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A Vermont resident waves an U.S.flag along Route 7 in front of his store, Mike’s Country Store in Clarendon, Vt., Thursday Sept. 13, 2001.
(Source: Vyto Starinskas, AP Photo/Rutland Herald, ) 
Vermont 9/11 Memorial in Bennington, VT.
(Source: Stewart Cairns, AP Photo) |
The former president of Norwich University in Vermont recalls the eagerness of his students to take action following the attacks.
1. I'm Rich Schneider - Rear Admiral United States Coast Guard reserve, retired - and on 9/11 I was the president of Norwich University in Vermont, the nation's oldest private military college and the birthplace of ROTC so you can imagine how this campus felt after the attacks. I had the cabinet in the boardroom at the time and the first thing we thought when the first tower was hit was that it was an accident.
It became very clear very quickly that this was an attack and my biggest problem as president was keeping the students here. They're all type-A personalities and wanted to get out of Vermont and go to New York City or the Pentagon and help in the recovery. I had to order them to stay here.
About a week and a half later when the President United States called for a day of remembrance and prayer and mourning, our governor - the honorable Howard Dean - picked Norwich to have that remembrance. On this parade field, the two of us tried to make sense out of all of this. It was very difficult, the students took that moment though and ran with it as normally wonderful type-A students do. They wanted to prepare themselves because every senior that was going to take a commission knew that they could very well be fighting in a matter of days after commencement.
So, Norwich University and the Coast Guard Academy are huge football rivals. I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy and I'm the president of Norwich, so you can imagine that sometimes I'm a little conflicted. After 9/11, we were all in lockdown and didn't know if other places were going to be attacked. The Coast Guard Academy is a federal installation and right across the river from the Groton sub base where all the nuclear subs are. So, about a week before the game the superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy calls me and I've known this guy for 30 years as a we were both ensigns at the same time. He said,
'Don't let your cadets come down here and try to steal anything or take prisoners.'
Which is what they normally did before regular games. He said,
'We'll kill them at the gate!'
That's how everyone felt. We had no idea where the next attack was coming from."
- Rear Adm. Richard Schneider
It became very clear very quickly that this was an attack and my biggest problem as president was keeping the students here. They're all type-A personalities and wanted to get out of Vermont and go to New York City or the Pentagon and help in the recovery. I had to order them to stay here.
About a week and a half later when the President United States called for a day of remembrance and prayer and mourning, our governor - the honorable Howard Dean - picked Norwich to have that remembrance. On this parade field, the two of us tried to make sense out of all of this. It was very difficult, the students took that moment though and ran with it as normally wonderful type-A students do. They wanted to prepare themselves because every senior that was going to take a commission knew that they could very well be fighting in a matter of days after commencement.
So, Norwich University and the Coast Guard Academy are huge football rivals. I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy and I'm the president of Norwich, so you can imagine that sometimes I'm a little conflicted. After 9/11, we were all in lockdown and didn't know if other places were going to be attacked. The Coast Guard Academy is a federal installation and right across the river from the Groton sub base where all the nuclear subs are. So, about a week before the game the superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy calls me and I've known this guy for 30 years as a we were both ensigns at the same time. He said,
'Don't let your cadets come down here and try to steal anything or take prisoners.'
Which is what they normally did before regular games. He said,
'We'll kill them at the gate!'
That's how everyone felt. We had no idea where the next attack was coming from."
- Rear Adm. Richard Schneider
Written Stories
2. "I was at a Motel 6 after working a 4 pm - 4 am shift for a cab company the night before. I had no idea whatsoever what had taken place until after 3 pm that day, some seven hours after the first plane hit, and I never got the full details until I arrived at work for my next 4 to 4 shift.
After all domestic air travel ceased, the cab company I worked for started receiving calls from airports in NYC, Boston, Manchester, NH and Hartford with folks pleading to send them a $600+ taxi prepaid in advance to bring them back to Vermont. We couldn't accommodate a single one since the five boroughs were locked down.
Once air travel resumed, the level of checks I had to go through to even enter Burlington International Airport with flight personnel on board was pure insanity. There were bomb disposal teams with guns searching the entire vehicle, using mirrors on poles and checking the engine compartment.
Took me around 10 minutes just to gain entry into the airport property with personnel aboard."
- K. B.
After all domestic air travel ceased, the cab company I worked for started receiving calls from airports in NYC, Boston, Manchester, NH and Hartford with folks pleading to send them a $600+ taxi prepaid in advance to bring them back to Vermont. We couldn't accommodate a single one since the five boroughs were locked down.
Once air travel resumed, the level of checks I had to go through to even enter Burlington International Airport with flight personnel on board was pure insanity. There were bomb disposal teams with guns searching the entire vehicle, using mirrors on poles and checking the engine compartment.
Took me around 10 minutes just to gain entry into the airport property with personnel aboard."
- K. B.
3. "I have this day in a weird vivid haze.
I was in 9th grade, sitting in a class at around 10 am when our teacher mentioned 'something crazy in New York.' There was a slow spread of rumors and our principal called for an assembly. He mentioned helping his mom stack cans of food during the Cuban missile crisis and addressed questions of sending us home early. He believed we were safest at school, we didn't even cancel sports.
Later in the day, a TV was turned on in the library just for students to come by and watch. I think the librarian was more interested than any one student. I saw people jump."
- N. R.
I was in 9th grade, sitting in a class at around 10 am when our teacher mentioned 'something crazy in New York.' There was a slow spread of rumors and our principal called for an assembly. He mentioned helping his mom stack cans of food during the Cuban missile crisis and addressed questions of sending us home early. He believed we were safest at school, we didn't even cancel sports.
Later in the day, a TV was turned on in the library just for students to come by and watch. I think the librarian was more interested than any one student. I saw people jump."
- N. R.