The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland is a work of nonfiction by journalist Jim DeFede documenting six days in the eponymous town and the bonds that formed between locals and the passengers they cared for. The story begins on September 11 with the arrival of 38 diverted planes. An oral history narrating the experiences of pilots, air traffic controllers, passengers from around the world, and scores of volunteers, the book explores how unexpected events can bring diverse people together, forging communal bonds of comfort and security while creating a legacy of goodwill and hospitality.

Originally published in September 2002, the book was rereleased in 2021 ahead of the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The book inspired the musical Come From Away. This guide refers to the 2021 Barnes & Nobel e-book.

Summary

In the Preface to the 2021 rerelease, DeFede notes how the story of Gander, Newfoundland, on and immediate after September 11 exemplifies how to engage meaningfully in an interconnected world. The Introduction acquaints readers with Newfoundland, a region with its own time zone, language, and traditions, the most striking of which is its exceptional hospitality. The harsh climate necessitated interdependence, shaping the character of the people. In the aftermath of 9/11, the boundless generosity that countless volunteers extended to stranded passengers and crew illustrated the best in humanity.

The book follows events across six days, beginning on the morning of September 11. In the air, pilots began hearing that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC). In Gander, air traffic controllers flocked to the airport to help reroute hundreds of planes. Gander officials were initially instructed to keep passengers on board until they were cleared to fly into the US, but they immediately began planning for the possibility of a prolonged stay. They mobilized volunteers and organized shelters, food, water, and toiletries at local churches, clubs, and schools and arranged for the planes to be serviced.

The book introduces the passengers who contributed to the narrative: Roxanne and Clark Loper, who were traveling back to Texas with their daughter Alexandria, whom they had adopted in Kazakhstan; Beth and Billy Wakefield and their daughter, Diana; Hugo Boss CEO Werner Baldessarini, en route to New York for Fashion Week; George Vitale, who was returning to New York after a business trip to Ireland; and Hannah and Dennis O’Rourke, who were returning to New York after visiting family in Ireland. The O’Rourkes worried about their son, Kevin, a New York City firefighter, and learned upon landing that he and his unit were missing.

When the US announced that its air space would remain closed indefinitely, officials prepared to disembark passengers one plane at a time to allow for a multilevel security checks as well as customs and immigration. School bus drivers, who had been strike, volunteered to drop their picket signs and transport passengers wherever they needed to go.

On the second day, Gander volunteers interacted with passengers, and bonds began to form. Roxanne Loper bonded with local Bruce MacLeod over motorcycles. A local couple invited New York State trooper George Vitale, who was struggling with grief and guilt, into their home. Their generosity reassured him that goodness still existed in humanity. Lisa Zale and Sara Wood, friends returning home from a business trip, camped on the front lawn of their shelter after shop clerks provided them camping necessities at no charge. A police officer in Georgia asked volunteer Oz Fudge to find her sister (a flight attendant) and give her a hug. Another volunteer, Eithne Smith, sent faxes for passengers, procured kosher meals for Orthodox Jewish passengers, and reconnected a mother and son.

Restaurants and shops provided meals for passengers waiting to deboard planes, and pharmacists worked around the clock to fill prescriptions for passengers whose medications were in their checked baggage. An animal shelter manager arranged for volunteers to tend to animals in the planes, eventually contacting a local government veterinarian to secure hanger space where volunteers could better and more efficiently care for the animals.

During the third day, bonds between passengers and volunteers grew. Bruce and Susan MacLeod welcomed the Lopers and Wakefields into their home to rest, shower, and meet their newly adopted daughters. Beulah Cooper comforted Hannah O’Rourke. Canadian Tire authorized its Gander store to provide whatever passengers needed, at no cost, even if that meant buying supplies from competitors. O’Donnell worked with the fire department to deliver toys to every child stranded in Gander. Patsy Vey welcomed passengers into her home to shower. When she realized that her daughter lived in the same Virginia city as the daughter of an elderly couple stranded in Gander, she sent her daughter to their daughter’s house to assure her that her parents would be looked after.

Middle school principal Pam Coish made her school’s computer lab, phones, showers, and dining hall available to passengers. Her generosity so moved Denise Gray-Felder, who worked for the Rockefeller Foundation, that she later arranged for grant money to provide new computers to the school. The Foundation’s president, Gordon Conway, also stranded in Gander, offered grant money to the church that sheltered them.

Meanwhile, at the hotels, flight personnel experienced fear and anxiety, haunted by what happened on the hijacked planes. As US airports began to reopen, airlines and pilots debated whether to continue to their intended destinations or return to their origin points. As the Lopers were about to board their flight, thinking that they would continue to Dallas, they learned that the flight would return to Germany and refused to board.

On the fourth day, more passengers departed from Gander. The MacLeods helped the Lopers plan their complex journey back to the US. A friend offered Werner Baldessarini the use of a private jet, but he declined, determined to see his trip through with his fellow passengers and to honor their journey together. In a final gesture of friendship, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Corporal Grant Smith dressed in his ceremonial uniform and took photos with departing passengers. The O’Rourkes returned to Dublin before catching another flight back to New York, still awaiting news about Kevin.

On the fifth and sixth days, passenger departures continued. A special flight was arranged for Moldovan emigres whose original flight was rerouted but whose immigration papers could be processed only through New York. Likewise, Orthodox Jewish passengers were unable to board their original flight since it departed on the Sabbath, but the delay enabled Rabbi Sudak to hear the story of a local resident whose Jewish parents sent him out of Germany before World War II and whose adoptive family did not allow him to speak about his Jewish faith and heritage.

The Epilogue describes what happened to passengers and volunteers after their time together. Kevin O’Rourke’s body was eventually found; he left behind a grieving but united family. Hannah O’Rourke never forgot the kindness of the people in Gander and remained in touch with the friends she made there. George Vitale likewise kept in contact with a volunteer whom he grew close to (and always seemed to call him when he most needed it). Many passengers made donations to Gander various ways.

The 2021 edition’s Afterword follows up with passengers and volunteers 20 years later. The Lopers, after years of fertility struggles, had three biological children in addition to their two adoptive daughters from Kazakhstan. George Vitale became a black belt in Taekwondo; his experiences in Gander inspired him to use sport to bridge divides, and he arranged Taekwondo exhibitions between North and South Korea. In Gander, the Flynns opened their home to visitors. Dennis O’Rourke passed away in 2019, but his wife maintained her friendship with Beulah Cooper.

Some Newfoundlanders objected to receiving attention for doing what was right or objected to the illusion of a perfect community. DeFede concludes by suggesting that what made the events at Gander remarkable was that ordinary people, with typical flaws and limitations, rose to meet a challenge with extraordinary kindness and generosity, becoming an inspiration to others.