H eadlines
MBIEE Event to
Tell Story of Post-
9/11 Resilience
LO C AL
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
. JUST AS FOR MANY others,
the morning of Sept. 11,
2001 felt normal for Virginia
Buckingham, operator of
Boston’s Logan International
Airport. She and her husband
got ready for work and dropped
their 2-year-old off at day care.

As she was driving to the
airport to catch a flight to
Washington, D.C, Buckingham
heard over the radio that a
plane had flown into the north
tower of the World Trade
Center complex in Manhattan.

She thought it was an accident.

After the second plane struck
the south tower 18 minutes
later, Buckingham knew
otherwise. When Buckingham
received the call later that day
that the planes originated from
Logan International Airport,
she was shocked and horrified.

In the weeks that followed,
Buckingham was blamed for
the attacks, as others alleged
that she was responsible for a
breach of airport security that
allowed the plane’s hijacking.

Six weeks after 9/11,
Buckingham resigned from
her position and, two years
later, was sued in a wrongful
death lawsuit, only one of two
individuals sued for that claim.

For the past two decades,
Buckingham has lived with
blame and guilt, but trans-
formed it into a lifelong lesson
of the value of resilience.

Buckingham’s experience in
the aftermath of 9/11 and the
strife and growth that followed
inspired her memoir “On My
Watch,” published last year,
but timely as ever as the 20th
anniversary of 9/11 approaches.

Buckingham will share her
See 9/11, Page 12
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www.TheHearthAtDrexel.org JEWISH EXPONENT
Virginia Buckingham will share her story virtually at Melrose B’nai
Israel Emanu-El on Aug. 28 at 8:15 p.m. Photos courtesy of Virginia Buckingham
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM