The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

by Garrett M. Graff

Frederick Terna, Holocaust survivor and Brooklyn resident: As ashes were falling, I was back in Auschwitz, with ashes coming down. In Auschwitz, I knew what the ashes were. Here, I assumed I knew what the ashes were—it was a building and human remains.

“I am 80 years old. I still fit in my pilot uniform from World War II. I can still see. I can still hear. I have kept up with my training as a pilot. Tell whoever you can tell that I’m ready to report for duty.”

The fires at Ground Zero would burn for another 99 days, until they were finally extinguished for good on December 19.

“The death toll from the nation’s deadliest terrorism attack is expected to rise considerably.” Not knowing the true number, New York City asked the federal government for 5,000 body bags.

“Well, I can hear you. The whole world hears you, and when we find these people who knocked these buildings down, they’ll hear all of us soon.”

people are only put on earth for a certain amount of time, and you’re lucky to get to know them for as long as you do.

The terrorist leader behind the 9/11 plot was killed on May 2, 2011, as U.S. Navy SEALs raided the compound where he’d been hiding in Abbottabad, Pakistan. So that his gravesite would never become a shrine, the navy buried his body at sea.

we do our daily things, but you’re always a part of 9/11.

“Uno nunca muere la vispera”—“you cannot die on the eve of your death.”

NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson was the only American not on planet Earth for September 11.