Gander, Newfoundland

I stumbled upon a documentary by Tom Brokaw, March 13, 2010, about Gander, Newfoundland and the events of 9/11/2001.  Due to the closing of US airspace, the jet traffic was diverted to the airport at Gander, Newfoundland.  Built in WWII, it was used for refueling cross-Atlantic commercial planes until the jets could make the flight without having to stop.

Gander is a town of 10,000 and they adopted and cared for about 7,000 people for 4 days.  "The Plane People" as they were called had to remain on the planes for hours until security was cleared.  Then, they were deplaned, but their luggage was not removed.  So, Gander and the small communities around, housed, clothed, fed and moved all these people.  They used homes and community buildings. They used school buses to transport the people.  The bus drivers were on strike, but did not hesitate to help. They provided prescriptions.  The story is the help was all free.  This is an amazing story, and shows how something good can happen.

I will tell you that when I watched the scenes of the attack on The World Trade Center, I had a visceral reaction, almost as strong, if not as strong, as when it had first happened.

Read about it at the Gander Airport website http://www.ganderairport.com/911.htm
Read about Tom Brokaw working on the story: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/09/17/brokaw-newfoundland.html


Jim DeFede wrote a book about this:  "The Day The World Came to Town." 
http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780060559717.