By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
with Contributions from Kathi Fluck
Many Americans remember where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001, when they learned of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. that reportedly left nearly 3,000 people dead and brought forth the reality of terrorism.
A Geneseo family, Kathi and Lee Fluck, and their three sons, Kyle, Justin and Adam, were traveling in France when the horrific 9/11 attacks occurred in the U.S., It was a trip the family expected to be their final family trip as one son was in college and the other two in high school.
Kathi Fluck recounted the experience:
“On the morning of Sept. 11, my husband and I were in Giverny, France, at the home and gardens of Impressionist Claude Monet…Our sons did not want to see Monet’s home, so they were spending their last day in Paris, where we would meet them in the afternoon. We were to fly home the next morning, Sept. 12.
As we entered the gardens, we came upon a group of Americans who were visibly upset listening to a fellow traveler while on the phone. They told us a plane had crashed into the World Trade Towers. I believe the local time was around 1 p.m.
We walked through Monet’s home and gardens wondering how that could have happened. It must have been a small plane and pilot error. Returning to Paris, the awful news about the World Trade Towers was confirmed. Everyone was quiet; we were all having difficulty processing the information. Was it a global attack? What if when we get back to Paris the Eiffel Tower was gone?
When the couple met their sons in Paris, the young men told their parents how they had seen early coverage of the attacks on television…”It was obvious that they were shaken up by this,” Fluck said. “We cancelled our plans to take a dinner river cruise down the Seine River; no one was hungry and no one wanted to go anywhere. Instead, we sat in our hotel room for hours, watching the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), playing the video of the plane crashing over and over.”
She said no one in the family had much sleep that night and the next day, the car they had arranged to take them to the airport arrived. The arrangements were made for the car when the Fluck family scheduled their trip.
Kathi and Lee Fluck, at left, and their three sons, from left, Kyle, Justin and Adam, were vacationing in France when the 9/11 attacks occurred in the United States, and as Kathi Fluck said, “It is something we will never forget.” Contributed Photo
“When we arrived at the airport, we found the TWA ticket counter was closed with a sign stating the airline had suspended operations and had declared bankruptcy,” Fluck said. “American Airlines had absorbed it, and at the AA counter, we were ticketed on their flights home, but no flights were being allowed into the United States. We had nowhere to go. We were told there were three hotels at the airport, so we chose one and checked in.”
“The five of us were now very worried and just wanted to go home,” she added. “People were told to call their embassies, but when we did, all we got was a recording to ‘leave a message.’ For one entire day, we sat in our hotel room and watched replay after replay of the planes crashing into the towers and the towers collapsing.”
The next day the family once again went to the airport and was told that no planes were allowed into the U.S.
“We decided we needed to make the most of our situation, we were in Paris!” she said. “So we took the train back into the city and went to a museum for the day. We tried to enjoy ourselves, but couldn’t forget what was going on back home.”
“The next day my husband went to the airport early in the morning and found out that planes were being allowed into the U.S, we packed and hurried to the airport. Military police were walking around with machine guns. The lines were long and it was very crowded. Just as we reached the front of the line to check our luggage, A French policeman came into the area. He blew a whistle and told everyone to get back, there was a bomb in the area.”
She said her husband “refused to go far, he wasn’t going to lose our place in line! The Bomb Squad arrived and we couldn’t see what was happening, but assumed they’d remove the bomb and would blow it up somewhere. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and people screamed. They had detonated it right in the terminal! It was somebody’s forgotten luggage!”
“People ran like crazy to get back into line, and there stood my husband, at the front of the line with a grin on his face. Just as were to go through security, a ticket agent came out and asked, ‘Who is going to Miami?’ “We are!” We were pulled out of the line and told to follow the agent because the plane was waiting to take off.”
“Then an announcement was made: We were to observe 112 seconds of silence in reverence to those who had died. The time we had to stand there felt like hours, and when it was over, were instructed to run down a hallway where we were met by another agent. ‘Are you the Flooks?’ The Flooks are here!’ We ran down the stairs and boarded a bus loaded with passengers who cheered and applauded when we got on. They could not go to the plane!”
She said, “We couldn’t believe we were finally on our way home. We were tired, scared and just wanted to be in our own country. Were we worried about getting on a plane again? No way!”
When the family arrived in Miami, Fluck said they found the atmosphere: eerie, it was nearly empty. Shops and food vendors were closed. We saw baggage wrapped in large bundles with clear cellophane and tape. When we went through security check, we saw piles of pocket knives, box cutters and cigarette lighters. We arrived home at 3:30 a.m., tied, but so very glad to be home!”
She added that the plane they took from Paris to Miami was the only flight that got into the U.S. that day.
It is understandable that the Fluck family will not forget Sept. 11, 2001.