Jean and Jerry Harden are displaying the Union flag and Stars and Stripes from their home in Courtlands Road, Tavistock, as a mark of respect.
Jerry, who is Anglo-American, was in the American air force for 20 years before the couple retired to Tavistock where Jean had been brought up.
Only 36 hours before the attack, their son, Alan — who attended Tavistock College in his teens and now lives in Tokyo — had been in the Citi Bank office in the World Trade Centre.
'As soon as we saw it on the TV Jerry called him,' said Jean. Fortunately, Alan had flown home before the event and his friends and colleagues had had time to evacuate the building before it collapsed.
Jean said they still had many friends in the States, and were feeling 'very apprehensive'. 'We went through the Cuban crisis, which was over quickly, but I think this will take a long time. I don't know how they will handle it,' she said.
l Tavistock town councillor Ted Sherrell's son, Matthew, works for J P Morgan in Wall Street, New York — a stone's throw from the World Trade Centre.
'Fortunately he was away on holiday in Tennessee with his twin brother at the time,' said Cllr Sherrell. 'If he lives to be a hundred he will never be luckier.'
Cllr Sherrell and his wife, Ann, were fairly sure Matthew was still out of the city, but received final confirmation in a telephone call from him just before midnight.
Matthew's girlfriend, Avisa, however, had returned to New York and was working close to the World Trade Centre at the time of the attack and witnessed the impact of the second plane. She lost a close friend in the carnage.