IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
In the eye of the storm
BY JACQUELINE COURTNEY
Omagh family lives through hell as daughter witnesses its aftermath
IT WAS a day which changed the face of the World for ever... and one which catapulted one Omagh family to hell and back.
This week, Andy Gordon from Crevenagh Road emotionally recalled how he and his family went through "sheer hell" worrying about their 19-year-old daughter who was in America at the time the world's biggest catastrophe was unfolding.
Jeni Gordon had taken herself off to the States to study for a year shortly before the biggest news story of the century was about to erupt. And the student, who has yearnings to become a journalist, found herself actually reporting on the Twin Towers atrocity in her role as editor of her
host school's newspaper.
Her father Andy, who is a teacher, said they had to wait until several hours after the disaster before they knew their only daughter was safe and sound.
"For a few hours, we were in hell, fearing that she may have been caught up in the atrocity," he said.
Jeni's important telephone call home ended the panic - but the family were still in fear of her being caught up in another emergency posed by sweeping anthrax scares.
"In hindsight, after we knew that Jeni was safe, this was probably one of the best times for her to have gone to America with so much happening," said her father.
The proud dad called into the Ulster Herald offices with a copy of the newspaper featuring his daughter's front page coverage of the attack. In the story, Jeni recalls the similarities between the New York terror attack and the devastating bomb on her home town almost four years ago.
Her excellent and moving story took up almost the full front page of the February issue of the WB Ray High School newspaper, The Texan.
She in Texas after taking a year out when she won a scholarship to study International Relations at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Interested in how the American education system works, Jeni applied for the change to study there and was accepted by WB Ray High School where she started last September as a senior.
Shortly before Christmas, she was made editor of The Texan and it was around this time Jeni visited New York and and wrote he article for the paper.
September 11, just like August 15,1998, will remain firmly etched in the memories of people all over the world.
Writing about the New York terror attack Jeni said: "I remember reading it on the website of a British newspaper as breaking news. But it didn't really register with me until I went to my second period to find my classmates and teacher glued to the television screen. Only then did I realise what the website had meant by 'Plane Crashes into World Trade Center'.
"Suddenly the enormity of what had happened 20 minutes earlier sank in. The Twin Towers had been attacked. Simple buildings that in 30 years has become symbols of everything that America offers. Something completely unbelievable had occurred, and our lives were never going to be the same again.
"Once it had finally clicked, I thought two things. I remembered how I had stood on the top of Tower 2 only 14 months earlier, feeling as though I was on top of the world and watching the sun set over the city. Fear was also striking: retaliation was inevitable, and what would happen to me if America went to war? There I was, thousands of miles from home and petrified that I would never see my family again.
"The fear passed as the weeks went by and rationality set in, but the memories of my last time in New York remained as vivid as ever. At Christmas I had an opportunity to visit NYC again. I didn't have to visit Ground Zero, but I felt compelled, like it was my duty to go back.
"By the time I flew into eastern airspace, I had already gone through multiple security at two different airports, and perhaps I was slightly reassured by the increased security checks. It didn't help that two days before my flight, news came out about a passenger who smuggled a bomb in his shoe. However, nerves are to be expected in the present climate and I will admit that flying into La Guardia, I was scared. Besides everything everything else that had happened, I had never flown so low over a city before; some sort of fear was inevitable.
"Walking the blocks towards Ground Zero, I could never figure out where I actually was. I had spent a lot of time in this area less than two years ago and had come to know it well, and yet I was disoriented, and even though the streets looked familiar, I couldn't grasp where exactly we were.
"All I can say about Ground Zero is that it's a smoking hole. No matter where you are in the city, all you can see where the Twin Towers used to stand is a huge crater, with dust and smoke still rising from its depths. The site itself did not have any huge emotional effect on me. What actually brought tears to my eyes were the masses of tributes that lined the streets nearby, particularly around St Paul's Church, a block from the site. What I saw there was incredible, thousands of messages, poems, letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, flags, flowers, T-shirts, hats, stuffed animals, posters, coins and candles.
"The outpouring of grief, pity and distress in this one area is so overwhelming that volunteers work 12 hour shift to comfort mourners and provide a much-needed smiling face. Even at 2am people were walking around, reading and absorbing the countless tributes left to victims and rescue workers. One thing that I found quite surprising was the relatively few revengeful messages, most were expressions of sympathy, hope, peace and love.
Looking back, I wish I had taken something and left it, something that expressed how I felt. I was actually restless until I saw an Irish flag and felt that someone had represented my country. I did write some messages, but it wasn't all I wanted to say. Words can never do justice to the emotions I felt.
"Something that struck me after September 11th and was only strengthened after visiting NY, is the overwhelming similarity to an event that occurred in my home town of Omagh less than four years ago.
"On August 15,1998, a terrorist bomb ripped through Omagh's town centre, killing 31, including unborn twins. There had been a warning, but we have bomb threats all the time, so most people took no notice.
"But this threat was not only real, it directed police to the wrong end of the street, people were actually shepherded towards the bomb. My little town that, for most of the 30 year long Troubles had been relatively unharmed, had just witnessed the worst atrocity Northern Ireland had ever seen.
"Why I feel now the same way I did then is because the similarities do not just end at a terrorist attack.
"In both Omagh and New York, a community was caught unaware, in both Omagh and New York, a community was tested as never before; and in both Omagh and New York, that community has pulled together in a show of unity never seen before.
"Patriotism in America is greater than it has ever been, and in some strange way I am happy to be here at a time when citizens are rediscovering pride for their country.
"Driving away from New York, it literally hurt to look back at the skyline that so many people have loved for so long, changed forever. It is simply not New York, at least not as we know it. I may have this image in my mind, but my everlasting memory of New York will be with the World Trade Centers intact
"Everything can be rebuilt; buildings, hope, spirits, communities. This is a wound that was inflicted upon America's Achilles heel, but her reaction should make all her inhabitants proud. New York will be repaired, and although we will never forget September 11, life does go on and we must make life for the next generation as peaceful as we can," concluded Jeni's moving story.
BY JACQUELINE COURTNEY
Omagh family lives through hell as daughter witnesses its aftermath
IT WAS a day which changed the face of the World for ever... and one which catapulted one Omagh family to hell and back.
This week, Andy Gordon from Crevenagh Road emotionally recalled how he and his family went through "sheer hell" worrying about their 19-year-old daughter who was in America at the time the world's biggest catastrophe was unfolding.
Jeni Gordon had taken herself off to the States to study for a year shortly before the biggest news story of the century was about to erupt. And the student, who has yearnings to become a journalist, found herself actually reporting on the Twin Towers atrocity in her role as editor of her
host school's newspaper.
Her father Andy, who is a teacher, said they had to wait until several hours after the disaster before they knew their only daughter was safe and sound.
"For a few hours, we were in hell, fearing that she may have been caught up in the atrocity," he said.
Jeni's important telephone call home ended the panic - but the family were still in fear of her being caught up in another emergency posed by sweeping anthrax scares.
"In hindsight, after we knew that Jeni was safe, this was probably one of the best times for her to have gone to America with so much happening," said her father.
The proud dad called into the Ulster Herald offices with a copy of the newspaper featuring his daughter's front page coverage of the attack. In the story, Jeni recalls the similarities between the New York terror attack and the devastating bomb on her home town almost four years ago.
Her excellent and moving story took up almost the full front page of the February issue of the WB Ray High School newspaper, The Texan.
She in Texas after taking a year out when she won a scholarship to study International Relations at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Interested in how the American education system works, Jeni applied for the change to study there and was accepted by WB Ray High School where she started last September as a senior.
Shortly before Christmas, she was made editor of The Texan and it was around this time Jeni visited New York and and wrote he article for the paper.
September 11, just like August 15,1998, will remain firmly etched in the memories of people all over the world.
Writing about the New York terror attack Jeni said: "I remember reading it on the website of a British newspaper as breaking news. But it didn't really register with me until I went to my second period to find my classmates and teacher glued to the television screen. Only then did I realise what the website had meant by 'Plane Crashes into World Trade Center'.
"Suddenly the enormity of what had happened 20 minutes earlier sank in. The Twin Towers had been attacked. Simple buildings that in 30 years has become symbols of everything that America offers. Something completely unbelievable had occurred, and our lives were never going to be the same again.
"Once it had finally clicked, I thought two things. I remembered how I had stood on the top of Tower 2 only 14 months earlier, feeling as though I was on top of the world and watching the sun set over the city. Fear was also striking: retaliation was inevitable, and what would happen to me if America went to war? There I was, thousands of miles from home and petrified that I would never see my family again.
"The fear passed as the weeks went by and rationality set in, but the memories of my last time in New York remained as vivid as ever. At Christmas I had an opportunity to visit NYC again. I didn't have to visit Ground Zero, but I felt compelled, like it was my duty to go back.
"By the time I flew into eastern airspace, I had already gone through multiple security at two different airports, and perhaps I was slightly reassured by the increased security checks. It didn't help that two days before my flight, news came out about a passenger who smuggled a bomb in his shoe. However, nerves are to be expected in the present climate and I will admit that flying into La Guardia, I was scared. Besides everything everything else that had happened, I had never flown so low over a city before; some sort of fear was inevitable.
"Walking the blocks towards Ground Zero, I could never figure out where I actually was. I had spent a lot of time in this area less than two years ago and had come to know it well, and yet I was disoriented, and even though the streets looked familiar, I couldn't grasp where exactly we were.
"All I can say about Ground Zero is that it's a smoking hole. No matter where you are in the city, all you can see where the Twin Towers used to stand is a huge crater, with dust and smoke still rising from its depths. The site itself did not have any huge emotional effect on me. What actually brought tears to my eyes were the masses of tributes that lined the streets nearby, particularly around St Paul's Church, a block from the site. What I saw there was incredible, thousands of messages, poems, letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, flags, flowers, T-shirts, hats, stuffed animals, posters, coins and candles.
"The outpouring of grief, pity and distress in this one area is so overwhelming that volunteers work 12 hour shift to comfort mourners and provide a much-needed smiling face. Even at 2am people were walking around, reading and absorbing the countless tributes left to victims and rescue workers. One thing that I found quite surprising was the relatively few revengeful messages, most were expressions of sympathy, hope, peace and love.
Looking back, I wish I had taken something and left it, something that expressed how I felt. I was actually restless until I saw an Irish flag and felt that someone had represented my country. I did write some messages, but it wasn't all I wanted to say. Words can never do justice to the emotions I felt.
"Something that struck me after September 11th and was only strengthened after visiting NY, is the overwhelming similarity to an event that occurred in my home town of Omagh less than four years ago.
"On August 15,1998, a terrorist bomb ripped through Omagh's town centre, killing 31, including unborn twins. There had been a warning, but we have bomb threats all the time, so most people took no notice.
"But this threat was not only real, it directed police to the wrong end of the street, people were actually shepherded towards the bomb. My little town that, for most of the 30 year long Troubles had been relatively unharmed, had just witnessed the worst atrocity Northern Ireland had ever seen.
"Why I feel now the same way I did then is because the similarities do not just end at a terrorist attack.
"In both Omagh and New York, a community was caught unaware, in both Omagh and New York, a community was tested as never before; and in both Omagh and New York, that community has pulled together in a show of unity never seen before.
"Patriotism in America is greater than it has ever been, and in some strange way I am happy to be here at a time when citizens are rediscovering pride for their country.
"Driving away from New York, it literally hurt to look back at the skyline that so many people have loved for so long, changed forever. It is simply not New York, at least not as we know it. I may have this image in my mind, but my everlasting memory of New York will be with the World Trade Centers intact
"Everything can be rebuilt; buildings, hope, spirits, communities. This is a wound that was inflicted upon America's Achilles heel, but her reaction should make all her inhabitants proud. New York will be repaired, and although we will never forget September 11, life does go on and we must make life for the next generation as peaceful as we can," concluded Jeni's moving story.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1000
Published Date: 11-Apr-02
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