PENDLETON — As Amy Madden called her colleagues in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, she wondered why no one was answering.

Madden was working at a securities brokerage firm in Portland, her first job out of college. It was around 6 a.m. She was working east coast hours. A coworker brought in a radio. Together, they listened as the world changed.

“I just remember being scared,” said Madden, the manager of Roosters Country Kitchen in Pendleton.

At around that same time more than 200 miles away, Jack Remillard was preparing for the first day of the Pendleton Round-Up. His daughter, who was in the army and was stationed in Alabama, called and told Remillard to turn on the T.V.

As the first images appeared, the since-retired assistant chief and fire marshall remembers clearly what went through his mind: “Firefighters are going to die today.”

He was right. More than 340 New York firefighters died that day. Nearly 3,000 people died in total.

It was a tragedy that forever shaped America’s place in the world. Twenty years later, that day sticks in the minds of residents living nearly 2,700 miles away from the World Trade Center.

Grasping what happened

When Remillard got to the station later that day, the television was on. Every channel displayed the carnage, and the firefighters, like millions of people nationwide, were glued to the TV. As he headed to the Round-Up, he saw the local National Guard’s tank heading toward the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport at Pendleton. Until then, it hadn’t sunk in that the nation was at war.

That evening, Madden recalled going to church, “because I didn’t know what else to do,” she said. The service was packed with hundreds of people. The pastor prayed for the men and women that would be called to war.

In the days to come, Madden reeled with anxiety. She told a doctor that she was experiencing panic and shortness of breath. The doctor told her many others were experiencing the same thing. She felt that her sheltered life had been shattered. She said she had to grow up quickly.

“You didn’t know when the next attack would come,” she said.

Back in Pendleton, Remillard felt similar to Madden. He was on edge. That Round-Up, he said, was somber and subdued.

“It was clear people were worried,” he said.

The tragedy hits home

Michael Selves was a 1965 graduate of Pendleton High School and a retired Army lieutenant colonel who died in the plane strike at the Pentagon. Selves also was the son of Remillard’s neighbor.

Remillard’s job, as he describes it, was to protect firefighters so that they could protect the public. After hearing the reports of firefighters killed that day, he felt a greater responsibility to his crew.

“It made me realize I needed to do a lot better at my job than I thought I was,” he said. “When 9/11 hit, I wanted to make sure the guys were OK, whatever happens.”

Shortly after, public safety officials gathered in the Vert Auditorium, Pendleton. Together, they tried to make sense of the event. They spoke of their feelings and sang songs. Later, they paraded through the town. Remillard said he felt proud to be an American after 9/11.

“To me, that showed a pride in who we are and why we do what we do,” he said.

A sense of unity had descended on the entire nation, he and Madden said. They felt it, even though they were nearly 2,700 miles from where the Twin Towers fell.

The Main Street Cowboys on Saturday, Sept. 11, will hold a tribute to Michael Selves, a 1965 Pendleton High School graduate and retired Army lieutenant colonel who was killed when a plane struck the Pentagon on 9/11. The tribute will occur at 9:45 a.m. on the side street between the Pendleton Round-Up & Happy Canyon Hall of Fame Museum and the new Round-Up office. Organizers encourage classmates of Selves, among other community members, to attend the tribute.