As PRINT 01 Remained Opened, Many Transactions Ceased

Hank Brandtjen, President, Brandtjen & Kluge, Saint Croix Falls, WI

My memories of 9/11 are, of course, vivid. With the trade show opening at 10 am, I was at our hotel, the Sheraton, having breakfast on the top floor with some of my employees. There were a few televisions on in the breakfast area but, when the first plane hit, the event was not yet on live TV. When it went live, no one panicked. Most of us were of the belief that a small plane had crashed into the one tower as the result of the pilot suffering a heart attack or something. When the second plane hit, we, of course, saw that live and even then my mind did not believe it was an act of terrorism. My first thought was what are the odds of two plane failures in one day? Within seconds, though, I knew what we were really facing, and for the rest of the morning we sat there watching the events unfold.