Sacramento Empty Shoe memorial for 9/11

There were 100 cities across America which had their own local memorial ceremony for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on Sunday, September 11, 2011.  The 9/11 Memorial day in Sacramento, CA featured a field of Empty Shoes precisely arranged on the grounds of the State Fair Grounds. The empty shoes were in honor of the 2,977 people who died ten years ago on 9/11, including 2,349 civilians.  The field of empty shoes consisted of  new shoes, of all kinds, which were donated by people in the Sacramento area. The shoes were given to the Salvation Army when the Memorial was taken down.

Empty Shoe memorial at Cal Expo in Sacramento, CA

Young girl walks through the field of shoes in Sacramento

9/11 Memorial ceremonies…

On Sunday, September 11th, I watched the 9/11 Memorial ceremonies on Fox News all day.  Memories of 9/11 ten years ago came flooding back: On that day, I had gotten up at 6 a.m. as usual (9 a.m. Eastern time) and immediately turned on the TV set in my bedroom. I was horrified to see the South Tower at the World Trade Center with a gaping hole in it and black smoke pouring out. The tower had been hit by American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time. I thought at first that the plane had hit the tower accidentally.

As I watched in horror, at 9:03 a.m. Eastern time, I saw the North Tower hit by Flight 175. A big red ball of fire appeared on the opposite side of the tower and I knew that this was a deliberate attack: World War III had started.  I expected that attacks in other cities would quickly follow.  I called my daughter, woke her up, and told her not to go out of the house because we were at war and anything could happen.

On that day in 2001, I watched the Fox News coverage the whole day; Rick Leventhal was reporting from the site of the attack.  Footage from his original coverage was replayed on Sunday 09.11.11.