San Francisco — Sept. 11, 2001: Parishioners at Glide Memorial Church pray for peace several hours after the terrorist attacks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

San Francisco — Sept. 11, 2001: About 12 hours after the terrorist attacks, a peace rally was held. Starting at the corner of Powell and Market streets, people gathered, holding hands and singing songs. They later marched to Glide Memorial Church.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

San Francisco — Sept. 11, 2001: James Guzzi, left, and Hallie McConlogue, center, join the peace rally.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Reno — Sept. 12, 2001: Vietnam veteran Keith Laughlin and his dog Mindy in his motor home behind the Nugget Casino. "Tell George W. to do his job. I think Bush better go kill someone; if he doesn't, then he's going to be a one-term president," Laughlin said.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Reno — Sept. 12, 2001: Workers at Circus Circus casino expressed their sorrow and grief. Rob Kendall flashed a peace sign and said: "I'm praying for all of the families in New York, saying, 'God help all of the familes involved. God help all the people of New York.' "

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Salt Lake City — Sept. 14, 2001: Robert Joyce weeps during the singing of the national anthem during a Mormon church service.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Salt Lake City — Sept. 14, 2001: John Maycock breaks down at a noon memorial service at the Utah Capitol.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Salt Lake City — Sept. 14, 2001: The Skyline Eagles played the Kearns Cougars in one of the only high school football games in the state on this day. The proceeds of the game, more than $11,000, were sent to the firefighters relief fund in New York. The Eagles won, 42-0.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 15, 2001: Trucker along Hwy 80 in Wyoming flying flag while zipping down the road at 75 mph.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Centennial, Wyo. — Sep. 16, 2001: Rancher Ron Hawkins in front of his 5,000 acre Walker Ranch in Centennial, Wyo. "We've got so much peace and quiet and we are so far away from where this [the Sept. 11 attacks] happened that I felt the guilt of not being able to be a part of the solution."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Laramie, Wyo. — Sep. 16, 2001: Parishoners at the Foursquare Church in Laramie, Wyo., pray during the first Sunday service after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Salina, Kan. — Sep. 20, 2001: Students at St. John's Military School in Salina, Kan., form up after classes in front of the administration building. Then-president of the school, Cpt. E.A. Alexander, said that he told the boys, ages 12-18, "The world has changed from under us."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Abilene, Kan. — Sep. 20, 2001: Steve Hoover, 53, stands in a field on his farm in Abilene, Kan., at sundown. "We are physically removed and a long ways away, but when I saw that second plane hit that tower on television and the tower crumbled, I felt for them."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Shawnee, Kan. — Sep. 21, 2001: On the outskirts of Kansas City, more than 5,000 people joined to form a human flag in a Shawnee park. It was the community's way of grieving, giving thanks and showing patriotism.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Columbia, Mo. — Sep. 21, 2001: Families and friends in Columbia, including Sophie Spicci, 3 and her mother, Amy, welcome home the 62-member Missouri Task Force 1 search and rescue team from an eight-day tour of duty at the World Trade Center in New York.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Columbia, Mo. — Sep. 21, 2001: Carter Blumeyer bows his head and clutches a flag after he and the rest of the Missouri Task Force 1 search and rescue team return from duty at the World Trade Center site.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Columbia, Mo. — Sep. 21, 2001: Chuck Doss hugs his mother, Gayla Latham, after arriving home to a hero's welcome following search and rescue duty at the World Trade Center site.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Evansville, Ind. — Sep. 22, 2001: On a sunny Saturday morning after the attacks, Gary and Shane Martin, 6 and 5, play in the window of their mother's Kirby Vacuum Co. distributing business in Evansville, Ind.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Evansville, Ind. — Sep. 22, 2001: Evansville firefighter Sam Scmitt and son Clay pay $1 each to sign a giant flag at a local shopping center. The money will go to the widows and orphans of the New York City Fire Department.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Lexington, KY — Sept. 23, 2001: At the Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, Destiny Parker, 8, hugs her grandmother, Laura McGraw. Pastor E. Holmes Matthews preached about turning the other cheek.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Shanksville, PA — Sept. 24, 2001: Yellow crime scene tape lies discarded next to a cross draped with white cloth that was erected on a hill overlooking the valley where United Flight 93 crashed. Charred trees and piles of dirt remained. Investigators installed power lines and paved roads in the rural setting.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Shanksville, PA — Sept. 24, 2001: Memorials began to sprout up near the valley where United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville. The crash site was turned over to United Airlines, enabling more local citizens to get into the area, bringing flowers and mementos.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Jennerstown, PA — Sept. 24, 2001: A 21-by-411-foot U.S. flag was the centerpiece of a vigil for victims of United Flight 93, held at the Jennerstown Speedway in rural southern Pennsylvania. Thousands of people turned out for the service in a light rain, sang patriotic songs and lit candles. When it was over, the crowd started chanting, "USA."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Washington D.C. — Sept. 26, 2001: The word "Freedom" is etched in granite at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as part of the passage "Freedom Is Not Free."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Washington, D.C. — Sept. 26, 2001: Vendor Son Luom sells "Wanted - Dead Or Alive" T-shirts a few blocks from the White House.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Arlington, VA — Sept. 27, 2001: A caisson carries the remains of Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert at Arlington National Cemetery. Tolbert was killed in the attack on the Pentagon.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Arlington, Va. — Sept. 27, 2001: An honor guard carries the remains of Navy Cmdr. Vince Tolbert in Arlington National Cemetery. Tolbert was killed when one of the hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Arlington, Va. — Sept. 27, 2001: Shari, widow of Lt Cmdr. Vince Tolbert, is given the flag that covered her husband's coffin during graveside services at Arlington National Cemetery.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sept. 28, 2001: Matt Hand, 23, came to view the rubble of the World Trade Center along with scores of other New Yorkers who climbed scoffolding to get a better view. Hand worked at the nearby U.S. Stock Exchange and had not been able to work since the attacks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sep. 29, 2001: Even after midnight, life goes on in in Times Square in the city that never sleeps. Locals said there was nowhere near as much traffic and congestion as usual. But that didn't stop sax player Will Chaver of Manhatten from playing his music for anyone who cared to listen, cutting the tension in the night air and putting a little joy back into the spirit of a city that was so badly damaged.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sep. 28, 2001: A New York City policer officer wearing a gas mask guards the World Trade Center site while workers using heavy equipment to knock down what's left.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sep. 28, 2001: Even at midnight, New Yorkers continued to pay their respects to the fallen firefighters at fire stations across the city. This firehouse was hardest hit, with 15 men lost to the Sep. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Staten Island — Sep. 30, 2001: Two women in the crowd of mourners at St. Teresa's Church hug while other firefighters pay their final respects to firefighter Michael Thomas Quilty, who was killed Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Staten Island — Sep. 30, 2001: Staten Island was hard hit by the World Trade Center attack because many of the police and firefighters who perished were residents there. One of the 16 firefighter funerals on Sep. 22 was for Lt. Michael Thomas Quilty. His widow held her hand to her heart, while son Danny, wearing his father's uniform, and daughter Kerry stood solemnly until the memorial ended.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Staten Island — Sep. 30, 2001: A little girl in the crowd of mourners at St. Teresa's Church on Staten Island salutes along with firefighters during memorial for Michael Thomas Quilty, killed Sep. 11 at the Trade Center Center. Quilty's body was never found, so a memorial was held in his honor. Bagpipes sounded mournful tunes and family members wept – a scene repeated far too often that day at several funerals.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sep. 30, 2001: In a ghostly setting a man pushes his cart past one of the walls in New York, this one at Lexington and 26th, where families have posted flyers of their missing loved ones after the Sep. 11 attacks.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

New York — Sept. 30, 2001: Tourists and residents ride the Staten Island Ferry, getting a glimpse of what the New York skyline looks like without the twin towers. The World Trade Center used to be just above the woman's finger on the left.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

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Covering 9/11: Strength amid sadness

Posted By: Mark Boster
Posted On: 12:23 a.m. | September 9, 2011

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted on Sep. 9, 2011 for the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001. I was in Sacramento about to begin a one-week shift in the state capital covering a list of political stories for The Times. All those stories have faded from memory.

Call it dumb luck, but when I rented a car at the airport, I asked for and received unlimited miles.

When the jets started flying into the World Trade Center towers, I ran to the nearest ATM and withdrew $300 — the max — and drove my rental car, with unlimited mileage, to the Golden Gate Bridge to make sure the San Francisco landmark wasn’t on the list too. I stood at the base of the bridge with several police officers for hours watching, waiting and speculating. Nothing happened.

After the terrorists carried off their mission crashing planes in New York, D.C. and Pennsylvania, all airliners were grounded.

Later that day, fellow photographer Robert Durrell and I were kicking around ideas for coverage. He had a brilliant idea about driving slowly across the country to record the reactions, pulse and patriotism after the attacks. The editors at The Times thought it would be a good idea too and sent me off with my rental car. I bought two CDs — B.B. King and Hank Williams — at a truck stop, and the two kept me company for two weeks while I explored the emotions and vast beauty of our great country.

That evening, my first stop was a memorial service in San Francisco where gay, straight, young and old gathered, held hands and cried together while the gravity of what had happened began to settle in.

Over the next two weeks there would be many more stops. There was a hard-hat worker in Reno. Rob Kendall flashed a peace sign and said, “I’ve been praying for all of the families in New York saying … dear God, please help all of the people of New York.”

Kendall was like so many others I would meet, so full of prayer and optimism.

Truckers flew the flag from the cabs of their big rigs. People across Utah gathered at high school football games and in the Capitol to pray, sing and express their patriotism.

Across Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas, ranchers like Ron Hawkins, fishermen like Mike Bashor and others flew flags from cars, overpasses and storefronts. While the colors on the trees were beginning to turn from green to yellow and gold, the colors of the American flag were constant reminders of the emergence of patriotism and the awakening of a spirit that had been dormant but not forgotten.

Mile after mile ticked away. Many cities and several states were in my rear-view mirror. I was worried about my wife and sons in California. I was sad that I couldn’t be there to hug them and comfort them. Having a son who was draft age, I was terrified that the attack would escalate into a full-scale war. About that time, one of the photo editors called and told me the other editors (the big ones) thought I should be driving faster.

So I did what any professional would do while driving across the country after Sept. 11: I began to bang my fists on the steering wheel and scream out the window. All of my frustrations, fears and concerns came to a boil. I didn’t realize I was supposed to be sprinting to the East Coast; I thought the mission was to tell the story across the country and that others were at the crash sites.

So I put the pedal down and drove all night looking for stories and reactions in Kansas, Missouri and all points east.

Every town across America was dealing with the grief and pain of the attacks and mustering the strength to heal and grow. Every town expressed its grief and patriotism in its own way.

Holding hands, several hundred people in Shawnee, Kan., formed a human flag, wearing red, white and blue shirts. Participant Cindy Meads said, “To me it represented patriotism at the highest level; it’s not about being an individual, it’s about coming together.”

In Columbia, Mo., Task Force 1 Search and Rescue was returning from a tour of duty at ground zero in New York, where it helped in the rescue and recovery. Families greeted the firefighters with tears and hugs at the Boone County Fire District. A brass band playing patriotic music was drowned out by cheers of the townspeople. Firefighter Carter Blumeyer was bathed in golden light while he held a flag and lowered his head in prayer.

The people of Evansville, Ind., showed their patriotism by paying a dollar each to sign a vinyl American flag. By the end of the event, donations were averaging $17,000 a day, with all proceeds going to New York relief.

Across America, people gathered in churches to pray and console each other. In Lexington, Ken., the congregation of the Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, led by Pastor E. Holmes Matthews Jr., sang, prayed and cried.

The drive into southern Pennsylvania was beautiful and painful. The leaves were turning, and the colors of fall shrouded the tiny roads. Small brick buildings, farm silos and rows of corn dotted the countryside.

Shanksville, barely a dot on the map, is where United Flight 93 crashed into a field. Now, 15 days after the attacks, there was still smoke wafting in the trees. A giant hole in the ground and a mound of dirt was all that remained. A large wooden cross shrouded with white cloth had been erected on a hill.

In subsequent days, I drove to the crash site at the Pentagon and to ground zero in New York. I attended several funerals at Arlington National Cemetery and in New York for fallen police officers and firefighters. I can still hear the bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” and feel the grief from the families and friends. Some of the surviving children wore their fathers’ uniforms and helmets, while others saluted along with the mourners.

The lesson I learned and the message I hope I conveyed in my photo essay is that America is a vast, strong country with a patriotic core. Even though the country was attacked and several thousand died, the flag stayed strong. The wheat fields continue to grow and the citizens are a powerful bunch when they unite in belief and comfort each other during times of grief.

At the end of my drive, I returned my rental car in New York with over 4,000 miles. The bill was steep, but the journey across the heartland of America after Sept. 11 was an experience I will never forget.

Photo: New York – Sep. 29, 2001: Mark Boster navigating the New York subways on his way to several of the funerals for firefighters and police after 9/11. Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

For additional 9/11 coverage check out these galleries from the 2011 9/11 Tenth Anniversary:

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Rescue 5: Ten years later – For nine months, firefighters from Rescue 5 dug through the ruins of the World Trade Center searching for bodies. Among the dead were 11 men from the elite Staten Island rescue company who had raced toward the smoking towers on Sept. 11.

Rescue 5: A photographer remembers – New York Fire Dept. Rescue 5 lost eleven members on 911. For the next year, Los Angeles Times photographer Gary Friedman covered the survivors and families of Rescue 5. In 2011, Friedman revisited Rescue 5.

Covering 9/11: reflecting on images – Los Angeles Times photographers Gary Friedman and Robert Gauthier arrived in New York on Sept. 13, 2001, and immediately began covering the disaster.

Covering 9/11: The 40-hour drive – With flights grounded, Los Angeles Times staff photographers Wally Skalij and Kirk McKoy were dispatched to New York – by car.

Statue of Liberty from World Trade Center – Times staff photographer Mark Boster covered the 1986 Statue of Liberty centenary from a top the World Trade Center.

Tags: From the Archives :: Gallery :: U.S. :: Color

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