Where were you Sept.11 2001?

This year I'll be on the Alouette in a canoe, talking theatre and making plans with Nigel.

X

We have two more days till the anniversary.


Anybody else to post?

Ill post up....

I was in Nursing School and on the Telemetry Unit. I was getting ready to help out my patient for the day take a shower. I walked in early and he said that a plane had struck tower 1. I had told him that was odd...and then went on to tell him how the Empire State Building had been hit by a bomber in the 30's. We kinda watched the TV for a bit. I went to go tell my teacher what had happened but coudlnt find him.

I walked back into my patients room just in time for the second plane to hit. I remember we both said...this was no accident. I went back to tell my teacher what was going on and he was freaked. He had alot of family in NYC. We got the rest of the day off. I proceeded to get ahold of my best friend who has alot of family in NYC. His family was safe. A defining moment in my generation.

I want to thank all who took the time to post here about their experience! I greatly appreciate it. I found each story affected me in some way!
Consider it ignorance on my part, but until this thread I didn't realize the impact this day had on the rest of the world also!

Thank you
Mark Avery

Mark, my last comment, the one thing that stands out in my mind the most is the silence here. No airplanes, aerially quiet.

Phil

I was hopeing something would be brought up at work about today, was very sad that most didn't know what today was...

How soon we forget the horrors of the past...

I was in front of the TV. Was watching CNN breaking news when 2nd one flew into the tower.

Since It is September 11th once again I thought I would bump this thread and get some more responses!

Remember, no conspiracy theories. Only where you were, what you were doing, and what you thought and felt!

I was in Physics class in High School. We heard about it from another teacher, and then turned on the TV to see the towers fall. All i can remember is i was in disbelief and thought it was a bad dream. Kind of like the giving a speech naked kind of dream, but 100 times worse. I did not know anyone personally in the accident but I know alot of people who are linked to those that died, and it really does suck.

I was shopping with my then-boyfriend, and as I brought my selections to the register, one of the clerks rolled a television out from the break room. We stood there for a few minutes, watching people jump, and then went home and spent the rest of the day watching the news. It was surreal and horrifying. It was hard to believe it was happening... I didn't know how to feel about it.

I was in first period (anatomy and physiology class) during my junior year of high school. I remember feeling shocked, horrified, saddened, and very angry. I remember talking to a group of buddies about enlisting for the military, many of my friends did, and some did not (myself included). Since then, some have returned, some are still fighting, and one died in 2004. I can honestly say that 9/11 changed my life forever. In many ways it has motivated me to go to college and to pursue a career in government.

I was at the Dentist when the first plane struck, didn't know anything about it until got home in time to see the second plane hitting the tower and was completely horrified by what I saw.:eek::eek:

When they replayed the first hit on the news I just had to sit down before I keeled over, the sight of all those desperate people jumping out of the windows made me feel sick.

I stayed glued to the TV with my mom and brother all day, all of us were in shock at what was happening. We may not be Americans or live on that side of the pond but it was still a horrifying event that shook us all.

I remember it quite clearly. I had just left Calculus 3 and was headed to Psychology 1 (sophomore year of college) when I stopped to get a coke or something from a vending machine. There was a tv next to the vending machine, and they were running a story about the first plane hitting the building, and all I could think was, "man, what a sucky pilot!"

(understand that I went to a school that was about 25% flight students, and they were always wrecking planes, although usually in less catastrophic ways)

Watching the news, I was not really concerned about the American Airlines flight... my father was a pilot for AA, but I knew that he was a good enough pilot not to run into a stationary object... still, I felt a twinge of worry; something mechanical could have happened, etc.

I decided I'd skip Psychology that day (boring class anyhow) and hiked back to my dorm to get a better idea of what was happening. About that time, the United flight hit the second tower and it dawned on me that this might not be simple bad piloting. A few minutes later, the news started talking about hijackers and I started worrying more about my dad. I finally got ahold of my mom, and she reported that dad had gone on a trip to Sea/Tac and was fine, although he wound up being stuck there for nearly a week as a result of the transit snafu that occurred.

As I watched the news, and the broadcast of the towers collapsing, I couldn't help but think that it was all very surreal. I didn't really feel anything, apart from relief that dad wasn't flying the LaGuardia run that day. It's like the one thread of connection I felt to the whole event had been (thankfully) severed, and the whole affair was just too far outside of my monkeysphere to care about.

In the weeks and months that followed, I watched as our country resolved itself to revenge (although nobody called it that) and declared war on an enemy that had no flag, no uniform, and no sovereign government. I watched and was mildly depressed. I resolved to do my part and went to the nearest Marine recruiter and tried to convince him to let me join up, but thankfully he wasn't interested.

I went and looked at the pictures today, and it's every bit as surreal as it was 7 years ago... it makes me feel old that it was so long ago and it doesn't feel like that long.

I was at home when the planes struck. I was at my mother's church listening in on a lady's Bible study when I realized the gravity of the situation, and I was at university when the towers fell.

The weather was wonderful that tuesday morning in tulsa, but I guess it was not much comfort at the time

As Seraphim noted, it was strange to not hear aircraft for the next two days. I lived just two miles from the Tulsa airport for 15 years, and the skies were eerliy silent

I ride my bike to work most every day. I did on 9/11/2001 as well.

As has been said , it was a crystal clear day here in Boston. I always see the planes flying over taking off out of Logan. In hindsight, I realize that one of them could quite possibly have been one of the planes that hit the towers.

I logged on after I got to work, and saw about the first plane that had hit. I thought "how are they going to fix the tower way up high like that?". After that, things went from bad to worse in the news that came in, as we all know all to well.

Later in the day it was very odd, as there was a crystal blue sky, but all the airplanes had been grounded, so the usual background of planes taking off/landing flying overhead was absent from the norm. A very surreal day.

I was in my morning American Government class. Our prof who was former army intel came in and said that a plane had hit the world trade center and we weren't sure if it was an accident or what. We had class, then I came down the stairs into the entry way of the building where the coverage was on the TVs. I came down just a minute before the second plane hit.

I was arriving at work when the folks I carpool with and I heard on the radio that a plane hit the WTC. Like most other posters, we thought that the plane was a small plane (Cessna, etc.).

I walked into the bulding where I worked and my boss told us to go home, only the on shift Emergency Plan team will remain.

I work in the Radiation Protection department at the United States' largest nuclear generating facility - Palo Verde.

I went home and watched in horror at the replay on TV at the most vicious attack on the USA in my lifetime. I prayed for those killed and injured and thanked God that I had my family with me.

The next day upon arrival at work we were greeted by a large Arizona National Guard force and our lives at PV changed forever.

I remember it very clearly. I was still on hollyday from highschool and was having lunch. It was arround 13:00 hours here in Portugal and the news were on television. I was shocked... first they announced that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center and we all thought it might have been a Cesna or something... something had happened before, quite simillar, when a B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building back in the 1940's... But this was diferent. The wheather was great and sunny, so... I got us wondering and glued to our TV sets. Then, live on TV, the second airplane... And the rest is History for us not in America, but to you, in the US it's your story and your very own History. No politics, no theories... just a tremendous tragedy that moved us all. It was real - and for us in Europe (sorry for the expression, friends...) it was too close for confort...

Then came the bombing in Madrid and then the bombings in London... and all this is related and we are in this one together. Putting aside any political statement, we are all equal and the death of an inocent person - no matter where, or why or what colour or creed - is a tragedy.

But after a tragedy, courage emerges. And the footage of the Policemen and Firemen and many civilians in NY salvaging, resqueing and being exorted by tragedy into almost irresponsable courage is always a moving sight... so, to all of you who lost kin in the 9/11 tragedy, I send my deepest regrets and feelings.

I was at work. My manager came out of her office and said she heard something weird on the radio about the WTC and an airplane hitting it. I thought that was strange of course, but didn't know the size of the plane or any details. Then she came out and said another had hit and they were jet liners. Work on the whole office floor stopped and I think most of us went in the conference room to watch on TV.

I remember they showed Bush who had landed at some airport in a southern state while he was walking briskly on the tarmac. I distinctly remember IMO he had a look of fear in his eyes that was unmistakable; the same type of fear that maybe a child would have if he and/or his friends poked at and taunted a wild animal not realizing or being surprised about the fury that would ensue and be directed towards them. Weird analogy, but that's how I felt.

Chris L

I was working a long way from the United Kingdom and had just returned from my work to my hotel, the Taj Mahal in Mumbai (Bombay), India. I was taking a well earned drink and looking forward to going home the next day. I noticed maybe 10 people watching the television and as this was unusual I walked over to see what I thought was a movie. Nobody was speaking and I quickly realised that the horrors I was watching were live and real. I then noticed that many around me had tears in there eyes. I then remember feeling angry , sad and totally powerless. I telephoned my wife to share my feelings.
Some of the Indians were well aware of terrorism having suffered horrific bombs in their own city from the same extremists. They understood and made the link immediately as they watched the carnage unfold. They explained it to me. I still feel the anger and I'm forever grateful that I live in a Country that bothers to try and stop these things from happening again.

I remember the soon to be wife, waking me up, as I was still in the night club Bizz in Colorado Springs, with a "Get outta bed, somethings happened"
I remember the second plane striking the tower, and the realization that we were under attack....
I remember as all the details unfolded there on TV, I remember thinking of all my employees that only worked for me part time, would soon be shipping out, because they were US military personel... I remember thinking that right then and there, we were at WAR....
I remember the tears that welled up in my fiancés eyes when the towers fell, she was a Manhattan gal....
I remember that night, sitting at the clubs, talking with some of the guys that worked for me, that were Gulf War vets, listening to them say right then, that we would be going back to Iraq....
I remember putting American flags on everything, living in a military town there was a real sense of patriotism very fast....
I remember the silence from the lack of planes in the air, except a pair of F-15 Eagles that would flash down the front range of the mountains every 3-6 hours....
I remember within two days, I had already lost four of my bouncers that were special forces, they were already on alert...
What I also remember was on Sept. 22 when my new bride and I went to Vegas for a quick Honeymoon getaway, (the airlines would not let us cancel) and we found National Guardsmen at the airports, and no one in Vegas, that was a most surreal feeling.....


Yes I remember ......

I still remember it like it was yesterday, I was working for an armored car company servicing ATMs and I finished one of my machines and got back in the van. My driver said we have been attacked! I said Huh? he told me about the planes hitting the towers and the pentagon and a report of a state dept building being blown up, I told him bull ****, then he turned the radio up for me to hear, I literally fell back in my chair and was totally stunned. The worst part for me was later that day when I had to go to Nashville International airport to service those ATMs while still carrying a weapon and everyone kinda freaking out, I approached and airport police officer to ask about extra security concerns and he just told me to go ahead and do my job, they knew who I was and what I was doing. Still kinda sureal though, and I still noticed a uniformed officer within earshot of me the whole time though.

I was at home and my dad called me, told me to turn on CNN and put a tape in the VCR. He heard that some airplane had hit one of the world trade centers, but they weren't sure what was going on. I remember watching it and not really knowing what to think except that there was no way a pilot of one of those planes would screw up that bad on a clear day. When the second plane hit, and they panned down to all the people running away from the towers, I saw what terror in my own country looked like. It brought back memories of the Murrah building in OKC (I heard and felt that one).

It's one thing to see someone from a different country terrified- nothing is familiar, so you can be sort of detached about it. But to see something that is very familiar, and people that you might know with that look on their faces and in their eyes. It's the look of genuine, get me the hell out of here, fear. Realizing that someone, somewhere, planned that fear just made it that much worse.

At the time, I hoped that being the mightiest nation in the world would allow us to seek out the people responsible and make them pay. Little did I know that it would be the American people that would pay.

I was at work in a tower in center city Philadelphia. I was worried sick about my brother who works for the Port Authority of NY/NJ and who's office was in the second WTC Tower hit. To make a long story short I was let go early that day because no one knew how far ranging the attack was and if we were a possible target being a tower in a major US city. The second plane went right through my brother's office but he wasn't there. The reason: he called out sick that day because he was hung over.

I will never forget that day as long as I live.

Regards,
EL

I was on a motorcycle ride, on my way back to San Francisco. I stopped for the night in Paso Robles. I woke up that morning to the TV thinking it was a movie, and remember being scared out of my wits eve before for I realized it wasn't. It took me a few seconds to realize this was really happening.

I had a hard time motivating that morning to get back to SF. I stayed a long time in the motel cafe having breakfast with some locals, listening to the radio, and going through every emotion under the sun.

By the time I was back on my bike I couldn't wait to get home and be with my family. The ride felt like it took forever.

In that summer, I switched jobs. I was hired in the first days of September 2001. That Tuesday, I was on my second day of a 2-week long class.
It was 2 PM here and the class was starting after the lunch break. During that class the teacher told us that "something was happening in NYC". "Lots of planes were falling".
We ended the class earlier. I went home immediately to turn on the TV and watch CNN. I'll never forget the CNN headline: "America under attack". That was when I realized that something really big was happening, I couldn't believe it, it seemed I was watching a movie.
The following days were really weird, even in this small country. In the following Sunday, me and my colleagues went to the airport to rent a car to drive us to another week-long class 300 kms from my town. At the airport entrance there were lots of military men with machine guns. We had to tell them what we wanted. I'll never forget that moment - two heavily armed soldiers escort us from the entrance of the airport to the rent-a-car service inside. That was really weird, again it seemed like I was in a movie.

I was giving a chemistry test. The news came to me, and I hopped on the internet. I didn't tell my students till after they were done with their test. As the students finished I sent them down to the gym where we spent the rest of the day watching the news.

I had just started a project in one of the tallest buildings in Philadelphia. The internet was slow and then someone said a plane had hit one of the towers...I thought they meant a Cessna. A co-worker's dad was in the Pentagon, but was not injured. We evacuated the building for about an hour and watch the news on a TV outside a hotel. We then went back in and got our things. I came back out in time to see the towers fall on TV. We worked from our hotels the next day or so. Our company did a global attendance call - we didn't lose anyone. Local staff were volunteering their homes and hotel rooms for those stranded.

I remember thinking that the world will never be the same.

I was in my first year of law school at the time. I had a criminal law class that morning. When we came in, one of my classmates told me that he had just heard on the radio that a plane had hit the WTC. We thought it must have been a cessna or something, and had no idea. The class went on as usual, but then when we got out, everyone was in the lounge, watching the news. The Dean came in and told everyone to go home. They shut down the campus for the day, except for a prayer service on the quad.

I was in my kitchen when the first plane hit, getting ready for work. We still weren't sure what had happened, and had no idea that it was terrorism. But before I left, the second plane hit.

As I was driving to work, my wife called me on the cell, very upset, to tell me that the first tower had fallen. She's the daughter of a New York City firefighter, and found the entire thing almost unbearable.

At work, we sat around and watched the TV coverage. Everything stopped.

As an aside, this year I started the day on 9/11 participating in a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House, with the President, Vice President, their wives, and most of the Cabinet and Joint Chiefs (along with a lot of us government employees). The military did the color guard and the music, and nobody does it better. It was very moving.

j

I was on my way to work , carpooling with a neighbor. we heard the news on the radio and thought that this must be a joke.
My wife called on the cell and told me WTC had been hit by a plane and that it was an attack.
When we got to work we hustled to a break room that had a TV and watched the second planes hit.
We found out that night or the next day that one of my wifes cousins worked in WTC1 and an Uncle was doing deliveries in that area. We finally found out her cousin had called in sick, the first day ever and her Uncle had gotten delayed on the other side of the Island longer than normal.
Its still hard to see those pictures and video but I wish they would broadcast them still today

I had just come on duty, and a co-worker walked in as I was checking E-mail to ask if I was looking at the report of a plane hitting the WTC that he'd just heard on the radio. I said I hadn't heard about it and asked what type of plane, thinking it would have to be a general aviation aircraft. He said he didn't know. Went to a news site as more troops showed up talking about it. Nothing was clear on the internet, so we went to an office that had a television. Saw the hole, knew it wasn't GA. Watching the live feed when #2 hit. Not a good day. Then heard the Pentagon was hit. Then I knew for sure. Then got conflicting reports that the Air Force had scrambled and shot down another plane in Pennsylvania, or the hijackers had crashed it there. Called the wife, told her to keep the kids home. We went on alert and stayed there for weeks. Ended up overseas for a while. Bad, bad, bad horrible day. I still can't sit and ponder it without tearing up.

I live about 25 miles away from Ground Zero. Yet on that terrible day, I was heading for Old Bond Street in London,England-looking to buy a nice Cuban cigar and trying to stay awake. We had left Newark Airport at 8pm on Sept.10th on board a British Airways Boeing 777. My wife and I noticed a crowd watching a TV through a shop window when the 2nd plane struck the WTC. Never felt SOO far from home at that moment.

I was going up an elevator in Rockefeller Center, where I worked at the time, and someone asked me whether I had heard that a plane had hit the world trade center. I thought that was strange since it was such a beautiful clear day in New York and, although it is conceivable that a plane could hit the world trade center on a foggy day, that sounded quite strange. Someone else in the elevator said that a second plane had hit the second tower and I knew immediately it was terrorism. Several of us stayed at work for a while watching TV and hearing that a plane had hit the pentagon. There was a strange feeling of being under attack and not knowing whether the attacks were over or not (that feeling lasted a few days). I watched the first tower fall live on TV and I just could not believe it. Even though the buildings were burning, until that moment I never imagined that one would collapse. While I never worked at the world trade center, I did work downtown and I had visited there several times and I knew the place quite well. I walked home after that, picked up my son from Kindergarten (by that time the second tower had fallen). I spent the day in a park along the Hudson River watching smoke from the fires, Apache Helicopters and Stealth planes in the sky patrolling, trying to sort it all out.

For a long time after that life was chaotic and felt very unstable; it was a terrible time in my life. I still remember watching TV coverage of it with my wife and my two year old daughter who watched the plane hit the second tower and the ball of flames over and over again and she said "that is not real."

I go by the pit from time to time and I cannot believe it has been 7 years and all that is there is big a hole in the ground. No memorial after 7 years; that is pathetic.

Thank you for starting this thread.

The first I heard of it was when I arrived at my office at City Hall that morning, turned on my computer and checked CNN.com. I immediately went up to the lobby where the main offices are, pulled a TV out of a conference room and had it on when people started to arrive ( I'm normally the first to arrive). For many, arriving at work and seeing the images on the TV was the first they had heard of it. We all stood staring in horror as the events took shape.

I was at home, asleep, I worked the closing shift at the restaurant the nigth before. We did not have a TV at that time and the radio in my truck was broken so I didn't hear about it until I got to work at 3 in the afternoon. At first I thought my friends at work were kidding until I went to the lounge and checked the TV there. The rest of the night was just a blur, cooking the few orders that came in and spending the rest of the time in the lounge watching TV and waiting for updates.

Allen

Me and a collegue were standing with our van in a traffic jam next to the Japanese pavilion of the 1958 World Fair in Brussels.
I'll never forget that moment, the extra newsbulletin, the silence after hearing the news.

The most terrifying part was that the girl I had a major crush on at that time, went to America as an exchange student for one year, and she was visiting NYC and the WTC that week.
The good news is that she was there some days earlier and now we're together for 6 years next month.

A little late I know but I thought I would revive this thread again.

Post where you were what your thoughts and emotions were That simple.

Conspiracy stuff can be started in another thread if you wish

School bus is when I heard about it.

"hey, did you hear we got bombed?"

I didn't know what they were talking about till halfway through the day.

I didn't understand until a few years afterward.

I was at work at the local college campus. I worked as an audio-visual technician at the time (as I was working through college). I was pulled aside by one of my best friends (my boss at the time) and taken to the a/v area in the library, where they have televisions constantly running. I arrived just after the first plane hit and watched as the second came around for its collision. Horrifying! I will never forget that day or that feeling.