The following has been submitted by the Logan County History Center:
By: Todd McCormick
Twenty-five years ago today, the events of September 11, 2001, changed the world. For several Logan County families and former residents, they also changed life forever.
Of the more than 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks, two victims had direct connections to Logan County. Former Logan County Commissioner John “Jake” Jeffrey and his family lost their nephew, Stephen Cangialoa, who died at the World Trade Center. Mr. Cangialoa was in his Cantor Fitzgerald office on the 104th floor when the attacks occurred. His body was one of the first to be found and identified by the heroic rescue workers at Ground Zero.
Alicia Titus, a graduate of Graham High School and granddaughter of Glenno and Olivia Titus of Rushsylvania, was a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to strike the World Trade Center. Mr. and Mrs. Titus, along with other family members in Logan County, lost a loved one on that terrible day. Their lives would never be the same.
The attack on the Pentagon also affected former Logan County residents and their families.
Major Douglas Carr, son of Don and Lynn Carr of Indian Lake, worked at the Pentagon as a systems analyst. Major Carr’s office was on the second floor of C-Ring, just above where the nose of the plane entered the Pentagon. The impact knocked him to the floor, and Carr dove underneath his desk for cover from the falling debris. Fortunately, he made his way through the smoke-filled hallways of the damaged Pentagon to safety.
Bellefontaine High School graduate Lt. Col. Michael Hadley was also at the Pentagon during the attack. He too escaped without injury. Lt. Col. Hadley’s mother Harriet Reddick lived at Indian Lake.
A third Logan County native working at the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001, was Lt. Col. Ted Anderson. Immediately after the plane struck the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Anderson and a sergeant began helping fellow workers out of the building. The two soldiers carried several women to safety. A third woman they rescued died several days later from her injuries. Lt. Col. Anderson and the sergeant attempted to return to the burning building to rescue more of their fellow workers, but members of the Pentagon’s fire department refused to let them back in because of the danger. Anderson later volunteered to lead firefighters back into areas of the Pentagon where he knew people had been, in hopes of rescuing those trapped or unable to get out on their own.
Lt. Col. Ted Anderson has appeared on numerous television news programs and in magazines describing his experiences on September 11 and in the years since. He later worked on an intelligence team that conducted daily research on al-Qaida’s whereabouts and reported its movements and possible actions to Congress. Lt. Col. Anderson is the son of Janet Anderson and the late John Anderson of Bellefontaine.
Lt. Col. Ted Anderson’s actions in response to the September 11 attacks were featured in an article by Joel Mast that appeared in the Bellefontaine Examiner the following year. His experiences are also included in an excerpt from Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001.
West Liberty native Jon Younkman, a financial analyst for Ark Management in New York, was at his Battery Park City apartment with his wife, Kamila, and their infant daughter, Alyson, just four blocks south of the World Trade Center.
Mrs. Younkman first heard news of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon while watching a morning news program. Soon afterward, Jon called his mother, Jane, to say that his family was all right. After the second plane struck the World Trade Center, Jon called again and said that he, Kamila, and the baby were standing in the street looking at the towers.
The phone conversation was cut short when the first tower collapsed, forcing the young Younkman family to run from the falling debris. Over the next few days, Mrs. Younkman spoke with her son on several occasions and made notes of the conversations. The Bellefontaine Examiner published an article about the Younkmans’ ordeal, including edited versions of the telephone conversations between Mrs. Younkman and Jon. The family shared some of their photos from that day with the History Center.
For Logan County, September 11 remains a story of personal loss, courage, survival, and remembrance, carried by families, neighbors, and communities who continue to honor those lost and those who responded with bravery.
