Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Zone 7: When the Planes Came to Gander - A Flight Attendant’s 9 11 Story

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Zone 7: When the Planes Came to Gander - A Flight Attendant’s 9 11 Story · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Y'all, today is a feel-good 9-11 story. Today, Zone 7
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: will honor the incredible people of Gander, Newfoundland. Jumbo jets
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: descended on their little island that they call The Rock,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: doubling their population within minutes.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Now, I want y'all to think about that.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Within minutes, Your population has doubled from people from all
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: over the world. They weren't expecting one jumbo jet that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: day with 7,000 people from different countries with different cultures
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and medical needs, dietary needs, religious practices, different languages. Y'all,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: they had people there that were supposed to get married,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: people that were celebrating different things. They even had a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: group of children from Make-A-Wish. Our guest today, let me
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: tell you just a little about her. She's a former
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: beauty queen. She's a former.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Majorette, but not just a majorette.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: No, sir, fire baton. She's a WSI certified lifeguard. She
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: is just recently celebrated her 20th year as a level
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: one trauma nurse, a charge nurse, at the largest inner
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: city hospital.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: In Atlanta, Grady Hospital.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: But prior to that, she had a whole nother career
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: where she spent 34 years as a flight attendant for
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Delta Airlines. On September the 11th, 2001, Charlene Bowen was
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15 that was taken
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: off from Frankfurt, Germany, bound for Atlanta with 218 passengers
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: on board. Y'all, please welcome to Zone 7, my sister,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Charlene Bowen.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Cheryl. That was quite the introduction.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm sorry I had to reach back
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to the 70s, but I had to find some things
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: that made you look impressive.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: You did pretty good. All true, two people. All true.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: But, you know, I think about that day and it's,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: It is so emotional. And you and I are talking today,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and today is September the 11th. And, you know, there's
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: so many tragic stories on that day, but your story
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: is so unique. And that's why I just wanted to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: have on this 25th anniversary, the good news. I just
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: think that's so important to tell that part too. But again,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: in 2001, you were already a veteran flight attendant. You
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: had seen medical emergencies, bad storms, engine issues. Charlene, when
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: did you know on this flight something was different, something
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was odd?
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Well, we were in the air. Everything was just going normal.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: We were coming back from Frankfurt, Germany, coming into Atlanta.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: We were like five hours into the flight, over the ocean.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Everything's going great. We had served our first meal. All
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the passengers were happy, settling in, getting comfortable. And our
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: captain had called and told us that we really needed
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: to start buttoning up everything and putting everything away. So
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: we thought it was going to be some weather, you know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that was coming in at the beginning. And anyway, he said,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: you know, he called the coordinator up to the front
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: and then she came back to the back and was
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: telling us, you know, don't say anything to anybody or
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: anything yet, but we're going to have to land, you know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: pretty quick. So we got to get everything buttoned up. Well,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: then we didn't really know what was going on. They
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: said they thought that there was some kind of emergency
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: of some sort going on in New York. I mean,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: they really didn't know what was going on yet. So
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: The captain came on and he just said, ladies and gentlemen,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: he said, I just wanted to let you know that
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: there has been a light that has come on in
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the cockpit. And so we're going to have to land.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: We're real near Gander, Newfoundland. And we're going to have
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to land and just get that light checked out. And then,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: you know, it's just an FAA thing. We'll won't be
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: there long. Everybody's going, oh, man, you know, thinking delays,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: you know what? And so he said, we're going to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: land and then hopefully we'll be on our way shortly. But,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: you know, we don't really have a choice here. So
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: then we get another phone call from the captain and
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: it said, so we're kind of thinking, too, OK, something
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: might be going on, but maybe it is a mechanical,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: you know, we're just not real sure. And anyway, and
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: so then he calls back and he tells us that
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: something had happened for sure in New York. And there
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: had been an airplane that had hit one of the
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Twin Towers. But, you know, it was all coming through radio.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: So it was just like real. You could only get
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: limited information. Well, anyway, and so he told us that
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: for sure we were going to be landing. So we
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: were like, okay. Well, then he called back not too
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: much longer. And he said, you know, look, At the time,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: we had what they call air phones on board. Like,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: there was only a couple of people that might have
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: had an international cell phone. You know, so they were
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: these air phones. He said, I'm cutting all the air
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: phones off because people could pay and use the air
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: phone to call. It was pretty cool, you know, that
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you could do that. But one of the main reasons
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: we had those on board were for medical emergencies because
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: you could tap right into a hospital and talk right
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to a doctor if we needed to. So it was
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: pretty cool. But this particular day, you know, they just
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: cut everything off and they told us just don't say
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: anything to anybody. But there was definitely something, you know, bad,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: some kind of bad emergencies going on because now they're
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and they felt like it was, you know, terrorist activity.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: And that, you know, the second twin tower had been hit.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: So we were like, oh my gosh. So of course
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: we didn't say anything. We were just, you know, real quick,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: got everything, all the carts put away and everything locked
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: up and we checked everybody, but everybody was in their seat.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: He came on and he said, ladies and gentlemen, you know,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: we're going to be landing here in like 10 minutes.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Then five minutes, you know, Flight attendants, take your seat.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: So we took our seat. We had no earthly idea
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: where Gander was. I had no earthly idea where I was,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: where we were going. And so he, at the moment,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: our wheels, I'll never forget it long as I live.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: The second those wheels hit the ground, he came on
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: and he said, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure that you
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: can look around and you can see that we're not
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: the only aircraft that had been diverted to Gander. He said,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: all U.S. airspace has been closed and the United States
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: is under terroristic attack. From that moment on, I have
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: chills right now. Every person in that airplane, it went silent.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: There was not another whimper, not another complaint. Every single
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: person was just kind of like, what in the world?
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And so, because he didn't have any idea, he said,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I have no more information. Soon as I get any information,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: I will pass it along to you. But as you
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: can see, we are amongst many other aircraft. Well, come
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to find out, we were one of the last that
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: were able to land in Gander. We were out of
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: 38 aircraft. We were, I think maybe one landed behind
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: us and that is it. That's all they could take. Well,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: our captain had been asking the air traffic controllers, you know, hey,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: you know, is there any way, you know, we can
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: go to Halifax or can we go to, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: they were trying to get to a bigger city. So
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: if we had to stay there, our passengers wouldn't be
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: so inconvenient. They'd be able to get air, you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: hotels and all that kind of stuff. And they told
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: him absolutely not. If you have, boom, the nearest airport,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: you were to land. And that's where you're going to.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: That's where your designation is. So we had to go.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: We couldn't even get through to other, many air traffic control.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: You know, there was the communication was so limited. Actually,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: many of the airplanes were only having to talk to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: the other captains to find out, like, where exactly are
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: you landing? Where are you? What's your altitude? They were
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: literally manually like helping each other, guiding each other because
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: all the lines were just jammed and people couldn't really
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: get in to talk like they normally would, you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: to air traffic control. So when we landed, they pulled
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: us over. And I mean, it was wing to wing.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I have some of the most incredible memories. pictures of
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: all these aircraft that are just landed there. And the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: only reason that we were able to land there, the
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: only reason they were able at all to accommodate us
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: is because it was a landing strip that's kind of
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: unknown during World War II, where people could, a refueling
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: station for the military. So they were able to accommodate,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you know, so many of these aircraft. So mostly the
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: people that landed there, even back in the day, were
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: a lot of these, you know, transatlantic flights that people
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: were taking, but mostly the rich and the famous. And
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: they would be going across, but laying there in their
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: private jets, but rarely did any big, jumbo jets come
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: in there other than those during the war and a
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: few military jets from time to time would come in.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: And so as soon as we landed, we got, you know, situated.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: We had no idea how long we were going to
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: be there. We had no idea anything. Nobody had any information.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It was all coming from the cockpit, what little information
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: that he could get through the radio. Shortly after we landed,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: he found out about the Pentagon. And so once he
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: told us about the Pentagon, we were just getting all
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: this information delayed and in little pieces as we were
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: going along. And so... Our passengers were all just, oh,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: they were just fabulous. They all were desperately wanting to
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: get in touch with their families and stuff like that. But,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you know, there was really no way. There was two
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: people that had international phones. And so those two people
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: had been trying and they couldn't even get through on
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: their phones. And they kept trying and trying. And eventually
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: they did get through. But we were on that ground
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: for 30 hours. During the 30 hours that we were
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: on the ground, We, number one, we had, you know, served,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: of course, drinks and everything, but no alcohol because we had,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: you know, we had locked all that up. But because
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: we didn't know what would happen, you know, we didn't
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: want anybody to get out of hand. But everybody, they
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: were just so great. We just kept, you know, serving
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: the drinks and we had peanuts and, you know, your
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: normal stuff. But Charlene, I gotta just jump in here.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I want people to really understand what you just said. Charlene,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I have watched people when we finally get to the gate, oh,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: they jump up and they are just beside themselves waiting.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: For that door to open. They're so impatient.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: You're telling me for 30 hours y'all were on that
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: plane and y'all had locked up the liquor, which probably
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: was a good call. But, you know, you're talking about
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: some peanuts and y'all go into action saying, okay, what
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: do we have? We have an apple here. We have
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: some crackers. We've got some orange juice. Like, what is
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: your most need? Like, is somebody diabetic? Does somebody have
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: a baby? I mean, y'all are in triage.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Yes. Because we had served our meals. We did have
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a little snack. And we had served that like about
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: an hour or two into it, just kind of keeping
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: people happy, you know. Well, then it was getting on
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: down into the hours where we were like, okay. So
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: these passengers, we had made friends by then. We had
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: known everybody by first name, you know. And our captain
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: was a smoker. And, you know, we were no smoking
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: at that time. So he had told everybody that was
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: like really pacing and getting kind of antsy. that he would,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: every so often, he was going to come to the
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: back of the airplane. We were going to open the
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: doors so that the smokers could meet him in the
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: back and have a cigarette. So that's what they did.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: And in the meantime, all my friends, you know, that
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: we were baking all along the way, I said, you
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: know what? we really do have some food back here.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: I said, I'm going to go back here because a
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: lot of things were individually wrapped. And so I started
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: going through all the trays and the carts and passengers.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: These ladies, they were so sweet, were helping me. And
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: we made baskets. I mean, it was like, all of
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: a sudden, it was like, wow, we really did have
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: quite a bit of cheese and crackers and cookies, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: different things. So we were just trying to make the most,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: the best of it, actually.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: That's the most charling thing I've ever heard. Here we're
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: under terroristic attack. We're going to make some baskets and
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: we're going to make the most out of it.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Amen. And here's the thing.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: We've been talking for 20 minutes and we ain't off
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the plane yet.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: But one thing that you notice, you notice one.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Constable by himself tootling around in his little bitty car
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: all around those jumbo jets.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's all. There was, all the planes were there.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: We couldn't, it was night. You know, we couldn't see anything.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: We didn't, like I said, we had no idea where
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: we were. So we're on board trying to make people happy.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: There were other like babies and there were older ladies
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: that were helping mothers tend to babies and everything. I mean,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: like loving it, you know, babysitting them, rocking them. And
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: then we had Army Rangers that were on board that
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: were helping. We had a lot of disabled people and
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: they were helping with the sick. We had some real
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: sickly people that didn't have their medications. They were helping
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: us take care of them. I'm talking about this was
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: all hands on deck. Everybody was lending in, pitching. I
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: was already seeing the best in people just on that airplane.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: of how they were trying to help. And then like
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Cheryl said, looked out the window and we're like, wait
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: a minute, maybe we're going to get off. But then
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: he was just like driving around, just checking on everybody.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And it was like on into 20 hours, 25 hours,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: you know, and we finally get, one of them comes
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: up to our plane and they go, oh, we do
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: have a few supplies for you and we're going to
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: empty the restrooms, dump the toilets, right? You can imagine
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: 30 hours into this, the pull-ups needed dumping. Yeah. It
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: was very nice that they did come and take care
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: of that. But when you really realize they had 38
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: airplanes to service, and they had no supplies there. They
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: were not, you know, they didn't have catering. They weren't
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: set up for this.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Right. And that's another thing I want to remind people
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: why y'all had to stay on those planes. They did
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: not know if other terrorists were on board somewhere. So
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: they had to clear every manifest.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Name by name by name. Yes. We had 21 different
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: countries represented on my one airplane. And we didn't know
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: who was on our airplane either. And of course, by
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: this time, early on, we had also heard about the
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: other aircraft that had crashed. So we knew at this
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: point there was four, but we had no TV. We
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: had no anything, just word of mouth by the captain
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: passing back. And that's it. So finally they came up
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: to us and gave us some Cokes and some crackers
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: and candy bars. And we were like really happy to
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: get that, you know, so we gave all that out.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: And then it wasn't too much longer, you know, a
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: few more hours. And then they came and they said, okay,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: it's y'all's turn. And so all of a sudden these
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: school buses came. Well, unbeknown to us, the school bus
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: drivers had all been on strike. Well, they had all
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: come back to work. And they, in that 30 hours,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I can understand why it took them that long because
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: of what they had done and accomplished in that amount
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: of time. Not only like Cheryl said, Cleared every single
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: person so they knew who was coming in their country.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: They wanted to know who was landing and getting off
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: that airplane in Gander. And they had it all. You
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: would have thought they had been planning for years. It
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: was like playing like an Olympic event. They had every
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: single person, every single aircraft, a specific place for them
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: to go. They had all the, they only had a
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: couple of little motels. They had them completely cleared out
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: for all the crew to go to those motels because
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: they want everybody in one spot, you know, so they
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: could easily get in touch with them when it was
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: time to reload the airplanes. And then they went. to
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: community centers, to churches. They went to the skating rink.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: They went to the high school, the middle school, the
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: elementary school. And that's all there was. And they had
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: already had army cots brought over from Halifax, which you
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: have got to, where we are in Gander, it is
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: like an eight hour ferry ride to Halifax and then
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: 10 hour car drive I could have that mixed up,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: but I don't think so, to New York. And so
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: once you're where we are, there's no getting off. There's
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: no getting in a car, renting a car and going anywhere.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: You are there. And so for them to get any
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: supplies to us, that's the same route it had to
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: come back to Gander. Everything you can imagine was brought
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: in there to help us. And they had it set
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: up just like a disaster area where there were army
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: cots and these school gyms and everything. And then as
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: we got off the airplane, they had sack lunches made
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: for every single person. They gave us drinks and sack lunches,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: and then you boarded your school bus, and then they
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: took you to your designated area. Well, whether it be churches,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: there were people, like I said, on church benches. There
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: were people everywhere. But where we went, I'm getting a
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: little bit ahead of myself, but where they took us
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: was to this motel. So when I got to the motel,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: they gave us a room. And of course, there was
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: four of us per room. You know, you didn't by
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: any means get a room by yourself like you normally would.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: So there were four of us in there. Well, I
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: was determined. I was going out. I had to figure
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: out where I was. And I just had no idea.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And I was like, just desperately trying to get to
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: a television, to try to get to a telephone, to
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: try to see, you know, if there was any way
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: I could at least let my family know where I
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: was or where I was. what was going on and
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you know once everybody was where they needed to be
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: and safe that everybody had their areas so I took
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: off walking I told my crew I said I'm you
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: know just going to go out for a walk and
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: just see one of my crew members went with me
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: so we started walking well um the the I asked
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: them where did they think I could go where there
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: would be like a television I could see. And because
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: our rooms weren't set up or anything and they weren't,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: they were trying to clean them and do stuff like that.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: And so I just said, I'm, I'm, I'm, taken off.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: So there was a Walmart. So it was kind of
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: down the street. It might've been, I don't know, a mile,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: mile and a half. So I walked down there and
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: when I got to Walmart, it was really a strip mall.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: There was a Walmart, but then there was a few
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: little mom and pop type little shops, you know, in
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: this little strip mall. And there's probably, I don't know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: 20 stores maybe at the most there. And so in
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the middle of the mall, they had televisions set up.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: And so it was kind of like everybody was just
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: glued to these TVs. That was the first time that
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: I saw what was really going on in my country,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: you know? And I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I'd heard it, but we're 30 hours, really more than that,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: past that now. And I'm seeing this and I'm just like,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh. Yeah, because you're 30 hours behind what's happening. Yeah,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is like unbelievable. And then you see
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: the next Twin Tower. And then you see them collapsing
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: on television. I'm just like, what in the world? Because
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: we didn't even know that. And then the Pentagon, then
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the field. I was just like, Oh, my gosh. And
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: then you just know all these people that have died.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: And then you just see all these people just pulling
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: people out, rescuing people on this. And I mean, it's
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: just like, I cannot believe this. I cannot believe this
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: is happening, you know. And so then after I finally
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: was able to pull myself away from the television because
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I I thought, well, I better go back and see
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: what's going on. But I'd been there, I don't even know,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: probably four hours at least, maybe longer, just watching and
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: looking and hearing for the first time. So then I
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: get back to the hotel. When I get back to
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: the hotel, um, I stopped to get my key because
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: I had not even gotten a key before I left there.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: And I stopped and I told them who I was.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: And they went, oh, you're Charlene? And I went, yes.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: I am, but how do you know that? Because there's
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: 7,000 people here, you know. Anyway, I said, yes. And
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: they went, oh, well, I have a note for you.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh my gosh, Delta's looking for me.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: We're ready to go. I'm missing my flight home. Yeah,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I'm missing my chance. But anyway, and so they handed
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: me this note. And so it was this note and
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: it said, and then they handed me this hat and
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: it was a police hat. And it was this note
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: and it said, hello, can you, this is Ozzy Fudge.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Can you, I'm one of the policemen here in Gander.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Can you give me a call? And I was like,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: oh gosh, what have I done? So I said, well, okay.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: But then I thought, well, wait a minute. I think
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: I just passed the police station because it was just
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: right up the street. So I go back up the
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: street as, you know, before I called, I just went
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: up there. I went, well, I think that's the police station.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: So I went up there. We'll come to find out
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: that was the mayor's office. And That was Claude Elliott's office. Anyway,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Mayor Elliott. Anyway, so I go in there and he goes,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: and I said, hello. I said, I was looking for
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: Ozzy Fudge. I had got a note from him. Is
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: this the police department? He goes, oh, no, this is
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: the mayor's office. Come on in. You must be Charlene.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And I went, what? I said, yes, I am. I said, good.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: I got a note. I'm supposed to call Ozzy Fudge.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Let me ring him up for you. Well, anyway, and
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: so he calls him. And so Ozzie says, go back
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: to the hotel and do not move. I am coming there.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: And I said, okay. So I'll walk back down to
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: the motel. Well, really, the mayor, Mr. Elliott, Claude took
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: me back to the hotel in his car. So he
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: takes me, rides me back down to the hotel. So
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I get out, and I'm kind of like standing at
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: the desk for a minute. And then all of a sudden,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: the police car pulls up. There was two of them
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: that hopped out of the car. And Ozzy Fudge, who
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: I didn't know him at the time, but anyway, he
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: comes right over to me, and he went, Are you Charlene?
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: And I said, yes. And he picked me up, literally
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: picked me up, swung me around, hugging me. And he went,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: that's from your sister. And I went, what? And he went,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: your sister, Cheryl? I just busted out trying. Cheryl had
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: tracked me down in Gander. I had not been able
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: to talk to anybody. I had not been able to
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: find a phone I could get through to anybody. But
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: she somehow got through to Ozzie Fudge, the only police officer,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: really there's two, in Gander and talked to him and
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: told him, Listen, my sister is on... How she found
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: out at this point I was even in Gander, I
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: really don't know, except... Cheryl, how did you find out?
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: It came over the radio, because we didn't know. And
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm headed to the Pentagon, and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: news breaks, and it says.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Local Atlanta flight is headed by diversion to Gander, you know,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't know where Gander is.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I've never heard of Gander.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I'd heard of Newfoundland because of the dogs, but I mean,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I couldn't have told you.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Where it was.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: And Gander, I didn't know it was Gander, Newfoundland.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I had no idea.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And so I just told Walt, I'm going to call
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the constable. And Ozzie answered the phone and was the,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and here's what's really funny. So You know, we had heard, obviously,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the Twin Towers. I was put on call for the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: National Crisis Response Team. They called me back, said, you're
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: headed to the Pentagon.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: So that's where we're headed.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, everything is tragic. I mean, everything is horrible.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Everybody is sad. Like, you can't go to a gas
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: station or a grocery store. Just everybody's in disbelief that
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: we're under attack. And when the phone rang, it rang
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: one time. And I heard this voice, hello, hello, the
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: friendliest voice.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: And I almost started crying then.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: And I said, you know, this is Cheryl McCollum. I'm
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: with the Fulton County Sheriff's Department because I was at
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the time. He goes, what can I do for you?
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And so I told him, he went, I'll go straight away.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: And the whole time Walt kept saying, that man's going
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: to hang.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Up on you.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea what his world is like
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: right now? I mean, he's got people from 80 different
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: countries with everything going on imaginable. On top of, he
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't know if he's got terrorists in his country. But
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: he transferred me to his cell phone and rode around
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: till he figured out where you were.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: So I'm forever indebted. Forever. It was unbelievable. And then
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: he goes, you want to talk to her? He pulls
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: out his phone and calls her, gets her on the phone.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was still just crying. I just couldn't
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: believe it because you got to remember, I didn't know
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: where I was. I didn't know. I knew my family
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: didn't know where I was. My children didn't know where
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I was. My husband certainly didn't know where I was.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: It was just, it was unbelievable. And so it was
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: just made, oh my gosh. From that moment on, I
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: had a friend forever. For life, I have a friend,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: but I had a friend for that entire time that
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: we were there. We were there for five days. We
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: were locked out of our country for five days. I
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: was with him every day. He would come pick me up.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Starting that day, he took me all around with him.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: So I got to see firsthand. It was so unbelievable,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: so amazing how they took care of. Remember, they doubled
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: their population. So even as I was that first day,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: as I was walking, people were pulling over. Can I
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: help you? We all became known as the plain people.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: And They knew we were the plain people. Well, it
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: was so fun for them because they got to meet
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: all these people from all over the world and all
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: these different languages and all these different stories. And it
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: was just incredible. And they had all the kids from
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: the high school. They were... like basically Uber before Uber
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: came around, they started coming. And of course at no charge,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: they took no money or anything. And anyway, as they
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: come around, they would say, Hey, where are you headed?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: You know, do you want to lift? Can I take
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: you somewhere? And cause people were just walking. Cause of
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: course we didn't have anything else. And so as we're
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: walking and going or any passengers or, you know, walking around,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: they would just pick them up and take, them places.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: And at the like the older people, they made sure
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: they were in people's they were in people's personal homes.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: They was in the high school. They had like honeymoon
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: suite set up. They had a medical, like nurses and
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: doctors right there. Because remember, all we had were the
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: clothes on our back. We had nothing except things that
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: we had on the plane. If you had a carry-on,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: you could take that. Other than that, we had nothing.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: And so they had set up at these high schools. There's,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: you know, girls in a boys gym, you know, dressing
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: rooms in the gym, locker rooms. And so they have,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: how many showers? Six? I don't know. You know, not
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: that many in each one of those. And that is
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: where everybody showered, like the people that were staying in
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: the schools and hundreds of people we're talking about. And
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: so they would, Walmart gave them the key to their
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: store and just said, anything y'all need. So Walmart donated
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: everything they could, like towels and soaps and shampoos and
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: toothbrushes and toothpaste and deodorant and just everything was just
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: lined up and people could just go take showers. They
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: had clothes there. They had like sweatpants and t-shirts and
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: sweaters and sweatshirts and just anything you could need, like
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: the essentials that you had to have. Not to mention
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: all the parents, they closed down all the schools so
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: the kids, you know, all the high school kids could
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: help drive people around. And then all the parents were
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: home cooking, bringing in food. They were serving us three
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner in all these
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: schools and other places, too. Like there were several schools
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: and then the community center and one of the churches,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: I believe. And it was like every, you know, every
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: time it was like morning, noon, morning, noon, and at night,
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: they would have these food lines open. And in between,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: they were just doing everything they could. As people walked by, oh,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: I've just put on a cake. I have some tea.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: Come on in. Have a piece of cake or pie,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: tea with us. Unbelievable. There were people, I saw them
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: pulling pickup trucks up to their homes and unloading mattresses
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: to take up to these different schools and places. That
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: first day and second day, still anything they could give,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: sheets and blankets, everything they had, they gave us.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Now, Charlene, one of my favorite things, because you're talking
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: about the food, tell them about the ice skating rink.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, all these supplies. Remember I had said that
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: we're coming in from Halifax and from all over the place. Well,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: all this food started showing up. And so Gander, during
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: that 30 hours, they were shipping food over there too.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: That's where they were getting all this food to cook
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: for us. And anyway, so they had turned their hockey
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: rink into the world's biggest refrigerator. And they had it.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: You know, Ozzie took me to all of these places.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: And so anyway, they had, you know, gallons of milk
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: just in all these big crates, like stacked up. It
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: was probably 30 gallons of milk, 50 gallons of milk.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: It was something crazy. And like eggs, just so many
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: dozens of eggs. It was like more than you would
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: find at any grocery store. There was so much food
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: in there. There was bread. There was, you know, peanut butter.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: There was jelly.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: There were meats. And I mean, they were cooking like
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: real meat, food. I mean, like dinners, like more like
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: what the school would be serving or what a church,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: you know, Sunday on the ground type meals. Like and
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: then people would bring stuff from their home that they
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: had cooked. Well, not only that, they had like in
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: different places, they brought out all these bands.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: I saw where everybody else was saying the worst in people.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: All I saw was just the best that mankind possibly
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: has to offer. We're doing everything. They were just out,
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: just going crazy.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Just like over the top, anything they could do to
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: make our experience wonderful there. Tell them what everybody did
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: with their golf clubs.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, it was unbelievable.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: They, not only were they offering to take us, you know,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: open the golf, you know, the golf course for anyone
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: that wants to play golf. Well, they realized they didn't
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: have enough golf clubs. So they had everybody in the town. Hey,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: you know, we need everybody. God, bring your clubs in.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: We need y'all to come bring your clubs so all
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: the plain people can play. Use them so they can
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: have something to do. So anyway, they brought in, people
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: just brought their golf clubs up there. People would just
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: be able to go up there and play golf if
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: they wanted to. They took people out on their boats.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: They took people way up. It's a really fun. famous
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: place for hunting. And they didn't really do hunting, but
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: they did like go moose watching and whale watching. They
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: took us everywhere.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: They took you out where the Titanic sank?
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, they showed me where the area that that
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: was at. And what they took me to was, there
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: was so many things I learned about Gander when I
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: was there and I just got to see all of it.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: But it was Air Arrow, that big military airplane that
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: had crashed. And it had come down this entire mountain hill.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: They have this whole beautiful memorial set up for that.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: And you can see all the trees are still missing
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: down that whole mountain. And, you know, that was like,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: there's just so much history. The Titanic did go down. Right.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: You know, offshore, about 200 miles from where Gander, you know, is.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: There was just that the arrow. There have been many
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: other things that have happened in that area that they
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: just have a whole lot of history that I was
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: just totally unaware of that I learned, you know, while
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: I was there. But just seeing they were throwing, like
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: I said, bands would come out. They would entertain people.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Then they had birthday parties that were going on because
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: think out of 7,000 people, how many people were having
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: birthdays that week? There wasn't a lot of birthdays. but
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: mainly children, you know? And they would have all these
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: decorations and like clowns coming out, entertaining and having fun
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: and doing magic tricks. And they had people, the libraries
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: were all open in the schools. So, you know, people
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: were reading to little kids, like all the little books
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: and entertaining them. And then like Cheryl had mentioned, the
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Make-A-Wish kids, we found out that Um, these children, you know,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: their wish had been to go to Disney World or,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: and of course, you know, at this point, their time
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: was going to be so limited. They weren't going to
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: be able to make that trip and they knew it.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: And so the teenagers, um, there, they said, you know what?
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: They came up with that on their own. We're going
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: to make this happen for these kids. So these different teenagers,
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: one of them being Ozzy's daughter was one of them.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: And she got some of her friends together and they
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: put on princess costumes. And they just went in there
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: and they made those kids feel like they had been
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: to Disney World. They had probably a better encounter and
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: better experience than had they had gone to Disney World.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: Their whole worlds were changed and lit up. And it's
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: just every single thing they could do to just make
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: it so special for all of us. They were flying
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: our flag at half mass. They were so, you know, respectful.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: They were just like of America. But, you know, they
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: wanted to know about all the people, where we were from,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: who we were. And then at one of the high schools,
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Their media teacher, right off the bat, he had told
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: all the kids to get the cameras because they had
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: their own little TV station and morning news for the
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: school and stuff like that. And anyway, so he had
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: gone around and given all these cameras to these kids
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: and said, just go start interviewing, you know, all these
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: different passengers. Where are you from? Tell me your story.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: What plane were you on? So that is the only
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: known history now and the recordings live. that were actually
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: happening is what from the media center that they captured
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: while we were there. And it was incredible. Since that time,
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: I later found out that Oprah and her people called
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: me And they were, you know, wanting to get all
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: this information and everything from me because I had taken
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: a lot of pictures. I did go to Walmart and
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: I bought disposable cameras. And I was like, I knew
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: I had to capture it. And so I had really,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: that was the only thing really I got there. And
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: there weren't that many left either. But I bought all
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: the cameras, you know, that I could. And I bought
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: and I took pictures of everything. But anyway... um I
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: didn't have my a recorder though I didn't have my
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: no cell phone like we do today that could be
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: recording all this and so anyway when um They called me.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: I told them, I said, well, I do have pictures.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: I have, you know, snapshots like of a lot of
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: different things. But really who you need to talk to is,
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: you know, the media teacher there in Denver.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: I love that Charlene starts producing for Oprah.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Here's what y'all need to do. Well, that's just what
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: they did.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: They showed it.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: They called him. And anyway, Cheryl and I were fortunate
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: enough to go. I've been back twice. I went back
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: because they did a whole big special and flew me
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: out back to Gander after all this was over. But
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: there's a lot more we need to get to. But
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: Cheryl and I went back and he. The media teacher
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: told me, he said, Charlene, he went, I just have
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: to tell you. Thank you. And I was like, what?
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: And he said, you would not believe my entire life
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: changed as soon as I got in touch with Oprah.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, as soon as Oprah got in touch with me.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: And he went on to work instead of staying as
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: a media teacher. He went on to work all in Oprah.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: TV and producing and all sorts of things. So he
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: said he got a whole career out of that chain.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, when we got to go back, part
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: of me was like, I know these people were great.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: I know it was a wonderful experience and they took
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: care of them.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: I knew that.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: But, you know, you think, is Charlene exaggerating? I mean,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: is it really that beautiful? Are the people really that extraordinary? Well,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: They are, and it is, because the moment we landed,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: you could feel it. But here's the thing that knocked
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: me out, and I think it is one of the
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: first of several times that I cried on that trip.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: But once people recognized you, and here you are in
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: this other country.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden somebody's like, Charlene! Charlene!
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: And they're so thrilled to see you. And they want
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: to hear, like, what all's been going on? Like, you know,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: tell us everything since, you know, you've left. It was
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: so warm and inviting. It wasn't just like, oh, yeah,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: we met and they helped me out, you know, during
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: the time. You literally left there as family. And one
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: thing I want people to know, you did something that
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: I think is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: And it was also just profound.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: We had an opportunity to go to the Broadway play,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: Come From Away, there in Gander. And you wore your
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Delta uniform. And the reaction that you got from people,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: you want to talk about people just busting out crying.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: They were so happy to see you. And that just
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: meant the world to them that you did that.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very special. It was like really special.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: And it was so special to see it there in
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: Gander and with my friends and my new family. That's
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: for sure. And then I had told them all about y'all.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: So it was so nice that you got to go.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: Walt got to go. My husband got to go. He
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: got to see it. He got to experience. He got
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: to really realize. And until you see it, you can't
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: really imagine how it really was. There's no way. There's
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: no way. You can't. They have an entire memorial. I mean,
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: this whole museum set up. And it's like, it's just incredible.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe a couple of things. First of all,
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: there's so much else we want to talk about. But
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: when we went back and I was... we went to
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: the museum and Cheryl and I were walking around. I
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: didn't even know this was there, but there was an
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: actual recording of our actual, the recording of the air
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: traffic controllers to Delta Flight 15. And it was, you know,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: bringing us into Gander. And it was just like, Oh,
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: my gosh, it was that day. I mean, in real life,
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: they have that there. Directing those aircrafts, we're number so-and-so,
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: Delta Flight 15, landing into Gander, you know. And, I mean,
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: it just brought it all back.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, I cried then, too, with the headset on because
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting that.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what it was.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: Y'all, they just had this huge terminal, and it's just
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: what the air traffic controllers look at. So it's showing
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: you all these aircraft everywhere. And all of a sudden,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: they're just.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: All these dots just start converging and just... And clearing
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: the sky. But they're all just dumping on Gander. And
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: you can hear. You just couldn't believe it. This is
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: Delta Flight 15. And I was like... I know, but
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: every flight that was clearing, as they're coming through and
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: those dots just dissipating, like before your eyes and landing. Yeah, unbelievable. Unbelievable.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: It was unbelievable. And the other thing that was super
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: cool was when I went the first time to that play,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Come From Away, in Atlanta. And I'll never forget, I
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't expecting for people from Gander. I didn't know they
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: were going to be there. And it was just so
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: awesome because all of a sudden I looked up and
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: there was... Claude Elliott, the mayor. And I was like,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: I have to go see him, you know? And so,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: you know, it was at the end of the shows
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: when they came out. And so I got up and
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: I walked in there. I'm like, no, no, no, you
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: don't know. I know him. And so they let me
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: go up there. And then right there, that was here
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: in Atlanta. You know, he went, Charlene, you know. It
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: was just, I mean, I don't know. It was pretty special.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: It is pretty special.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: And I got to meet, you know, Ozzy in person.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: And that was overwhelming. And he's so funny. And, you know, here's,
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: you know, your husband and my husband, you know. And
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: I said, listen, you know, you will never know what
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: that meant to me personally. Just to know Charlene, somebody's
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: taking care of her.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: You know. And he went, what?
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: You asked me to hug a blonde flight attendant. I
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: think I could do that. Like, no problem, no problem.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: He's like, that's not the hardest job I've ever had.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: He's just so funny and just a lovely human being.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: And when we got there, he did the same thing
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: for us he did for you.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: He said, get in the car.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: We went and looked at moose and bear and, you know,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: out there at the point. I just had a tremendous
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: time with everybody, everybody.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: It was so incredible.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: So Charlene, tell everybody that you had something that I
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: consider an honor to in the UK this year, what
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: did they do in the Broadway show, Come From Away,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: in the UK?
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I don't know if y'all have seen
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: that Broadway show, Come From Away or not. If not,
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: I highly recommend it. It is only the tip of
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: the iceberg, of course, of what I experienced. It is amazing.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: But anyway, they called me and they said, you know,
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: wanted to interview me and find out all about me
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: and Ozzy. You know, they have Ozzy, of course, in
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: the play and everything. So they called me and they
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: told me that they were going to put in the hug.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: And so it's the hug from around the world. So
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: everybody has gotten to know about the hug. And sure enough,
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: they ended up sending me little clips and things. And
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: it was amazing because I actually, that got to be
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: portrayed in the, in the play. And so I think there,
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: you know, different plays, you know, a lot of times
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: they add in different little parts and, take away different
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: little parts and are always adding and everything. But that
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: one might stay in. I have a feeling, but it
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: was just so special to know that they, you know,
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: they just thought it was such an incredible thing. And
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: it really was that he did that. And so they
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: added it in and it just made, Oh, it made
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: me feel so good. And they ended up sending us
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: brochures and stuff. And of course they invited us to come.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: I wish we, I wish I could have gone. I
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: would have given anything to go see that one, but
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: it was, it was really amazing. Tell us about getting screeched. Oh, yes.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: When you go there to Gander, one of the things everybody,
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: you know, that they consider family, friends, and, you know, forever,
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: you know, when you come to visit, it's a thing
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: to get screeched in. Well, I had no idea what
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: exactly I was getting myself into. But he said, oh, yes,
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: and we have to take you to get screeched. And
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: I'm like, what? Well, they changed it to the fire
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: department along with a couple other people. And here we
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: are in this fire department. When you walk in, I'm like,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: hold up now. This looks like a frat house. This
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: is the fire department? I mean, it's like, it looked like, honestly,
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: you were in a pub and it was like happening,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: you know, in this fire department. But it was super cool.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: They were like just so... Just so friendly and nice
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: and everything. And so they pull out this, what they
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: call screech. And so, in other words, they say all
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: this and they have you kiss this fish. And then
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: they have you take a shot of screech. I was like, oh, Lordy.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: And anyway, I remember not much of a drinker at all.
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: And so, anyway, here we go. I said, okay. So
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: he gives it to me. And so I was like, okay.
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: And I ended up, he went, okay. And it burnt
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: from my mouth to my toes.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: But I had screeched in.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: And since you're screeched in, you get an honorary citizenship
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: into Gander once you're, you know, screeched in.
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: But y'all, I just want y'all to understand that here
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: we were worried sick about Charlene. And she's at the
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: frat house with a bunch of cops and firefighters doing shots.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: No, no, no.
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: Please.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: That's not exactly how it was. But anyways, Cheryl and
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: Lance and Walt. On our trip, when we returned, we're
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: also screeched in. Sure did. I kissed that cod dead
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: on the lips. Kissed it right on the lips. And
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: that was with the whole crew from Come From Away.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: So they had the whole cast in there. And we
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: got to go to that big cast party and they
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: all got to get screeched in as well. So we're
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: all honorary Gander citizens.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Well, the folks in Gander, I mean, opened their homes,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: opened their hearts, wouldn't take any money from y'all. And
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: I want people to know this is not a rich province.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, they do not have money to give away,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: but they gave everything they.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: Had and more.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: So on the way home, Delta Flight 15 did what?
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: Well, like you say, they had given us everything. We
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: had tried to pay for things. They would just say, no, no,
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: that's just the way we are. And you would do
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: the same for us. That's just what we want to
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: do for you. And I'm really not kidding when I'm
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: telling you they are the poorest Providence in Canada. I mean,
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: most of these kids don't even get off that Island.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: They never leave, you know, and just the nicest people
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: you could ever hope to meet. And so on the
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: way home, we, well, we finally got the call. We
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: were leaving. It was kind of a bittersweet and we're like, okay,
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: you know, gosh, I mean, we have just, we're so happy.
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: We're going to be able to go home, but, You know,
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: it's like, oh, my gosh, am I ever going to
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: hear or see these people again? We'd all exchange numbers
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: and telephones. And, oh, you know, I knew I was
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: going back. But anyway, on our way back, you know,
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: everybody was just, by this point, fast friends. I had
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: gone to all the places where everybody was staying. Everyone
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: had just gotten these whole communities of the Plains. the
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: people just knew each other, knew everything about everybody. So
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: we're on back on our flight going home. And, uh, Shirley,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: she was just one of the sweetest ladies that we
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: ever could have met. Anyway, her and this doctor, it
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: was really his idea. He said, you know, we just
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: really want to do something for these people in Gander.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: Like what? I just have this idea and I think
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: it'll work. Um, just more really needed to say, but
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: we also had people from the Rockefeller Center on board
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: our airplane. And so they had had to run the
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: Rockefeller Center out of this antiquated computer lab. That's also
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: where the media center was and all that kind of stuff.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: So they had already decided that, Boy, we get that.
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: We know we're sending money to get their computer lab update. Yeah.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, they've been talking about this because
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: they said they were going to do that. And so
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: they were saying, we just got to do something for
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: these people. And so they came up with they wanted
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: to come up with a scholarship fund and they wanted
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: to see how many people on board were going to
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: go ahead and donate and be willing to do it. Well,
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: of course, they already had a lot of money. just
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: from our airplane worth of people. And so they have
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: come up with enough money to give at least one
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: scholarship just from our plane. And so we thought, God,
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: that's a fabulous idea. We were so excited. And then
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: it went pretty much crazy. Shirley heading up the whole
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: thing and she has gone. Now it is like, I
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: don't even know how many people they send, but the
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: first year- I can tell you. I can tell you.
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: It'll blow your mind.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: On the way home, y'all had people pledging $ 15, 000, and
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: somebody on board matched it, so y'all had $ 30, 000. Today,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: it's worth $ 1. 5 million, and y'all have sent 341 children
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: to college from Gander.
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable. Unbelievable. But that particular one, they ended
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: up inviting me and Cheryl, my husband and Walt, to
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: the Canadian constable's office here in, to their house here
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: in Atlanta. And so we got to go to this big,
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: nice dinner and big thing. And they brought back the
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: first student that ever went on that scholarship. And so
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: it was so cool because she had become a doctor.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: And so since, like Cheryl said, it's just unreal. It's
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: like way over a million dollars. They send like, you know,
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: several kids every year, you know, to college. And it
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: was just like the opportunities that we felt like we
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: were offering them. But guess what? Oh, no, we can't
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: out gander them. Oh, no, we think we're doing all
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: this great, fabulous stuff. They have turned around. They have
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: their own scholarship fund. And guess what? They now send,
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: at least it started out one, there's no telling how
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: many now, several, I'm sure, each year of children of
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: people that had died on 9-11 in New York, in
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: the Twin Towers. They send several children now, I'm sure,
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: but they started sending a child from the survivors of 9-11,
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: the children. but of the people that had died, their children.
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: And I just think, you know, that just says more
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: about them than anything. They're so grateful for what we did,
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: but it's like, gosh, we've got to, we've got to
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: do that. And they just turn around. They're just the
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: most wonderful giving people I've ever met in my life.
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: And I had to feel like it was such a
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: blessing and it was just such a miracle really. And,
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: Probably one of, obviously one of the most memorable things
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: I'll ever live through because it was such a horrific event.
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: And then I just saw just the best people possibly
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: could offer of mankind where everybody else has seen the worst.
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: And I'll never forget one of the last things you know,
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: when we were finally getting that word, we're going to
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: take off, we're coming back and, you know, we're about
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: to land in Atlanta. I wasn't expecting this at all,
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: but we come back and as our wheels hit there
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: in Atlanta, we were one of the first to take
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: off out of Gander since we were one of the
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: last into Gander. So that was kind of nice because
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: we were one of the first to take off. So
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: we were one of the first to land back into Atlanta.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: And when we come land in, the whole taxiway was
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: just lined up with Delta employees and they were all
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: waving American flags. And I don't know. I just was like,
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: I just busted out crying again because now it's like
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: all those emotions that you had had, then all the
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: ups there. And then coming back to America, then you'd
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: see all the devastation and what else is really going on,
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: but then everybody had come together. And it was just
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: such an unbelievable time in history to just see how
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: every American was standing, trying to help their neighbor, help
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: their parents, next person, volunteering, doing whatever they could to
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: try to help the people in New York, giving blood,
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: everything you could. And on my drive home, all these
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: people were still just all over the place, like painted red, white,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: and blue. There were American flags flying everywhere. And I
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: just cried all the way home. And then, of course,
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: I got home, and then I got to see my family.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was just... I don't know. So emotional.
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: Every single piece of it from not knowing what was happening,
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: what was happening, where I went, not knowing where I was,
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: how we were treated. And then the whole wonderful experience
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: that we had there. And then you come back to
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: America and then just realize how it could have been
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: my airplane. It could have easily been my plane. And
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: to realize that the whole time, too, I flew the
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: very next weekend and it was like, wow, you know,
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: I'm getting back on this plane because you just I
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: don't know. You just never know how when you really
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: realize it could have been my airplane and just how
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: thankful I am. That, of course, it wasn't my airplane,
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: but just how compassionate and sorry And, you know, you
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: are of all these people that just lost their family members,
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: their children, their mothers, their husbands, their wives. It was just,
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: it's just too much. And anyway, I just hope everybody,
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: that's one thing. I just hope that people will never forget,
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: absolutely never forget how we were on that day. And
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: on September 12th, just, you know, people trying to just
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: help each other and pick up the pieces and help
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: your neighbor. Because that's the Ganger way. And that's how
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: I pray that United States will be, is support each
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: other instead of all this inner, you know, disagreements and everything.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: Just realize we're all Americans and just we're so fortunate
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: to be living where we're living and just protecting ourselves.
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: And helping our neighbors is just the best message I
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: can get, you know, send to people.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: Well, Charlene, I appreciate you being on Zone 7 and
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: sharing your amazing story. You have lived your adult life
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: serving others as a flight attendant and as a nurse.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: And not just on that plane on that day, but
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: you literally make everything better. Every party, every family function,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: every event, even some of our first Fridays.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: Everything is better. Everything.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: So I just appreciate you and I'm proud you're my sister.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Well, I'm proud to be your sister. That's
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: God bless you and God bless America. But y'all, I'm
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: gonna end Zone 7 the way that.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: I always do, with a quote.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: You are here at the start of a moment on
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: the edge of the world where the river meets the sea.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: Here on the edge of the Atlantic, on an island
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: in between there and here. Come from away, Broadway play,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: Andrew Newfoundland. I'm Cheryl McCollum, And this is Zone 7.