What Happened in Gander on 9/11

Submitted by John Ruhlin of The Ruhlin Group | September 11, 2018

The following was written by a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15 about what happened on 9/11/01... and for the life of me, I couldn't find the author. I didn't write one word of the below. But --if you've never heard of the story of Gander and Delta Flight 15-- I hope you read it in its entirety. It will give you goose bumps. And remind you, on this day, that where evil exists... so, too, does good.

We were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic when the Captain handed me a note. It was from Delta's main office. It read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport." No one said a word about what this could mean but we knew it wasn't good.

The nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland. A tiny town in Eastern Canada. We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had an instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport to have it checked out.

There was much grumbling among the passengers. Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. There were already 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had been forced into this detour.

After we parked, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief as he explained the situation.

In the next hour, the tiny Gander airport ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to the lines to the U.S. being blocked or jammed.

Now we had landed slightly after lunch - 12pm local time. At 6 PM, Gander airport police told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. So we all settled in for a sleepover on the airplane.

The tiny town of Gander had promised us medical attention, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

About 10:30 in the morning on September 12th, a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration, Customs, and to register with the Red Cross. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced to land.

The passengers and crew members were separated as Canadian officials figured out how to accommodate doubling in size. The crew was told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

So we had lots of time on our hands. We found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town, and ended up having a pretty good time.

Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and heard about what they had been doing the past two days.

What we found was incredible.....

Gander and all the surrounding communities within a 75 kilometer radius had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging for stranded travelers.

ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests."

Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged.

Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes.

A pregnant passenger in her 33rd week was put up in a private home across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility.There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips.

Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.

Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.

In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of all 10,800 people and not a single passenger was missing or late.

Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. It was absolutely incredible.

When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling.

Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

And then a very unusual thing happened.

One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days.

He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers.

He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.

He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte.

He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!

The gentleman, a doctor from Virginia , promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.

As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

Apparently the brain-child behind the scholarship idea was not the Virginia doctor... but Shirley Brooks Jones, a retired Ohio State Fundraising Administrator.

Here's an awesome, 5-minute youtube video with some cool footage ---> https://bit.ly/gandernfl

And here's a book written about the whole experience: "The Day the World Came to Town."

https://bit.ly/ganderbook

The Broadway hit musical "Come From Away" is about what happened in Gander. Check it out.

... .. ...