrorist attacks can shape the foundations of our biggest buildings. But they cannot touch the foundation of America. Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring of for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could. The search is underway for those

5:12who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. God bless America. Make each and every day count. Each day is a gift. Is that sent chills to you? Yeah. Yeah. That's an unbelievable piece put together. And it takes you right back to that morning. Yeah, Brian Morton put that together. It's unbelievable. Oh my goodness.

6:13It's almost like, you know what? It sounds like it sounds like war of the worlds. Uh-huh. No, it does. It sounds like Orson Wells, because it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And, and, you know, thank God that the the reporters, you know, Jamie, we talk about journalists a lot. Those people that were down there that were reporting from there, uh, from the scene. Yeah. Whether it was in New York City, whether it was in Washington, D.C. or Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Um, and then all the work here, done at WJR and locally. And Shreeder, man, uh, Beckman, Frank Beckman, you know, Paul W. Paul W, hearing those voices again, man. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's it's it's unbelievable. It's tough. And then you hear, you know, the president on the other side of that saying, um, you know, we're going to find what what happened here. Yeah. We're going to we're going to find out what happened. And then we're going to respond. But there are people that are hurting. And there are all of us are feeling

7:14some sort of emotion here. Yeah. I mean, I just I I still can't believe this happened. And that's 25 years after and we have to make sure the hundred or so million Americans who have born after that date. Remember it or we at least tell them the story best we can. Yeah. I'm just telling Chris just, you know, about that, you know, so many young people who are turning 25 today, who were born on that day. Right. And, you know, what have they been told, you know, what are the how much do they know? What have they been taught? What have their parents taught them? Tell them about that. How do they feel about this day and about the fact that they were born on on this day? Well, and like Jamie, I, you know, like uh, Jake and Henry were asking about it yesterday because we had the news on him. They said, what's 9 11? I said, I was it's a September 11th is what that means. And, uh, and they said, what happened? Because then they saw, you know, fire in the buildings looking and, and I said, well, with the United States was attacked. They

8:17sent planes into the building and a lot of people died and, you know, a lot of people were hurt, but there were a lot of heroes. There were a lot of people that helped and tried to save people and got people to safety. And, uh, you know, again, it's like explaining that to somebody who doesn't know or has no recollection, you know, it's, it's something. Um, yeah, go ahead. I was just gonna say, I don't think I'm at that level with my four year old, but you have to be honest with kids. Yeah. So kudos to you. Yeah. And, you know, live will probably ask you. Yeah, sometimes I talked to her before you bring it up. She'll probably ask you because she's smart. She's got a lot of questions these days. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of questions. Um, meanwhile, it was an all hands on deck approach to help those in New York City in particular. And Michael Bouchard, the Oakland County Sheriff mobilized a unit here from Oakland County to go to New York to help in those recovery efforts, cleanup efforts and uh, Sheriff Michael Bouchard joins us on the other side.

9:18It's Jeremiah.