911 Interview Project

In my research I learned a lot about the attack on 9/11 that I had not been aware of previously. What I found to be interesting as a resident of Maine was that one of the terrorists traveled from Portland Maine. There was evidence found in a rental car left in Portland Maine that led investigators to look into more details. Further two of the terrorists were known to cross the border from Canada into the US through a ferry that landed in Bar Harbor, Maine. The north tower was crashed into first at 8:46 A.M. The South Tower was announced as secure and announce that there is no need to evacuate it. After an evacuation process was begun at 9:03 A.M. the South Tower was attacked.

Many people including students found it hard to get in contact with anyone after the attack because of the lines being so packed with people calling loved ones to make sure they were okay. For many it was a day of utter shock, confusion and chaos. Major cities including Washington DC, which bore an attack at the pentagon, were in an utter state of turmoil and confusion. Grid locks surrounded the city along with panic.

Over 3,000 Americans lost their lives in the attacks that were done through this terrorism act. The attacks and crash sites and the ensuing investigation were the biggest that the FBI has ever undertaken and or had to face. The attacks weren’t far at all from the FBI office in New York City. Because of the time of day and season many lives were spared from the attack in the towers what normally was a 40,000 people population inside the buildings turned out to be only about 17,500. Around 15,00 people survived the attack and escaped the buildings largely credited to the selfless and heroic acts of others including emergency service responders. In the wake of the attack and the days after FBI specialists sifted through the debris of the buildings looking for evidence and the belongings of survivors. It took around 11 months and over 1,000 specialists to finish the job.

Knowledge is important when it comes to formulating interview questions. Because of this I was able to formulate better questions and create a better interview.

Through Zoom I interviewed Evangeline Irish, a Portland ME resident. The interview took place over Zoom on March 6 at 11 A.M.

1. Where were you when the passenger planes crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center?

I was in math class at the University of Southern Maine.

2. Can you describe the way you felt when you saw the footage of the attack?

Devastated and shocked.

3. What did you think when you heard about the attack?

I thought about how scary it was and how surreal it all felt. It felt like a nightmare.

4. Who were the first people who came to your mind when you found out?

I thought about calling my parents, but the first person who came to my mind was my brother Ben who was in the city at that time. So, he was definitely my first thought. You know I was wondering what happened to him, if he was okay, if he was safe.

5. What were your thoughts on the future of America and your own future?

I really wondered how much would change in our lives. How much my future would look different than what I had imagined. It was a whole bunch of unknowns.

6. Were you afraid about the future?

I don’t think I’d say afraid but definitely uncertain.

7. What did you do directly after you heard?

I drove bac to my dorm with a friend, my roommates boyfriend went to school in NYC so I spent time with her trying to calm her down and comfort her.

8. How did some of the people closest to you react?

Everyone was in shock, everyone was sad, confused and worried.

9. Did you wonder if anything would ever be the same again?

I knew nothing would be, it couldn’t be.

10. What else did you wonder about afterwards?

I wondered how we would move forward.

11. Did things return to normal quickly for you?

Classes started up in just a few days we all sort of just started to move forward.

12. Who was the first person you got in contact with after you found out?

It tried for a while to reach out to my parents but the lines were flooded. Eventually my dad got a hold of me and I found out my brother was safe thankfully.

13. After the news, what happened? How did you go about your day?

I was in math class when it happened, but after our math professor made a remark about how ironic it was that a math problem was about planes given what is going on we all were so confused. None of us really knew what was happening, no one had told us, at that point one of the kids just got up and left class, didn’t say a word. We finished class and then I headed to English class still unsure of what was happening. At English class our professor dismissed us saying it was a public building and they had no idea how far the attack went so we should all leave and get back to our dorms, so that’s what we did.

14. Did you want to change anything specific in your life after this? Was it a wake-up call for you in any way?

No, no really.

15. Who were you most worried about when you heard about the attack?

My brother was living in NYC at the time. He was my first thought. I worried he might’ve been in the building or around it when the attack took place.

“When we got to our next class,” Evangeline Irish said “the professor said to us, ‘this is a public building, you need to get out now’ that was the first moment I really realized something was seriously wrong.”

“It was a trying time, to not really know why.” Stated Evangeline Irish.

The interview for the YouTube link is here.