Retelling 9/11 for the next generation

ROCKINGHAM — Sept. 11, 2001 was a day that shook the world. And now, on its 20th anniversary, it’s become a part of the history curriculum for Richmond County’s students.

Richmond Senior High School Principal Jim Butler called 9/11 “the quietest day in Raider history.” At the time, Butler was Assistant Principal. Butler said there wasn’t really shock, fear or outrage in the building, but disbelief.

“There was not a whole lot of new learning going on beyond what was going on right then in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that day,” Butler said.

Classroom instruction continued unimpeded. School was not let out early that day.

“I think of it as not that long ago,” Butler said. “For [the students], it’s a historical event.”

No student at RSHS today was alive for the events of 9/11.

In the classroom

Suzanne Hudson, a social studies teacher at RSHS, first heard the news from a student who walked into class.

“A student came in and said ‘We just got bombed,’” Hudson said. “You just got word as students came in.”

TV’s in the building that day couldn’t access cable news. Hudson said that information was shared among students, but they had to be mindful of students with parents in the military.

“Any time something like that happens, you have to put your feelings aside and just try to maintain that sense of calm and normalcy,” Hudson said. She had two children in elementary school at the time that she wanted to be with, but knew she had to stay at the high school.

With instruction ongoing, Butler said that, as a staff, they knew there was no hiding from the situation and discussed when appropriate in the following weeks.

Hudson said that going home and seeing the images for the first time, it wasn’t comparable to what she had imagined. In the ensuing days, Hudson felt a strong sense of patriotism everywhere.

“We didn’t have the instant information that we have now,” Hudson said. “Not being able to see the pictures, in hindsight, maybe that was a good thing and helped keep things more calm.”

In the hospital

Cherie Deese, currently a health sciences teacher at RSHS, was working as a nurse at Moore Regional Health when she heard the news.

She said that operations at the hospital continued on normally, but the unfolding events were present on every TV in the building.

“It was definitely on the minds of everybody there,” Deese said.

She added that they didn’t go into any sort of emergency mode, but it made her think about whether something of that magnitude had happened closer to the area.

“Our world changed,” Deese said. “The next time I went to an airport, I couldn’t go with my loved ones to the watch deck. Everything changed.”

In the church

Robby Stewart, currently working as a chaplain for the Rockingham Fire Department, was working for the Cheraw Electrical Supply and delivering items to INA Bearing in South Carolina when he heard the news.

“There was a man that came out, had tears in his eyes and begin to tell me about a couple of planes that had flown into the World Trade Center,” Stewart recalled. “I initially thought it was an accident.”

His first reaction was concern for his children.

“For the first time, I’d felt unsafe and threatened,” Stewart said. “Just looking at the news footage throughout the day, I think all of us were in a state of shock to some extent. Watching it still 20 years later, it’s so vivid. It comes back so quick.”

That night, at East Rockingham Congregational Holiness Church, Pastor Gerald Goins called for a prayer meeting.

About 30 people showed up — a lot for the small church community.

“Everybody was very solemn,” Steward said. “It was almost like we were speechless. What could you say?”

The church saw an increase in attendance in the following weeks. The tragic events of the previous weeks were incorporated into the sermons and prayers.

“I understood for the first time in my life how we were one nation,” Stewart said. “They understood that we needed to look to God in this time. We all felt the pain of the families involved.”

Many of the individuals at the Rockingham Fire Department that Stewart works with as a chaplain have no memories of 9/11. For the young staff, many were just toddlers, others not yet born.

For the older staff, when the topic does come up, Stewart says it’s never really about the terrorism. It’s always about the people who lost their lives that day.

“We felt like we were safe and secure, and then that happened,” Stewart said.

Stewart was watching ”Crocodile Dundee” a few weeks ago when the World Trade Center buildings appeared in the background.

“It’s just so fresh, every anniversary,” Stewart said. “I can only imagine what the families go through.”

Husband going to war

Dr. Wendy Jordan, Director of Students Services in Richmond County Schools, was seven months pregnant on the morning of 9/11. Her husband, Sergeant First Class Franklin Jordan Jr., was active military at the time.

“I thought, ‘what kind of world is this going to be for my baby?’” Jordan said. “My husband is going to war, is there something that’s going to happen that’s closer to us?”

Jordan called it a sense of upheaval.

“Everything that I had known, and thought, and felt to that point, was instantly erased,” Jordan said. “It took a while for it to come back.”

Despite the shock, class at Monroe Avenue Elementary School, where she was Assistant Principal, continued.

“We tried to help them process it in the most positive and age-appropriate way that we could,” Jordan remembered.

Her husband was deployed twice to Iraq.

Jordan said that in the aftermath of the tragedy, everyone was on the same team.

“In his absence, every time I would attend a Raider football game and the National Anthem was played, tears would stream down my face,” Jordan said. “It was, and still is, such a powerful statement of patriotism. Our flag waiving over Raider Stadium was the most beautiful sight, and made me overwhelmingly proud to be a military wife.”

In the military

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Light, now a JROTC instructor at RSHS, was stationed at Fort Bragg on 9/11. Ironically, he was in air defender training learning how to shoot down aircraft.

“As soon as the second one hit, everybody was recalled back to the unit,” Light said. “We started helping first forces out of Fort Bragg to depart.”

Their training was immediately halted and the station was put into 100% lockdown. For 60 days after the attack, Light couldn’t go anywhere beyond two hours of his station.

“The following day, it took me from 5:00 in the morning to lunchtime just to get on the post,” Light said.

The army had already restructured their process of scanning ID cards and they had changed where staff and civilians could enter. In the ensuing months, Light watched the “ramping up” of staff and funding that reached new heights.

Light was deployed to Afghanistan in a second wave of troops in the summer of 2002. His wife had become pregnant in January, and his son was born while he was serving overseas.

Light spent about a year in Afghanistan overall. He served for 13 years in the military after 9/11.

Today

Light said that when he shows videos from that day to his JROTC students, it’s often the first time that they learn about the events of that day.

He added that students are always curious about it, but they struggle to really understand how different things were before.

Recently, at a restaurant in New Bern, his son couldn’t understand why the staff at the restaurant had paid for their meal.

“When they say ‘Thank you for your service,’ I always say thank you for your support,” Light said.

Hudson said it’s always difficult to talk about the events of 9/11 in the classroom, but that staff for all ages of students try to be sensitive about it.

“It’s harder for them to comprehend the magnitude of what we felt that day and how everything literally changed that day,” Hudson said.

Deese added it’s difficult for students to feel the impact today.

“You have to live it to feel the full effects of it,” Deese said. “Just like the pandemic we’re in now. Never in a million years would I have thought something like this would have happened.”