The Only Plane in the Sky Quotes

“Father Mychal Judge, chaplain, FDNY: Good days. And bad days. Up days. Down days. Sad days. Happy days. But never a boring day on this job. You do what God has called you to do. You show up. You put one foot in front of another. You get on the rig and you go out and you do the job. Which is a mystery. And a surprise. You have no idea when you get on that rig. No matter how big the call. No matter how small. You have no idea what God is calling you to. But he needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“We met when we were only 16, at a high school dance. When he died, we were 50. I remember how I didn't want that day to end, terrible as it was. I didn't want to go to sleep because as long as I was awake, it was still a day that I shared with Sean. ~Beverly Eckert”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“We took the time to shake each other’s hands and wish each other good luck and “Hope I’ll see you later,” which is especially poignant for me because we all had that acknowledgment that this might be our last day on earth and we went to work anyway.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I remember [my first meeting] like it was yesterday. A 24-year-old woman came to see me, sobbing. “Mr. Feinberg, my husband died in the World Trade Center. He was a fireman, and he left me with our two children, six and four. Now, I’ve applied to the Fund, and you have calculated that I’m going to get $2.8 million tax-free. I want it in 30 days.” I said, “Why do you need the money in 30 days?” She said, “Why 30 days? I have terminal cancer. I have 10 weeks to live. My husband was gonna survive me and take care of our two children. Now they’re gonna be orphans. I have got to get this money while I still have my faculties. I’ve gotta set up a trust. I’ve gotta find a guardian. We never anticipated this.” I ran down to the Treasury, we accelerated the processing of her claim, we got her the money, and eight weeks later she died. You think you’re ready for anything and you’re not.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I think he wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was as if he took the lead—all those angels, right through heaven’s gates. That’s what it seemed like to us. If any of those guys were confused on the way up, he was there to ease the transition from this life to the next.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“The significance of the date of September 11th, 9/11, was seared into the nation's collective memory, altering the way those affected looked at the calendar and even clocks.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“these narratives help make sense of a day that we, as a country and as a people, are still trying to process.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“Oddly enough, because I was laid off in the afternoon on September 10th, and because the Human Resources Department all died, I was never taken off the payroll. I went back to work again—it’s not like they had to rehire me. I was never gone.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“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.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I actually named the video September 10th 2001, Uno nunca muere la vispera. It is a saying in Spanish. It's impossible for you to die on the eve of your death. You only die when you have to die.
You're never close to death. You die or you're alive.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“to understand all that came after, we must first understand what it was like to live through the drama and tragedy”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I don’t think that the young people who will be [reading] this will know the same freedom I knew growing up.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“This book is an attempt to listen, to hear others’ stories, to know what it was like to experience the day firsthand, to wrestle with the confusion and the terror”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“As I hit Vesey between Church and Broadway, the first thing that struck me was the amount of women’s shoes. I couldn’t understand it. Then I realized women had run out of their shoes—the high heels and what have you. There were women’s shoes all over.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“Jean Potter, Bank of America, North Tower, 81st floor: "I would leave the house everyday and say to him the last line of this movie, The Story of Christ, "just remember, Jesus said 'I am always with you'. That's how I would leave him in the morning as I would go to work.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I wrote, “Rescue 2, John Napolitano, I’m here and I love you. Dad.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“this might be our last day on earth and we went to work anyway.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“no one gave the knives they carried onboard a second look—they were allowed under the security regulations at the time.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“These stories capture only a single moment in time,”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“book intends to capture how Americans lived that day,”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“was a pretty shy and quiet child, but I had made my first friend on my own. After that day, my friend came over and said, “We can’t be friends anymore, Hiba. My mom said until this is over, we can’t be friends anymore.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“A shadow came over 42nd and Eighth Avenue. It completely covered the street for a split second.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I have the greatest admiration for the private security officers, guys who are only making about $ 25,000 a year. We had often asked security guards, prior to 9/ 11, what they would do if a bomb went off and they saw a couple dead bodies. The consensus was always that they would run. But on September 11th, I had 60 guards working with me and not one ran. With the two towers burning, standing with bullhorns, keeping people moving out of the Towers, they never blinked.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“It was a very surreal experience—flying over Central Park at 1,000 feet and 500 knots, trying to identify possible targets. That was just wrong. You should never be doing this over Manhattan.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“What’s in Cleveland? Why are they hitting Cleveland?”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I said we had to evacuate immediately. He agreed, saying, “On the way out, I want to open the House for a quick session and a prayer.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I’m a C5-C6 quadriplegic, so I’m able to function and get around on my wheelchair.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“The weather was so nice. You had a really happy feeling. I turned and smiled to him. He said later that stuck in his mind, because for hours he didn’t know whether I was alive or not.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“I’m doing fine, but there’s no news. It’s hard to get cranked back up.” It looked like it was not going to be a terribly stimulating autumn.”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

“compilation published by America Online”
― Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11