Welcome to the rock if you’ve come from far away,

You’ll probably understand about half of what we say,

Welcome to our island with its inlets and its bays
You could keep on heading east but there’s an ocean in the way
They say no man’s an island, but an island makes a man especially when one comes from Newfoundland”      

(“Come From Away” lyrics)

Gander.

How do I describe this town?

How do I describe my own emotion of being in this town?

I truly cannot!

Gander made its way into my heart when I first saw the musical, ‘Come from Away”, on Apple TV. The show was chosen by accident purely because Marc and I wanted something ‘light’ to view after work. Seeing this musical advertised on Pay TV, as I am an avid musical fan this was my choice for that night!

Wow what a choice!

Before this show, I had never even heard of Gander! I did not even know the story of what had essentially happened when this town in central Newfoundland Canada was abruptly and without warning dragged into the New York City tragedy of 9/11. The first time I saw this show, at the end I was so emotional, and I could not speak. I was in tears. We both were. It filled me with so much emotion at how this township of 9000 people rallied together to assist over seven thousand strangers and for nothing. They did it just because they did! I have now watched this show so many times including a live stage version in Melbourne. Each time, without fail, I am filled with emotion at what these people did for so many outsiders!

And we are here!

What did we do?

Of course, we had to see all the places mentioned in the Musical. But first and foremost, we visited the North American Aviation Museum which told the story of how Gander International airport evolved. It was chosen because with the expansion of aviation after the first world war, people wanted to fly between North America and Europe. None of the planes at that time could do that because of the need to refuel, so a large international airport was needed to allow the planes to refuel enroute. The spot chosen was an abandoned timber town, in the middle of Newfoundland. Gander grew from there and was the largest airport in North America for some time. For several decades it hosted planes and dignitaries from all over the world as well as being of major military strategic value during WWII. The airport became superfluous once jet aircraft could fly across the Atlantic without the need to refuel. But that still left quite a large international airport in the middle of Newfoundland that is only used now for half a dozen domestic flights each day.

The museum informed us of the history of the airport and the growth of air transport in Newfoundland but the significant part of the museum for me was the portion dedicated to the 9/11 tragedy. To see images of the Gander airport’s runways, taxi areas and aprons with the 38 planes parked; to view the flight progress board where the 38 planes’ flight progress strips had been stacked in their ‘parking’ bays around the airport; to see the part of the chunk of the steel from the twin World Trade Centre towers (Gander was the only place outside America to receive a piece of the world trade centre); to read the ‘Thank You’ letters from individuals who were part of those strangers welcomed by the town of Gander – to read only a small fragment of those 1000’s of letters received and feel their words of appreciation, of recognition; to see faces in the photos at the ten-year anniversary (when the musical was formed) was truly absolutely moving. All that emotion resurfaced.

Then it was off to see the airport itself! It was so long. Both of us were amazed at how extensive the airport was and we could understand why Gander had been chosen to receive so many of the large jets that had to be grounded enroute to the USA that day. A smaller airport would not have been able to handle these giant planes carrying all those passengers.

Contemplation similarly on how many hours those international 7000 passengers must have been on their planes before being allowed off, before then being loaded onto school buses (up until that afternoon the school bus drivers had been on strike but broke the strike to help the ‘plane people’) to be taken to some other unknown destination. It was dark. They could see nothing and no-one. The surrounding empty countryside gave no clues as to where they were going. Some of the journeys were long as some passengers were sent to outlying areas of Gambo, Appleton and Lewisporte. Being there at the airport, I could sense the fear and trepidation of those international travellers who had landed in the middle of nowhere, not knowing where they were, their terror, their anxiety of why this was happening and nobody could inform them of anything, not until they reached their accommodation.

Continuing our self-directed ‘Come From Away’ tour of Gander, of course we had to get a hot chocolate and a muffin at ‘Tim Hortons’. This venue is in similar style to MacDonalds but with a totally different feel. Nothing like the average grab and go MacDonald’s at all. Tim Hortons felt warm and friendly and felt like the place where the locals met and gathered, to catch up with friends, to chat and gossip – just like how it was portrayed in the musical. We looked at ‘Shoppers’ across the road, the business who had donated much of their stock without payment to the ‘plane people’ (yes, took a photograph). Visited the Public Library that had been used as a place of quiet solitude for those ‘plane people’ that needed the space. Saw ‘Rogers TV station’ which is actually a very small television station in basically a tin shed. All these places created even more sentiment for me! Importantly, we saw the memorial park dedicated to aviation accidents and to Sergent Gander an extremely large dog but that is totally another story of local selflessness.

To finish the self-made ‘Come from Away Tour’, we went to ‘The Legion’, the place where some of the ‘plane people’ not only slept but, due to boredom and anxiety build-up, the town and many of the ‘plane people’ gathered to have some fun such as ‘becoming an honorary Newfoundlander’. This meant they had to drink screech (a rough Jamaican type rum) and kiss the cod.

The Royal Canadian Legion is Canada’s largest veteran support and community service organisation, providing support and assistance to those in need while at the same time providing a place to gather for fun and celebration. A little like our RSL clubs at home. Ganders Legion today is still the same building as it was in 2001 and is a small building with a bar and a hall. Only half a dozen gentleman was in the bar area when we visited, mostly playing cribbage. After discovering we were from Australia, they inquired, “Why Newfoundland?” (More. “Why in Winter!?”) Being sociable we bought a drink. To answer your question I can see forming, NO, there was no cod to kiss or screech to drink. I preferred my glass of red wine, and if there were one there, I definitely would not kiss a cod! I would have to kiss Marc instead!

After chatting with the locals for a while, I left Marc with the men and wandered around the hall, visualising the plane people here, being provided with entertainment to assist in alleviating their anxiety and boredom levels. And here, in this old-fashioned community hall, was a large, framed poster with “Come From Away” on it, signed by all the members of the musical cast. (The Canadian government commissioned the musical to be produced and many a person was interviewed at the 10^th anniversary reunion of 9/11 in Gander to bring the show alive. The musical was first performed in Gander in 2013.) Armed with my research of the various live characters and their individual stories presented through the musical, even more significant to me, was the plaque by Hannah O’Reilly, a ‘plane person’ who had lost her son in the New York tragedy. While she was stuck as a guest in Gander, she did not know he had died and was constantly trying to find out. She presented this plaque as a commemoration to the people of Gander for the welcome she had received amidst all her own personal tragedy and loss! For me, Hannah is a (true prominent) person and seeing this living emblem of that memory/story bought more tears to my eyes. What a wonderful feeling to be there, to see all this in person and not just through the media, the stage, or the computer! What an emotional day!

So, should you go to Gander if you visited Newfoundland?

Gander is nothing special. It is in the middle of an island. In the middle of a rock at the edge of an ocean.

“You are here, at the start of a moment, on the edge of the world, Where the river meets the sea.

Here, at the edge of the Atlantic, on an island in between there and here”.

Not all tourists visit Gander because of the musical, but I imagine that it would have an impact on those that do. It was also thought-provoking that the town’s signage, as part of their name, always displayed the words “Come From Away – Our Town Welcomed the World”.

I would envisage the town remains immensely proud of what they did!

“You are somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, In the middle of who knows where,

In the middle of clear blue air, where you found your heart, but left a part of you behind!”

 (“Come From Away” lyrics)

Oh yes, I was so honoured to be there!

Yes, I left a part of my heart behind too!