Gander to the Rescue on 9/11/2001

When we planned our trip to Newfoundland, we knew we had to stop in Gander.  It was in Gander that 42 U.S. planes (38 commercial and 4 millitary) were forced to land when the U.S. closed all its airports in response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA.

Gander was designated as an emergency landing field because it is so large and is within range of so many places in the U.S.

Here is a view of all the planes that landed at Gander on September 11:

We found the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, which displays the local historical exhibit in Gander regarding 9/11:

The museum exhibits the history of Gander's airport, from the first landing at the airport (really a flat bog cleared from the spruce forest) in 1938 --

-- to more recent uses of the airport, as in Forest Service firefighting efforts throughout Newfoundland:

The museum displays a variety of sketches, watercolors and other illustrations by members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, depicting its role, since its construction in 1938, in World War II and commercial aviation:

Our primary goal here, however, was to examine the exhibit on Gander's participation in helping the airline passengers who were grounded on September 11, 2001:

Around 6,700 individuals were forced to land in the 42 aircraft that were diverted to Gander.  After a long four hours on the tarmac, they were released into the airport and were offered food, shelter, clothing and places to sleep.  While some of the institutions in Gander, such as the military base, the local university, churches, and the like, were the leading force in the effort, many passengers were housed and fed for FOUR DAYS in the individual homes of Gander residents.

In thanks, the U.S. sent the City of Gander a piece of the World Trade Center as a memorial --

-- but, more remarkably and more powerfully, the individual airline passengers flooded Gander residents with letters of thanks for all that the Gander people did for passengers on the U.S. flights:

Most uniquely, this quilty thanks was sent by the Michigan Quilt Network of the USA to Gander residents, contributing some quilts to the people who had donated their bedding to stranded passengers:

It was quite emotional to read about all of the humanitarian efforts extended by Canadians to U.S. and foreign passengers who were forced to lay over for four days in Gander while our country sorted out the results of the tragedy of 9/11.

We ponder this and we wonder why anyone in the U.S. would attempt to penalize Canada for anything in our lifetimes.  Canadians love us, they have our back, they would do anything to take care of us.  How can we slap them in the face?