Where Were You on 9/11?
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Copyright © 2006 Joe Tan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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at work. someone from down the hall came in and asked if I heard about the plane hitting the towers. I said no and didn’t think much of it but turned on the radio. it didn’t take long to realize what was actually happening, that it was not a random accident.
After the initial attacks, I was stuck in gridlocked traffic about a block from the White House, trying to escape Washington. I’ll always wonder if the heroes on that last plane headed towards Washington saved my life.
I was out side at our farm in Indiana. We were selling and moving to Tennessee. There was a barn and a couple of silo’s on the property, that had seen there days. We were that day tearing down the barn and one of the silo’s. It was a shock to hear the news. We turned on a radio outside and the tv on inside. Everyone was just in a somber mood, not knowing what to say. We had after a few moments continued to work, and listen. By the time we were ready to let the silo fall……..it happened at the same time the first tower fell. Something that myself and my family will always remember. May God Bless all who suffer still to this day from all the events that happend five years ago today, September 11, 2006. Remember JESUS loves you!!!!!!!
I was at school and we were watching the towers collapse
I was in my 5th grade class, in North Carolina. I had just moved from Jersey City about a month prior to the incident. One of the teachers at my school came to my class and sat my teacher aside to tell her what was going on. Hours later when I arrived home, I saw for myself what was going on. My family and I were worried, because my grandmother worked inside the towers. We were lucky, however, because my grandmother decided she didn’t want to go to work.
I was responding to an emergency call that was a cardiac arrrest. Later that evening discussed the days events with a boy scout troop. BSA troop 1 Lafayette, Georgia. Georgia EMTP 2010.
Working for a Federal law enforcement agency in the Midwest. We, as Americans, should NEVER NEVER forget what was taken from us that fateful day. Unfortunately I fear it will happen again, very soon.
North Mankato, MN Driving to work after dropping my son off at his college. I was listening to the morning radio show on KQRS-FM out of the Twin Cities. These guys always have their computer monitors linked up to one or more of the national news shows. One of them interrupted another morning crew member to say that he had just seen a plane hit the World Trade Center. He assumed that it was probably a small commuter plane, but after the second plane hit, he knew that he was horribly mistaken. I continued listening as I drove to the high school where I worked, and when I walked into the administration office, the personnel there were all keeping up with the latest reports, many with tears in their eyes. In classrooms throughout the building, the teachers had all but abandoned the lesson plans for the day, concentrating instead on watching the events unfold and doing their best to use it as a springboard for discussion.
I was reading electric meters in Naperville, IL when I heard the chaos on Mancow. Of course being on Mancow i didn’t believe it till I turned on another station. I’ve never felt anything like that day.
I was sitting in a hotel room in Las Vegas having just arrived the day before for an international bakery convention. I was with my boss, who had awoke me by pounding on the door yelling that I should turn on the TV, and we watched the entire thing happen right before our eyes. It was the saddest and most harrowing event I have ever witnessed, and we kept saying to each other “My God, what is going on???” We knew we weren’t going to get a flight home. The next few days were spent pretty much in a fog, I had an 8 year old son at home who had heard about the attacks in school, and had been terrified that I had been on one of the planes. Every time I spoke to him he just begged me to come home. My boss ended up buying a car which we drove home through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen, at once gorgeous and awe-inspiring, yet at the same time shrouded in the pall of the terrorist attack. We met all kinds of people on the road with similar stories; where are you going, where were you, how long have you been driving. I didn’t enjoy Vegas at all, and in fact, found it to be one of the filthiest places I have ever been, and I think I would have thought that no matter when I was there, but being there on 9/11 made the experience much more concentrated. When I think of 9/11, I think of standing outside our hotel that morning, the convention cancelled and the shock apparent on everyone’s face around us; and the dirt, debris and trash blowing by my feet, as people suffered and die on the other side of the country. It was an awful experience.
at school in the 4th grade
Illinois I was home, babysitting my little great niece who called me Grandma. I had a cartoon on, naturally, since she was there! my sister called me, told me about it, and I turned to it just for a bit, but could see it would scare my little Hannah. So I waited till she went to sleep before I could see any more of it! Thank GOD for president Bush, and how he is stopping the terrorists from hitting again here in our country. We do NOT want them fighting on our soil!!
Ohio I was on my way to drop my 6 month old son off at my best friend’s house. I heard the news of the first attack on the radio. I watched some of the events at my friend’s house before leaving for class at the University of Akron. When I arrived at school I was told the university was closed because of the attacks. I went back to my friend’s house and watched the news coverage of the attacks.
PA I was in Ocean City New Jersey on vacation with
my family including my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law, who came from California to visit. I had gone out for a bike ride and remember it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight. I rode by the house we were staying at and my husband told me that a plane had crashed into the WTC in New
York but I thought it was a freak accident of some kind. I circled the block and came back inside to find out it was not.
In court, in Connecticut, about to start talking with defendants (I’m a Prosecutor). A marshal came into the court and said a plane had hit the WTC. It was a perfectly clear day and I remember thinking “not an accident”. We put on a small tv in the lunchroom and, in between running to and from the courtroom, I saw the second plane hit and my suspicions were confirmed.
I was at work with young offenders and I remember how the day just stopped. Even these hardend gang kids were shocked into silence by what they saw on TV. The looks on their faces must have mirrored my own as they all were looking to the adults to explain what they were seeing and we had no answers. I remember how angry and sad I was at the loss of life and the profound sense of grief. This attack will always strike me as my generations attack on pearl harbor. We felt the same emotions as the people that day shock, disbelief, and then rage at what was happening to our fellow americans. This was made worse however by national television. How much more angry would the 1941 American nation have been if they had CNN. I sometimes hear people say the war on terror is wrong. I sometimes hear people say we are as bad as the terrorist’s. My response to both of these statements is what were you doing on 9/11? As a retired Marine and an American my heart and prayers go out to those who lost thier loved ones and to those left behind. To the men and Women of New Yorks rescue services my heartfelt thanks and praise for thier actions that day.
Shawn C Carmin USMC, Retired.
I was at a fertility clinic trying to get pregnant
My husband and I were vacationing at the Jersey Shore. We had not put the TV or Radio on that morning because we were planning to go fishing. When we went to the store for supplies, the man at the counter told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. We immediately went back to the house to watch the news when the second plane crashed into the other tower. It was mind boggling and we felt so separated from our family and scared. We called home to speak with our loved ones and then sat and watched the TV for the next 36 hours straight.
I was a freshman in college, one of the first days of classes. I was in a different state, away from my family, and still unsure of my surroundings. A girl who lived in the dorm next door to me, her father was one of the pilots on the planes that hit the WTC.
I was in Midtown Manhattan coming back from breakfast with my boss when a co-worker told us that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. Thinking that he was joking with us we went downstairs to the big screen tv in the lobby. Soon after we realized he was telling the truth, the second plane hit and all that were watching suddenly realized what was happening to us. That was when the real panic started. That day I walked along with many other New Yorkers through Manhattan, across the queensboro bridge into queens where I eventually caught a ride home with my parents. The fear and shock that was in the crowd was almost palatable.
Chesapeake,VA. I had just taken my two older sons to school and on the way to my youngest son’s preschool when I heard it on the radio. I quickly turned the radio off, got him into class, told the teacher (who had not heard), rushed home and turned the tv on to see the 2nd plane hit. My sister was supposed to be on the plane the went down in the field…she had changed planes just five minutes before boarding so she could get a more direct flight. My brother in-law worked at the Pentagon. We were not able to reach either of them until late that night. My nephew, a college student at the time and living in Maryland, kept calling us to see if we had heard from his parents. A very scary and sad day.
In Hawaii waiting for my Pearl Harbor Tour
I was sitting in my office when I recieved a phone call from the babysitter stating what was happening. We did not hve a radio to hear what was going on. I started work at 8:00am. I can remeber not being able to reach my husband by phone while he was at work. He had to be at school by 8:00am We lived in PA.
I was at work watching it on tv. My husband, then boyfriend was on active duty, and that morning was the last time I saw him for 3 weeks. Everyone we knew got recalled.
It was my 1 day with a new position. Someone came in and said the 1st tower was hit. I remebered my little brother saying he takes the train and comes out of the towers to go to work. I left work, went to my moms and called him. As I was dialing the # the 2nd plane hit. I saw it on TV. He answered his phone in tears saying he was late for work that day and saw the planes hit from the Jersey shore. I will never forget it. God has a plan for everyone.
At school when I saw a few of the kids in my class crying cause their dads were working in the towers.
I was watching the Today show in Tucson Arizona. Thought, when the first plane hit that it was a terrible accident. When the second plane hit,I was dumbfounded, bewildered, and afraid. I couldn’t believe that we were watching this.
At home trying to reach my best friend via cell phone who was driving a charter bus to the towers. I finally reached him just as he breached a hill on 80 where he could see the towers burning.
I was on the back basketball court in my high school gymnasium. My coach pulled me aside, pale face and all, and told me practice was cancelled. Seeing as how practice is never cancelled I kept pressing her for answers. Eventually I saw the news on one of the tvs a teacher had on.
My wife and I were in the El Paso, TX airport for a trip to California when we saw the TV pictures of the twin towers. Returned home to Las Cruces, NM and drove to California that day.
I was…in college. I was attending Tennessee State University. Usually I go to sleep with my tv on, but on Sept. 10 I didn’t. I didn’t find out what had happened until I woke up and walked down to the community bathroom. A girl in there told me what happened. I went back to my room and flipped on the tv. It was heart wrenching. As I went to class, the whole campus was quiet. Later that day, my mom reminded me that my cousin Dwayne Williams was working at the Pentagon. We prayed that he was okay. A few days later we found out that he was one of the victims.
I was in Australia when it happened and had moved there for a few months before. My sister called me really early in the morning to tell me what happened and I sorta just blew it off as a minor thing that happened. When I finally woke up, I realized just how bad it was. I had lived in NYC right before I moved to Australia and unfortunately, I had friends living in the area and working there. I took a few days off from work trying to get in touch with these people to see if they’re okay and thank goodness I finally got in contact with them. Australia, as a country, was very sympathetic and supportive while I was there and the Australians were more than happy to lend an ear if I needed someone to talk to.
It was hard not to go back to NYC and help the USA when I thought it really needed some extra love but I did all that I could while being overseas.
at work watching on tv
In the D-ring of the Pentagon when the plane hit. Later that night I sat in the courtyard and watched the flames glowing with a temporary mourge set up by the firefighters.
i was working in my restaurant. we had a small tv in the back room. good morning america was on and i heard all the commotion. looked just in time to see the second plane hit the 2nd tower. my heart dropped to my toes.i was devasated. God be with all of you who lost family and friends on that horrible day. May HE give you peace.
I was in school. It was during choir class and there was an announcement over the intercom that the World Trade Centers and The Pentagon had been hit and that we could turn on the TV to see. The teacher started to freak out because her husband was on active duty and was in the DC area.
i was in school
Toronto, Ontario My mother was here (Toronto) on a visit from Newfoundland and I had made a big Newife breakfast for us and we had the news on which was my routine first thing in the morning. I heard commotion on TV but thought it was an advertisement for a horror movie (like King Kong) but I soon realized it was in fact actually happening as we watched. We were horrified, and sat enthralled all day to the TV and what was happening to our friends in New York. So many lives lost that day, it made me appreciate the fact that I still had my life and my mother was able to visit. Mom was travelling back to home within a couple of days from September 11 and she had a long hard trip home that year (with security and all). I pray every day that we never see another September 11 again.
I was working nights, so I was in bed trying to get some sleep in the Dallas, TX area when my oldest son called from Orlando, FL area to tell me what was happening.
His initial words were that “we are under attack”!
At first I thought he was pulling my leg. I turned the TV on just in time to see the frist WTC building come down!
From 90 thru 94 I went through the Path station in the basement of the WTC twice a day.
I still have trouble seeing the NY sky line with the twin towers!
May God be with the families & friends of those who died and those who have been affected by 9-11!
God bless you and encourage you, so that you can pass the encouragement to others in their time of need!
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have Everlasting Life”.
I was waking up from a 4 day crystal meth binge. A friend was allowing me to stay with him so that I could sleep and get some food as I had no place to stay. On 9/11 I had been using meth for over a year and lost everything, home, family, and self. I have ben clean since then.
5 years and counting.
Bobby
Miami, Florida
New York City I had just voted in the NYC Mayoral Primary and overheard talk at the polling precinct about an accident at the WTC, so I returned to my apartment to check out on TV what was going on. I work about 31/2 blocks from the WTC site. Then it unfolded….
I was on shift at the fire department in Bloomington, IN when I just happened to turn on the Today Show and saw the fist pictures of smoke coming from the first tower. I thought to myself “How could a pilot hit a building in such clear weather?” Then we watched in horror as the second plane hit bursting into flames; we had our answer.
New Orleans I was…bringing my daughter to school. When i got back home and turned on the madness i was horrified. Almost as scary as Katrina.
I was lying on the bed with my infant daughter. I had put the Today show on and saw the smoke pouring out of Tower 1 and out of nowhere came the second plane. Actually seeing it live and hearing the reactions was haunting. I just held my daughter and cried. It was horrible.
I was on Manhattan’s East Side, working on my computer in my apartment. My brother called me to tell me to turn on the TV. I thought it was a movie. I ran upstairs to the roof of my building & saw it unfold live. My brother told me he had had a meeting scheduled for that morning on the 104th floor of Tower 1 but it was cancelled at 5pm the day before. Luckily he was working in the NJ office that day, because his office across from the South Tower was completely destroyed. The wind was blowing towards Brooklyn that day but the next day and for days/weeks afterward, you could smell the fire/smoke.
I was watching the news on T.V., just got home from work.Couldn’t believe what I was seeing! anonymous in New York
scouting for hunting season for deer in PA
I was…working in a school across the hudson, a direct view of the wtc can be seen from the school rooftop. Still a sad memory….MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE..
I was sitting in a parking lot outside a restaurant in Missoula, Montana, waiting for the restaurant manager to arrive so I could upgrade the computer system at the store. I had flown up there on September 10th. I was listening to the radio as the reports were coming in of the attack on the WTC. I stayed in Montana for several more days, and then, since all flights were grounded, drove 1,800 miles home.
i was at the WTC when i saw a plane i got out safly with 12 concusions and a broken neck,arm,leg.rib
United Kingdom I was at work in the UK with my husband, tending plants for sale and enjoying the hot & sunny weather. Around 2pm, a customer told us he heard on the radio that ‘America was under attack’. We thought this was a bizarre comment and dismissed it. We drove home some 3 hours later, listening to the news on the radio, not believing what we were hearing. We arrived home and switched on the TV – those images will remain in my memory, probably for ever. The world is now a changed and dangerous place where a large, so it seems, number of the planet’s human population have total disregard for the lives of their fellow human beings. Terrorism and religion seemingly go hand in hand. Religion, so claimed by the ‘righteous’ who preach it, is the glue that holds society together. It is not. It is an evil substance that is destroying humanity – the destruction of the twin towers and the innocent people within those buildings was the visual image of religion in all its wickedness.
i was at school looking at terror
Upstate NY sitting in my secound grade class getting ready to go home.
I was on my way into to a meeting at WTC 2 when I couldn’t get hold of my co-worker who was going to meet me their as well. I turned back to our office in Edison,NJ to await his return call. I survived the 1st bombing and had no idea that it was about to occur once again and that secondly my co-worker hadn’t even gone into work because he’d falen ill until about 45 or so hours later. The longest 45 + hrs. I’d ever had to endure. I lost on a personal level 11 people who were tech’s at Canter Fitzgerald whom I’d both trained and worked with on this day 5 years ago. Sad to say I still firmly believe we still have not been told the whole Truth and may never get it.
I was watching TV when the news struck
I was ….unloading a truck at my work place in Towanda, Pa, when my newlywed wife called and said that the a plane struck the World Trade Center, as soon as I got to my break that morning I saw the North Tower collasped. I will never forget that morning for the rest of my days…..
California I woke early but left late, staying in bed as long as possible, talking quietly with my wife, before just going for it in an hurried, but itch scratching session of lovemaking.
All was pretty right with the world.
Then it was shower, car and off to work.
I was a couple blocks from the house when I turned on Bill Handel , L.A.’s most interesting drive time talk show host.
Bill was doing one of his occasionally ‘out there’ shows, and for a moment, I regretted getting such a late start that I had missed the lead in.
One of the Handel shows trademarks is gripping, unusual radio. So a minute by minute ‘you are there’ Including a graphic minute by minute reconstruction of some newsworthy events, sometimes catastrophic, other times merely interesting.
So it made sense that Bill might have decided to take the ‘war of the worlds’ approach, coming up with a scenario out of whole cloth, then illustrating how it would play out.
That kind of thing.
Though admittedly, Bill would probably give the same treatment to a donut shortening fire at Krispy Kreme if it struck his fancy. He was pretty fat back then.
Back to this morning’s scenario. Bill had really outdone himself. A terrorist hijacking leading to a plane crash into the pentagon. “Way out there Bill.” I laughed to the radio, listening to his tense delivery, waiting for the station to run a simulation disclaimer or some such.
Then Bill went overboard as far as I was concerned. He talked about shifting back to the ongoing situation with the airliner that had crashed into the world trade center.
Correction. Airliners. Plural. Also hijacked. Uh-Huh.
That was enough for me. Shaking my head I exercised my listener’s prerogative and
changed the channel.
Howard Stern would have to save me from all this insane downer radio.
And that’s when my morning went to hell. A good 45 minutes behind the most of the country.
Howard was telling the on air staff that anyone that wanted to go home should get going before it got too much crazier. I was amazed how calm he stayed, dealing with the everyone who all sounded like they were freaking out, while fielding a live cell phone call from a witness presumably on some nearby rooftop.
A picturesque New York rooftop, no doubt, with skylights and slanted stairwells, stalks of tin chimney and maybe a clothesline or two.
I’ve never set foot in the city. Never seen the skyline from closer than Jersey.
But , for weeks previous I’d been doing tons of Manhattan related research for “Daredevil” a big picture Fox had in pre-production.
Lots of that classic big apple detail.
And now that’s all I could see. The skyline, those rooftops, the concrete and brick canyons, the whole near cliché shebang that the big city calls to mind.
They had been part and parcel of my waking, working imagination since well before Labor day.
Now the through the magic of radio, I was picturing its destruction. The only reassurance, at that moment was no picture my head could come up with would be like the real thing.
The caller on the air was describing the towers like smoking matchsticks.
His words conjured something almost comical, like an oversized sight gag from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Good imagery to keep reality at bay.
It was almost comforting, knowing the trade center could never wind up like that.
I looked around, and realized I was driving at a crawl. But no one around me noticed. They were staring ahead dumb stuck. Isolated individuals all sharing the same horrific experience, moving in perfect order at 15 miles an hour. We might as well have been on a conveyer belt.
Then something changed in the caller’s voice. Almost in panic, I reached to turn up the volume, hitting the am/fm button by mistake, switching me back to the Handel show.
“One of the towers has just collapsed.”
I can honestly say, I’ll never forget that feeling of utter disbelief, the helplessness.
In my time at Fox I’ve provided research on “Independence day”, “Die Hard 3″ and “the Siege”.
In a three year period I’d helped lay waste to various parts of Manhattan that terrorist don’t even let themselves dream about.
I didn’t think about alien Spacecraft, Euro-trash gold thieves or even good old fashioned crazy A-rab terrorists.
I thought of, or more specifically I called to God , like I never have before in my life.
Out loud, right there in traffic. I threw my head back back and shouted my sorrow, my hurt my confusion in the same three words: god…God…GOD!!!
I don’t know if it was a statement or a question, accusation or plea. Only that it was from the heart.
The words on the radio became a blur. I drove on taking it all in as I channel surfed, Every station, every language, the words the tone were the same. Something so vast, so Biblical in scope. A latter day tower of Babel.
All the nationalities in it, all the ones spread over the world yammering in confusion. Same words, same pain and confusion. different languages. This was like end times come to life. The fundamentalists of every stripe would be having a field day with this.
I shook my head, cleared my thoughts as best I could. No Bugs bunny, No Hollywood biblical epic comparisons. Just drive. Pick up the pace, get to work, start taping, downloading. Watch the road around you because everyone else is just as distracted.
I became the worlds best driver, checking every mirror in rotation, hands at the 10 and 2.
Watching the road, watching the sidewalk, everything.
To my right billboard for the upcoming Redford flick, An inverted American flag as its centerpiece. “The last Castle.”
I ground my teeth, as the metaphor slammed in, sudden as a car wreck, thoughts of this country I called home, virtually untouched by outside aggression for nearly two centuries.
Inviolate no more, maybe never again.
More horrors were unfolding on the radio, people waving from broken windows, jumping to their death as the fire out raced rescue.
Another billboard. Denzel Washington in “Training Day”.
Training day? No kidding… Time to start understanding the kind of thing that goes down in London, Tel Aviv, Cartahegna with CNN infused around the clock regularity.
You bet your ass it’s training day.
Right across the street from it is one for the new Shwarznegger flick “Collatoral Damage.”
No comment.
Focus. Back to driving. Oh Hell. Theres a plane down in Pennsylvania. Crashed en route somewhere. They don’t or wont say where… but theories of all kinds The radio is white noise I cant turn off, cant make sense of as I begin to speed on Sunset.
All I can think of is an old Don Henley song
“In a New York minute
Everything can change
In a New York minute
Things can get a little strange…”
Concentrate on making every light as if nothing else matters. Shit. Because maybe it does? Is there a plane headed for L.A.? Let alone Century City?
The tree shrouded streets of Beverly hills are deserted as I head into the home stretch to the studio. Our own skyscraper is still intact.
I can only speculate Fox & the other studios own exclusive rights to their destruction.
“The second tower has collapsed”
Bill’s voice has all the cool alarm of a sportscaster describing a beloved athlete stumbling and falling at a critical moment.
I’m speeding again. This time up Avenue of the stars right behind the studio. My researchers mind is already recalling how many people visit, let alone work in them every day.
I drive past the guard and he waves me in like a Disneyland animatronic, no one seems real,
And suddenly, I walking down a New York street on our back lot. Debris strewn on the curb from the building we’ve just shot a building fire sequence in front of days before.
All terribly authentic. I can still see the red fire engines, with their big FDNY blazons.
I think of the real FDNY. Buried under rubble, glowing by flaming jet fuel.
You’ve only heard it. I tell myself. It’s not real. Not yet. Not til you go downstairs and turn on the 54 inch giganto-vision screen and see it for yourself. Stay up here in the make believe New York.”
Some part of me rationalizes ” Up here, the firemen and cops and people are all extras, they’re off being actors. The trucks are safely parked at the motor pool. And unlessAMC is running an airport movie… No jets crashing into anything.”
The sky is gorgeous blue.
“Listen, See? Not a plane in the sky…
Stay up here while there’s the tiniest argument its all pretend.”
I stumble past the time clock, not even punching in.
“Good plan, the voice says, if you’re not officially at work its not real. ”
Down the hall into the research library. Someone has already opened up before me.
The sounds of CNN and the real world rushing to meet me the instant I open the door.
It wasn’t possible when it was just the movies. But this is TV. Now it’s live. Now it’s real.
I should have stayed upstairs in make believe. I should have stayed in bed. But the phone is ringing. It’s the library Manager…
“Are you watching? are you taping? are you downloading? Are you printing?”
And somehow, a half hour has passed since I walked in and the real world had to go and prove itself to me. And somehow, yes I am taping, downloading, printing.
I actually have the presence of mind to briefly wonder what I would have done if God had answered my anguished call back in traffic. But the endless replays of impact and angle, fire and collapse seem to suggest it might be best not to dwell on exactly who’s prayers God was answering that day,
And now its all become fact, and sadly, real life.
And we have to deal with it in our own way, And I will, right up ‘til A movie, or that “very special episode” of some TV show or another comes along, and everything we collected from this sad day is needed to recreate the moment.
But upstairs, are both New Yorks, the fake one just outside the door, and the real one burning and choking in dust…
And it could never go back to being make believe.
Because the New York minute had already run out.
I was on my to work.
I was getting my children ready for school. My husband and I were watching the news and witnessed the 2nd jet hit the tower. Our first reaction was denial, then trying to explain, then realizing it was an attack. We struggled if we should take our children to school, go pick up the older ones who were already at school. My oldest son called, wanting to come home. He was terrified. After hours of watching TV, I had to get away. I finally got in the shower and cried for a very long time.
I was on the 38th floor of the North Tower…
I was with my wife in the ER at the Hospital in Nome, AK. It was just before 5am AK time when the nurse told us that tower one had just been hit.
NJ I was working shift work at the time. It was my 1st day off for the week, & I was sleeping late that morning when the phone rang. It was my wife calling from her office in NJ.
As soon as I picked up the phone, no “hello” or “good morning”, she immediately asked if I was watching TV. When I replied “no”, she told me to turn the TV on quick. I was somewhat confused & still half asleep when I asked her “what channel?”, but immediately knew something big was going on when she replied, “any channel!”
As the television screen came into focus, it seared an image into my mind that I didn’t immediately understand, but now can never forget. My wife began telling me how two planes had just hit the Twin Towers. For some reason, I first thought that there was a mid-air collision between two planes & that the wreckage of the “accident” had careened into the Towers, probably because there are 3 major commercial airports in the vicinity of lower Manhattan and most people here assumed a mid-air collision was only a matter of time given the volume of air traffic in the area.
However, it soon became clear that it was no accident & that we were at war…a war like we’d never known before…
I was at school. I didn’t know what happened until I got home. I turned on the news and watched the aftermath at about 3:00pm
I was… watching kiddie shows with my 3 yearold when a friend called and wanted to know if i knew the wtc was being attacked,when i turned it to the news i could not believe it was happening on our soil, i sat down and starting crying for all those people trapped and for their families
I was driving to work listening to some local DJ’s known for their pranks. They started talking about it and I wasn’t sure if this was just one of their morning gags. Then their voiced changed and added a little panic and terror to quickly let the public know that it was real. I worked directly across the street from an airport with air traffic noise always present. It was quickly filled with A-10’s flying over and then silence. By the time I made it to the office the second plane had hit the second tower. People were running around in a panic. It was the most horrifying helpless feeling any American could ever feel.
I was just new in Canada and it was the first day of my job and I was getting orientation about the products and the services that our Company offers and on break we were watching the television and that was the time I heard the horrified news. Oh God how evil can a mind think was just a glimpse of what we saw….SD
I and my wife were driving homeward from a visit to our daughter who lives in North Carolina. We came east on I-64 through Kentucky, and bedded down at a motel for the night. Next morning — September 11, 2001 — we got started after breakfast and my wife opened the car’s radio to hear some music. There and then we heard the horrendous news, followed soon by the even more stupendous report of the collapse of both towers, plus the first confused reports filtering through about an attack on the Pentagon. We were about 50 – 60 miles from Louisville, but for the rest of the journey I had to watch myself to keep driving safely, such was our state of mind. We shall never forget it. — Andrew Lenard from Bloomington, Indiana
West Virginia at my internship site, just outside of Pittsburgh. The secretary stated that a plane had accidentally hit one of the WTC towers, a few minutes later she said another had hit. I worked in a school building and we heard that there were many planes in the air, all with bombs. Our school was locked down, and no-one could leave. Then we heard on the local news that there was a plane near us, and that no-one knew where it was headed. This was the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. The whole area was locked down. It was eerie to look out the window, as you can see a major (I-79)highway from the school….there was no-one on the road, which is not normal. My parents were in Europe and saw it all on the T.V. as it was happening. My mother thought that it was another Bruce Willis or Arnold Shwarzenegger movie, at first. They were unable to get home for two more weeks. God bless all those who lost their lives, and to those family members and friends who mourn their loss. I did not personally lose anyone, but I remember that day, and pray for those involved everyday.
I Was At home with my 1 year old and 4 year old. I just sent my 6 year old off to school getting ready to take my other son to pre-school when my husband called me and told me to turn on the T.V.
God Bless all those who lost loved ones in 9-11 you are all in our prayers.
God Bless all those who helped in the clean up and recovery you are all in our prayers
Outside Boston, MA I was sick that day and had stayed home from school. I was with my mother doing laundry and listening to reports on the first crash on our portable television when we saw the second crash happen on the news report behind the reporter. We watched on the TV as the reports came in of the other hijacked plane. I had to go to the hospital later that day for an appointment and everyone in the lobby was watching the reports. We were all so silent.
i was near the thailand’s world trade center during new york’s disastrous days..
I was at work wondering, if my brother was alright, since he worked at the Pentagon. The ceiling of his office did cave in, but fortunately, everyone in his office escaped without injury.
I was on the kennedy expressway dring to work. LEO
Manhattan I was working when I heard about the first plane crasing into the first tower. When I heard that, I said no way could that happen on such a clear and beautiful day. Planes aren’t allowed over manhattan that low. A terrorist attack never entered my head, until the second plane hit. Then I heard about the others. I thought, this is my generation’s Pearl Harbor. I remember thinking about all those people who died that day, the photos of missing loved ones, the walk home across the 59th st. bridge, and thinking, a part of me has died.
I’d just had a TV installed in my London internet startup’s newsroom when I heard the news of the first crash, switched it on in time to see the second and then interrupted my CEO’s briefing with a potential U.S. investor to let them know what was going on. Both were too engrossed in financial projections to get up to watch.
I was at a friend’s house oversleeping that day. Suddenly the girl next door called on the phone. My friend said that she’d told her “the country was at war, we were under attack and that they’d already destroyed the Pentagon.” I shot out of bed thinking that a nuclear war was finnally happening. Having lived through the cold war it felt almost inevitable but especially terrible since the end of the cold war had raised my hopes for a long time that it wouldn’t happen after all. For a seemingly timeless period I beleived that was really what was happening and for an agonizingly long time everything that we saw on TV seemed to confirm that belief. It was a numbing dread that the future was empty. It then gave way to a more vivid, morally sickening feeling when we realized what had actually happened.
SAINT AUGUSTINE FL I WAS AT A FRIENDS HOUSE WHEN HER FATHER CALLED AND SAID TURN THE TV ON THE NEWS. WE DID AND JUST LOOKED WITH OUR MOUTHS OPEN. I SAID THEN ITS A WONDER WHY THE BUILDINS DON’T COME TUMBLING DOWN. LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT WOULD BE JUST WHAT HAPPEN THAT DAY.
I was in the shower, getting ready for work in Chicago when the first plane hit the first tower. My then-boyfriend/now-husband came running into the bathroom and told me that a plane had hit the twin towers. I thought that maybe there had been some sort of navigational error. As I was leaving the apartment, he told me that the second tower had also been hit by another plane. I just jumped in my car and went to work because I didn’t want to think about what that meant.
Once I got to work, my boss and the other 3 employees were gathering around the TV. We started talking about how horrible it all was. I think that was when we found out that the Pentagon had been hit as well. Then all of a sudden, we watched in disbelief as the first tower came crashing down. Then the other. We all started crying and hugging each other. I called my roommate who worked in the Sears tower and told her to go home right now.
That was when my boyfriend unexpectedly came into the office. He told me that he couldn’t get ahold of his dad, who had gone to NYC the night before. We spent the rest of the day calling his dad’s cell phone. Around 11 AM or so, his dad finally answered. He was in his hotel, just a few blocks from the towers, and had NO IDEA what was going on.
I remember walking around in a daze for the next 5 days after 9/11. I cried all the time and my boyfriend and I planned a quick escape of Chicago, should there be another attack somewhere. I just couldn’t believe that this had happened and I still get teary-eyed when I think about the events of that day.
Belgium I was at the drugstore. I had watch a thriller on TV the night before, with terrorists intending to crash a plane on a large city. When I heard people talking about the Towers, I thought they had seen the same movie. When I realized it was real, I tried to phone my husband but the entire network was busy. No on could be reached on a mobile for hours
I was driving to a Dr’s appointment because I had found a lump in my breast, heard it on the news and immediately called my husband. When I arrived at the Dr’s heard about the hit on the Pentagon and knew it wasn’t just an accident, it was pure terriorism. Luckily my son who lived in New York was nowhere near the towers but had it been the day before would have been right there. Less than 2 months later my husband died from a heart attack so I know full well how important it is to say I love you every single day.
I was in my classroom teaching my Kindergarten children in Rogersville, TN. A friend,our school resource officer, came to my room (which he often did-his son was in my class). When he pecked on the door, he had this extremely concerned look on his face. I instantly knew something was wrong. He proceeded to tell me about the first plane crashing into the WTC. It was a most helpless feeling. I remember the bright blue cloudless sky above the playground soon after that…but there was an eerie stillness, even in the hills of East Tennessee. I knew that we would never have life as we once had just minutes before. Feeling great compassion for my fellow Americans who were experiencing pain, loss, fear, etc., I prayed for God’s strength, love, and peace to prevail.
I was at home woken up from the alarm clock and there was no music, but a newscast on about the first plane that hit the towers, I woke up and then watched TV and saw the second plane hit.
I was on my way to drop my son off at my parents for a job interview. I didn’t hear anthing about it til I turned on the radio after the interview. It all seemed weird and gave me goosebumps and wonder if it was real. I arrived at my parents and my son was sleeping, so I sat in awe and watched tv with them to see it all over again in slow motion. It brought tears to my eyes and chills down my spine. I will never forget the feeling and the pictures in my head. It just is not right to loose so many people in one day. To give orders like that, they are not human but beast.
Colorado Springs, CO I was on the way to work when I heard the first plane had hit. Got to work in time to turn on the TV and watch the second plane hit. A sad and frightening day.
Working. I remember it was just after my work day started in California, and a co-worker came and was telling me what was going on. At first I was stunned, and then I felt angry and vengeful. I thought, “If you want to fight, then attack us face on…not kill innocent victims like cowards and then pat yourselves on the back as if you’ve achieved a major military victory.”
Lisboa, Portugal I was working. I received a phone call from my girlfriend telling me there was a huge terrorist attack in New York. I have family living in New Jersey. At first I was slightly concerned. At lunch I watched it on the TV and I remember feeling sick like if I was about to vomit.
The attack made me remember the descriptions of the Dresden bombing, the droping of the A-bombs… only this time the US was not supposed to be at war, we were supposed to know who did that. We were assuming too much, knowing too little about what goes on beyond our belly button I guess.
I was…in the cafeteria at my university getting food. It was only the second week of my first year and I didn’t know anyone so I was standing alone in line waiting to pay and i heard the people infront of me talking about a plane crashing into some building and making a joke about it. I went back to my dorm room and turned on the tv just in time to see the second plane crash into the buildings and I realized that none of our lives would ever be the same again.
(Janet, PA) I was a college student in Pennsylvania and didn’t have class til later in the day. I watched all of it unfold on tv. I remember Katie Couric talking about it and when the second plane hit the WTC she said “what are the odds of that happening.” That was a chilling moment when I realized we were under attack. It was a surreal day that I will never forget and one I pray never happens again.
At work at a small College, in the Hudson Valley. A student grabbed me and everyone started calling Family and friends in NYC. I called 2 of my kids in New Paltz, NY and my oldest son in Portland OR. I tried to get everyone in a safe place. A friend at work’s uncle and cousin were missing, we dragged to mass at noon, on shock and cried and cried and cried. It took days to realize the scope of what happened.
My friend went top NYC and became a the same fireman his uncles and cousin had been.
We prepared our campus to be a make shift hospital station to help the wonded……………No one came……
I was at a friends house and we where playing together when her dad came to get us and took us into his study and showed us CNN and what was going on.
I was at the office when my husband called me to tell me that one of the World Trade Center was on fire then suddenly, he began to shout and to cry that he just saw the second plane collapsing into the second tower. I’ll never forget this day and the way I was feeling, hanging on the phone trying to understand what was going on.
IN EUROPE
I JUST GOT HOME FROM WORKING 3rd SHIFT.TURNED THE T.V. ON AND HEARD A SPECIAL REPORT. I WAS STUNNED. THEN WHEN THE 2nd AIRPLANE CAME INTO VIEW, I WAS SHOCKED. I WATCHED THE NEWS ALL MORNING.GOD BLESS THE PEOPLE THAT WERE TRAPPED IN THE TOWERS. ANONYMOUS
I was…at Bonny Island, Nigeria. I was washing my clothes outside, and all of sudden,my friend Dan Jumbo started running towards me shouting, “they have bombed U.S.” . I left what I was doing and ran inside to watch the news. I can still feel the nothingness like so another world war is going to happen in my own time. I remember the next day, discussing it with our team of security experts including two Britons (Norri and Chris) and there fears that the world was about to be plunged into another dark era.
We walked into our 5th grade class that morning to find the TV on. All the teachers were distressed, but we didn’t think nothing of it, and we never really got the concept of what was going on. As soon as we realized this might be something to remember however, we took out our writing journals and wrote these crazy entries about an unknown country attacking. We weren’t scared at all, but kids were picked up by their parents all throughout the day.
I was on a group trip to Ocean City, MD. when we stopped by a duty free shopping area. We stepped off the bus a found everyone looking at the TV and some crying. That’s when we saw on TV the Trade Towers being attached. There was a somber moment . a shock and disbelief at what had happen to those innocent people. I said a prayer and wept for them, this was so close to home for me because I was born in
Brooklyn, New York and now reside in New Jersey. We left the area and no one spoke and immediately cut our trip short to go home. God Bless America and All those innocent people that died that day and all the broave men and women that came forward to help, I was so proud of them and their leaders they courageously came step up to the plate in helping .
i am from singapore n its around 10pm at that time when the plane hit
well i was at home celebrating my maid’s birthday
my maid was born on 9/11
I was…At the gorcery store picking up milk. i had just dropped my daughter to school. i can never forget i came to pay for the milk at the register and a small tv was going on and i asked the cashier and she told me a plane hit the wtc and thought it was a accident and went home asap to turn my tv and see another plane hit the 2nd tower. i thought it was the replay only to realise immediately that the worst had happened and we were under attack. then came all the other news and about the pentagon and the fields in pa. i was shaking and called the school and they told me that they have everyone together in one room and if i want i can come pick her up . i let her stay in school and did not want to scare her . the school did not tell anything to the kids. till she came back from school i did not move from the tv screen and tears were rolling from my cheek. i will never forget that day till i die. GOD BLESS AMERICA.
FT. IRWIN CA. I was stationed with the US Army in Hawaii and didnt know until I was called in for a mission.
I was in work and my phone rang. My mom was on the other end and was very upset as she told me that a plane hit one of the towers. I logged in to the internet news and there it was. Then the second one hit. News from the top boss was to all go home so we did. At home we were pinned to the news channels.
I was…driving through Wyoming where the radio would fade in and out. It was’nt until late in the day when I saw the full impact on the TV in my hotel room.
Pa. I was working,Just got in from dropping my students off at school(bus driver).I came in the lunch room when someone said a plane went in the Twin Tower,I responded as it can happen.
Next plane came and I thought what is going on?This is not good,I could see 1 plane but not 2 planes hitting the Towers..I will never forget that day,I wanted to go to school and get my teenage daughters and be with them.I felt like the world was coming to an end.
My youngest daughter joined the Marines at age 18 right after high school.She felt we needed to protect ourselves and our country.
I was sleeping in late because I didn’t get to bed til 4 am, I woke up and the news was on , the first tower hit.. I dozed…. I thought I was dreaming….
I was at work in Wilmington, DE when a coworker got a phone call from her aunt saying the WTC1 had been hit. Her aunt worked in NYC in a building close to the Tower and she said she was told to stay at her desk. She was giving us an up to minute account. At first it was hard to believe but after the second tower was hit, we sat there in shock. (Ironically, we were told by our supervisor to keep working as normal. This is a major drug company). The Governor closed all businesses in the state of DE around noon and everyone left work to be with their loved ones.
North Carolina, sitting on my couch watching tv and changing channels Then I saw the news talking about the first Tower being hit, and as I watched in disbelief, the second Tower was hit right before my eyes my mouth dropped and tears ran down my eyes. At that moment I felt sad and very, very, ANGRY.
Teresa D.
I was at work in my office at Vanderbilt Hospital. A co-worker came into my office and said a plane had hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Towers. With no TV in the office, we were thinking it must be a small aircraft accident until a firefighter friend of mine called from his fire hall. His voice was shaking as he told me that we, the U.S., were being attacked. I’ll never forget the chill that ran up my spine…Not only had a plane struck, but reality had struck.
I was driving home from a class that morning my senior year of highschool, and I heard about about it on Mancow on q101 in Chicago. I thought it was fake but when I got home I saw the 2nd plan crash into the tower and was pretty stunned by it. I still cant believe it happened.
Getting ready for school….just watching the news, when I just got out of the shower I saw the second plane hit.
I knew from that moment on that all our lives would change forever
I was driving to walmart when I heard It on the radio. I was In complete shock then and still am to this day. My prayers go out to all people that we strive for peace.
Cortland, NY As a handicapped person who was involved with constructing a United Methodist Church that was finished and dedicated 9/11/1996, I was doing volunteer secretarial work at the church when one of the parishioners called for prayer for a “big accident” at the WTC just after the first plane hit. I was also the church’s electronic facilitator who jury-rigged an antennae for a television set that was used for video tape presentations and we watched the events from 8:30 AM until noon, the pastor, myself, and several morning visitors mesmerized until dinner time…
At home at the time glued to the TV and the computer watching all the reports and video comes across the monitor.
driving up 81N from NC to PA to visit my family when I stopped to get gas and a girl at the counter told me that the WTC was hit by a plane. I listened to reporters talk about it for the duration of the 9 hour, loneliest ride home ever.
J.Null
I was at my mom’s house, getting ready to go to work. I remember thinking this is the tribulation and I need to get to my children that were all in school. I had such a feeling of helplessness watching all those people in need wiching I could be there to help but being 1000 miles away and knowing there was nothing I could do but watch. Then the disbelief when not one but two of the towers came tumbling down wishing that I would just wake up from a terrible dream. I don’t remember ever feeling that frightened before.
Lori Miller
North Carolina My Name is Casey Cannon, I am 16 years old, and I live in North Carolina. At the time of the incident, I was 11 years old, watching tv while eating cerial. The TV went blank for a bit, then it showed Fox New’s Coverage of a huge skyscraper bellowing smoke from top. They said it was in New York and it was a building I had never heard of before then, the North World Trade Center Tower. I wasn’t shocked, scared or disturbed, but confused at my young age. What had happened? What was the World Trade Center? Why did they cut my cartoons off(haha)? My dad, who works first shift, had woken up from his daily sleep. As soon as he asked me, “What are you watching?” , the second plane hit. Although I was young, didn’t know what was going on at first, I had the feeling something horrible had happened. Soon after there was speculation that this was an attack. The proof of that was when the pentagon had been struck. After that, the questions were who would do this? Why would they do this? Was this really happening? United 93 crashed, the South Tower Fell, the roof caved in at the pentagon, The North Tower Fell, it was insane. All this information was packed into my brain at an unimaginable speed. Over the next few weeks I heard other information I would have never known before. Terrorists, Afgahnastan, Osama Bin Laden, Al-Queda, complete and utter overload of things and people I would have probibly never heard about. Over the past 5 years I’ve grown, and I know mostly everything about these things. I have read, heard and seen things I know nobody at this age knew when they were still 16 years old. Fact and conspiracy of what happened that day fill my mind now(but, I won’t go into all that). Today is a day for the victims. Today is a day of knowledge. Today is a day for rememberance of what happened.
Thats how I remember September 11th, 2001, and how it effected me.
-Casey Cannon
I was at work only getting a small bit of the news. At first I thought it was a small plane and a rookie error had been made. When we closed our build at noon we went to our favorite watering hole where all became vividly real. the place was packed standing room only. You could have heard a pin drop. We all just watch in disbelief at the images we were watching
feeding my two week old baby and watched it all my heart goes out to all
I was studying music composition in New York City, and had just moved into the dorms three weeks before. The dorms were in the financial section, three blocks away from the Trade Center. In fact, on September 9th I wrote an e-mail to my ex-girlfriend describing the sunset between the towers, how it was like watching the ball drop and announce the new year.
On the morning of September 11th, at around 7:30, I was up and decided to call my mother in Israel and say hello. I called, shared some news from New York, heard that someone I went to kindergarden with was killed in a suicide bombing the day before. At 7:55 I noticed the time, and I said: “Mom, I’ve got a class, I’ve got to go.” I hung up the phone and left the house. The Mannes College of Music, which I got to by subway, was on West 85th St. I got there with plenty of time for my class.
At 9:15, after the class had already begun, a secretary barged into the room and said: Ëveryone get into the auditorium, the governer has declared a state of emergency.” I thouht: Is this something that happens often in New York City?
I was on an 8 a.m. (eastern time) business flight leaving Atlanta to Dallas/Fort Worth. The plane arrived safely; thank G-d, at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport at approximately 9:25 a.m. (central time). We were the only plane on the tarmac; where we waited for about 20 minutes. At the gate, the pilot had to wait another 20 minutes while an airline employee maneuvered the bridge/walkway off a parked place so that we could park closely between two other planes. Three planes were parked in a space designated for two. The passengers had no idea what was going on. The airport terminal was ghostly empty. I did not understand the grave nature of the situation until a company employee from Houston met outside arrival gate. Tried to get a flight home – had to rent a car. Back in the air the following week. We cannot let them change our way of life!
I was a in my fourth grade classroom and the teacher came into the classroom crying
Los Angeles, CA I was still in bed when my parents woke me up and told me that a plane (the first plane) had hit one of the tower. Once I turned on the news, the second plane had hit the second tower.
Hamilton, Ontario I was in my Grade 10 woodshop class when our automotive teacher came into the room from the tech wing office and told our teacher to turn on the tv. I watched the second plane hit the buildings and also saw the first building fall. I know its something I’m never going to forget. You ant forget watching history unfold in front of you
Colorado Springs, CO I was getting ready for work. I always turned on the news after my shower. They had just reported a second plane hit the towers. I stood there in shock. I ran downstairs to tell my roommates. We all watched the first tower fall. I had to leave for work and was at a red light when the radio announced the second tower falling. I looked to my right and saw the man next to me bury his head in his hands. I looked to the left and watched the woman on that site begin to cry. I have a huge lump in my throat now, remembering it. At that moment, I thought of the tremendous loss of life at that exact moment. I then immediately called my mom and exboyfriend to tell them how much I loved them!
As i walked into the office i heard my program manager say “i can’t believe how well coordinated it was”. Because we were in the middle of a project that was slightly out of control at the time, i turned around to find out what she was referring to. At that point i was pulled into a conference room and watched the news broadcasts of the morning’s events. What i remember most vivedly tho is watching the evening broadcasts with my child after picking him up from school telling him he was watching a piece of history and trying to rebuild his confidence in a world that wasn’t as secure as it had seemed to him just a day before. My home is in the flight path of a nearby airport. What accentuated the seriousness of the situation was noticing the eerie silence that had replaced the periodic drone of plane engines passing overhead after all flights were grounded that day.
San Diego, CA I was getting ready for school that morning. I walked pass my family room but then took notice of what was showing on the news. I even remembered thinking that the plane crash was an accident. I learned later, during my bus ride to school, that one of the towers had just collapsed. The rest of the day at school was spent watching the news.
At work….I still can’t believe it.
i was at my house asleep, a loud knock at the door awake me and omg my life was never the same.
I was asleep, and i had a nightmare of something burning , turned the tv on and i was speechless…i saw what human kind can do to another being…being a man i cried i admit it… i cried
long beach, ca
California. My TV was on from the night before and I woke up no more than minute or two before the second plane hit the second tower
I was onboard the USS Harry S. Truman CVN 75, We just finished the maiden voyage and were at the Naval Shipyards in Portmouth, Va getting ready for some well deserved break and repairs. I just turn the tv in the photo studio when the 1st plane hit, it didn’t seem real then the other plane it and the security alarm sounded around the ship, we manned our battle stations and stayed on battle mode for a couple of days. Nobody knew what was going on and we scan the skies for any planes coming towards the ship, it was one of those situations that you never expected to experience and will never forget. 5 years after that day the world is a different place.
W V I was asleep after a long nights work. I was woken up by my mother calling on the phone. She said turn on the T.V. and watch history. There was North Tower burning, on a clear sunny day. South Tower untouched at that point. Some speculated it might have been an accident. I was already saying “no way this was an accident.” then a bit later my thoughts and words to no one were confirmed. South Tower was hit, and I remember having stopped by the towers two days before. I marvled then at the size and footprint of them. Even now in movies I smile at seeing them once more and miss them too.
I was visiting a friend in Los Angeles when another friend left a voice message on my cell phone and ask me if i had the t.v. on and if not to turn it on, so i did just as th second plane flew into the World Trade Center, at first i thought it was a prank like War of the World’s then I realized that it wasn’t.
Santa Clarita, Ca. I was just getting up for work and listening to Mark and Brian on the radio. They said there was something terrible going on. I got up and turned on the TV. I was in shock, and when I saw what happened at the Pentagon, I called my friend who works in the tallest building in LA. I told her to turn on the TV, and not to go to work. of course, she didn’t. I had to go to work but just blindly floated throught the day. I haven’t been the same since.
italy varese iwas in an italian prison in padova doing a video interwiew to a guy that killed the father
Arkansas I was teaching a class. I heard about a plane hitting the WTC just before getting to school, but at that point nobody was really sure what was happening. When we took a break from the class, one of the other instructors told me what had happened, and I returned to the class to let them all know. Needless to say, we dismissed class and went home to watch the news.
Walla Walla, WA Asleep in my dorm room, when my roommate’s parents called. We rushed downstairs to the nearest TV. I remember feeling at a loss as to how to respond. Class was cancelled that day.
On my way to work in Hillsboro, Oregon. (Don’t work there any more; so stuff about work will all be “past tense”.)
I normally didn’t listen to the radio during my drive in; most mornings I just thought and talked to God. That morning, I was talking to Him and He said “Turn on the radio”. I was like, “Uh, well I don’t really feel like listening to…” when He said it again…Louder. “Turn on the radio!” With urgency that time. So I did, and heard the terrible news. I listened to it for the rest of the trip to work (about 30 minutes) and prayed the whole time. I also called my wife (woke her up) and told her about it.
When I got to work, I went straight to the conference room nearest my cube and turned on the TV. I was normally one of the first people to arrive, and that was the case that morning, also. As people arrived at work, they would have to walk by that conference room, and were curious as to why I would be in there watching TV. They’d poke their head in and then see what was going on, and join me. 20 minutes or so after turning on the TV, we watched as the second tower was hit; and a little while later we all stared in disbelief as first one, then the other tower collapsed.
Nobody got much work done that day, or in the week following.
Arkansas I was at home getting ready for a Dr. appointment in New London, Ct. An hour later I heard about the pentagon, where my dad worked at and Shanksville, 9 miles from my grandma’s house. I spent the rest of the day in shock…and disbelief. I was afraid the terrorists would try to blow up the Nuke plant near by. Many of my friends were in NYC at the time of the Twin Towers hit. Thankfully they all made it back, one only because he was late for work. The images of the people looking for loved ones in the streets, and exhausted emergency crews still haunt me. I was just as worried calling all my family in D.C. and Pa. I was lucky…they missed dad because it was his day off and grandma by only 9 miles. My friend was lucky too…he was missed because he stopped for a coffee.
eating breakfast, getting ready for work
vancouver, bc In my parents basement, when my mom woke me up and told me to turn on the TV