September 11, 2001: 25 Years Later, Westland Remembers
There are certain days you don't need to look up on a calendar.
You remember where you were.
You remember who you were with.
You remember watching something happen that didn't seem possible.
September 11, 2001, is one of those days.
This Friday marks 25 years since terrorists hijacked four airplanes and attacked the United States.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93.
They were firefighters and police officers.
Office workers.
Flight attendants.
Mothers and fathers.
Sons and daughters.
People who got up that Tuesday morning expecting to come home that night.
They never did.
It wasn't as far away from Westland as it seemed
New York City is hundreds of miles from Westland.
But September 11 reached Michigan too.
The Michigan Remembers 9-11 Fund has identified 42 people with ties to Michigan who lost their lives in the attacks.
One of them grew up right next door.
Her name was Meredith Lynn Whalen.
Meredith grew up in Canton and graduated with honors from Plymouth-Salem High School in 1996.
She ran cross country. She swam. She loved horses.
She went on to the University of Michigan, graduated with honors and moved to the New York area to begin a career in finance.
On the morning of September 11, Meredith was at work on the 93rd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
She was 23 years old.
An old Canton newspaper published just five days after the attacks tells a heartbreaking detail.
Meredith had emailed a friend from her desk at 8:20 that morning.
Twenty-six minutes later, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
Meredith never came home.
Twenty-five years later, her story is still being told.
Westland didn't forget either
In the years following the attacks, Westland developed its own tradition of remembering.
Residents gathered on the steps of City Hall.
Church choirs sang.
Police officers and firefighters stood together.
Families came.
In 2011, more than 200 people attended Westland's 10th anniversary remembrance.
That year, something particularly meaningful flew over Westland's fire station.
It was a flag containing the names of the 443 first responders who died at the World Trade Center.
The flag belonged to a retired firefighter who had made Westland his home.
A year later, Westland's September 11 service included someone who had witnessed the aftermath firsthand.
Rev. Bill Wrede had responded to the World Trade Center, arriving shortly before the second tower collapsed. He later worked as a chaplain supporting first responders and at the morgue established at the site.
He eventually stood on the steps of Westland City Hall and helped this community remember what he had seen.
Twenty-five years later
A quarter century is a long time.
There are adults living in Westland today who weren't even born when the towers fell.
There are high school students who know September 11 only through textbooks, videos and stories their parents tell them.
That's exactly why remembering matters.
Not simply remembering airplanes hitting buildings.
Remembering the people.
Remembering firefighters climbing stairwells while everyone else was trying to get out.
Remembering police officers, paramedics and ordinary people who stopped to help strangers.
Remembering the passengers aboard Flight 93 who learned what was happening and fought back.
And remembering people like Meredith Whalen, a 23-year-old from the community next door who went to work one morning and never got the chance to come home.
Westland remembers
Westland's city calendar marks September 11 this year with First Responders Recognition.
That's appropriate.
Because one of the lasting images of September 11 isn't only what was destroyed.
It's who ran toward it.
Twenty-five years later, when a Westland firefighter climbs into a truck or a police officer answers a call, there's a connection to something this country learned in the most painful way imaginable that morning.
We learned what it means when someone is willing to run toward danger while everyone else is running away.
Most of us will never know the names of all 2,977 people who were killed on September 11.
But they weren't a number.
Each one had somewhere they were supposed to be that evening.
Someone waiting for them.
Plans for the weekend.
Birthdays still to celebrate.
Lives still to live.
Twenty-five years later, maybe that's the most important thing Westland can remember.
They were people.
And we haven't forgotten them.
