ATLANTA — Gathered inside the Buckhead Club, overlooking Atlanta's skyline to the south, members listened intently as Wanda Joell recounted her experience aboard Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001.
Joell, an Air Force veteran and the first African American flight attendant permanently assigned to the presidential plane, would serve under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama over her four-decade career.
From accompanying the casket of Ronald Reagan to its final resting place to being asked by a tour guest for some of Clinton's hair, Joell shared moments she shared on the "flying White House." She has countless stories that made her career unique among not only those in the Air Force but among any flight attendant
on any flight in the world.
But on this day 25 years ago, she said everything changed.
'Easy day' turned into a moment in American history
Joell and the rest of Air Force One's flight crew was prepping the airplane for an "easy day" on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. She was serving as the Deputy Flight Attendant that morning, meaning she was the second in charge on the flight.
They were scheduled for a two-hour flight back to D.C. from Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, where President Bush was reading to students.
Joell was in the middle of her pre-flight duties when she went to place name cards in the flight's central conference room and noticed news alerts popping up on the plane's few television screens.
"At that moment, still watching the news, we hear our aircraft commander announce we will have an earlier departure, and wheels will be up quickly and fast upon President's Bush and the staff's return," Joell said. "Once they arrive to the aircraft, our departure was the fastest I had ever seen. The plane climbed to an unusual altitude around 45,000 feet to access secure, insulated highways of power. Actually, it felt like a rocket."
The staff continued to glance at the television screens as they tried to operate normally, but the atmosphere had "shifted radically from a calm, beautiful morning" to a "quiet, solemn atmosphere throughout the cabin. Joell said she briefed the other flight attendants to stay back and out of the way, and to remain professional and flexible, ready for whatever the next moment would bring.
But it was hard. Some of the flight staff had loved ones in New York City, and there was no way for them to contact them while the president was being kept safely and discreetly in the air. The flight touched down in Louisiana, then again in Nebraska, but it was unclear when they would be able to land for good. Air Force One can be refueled from the air, so it was possible the entire crew, along with the president, could be up in the air for hours if not days.
"President Bush was determined to go back to Washington, the nation's capital. Of course, he was advised against it at the moment. He was coming out of his office, and we met in the hall and we had the chance to embrace," Joell said. "It was unexpected, but at the time it was everything. I felt the heaviness he was carrying. He whispered something to me I will never forget. Then, I assured him that we were safe in God's hand, a higher power, and he thanked me."
Joell said that moment was the highlight of her career, when she was able to "console a U.S. president." She described Bush as calm, and said that day taught her a lot about what leadership really means in moments of crisis.
'Ordinary people become extraordinary'
The days and years that followed would bring their own host of interesting days and challenging flights, but nothing would compare to that fateful day as one of the only planes in the air.
"People often ask me what I learned from serving four presidents. I say leadership isn't opposition. Service often happens silently. Ordinary people become extraordinary when history calls and duty calls," Joell said.
Joell, who retired as a Senior Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, came to the United States when she was 6 years old. Her father moved her and her family from Bermuda, where she was born, to the U.S. for the American Dream. Decades later she stood behind the president on one of the most important days in American history.
"History remembers monuments. History remembers dates. But history is carried forward by ordinary people who simply choose to serve in excellence. I never imagined, that a little girl from Bermuda would one day be a part of American history," Joell said. "Yet that journey taught me something I will never forget. We cannot choose the moments that define history. We can only choose how we respond when they arise."
Irene Wright is the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: She was on Air Force One on 9/11. Here's what was happening in the air
