Where were you on September 11, 2001?

[Ovda]

Where were you on Spetember 11, 2001?

With September being just around the corner where were you when you heard the news of the tragedy?
I was at work doing the paperwork when a co-worker came into my room saying that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and the WTC had gone down.

 

[QBWeaver]

In California, it was only about 5:45 in the morning so I was getting ready to jump into the shower when I heard it on the radio. I immediately turned on the TV and woke up my son and his girlfriend.

 

[TheD]

I'm from England, and I was sitting in the front room with my brother playing on my Playstation. I turned the PS off and went to watch tv, and this building had smoking coming out of it on BBC1 and it had like 'LIVE-NEWSFLASH' on the screen. I switched through the channel and they all had the same footage. Then I learnt what had happened.

I walked down town later and everybody was on their way home from work and watching the TVs in electronics shops.

 

[Daumantas]

I was getting ready to go to work when a relative called with the news. I immediately switched on the TV to see the World Trade Center burning.

 

[TicklingDuo]

I had slept late and awoke to Drew's call asking me to turn on the TV. He'd heard the news on Stern on his way to work and thought it was a joke. I immediately switched on CNN and saw that it was no joke. The second plane hit right after I tuned in. Drew turned around and came back home for a bit. Just after he walked in the door, the third plane hit the Pentegon. We sat there stunned and somewhat in shock, waiting for the next blow.

We'd been psyched and planning to celebrate our first month anniversary that night. After the sad events of the day, we knew that any kind of celebratory mood was gone. Instead, we had a simple dinner at home (which neither of us had much appetite for) and thanked the Lord for those things we had taken for granted.

Ann

 

[Prime]

I was sick from work that day. I was sleeping When my brother called to ask me about the Trade Centers. I had no idea what was going on so i turned on the Tv and ended up watching coverage all day. I believe i tuned in right before the first tower fell, but i could be wrong.

 

[MadKalnod]

I was in the office above my garage, working on as-built drawings of steel and concrete elevations for the Borgata Casino/Hotel being built here in Atlantic City. I do AutoCADD for my father's land surveying business, which is essentially working at home, so I went back to the house around 10:00 AM to refill my tea mug. As I walked in, my mother is standing raptly in front of the TV and tells me what happened. I can't say I recall the next sequence of events clearly. All I do know is that I sat on the couch for some time, too dizzy and nauseous to stand up. I had arrived in time to see the second plane hit, and I saw the collapse as well. My parents said that they had just met a young man who worked in the top floors of the WTC at a business function only scant weeks earlier. (He survived, we later learned.) I can only describe what I felt as an almost surreal detatchment, as if my body were still sitting in the room taking it all in while my mind was observing from beneath the frozen surface of a lake. I couldn't react, couldn't even comprehend how to react. Eventually, the shock and horror gave way to numbness, and I went back into the garage to get back to work, dealing with the situation by what I call "Shutting off my emotion chip" and just losing myself in the repetitive task of checking concrete elevations.

I had several friends in NYC, and I e-mailed them to make sure they were still alive. Thankfully, all were fine, one had even been in Florida at the time. Months later, I learned that I had a classmate from college killed in the massacre, a woman named Allison Wildman. The name was familiar, I was sure that I had a World History course with her Freshman year, but I was at a loss to put a face to the name, or say for certain that I had ever spoken to her. I can't put a name to the disquieting feeling that arises upon reflection that the question of whether or not I would have ever recognised her on the street has been made academic with such finality.

 

[Strelnikov]

At work, on a Govt installation. Needless to say, no one got much work done that day. When we rolled out of the gate at quitting time, the civilian guards were wearing flak jackets and had been issued M-16 rifles.

Strelnikov

 

[Cyrano]

I was downloading That Dog songs off the internet when my mother called from work. I called a few friends and one of them showed up with no knowledge of what had happened. Later that day I registered for the draft, which I had put off doing. I couldn't really get a grasp on what had happened, but I didn't sleep for several days after that. Truly, that act of evil was my generation's first tragedy, and I pray our last.

"While the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must always be heard." - James Baldwin

 

[TMF Jeff]

I was asleep when it started, being on Pacific time and having been up late the night before. Sabrina called and woke me and we were on the phone together when the second plane hit. That entire morning, although I still remember most of what I saw and did very vividly, had and continues to have a feeling of unreality about it, like a movie or a dream.

 

[BellaRisa]

I was at home, running my childcare business and tucking a sick husband on the sofa in front of Nickjr with five little ones around him. Suddenly my phone started ringing off the hook-all of my friends and the children's parents know that I never watch grownup TV before 4pm and (thank heavens) they weren't interrupting preschool children's programming for the tragedy. We put my 4 yr old upstairs with a game and sat holding the four babies, staring at CNN. I grew up in NY, I could see those towers from my bedroom window throughout my childhood, and I just could not stop crying...

Bella

 

[JoBelle]

Strangely enough, I was on the phone with a friend who is a cop in NYC. We were chatting away when a local friend beeped in on the call. She didn't ask how I was or engage me in a silly chat and that told me something was wrong! She simply said "Turn on the tv. A plane hit the WTC." I went back to my initial call and told my frend. He and I watched in silence as he absorbed what was happening in his back yard.

He quickly got off the phone to call his boss. It was about three weeks before I spoke with him again. God bless the emergency workers. The things he and his coworkers dealt with were unimaginable to me. The words "morgue duty" were enough to make me appreciate his committment more than anything else.

I immediately called my father then got online to shoot off emails to my handful of close friends in NYC. It took a few days, but I got repsonses from all but one. Mimi was a friend from school that didn't make it out of the WTC.

Then next day was spent tracking down my brother who is a pilot. He had been grounded and wasn't able to get back in the air for a while.

I can't believe it's been nearly a year. I just can't believe the whole thing to be honest. Still trying to wrap my brain around it.
Joby

 

[giggleygirl25]

i was at school sitting around chatting with some people from school...and Cliff(this guy that runs student activities) turned on the tv in the cafeteria and we saw the second plane hit...and the smoke from the other...somebody asked if it was movie day,and i said no that was wednesday...we just sat around watching everything happen...then called home to get a ride from dad

 

[milagros317]

I was right in Manhattan, about six miles north of Ground Zero, teaching a class, from 8:30am to 9:45am. I had no idea that anything unusual was going on until the class ended. On the way back to my office, I saw a group of staff in the Academic Advising Office in shock, listening to the radio.

Over the next few days, I got phone calls from half a dozen people, some of whom I had not heard from for years, who just wanted to see that I was still alive.

 

[BigJim]

It was mid-afternoon and I was at work in Winchester. We had a television on in the corner and the news flashes just kept on coming. The next day all UK military bases leapt up to the next highest security alert and we were working our knackers off for the next month or so.

 

[General Zod]

In California

I was at a truck stop in California,Westley I believe I had just ordered breakfast and the one waitress told me and the others to come into the dining area that has a T.V. She told us that one plane had hit one of the W.T.C towers As we were watching that's when we saw the second plane hit the tower One thing that really got me angry that day(even though it wasn't as important as the murders that day)was these gas stations raising fuel prices throughout the day I was at one truckstop that raised the price 50 cents per gallon

 

[CitY of MicA]

I was on my way to work in Manhattan and got off the subway, about a mile north of the Towers. People were gathered outside on the street as the first Tower had been hit, but I was oblivious to the event, thinking that they were looking at a car accident. Right before I entered the building in which I work, someone I didn't know said that a plane had flown into one of the Towers. The event did not sink in until I got off the elevator and someone whom I work with said the same thing. We thought there was the possibility it was an accident. We turned on a couple of TVs and witnessed the second plane hit the other Tower. I couldn't stop thinking about all the people I knew in the downtown area. I called around to all my friends and relatives and got a hold of the majority of them. At around 11:00, I stepped outside. People were coming up 6th Avenue in droves. A couple of people were covered in white soot. At around 1:00 p.m., I left work thinking I was going to have to walk home. Amazingly, the subway line I take, which had been shut down, was up and running again. I took the subway home and watched the rest of the days events on TV. I was worried sick about one friend I have who works in one of the Trade Center buildings which collapsed. I did not get a hold of him until Wednesday Morning. He was very fortunate to have escaped the area unharmed.

 

[ticklemebreezy]

I had just dropped my two older children off at school and had already pulled into Walmart. I didn't hear anything about WTC on the radio and realized that something was dreadfully wrong when some of the workers at Walmart were hush hush about something. First thing I thought of was the store was being robbed or someone was shoplifting, so I grabbed my toddler out of the cart and casually walked to the car, got in and (which I do not remember) drove home. I have family in New York and I didn't know how to get ahold of them. Fortunately, I did get an email from them three days later. I still cry to this day and always have the victim's families and survivors in my prayers. The thing that makes me mad now, is a year later on the exact date of September 11th and the exact time I reached home to watch the TV, I have to go to court for child support.

 

[He-Man]

I was at home watching the house while my mom and her b/f were out shrimping, when my sis called me and asked me if I'd heard about the attacks.

Anyone else but me wondering if the terrorists will try some other crap for 9/11 THIS year? Remember, they missed the White House (that IS where people thought the last plane was heading to, right?) because of the people on that last plane who fought to make at least one attack unsuccessful.

 

[Krokus]

Me. .

I was sleeping in, when my sister came in and woke me and told me quickly. I thought she was just making up crap to get me outta bed, but then I got up to go to the bathroom, and saw the tower burning on the tv.

 

[lust4feet]

I was approximately a mile away from the Twin Towers, at Washington Square Park as the university I attend is located in the vicinity, and saw Tower One blazing about 5 minutes after it was hit. Almost everyone on the street stopped what they were doing and were gazing at that grayish hole that was punched in, I foolishly thought it was just some electrical fire that had gotten out of control (I was oblivious as to what had happened) and decided to go to class. Eventually, classes were cancelled and since the city was on lock down, I was stuck in Manhattan for most of the day and did not get back into Brooklyn until around 7PM. For those who were not in New York, it will be the images that last a lifetime, for me, it will be the smell, the acrid scent that poisoned the air for months to come...🙁

 

[lust4feet]

PS, on a relevant note, what have been some of the things you have collected as a tangible article from September 11th that you intend to pass down to your posterity... a piece of your history in your times. For me, I went a tad overboard and collected and stored away the four major New York newspapers starting from September 12th all the way to December 31th 2001, as well as some of ther more interesting books covering this tragic event.

 

[Deleted member 2452]

when the first plane hit the wtc, i was in my car driving to the gym.

i was watching the t.v. at the gym when the second plane hit. i liek all the others there thought it a very sereal moment. i remember thinking wow, they finaly did it. then the news, and pics from the pintagon, and finally the plane in the field in pennsilvania.
still gets me how 4 guys with box cutters could pull that off. guns i could understand, but box gutters?
steve

 

[ticklishbbw]

I was home on vacation that day. I had gone to bed about 6am, so I was sound asleep. However, the phone rang around 9am, it was one of my employees calling, crying, and telling me to turn on the tv. They were hearing rumors and by that time, all the news websites were overloaded so nobody could get online to get infomation. I ended up watching the news for a few minutes and passing on the information to them over the phone. Told everyone to go home at that point. I'll never forget that phone call.

 

[JPie1]

4 years ago bringing my adopted infant son home to the US I looked at the window as we approached Newark Airport, the plane circled NY and I saw the Twin Towers then kissed him and cried that we were home.


I was at work when the 1st plane hit, in CT, one of my coworkers came over and told me about how the 1st tower had been hit. A bunch of us went over to the executive board room where they have a huge TV screen, there were maybe 100 of us jammed in the room. You could hear the sobbing, the gasps as we watched the rest of the morning unfold...the 2nd building hit, the pentagon hit, the towers collapse and the 3rd plane downed. I was in total disbelief. I grew up in NY and know many people who live there and work around there. Late morning we were all told to go home to our families. Before we left a large group us gathered around in a circle outside work and held a non denominational prayer. I picked up my son at preschool and just held him tight. I did not watch more TV till my son went down for a nap...I just didn't want him to see the images. I called some friends and family to check in with everyone and to make sure all my friends in NY were accounted for. The 1st time I crossed the Whitestone Bridge in NY which you can see the NY skyline and just shook my head at the missing buildings. A few months ago I made the trip into NY to ground zero...it still makes you cry to see the big empty void.

JPie