When Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001,
WNEP's Jon Meyer was the first reporter on scene, according to a story by Bob Kalinowski in the Citizens Voice.
 |
| Jon Meyer 9/11/01 |
A rookie reporter for WJAC-TV in nearby Johnstown, PA Meyer
crept close to the deep smoking crater and flaming debris before delivering the
first news reports from where the doomed airliner crashed down in a remote
field.
"My first words were, 'The only way to describe this
scene is haunting,'" Meyer recalled Monday. "I could hear it in my
voice all these years later, knowing I stood right next to where so many people
died."
The National Park Service, which is creating a permanent
memorial at the site, invited Meyer to speak at a ceremony this past Saturday
to mark 11 years since that fateful day. Meyer spoke about his role in covering
the historic story and clips from his first broadcasts were played to a large
crowd that included families of the victims.
"It was crazy to see this 24-year-old kid doing such an
important story. I can't believe how young I was back then - to be dealing with
such a big story," said Meyer, who joined WNEP (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA) in the summer of 2003.
"My adrenaline was going. It was obviously going to be one of the biggest
national stories in history."
Meyer said he and his photographer were at the crash scene
within 25 minutes, as emergency crews were still arriving. Police stopped his
photographer about 100 yards away, but he managed to get within feet of the
impact zone to absorb the enormity of what occurred and see the distraught
faces of first responders. Later in the day, after the national press arrived
and the FBI held a news conference, reporters learned a passenger uprising on
the plane had forced it down to avoid a catastrophic terrorist act in
Washington, D.C., he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment