By KENNEDY WILLIAMS, NEWS3 Reporter
MACOMB, Ill (NEWS3) — “Flames just bellowing up,” Western Illinois University Associate Professor of Political Science Gregory Baldi said, in a conference room in Morgan hall on campus, while he gathered his emotional words. “Very vivid memory, that’s a day that will never be forgotten.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, the nation was forever changed as two planes crashed into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, and another into a field in Pennsylvania.
The attacks killed several thousand people, leaving behind painful memories.
Baldi still remembers, 20 years later, as he was in Washington D.C. that day and watched the Pentagon burn from across the Potomac River as a student at Georgetown university.
Baldi recalled that a persistent fear or dread continued after the attacks, but also a spirit of great solidarity emerged, which he said encouraged the country to unite.
“That part of it was hopeful,” Baldi said, while nodding his head.
For more information on the 9/11 attacks, read these Fast Facts.
