Locals remember their personal experiences on September 11, 2001

Bonita Davis, who moved to Dawsonville in the summer of 2013, was living in Stewartsville, NJ, just over an hour from New York City when the attack occurred.

Her husband left Newark, NJ airport on September 10 for Texas and was due to return on September 11.

Her phone lines were cut and she was home alone while her children were at school. Her husband was unable to return until September 15 and spent most of his time answering calls from relatives to watch her.

Diana Delgross moved to Dawsonville in the summer of 2021 after learning that her job at Johnson and Johnson in Pennsylvania was getting completely remote, so she could live anywhere in the United States that she wanted. Her brother and sister-in-law live in Cumming and have been begging Delgross for years to get closer.

However, Delgross worked in the AT&T building in lower Manhattan for a nonprofit called the Arthur Page Society on September 11, 2001.

“It was a Tuesday… an absolutely beautiful day,” said Delgross. “At the time, I lived in Madison, New Jersey, so I had to take the train to Penn Station. I was supposed to stop and buy some office supplies at a place I regularly went near the Twin Towers, but on the way to the office I thought I would go for a coffee first, then I ‘would go get the things we needed.

“As I walked towards the office, I saw a plane flying very low. I thought to myself how strange that was. I looked away, put my coffee on my desk and when I looked back I saw all the flames. I went to get the executive director to look out the window. We just didn’t know what to say or do. At the time, we still didn’t know it was a terrorist attack, we just thought it was a horrible accident.

After returning to her office, Delgross said she suddenly heard everyone screaming. When she came out, she saw that the second tower was on fire and knew it wasn’t just an accident.

“It was total panic all around. When the towers fell we knew we had to escape somehow. We all got together and put clothes on our faces because you could barely breathe with all the dust. We thought people were throwing furniture out of tower windows, but it was people jumping.

“We headed to South St. Sea harbor because we heard the ferries are still running. Oddly enough, it looked like everyone was in single file. There was no conversation, no laughter or anything. It was so quiet. We took a ferry to Hoboken. The ferry was silent and all you could see were tears streaming down people’s faces, staring at where the Twin Towers stood. It was just smoking. Everything is very much alive.

Once back in Hoboken, New Jersey, first responders in hazmat suits sprayed everyone coming in from New York with a fire hose while people gave them their personal information. Delgross said she took the train back to her wet Madison home.

“I lived with my brother who worked in New Jersey. For a while we had a phone call, but the communication was cut off after the towers fell. I went back to Madison, but it was like no one knew what was going on. Children were playing in the streets and people were chatting casually. It was two worlds in one. I came home and was still in shock, so I sat down and watched because I didn’t want to listen to any reports. They knew there would be no survivors.

“The next day I took a walk because I couldn’t get rid of this feeling and didn’t know what to do. I lived right next to the train station in Madison, NJ and all the cars that were parked there by people who never returned were covered in black blankets by police and firefighters. Finally, they towed them away.

Delgross and his colleague worked from home for the month following the September 11 terrorist attacks. She said afterwards it was always an uncomfortable experience every time a plane flew over.

“The country has rebounded however, and we have rebounded rather well,” said Delgross.

The 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is Saturday September 11.

The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services, will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. in downtown Dawsonville outside the Sherrif’s office to honor those who lost their lives.