As the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it's impossible not to think back to that day and feel a variety of different emotions bubble up.

We took a deep dive into the Peoria Public Radio archives to bring you just a few of the stories from that harrowing chapter in our nation's history.

Lenny Unes, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants and leader of Peoria’s Itoo Society, talked with WCBU about how his community processed 9/11.

Peoria International Airport director Gene Olson was the assistant airport manager at Evansville Regional Airport in Indiana on Sept. 11, 2001.

A Princeton woman and her husband were kept off the hijacked plane that crashed into the World Trade Center's north tower on Sept. 11, 2001, only by a last-minute scheduling change.

School students today have no direct memory of 9/11. Neither do many younger teachers, while veteran educators can remember being in classrooms on that Tuesday morning.

You may know Marty Wombacher from his popular blog, Meanwhile Back In Peoria. That blog celebrates his return to his hometown, but on September 11th, 2001, Wombacher was living in New York City, just blocks away from Ground Zero.