The day the world came to town : 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland (original 2002; edition 2002)

I absolutely loved this book about the people of the small city of Gander, Newfoundland and the surrounding area, and how they coped with the influx of thousands of airliner passengers forced to land there when US airspace was closed on 9/11.

There was so much to love about this book! Right off, Defede startled me into the realization that the US handed off some of our security nightmare to Canada, which the Canadians accepted without hesitation. After all, the fear was that there were more terrorists lurking on airplanes, right?

The book takes a look at a number of folks whose travels and lives were interrupted by the plane diversion -- including (among others) the parents of a FDNY firefighter at Ground Zero, a couple returning to the US with a newly-adopted daughter, and a US general high up in the Army intelligence community.

And then there are the "Newfies." The people of the Gander area went so far beyond allowing these people to land. They toook them to heart. They stripped their own beds so the visitors could have sheets. They invited strangers into their homes to shower, in those cases were the shelters lacked such facilities. They offered their telephones and internet connections and ears to hear sad stories. They cooked and commiserated. This book was filled with many, many heart-warming interactions between the Newfies and their guests.

And in the process of reading, I learned a lot about Newfoundland, and the history of Gander -- and why in the world so many people wound up there on 9/11.

I can't say enough good things about this book. ( )

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland is a book to read on a day when you just know that a good cry will make you feel so much better.

When US airspace was closed on 9/11, 43,895 people were aboard airplanes diverted to Canadian airports. Thirty-eight planes, carrying 6,595 passengers landed in Gander, Newfoundland, a town of approximately 10,000 people.

This book is the incredible story of the way in which the people of Gander responded to the events and took care of those stranded passengers and it will bring tears to your eyes.

This is a book about triumph, not tragedy. It's a wonderful read. ( )

The love and giving nature of the town of Gander, Newfoundland when planes diverted from United States airspace on September 11 had to land and disembark in their small town. ( )

This was a very interesting telling of the repercussions of the events of 9/11 on the town of Gander, Newfoundland and on the 6,595 passengers and crew which were diverted there that day. I didn't find the book all that well written, or without typos, but the stories were what stood out, and the author did a nice job of that. (3.6 stars)

SUMMARY:

On September 11, 2001, when the order was given to close air space over the United States, where did all the planes go? International flights considered the halfway point and either returned from whence they came, or proceeded on to Canada.

There were 4,546 civilian aircraft over the United States at the time, from private Cessnas to jumbo jets, and they all scrambled to find a place to land. Closing airspace had its most disorienting effect, though, on approximately four hundred international flights headed toward the United States, the majority of which were coming across the Atlantic from Europe. More than 250 aircraft, carrying 43,895 people, were diverted to fifteen Canadian airports from Vancouver in the west to St. John's in the east.

This book is about the 6,595 passengers and crew members from the 38 planes which were diverted to the central highlands of Newfoundland to an air base in Gander, a town of barely 10,000 people.

Gander International, “The lifeboat of the North Atlantic”. Every pilot who flies to the United States from Europe knows exactly where Gander is located. If there is a serious mechanical problem over the ocean or a passenger has a heart attack or goes berserk with a case of air rage, the pilot makes an emergency landing in Gander.

Facing intense security and very lengthy processing, the passengers were processed one plane at a time, and then taken by bus to local schools, churches and community buildings which had been prepared to receive them.

The relief effort was joined by every business in Gander, and by its citizens:

…...The local fast food and pizza places sent carloads of food to the airport for those stranded on the planes.

…...The telephone company set up banks of tables with phones and computers so passengers could contact their families.

…...The local cable television provider ran lines to every shelter to provide cable service so the passengers could keep up to date on news coverage.

…...Town pharmacists filled over a thousand prescriptions, at no cost, just in the first 24 hours.

…...When some passengers noticed that certain ones were not eating, it was discovered that they were Orthodox Jews, so the school set up a kosher kitchen for them to use.

…...The local Canadian Tire Store donated $20,000 of its own merchandise and then spent another $10,000 in other stores (including its chief competitor, WalMart) to provide for the passengers' needs.

…...Veterinarians and their helpers crawled through the cargo holds to tend to animals stranded there, then went through channels to get permission to remove them to a hanger, where they set up a temporary vet clinic.

…...The townspeople donated everything they had to share: toilet paper, blankets, clothing, food, and volunteered their showers and rides, to boot. They even used the ice rink to keep perishables fresh.

…...Locals made themselves available as impromptu cabbies, taking the passengers to stores or wherever they wanted to go. Hundreds of them asked to be taken to “The Silent Witness”, erected by a local group as a memorial to the 248 members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division that were killed in a 1985 airplane crash. The cover of the book pictures one view of this memorial.

Responding to the comment that everyone in Gander had been so wonderful, the wing commander for the Canadian Air Force base in Gander said, “We're all Americans tonight.”

No money was asked for or accepted. On one of the flights home, “the plane people” put their heads together and came up with the idea to provide a scholarship for the school where they stayed. (After note: Over a million dollars has been raised so far, and 134 scholarships provided.)

Among the passengers detoured to Gander were:

…...U.S. Army brigadier general Barbara Fast – director of intelligence for the United States military command.

…...George Vitale, a New York State trooper in charge of security for the governor's headquarters, which was formerly in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

…...Dennis and Hannah O'Rourke. Their son, Kevin, was a New York firefighter, and was missing.

…...Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, who didn't say who he was when he asked permission to use the computers at the school where he was staying, to do some business. Before their time there was done, they had offered a donation to replace the school's computer lab.

…...Werner Baldessarini, chairman of Hugo Boss, who was sent a private jet so he could get back to business, which he canceled. He tried explaining that flying home while the others were left behind would have been an act of betrayal of everything that had happened over the last seventy-two hours. Wherever his fellow passengers went, that's where he would go. However long it took them to get home, that's how long he'd be gone. He was in this until the end.

…...Clemens Briels, a renowned Dutch artist, who was one of the official artists for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In the school where he stayed, a discovery was afterwards made. Using various colored chalks and crayons, someone had drawn a picture depicting a human body in flight. It was at least three feet by four feet and at the bottom of the blackboard it was signed, Many Thanks, Clemens.

One hundred and twenty-six hours passed between the time the first plane landed in Gander on Tuesday and the last plane departed on Sunday. During that time, fast friendships were made. Some passengers still travel to Gander periodically to revisit their hosts. ( )

I haven't read any books that deal with 9/11. Though the events were ten years ago, they seem closer than that to me, and have shaped much of my adult life. I wanted to somehow commemorate the tenth anniversary of September 11, but I was afraid to read something that might turn dark and dismal. This story of townspeople reaching out to people whose planes were forced to land when U.S. airspace was shut down would be just the thing - true, yet uplifting. Still, especially in the beginning, when various people - pilots, air traffic controllers, the mayor of Gander - hear about or watch the planes fly into the towers, my heart starts pounding and my muscles tense. I find myself curling up tight in my chair, breathless. I didn't expect such a visceral response, or to feel instantly transported to the confusion and fear of that day, only my second week of college classes, the first class an English class from 9:30-11:15, our professor never breathing a word (did he not know?). And I remember how strange was the absence of the noise of airplanes, then the recurrence of them overhead.

There were 6,132 passengers, plus pilots and crews, on the flights diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. The townspeople could have put up a few shelters, called in the Red Cross, and called it a day. Instead, DeFede tells the stories of ordinary and extraordinary kindnesses - people giving their own towels to shelters, opening their homes, offering rides, and filling prescriptions free of charge. The stories of 6,000+ people could not fit in one book, but the stories of several are told here, often switching back and forth quickly between people keeping events in roughly chronological order through the several days Gander and the surrounding towns embraced their unexpected guests. Their stories made me laugh and cry in turn. I can't promise that I'll read any other books about 9/11, but I'm certainly not disappointed I read this one. ( )