We Remember

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

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Last Frame - Times-News photographer Erica Yoon blogs behind the scenes of local imagery.

Published Monday, September 14 2009 - (0) Comments

Andrew Johnson, a 12th grader at Cherokee High School and a member of the Junior ROTC, holds an American flag that was later raised on the football field before the game against Volunteer HS last Friday, September 11, 2009. Johnson stated that the flag he held was flown over Iraq. (ISO 400, Aperture F3.2, Shutter Speed 1/320s at 35mm)

9/11/01. I was studying at school in Boston at the time and walked into my journalism class. My professor waited for us to settle into our seats and he waited probably about five more minutes before even looking up from his desk. He was quiet. A small portable radio with the antenna raised stood on his desk.

I remember that day as a long and confusing one. Students standing around infront of TV's, classes later cancelled. My sister at the time worked in Times Square, albeit mid-town and away from ground zero but still in Manhattan. What was normally a 20-minute train ride to work became a 3-hour trek home on foot across bridges with thousands of other stranded people.

Later that day I was in downtown Boston. Looking back, probably not the best place to be at the time. The last few people we saw were locking and closing up their businesses and at one point we were the only people in the square. Then a truck arrived and a man started to unload afternoon special edition Boston Globe newspapers in the middle of what seemed like a deserted city for blocks.

Just a week before, I had made a trip home and back on a flight from New York to Boston. I remember on that flight, looking out of the window after the take off and watching the incredible New York skyline down below me. It was such a clear day.

We remember. We remember all the victims, victims' families and those that have sacrificed for our country.

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