The community rallied after 9/11 with leaders like Wayne Grant and Kathy Buffington
By Kathryn Ross, pictured are Grant and Buffington
On that dark night, with arms around one another, tears streaming down our faces, we mourned. The band played ‘God Bless America.’ As our parents had sixty years before us, we prayed He would.
Charles Dickens wrote “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” It was. For the first time since 1812 the nation had been attacked on sovereign soil. Our country was on its knees. Yet, despite our differences, we were clinging to one another. We were all Americans.
That night we were at a Music on the Lawn 9/11 benefit concert. It was a few days after Al Qaeda’s September 11th, 2001, attack on our homeland. No squadrons of fighter jets had filled the sky. No bombs had dropped on our cities, but we knew our nation was at war. Four everyday passenger jets had taken off from Boston, MA, Newark, NJ, and Washington, DC carrying 213 children, women, and men to their deaths. Nearly three thousand died in the aftermath. Our country was on its knees, but despite our differences, we were clinging to one another. We were all Americans.
Across the Nation it had been a normal Tuesday workday. Just before 9 a.m. EST regular television programming ceased when network news broke in to show video of an aircraft flying into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. While we were expressing our horror, we saw an aircraft flying into the South Tower. It was three minutes after 9 a.m.
When the first plane struck. We knew it was a horrible accident, but not unexpected. The buildings were the tallest in the city, at one time in the world. They reached 1,368 feet into the sky. When we saw the second plane fly into the South Tower, we knew it couldn’t be a coincidence. With the report of a third aircraft crashing into the Pentagon 34 minutes later, we knew our country was being attacked. When we learned that a fourth commercial air liner had crashed in rural Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. we knew we were at war.
We didn’t know what we could do. After Pearl Harbor young men across the nation flocked to the nearest enlistment centers. The nation was on alert. With President Roosevelt’s Declaration of War, the nation launched into action. We knew what our parents had done, but what could we do? Allegany County is hundreds of miles from Ground Zero.
A few acted immediately, geared up their emergency vehicles and headed down I-86 to New York. The Red Cross announced blood drives. When Allegany-Steuben Arc’s PWI operation was requested to produce 25,000 DNA Identification Kits, the work was done as soon as humanly possible.
PWI is remembering those two hectic days with a special commemoration at 11 a.m. Sept.11th. The public is invited to attend, more information below:
Individuals dove into action. Kath Buffington, head of the county’s Traffic Safety Office started collecting items she knew recovery volunteers would need.
Wayne Grant of Andover started collecting funds to purchase flags to give to the hardest hit communities. He wanted them to know others cared.
EMS personnel, firefighters, police, and individuals flocked to New York City to help with rescue and recovery. It was estimated that nearly two thousand people were inside the two towers when they were struck. The last survivor was pulled out of the rubble of the North Tower 27-hours after its collapse. Both towers had collapsed by 10:30 a.m.
On that fateful day, just 225 miles from Wellsville, Flight 93 plowed into a field in Somerset County in southwestern Pennsylvania. It hit the ground at 563 mph, upside down, at a 45° angle, near Shanksville.
Shanksville was among the sites to which Grant delivered an American flag. I was with the busload of supporters Grant organized to travel to Shanksville to deliver a flag. Read more about Wellsville native and federal agent Dr. Thomas Hyslip’s account of that hallowed day below:
What struck me as we rolled through the lush countryside of southwestern Pennsylvania, was how very much it was like Allegany County. Shanksville is smaller than Scio. Less than two hundred people live there. It is farming and mining country. As I sat there in that high back bus seat, I wondered what our local emergency services would have done if an airliner had crashed into one of our fields?
Now, I know what they would have done. They would have run to the scene. We would have provided food and supplies. People would raise money, give blood, and do whatever we could. Just like we did in the weeks following 9/11.
Yet, on that dark night, as I stood there next to my childhood friend listening to the music at the 9/11 concert, I didn’t know. I didn’t know that PWI was sending DNA ID kits. I didn’t know Grant was collecting flag donations. I didn’t know Buffington was collecting supplies. I didn’t know she would organize four deliveries to Ground Zero, to serve volunteers pancakes drenched in Allegany maple syrup and to deliver supplies to firehouses to show Allegany County cared.
Kathryn Ross is a career mediaite, community activist, and lifelong Wellsville resident. You can reach her anytime at kathr_2002@yahoo.com
