Book Description
Publication Date: August 14, 2003

"For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed."

When thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of United States airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than six thousand displaced travelers.

Roxanne and Clarke Loper were excited to be on their way home from a lengthy and exhausting trip to Kazakhstan, where they had adopted a daughter, when their plane suddenly changed course and they found themselves in Newfoundland. Hannah and Dennis O'Rourke, who had been on vacation in Ireland, were forced to receive updates by telephone on the search for their son Kevin, who was among the firefighters missing at the World Trade Center. George Vitale, a New York state trooper and head of the governor's security detail in New York City who was returning from a trip to Dublin, struggled to locate his sister Patty, who worked in the Twin Towers. A family of Russian immigrants, on their way to the Seattle area to begin a new life, dealt with the uncertainty of conditions in their future home.

The people of Gander were asked to aid and care for these distraught travelers, as well as for thousands more, and their response was truly extraordinary. Oz Fudge, the town constable, searched all over Gander for a flight-crew member so that he could give her a hug as a favor to her sister, a fellow law enforcement officer who managed to reach him by phone. Eithne Smith, an elementary-school teacher, helped the passengers staying at her school put together letters to family members all over the world, which she then faxed. Bonnie Harris, Vi Tucker, and Linda Humby, members of a local animal protection agency, crawled into the jets' cargo holds to feed and care for all of the animals on the flights. Hundreds of people put their names on a list to take passengers into their homes and give them a chance to get cleaned up and relax.

The Day the World Came to Town is a positively heartwarming account of the citizens of Gander and its surrounding communities and the unexpected guests who were welcomed with exemplary kindness.

This was an incredible surprise for me. As I was in Europe on 9/11, I missed a lot of the first reports and really never thought much about where all those US-bound planes actually landed. [The one personal account I'd heard from a friend was that the plane she was on turned around and went back to Iceland - but each pilot was given the choice and many continued on].

A charter flight I was on in the early 80's had to make an unscheduled refueling stop in Gander on the way home from Europe, so I felt a little extra "connection" to the story. One could never imagine the role this rather isolated airport would play almost 20 years later.

I teared up several times while reading this. We hear all too seldom about people being kind and generous. Wonderful to read about a bright spot in an otherwise horrendous time.

Highly recommended.

I'll offer this in debbie4osu's nonfiction VBB.

On its way to waterfalling via the nonfiction VBB. Hope you enjoy it!

Book received today with bookmarks. This has been on my wish list for a while so I can now mark it off as Granted.

I remember news reports about this (one of the C-SPAN channels was carrying a Canadian news channel feed for some time during September 2001).

Hard to put this book down. Just an amazing read.

Sent on to another reader.

Waterfalling sent this to me after she picked and finished it from the non fiction VBB. Thank you so much for sending it-and I am looking forward to reading this one!

Inside this book, I found a note that said tabby-cat-owner gets this one next. Since I am sending a selection to her from the ABC VBB, this one gets to tag along. It is a really great read :)

I received this book in the mail from debbie4osu of Lewisville, Texas.

Thank you so much for sending this book to me, debbie4osu.

I didn't want to put this book down. From the beginning, I was caught up in the events happening. I too was often moved to tears while reading this book.

This book has been sent to greyflank of Brick, New Jersey as an RABCK. It was on his wishlist.

I know that you will enjoy reading this book, greyflank.

This book has been released for the 2015 4 Elements release challenge, the March 2015, Oh, the Places We Can Go release challenge, the 2015 Wishlist release challenge and the Keep Them Moving release challenge.

Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!