The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

September 10, 2012

Locals tell stories of 9/11 remembrances

The Daily Southerner MIRANDA BAINES

TARBORO — Tuesday is the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and several Edgecombe County residents recalled where they were on the nightmarish day and how they felt when they realized their nation was under attack.

Brooks and Ellie Webb of Tarboro were on a bus trip in Maine and said they were staying at a motel about “half a mile” from one of George Bush Sr.’s residences.

“When we found out what was happening, we were praying they weren’t going to try to bomb that place,” said Brooks.

Ellie recollected seeing the smoke billowing from the rubble at the World Trade Center while crossing the George Washington Bridge in New York City on the way back to North Carolina.

Robert Denton of Mildred was coming back from the Raleigh Spine Center for a follow-up visit for a broken back when one of his friends called him on the phone and asked if his sons, Robert and Greg, were flying home to Boston from North Carolina that day. Denton said he told the caller his sons had flown home the previous day, at which time his friend proceeded to tell him about the two planes striking the World Trade Center.

“I was just thankful that they [my sons] were on the ground and back at home by the time it happened,” he said. He said the news of the attacks “broke my heart. I couldn’t believe it.”

Faye Guill was busy working at her Tarboro restaurant, Cotton’s, the morning of the attacks.

 “All of a sudden I looked at the TV and there were these planes flying into the World Trade Center. I said, ‘Is this a terrorist attack?’ and that’s exactly what it was,” said Guill. “It was just a scary time because you just didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Willie Keel of Tarboro was on an oil truck in Franklin, Va. when he heard about the terrorist attacks. He said the eeriest part of the day was when the national government cleared the air space of all air traffic.

“I’ve always been one to look up in the air and see how many planes are flying by,” said Keel. “All of a sudden you look up there, you don’t see nothing.”

Keel’s son William was on an Air Force base in Saudi Arabia on 9-11.

“They put ‘em on lock down. They couldn’t leave the base,” said Keel. He said not being able to come and go freely created some apprehension for his son.

Linda Goines’ son, Thomas Tharrington, was 18 at the time and on guard duty at basic training for the National Guard at Fort Benning, Ga. at the time.

Linda’s husband Rick Goines’ thought at the time was: “Him and people his age are going to have to deal with this. And they have,” Rick added.

Tharrington never had to serve active duty in a war zone, but many men and women in his generation have fought in the war against terrorism that began that day.

Linda was teaching in a third-grade classroom when she heard the news of the terrorist attacks from another teacher. She had a Playstation attached to a small television in her classroom, so she fashioned an antenna out of a clothes hanger and was able to pick up Channel 7.

“We turned off the lights and sat on the floor in front of that TV,” she said. “I thought as time would go on, they [the students] would appreciate the opportunity to have seen it live.”

As she was explaining to her students that a horrific event in American history was occurring and their parents would explain more to them later, the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

Rick was working as an advertising representative at that Greenville station that day.

“We had some camera shots and some action that was coming into the building. We were seeing things that were being filmed that weren’t being shown to the rest of the country,” said Rick. Things like people jumping out of the World Trade Center and committing suicide.

“We were appalled,” said Rick, noting that “hard news” people accustomed to seeing acts of violence showed emotion after seeing the impact of the terrorist attacks

On an evening later that week, Rick attended a community gathering at the courthouse square in Tarboro.

“I think the feeling was that people wanted to do something,” said Rick. He said the event was about “people getting together and reassuring each other that the world was going to go on.”

And it did, albeit changed forever.

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