For millions of Americans waking up on September 11, 2001, it was supposed to be just another Tuesday. They went about their routines and got ready for the day. Slowly news started trickling out that something had gone wrong, that the country had been attacked.

“Is this a joke?” Issaquah resident Natalie Leach, then living in Plano, Texas, wondered after hearing of the attacks during a comedic morning radio show.

Ten years later, that fateful day remains entrenched in the collective mind of the country. Memorials across the nation, including a gathering outside Issaquah City Hall, served as a reminder of shared loss, and appreciation for those who fought to save the victims.

Natalie, and her husband Tom, were among a crowd of approximately 100 people, including a number of military veterans and members of Eastside Fire and Rescue, in attendance for the tribute. Sunday’s memorial featured a speech by the mayor, and a first-hand account of the chaos at Ground Zero from Bill Lokey, who was with the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the time.

Lokey was on site of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building as well, but there could be no comparison to the destruction in New York and Washington D.C. that led to the deaths of 2,977 people.

“One of the things that struck a lot of us was, as a difference from Oklahoma City, where in the rubble there were desks and porcelain sinks and things like that, on 9/11, it was all twisted steel and dust,” Lokey said.

Following a prayer by Eastside Fire and Rescue Chaplin Mike Ryan, speeches by Lokey and Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger, members of the Issaquah High School Junior Naval ROTC – including the Leachs’ son – presented a 21-gun salute to fallen firefighters and police officers.

Frisinger urged the audience to recall and recognize everything first responders did on that day to save as many people as possible. She asked the crowd to remember how much they leaned on each other to deal with such an inescapable tragedy. Locally, she praised the community’s response, pulling together soon after the attacks. Only hours later, churches opened to give residents a forum to express their sorrow and frustration..

“Emotions were running high that day, and those services gave people a place to start turning their fear and anger into hope and appreciation for each other,” she said.

History was changed forever on Sept. 11, both at home and abroad. With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many families saw fathers, sons, mothers going to battle.

Steve Johnson was a sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. His son has served in Iraq. For Johnson, a member of the Issaquah Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Sunday memorial capped off an emotional weekend of remembrance. The reminders were everywhere; and he recalls the surprise he felt because of the nature of the attacks.

“I went from an amazement, to anger, to a feeling of futility,” he said. “None of us had ever seen an airplane used like that.”