Locals remember 9/11

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — It has now been 23 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks shocked the nation.

September 11, 2001 changed the United States forever. Terre Haute Fire Chief Darrick Scott was on the clock that morning, when another captain in town alerted his crew to turn on their television.

“He said, ‘hey have you seen the news, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center.’ I yelled at the crew, we went upstairs, we were watching the live Today Show and all of the events,” Scott said. “We saw the second plane hit, we took a seat, I think we watched it until the wee hours of the next morning.”

Terre Haute resident Barry Styles was celebrating his birthday, and did not find out about the attacks until he dropped his kids off at school and walked into a local Menards.

“Something obviously bad had happened,” Styles said. “I was a firefighter back then with the Air National Guard, so the first thing on my mind was, ‘how on earth are they going to get people out?’ Other than that, I can’t imagine the devastation and obviously rage.”

Scott says that he will always remember watching America come together.

“That put a smile on everyone’s face, and we knew that we had a job to do,” Scott said. “I thank all our troops that served during that time, thank you very much for what you did. I hope that some of the people involved learned a valuable lesson not to mess with America.”

September 11 is a day that will never be forgotten in Terre Haute, or the rest of the world.

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