Remembering 9/11: When Gander provided safe haven in a time of crisis

The small Canadian town of Gander isn’t near much. Located on the island of Newfoundland, Gander is home to around 12,000 residents. Even fewer people lived here on September 11, 2001, when Gander’s far northeast positioning made it an ideal landing spot for grounded flights.

“Once you leave Europe in the morning, once you get halfways across, the nearest airport is Gander,” said Claude Elliott, who was mayor of Gander on 9/11. By the end of that day, 38 planes had landed at Gander’s airport, something for which there was no contingency plan. “None,” Elliott said. “We have an emergency plan, every municipality has it. But there’s nothing in that plan to tell you what to do with 7,000 people if they decide to drop in for four or five days.”

Once it was clear that the planes wouldn’t be taking off anytime soon, Gander had to scramble to figure out what to do with its influx of temporary visitors from all around the world. Elliott declared a state of emergency. Calls went out for supplies. Churches and schools became shelters. Even the local hockey rink was put to use. “We got truckloads of food and we put it all in the community center on the ice surface, and we used it as a refrigerator to keep the food cool,” Elliott said.

Locals referred to the new arrivals as the “plane people.” Offers to help poured in. Elliott said, “The greatest asset that your community has is its people. And we had our people. Everybody came out.”

One of those volunteers was Gander resident Beulah Cooper. She told us, “I said, ‘Thank God they’re coming here, ‘cause I know they will be looked after.”

Cooper volunteers at the Royal Canadian Legion in Gander, which housed 67 people from an Aer Lingus flight. She brought sandwiches, shuttled stranded passengers to pay phones around town, and even invited some to sleep and shower at her home.

Cooper said it was helpful to her to be helpful: “Oh, my gosh, it does so good in here [tapping her chest] to know that you’re doing something to help somebody. And that’s what I’m all about anyway.”

Cooper is one of the people who provided the inspiration for characters in the musical “Come From Away,” which premiered on Broadway in 2017. It tells the story of how Gander rallied together to help – which former Mayor Elliott didn’t initially think was going to make for much for a story.

“I had to confess I had never seen a musical,” he said. “But in my mind I’m trying to visualize, how are you gonna make a musical out of sandwiches, soup, blankets, boxes, pillows?”

But the seemingly small story resonated in a big way. “Come From Away” won a Tony Award, toured around the world, and has created at least one new musical theater buff: Mayor Elliott, who says he has seen the show 139 times: “I’ve seen it in six countries: Canada, United States, Australia, London, Madrid, Spain, and New Zealand.”

And, most recently, right here in Gander. “Come From Away” has come home, with a professional production staged during the summer months at the local arts center. Actor Peter Halley, born just a few hours away, in St. John’s, plays Mayor Claude in the Gander production. “It’s the only cast where Newfoundland characters are played by Newfoundlanders,” he said. “So, that authenticity of the show is really there, and felt here.”

The play’s title, “Come From Away,” is a reference to people who visit Newfoundland. “You’re just coming to see us and to experience the province, and you are from away,” said Halley. “And you’ve come from away. So, ‘CFA’ is just an expression that I think I’ve known forever.”

And now, thanks to the show’s global popularity, Gander sees a lot more CFAs. The aviation museum has an exhibit that highlights those days after 9/11, featuring thank-you notes written by grateful passengers. Metal beams from the Twin Towers were sent to Gander. The Legion regularly hosts “screech-ins” for tourists, a tradition portrayed in the musical, in which visitors can become honorary Newfoundlanders by taking a shot of strong rum and kissing a cod fish.

Beulah Cooper is usually on hand to help out. She’s still getting used to her celebrity status. “All they want, ‘I gotta hug Beulah. I gotta hug Beulah,’ and the tears running down their face,” Cooper laughed. “And I thought, ‘Take it easy. It’s only me!'”

But ordinary people stepping up in times of crisis is exactly why the story of what happened in Gander resonates. “Come From Away” considers itself a “9/12 musical.” It focuses on the acts of kindness that happened the next day.

“You talk to people like you like to be spoken to, and you treat people like you like to be treated,” Cooper said. “And if you see somebody that needs help, if you can help them, you better do that.”

WEB EXTRA: “Come From Away”: Transforming tragedy into art, darkness into light
Writers, lyricists and composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein discuss the origin and impact of their acclaimed musical.

To watch a trailer for “Come From Away,” featuring the Broadway cast, click on the video player below:

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Remembering 9/11: Andrew Card on the moment everything changed

Remembering 9/11: Robert De Niro on helping revive Lower Manhattan after September 11

Remembering 9/11: 9/11 changed the U.S.; can we change back?

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Story produced by Aria Shavelson. Editor: George Pozderec.