It is not a fact I know for sure,” Sue said. The plaque does not say who made the call but Sue believes it was Chuck. 11 shortly before the plane crashed into the north tower informing the military of the situation.
and there is a memorial plaque to the man in the 9/11 Museum.Īmong the various plaques on display at the 9/11 Museum in New York is a single plaque explaining that someone on Flight 11 called an Air Force General the morning of Sept. I just thought he needed to be out there in wide open spaces.” Sue and Dan visit the bench regularly.Īlong with the bench in Ohio a tree was planted in Chuck’s honor at Hanscom Air Force Base in Ma. “It is somewhere he could be with the woods. “I chose a place down a path with a little wooden bridge over a creek,” said Sue. “So I did a memorial.” Sue had a memorial bench built in Chuck’s honor in Dayton Metro Park in Dayton Ohio, where she and her husband Dan live most of the year. What a waste of a brilliant mind.”īecause Chuck was riding on Flight 11 no remains from his body were ever recovered. “But it is not the pain of what I went through anymore so much as I just miss how fun he was to be around. He was also a part of NASA and was slated to go to space on a shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster scrapped the mission. He was the third youngest person to achieve the rank of Colonel in Air Force history according to Sue. “But he would tell stories at times of not shooting.” She also remembers Chuck as an incredible achiever.Ĭhuck was a former military man who worked in the intelligence field for the US Air Force. After Sue became exasperated Chuck emerged from some nearby bushes laughing.Īlong with Sue’s fond memories of her prankster brother she also remembers him as an intelligent, fun and caring man. He once hid inflated balloons throughout Sue’s house and even sent a friend to pose as a reporter to ask Sue questions about her brother’s involvement in the Space Shuttle program.
Chuck was the family baby and something of a prankster, as Sue recalls. The two siblings were years apart in age but were the closest pair out of a set of five kids. He was one of 81 passengers on the flight and was among the first people killed that day.Īs Sue looks back on the years since her world was turned upside she remembers he brother fondly. Sue’s brother, Charles “Chuck” Jones, was riding on Flight 11. Mercifully for Sue footage of the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, crashing into the north tower is less common as there were few cameras pointed at the sky when the horror began unfolding.
Now we are 15-years removed from the tragic events of that day but the scars still linger. Like Pearl Harbor and Black Tuesday it is one of only a few events in American history that needs neither preface nor prologue. September 11 is seared into the minds of Americans. It is a day of infamy listed among the pantheon of ignominious dates many of us might prefer to forget but for those who lost friends and family on 9/11, like part-time Granby resident Sue Held, it is an inescapable part of their lives, as essential to who they now are as the people they lost. morning when America’s 35th President was murdered. This Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of what is, arguably, the most significant single date in US history since a brisk late Nov. Sue carries it with her almost everywhere she goes as a subtle reminder of what she, and others, lost that tragic day. The bracelet commemorates her brother's presence on Flight 11 that morning. Sue Held displays a bracelet given to her by American Airlines after 9/11.