LM’s Holmes Recalls Frantic Air Travel, Aftermath of 9/11

The 20th Anniversary of 9/11 is a milestone of sorts and gives people the chance to reflect on the last 20 years, while looking forward. Nevertheless, most people clearly remember where they were and how they felt that tragic day. 

I know I do.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I woke up in my grandparents’ home in Lisbon, Iowa and started getting ready for a flight to the Azores, Portugal, where I was stationed as the Chief of Public Affairs at Lajes Field. I was an Air Force captain and I had been stationed in the Azores for about a year.
 

The trip had been a good one, very relaxing, and my 3-year-old daughter at the time, Madison, and I enjoyed the time spent visiting family. My mother was also in Iowa, as she had taken vacation from her work in California. That morning, we all had breakfast together before driving to the airport. Mom was flying to Los Angeles, via Denver, and we were headed to Norfolk, Va., en route to Lajes.

My flight left first, so Madison and I boarded our airplane and it took off, like on any normal day. However, about an hour into the flight, the crew started acting strange.

They stopped the drink service and told us that we needed to prepare for landing, but they didn’t tell us where or what was happening. We were ushered off the plane, and I quickly found out we were in St. Louis. Everyone was confused, and no one had any answers.

There were a few televisions in the terminal, and it quickly became apparent something had happened to one of the World Trade Center towers. Within a few minutes, I watched the second plane crash into the other tower. 

Madi was standing at my side, her sippy cup in hand, oblivious to all the unnatural energy going on around her.

I looked for a pay phone to call my dad in Louisville, Ky., because I knew my mom was flying just like me.

As I was looking around, I saw nearly everyone on cell phones, which explained why there seemed to be very few pay phones in the airport, but I finally found one and called Dad to explain our flight was diverted and that I was going to go to the USO to see what was happening. I was worried about our luggage because no one would tell me what was going to happen to it, or if flying would resume.

I found the USO at the same moment the Pentagon was hit.

It caused a lot of concern in the USO because it was full of traveling service members who all realized our country was probably at war and we were not in the place where we should be at a time like that.

The USO wasn’t staffed for all the people, but they were calling in “backups” and doing all they could to keep people calm and help them contact supervisors, eat, or whatever.

A nice, older lady offered to watch Madison while I went in search of our luggage and information.

It was then that I realized the airport had no plan for the scenario that was happening. Luggage handlers had created a mountain of luggage across the entire baggage claim area. Thousands and thousands of bags were strewn all over, and people were climbing the baggage mountain in search of suitcases.

I was stressed about leaving Madison alone, and it looked like finding our bags was going to be like trying to find needles in a haystack. I returned to the USO and was able to contact the command post in the Azores to let them know we were safe.

At the time, I didn’t understand the enormity of what was happening, and I didn’t know all flights would be cancelled for an indefinite time. After thinking for a while, I asked the nice lady to help me again with Madison, and I returned to the baggage mountain, which had diminished somewhat, and I got very lucky. That bright red suitcase I bought for Madison in the Lajes Base Exchange was poking out of a large pile to the left-hand side of the mountain. Close by was another suitcase we had brought. I thought finding the bags was a small miracle, and I lugged them back to the USO. It was very congested there, and another small luggage mountain was forming outside.

After realizing no airplanes were leaving that day, I went to the car rental counter and was told no more rental cars were available at the airport. We were truly stranded, and my stress was intensifying. I was a military captain in charge of a public affairs shop that was probably extremely busy trying to get information to our customers about what was happening, and I couldn’t get back to help. I had a small child who needed to be carried, for the most part. I had two very heavy pieces of luggage that I could barely handle by myself, as well as carry-on bags and my purse. I didn’t have a lot of money, and I was in St. Louis, which wasn’t really close to anywhere I needed to be. I just kept thinking that I needed to get to Louisville where my dad was, so I decided we would sleep in the airport that night and wait for a rental car to be returned.

The nice woman from the USO sized up my situation and told me we could come home with her. She had a small condo near the airport, and she kept saying, “everything would work out.”

The next morning I learned there was one rental car, so we headed to Louisville. My parents had missed a lot of work helping to take care of my elderly grandma and they couldn’t take more time off to drive us to Norfolk, so Madison and I took a Greyhound. The trip was long with many stops.

The customers on the bus were not the typical customers. Many riders wore business suits, and there were a lot of nicely dressed ladies with children. It was surreal. Everyone seemed out of their element, worried about the future.

The children were the only ones who were oblivious to the fear and anxiety. Madison was a perfect angel, and she hummed and sang to herself the entire trip. I think people around us felt it soothing, like she was a bright light in a dreary day.

We made it to Norfolk the next day after 26 hours, or so, of traveling on two buses. 

At Norfolk, we checked into a hotel and went to the military airlift terminal to get on the waiting list for a flight back to the Azores. It took about two days, and the experience was so exhausting because of having to repeatedly trek back and forth between billeting and the terminal, with no car.

Madison never complained. She never made it more difficult than it was. She seemed to understand that I was working to capacity and doing my best. 

During those few nights in the hotel, while waiting for a flight, I’d cuddle her close at night and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. I was too exhausted to dream. Each day was filled with worry about how the world would be changed and what my role would be.

One of the most noticeable changes when we got back to the base was the heightened state of alert. The mission at Lajes is to provide refueling, lodging, and crew rest for airplane crews traveling across the Atlantic on the way to the Middle East.

After Sept. 11, the number of planes coming through started to ramp up significantly. The planes were a constant, visual reminder for the people on the island that the United States military was actively engaged in the war on terror.

Tomorrow marks 20 years since that fateful day, and our country will forever mourn for the people who lost their lives trying to escape from those burning towers. And I, like the rest of you, will never forget!

- Kristen Holmes, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management