Article September 9, 2002 Issue

A reporter's notebook

The story of extraordinary love and kindness, proved ordinary by the people of Newfoundland

By Marilyn C. Jones, Sentinel staff

While a stunned world watched in horror as the tragedies of September 11, 2001, played out on television screens, a remote and little-known area of Canada found itself suddenly and irrevocably drawn onto the world stage and into history.

Once it became clear that the United States was under attack on September 11, air space was closed to all traffic in the US for the first time in history. Aircraft flying anywhere over the US were grounded, and would remain so for the next three days. Planes already in the air bound for the west coast of the United States were diverted to Alaska and eastern Canada, and those flying from Europe were sent to eastern Canada's Maritime Provinces. In all, 224 planes landed that day on Canadian airstrips. In the Maritimes, 126 planes landed, with 38 landing in Gander, Newfoundland, carrying 6, 122 passengers and 473 crew members.

Gander's airport was built as a refueling destination for American military transatlantic flights during World War II. For decades afterward, the American military, as well as commercial jetliners, stopped in Gander for refueling before taking off for Europe. Then came advances in aircraft fuel capacity, and stopovers in Gander were no longer needed. Today, Newfoundlanders rely mostly on tourism for jobs. Fishing, the major industry of the coastal towns for countless generations, has largely shut down because of a moratorium imposed by the Canadian government in the early 1990s. This has depressed the economy and proved a hardship to many residents.

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