A promotional image for “We Were Quiet Once,” a feature-length documentary by Somerset native Laura Beachy – wewerequietonce.com

Oct. 01 — “Laura Beachy has spent the last two years trying to illustrate the lasting effects of the Flight 93 crash on residents in Somerset County — a story line that often takes a natural backseat to profiles on the victims and their families, and goes untold.

“But when asked how Sept. 11, 2001, changed her own life, the 22-year-old Somerset native and documentary filmmaker hesitates. She’s never been asked before and she has to collect her thoughts.

“‘It’s a complete loss of innocence, and at [age] 11 I heard the word Islamophobia and terrorist and al-Qaida, which you wouldn’t usually think about,’ said Ms. Beachy, who was 10 miles from the site in her sixth-grade English class when the plane went down.

“‘As a kid you look to your adults in your community, people who are your safety providers, and no one had answers.’

“‘We Were Quiet Once‘ tells the stories of three locals who witnessed their once-sleepy rural community’s identity, and in some ways their own, upended when it was rocked by terrorists and then besieged by media crews 11 years ago.

“Ms. Beachy’s aim is to depict three personal memorials to the victims, and although it happened subconsciously, the film also has become a tribute in itself from her to the people of Somerset.”

Click here to read the firehouse.com article in its entirety.