Cumbrians share their personal experience of 9/11

ONE story that we covered on September 12, 2001 was that of the four Cumbrian lads - Graeme Brough of Dalston, Neil Graham of Kirkbampton, Simon Yeowart of Thursby, and Guy Woodcock from Caldbeck - who'd visited the top of the World Trade Centre on September 10.

They'd taken what were perhaps among the last pictures ever taken from the pinnacle of the structure.

The next day, with all flights grounded, the former Caldew school students, all just 20-years-old, were trapped in their hotel and in the city.

"It doesn’t seem like 20 years," said Neil Graham this week. "Although the time passes the vivid sights and memories still remain. Though I didn’t know anyone directly who died on the day, watching the events unfold and the choices people had to make still brings sadness.

"I’ve revisited a couple of times since and although New York is vibrant and rebuilt, there’s still a somber feel, especially around the southern tip of Manhattan where the towers were.

"As the years have past it has become one of those little personal stories you tell people when you meet and they talk as if it only affected you. I think now I realize how big it really was and how it has affected everyone - if you were there or even if you have been born since."

From the observation deck, September 10, 2001. Rob Geary, Neil Graham, Simon Yeowart

Another story we covered was that of Pete Myers, owner of the Myers of Keswick deli in Greenwich Village. By chance, Peter was back in the Lakes on holiday at the time, and his daughter was running the shop.

Now 77-years-old and retired in Keswick (the deli now run by his daughter), Peter remembers being on the phone to her on September 11, 2001.

"It was my daughter that alerted me to it," he said. "She rang up and we were on the phone talking about the first plane.

"Then suddenly she started shouting down the phone - 'There's another plane, there's a second plane'."

He says he put the television on and watched the rolling coverage. "I must have watched it for 24 hours straight," he said.

He couldn't get back to New York for several days due to grounded flights. When he did fly he was almost alone on the plane, he remembers.

More than a week after the attack he was making a sausage delivery to a pub in downtown New York and suddenly grew alarmed that a truck in front was on fire due to a strong smell of burning. It was when he got out of his vehicle he realised it was coming from the still-smouldering site of the towers.

"I remember the city trying to get back to normal," he said. "It could bounce back relatively quickly. But it leaves a deep scar.

"I knew at the time that not only the city but America was going to change."

Now, his daughter Jennifer lives near the One World Trade Center - a symbol of positivity and hope.

He says that a key change, for an import business such as his, is markedly increased customs bureaucracy - a product of the fear created by 9/11. He says that even now this is a huge challenge for the business.

Neil Graham added that he's noted other changes: "Little things, like airports have never been the same. I think the USA and maybe here became more nationalistic. I think unfortunately racism and suspicion of others has become worse.

"Then things like Afghanistan hit the news, the ‘War on Terror’ started shortly after. If you’d said to me the day after 9/11 that kids from Carlisle who bravely served our country would end up being deployed there and not returning home I would never have believed you.

"For this I believe it doesn’t matter if you were in New York at the time or on your way to work or school in Carlisle. 9/11 has shaped so much politically, financially and socially in everyone’s lives since that day."

READ MORE: How we covered the attack 20 years ago