Troy professors remember 9/11 terrorist attacks

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Wednesday marked the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.

Although many of today’s Troy University students had not been born by September 11, 2001, many of their professors vividly remember that day.

“I was sitting in a classroom in my school in Demopolis, Alabama,” said Hall School of Journalism and Communication (HSJC) instructor Morgan Drinkard.

“I was teaching at the Montgomery campus,” said English professor Dr. Kirk Curnutt.

“I was still a full-time radio guy at WTBF in downtown Troy,” said HSJC instructor Doc Kirby.

What started as confusion about how a plane could have accidentally hit the North Tower quickly turned into realization and horror.

“We saw the first plane,” Kirby explained. “We just stood there watching and thought, ‘What a foolish thing that was to run into a building that big.’ Then the second plane hit and, at that point, we realized this was deliberate.”

Soon all eyes and ears turned to television and radio stations as reports and images continued pouring from New York City. It wasn’t long after that until Troy residents began seeing the effects of 9/11 at home.

“We were seeing the footage,” Drinkard told TrojanVision. “There was a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion. I just remember sitting there in silence with my other classmates and the the teacher was just as shocked as we were. When I think back to that time it’s just kind of a real sobering time of people not knowing what to believe, who to trust and trusting our president.”

“The one thing that seemed to be encouraging throughout it all is that we were determined not to be defined by the attack but to respond to it,” Kirby said.

Those who remember 9/11 say the most important thing anyone can do today is to never forget the lives that were lost in the attack. It’s also important to remember the lives lost on the two other flights that were hijacked by terrorists and ultimately brought down by passengers that was American Airlines Flight 77 and United Flight 93.

For more information about the history of 9/11, click the links below.