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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I was getting my permit.
I was in school and my parents came and took me out of school and told me what happen and I was defeisated.
Lillian Warrick
East Liverpool High School in Ohio
Iowa I was walking into my sisters hospital room to see my 1 day old neice. It was right after the first tower was hit and I asked them what the heck kind of movie they were watching and they told me it was the news.
i was sleeping and i woke up and i walk in the room and my mom was staring at the tv and the twin tower were coming down
i was in high my second year at high school it was my friends birthday until my mum showed me someting horrible on tv
Atlanta, Georgia On 9/11 I was in school. I was in 5th grade at the time. I didnt know much about what was going on, untill my teacher turned on the news, and we watched it.
at the police station
I was at the Secondary School for Journalism in Park Slope, Brooklyn
I was 9 at the time and saw it on television. I thought, ‘what is the world trade center?’
I was home asleep when my friend called and woke me. I saw the second plane hit. I look at the pictures from that day and wonder why those planes are gray. things that make you go hmmmmm
I was at home and i saw the 2nd plane crash.. it was such a terrible memory..my heart goes out to all the people that have died and all their families
I was working at The VA Medical center. I didn’t watch the fall of tower 2, But I did see the fall of tower 1.
I was playing at http://www.neopets.com and someone posted on the message board to go turn on the television because a plane had crashed into a building in New York, and at first I just ignored the post, and then other people started commenting on the original post, and I finally turned on the tv, and spent the rest of the day in shock.
St. Paul, MN I was at work in St. Paul. We had a building downtown known as the World Trade Center and also have a small airport near downtown…someone walked in to my office that day and said a plane hit the World Trade Center. I immediately assumed they meant the building downtown, and since my husband had recently become a firefighter I was nearly paralyzed with fear! A few minutes later I/we learned what was going on ~ I will never forget that moment and the days following.
To the person from Paris, France who said the Americans got what they deserved, I bet you and others who think like you would expect help from the United States if you were ever attacked by terrorists. Lord knows we’ve helped you before…
I was sitting in my 6th grade social studies classroom.
Paris, France I couldnt believe what i was seeing i had to see it all on TV. Finally the Americans got what they deserved!
I was on my way to school. My parents were on a flight to Japan so i had to walk. I have (had) to pass the trade center every day just to get to school. We had just moved about 4 blocks away so it was quite a sight to live where i was living. Suddenly i heard an aeroplane fly above me flying at one strong speed. Then i heard a huge crash and a peice of the building came crashing down on me (i was +/- 120 meters away form the building) i blacked out. when i woke up i was in a hospital bed. I now have to go around in a wheel chair and live my life praising God that im still alive.
Denver-I was getting ready for school when my mom yurned in the tv and told me to be quiet. I didnt know that it was such a big deal, i was only in kindergarten.
I had just showed up to work in Phoenix at 6am. We had a manufacturing facility, machine shop, weld shop. Some real tough guys. We had a TV in the breakroom. The guys looked at me and said that a plane had hit the WTC. I said No Way. They walked out of the breakroom, and went to work, just like any other day. I walked in and just watched. They went to work. I just stood there, and then I saw the second plane hit – live on TV. Then I knew. I walked over to my superior and said, this is a good day to be home with your family – I will see you tomorrow. Went to my truck and went back home to my wife. She called on the way, and said that the Pentagon, and another plane had been lost. I got home, and we just cried and prayed on the floor for the people in the middle of all this evil.
By the end of the day, I had that truck packed with everything I thought could help if there were a financial collapse of the US. People don’t think about those things, that was the day I began thinking about how fragile GLOBALISM, and ECONOMY are.
God Bless all the families and children that were harmed on that day. God Bless You, and Keep You, and Make His Face to Shine Upon You, and Give You Peace…
Norway, Tananger I was at school, but first heard about it on the buss from Sola to Tananger (Norway). Spent the rest of the day at a friends place and watched a movie.
i was at school a 4th grader i was going back to class from PE and we walked past the main office and the TV was on with all the techers standing there. they didnt tell us what was going on but after school i was going to go to After School Club but my mom was there and told me what was going on.
I was sitting at Gatwick airport departure lounge waiting to fly to Singapore to join HMS Gloucester.
Paul Taylor
Great Britain
Broklyn I was sleeping.
i was at school
i was at home. i watched the news when it happened….
I wasn’t even born at the time but I heard all about and I do so much research!
I was living in a basmemt apartment in north minneapolis. I had resently lost
three sisters to cancer.
when i saw the Bldgs fall over and over
and over………
my heart sank to my stomach.
Oh how i felt the pain of the lost and the
loved ones.
I decied to make 100 red white and blue
necklasses and hand them out to people
to remind them we will be ok.
We are Americans and we are Strong.
Severn, Maryland I was visiting my son’s grave in Jessup, Maryland when my mother called me on my cell phone to give me the news from NY. My son had died four weeks prior to 9-11. He had just turned eighteen. I was at the WTC in NYC, installing new computer networks for a gov’t agency, when he died. I imagine I was one of just a few people that the news about the towers didn’t have much of an affect on. I was already in self preservation mode. It seemed like a bad dream to me that I was there just before it happened. Everything around me seemed to be death. Everyone at the WTC was so nice. I often wonder who, out of all the people I met while there, is still among the living. To this day, that entire time period is in a fog to me, and I’m fine with that. I remember asking my son to help all the new people entering heaven, and help them to not be afraid anymore. He’d never let me down before, I had no reason to believe he would now. Since I heard another plane was still out there, I called my office in the WTC in Baltimore and told everyone to get out and go home. That night while watching it on the news I thought how someone was going to get quite an award for those fantastic special effects of the towers coming down. Nothing was real to me anymore. My world had gone completely mad.
I was listening to a 2nd grade class read “The Pet Goat” in Sarasota, Florida. I soiled my pants after I was informed.
I WAS DRIVING A SCHOOL BUS WITH STUDENTS, GOING TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
I was in a pub in Helsinki, and before at one lecture about movies
PA. I was in school the teachers knew something was wrong but they didnt say anything. As it turns out they wanted us to wait untill we got home to have our parents explain the situation to us. The the next day we had a big assembley with the whole school explaining more to us and the safety procautions that we were going to have to take place in order to keep our school safer. The school provided counciling for us to talk about everything that was going on and what had happend. RIP- all the amazing people who lost their lives you’re by far are in a better place
New Jersey I was in school. I was in 8th grade at the time. We started hearing things about it in math class, but no one would tell us exactly what happened. In history class, my teacher turned the TV on so we could watch the news. We sat on the bleachers in gym class. The loudspeakers were going crazy we people picking their kids up from school. I stayed in school all day, though.
I still have the AIM conversation saved from my friend and I talking about it.
West Virginia I was still in high school sitting in class all day. none of our televisions were on in any of the classes i had had up until lunch. i was walking back down the hall, and out of nowhere i saw my father running towards me. he told me to get my stuff and leave, and that two airplanes had hit the world trade center buildings and another hit the pentagon. It didn’t register at that point, but i went along with him and went home. i still didn’t really get it until he told me that all the airplanes in america had been grounded. it was the first time i had ever looked up into the sky and not seen any kind of jet stream or anything. it was perfectly clear and blue. we got home and all the tv’s were on CNN, and i saw the towers, covered in smoke. it hit me like a sledgehammer, because I had just been in those buildings not two years before. we had gone in building one, and i was standing in the lobby where they brought the preist out. i remember exactly what that lobby looked like. I’ll probably never forget it the rest of my life. i watched the TV the rest of the day. I was amazed that people would do such a heinous thing, but im still amazed to this day how willing people were to help out however they could.
the day before, i’d painted my nails different colors to be different during my freshman year. i thought it was pretty cool. sitting in gym class the next morning, boys were throwing paper airplanes down the bleachers. the teacher came in and said, “someone flew a plane into some buildings in new york.” we all thought it was an accident until they turned on the tv in my next period science class. i watched the buildings burn and fall, then went home early and cleaned off my nail polish. suddenly, i wasn’t the most important thing in the world anymore.
i was in 4th grade dude
i was sorting the mail at the post office when this tradgedy happened. As i made my rounds on my mail, many customers on my route discussed this horrific terroism that took place as i stopped and watched the newsa with some of them. I was so sick that this happened i just wanted to go home and watch the news to see how and why this would happen.
At home, heavily pregnant , turned on the television and couldn’t believe what was happening
I was at home eating dinner watching one of those black and white mini tv’s.
It was spanish TV then like a cartoon all of the sudden BOOM.
And my mom goes into the other room to see it in color.
I wasnt american atm. She was , she was crying
in school and when i came home i was watching the news and then it toled me about it and i was devistated
I was at my house in Goodyear Arizona, getting ready for work. I was in shock the whole day, I was in shock for months. It is still fresh in my mind. I am still mad and outraged. I still want to go overthere and find Bin Laden myself.
at work
I was at the office in Paris, France. I was watching TV through Internet.
I was in school when i heard it, and i felt bad the whole day because my bestfriends father was in the world trade centers.
I was… at mii babysitters house watching the news and i was eating a doughnet and drinking orange juice and crying my eyes like there was no day!
I was… at skewl.. and we watched it on t.v. and we were all like bawliing ourrrr eyess out.. it made us cryy!
In my home wathing the Today Show!
Jeffrey Lyn Anderson
I was there…Joseph Raffa
Church Point,La./now Alba,Mo i was driving a truck thru Newark N.J.and was in aaw at the site of my homeland being under attack.as an x-army ranger i felt instant rage and pain for my fellow americans that is still as fresh as the day it happen
was in New York, 5 mins from the city I was in my classroom, at the time i was in 3rd grade and living in brooklyn ny. My mother came to get me out early and i asked her why, and she told me the story. The next day my father went to the site and was the site forman for the clean up. He was there from september 12, 2001 to febuary 15 2003. after that he went and worked at the site where they were keeping all the debri ( dont know how to spell it, the dust and stuff) He has difficulty breathing and stuff. The site wasnt pretty… abandond cars and strollers. it is something He helped and devoted his time i will NEVER forget and i can say my dad is a hero, my hero.
i was a school on 9/11
i was on the beach
Portland OR early in the morning. sitting in bed. nursing my 3 week old baby. bored. turned on TV. stunned. yelled to my husband to get out of the shower and come see. at first I thought it was accidental. then the other tower was hit. I was scared.
SITTING ON MY COUCH GETTING READY TO GO TO BIG IRON IN FARGO NORTH DAKOTA WITH A FRIEND OF MINE
memphis,tn I was walkin home from school and i went over my neighbors house and i saw it on the tv screen i remember i couldnt move i was in a state of shock i was so scared i was like 8 years old i was so scared n then i left there house n went 2 mine n instead of walking on the road i walked in the ditch just in case a plane flew over me n drop a bomb or sumtin.this happened when i lived in florida
I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL,AT CHARLEROI PA AND I SEEN IT ON TV IT WAS VERY UPSETTING
I was in my science class, missing recess because the teachers told us that the lawn mower men were there (they weren’t allowed to tell us what was actually going on).
i was in school on 9/11
in new york
I was at the park
At The Park
i was afraid to go to a big mall for 3 years just in case it were to get bombed
i was in my living room watching cartoons before school when my dad called saying to turn to the news because someone said that the effiel tower had collapsed (he was at work and nobody knew the right story of what had happened yet there.)
I was in New York and saw the whole thing. I was there. I was covered in dust and running for my life. There were no fucking comercial planes, They looked like Cargo planes. I don’t get good reactions when I talk about what I saw, because we are all brainwashed by the lie that terrorists attacked this country. It’s just simply not true. This was an inside job. Please, don’t be fooled. What made America great died that day, and Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with it. If any other eyewitnesses see this, SPEAK THE FUCK UP and don’t get discouraged when no one will listen to you, keep speaking and we will save our nation. Write letters, Call talk shows, Get on the news, do anything and everything you can to get the public’s attention. People will listen and know the truth one day, but it wont be without all of us.
i was getting ready for school i think
In New York crying my eyes out at the horror unfolding around me and my neighbors.
I Elizabeth(Liz) was at school studying for comming up quizes in Wylie/Garland Texas.
I was on a plane going from Deleware to Hawaii.
at school but it was my pops birthday who passed away the year after on that special day.
i was at home
Manchester I was waiting for ny Boyfriend but he could not come coz his Aunt died in America………………
Ithought he was joking BUT no he was telling the truth coz i asked his dad
Kent I was at home playing on my PS2 waiting for my best- friend to call me but she never did coz she went on holiday to America so could she of died in the 911?
canada i remember when 9/11 happened, news must spread really fast because i remeber being in grade five in canada, at lunch recess playing tag, and my friend came running onto the playground, because he went home for lunch, and he told me that the twin towers was hit and the russians were happy, all the talk that day at was a another world war, well..that was then i was young and didnt really see what happened, five years now i was really saddened by what happed that day, and how many people lost their lives, also to the fire fighters…..who sacrificed their lives to save other…….i share my respect to them…
i was in school at the aeggscat time as the crash
I was at my grandmothers funeral in westchester, ny. we had to leave the ceromony just incase
I was in my 2nd grade classroom. All the teachers went out into the hallway and just started crying. I can remember haveing them ask if anyone’s loved ones lived in the towers. I can remember haveing them take people out into the hallway and tell us that our parents where helping stop the fire.=( i can remember crying all the way home thinking my daddy wasnt going to make it. The news crew said that they would call to tell us if hes ok or in heaven. =(…=( I wanted them to call and say that hes comeing homeing come and hes guna be all right and they did they said hes comeing home. But then I got a call from my friend and she was crying. And I remember asking her if her daddy was all right and she just started crying. She said they called and said that he ran in to save someone crying but then he never came out. The next day they found him. I remember crying my head off untill I had no tears left in my eyes. Then the police called and said that her dad was running into the building for her aunt. They found her aunt near her daddy. They where still holding hands. His partener said that if he didnt make it then tell his daughter he loved her. My friend never even got to say good bye. I can remember crying and crying untill I wouldnt breath. My friends mom said it was going to be OK but it wasnt. Because my friend kept on thinking that her daddy would come home someday from a long vacation. This year on September 11th her mom and her went to her daddys grave stone and started crying. My friend said a prayer saying that she started 7th grade now. And that she found his old clothing and put it on. I also can remember haveing my friend have her first Christmas without her dad and on the packages they all said From: Mommy & Daddy. But she new that it was from mommy. I still cry when I think of my friend loseing the only one she can talk to and snuggle with. She still wishes her daddy was here to give her a good night kiss. I still cry when I talk about it cause im so sad that my friend never gets to have the chance to get the hug and kiss her daddy never gave her when she went to school =(.=(.=(.=(.=(.=(.=(.=(. =(
2 year ago i was at school when i hear what happened
i was sitting at home getting ready for school and i called and said happy b day to my friend that day then my other was crying because of 911
I was in my math class in high school. I remember hearing some gossip about something going on. And then I remember the annocement that no one was to leave the classrooms and that we were leaving early. I didnt understand what was going on until I got home and started watching the news. It was a horrible day.
I was…still sleeping
I was at School, when there was an annoncement to turn to the news, and our class watched it all happen.
MN I was working at a blood donation center in Minnesota. We had the television on for donors and the report came of the first plan crash came on… we all thought it was a horrible accident. We also thought the plane was a whole lot smaller than it was- maybe a 4-5 passenger. I watched as the second plane hit the tower… and I remember a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. ‘Something is not right.’ My husband worked at NWA at the time. 9/10 was his last day on the job.
Newport News, Virginia I am 20 now and I was in the 11th grade at the time about to leave for computer class. I remember the hallway seaming quiet i remember the principle coming over the pa system telling teachers to turn of the tvs. And how teachers where locking there doors so they could watch tv. I remember the young girl student who sat beside me crying as she had not heard from her father who worked in the west wing of the pentagon. After that class i left with that student taking here home so that she would not have to be at school and how we watched tv for 9 hours straight like many did. I can hear it now as hear dad called her and let her know he was fine and the burden that was removed from her mind. I remeber it today as it were yesterday.
New York i was in my country and i was worried because my cousin used to work there and i didnt know she quit that job a long time ago.
Adrian Michigan I was in the 3rd grade and really scared that it would happpend were I was at.
chandler I was sitting here at38 years old after neck surgery with six screws in my neck wondering where our mighty airforce was and why we just couldn’t shoot hijacked airplanes out of the air after the second attack at world trade center two, and where were the surface to air missles to shoot the plane to attack the pentegon………personally I think our goverment contracters of defense and republican big goverment are making the big bucks out of 9-11. God bless the honest true heroes that deserve the real truth the police and firefighters!
Virginia I was sleeping in, had to move that day. When my fiance and I got in the car, we heard what they were talking about, and I thought it was some sort of joke, like the “War of the Worlds” Broadcast that caused all the panic in the ’40’s… Then I called my dad, and we turned on the tv…I’ll never forget watching that guy and girl hold hands on the way down, after jumping from one of the towers…
shopping couldnt believe what i’d see on t
California (optional) I was in the 3rd grade but I still remember a lot.My mom woke me from bed (west coast time).She tould me that ‘’something bad is happening in NYC”.I did the same wake up from bed routine,as I enter my kitchen to eat breakfast I watched tv.I watched the first tower of the World Trade Center making smoke as they kept on saying that an airplane crashed into it,as well as the Pentagon and Flight 93.A few minutes later I saw the second plane hit the second tower and I was surprised as the tower blew out firery smoke.Minutes later I saw tower 1 collapse into a huge dust and as for tower 2 also,one at a time disappearing from the blue NYC sky.I was at shocked at how they collapse and the people running from a huge tsunami of dust going through Mannhattan.It was getting late I had to go to school. That’s what I mostly remember on 9/11. Now that I am in my teen years I Know more about 9/11.I did once go into the WTC but when I was a baby.Still I will never forget the day that America changed September 11,2001 .
i was home
in a middleschool science class watching it on tv…….
I was in school
i was scared
I was only 5 when the plane crashed so I think i would have been at school i cant remember but i watched a tv program a few months ago and it looked realy scary im glad that i mite have been at school and that i wasent there
I was in school and heard at the end of the day that the twin towers were struck .
lee mass i was in my house in manhatan when that happend i was about 9 or 6 years old i still new what was going on…know im 13 years old and we are studing about the twin towers at school….i still cant get over that… most of my friends parents worked there it was devastating
at my home
I was at home in brisbane australia, It was late at night we turned the tv over to what we thought was some movie, as it just couldnt possibly be real , then we realised it was the news. Of course we were in shock and immediately started praying for america . Im so sorry it happened and hope nothing like it ever happens again. sonya australia
on vacation in Texas like Bush was for a lot of the time before 9/11
Just comming home from school when my mum told me that there was an attck on america. I was 9 years old when it happened. God bless the souls of thouse who died that day.
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 like any other morning I got up around 6:30 am as my wife leaves for work and I get my son who was a year in a half old then, up and got him dressed then I got ready of work. At that time I worked for the handicapped as a Personal Care Attendant (PCA). On the way to work from Plymouth, MA. I would drop my son off at my parents home at that time was in Duxbury, MA. Around 7:45 am. I would then go to work for my client in Marshfield MA. I got there around 8:00 am then I got him ready to go to his day habilitation center and on this day when I dropped him off sometime between 8:45 to 9:00 am, as we walked in the day habilitation center, staff had the TV on, a staff member told me that at small plan of some sort crashed into the word trade center in New York. We all thought that this was a tragic accident; after I got my client settled I left and went back to my clients’ apartment around 9:15 am. I had a lot of cleaning to do for him. When I got in his apartment I turned on the TV CNN That’s when I saw the second plane hit WTC tower #1 at this point I said “This is no accident this is deliberate, Why”? I asked my self. At that point I called my mother and asked her if she saw what was going on and if she had the news on, she said no because Christopher my son was watching Barney. So I told her what was going on then she went up stairs and saw, she said that she needs to call dad and that she would call me back latter. This was around 9:35 am, At this point I believe they announced on TV that all Federal and Government buildings will be closed and employees sent home. My wife works in Hingham MA. EDS for Medicare and Medicaid which I thought was a Government building. I tried calling my wife but the line seemed dead. I then called my Mother back and told her that I couldn’t get Reni my wife at work, around 9:40 am they closed all the airports and shut down the airspace. No one could take off or land and all international flights had to return and couldn’t enter the US but all domestic plain’s in the air where ordered to land at the nearest airport immediately. They believe that there my be other plains but didn’t know how many. I said to my Mother I need to try to get a hold of Reni. I tried a number of times and finally I got trough around 9:55 am. I asked her first if she was alright and if she hard about what was going on. Yes she said I have been listening to it on the radio, then I told her that I couldn’t get through for a least a half an hour then we lost the connection around 10:02 am my Mother called me back around 10:05 and told me that a plane went down and crashed in to a field in Pennsylvania. Then I called my wife back and told her about the plan crash.
The whole time this was going on I would continually look up at the ski. And I would keep telling myself I need to get back to work, I just couldn’t concentrate. But when my family was safe at home later that night we watched the news on the day’s events and my wife and just sat in disbelief and cried.
Adam J Polito
I was in school were the principle does some announcement and we were all forced to be quiet for a while and noone didn’t know what was going on
I was in Hawaii at the time when it had happened. It was around 3:30 a.m… and I didnt get up intil 6:30 a.m. for school. when I got to school we did a memorial service thing at our school because of what had happened. At that time I didnt know what it was for, so I did it anyway. When my mom woke up that morning so she can get ready for work, when she heard about it she came straight to my school and got me. As soon as she picked me up she told me what happened. When we got home a whole bunch of my mom’s friends started to call the house alot, and she called slot of people too. One of my dad’s brothers lives in New Jersey and he worked in New York City. My mom really didnt know where he worked but my dad did. My dad was in the field for a little bit and he really couldnt call the house alot. So my mom asking my dad where he worked couldnt help. So my mom tried to call my uncle but he never picked up. She called him several times but he never picked up. Like 3 minutes later he called back and said he was all right. He said he worked in a building four and a half blocks from the towers. A couple of days later my dad came back home from the field, and we where still mourning from what had happened that day. My dad was wondering if his brother was alright, and we told him he was alright. When he heard that he felt better than he had called him and they were talking on the phone for hours. about a year after, we dropped all the emotional drama and moved on with our lives. My name is Robert and I was 11 years old when it happened.
I was sleeping when I got a call from my best friend telling me to wake up and turn on the t.v. I hate to admit it but i asked her at the time what were the twin towers! God Bless all the souls that were lost that day! xo’s ~Celeste Nagy, Sasaktoon, Sask Canada~
Saskatoon, SK i was at home sleeping and my boyfriend woke me up to see the tv. i then phoned my best friend to wake her up and told her to go to her tv.
I wasat school the teachers thought it was a movie but quickly turned it off after figuring out even though i was young, I knew it happened and I cried
home
Hamilton Ontario Canada That morning I drop my child off at the daycare at College and sat in my class my teacher told us that something terriable happened in New York, USA a plane smash in one of the Sears Tower’s. She put the radio on and heard the announcer screaming that another plane had smashed into the other tower. “Oh My God”! she said, my heart went out for those people, I was so scared that there was 2 more plane’s out there, USA was under attack and for a split moment knew as Canada we have the Nigara Falls Hydro and the CN Tower in Toronto so close by that are teacher told us to go home to our families.
I fastly went and got my son out of daycare and drove home with the car radio on listening what was going on, I just wanted to be with my family. Boy was I scared for the first time in my life knowing this was a terrorist plot to distroy our two nation’s. When I put the t.v on and watched what was going on I started to break down in tear’s. When the third and fouth plane crashed I prayed to God for all the passenger’s and families and cryed like a baby knowing that this will be a war. This day will always be an awaking of what human’s of terrorist could kill thousand’s of inocient people and children in my life time.
Canada send’s our love and support to the USA, as we are doing today with our Army and Navy and Air Force defending our freedom. In Afganistan we have lost more men but we will fight to the better end to destroy the evil. MAY GOD SPEED !!!
I had just gotten home from work. I had a dentist appt. that morning and was laying across the bed taking a nap.The radio came on and the deejay was saying they were getting reports of a plane hitting the WTC. I turned the t.v. on just before the second plane hit the other tower. My wife was at work and it was one of those moments when I just didn’t know what to do or to call .I just sat there stunned at what was happening.
Hutchinson,KS I was in first or second hour class of technolgy or ld class
Alan Reed I was in my first class or my second hour class in middle school it would of been technoligy class or ld class
heerlen buying me some fries after skool cause I was mad hungry
i was at school
i got back and my parents told me a plane flew into a building…
i first thought what a joke… untill i saw the real thing
I was at my ex girlfriend’s.
I was in Brazil
Romeoville, IL I was on my way to work when I heard the news coming live over the radio. I had been wondering why so many of the drivers I was passing had this stunned, jaw-dropped look on faces. I almost couldn’t finish the commute, myself. I was so shocked.
Just coming up from the 1 Chase Plaza Cafeterai with my cup of morning coffee when the first plane hit. That is about a block or so away from the Trade Center ( Ground Zero )
Snook, TX I walked into my parent’s house… what I remember most was the first thing my dad said… “I think we’re at war”
driving school bus and then watching in the library at church
In school. None of the teachers told us what happened. I learned it through the grapevine and when I got home.
On a School Bus Route
i was working in the studio
Ik was in de auto naar Roda
everyone witnessed a little trauma and therefore they know where they were when they heard about the news.
I was behind my PC when some people spammed me on MSN to check the news. So I went to a newssite and saw the pictures of the twin towers… I went to watch the TV and saw the images and paniced news people. Was really intense and hard to believe…
Maastricht, The Netherlands I just came from school. When I turned on the TV I saw the first Tower was on fire and I didn’t realised what was going on. After a while a saw the second plane crashing into the WTC..
New York City getting ready for work. I was late. I was living in the West Village at the time. As I was crossing 7th ave to go down to the subway, I saw crowds of people looking downtown, just standing there- The 1st tower had already been hit, I had a kodak disposable camera in my bag and took it out and started taking pictures- As I was doing this – the 2nd plane hit the other tower.
your location (optional) I was…sleeping in my dorm room. My mom called me early and told me to turn on the tv.
at work in Orlando, FL. One of the members of upper management (who is from NY) came in and was late for a managers meeting. He stopped at a woman’s desk (Also from NY and both of them have kids living there still) and I over heard him telling her something about an airplane striking the WTC. As he walked past my desk to go across the hall to the meeting, I stopped him and asked him what happened and he said 2 planes flew into the WTC. At that point, I was rather confused and I said, “How could that happen?” and he said, “They’re saying it’s terrorists!” At that moment I KNEW it was Osama bin Laden. I called my best friend in Jacksonville and she said it was all over the TV and that she actually saw the second plane hit. I called my mom in NC and she was freaking out about it. I went and got my radio out of my car and we all gathered around to listen to the live ABC feed. We wanted to go into the conference room because there was a TV in there but all of management was in their “meeting”. We later piled into a colleagues office and watched her tiny black and white 10in tv and I could NOT believe what I was seeing. I started crying thinking about all the people they were showing hanging out the windows. Then reports started coming in about people jumpin from the towers and they were showing people leaping out. I couldn’t take it anymore and said I was going to smoke a cigarrette. I went back across the hall to get one and went to go out the kitchen door and stopped to talk to someone when the woman that I overheard the manager talking to when he first got there came in and said “The tower just collapsed!” I was absolutely stunned. I ran back across the hall to the tv and they were showing it over and over again. Once again I said “I gotta smoke….this is just too much!!!” and the woman who’s office we were in said “I’m with you!” When we came back in, they had opened up the conference room (We later found out that they were in there with the door shut watching the big tv) and we all piled in to watch. At one point I broke the silence and said, “If that first one came down, so is this one!” Then someone came in and said my mother was on the phone. I got on the phone with her and we were both crying and she was going on about it being the start of WWIII. I told her “Mom, I gotta call you back” I walked back into the conference room and as I moved my eyes back to the television, the 2nd tower started to fall. At that point I totally lost it. All I could think was “THERE ARE PEOPLE STILL IN THERE!!” I’ll never forget the sounds of all of the firefighters beeping alarms going off. I wanted so badly to go home because I was so upset and in shock but they wouldn’t let us. The rest of the day, all you heard in the office was the sounds of several radios carrying live feeds from the networks. On the way home, on I-4 in traffic, I was looking around at everyone in the cars around me knowing they were listening to the same thing I was since no stations were playing music except for patriotic songs. Everyone just had blank looks on their faces as they drove home from work. I was glued to the TV all night crying and wanting nothing more than to put my arms around my whole family. Now, everytime I see the images, I feel like it’s happening all over again. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years. I just pray that the good Lord above embraces the friends, family and loved ones of those who dies on that day. God Bless the firefighters and police officers who gave their lives that day to help save others, not thinking of themselves. What an honorable and noble way to die. God love them!
Quezon City, Philippines. Just arrived, bone-tired, from work. My brother shouted at me to turn on the living room TV. After seeing the first tower collapse on his bedroom TV, he joined me in the living room. We were both speechless and slack-jawed when we saw the second tower collapse. I had, and still have, misgivings about the USA’s role in history, but my first thought at that time was, THESE PEOPLE DIDN’T DESERVE TO DIE.
Back in the Philippines. We just picked up my parents from the airport when we got a call to turn the TV on.
Tysons Corner, VA I was at work. I watched the towers fall on tv while I was on the phone with my mother who lives overseas. We later had to evacuate our office because the local authorities were scared of an attack on datacenters located in the area.
arlingonton va. i was watching the smoke rise off the pentagon from my office window in courthouse.
Washington, DC I was sitting in my living room in Adams Morgan watching the news coverage. My roommate at the time worked for USAirways and had just flown to California. He was safe, but stuck there – and had to drive home.
In chapel at college.
I was… in the shower and my roommate came and told me – at first I didn’t believe her, for a while I didn’t believe her actually. Then I got to the t.v. and we began to pray that those who survived would be comforted by God.
On September 11th, 2001 I was in 5th grade. The teachers in many classes had quieted and were sort of moping around the room, not really speaking to anyone. Nobody would tell the students what was going on. I only found out what had happened almost 12 hours later, when I got home. Frightening, yet something I’ll never forget
On September 11th 2001 i had just arrived in Kinglassie
Scotland after just finishing a trip to the Highlands of Scotland. I was with my dad and as we went to our own rooms in the Inn where we were staying I turned on the TV and first thought I was watching a movie it wasn’t that at all it was the first plane to hit the towers. It was 4pm in Kinglassie Fife at the time and It wasn’t a movie I was watching it was the news. Then I was trying to figure out where all this was happening when I found out it was New York I was stund. What the heck was going on? how could this have happen? I went into my dad’s room and told him to turn on the news, i watch it with him for a minute and then went back to my room. The tour we had just got off of had several people from the United States and they where at the end of their holiday. One lady was from New York I never did find out how they made out with getting home, the airports had been shut down for a few days. We still had a week with friends and we had no idea if we would be getting our flight home on time but that was a small problem to deal with when New York was in Chaos…Being from western Canada and not home it was strange to watch this every night with our friends so far away….
On duty as a Paramedic in Chicago. I was dropping off a patient at a local hospital when I heard someone say that a plane had crashed into the WTC as I watched for awhile the second plane came into view and also crashed into the towers all I could was stare at the Tv as others did and say a prayer for those poor people. When the towers started to fall and it was thought to be an attack I was grateful that Chicago was spared. As luck would have it my next call was to the airport.
I was at home doing household chores with CNN news turned on to keep me company. I would occasionally glance at the tv screen when my eyes got glued to the repeated images of an airplane ramming through two tall buildings. I remember thinkigg, “What movie is this?” until I realized it was live drama I was watching.
A friend called and woke me up to tell me to turn on the TV
Burnsville, Minnesota I was scheduled off that day (work at the Mall of America). My daughter called from San Diego and said, “Mom, turn on the T.V….in absolute horror, we both stayed on the phone as the second plane hit. I didn’t want to hang up, we just couldn’t say goodbye.
I was in my car listening to Howard Stern. It was powerful to hear it from persons that were in the city.
I was…just waking up, getting ready for work,I walked in when my roomate was watching the news on tv. I could not believe what had just happened. I went downstairs anmd noticed all the police cars were driving around with their warning lights flashing. I worked until 11 am and then went home. I mourned for days after. 9-11 …we will never forget!!
ft.myers florida i was sitting in my 2nd period religion class with coach hawley, at evangelical chritian school ft.myers florida. our principal walked in and whispered into the caoches ear, then he got this stunned look on his face, shortly there after he told us what happened!!!
Minnesota I was at the cemetery burying my Mother
at home on the computer checking my mail before starting work. My husband called and said, “Are you watching the TV?
I answered no, and he said, “Turn it on NOW!” and hung up.
I watched the replay of the first tower being hit and then a few minutes later watched the second tower being hit in real time. At that time my heart sunk because like most of us, I realized it was a terrorist attack.
I was sitting in my AP European History class I had for second block on B day when I was in the tenth grade at Ocean Lakes High School in Va Beach, Virginia. I heard the announcments come on overhead and our principal Mr. Jerry Deviney announced that terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I was shocked at first, sort of in disbelief. Then when I went to my next class I was angry at the people whom caused this. Ever since 9-11 I always read up on current events.
Jennifer
Fredonia,AZ I was sleeping in bed when my husband came in to tell that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. I got up to come and see what was going on. I stood in shock as I watched the building smoke and then to watch the second building be hit. It was the worst day. My children will always remember watching the TV and then going to school and watching at school. This is a day that we will never forget.
I was asleep
Ontario, Canada I was in the hospital due to comlications with my pregnancy, When my hubby called my room and told me to turn my tv to CNN…I was dumbstruck. The nurse came in and we both just watched, next thing I knew there were 5 nurses and we watched as the 2nd plane went itnto the tower and the moment was just the most surreal thing I could ever imagine.
In that split second my problems seemed so small compaired to what was happing outside of my room.
I will never forget that morning that it seemed that my generation lost it’s innocence.
Ohio I was sitting in the waiting room of the Blood and Cancer Center with my mother who was very sick and my sister. We were watching it unfold on the T.V. When the second plane hit, we heard someone say “that was no accident” and we could not believe our eyes. We watched from the lab where our mother was getting chemo. We wondered how they were going to get everyone out of the Towers until we saw them collapse. We went out to get donuts for everyone who was getting treatment that day and we heard on the radio that there were more planes. We were so afraid because we didn’t know how many planes they had or what was to come that day. It was a very sad day that I will never forget. We lost so many people that day and our mother soon followed. God Bless all those who perished that day.
I was going to work from Manhattan to Queens over the bridge, sitting in a crazy traffic, looking at the downtown`s beautiful view when all of a sudden a plane sliced into the one of the towers. By the time I came out of the shock, another plane sliced into another tower. Traffic stopped, so we were sitting there and watching the Towers going down.
Something you never forget and don`t wish even for your enemies to see.
michigan at work. i worked at a truck stop, it was the truckers who first told me that something was going on. a little bit later one of the ladies who worked up in the office came down and told us what was going on. we turned on the television in the trucker’s lounge and started to watch it. there was a truck driver there with us. he just stood there, staring blankly up at the tv. then he turned and said that his son was in the south tower. he walked off to his truck. we kept checking on him till he finally drove off. the thing that really sticks out in my head is the eerie silence. the major highway right behind the truck stop just ceased to have traffic. no one came in the rest of the day. i think we only saw two or three other cars that day on the ride home.
South West Virginia On 9/11 I was in 8th grade in my 3rd period class, which was agriculture. I remember we were doing some work and my dad sent me a text message telling me the power in our hometown was out in a certain part of town, but not on the side my school is. As soon as I read that, my teacher screamed “oh my god” and ran to get a TV on a cart and pulled it out of the backroom and plugged it in. That’s when we saw the second tower going down. We always kept the radio on quietly while working, and she just happened to catch the words WTC Terrorist attacks. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
I was in Japan, a homemaker and mother of 5 supporting my husband who was serving in the Air Force. It was evening, and we’re in the middle of a typhoon, so our base was shut down. My husband called me in, as he’d been watching the news when the second plane hit. I didn’t realize the magnitude yet, but was immediately moved to tears by just the thought of the people on board the planes. I didn’t have any idea of the size the loss could be.
My husband was tired, so he went to bed, but I decided to watch some coverage on our downstairs television. I was finally starting to understand the scope of the disaster when Jim Miklaszewski of NBC news said, “I don’t want to alarm anybody, but there has been some kind of explosion at the Pentagon”. That one sentence made this terrible, tragic event into a very real, very personal attack. That single sentence changed my life. Given the time of day it was, I knew that my brother was at work at the Pentagon. Even though I found out within a half an hour that he was fine, nothing was ever the same again.
I was flying as a Flight Attendant to Tokyo when we heard it from the Cockpit Crew
I was driving to work. I had stopped for gas. When I got back in my car, I turned on the radio to listen to the traffic report but instead… I heard the franic news that a jumbo jet had crashed into the south tower. My first thought was… how in the hell did that happen! But before I could answer my own question…. they said “oh my God… the north tower has been hit”. My next thought was… Terrorist… we have been attacked! When I got to work… someone had plugged in the TV in the conference room and we all watched the towers fall and the Pentgon get hit. We were scared and felt the United States is being attacked! It was so surreal, a living nightmare!!!
Holland, MI I was at work…which happened to be at a newspaper. I worked downstairs in the advertising/marketing department. I went to grab something from the printer and heard everyone talking and knew something was going on but had no idea what. Someone said to go upstairs to the newsroom where there was a tv. I quickly made my way upstairs and joined everyone else crowded around the tv. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s like you just felt sick and numb and scared all at once. I don’t think anyone realized it was a terrorist attack at first, just that a plane must have malfunctioned and it was a horrible accident, but when the second plane hit we knew what was going on. Then things started to get crazy. They made an announcement over the intercom saying that we were going to print a special wrap section of the paper. They hadn’t done that in a very long time…it hardly ever happens. I don’t remember now what they said, only that it was a big deal to do this. All of the press people that usually come in at night were called in, and the writers were running around getting all the latest information. It was so odd to hear the presses running in the morning like that…they only run at night. People had to take stacks of the wraps to all the locations where we sold magazines to re-wrap them with the new information. I tuned my radio into the news coverage at my desk and listened all day. It was so hard to even get anything done that day. I just remember looking up at the sky…it was a gorgeous day, and there wasn’t one plane in the air…not one. It was eerie, and i just wanted to curl up and sleep. It was too much to even take in. It was hard to even feel like it was o.k. to feel normal after that day, like I shouldn’t laugh, or go to a movie, or do normal things because I just kept thinking about everyone that was so hurt…I felt guilty. After some time passed it became easier, and I think we all realized that to give up and curl up in sadness would have been what the terrorists would want…to go on living is what needed to be done. I will always feel sad on this day, and I will always remember being huddled around that tv in the newsroom, the sound of the presses in the middle of the day, and the quiet skies that night.
Arlington, Tx Returning from California with my sister on America West Airlines. The pilot came on the PA and told us what happened to the Trade Center. We were forced to land in, of all places, Las Vegas. For the next 5 days my sister and I watched, and cried, over the tragedy as it unfolded on TV. It was a surreal experience: no jet noise from McLarren; all the marquees had the Stars and Stripes fluttering in video. The shows started reopening on Friday. I was at the Bellagio when they restarted the fountains. They played “God Bless the USA” and then had the fountains report 21 times… the tears flowed.
Walnut Creek,CA I was at home asleep. My Mom left late the night before on a red-eye back to CT. My husband called me from work ( also a firefighter) just after the first plane hit and asked me what time my Mom was due to arrive home. My Mom was due to land 8:45 AM on a Delta flight. At that time, we did not know what airlines were involved…needless to say I was very anxious and unsettled. I tried calling the airlines for a status report, but all lines were busy. Finally, an hour later, my Mom phoned me to let me know she was safe.
God bless all of the victims and their families. I think of them often and am reminded how precious life is everyday. Firefighters and Police officers are put in harms way everyday. They are amazing people with amazing courage. To them, it’s just their job, but to the citizens they protect, they are our heros. Thank you and God Bless.
Michigan I was listening to a morning news show & reading at the computer. Our three older kids were at school, the 3 1/2-year-old was playing. Bryant Gumble came on & said that a plane had hit the 1st tower. I thought it was a bad accident, til the second plane came in, then realized it had to be on purpose. My brother-in-law called. I remember thinking that alot of people would get out, I didn’t think about all that jet fuel, trapped inside. A cousin of my husband’s stopped in & hadn’t heard anything yet, so we just sat here watching TV. Then the Pentagon & the Pennsylvania Field. I went to work waiting tables at 2:00, of course the place was dead. It was just me, the cook, & the owner. She had a small TV on in the dining room, but we didn’t care for that channel’s coverage, so the cook & I pulled a couple of chairs up to a chest freezer in the kitchen & sat there with a radio & ate supper. We didn’t have a single customer all night, not even our usual group of coffee drinkers. Just today did I realize exactly how huge the area was; the radio said the area left bare at Ground Zero is 15 acres. That put in better perspective for me how huge the area is, even if you got out, how far you’d have to run to be safely away. Bless all the innocents and all the heroes.
Sourthern California I was in bed sleeping.
i was on my way to my high school. I was a freshman and I was in the car with my sister when we first heard about the first plane hitting. I could not even begin to comprehend the magnitude of what happened. I was bombarded with countries I never thought twice about and world issues that I never wanted to think about.
working the 26th floor for Forest Electric on East 41st street between Lexington and Third Ave. Doing electrical alteration work when we heard on the radio that a plane hit the north tower of the wtc. We had a clear view of the North tower from the 26th floor, as we watched the devastation of the plane inside the wtc upper floor, a second plane looked like it was circling to see the damage the first plane had done. It, however, crashed into the second tower of wtc. At that point I told my boss I was going home, and left the job about 930 AM. I walked to the Port Authority on 42nd street where my car was parked and drove up to the Tappanzee Bridge, the George Washington and Lincoln Tunnels were closed, I lived in Bergen County New Jersey. I was at the Tappenzee at 1130 am, when I finally got through to my wife, she told me the wtc had collapsed- I couldn believe it
on 9-11-01, this was my day (written one week after the attack)
that morning i was at work in downtown manhattan (wall st. racquet club)
which is a 10 minute walk away from the wtc (out of the direct fall out).
my 8 am lesson, Johannes, had (i later found out) overslept so i was in
one of the lobbies watching satellite tv when the initial 8:50 am report
came on. i immediately called my dad in north dakota to tell him to
turn on his tv and to let him know i was ok. at this time several
people came into the club to use our phones and see what was going on.
this was a rough time, as many of them were hysterical while
attempting to call husbands working atop 1 wtc and not able to get
through. they were sitting or standing next to me with uncontrollable
tears watching the tv and there was nothing i could say or do to help.
i certainly couldn’t say what i was really thinking.
i later went outside to take a picture of the smoke and the heavy
rain of paper coming down upon us. as i snapped the picture there was an
incredible explosion that shook the ground. i went in to find out about
the 2nd plane and was the the first to realize a terrorist attack was
occurring. the tennis club is located at piers 13 & 14 on the east river at
the foot of wall st. at this point much of lower manhattan was escaping
to the north directly by us – some up on the fdr drive, and some on south
st. many came into the club to get away from the smell and smoke and
were watching our tv’s. you can imagine the absolute shock and choruses
of “oh, my god’s” as these people watched wtc #2 and later #1 crumble
down along with their jobs, businesses, careers, co-workers or family.
we all understood not everyone had gotten out. on tv, we had seen the
jumpers – some on fire as they fell 110 stories to escape the searing heat in
favor of quick death.
as each building fell we were engulfed in the cloud of soot that
shot through the downtown corridors and over the skyline. it was initially a
dark brownish yellow color and for a time we couldn’t see more than a few
feet out the windows. the breeze was blowing it straight toward us all day.
the thick stench was like nothing ever smelled before. it contained a
combination of elements we don’t want to think of. the masses outside
were running with their faces covered by anything they could find.
the phone lines were starting to jam but a couple close friends were
able to get hold of me. i tried to talk but was too shaken to put full
sentences together. i got a message on my cell phone from my brother
dann and eventually i was able to leave a message for him without
crying.
a layer of gray soot had blanketed everything in our area. by 4 pm i
figured the air had cleared enough for me to make the erie walk to and
over the brooklyn bridge toward home. i had a sore throat, a headache,
and was temporarily out of my day job as a tennis pro, but i realized i
was better off than many.
i have been lucky (as far as i know) not to lose any friends or
close students. one of my students, howard lutnick, has been highly
publicized as the head of the firm cantor/fitzgerald and owner of
espeed. he lost just about all (700) of his ny company (including his
brother) who occupied 5 floors (101-105) of tower #1. he was taking his
middle daughter to her 1st day of kindergarten at the time of the first
crash. he had lengthy interviews on all of the networks and looked much
more worn then than he did after an hour and a half on the tennis court
with me the day before the attack.
my ex-girlfriend kara (an artist) had received as grant for a 5
month project on the 92nd floor of 1 wtc. she was going to go in at 10
am that day so she is safe but lost all of her work, mostly completed (8
large paintings & 6 drawings) and all of her tools and equipment. one
of her colleagues was there – his body was one of the relatively few
found.
i’ve been to wall st. a couple times this week to make calls and get
things ready for monday when we try to open the club. it was quite
intimidating walking through the heavy military and police presence.
business is going to be very slow for a while, but we will be there. i
plan on visiting the sight soon so that i may truly realize the damage
for myself
Arlington, Virginia In bed in my dorm room. My then-girlfriend called me to tell me “something happened to the World Trade Center in DC.”
“DC doesn’t have a world trade center,” I said. “There’s one in Baltimore.” I went back to sleep. An hour later, on my way to lunch, I saw that all the doors were open and heard TVs everywhere. I tried to walk as long as possible without looking and seeing what could possibly be happening.
At lunch, another student said to me “I’m ready to join the Army, and go fight those bastards.”
“Fight who?” I said.
His reply: “You know, them!”
That’s when I got a bad feeling.
Plymouth, MA I was on my honeymoon. More specifically I was in the shower getting ready for the day when I heard my husband yell into the room. I got ready quick, we rented a car and drove all day to get home to return to family and friends.
home from work sick
Regina Saskatchewan, Canada At work in the Jail in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada, in the Remand area where staff are not supposed to watch T.V. In a very short time however staff from the Deputy Director on down were perched watching. There was an eerie silence throughout the Jail that day as staff and inmates alike watched the events of the day unveil. Probably one of the most somber days in here that I can remember since I started in 1979…
Having breakfast with my husband at a local diner when the TV there went black and we saw the first plane hit – we immediately lost our appetite and went home. We spent the rest of the day glued in front of the TV, holding hands, and praying….
I was at home sleeping when my mom woke my brother an I up. The tv was on CNN and i was in shock in what has happened and thought it was a horrible accident. Not until the second plane hit the south tower, i then percieved that it was a terrorist attack and something was going on.. wrong. As i went to school, my teacher was cryring and angry on how someone could be so sick and vile to ignitiate a sick attack upon our country. Half my classmates were either gone, or picked up by their parents for safety. It was shocking and emotional to watch those two towers fall and watch people run away in instinct.
I was at work when a client came in and told us what was happening. We had no tv so we crowded around a radio to hear the news. I called my husband, who was at home with our son, because his sister lives in New York City. His mother had already tried to get in touch with her after the first plane hit the towers. She, thankfully, was physically fine. I was glad to go home early that day so that I could soak up every bit of information that I could. I know that not everyone loves America but I just never imagined that something of this scale could happen here. I remember driving home and watching the sky in case I could see a plane. Hearing how people were jumping out of the towers broke my heart. Imagine having to make the choice to burn or jump. I don’t know if I could have made myself do it. I was so glad to see my husband and my little boy. We watched all the coverage because my son was only 2 and wasn’t paying any attention. Who knew if there were more attacks to come? Hearing about Flight 93 made me very proud of those people on the plane. I know I would have fought back. You can’t just sit back in that kind of situation. I do remember that before going to bed wishing that there was something other than news coverage on TV. Just one channel. Going to sleep with those images fresh in my mind was almost impossible. I cried for the people who were trapped, the ones who jumped, the ones who must have just sat and cried as they died, the loved ones who got that horrific phone call and the ones who didn’t. I prayed for all the victims and the heroes. God bless the firefighters. We can never forget.
I was at home sleeping when my mom woke my brother an I up. The tv was on CNN and i was in shock in what has happened and thought it was a horrible accident. Not until the second plane hit the south tower, i then percieved that it was a terrorist attack and something was going on.. wrong. As i went to school, my teacher was cryring and angry on how someone could be so sick and vile to ignitiate a sick attack upon our country. Half my classmates were either gone, or picked up by their parents for safety. It was shocking and emotional to watch those two towers fall and watch people run away in instinct.
I was working in my office at JFK Airport. Because of the clear day, I immediately noticed all the black smoke coming from the first tower hit by the plane. From the distance of JFK I could not tell which tower was hit, all you saw was the smoke surrounding both towers. Shortly later, while continuing to stare at the towers in disbelief, I saw a secondary explosion. Again because of the distance I thought it was a gas main blast in the first tower hit by the plane. I never thought it could have been another plane.
The next day at work and the days that followed, all you saw was smoke in the place of where the towers once stood. Where there was once the constant noise of jets, there was eary silence due to the grounding of all flights in the days that followed.
It wasn’t until I saw many of the funerals and memorial services that followed within my own neighborhood that the emotions really hit me.
We can never allow this to happen again.
Detroit , MI I was sleeping on my bedroom floor with my radio turned down low as I always keep it while I sleep when I was drifitng in and out I noticed there was alot of talking going on instead of music. I was having an odd dream of myself and friends who were for some reason on a plane to join the military for some new war.. I woke up and turned the radio up to hear of an attack..so I ran to the t.v. watching the events unfold as the second plane crashed into the towers. I ran to the other room and called my ex who was scheduled to join the navy within the month as we shared our horror and disbelief. Even years later I can remember those moments so vividly..
sSAN DEGO CA I was at work, manifesting hazardous waste. A customer called me on the phone, to tell me of all the horror, that was taking place. I worked one street away from the largest marine/naval base in San Diego.I turned on the radio, & just could not fathom what was going on, even as I listened. I am a native San Diegan, and never in my life, didi I believe, this could happen to America. It has left me shattered, like so many others. The worst of it, is the sense of security we all had, that is gone. I want to feel good again. God bless America
Greenbelt, MD I was in school at that time & I remember getting up for an early class. It was a small class called visual communication & we were actually all there b/c none of us had heard anything yet– maybe it hadn’t happened yet, I can’t remember. Then, when class was over, I passed some people out in a hallway that had a portable tv on (odd) & I heard them say something about planes, I remember, but they were only talking to eachother and I went on my way. Then I walked outside & noticed that the first couple people I saw were all on their cell phones and then I noticed that pretty much every single person on the mall was on the phone– it was kind of surreal. i still didn’t know what was going on and went back to my dorm where the news-watching, jaw-dropping, and sorrow began for the next few days. My floor had tons of NY and NJ kids– its was chaos for awhile. I also started hearing about things happening in dc inlcuding some more minor, less publicized bombings in DC. I heard about on bomb a few blocks from my Dad’s office & we couldn’t get word from him for hours. We all were paranoid about the metro & but he decided it was his best option to get out of the city. It was just painful waiting to hear until he got home safely. I can only imagine how it was for people with family and friends in the towers.
I was sleeping but scheduled to depart from Denver to Houston in the afternoon. I was stuck at school for my quarter break so my parents went to pick me up from far away. I flew back 2 weeks later and my flight was practically empty. I don’t blame them. I was so mad I wasn’t going to be scared away or stop my life for those cowards!
I was… working at a daycare center answering phones as i usually did from 6:30 am to 9 am before i went into my classroom to teach. a parent had called to say a plane hit the twin towers. it seemed sort of strange to me at first and i merely thought it was a defect in the plane or a mechanical problem. i went about my business and was alerted by a second parent who was dropping their child off, that a second plane had hit the towers and was believed to be a terrorist act. that is when panic struck my mind and fear that we were being invaded.i worked in long island, ny and thought that other planes were flying over us and were going to crash near where i lived.i wanted to go home immediatley but couldn’t because we had children in our center who had parents working in the city and some staff members who had relatives that worked in the towers, so i had to cover their shift. i will never forget my co workers faces that day or the fear in the parents eyes as they rushed to pick up their children. luckily we did not loose any one we knew that day.like many people, i will never forget the day that these terrorists came on our turf and destroyed our lives forever. in fact i do not think i was ever inside the twin towers in all of my life, and if i was i was too small to remember. I hope that we never have to experience another attack on american soil like that ever again. god bless everyone.
Emerado, ND At work, in our business manager’s office. The radio was on in the background with the story on it. I wasn’t really listening, but then it sunk in what they were saying. We turned on the television in our computer lab just in time to see the second plane hit the towers, and we were just horrified by what we say. I’ll never forget
Long Island, New York I was…Driving on Motor Parkway, a beautiful twisty road winding through Commack and Dix Hills. I had the windows and sunroof open and Santana’s Supernatural CRANKIN’! When I got to work at Newsday everyone was standing around stunned, people were trying to tune in a tv station. It was terrible, several employees left because their son was in one of the towers (he was safe we found out later). It was not a good day for advertising…
I was at work i didnt know that anything had happened until my boss told me so we all went into his off and watched the news on his computer…
West Coast I was preparing to wake up my two sons for school when I turned on a morning news tv program. As the picture came into focus, I saw the thick smoke and flames billowing from the WTC. At that time only one tower was hit. Horrified, I asked myself how all of those people would get out. Innocently believing it was a catastrophic accident, I then saw the second tower being struck by the aircraft. For the first and only time in my life, my brain would not and could not process what I had just seen… my mind was just a blank.
God bless all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and their loved ones, as well as all the brave firefighters and police who escaped with their lives. You have redefined the word “hero”.
california I was on the 101 freeway heading to Los Angeles. The one day we didn’t turn on the radio. We didn’t know what had happened until we arrived.
Miami Beach I had just arrived to work, a couple of my chefs ran over and told me planes had flown into the World Trade Center. Because of the strange look on their faces I thought this must be some kind of joke. After convincing me that it wasn’t we went into the office and pulled up a news service on the internet. There it was live in streaming video. The anguish on their faces was overwhelming…many of their friends worked at Windows on the World.
Fort Wayne, IN I was working in a our call center helping clients move their money from closing funds into new appointed funds. I had just answered an incoming call and the women I was speaking with stopped speaking…and then said,”Oh my God, a plane just hit the World Trade Center!” and as she watched her tv. I listen to her give the details and then she said, “Another plane just hit the other Tower!”. We ended our call and then I went upstairs to see the news. Groups of people stood in front of all of the tv’s in our building. Everyone just stood in disbelief not understanding what had just happened. Several times throughout the day we would all gather around the tv’s to get the latest information.
I was on a plane. United Airlines. In mid-air. Headed to Los Angeles. Then the pilot gets on the PA and says they have to land because all the planes across the country have been grounded by the FAA.
I had a fear of flying anyway so this didn’t exactly help. Then the pilot gets back on and says “there’s nothing wrong with our plane, we just have to land now”. So we did, in Vegas. Took 11 hours to find a car and drive home.
Definitely a memorable day, although not for the right reasons. I took solace in the fact that it could have been a lot worse for me because I made it home fine and there were people on planes who didn’t make it home that day.
Muskogee, OK I was on the phone with my mom, when she said to me: “Oh my God, Jennifer! Turn your TV on!” We were both horrified, crying and praying for the lost souls continuously that day as events unfolded before us. It was a terrible thing…. that will not go unpunished. May God bless and keep us all safe… and protect those who fight for and protect our freedom.
I was in my dorm room at college. I had just woken up and was eating breakfast so I turned on the news and saw that the first plane had crashed into the WTC. I called my mom at work and told her to turn on her radio. While we were on the phone trying to figure out what happened the second plane crashed. We both started crying and my mom wanted me to come home. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. I went to school in the Upper Pennisula and The International Bridge that connects Canada to the United States was backed up for hours and hours. They increased security and checked everyone that was trying to get acrossed. That night we had a candle light vigil at the Peace Pole. I just think it’s so sad what happened and a complete waste. All those innocent lives lost…..and still more innocent lives lost to this day in Iraq. When is the killing going to stop?
i was at my friends. our schol was on strike so i spent the night, i woke up and went into the living and we just sat there and watched the news for awhile until we couldnt take it anymore then my friend and i went any got some more of our friends and went and hung out to get our minds off of it.
I was in 7th grade, in band, and i remember that no one in the band new what was happening until other kids arrived at the school. That day, the teachers were not allowed to have any TV’s or radios on and were not allowed to talk about it with the students.
driving in my car to my office when I heard Warner Wolff on IMUS say that a plane hit the world trade center. By the time I was parking my car, the 2nd plane hit. Inside my office they were already listening to the radio. I never felt that scared for the future of mankind than at that minute.
Shelley, New Jersey
Cleveland That Tuesday, I was into the second day of training two students, one from the People’s Republic of China, one from Taiwan. It was a quiet day at work and between 8 and 9 AM I was preparing for class, then from 9 on, teaching. Hadn’t heard a newscast or anything since I had gotten in. At about 10:30, we took a break and I got online to talk to a friend.
“Oh, Loren, it’s terrible!” my friend said.
“What’s terrible?” I asked back.
“Someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center!
Until that moment, I hadn’t heard anything at all about what had happened. I was aghast and shaken badly … but I still had my students and felt strongly about my responsibility to continue their training. We got back to the training after the break and I did what I could to focus on continuing the course. I made a point of taking them out to lunch to a familiar Szechwan restaurant where I figured there was little chance of hassle. My fear was that ANY kind of foreigner might be a target for someone wanting to indulge in xenophobia but that was not the case.
Somehow, I managed to finish the day’s material, though we wrapped up early – my heart really wasn’t quite IN it. I remember commenting to an associate sometime after my students had left for the day:
“I think we’re at war … question is, with whom?”
ky. at work, I could barely hear the news on the pa system, as the radio was on. I heard something about a plane hitting a building. I waited awhile and heard nothing from anybody, so I went to the office and asked to have the t.v. turned on to see what was happening. I was horrified. I was thinking all hell is going to break loose now! Nobody does this to the U.S. and gets by with it. I had plans that evening, but I went home, scared of what was going to happen next.
Long Island sick in bed with a sinus headache. My husband was on his way into NYC for a business meeting. He called me from the road to tell me a plane had just struck the towers and that I should turn on the TV. The next few hours were a flurry of activity at our home as we tried to determine whether my aunt was safe since she worked in the WFC. Once we received word she was okay, we still were not sure if the message was from before of after the collapse. It wasn’t until that evening that we got good news. She had been asked to triage patients at the base of the towers and NYPD evacuated them as the tower started to come down. I thank God that my aunt was spared and feel for those who lost loved ones that day. This day should never be forgotten and will never be in my household.
I was actually living in a motel at the time with my boyfriend, now my husband. We had just woken up, and he left for work. I was all alone in my room, and I turned on the TV. I sat there with my mouth open. What the heck was happening??? I was in shock, so much that I just couldn’t fathom the fact that we had just been attacked by heartless, cold people. Who would do this to our country…TO ANY COUNTRY??
God Bless our heroes…our brave firefighters and policemen…and all of the people affected by 911. Gee, that sure doesn’t leave ANYONE out, does it?
Alabama I was on a ballistic missle submarine in the Atlantic Ocean at about 300 ft underwater. We were actually able to float an antenna wire and pick up an AM talk radio station out of New York. We thought we were going to war and were all ready. We didn’t get to see any actual footage until a couple months later and it was like it was happening all over again.
Clinton Township, MI I was at work, listening to what was usually a very funny radio show. All of a sudden Drew and Mike got deathly quiet and serious. As we heard the news of the first tower attack, we turned on a tv in the office to follow what was happening.
Once I saw what was going on, it felt like my heart fell to the floor as I began to understand the magnitude of this attack. For days, every chance I got, I watched news program after program; and spent more time crying for the souls that were lost than I ever have cried.
I remember phoning my husband, who was on the road, to advise him what was going on, and pleaded with him to “watch the sky” for other potential attacks.
It was a moment that would change my life forever! I have come to appreciate life much more fully and try to take each moment in life as the gift that it is from God!
God will continue to provide strength for our country, our president and our people! In God I trust!!
Dekalb, IL I was at work training for a new position. I work in a hospital lab and after hearing repeatedly that something had occured I went to the lab lounge to see what was going on. We have one TV and the entire day shift staff was crowded into the lounge. I couldn’t really hear or see what was going on. Then the towers fell and the reality that something horrible and probably intentional had occured. I was so distracted that I left work early since there was no way I could learn anything new with that on my mind. I worried for all my friend in downtown Chicago which was feared as a target. When I arrived home I found my father home from work early vacantly watching CNN. He did not leave that screen for almost 3 days. I still get a sick feeling to relive the moment of not knowing what was going on. I hope we can relive the peace and compassion that followed 9/11 when people tried to do their part to make a difference no matter how small.
I was at school, where we talked and remember this day. In honor of all those you lost there life or someone close to them we where red, white, and blue.
i was at work and our driver came in and said that a plane had just crashed into the worl trade center. then the other then the pentagon…i said someone has unleashed the fury of the us and is gonna get their ass kicked
I was at Ft. Dix in a class room when everybodies cell phones went off. When they said the tower was hit, I thought they were talking about the eiffel tower. I had no clue it would of been the world trade center.
Trisha: Garner, NC- I was at work and about 20min before it happened I had a horrible feeling overwhelm me for no reason. I had a friend go outside with me where I just started crying and trying to tell her I didn’t know what it was going to be or to who, but something terrible was going to happen. 20min later our boss came outside and got us and told us what was happening. There were annonamous threats to bomb schools here in our area and I left the office and drove straight to the school and had the office call my girls down. As soon as I saw them I hit my knees and cried hugging them. I took them home and we spent the rest of the day snuggled on the couch watching the news and crying.
Wisconsin I was in the desk kitty-corner from the first seat in the first row, Mrs. Pride’s sixth grade reading class, when the principal delivered the short, shocking news over the PA.
Later that day, at lunch, my friend scared me with more, mostly incorrect information. I had to leave early math class fifth hour to go home, because I had scared myself to a low-grade fever. Mum and I watched the news, crying, with my dog in my lap, for a long time after that. She still has all of the news videotapes we recorded, hours and hours, sitting labeled on our shelves.
I was…pregnant with my first child. I was at home on bed rest, three weeks from delivering. I was horrified by the events that unfolded.
Interlaken, New Jersey I am a teacher and I was in school. The school put the series on events on all classroom tvs so we watch the horror as in occurred. Because I am in New Jersey we were devastated by the events. Some of our students had family who worked at the World Trade Center. It was a very emotional day and we all suffered because of it. I a blessed to have know many of those who lost their lives. I pray for them and their families every day and for all the students who were affected by this tragedy. I am 66 years old and have seen too many tragedies in my life such as the Korean Conflict, the VietNam Conflict, the John Kennedy assassination, the Martin Luther King assassination and the Iraqi War that has my grandson involved in a country where he and we do not belong. I pray that one day we all live in peace and that we don’t ever again see individuals believe that it is ok to take the lives of the innocent. God Bless the fallen and the families of the fallen in all these sad occasions.
Doing laundry at my local laundry mat here in New Haven, IN and they had a tv on at the time. Didn’t pay attention to it at first until the woman working there said that a plane just hit that building. I turned around and started watching it. They also had a local radio station playing on their overhead speakers which kept cutting in with updates on the situation. When I left, I remember staring up at the sky and saying “Lord protect us”. After I got home, I watched the TV until I had to go to work. My thought right before I punched in was that what I am doing today is meaningless compared to the events that have taken place. I worked at a large retailer and I remember that all the TV’s were on a news channel with continuous coverage of the attack. I remember trying to get a copy of the evening paper because I knew this was going to be a historic day that would never be forgotten. I also remember the insane lines at the gas station nearby as everyone panicked about possible gas shortages. Everyone that worked and shopped that day seemed in a daze. Its an event I will never forget for the rest of my life.
Chris
i was on an exchange trip for my high school (in germany) and i was headed for windows of the world but we were late because of traffic into the city
I was at school.
I was in Savannah, Ga on the Savannah River that particular day – It was a shame to hear from the dock personnel when I returned to the port.
I lost two friends that worked with me at UPI – Reporters that were in the Twin Towers – jms
I was getting ready for work and listening to the Today show, when the local New York newscast broke in on channel 4. I wasn’t in front of the TV because I was doing my hair in the bathroom, so I figured it must have been 8:56, and that I was running a little later than I thought I was. I looked at my watch and realized the local news indeed was broadcasting earlier than usual. I went to my bedroom to see why, and the anchors were reporting that it appeared a small aircraft had crashed into one of the WTC towers. I sat and watched them speculate for several minutes on what may have happened, when the second tower seemed to spontaneously burst into flames. At this point everybody was stunned; it seemed that the explosion was caused by some sort of bomb. Nobody knew exactly what in the world was going on, except that at this point it appeared to be an attack of some sort. Then one of the station’s own newscasters — I think it was Pat Battle — called into the station and was put on the broadcast live to report via telephone. She said that a plane had flown into the tower and caused the second explosion — that she had seen it. The station replayed the footage leading up to the explosion, and sure enough, you could see the plane deliberately heading into the building. At this point, I’m thinking — well, not exactly thinking, because my brain was surely addled by these events — that I really was running late by now, and I had to hurry up and get into the office.
I live in Hudson County in New Jersey and worked in Manhattan, and at the time I lived along a street that has probably the best view of Manhattan, just across the Hudson River. I knew that as soon as I walked outside I would see the towers burning. So I finish getting dressed and go out to wait for the bus to take me to the ferry terminal, so I can go across the river. As I’m waiting on the corner, I’m staring at the smoke streaming out of the towers against a beautiful sky, and I’m thinking, “Wow, it’s really going to take a lot of work to fix those buildings.” The ferry bus comes, and there are a few other commuters on it, some staring out of the windows at the towers, others reading and not paying it that much attention. In retrospect, I think we all were in a state of shock, still planning to go about our days, go into our Manhattan offices, and act like it’s business as usual.
I was shaken out of my stupor just a few minutes later when the bus arrived at the terminal, which sits down on the river with a bird’s-eye view of the city. There, a rush of people were coming TOWARD the bus instead of away from it, which would ordinarily be the case during morning rush hour. That alone was surprising. Then, as I was starting to step off the bus, a woman shouted, “Go home! Go home! We’re under attack! They hit the Pentagon and the Capitol!” (Of course, we later find out that the Capitol wasn’t hit.) It was only then that I realized we were at war. I really thought the bombs would start falling any minute.
The ferry terminal was packed, with boats still leaving at that point, but with so many people waiting, I figured that I probably wouldn’t make it into the office anytime soon. I decided to call my boss to tell him, and had to use the pay phone to make the call, since cell service was out. I was standing near the door of the terminal, on the phone with my boss, when the first tower fell. I got off the phone and looked at the mass of dust and smoke coming from the ground when the announcement came that the terminal was closing and that there would be no more ferries that day. As the smoke starts to clear from the initial collapse, I see the strangest sight of the day for me: one single tower, standing alone, smoke still pouring from its upper floors. It was something that had never been seen before. The towers went up together, and they were called twins precisely because they always stood together, each a perfect replica of the other. One standing alone? It was unfathomable, yet I was looking at it. I turn my back to the smoldering mess and the lone tower, unable to look at it any longer. I contemplate what to do next: go home and stay there, or go home, pack up some stuff, and get in my car and head south on I-95 to be with my family and friends.
I walk back to where the ferry buses waited to evacuate people from the terminal, and as I am about to get on a bus, a guy on a bike rides by. He’s whooping and yelling, “Death to America!” I wonder now why no one tackled him.
As I ride back to my apartment, I’m staring out of the window, now just waiting for the remaining tower to join his twin’s fate, wondering, but not wanting to think too hard, about whether everybody got out in time. When I reach my stop, I wonder whether I should stand outside and watch the inevitable collapse of the building, or go inside and watch on television. I opt for the latter because I was feeling completely cut off and needed information. I turn on the television, and moments later I watch the second tower collapse, and hear a scream outside my window.
I was in my school class room
NORWALK, CONN I WAS WATCHING IT FROM FROM THE NEWS CHANEL LIVE FROM START TO FINISH, AND WAS IN SHOCK ON HOW SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD HAPPEN. WE LOST FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THIS TRAGEDY AND WE MUST STAY STRONG AND KEEP THE PRAYERS GOING FOR THE FAMILIES. GOD BLESS US ALL.
Maryland It was a fairly late morning due to being up all night with my newborn son.. I called my mom and she informed me as to what was going on and from there I was glued to the t.v. most of the day mortified… my prayers and my thoughts have been with the families and victims ever since… God Bless this country…
Phoenix, AZ My alarm clock radio woke me to the news but I couldn’t fathom what I was hearing until I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane manuevering and stricking the second tower. Was like watching a movie-only real people died! We need to a better strategic plan to prevent this from happening again….guns and bombs are not the only answers!
CA I was scratching my head and muttering to myself in horror, “What has Bush done now!”
Sweded Me and my mom was on an American Airline flight from Sweden to Chicago, we were on our way to see my sick grandmother in California. A friend at the same time was on a Delta flight which departed from Sweden an hour later.
It was over Greenland that the Captain said on the speakers that he wanted us to pay attention and stop doing what we were doing and something had happend, he would get back with more info in 5 min.. at this time I looked outside the window and saw the icy greenland and I thought that I was DIED and damn #%&¤, #/(## and “”(/”&!
When the captian came back he described it as world war III had started.
We found out that the two towers was attacked and we were to be derouted to Montreal, Canada. My friend on the Delta flight was derouted to Ireland.
We landed on a national airport that the runway was not designed for the plane we were in.. so the captain litterly floored the brakes at touchdown. We got on a transfer bus and bomb dogs went through our things. When we arrived at the airport the first thing I saw was a gigantic fight at the payphones and then I saw on the tv screens the magnitude of the attack..
Granbury, Texas I was working at a pre-school with my little boy at the time. One of the teachers told me to come out of my classroom to watch the t.v. I was in shock! My heart and prayers go out to our country.
Lafayette, Louisiana My alarm clock woke me up with the news of the first two
crashes. My husband called me, and told me to turn on the tv. I was already watching. Horrified, I watched the towers fall. I was pregnant and ready to deliver any day. I remember thinking how glad I was that my son was not born on Sept. 11. Over the few weeks, as I looked in my son’s nursery, it was so sureal. I had decorated it in a flag theme. It was amazing to see the flags bloom across our city. God bless the men who fight for our freedom. Jennifer
I was putting in a heating system on east ave in rochester NY untill I got activated at about noon and told to report to my unit
i was working on 12 st and i see everything from the roof
At my high school teaching job. I will never forget the shocked look on everyones’ face. I was soooo surprised that school was not dismissed, for the horror of it all, and the respect of all who died in vain. Why don’t we have a 9/11 day off out of respect? anyone care to comment on this?
I was with a dear friend at his home, trying to come to grips with a medical procedure – hysterectomy, scheduled for 9/12 (due to recurring medical problems). Although my doctors strongly recommended this surgery, I was still unsure if this was the choice I really wanted to make. But, after the devastation and the evil of men I witnessed on 9/11 – I knew I didn’t want to bring another life into this world that was in such turmoil. And though I cry sometimes about the loss of my ability to bear children, but I know I made the right choice that day.
hawaii Asleep and got a phone call around 4am i woke up and turned the tv on and saw it was horrifying
I was working for Child Protective Services and was so worried about some test I was about to take. I remember driving to work and trying look over notes at the same time. Howard Stern was on the radio talking about some party with Pam Anderson at Scores. I didn’t find out until I walked into the building and went to my floor. By that time, the Pentagon had been hit. And everything I was worried about before seemed meaningless.
I was home and had turned on the new prior to the first plane hitting, then everything changed and by the second plane I was sure we were at war. The Pentagon confirmed my thoughts. I will not forget that day and will not let my family either. We cannot let history repeat itself…
JTD/9-11-06
I was on the computer ordering Halloween gifts from Oriental Trading Co.
Red Wing, MN I was driving down the street going to my usual day of breakfast. When I got to the resturant and I told my freind the waitress and she went to the kitchen and they turned on the tv and kept us update as much as possible. And when the second one hit I was eating breakfast. I continued to watch off and on the rest of the day at home. I will never forget that day as long as I live. So sad and senseless.
I was at home, watching it all on the tv. It was devestating to watch. Britney S. North Bend, OR
I was in my fourth grade classroom. They never told us what was going on. We just saw the towers coming down and people screaming and crying. It was like the same footage over and over again. But, it was all different footage.
Pepperell, MA I was in the parking lot of dunkin donuts when i heard the horrible news, and when i walked into the shop and i repeated what i had just heard, everyone was very quiet. very sad.
New Jersey At work, sitting at my desk, not believing what a co-worker was saying about a plane hitting the North Tower.
My clock radio woke me up with the news. I thought that they were talking about the twin towers in Century City. Took my children to school. Came home, listened to the news and realized what happened.
your location (optional) I was on an Amtrak train coming home from Indiana on the morning of 9/11. I live in upstate NY. I was in a sleeper car with no tv and may have been one of the last people to find out. I had a premonition something was going to happen and had been extremely jumpy to go home for two weeks prior to the attack. I’d flown out there and would have been in a jet that morning but I’d lost my only credit card. I took the train instead and paid cash. I was petrified on the flight out there. People on the jet knew something was coming. We were praying and reading the Bible openly in the first week of August. I keep wondering why I was allowed to come home safely and I keep wondering why I knew something was going to happen.
I was in my 6th grade history class, making a book on greece, mrs. hazelwood was going over how to do the population page and i was working on some other page, not listening to a word she said when all of a sudden, all the corner ceiling t.v.’s (that never ever worked before) came on, as as the principle’s voice came over the intercom, all we all saw way planes crashing into the twin tower buildings. we spent the rest of the day talking about what that was going to mean to america, and how we were know a part of history and kids years later would be learning about something we lived through and could remember…
I was in school, in class when the planes hit the world trade center
DeWitt, Michigan I was at home in Michigan, getting ready for work. My husband was watching the CBS morning show and told me I had to come see because a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. As we watched, live on TV, the second plane hit. We were in absolute shock. After the other plane hit the Pentagon and the other plane went down in Pennsylvania, I called our kid’s schools and asked if they were going to send them home early. The told me the whole district was in lockdown — no one, not even parents, were allowed on school property. That scared the living daylights out of me. The remained of the day was spent with my boss, glued to the TV at work, praying frequently, and crying occassionally. I’ve lived through 3 hurricanes in Florida, but that day is the most terrifying of my life. God Speed to all those who perished that day…please know that we will NEVER forget!
Illinois I was at work, and work that fateful day was a blood drive at our local nuclear power plant. We had just arrived and got set up, only to hear about the Twin Tower attacks. I immediately did NOT want to be at a nuclear power plant! The people in security at the plant told us not to worry, they had security people with guns that would shoot at any intruders…but people with guns could NOT have shot down an airplane, if they had come at the power plant!!! Thankfully we did cut our blood drive short that day, but we should have gone home immediately. I will never forget it, our innocence was lost forever.
I was in gym class in my high school in Williamsport, PA. No one really knew what was going on, although our school would not allow us to see what was going on throughout the day. I didn’t really find out what happened until I got home from school.
Mn I was at home with my young child watching the today show and they were showing the footage of first plane hitting the tower then i thought it was still the first plane then could not belive that it was live footage of the second plane
I was playing golf and a friend told me about the disaster.I couldn´t believe it and i turn on my mobile telephone to read the headlines news, and it was true, the towers were colapsed down.From the first moment i thought that the only reason just could be a terrorist atack.
Suso from Galicia Northwestern Spain
AT HOME
I was so unprepared for a discussion we had about the news of 9/11 (I attended a Senior Support Group). Even though I wasn’t aware then. I soon became very informed listening, watching TV, reading news articles. Just, as today I am still widely absorbing todays recollections of this memorial to (9/11/2001)
Toronto, Canada I was at work. I remember coming in to work a little late to think that some guy in a Cessna had flown off course. I went down to get a coffee a little while later just in time to see the second plane hit. By the time I got back upstairs, the first tower had fallen. I was just in shock. It took a long time to realize what was going on. My wife and I had just found out we were expecting out first child and I remember thinking “what kind of a world were we bringing a child into that could do this”.
I was working at a daycare and most parents rushed to pick up their children but some didn’t – some had parents at the petagon and 2 lost thiers that day – all I could think was that their world and ours would be totally different from that day forward. I’m from the generation that didn’t have nuclear bomb drills and we heard no sirens as we were at our desks and now all these childrens will know about emergency preparedness and what to do if thier parents are the next ones to not come pick them up.
New York City I was crossing the Williamsburg Bridge, from Brooklyn to Manhattan when I saw the second plane hit the tower. I just kept walking into the city, almost like a zombie. I was late for work, and like a New Yorker I was magnitized towards the action. I spent the day wandering around, as work had been cancelled and trying to track down a friend who was an EMT at the tradescenter. I was lost, but united by fellow New Yorkers.
I was at work at Griffis Business Park, formerly Griffis Air Base until clinton closed it. When the news came over the radio, I instanly knew it was terrorism and told my buddies so.They thought I was nuts and busted my chops until the second one hit, then I was a busy man. They sent us home and by thenthat business park again looked very military because of NEADS.
Matt Dentino
Rome, NY
DENVER, COLORADO I had just moved to Denver, Colorado from Raleigh, North Carolina 10 days prior to 9/11 and was staying with my friend Jon for a few weeks until I got settled. I was up early that morning and climbing back into bed with the dog for a few more minutes of sleep before starting my first day at work. Jon, who was always checking his email, read aloud a report that a plane just crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. The report made it sound like a small plane, a Cessna or something of that size, and he didn’t seem too concerned. He left for work and I turned on ABC to see tower 1 burning. I really didn’t want to leave the television set and go to work. I considered calling in for the day knowing a friend of mine lived in NYC and I was worried about him. However, I did go into work and we basically watched reports all day on the TV in the kitchen area. Several people from Corporate HQs who were visiting on business were trying to figure out how to get home because all the planes had been grounded. I remember resenting them for being so angry about having to rent cars and drive back home when more important things were going on, but they just wanted to be with family. I regret that I did not watch much TV the next few days. I feel like I missed out on a lot of stories and information that I can never retrieve. I remember really missing my family back home and feeling so sorry for all the young professionals, like me, who could not find their husbands and wives in the aftermath.
In California. My 12 year old son had the t.v. on that morning. As we stood and watched the towers—we just turned and looked at each other with horror—the night before we had watched a movie called ‘On the Beach’….if you have ever seen this movie—-it scared us; it was like someone up above was trying to warn us. I had just ‘picked up’ this movie as it was a free movie on my membership.
Tucson I worked at a nightclub in Tucson, Arizona at the time. I hadn’t worked the night before but I had gone out. I believe I had gone to Monday night Football at the place I worked and then went out dancing. I went home around 3 in the am. I was thinking about normal stuff. I was happy and carefree! The next morning my mom woke me up around 9 or 10 and said a plane has crashed into The world trade center…I thought that she was joking at first, then I thought it was an accident, maybe small plane. I woke in time to see the second plane hit, then I heard about The pentagon and I knew we had been attacked, that War had been declared on this great republic. I knew that my life would be forever different. I realized that a certain innocence was gone from Modern America forever. I knew that I was going to live through years of war abroad and political strife at home. I love my country, and I am still happy! The silver lining is that 9/11 woke up America in a sense. We know first hand that evil exists…that freedom isn’t free. It is paid for in blood, Sweat and Tears!
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”
Thomas Jefferson
Sincerely,
Caesar
I was doing an election campaign on the streets of lower Manhattan until someone who was passing by told me that one of twin tower has collapsed so I should go home instead of doing the campaign. I was dumbstruck. I still couldn’t believe it when I got back to campaign headquarter because everything looked so normal. Except when I tried to catch subway to Queens, the train didn’t run. So I had to walk up to 59th St. Queensborough Bridge and pass over the bridge. As I walked, I slowly realized that this was real because everyone was moving uptown. From the 5th Ave, I could see the white smoke rising from far down. When I set at the corner of central park to catch a breath, I saw a guy talking to another stranger as though he was reading a monologue. My files, my office, desk, chair, it’s all gone…. Cars were moving very slowly on the sidewalk of the bridge where pedestrians should be and all the pedestrians were walking on the main road of the Queensboro Bridge. When I looked back I saw white smoke raising from downtown.
concord, ca in bed, i heard on the radio but i thought it was the dj’s being stupid. we had friends staying in an rv with a flight out that day, i had to wake them up in tears and tell them they would not be able to fly out. they drove the rented rv all the way to FL
Norfolk, VA: My husband in in the Navy, and we were stationed there. His ship was due to deply in two weeks, and his parents were visiting. I remember I was taking out the trash, while he was out taking his Mother to the store. He came walking into the driveway and said “Honey, pack my stuff.” I said “Why, you still have two weeks!” He told me what had happened and to turn on the tv. He was certain he would be recalled at any moment – he was right! He was told to report by 2:00 pm. We spent the morning getting him ready to go, and playing with our seven month old twin gilrs. I still have the picture of the three of them I took that day on my refigerator. He ended up being gone for seven months. I watched tv for three days strait.
on 9-11 2001 i was just getting up to eat some breakfast. at about 9;15 or so i turned on my t.v. while i was preparing breakfast, i heard an emergency message a plane crashed into the w.t.c. i think it was a few minutes or so after i had heard the message.
I was in my 7th grade math class. My teacher accidently turned the tv on right as the planes crashed into the buildings.
Texas I was in school. When I got to my Criminal Justice class we watched the continuous coverage on the news. A girl in the class had said that her grandmother was supposed to be on one of the flights. I don’t know the fate of her grandmother, but I hope she was alright.
I was at school when my we had an announcement and they said that it was an early realease but they didnt give a reason. I wasnt scared at first because i didnt know what was going on. My mom picked me up early and i arrived home, my dad was watching the news, i saw what happened, i was stunned. When i saw that the second plane crashed i understood that it was no accident. I was a kid so i didnt know what to expect but i was still worried.
On Sept. 11, i was at 32nd Street Naval base in San Diego, CA. A female sailor came in the room a little after 6 a.m, West Coast time, and said a plane hit a buiding in new York . We turned on the T.V and watched the horrific act unfold. God bless America and those who lost there life. Best wishes with their families and loved ones.–Serving my country, 24 CA
I was just waking up, getting ready to go to my first day of school, when I saw my parents outside watching the news, kind of in shock. Since I was going to third grade at the time, I just knew that the World Trade Center was hit by an airplane.
duluth, mn I was at home getting ready to leave for an 8am class. I never turned on the tv usually in the morning, but that day something told me to turn it on. I was kind of watching the early news….just normal news items when all of a sudden they broke in with the news of the first plane hitting. I couldn’t believe it so I started paying more attention and as they were talking about it and had live camera feeds of the world trade center the 2nd plane hit. I just thought that it was so strange that I had such a strong feeling to turn the tv on….and then the news which I usually never watch. That day in all my classes I remember them bringing tv’s in and all we did was watch the coverage.
DENVER, COLORADO I was on the bus on my way to school. At that time I was in seventh grade so I didn’t have a clue what the World Trade Center was. So when I heard that over the radio on the bus I just sort of shrugged it off. When I got into my first hour class I was confused as to what was going on. My teacher turned on the T.V. and we watched the news the entire period, actually in every class we did, anyway I still had no idea what was going on, but I did realize that thousands of people were killed by the towers being hit and falling. Now that I look back at it I am mad at myself for not knowing what was happening. I mean the World Trade Center was a huge part of America and so were all those innocent people that were killed. I should have been aware of how badly our country was hurting, I am aware now. It is sad though that we are not bonding as a nation anymore. We were for a while and then sadly some people that 9/11 did not personally effect were back to normal lives. I believe we should come together again as Americans no matter what your race, sex, or religion is…..WE ARE AMERICANS. Help each other out don’t just walk by when someone needs help. Care for others as you did on the day this tragedy occured. STAND UNITED ONCE AGAIN!!!
ANONYMOUS,, i was in Alaska during 9/ 11.
Chico, Ca I was in my second year at CSU Chico, waking up to my roommate’s boyfriend screaming that we were at war. After watching the news for a few minutes not knowing what was going on, I called as many friends as I could to wake them up and turn on the TV. When the second plane hit I knew it was no accident. The next few days were a numb fog–seeing the towers collapse over and over again both on TV and in nightmares. Horrible. But also a unifying time for America.
I was in bed, and woke at 6:00 am to horrible cramps. For me to be up this earily was a rarity. I put the TV on to comfort me and take my mind off of the pain. The comfort of the TV turned into a nightmare.
I was… I was at home getting ready for work. My husband called me from his car. To tell me the horrific news.
It was a much anticipated day off & I was relaxing with a cup of tea & some needlepoint while watching the am news. At first I thought there was only a fire in the WTC, then the second plane hit, then the Pentagon was hit. It was a nightmare. I called my husband at work & my place of work to tell them to turn on the tv. Like the Kennedy & Martin Luther King assinations & the Challenger, it’s a moment that will always be crystal clear in my memory.
Eugene, Oregon At 6 am PDT on September 11, 2001, I was, as usual, starting my morning email to my friend in Brisbane, Australia. My subject line, based on an NPR story that I was listening to as I opened a new message was “Something terrible in New York.” I began my email noting that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings and then proceeded to our normal e-conversation for a few minutes. Within minutes I heard that another plane had hit another WTC building. I was, of course, startled and reported it to my friend, saying that that hardly seemed a coincidence. The next thing I noted in my email (between random personal conversation) was the shocking report that terrorism might be involved. I continued to write my friend throughout the morning (we were excused from work that day), reporting as news came over the radio. When they reported the collapse of the first building, I reported it in stunned words to my friend, understanding that there could be 10,000 people inside that building. I continued to write until nearly noon Pacific Time, relating reports of the second building caming down, the Pentagon being hit, the plane crashing in Pennsylvania. Finally, I hit “Send.” When my friend got up at about 1 pm my time, she, as usual, opened her email program. Upon reading the first part of my email, she called to her husband to turn on their TV and that’s when they learned what was going on. My Australian friend and I continue to email each other daily (we are now in our 8th year) and find much to discuss, analyze and agonize over in a seemingly deteriorating world situation. I feel that she and I have experienced 9/11–and all that has followed–together. Two lives 8,000 physical miles apart but intimately linked by the state of the world we share. We are all in the same world–and that’s not always good.
Sacramento, CA I woke up and turned on the tv right as the 1st pictures were displayed, I thought I was watching a movie scene, it took a few seconds to realize what was going on. I went to work downtown (across from the State Capitol) not knowing what else to do and just stood out front staying at all the police cars around the State Capitol. It is a day that will be etched in my memory forever, good bless all those who perished in this horror
Fort Collins, CO I was at my parents house and it was in the moring before I went to school around 8:45am and I remember turing on the T.V to see what was on. I saw the event on every channel and I was confuesed on what was going on. Since I had to go I could not stay long enough to see what happen, and then i herd it on the radio on the way to school, it seemed un real and scary at the same time.
I remember getting a call from my sister who was sent home when the plane crashed in Philly, I was just happy that she was ok.
Atlanta, GA I was in the fifth grade, and the teacher across the hall from my classroom started crying uncontrollably. All of the other fifth grade teachers left the room to comfort her, leaving their students extremely confused. Later that day my friend explained to me what happened, but I still didn’t understand. When school ended I went home, and my parents sat me down and gave me a full account of the events that happened. I was horrified for a while after that.
I was at home
i was in 2nd grda in school
I had just finished re-tileing my bathtub.
Dallas,Texas
Portland Maine On 9/11 I was about to do a 9:00 AM training for Time Warner Cable Company in Portland, Maine. Because of their work they have televisions everywhere, and there was a TV in the training room. A few people had entered the room for the training when an employee came in and said, “Turn on the TV, a plane just hit the World Trade Center.” As people filed into the room quietly we all were there to witness the second plane hitting the second tower. After a brief discussion the training was canceled and I packed the supplies up into my vehicle for the 30 minute ride home, listening all the while to the radio, and feeling like the broadcast of the plane hitting the Pentagon must have been a joke. It was as if I was listening to War of the Worlds. I kept waiting for the announcer to come back on and say, “No, this hasn’t been confirmed.”
Only a few hours later I became aware that two of the terrorists – Mohammad Atta and his accomplice – had driven right behind the Time Warner Cable Company on their way to the Portland Jetport. That very morning, as I’d woken up to prepare for my training, they’d been traveling down the Maine Mall Rd. toward the airport, the very same road I arrived on. It was such a chilling thought, knowing I’d missed them on the road only by a matter of a few hundred minutes, and that they’d been in our midst here in southern Maine, shopped at the Wal-Mart, gone through a bank’s ATM, left their car at the Jetport Parking Garage that morning. It’s so scary to realize that safety and peace is not something we can count on, that in fact sometimes the people to fear are closer than we could ever imagine.
Thank God for all of the good people in the world whose work promotes peace and understanding, something we need so much more of in the face of horror.
Vale, Oregon I was at home with my family getting my kids ready for school as well as myself and I had sat down for a minute to watch the Today show and caught a glimpse of the first plane in the tower, so I called my husband in to look. We thought that the plane was off course until a few minutes later the 2nd plane hit while we were watching……Devastating, to say the least.
Toronto, ONT I was at school in a computer lab. Someone mentioned it and I tried to verify it on cnn.com. But the site was down because everyone was trying to figure out what is going on. Ended up watching it on TV in the grad lounge.
My whole family decided to take our first trip to Walt Disney World because our school was opening late. We left Newark Airport on 9/9. We were having breakfast when the attack accured. We decided to head to one of the parks to keep things as normal as possible for our children. They closed the parks but all the pools were open at the hotels so we tried to have a good day. When we flew home the following Saturday it was weird because there were hardly anyone on our plane going back to Newark, NJ. We felt safe but very sad especially when we saw the WTC site. My father worked in the WTC for 15 years and I have fond memories of the towers.
On my Uncle’s couch half asleep wondering if I was dreaming….Hoping I was.
I was in school. My mom picked me up right before gym, and then I found out what happened.
i was serving in the Navy onboard the USS Shreveport LPD 12 sitting on the mess decks watching in disbelief
I was working at my desk.
on the 50th floor
I was…asleep and my flag was hanging in the halway
Cape Neddick, ME I was at work l;istening to the radio when I heard that a plane had hit the 1st tower. I called my husband at work and told him what happened, he said it was probably some inexperienced pilot and that I shouldnt worry. When the 2nd plane hit I called my husband again, scared out of my mind, it was then he realized that it wasn’t an accident, and it just kept getting worse as the morning went on. Pretty soon, we were all at work watching the TV, wondering what was going to happen next. I kept trying to hold back the tears thinking OMG! this can’t be happening, My husband told me that if anything happened and they told us to leave the building that I should no, and get out ASAP. I watched TV all night long and many days after just crying for all those people who lost their lives.
I vividly remember waking up to my alarm, and hearing George Bush’s voice saying that a plane has flown into the World Trade Center
I was…On a roof in Minnesota, building a house, and saw fighter jets fly over, and the job supervisor informed us of what happened. It took a few minutes to register what happened.
I was getting ready for a job interview. This was a much anticipated interview since I had been unemployed for 4 monthes and was a single Mom with a little 4 year old. I turned the tv on and terror was everywhere and it shot through my veins. A day I will always remember. Now 5 years later, my daughter is almost 10 now and she still asks, “Mommy, have they caught the powerful man yet?” I sadly had to say, “No honey, not yet”…And all she said was “When will they catch him?”. I couldn’t answer her…:(
arriving at my special ed classroom to find my assistant staring at the computer screen with tears running down her face, and a look af awe and disbelief.
I was…on an airplane at that exact time until they grounded all aircraft. So, we ended up at Disneyworld on Sept 11, which was only the second day in history that the park was closed.
KT
Bethlehem, PA It was my senior year of High School. It was the beginning of my Human Anatomy class and I remember a girl rushing into my class room saying “Turn the TV on! We’re under attack!”
I was in the bed. My best friends Mom called looking for her and told me that we had been attacked. She made it sound like there were ground troops outside the door. I turned on the tv and spent the entire morning just sitting in front of it. I went to work that night at a fast food restaurant where I managed. We brought the employee training tv out to the dining room and everybody, customers, employees, everyone stood in front of it all night. Nobody complained about the wait or anything. Sometimes people cried, some people just stood silently. It was the most moving experience because for the moment we were all on the exact same page.
Cecelia C. I was a freshman in college at the University of Montevallo. I was ready to go to my first class but had made plans to meet my friend, Bethanie, for breakfast. I remember my first class was a modern dance class, so I was showing up to the cafeteria in my leotard. Bethanie met me at the door and asked me if I had heard what happened. I was like WHAT?!?! I walked into the cafeteria and saw it was true… the TVs were all showing it. I couldn’t eat. I went back to my dorm and turned on the TV. My roomate was sleeping… but woke up at the sound of the TV. She was mad at me for waking her up, but she soon realized what was on the TV and watched with me.
at school in philadelphia
I was walking my dog and I was just a block away when the first plane hit. I felt the cold dark chill run down my spine… I mean it was horrible. My dog started going crazy . I was just standing there ofr like 15 min, people were really running in every directions screaming, screaming… I eventually satrted running back from where I was coming from. Anyways I hated it and I hate the bastards who caused all of this $hit. Burn in hell whoever did this. You ruined thousands of lives.But karma will slap back in the face.
I was…. in Midtown Manhatten in the office.
When I first heard about it I was in geometry class in 10th grade. Everyone stopped what they were doing and was watching everything on television. When I saw what was happening I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m sorry for the people who have lost loved ones and hope they are doing well today. God bless.
i was at work , as a police officer
CHICAGO, IL: I was driving to my grandma’s house, where I park and walk to the train station to work downtown. As I turned on the ignition, the radio started immediately with Mancow’s morning show. They were talking about terrorism, a plane, something like that. I wasn’t really paying attention, but as I parked the car, I heard him say something about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York. At first, I thought it was a joke. But as I sat there for a minute, I realized it was the real thing, and I thought, “Oh my God, what a horrible accident.” I continued to walk to the train and make my way downtown. The words “plane” and “building” could be overheard from other people’s conversations. When I got to work, on the 42nd floor, my boss told me that two planes had hit the WTC buildings. A second plane? It was then that I thought to myself, “Oh my God, this was no accident.” He continued to watch the news in his office as I and another assistant sat anxiously at our desks. The only phone calls we got were of family members making sure we were all right. Then he came out of his office and said, “One of the towers just fell.” We all just looked at each other. After a little while longer, my boss came back and said the second building had fell. He told us we could go home if we wanted to. My co-worker looked at me and said, “I’m outta here!”, and I was soon to follow. On the train ride home, there was much confusion and anxiety. I came home and turned the TV on to find that almost every single channel had one horrific image. The next morning on the train was eerie; as everyone sat together in silence, each and every person was thinking the same and feeling the same thing, and each person knew what everyone else was thinking and feeling.
just going into a morning meeting near washington DC.
Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida MFL Members Remember Sept 11, 2001
September 11th Trip Report
Or “How a Character at Walt Disney World can communicate without speaking”
In honor and rememberance of those who passed away in the horrible tragedy last September 11th, I decided to write a trip report detailed my experiences last year at Walt Disney World.
I had a trip to Ft Lauderdale on September 7, 2001 to go to school. I would be finished with classes on Sept 9th and I decided I needed a little mini vacation afterwards. I had contacted some friends who live in Florida and asked them if they wanted to send a few days at WDW. My friend Patty, who had been there a few times before, would have to ask her husband, Randy, who had never been there.
After several weeks of talking him into it, we decided we could go for 4 days – I would meet them in Ft. Lauderdale on September 9th, we would drive to WDW and I would fly home from Orlando on the 13th.
Me, being the great planner that I am, had to get everything booked right so that Randy would have a great time, and want to go back again. Originally, I booked the Beach Club, but after Randy complained it was too much money, I switched everyone over to the All Star Sports – still on property, I was fine with that, and Randy was fine with the cost. I made a few PSs for a character breakfast, dinner at the Castle, and of course, I planned for Tuesday night at Jelly Roll’s (CM night is great there!).
Well, we arrived at WDW around 4pm on September 9th, checked into our connecting rooms at the All Stars and I immediately said “We have to get over to Epcot.” It’s the very last time that the “Tapestry of Nations” Parade will be going on. The parade was changing over to the “Tapestry of Dreams” parade. We caught the parade and hit a few attractions at Epcot, including Test Track. And then we saw Illuminations and had a great dinner at Marrakesh.
Epcot was closing, so I decided that we would have a night cap over at Jelly Rolls on the Boardwalk. We met some fun people and I, of course, had to make some balloons animals and hats for everyone.
It was late and we headed back to the All Stars. I had a PS for dinner at the Castle on Tuesday, so I decided that on Monday the 10th, we would hit MGM and then go to our PS dinner at Jiko. Early Monday, I woke Patty and Randy up and we headed over to MGM. I finally got to see the BAH even though it still wasn’t complete. We did mostly everything at MGM, it was the second week of September and all the kids were back at school. I got #1 on the fastest fingers at WWTBAM right before time was called. We hit TOT and RnR, and pretty much everything. At around 1pm, it was time for lunch, and I, of course, had to go visit Mom and the Cousin’s, so I headed over to the 50’s Prime Time Café with Patty and Randy. Of course, lunch was unbelievable again, and I had to have them make my favorite Peanut Butter and Chocolate shake – YUM!. And, once again, I made balloon animals for all the cousins and Mom – and, even though I hadn’t been there in over a year, everyone remembered me – it was so cool.
By now, Patty and Randy were tired. I had run them around pretty good. They said that they wanted to take a nap before dinner (at Jiko! – I couldn’t wait), so we headed back to the All Stars. It was now around 3pm. They napped, I wanted to explore! Having never stayed at the All Star Movies, I had to go check it out to see what all the excitement was about. It was so cool – I wanna stay there some time. After checking out the All Star Movies, I wanted to check out the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Even though we were planning to go there for dinner, I had never seen it, and I wanted to check it out in the day light, and see the animals.
I was totally overwhelmed by the resort. It is beautiful and huge and wonderful and….. I could go on forever. I definitely want to stay there sometime. I spend several hours out back watching that animals, talking with the CMs, some of who are from Africa, about the resort, and about my trip that I took years ago on a real African safari. In fact, several of the CMs there had also worked at some of the same safari camps I stayed at when I was in Zimbabwe. And of course, I had to teach the CMs how to make balloon animals too!.
It was getting late, I headed back to the All Star Sports, showered, got Patty and Randy and headed back to the AKL for dinner at Jiko. Once again, it was so amazing, one of the best dinners I have ever had! We had wine and food and food and wine and wine and food. We had the best CMs, we had a newlywed couple next to us, and we had a loud table of fun women having a ball. By the end of the evening, we three tables we great friends! And of course, I had to make balloons for everyone! Time to head over to PI for a night cap and some fun. We hit all the clubs, and of course wished everyone “Happy New Year.” And, of course, I had to show Patty and Randy how fun the Adventurer’s Club could be. And, since Patty and Randy are New Yorker’s like me, (and since Patty had a little bit too drink), they joined right in on the fun and ended up on stage doing the Monkey Dance. It was great!
We got back to the All Star Sports around 3am. The only thing planned for Tuesday was dinner at the castle so we did not really need to get up too early to get to the MK. But I did want to get my hair cut on Main Street. We went to bed…….
And I was woken up by Patty knocking on my door, telling me to turn the television on, the World Trade Center was on fire. In disbelief, we watched the second tower get hit. What is going on! What do we do. We watched, we cried, we did not know what to do. We talked about checking out and heading back to their house, we talked about staying at WDW, we did not know. Finally, we said, let’s have breakfast, calm down a little and figure out what to do. We drove over to the Contemporary for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. Of course, everyone was watching on television as the first Tower collapsed. We got a table in the restaurant, but no one was hungry, just sick to our stomaches. The place was pretty empty, the characters – Mickey, Goofy came around, we took a picture, but it just wasn’t the same. We were glued to the television, it just wasn’t happening, but it was.
Then, while Patty and Randy where watching the television and I was at the table alone, Chip (of “Chip & Dale” fame) came over to the table – his “Chip” face was as happy as could be – as it should be at WDW, but then Chip signed – he pointed his two index fingers straight up in the air in front of his face, then he took his two fingers to his eyes, down his nose – my eyes watered as I realized what he was signing – the Twin Towers and then tears.
Indiana i was @ school in 3rd grade
going to the dentist’s office and trying to believe that the world was still the sane safe place it was the night before.
I was at work when my co-worker stopped by my office and remarked that a plane had hit the WTC. We both thought it was a small private plane like a Cessna or something. I remember we chuckled and said “What kind of a dumba$$ runs into the World Trade Center?” Right after that we heard about the second plane and realized this was no accident.
i was….. chilling smoking a blunt of arizonas finest and i was devestated to see this shit happening i could not belive it rest in peace to all those who lost there lives in this tragedy
i was at scholol.
I put on the tv, Brian Gumble was loosing his mind, he was in deep denial even when the second plane hit, his thoughts where is was a coinsidence. One my way to work the towers went down, that when the horror really hit me, I had to pull over, I was crying so hard I could no longer see the road. Today, I took my grandson to school, saw the flags at half mast and burst into tears again. I will never get over this.
I am sitting in front of the computer reading a site titled “http://wherewereyou911.net/.
San Diego CA – I was in my office at about 6:00 Pacific time. At about 6:30 that morning a co-worker came in and said he heard on the radio a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We soon went online and saw events as they unfolded. Everyone was sent home about an hour later.
In bed. I awoke to it when the radio woke me up at 6. I immediately turned on the TV and saw the nightmare unfold in silent, snowy fashion. It was so incredible… I felt hardly anything. As the days unfolded, and I learned more and more, I thought Mecca and the Kabaah might become heaps. To this day, it still stands unscathed. Maybe Allah IS protecting “His house”?
I was studying in Chile for my last years of college. I had just gotten out of class with my friend (her father worked in the Pentagon) when our professor came up to us and told us that a plane had crashed. We had no idea how serious it was until we got back to our apartment and saw what was happening on the news. We felt so helpless that we were that far away from our friends and family. We immediately called everyone to make sure all of our loved ones were ok.
I was dressing for a job interview and turned on the news to the first tower burning, I woke up my child to watch as I knew that although we didnt know what was happening …it was history.
i had just got got my kids off to daycare,an stop by a friends house,he was waching tv,and i asked what are u waching,he said,a plane crashed into the first WTCtower
and from then on my heart just sadden
Coldspring, TX 14 years old in 9th grade. In highschool first period class. the principal told everyone on thge intercom to turn the tv on. EVERYBODY was completely shocked and horrified. We stayed in the first period all day till it was time to go home.
I was at work at a court house in Massachusetts, and I heard someone say that a plane had it the tower – I assumed it was the air traffic control tower at Logan. A little while later the court house was closed and while there was no panic people wasted no time getting out. My company met at a restaurant down the street and on the lounge t.v. is where we first saw the two burning towers.
i was 4year old and i was in daycare and i like it to
now im in 5 i went to prescooland i had friends
in bed and the phone rang. It was my husband and it was sometime after 6 am in Southern California. He was in San Francisco for business and had tuned on the television in his hotel room to listen to the news as he prepared for the day. He called to let me know about the first crash. As we were talking the second tower was struck. I remember saying to him, “Peter, our lives will never be the same. . . .”
14 years old/9th grade in my highschool first period class. The principal got on the intercom and told everybody to put the tv on. EVERYBODY was shocked completely!!
I was on a nuclear powered fast attack submarine in the North Atlantic. The captain came over the 1MC and announced what had happened. He said we were to continue our mission. I remember lying in my rack and thinking that history had just been divided in two. Before 9/11 and after 9/11. We were largely unable to communicate with our loved ones back home, which made things a little difficult. It was over a month later that we finally pulled into a port and were able to call our families. The radio guys said that when they first got the news they thought it was a fictional exercise for us. Just a scenario for a war game. Then they realized what circuit it came over. Not the exercise circuit. The news circuit.
Shawnee, KS I was in U.S. History class (ironically) when we learned of the first plane…Hopefully assuming that it was an accident, I went on to third period, Art class, where we saw the second plane crash on the television, and immediately knew it was not an accident.
Shawnee, KS I was in U.S. History class (ironically) when we learned of the first plane…Hopefully assuming that it was an accident, I went on to third period, Art class, where we saw the second plane crash on the television, and immediately knew it was not an accident.
I woke up by this frantic voice of a radio announcer and I immediately turn on the TV to CNN and in disbelief saw the smoked ridden North Tower and after which the strike on the South Tower. I woke up my kids and husband and cannot understand why my kids are witnessing these kind of evildoings. I live in Vancouver, Canada and went to work that morning but I missed my bus stop because I was shocked thinking that i could be one of those unfortunate office workers.
God Bless US All!!!
I was downtown. My office at that time was on Reade
Street just east of Broadway. At the time I was on Reade Street and Broadway and watch as the towers crumbled
to the ground. For five years, any sight of the buildings
burning or not, brought a tightening feeling in my chest and I would fight back tears.. finally, this weekend I watched Flight 93, which had footage of the attacks, and I finally let everything out. I cried on and of for three
hours and finally fell asleep. On sunday I wazs able to watch “Inside the Twin Towers” (i think that was the name ) and I was able to sit through it. While it was still hard bor me, I did not have the same tightning feeling, nor did
i cry or fight back tears. I think i finally came to temrs with the fact that was severly impacted by witnessing the
destruction of my (towers) twin towers and the lives
lost on that day.
I hope that sharing this will help someone else to
cope.
at work when a coworker said the internet issued a bulliten that a plane hit the WTC. Not much got done at the office the rest of the day. Everyone was listening to the radio and sneeking out to the lunchroom TV to see the news. A very sad day I will never forget
It basically started out as a normal day. Beings I was living in CA at the time, I was 3 hrs behind, so when I heard the news on the radio, I was going to my weight training class at my college at 6am. I didn’t go to work until 12:30pm that day so when I got home from exersize, I watched more of the devistation on TV and of course that is all we talked about at work and everywhere else for a long time.
I was sitting in my first period computer class, senior year of high school. For the rest of the school day we were shuffled from movie room to movie room to watch what was happening on the big screens.
I was at home nursing my 3rd child when it came on the news. Both my husband and I work for American Airlines and he was flying. I sat in shock and disbelief, even as the facts were coming across the screen. I knew most of the crewmwmbers. It is still a haunting memory, every time I go to work.
I was at work, had just started the day when we heard. I don’t recall how we heard, whether someone called us up, but we heard about it within minutes of the first plane hitting the towers. The one that had my neighbors niece on it, Karen Martin, head flight attendent on Flight 11. She was the very first person killed that day, as she tried to block the hijacker’s access to the cockpit.
Our controller had a tiny tv set on his desk, but we weren’t allowed to gather around it because we had a modern day nazi for a boss. She REFUSED to allow us to leave – and my brother was an American Airlines pilot at the time, didn’t find out he was okay until late that night – until after 2:00 pm, and she was PISSED because she had to pay us all for an entirely lost work day. She even tried to force some of us to make sales calls, but the phone systems in the US were rapidly overwhelmed by people trying to call loved ones, so we weren’t able to do so. Those few people we could get through to, we cried on the phones with. No business transactions took place – no one cared about business the moment it all started.
All of us were shocked and completely horrified, first by the events of that day as they unfolded, and second, by the fact that we worked for a completely heartless, money-hungry woman.
I didn’t see any of the footage firsthand, but in the hours upon hours of video replays, the visuals were indelibly burned into my brain nonetheless. The footage that tore my heart out the most were the two people who held hands as they plunged to their deaths.
I was…on a flight inbound to LaGuardia from Frankfurt Germany on Continental Airlines. The stewardesses appeared red eyed and frantic, and there were some whispering before the pilots announced that America had been attacked. Alot of people that flew that day later said that they didnt know what had happened until they landed–many in another country than their original destination had been–because the airlines were afraid of inciting panic on the planes. There was no panic on my flight, just a quietness and then people sharing cellphones and sympathy and sorrow. They didnt tell us where we were going to land, but it ended up that we had enough fuel to land us back in Frankfurt–a 16 hour flight to nowhere. After spending one year overseas, I spent 4 extra days stranded in Germany with thousands of other people, which was better then being with those stranded in Canada. Continental was able to put up the entire flight in a hotel for two nights, meals and a daily charter bus back to the airport included–forever grateful for their willingness to help, I havent heard of another airline being that generous. After that, I spent the one night in an apartment that was donated by a local Tech firm. The last night was spent on the airport floor. When the airspace reopened, you were only guaranteed a flight back to New York, after that it was whatever was available to wherever was close to where you were going. I flew into a city 4 hours from where I live and my boyfriend picked me up. We hadnt seen each other for 9 months and weve been together ever since. Some things can bind you together just as much as they can pull you apart.
Silver Spring, MD I was in a calculus class at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD. I was my only class that day. I wasn’t aware of it untill I got to my car and listed to DC 101 on the radio. Elliot was comenting on a plain that had crashe in to one of the Trade Centers. He said they weren’t sure if the collision was an accident of a deliberate atack. Then they said that “oh! there come another plain. OOOHHH!” The radio host was watching it on tv. I was un real. I thoug something like that could never happen. Then I rushe to a friends house and saw the replay for myself.
I was…at home in bed, i skipped school that day i was a senior in high school. i went to mcdonalds to get breakfast for me and my boyfriend, on the way there the town was like a ghost town everybody must of already went home. It was rainy and chilly, there was a lil boy and his mother in rain coats on the corner giving out papers about the attack. i went home and stayed in bed and watched the news it was so sad.
I was working at 90 John St about 5 blocks away, and thanking god that my 7 month pregnant wife was no longer with Goldman Sachs right in front of the WTC’s.
I was here at work in Ohio at one of the local community colleges. It was in between quarters. Consequently, there were little to no students or faculty around. I remember going down stairs to the cafeteria to get coffee. The televisions were on and one of the few workers was standing and watching which made me stop and watch. The first tower had already been hit by the time I got downstairs. Then the second tower was hit. As I watched in horror the second building came down. Then the first bulding came down as I yelled out loud “OH MY GOD NO–God NO!!!!” I left to pick up my child from school and called family, friends and loved ones to see if they were all okay. All’s I could do was cry and pray, pray and cry.
finished with my first group therapy session and I had gone into another building and I heard/saw it on the television. I sat there for 30 minutes staring at the television. My son, who is an Air Force pilot, had just gotten married and was immediately sent overseas. My daughter-in-law, who had just gotten out of the Air Force was immediately re-called back to active duty. I remember that I had a friend that worked on Wall Street and that had a son that worked as a stock broker in the WTC. I could not reach her on the phone until late that evening. I learned her son had escaped but was not heard from until just before I called her. The day was an entire blur otherwise.
I was at work. My girlfriend phoned me and said a plane had crashed into the WTC. I didn’t believe here, until everyone went rushing to our staff dining area to watch tv.
We sat watching tv while the other plane hit and then the buildings came down. Was the worst thing ive ever witnessed in my life
My thoughts go out to everyone affected/involved
at school not believing what we were seeing on tv
my alarm woke me up and the t.v. was already on all i saw was the twin towers buring i didnt know what was going so i sat down and kept watching and thinking ive never seen anything like this before and then the second plane hit i thought i was still sleeping so i woke my wife & she was in disbelief.i didnt even go to work that day.
I was in my apartment in Los Angeles, California…I awoke a half hour early and had CNN on. When I saw the plane and the smoke in the first building, I sensed that this was a deliberate act right away. I was on the phone with my ex-girlfriend and she was freaking out. When the next plane hit, I tried to keep her sane but it was difficult because she was after blood. We had been dating for four months and things were going ok but right after the attacks, I saw a totally different person in her. I know what our country has done in the past and why some people hate us for our policies around the world which date back decades. I was trying to explain this point to her but it was futile. All she really wanted to do was to find a way to join the FBI, CIA, DEA or any branch of the federal government to avenge this. She had lived in NYC for years so there was also a strong connection for her. I knew that the beginning of a war, some war had just started on that day. We did not make it as a couple. Two weeks later on my birthday we broke up primarily because she could not get revenge out of her mind. I don’t think an eye for an eye is the way to live one’s life but apparently that was the only way she felt we should respond. Today, we have a president who doesn’t look into the eyes of the American people and see the grief, disappointment and utter despair we feel toward him, we have a president who speaks over us. He will do what he wants because what the American population thinks is not his concern. He is lead by another master and that is why war will never end. For war to end one side has to say, stop. This will not happen until one side listens to the other. And that is not happening now.
long island i was in school it was sad :’(
I was in my 11th grade Italian class, I remember my teacher turning on the telivision just as the second plane hit the second tower..it was one of the worst days of my life..I will never forget it for as long as I live..
pennsylvania i was in sixth grade..someone came in my class and told our teacher what happened. i had no idea what was going on. i went to my next class and on the computer was the pictues of the towers, at that time still burning and in the air. i remember one of the students was crying. when i got home my parents wouldnt let me watch the tv. that night i remember lying in bed and i was so afraid. i know i wasnt really near any of the attacks, but i still feel affected by it because it happened to our country. i pray almost everyday for those who lost their lives that day and their loved ones..i also pray for those fighting in the war. God bless America!
Louisiana I was getting ready for work for a grantwriting and loan business. Well my mother called me and told me a plane hit the WTC; me thinking it was just a pilot that lost his direction because back in 1950’s a plane hit the Empire Building in NYC. Well as I got to work on my cell phone I looked at the TV and I notice another plane hit the South tower I was shaken to bits, I did not know what was going on because there is no way logic that two pilots can have misdirection. I remember talking to a best friend and let her know that we as the US is under attack. I do not know what was going on it was so confusing to see the pictures and news coming in at the same time. I will never forget that day, nor will I never forget how we as a nation come together as one.
Staten Island, NY In math class when my principal went on th PA telling the school that something happened in Manhattan. She asked us to stand for a prayer (I went to a catholic school) and I didn’t think much of it. Then, hundreds of parents came by the school to pick up their children. Pretty soon, 2/3 of the school left. After lunch, we didn’t have class because of the kids that left. As I looked out the window, I saw a fighter jet fly overhead. It was then that I thought, “How bad is it that we need fighter planes over our city?” On my way home, the streets were barren. My dad told me that there is no more World Trade Center. I couldn’t even imagine how bad things were. Anxious to see how bad it was, I turned on the news. The first thing I saw was Lower Manhattan with a huge cloud of dust where the twin towers used to stand. After that I looked outside my bedroom window and I saw the dust cloud taking up half of the sky.
I was at working at my job. When this guy came running
inside the store. He said that a plane had hit the trade
center. I didn’t understand what was going on When I went on my break that is when I saw it on TV.
i was at home getting ready for work, needless to say the rest of the day was horrific, spent in prayer and sadness
I was at school, like most people. When I got home, my mother sat me down and explained to us what had happened. A neighbor of mine was on flight 77, and another neighbor was at the Pentagon but got out ok…SO A PLANE DID HIT THE PENTAGON! NOT A MISSILE!
I was working at George Weston Bakeries in Totowa, NJ. The woman who sat in front of me turned to me and said that her mother called and said something about a small plane hitting the WTC. I assumed it was a business commuter plane, it was an accident and I didn’t really give it too much thought. Not much later, she turned to me and said the second tower just got hit by another plane. That made me nervous. We all tried to get on the internet but it was getting jammed due to volume. Some of us ran downstairs because we heard there was a tv in the depot. That is where we saw the tower go down. Everyone was crying. I went back to my desk and heard the Pentacon was hit. At that moment I thought for certain that this was the start of WW3. I grabbed my purse, told my boss I was leaving and headed to the high school to pick up my son. If anything was going to happen I wanted him with me. We drove to the top of the hill where we lived in Hawthorne, NJ and could see the tower remains burning. We found out the next day someone from our town lost his life there.
I was…taking my child to a birthday party at the zoo.
ITs funny my daughter and I noticed how after all this happened American Flags and pride were everywhere, and now its like people forgot. I will always have a day of memory for this day. We who forget are fools!
at school
Dallas, Texas I had the day off from work and was taking my friend to the DMV to get her ID card. We were on our way back when we heard the horrible news on the radio and even thought it was a bad joke at first! When we walked through the door we were just in time to see the second plane hit. I was in total shock! I then called my mom at work and just cried! What a horrific day that no one will ever forget! Thoughts, love and prayers to the families of all that were lost.
I was in my room and watching television when it hit. I was awed. It was very sad. I just hope the person(s) who did this got a swift and just punishment.
I was at my desk at 46th & Park. Someone yelled out that a plan just crashed in the WTC. Everyone thought it was an accident, until the second one hit. Then we all knew. Was stuck in NY that night but was able to go home the next day. It was surreal watching everyone outside the buildings walking around in a daze looking up into the sky, mothers with children trying to hide under building overpasses. Felt like a war right in our own backyard. I hope to God that nothing like this ever happens again.
lying on the couch in my girlfriend’s apartment, resting and waiting to go to my early afternoon classes on campus.
I was at home in bed when the first plane hit…I woke up and turned on the T.V. to see the 2nd plane flying in.
I was at home and had just woke up. I turned on the television and sat down to check my email when I seen what was happening. I tuned in just after the first plane hit. I was glued to the television the rest of the day.
in my bed sleep i was 2 hrs behind in texas so i didnt find out about it until about 8 when i was in class
I was sitting on the foot of my bed as I had just woken up, turned on the tv a saw the entire thing. I was mortified and very frightened. cried all day. It was a saturday morning.
911 and the day Kennedy was killed will always stand out,.in everyones mind,I am sure.
i was at school, while my parents were on the train. all of my friends got dismissed from school early by their parents, but i was stuck tehre until 6 when my parents could finally come :[
Waldorf Maryland i wrote that last 1
In my Fourth Grade Class…all of a sudden i noticed that alomost my whole class was gone to be dissmissed with in 10 minutes, as well as most kids from my school..my school was only 15 or 20 miles away from D.C..still it was a big impact, i had no idea what was going on, im not sure if my teacher did either, we had a tv in the room, never was turned on, we had no notice that it was a day of terror…later after school, i was dropped off at my old baysitters house, my mom picked me up after her work shift and my mom and her were asking eachother what had happened, both of them had already known, my mom said ‘two planes crashed into the twin towers’
i had no idea what that meant or what was going on..it seemed like a normal day, i eventually found out what had happened, i was 9 or 10 at the time, but i didnt understand, i didnt have much sorrow at the time sadly..i did not understand..within this past year, i have felt such sorrow for those lost and what had happened, and i also wish that i had seen all of the original WTC standing to this day
I was working in Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill for a Congressman. A few of us were sitting around waiting to have a staff meeting when we saw the first report of something hitting one of the WTC towers. Our initial reaction was what a terrible accident, but my boss knew what was going on right away. He said it wasn’t an accident – it was terrorists. It wasn’t too long after that, when the second tower and Pentagon were hit, that we realized it was time for us to leave our office. The rest of the day we were glued to the television at my house, about 10 blocks from the Capitol building.
I was sitting in the community center of my college campus… on my way to class I saw SEVERAL people surrounding the t.v. I watched the second plane hit the tower. I remember thinking, this is some sort of joke — some sort of very unfunny spoof of the movie, Wag The Dog. I went to my class – Humanities in the Western Tradition and was told by several classmates that it was an American Airlines plane that hit the first tower and a United plane the second, and indeed not a joke. I immediately started panicking… My father was a pilot for American Airlines at that time and I knew that he was supposed to be flying that day. I started calling his house, the cell phones were saying circuits were busy. I went to class and tried to pay attention — still calling my father’s house & cell phone every twenty minutes to no avail. I went to my following class — the class that was supposed to be a discussion of the previous… someone came to our classroom and said that our campus was being evacuated due to terroist treats (we have a very famous polymer science department). I remember driving home, trying to get my dad… Finally at 3 or 4 that afternoon he was able to call me. That was the happiest moment for me, just to hear his voice. He wasn’t feeling well that morning and didn’t fly. He called off sick. Isn’t it interesting that the most simple of decisions could mean life or death. Once I got a hold of him, I was glued to the television. Once I was able to breathe again, I watched in awe that something so horrible could actually happen — Here!?! We are America! What nonsense was all this. I knew people didn’t like us, I knew we were the “ugly Americans” but I couldn’t and still cannot seem to wrap my head around that kind of dislike and hatred.
Kansas I was a High School Senior in a small town in Kansas. I first heard about the attacks going from one class to another.
I was recovering at home from bone surgery, talking on the phone and glanced at the TV only to see a plan crashing into the Twin Towers. I actually thought I was glanceing at a movie preview, then I told my friend who was on the phone to hold on…my remark was “what in the _____, Oh my God.” I told her what had happen and we both hung up quickly. My first response was to call my daughter who travels to New York and Washington quite often and make sure she was in her office and not flying. I cried all afternoon like many others did and could not tear myself away from the TV. My daughter left work and came to sit with me, realizing how it could have easily been her at the Towers. It makes you want to slap yourself in the face and say “wake up fool, stop taking every thing for granite , like your freedom and stop acting like horrible things only happen to other people in other places”. We have got to realize that our loved ones can be jerked out from under us in a split second .
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada I was in bed sleeping when my girlfriend at the time called me from school to tell me about it
Fairfield CA I was on my way to work when a fellow worker called to inform me of this horrible disaster. At the time it wasn’t elevated to the level it eventually became. Once I got back home I started watching all the news footage and shock pervaded me and my family. The magnitude seemed to grow in front of our eyes, and the looks of despair and frustration will never leave our minds. We wish to extend our heartfelt sympathies to all who were affected. The thoughts of it will never go away as long as they shall live. Although it’s often said that “time heals all” this is something that probably won’t [heal]. It’s just too unthinkable and horrific.
at work in ohio, the plane that crashed in Pa actually flew over our area. No one knew what was going on, or when it would stop. There was a terrible fear. But the next day there was such pride and unity in our country
Powder Springs, Ga It was my sophmore year of high school. I was in math class just like any other day and when I left class someone told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I told them that there was no way it was true and it wasn’t funny to joke about. Then I saw the new reports…
I was in my classroom and did not hear about it until i came home from school.
A I was at work. Shortly after 9 am my wife called and ask did I hear about the plane that crashed into the WTC. I said no. I was just finishing a customer interview. I dismissed the urgency at first thinking that a small engine plane just got off course and grazed the building. While still on the phone my said, “I can’t believe it. Another plane had crashed into the other tower. Hold on a minute sweetheart, you mean two planes have crashed into the WTC? Yes. Two air liners. I metioned this to my immediate coworkers. They appeared stunned. I went to one of our Director’s office that had a television on. There she was staring blankly and astonished as pictures of both towers of the WTC wer on fire with tremendous flames and smoke. Others were now coming in and we were all awestruck knowing full well that life in our nation and our world on this planet had forever changed. Our children would live differently beyond 9/11. No matter who was at fault. No matter the previous circumstances. Our lives changed for the remainder of our time on this earth. God forgive us. God help us ! Amen.
I WAS AT HOME.i HAD DECIDED THE NIGHT BEFORE TO CALL IN AND GO SHOPPING WITH MY DAUGHTER THAT DAY. YOU KNOW A GOOF OFF DAY. wELL WE WERE UP GETTING READY AND SAW THE NEWS.wE WERE DEVASTATED AND OF COURSE WE WENT NO WHERE. iT WAS SUCH A HORRIBLE THING. i HAVE A HARD TIME REALIZING THAT IT HAPPENED HERE,IN AMERICA. i AM BORN AND RAISED HERE IN AMERICA,AND PROUD OF IT. i AM NOT PREJIDUCE AT ALL. aNY ONE THAT THAT WANTS TO BETTER THEM SELVES i SAY AMERICA IS THE PLACE.
on my way to work with my sister when we heard. Tragic for the rest of the day.
I was…in NYC, lower east side teaching students with special needs. I just moved to NYC from Florida. I had no idea the extent of this tragedy until we were all sent to the cafeteria in the school’s basement. It was then that I saw the look on the teachers’ faces. My main priority was the safety of my students and to be with them until they were picked up by their parents. We all tried to distract them from the details, but teachers, staff, and students were all beginning to share the details. Initially, it seemed like local event and I wasn’t aware of the magnitude until I tried to call my fiance and family back home in Florida. I couldn’t get a line out and I could only hear the chaos that existed beyond the brick walls.
On my walk home, which was near the UN, I’ll never forget the look in everyone’s eyes.. a look of stillness, fear, absence and utter shock. As my co-workers said good-bye to go and hug their family members, I entered my apartment alone and afraid. It was then that I broke down in tears and called my mother to let her know that I was safe. On this day, I realized that nothing in life is permanent and I stopped taking my loved ones for granted. Hugs, love and appreciation are now a part of my daily practice.
Michigan In a high school class
southwestern USA I was likely the last airplane in the sky, I was flying and monitioring Bighorn sheep telemetry collars. I was flying without my aircraft radios on and did not know about the disasters until I landed about two and a half hours after the attacks on the twin towers.
I was driving to drop off my two toddlers at Grandma’s house for childcare while I went to work for two financial advisors in Colorado. My husband called my cell and said a plane had hit the towers. When I arrived at Grandma’s I watched the TV briefly. In shock, but not too terribly concerned since New York seemed quite far away to me at the time, I then said, “Take care of my kids, we’re under attack.” Grandma also in shock just said, “O.K.” and I left for the office. When I arrived we watched the rest unfold on TV in the office of one of the advisor’s that didn’t show up for work – turned out it was also his wedding anniversary. I remember having trouble concentrating on work and then going outside and eerily seeing no planes or jetstreams at all, since all planes had been grounded nationwide.
University of Kansas, Lawrence. I was at work. Someone came in the office and told us that a plane had just hit one of the Twin Towers and then the bad news just kept coming…my husband was on a business trip in North Carolina…he was stranded there for two days.
stationed in Germany.I had just got home from working at the middle /high school.My parents called to tell us the towers were hit.I was in shock, I turned the television on and was shocked .The base went to tight security and people were in there homes,leaving only if necessary.As a military spouse ,it hit home because deployments came to mind.It was a terrible day in history!
Upstate NY I was at my best friend’s house, having coffee and listening to the radio when the news came that a plane had hit the north tower. We couldn’t figure how a plane had hit the tower and I really thought that it was one of those tur planes or something, the idea of a jumbo jet doing this on purpose was inconcievable… We turned on CNN and it was them we realized no small plane could have done all that damage. We watched as the second plane came and mt friend asked it they were suppose to fly that close and I said no they are not and then the second plane hit. I can’t even describe what I felt, to this day I cannot see this without starting to cry. I was horrified when I saw those people jumping to their deaths, I will never forget those images. I went home and turned on the TV there and started making phone calls. I lived on Long Island then and everyone from there either worked in NYC or knew someone who did. I remember the emptiness and the utter silence when the planes were grounded, it was always so much backround noise and the absense of them made things so silent. I lost friends there. I miss the way things used to be and I used to go into NYC so much but I haven’t been once, except to drive through the Bronx when visiting LI; it is just too painful. It is something I will never forget and no one should ever forget.
I was home in Connecticut with my wife. We were talking to a friend who had recently been hospitalized while on vacation in England. We did not hear of the attack until we hung up the phone and another friend called us and asked us to turn on the tv.
Salt Lake City I was laying on the couch, having stayed home sick from work. I couldn’t believe what I was watching when news of the first plane hitting the tower. I was completely fixated on this horrible accident, then when the second tower was hit all I could do was look over to my two tiny kids and cry….and think about how different of a world they will be living in after today. I will always remember!
Lansing I was at my part-time job as a cashier for a chain retail store (the one with the bulls-eye) and I was walking into the back to get something. An elderly customer stopped me and asked me if I heard the news. I told her that I hadn’t. She told me that one of the towers had been struck by a plane. I didn’t believe her so I called home and was told that both towers were hit and that they thought it was an act of terrorism. I was shocked. I ran up front to tell the others and my manager grabbed a radio so we could listen to the news broadcast. I went home and didn’t sleep all night. I just kept watching CNN. I think I was up for 48 hours praying that more people would get pulled from the wreckage.
KENTUCKY AT THE TIME OF ATTACKS I was…At a life changing doctor’s appointment, that morning I was preparing to have a life changing surgery the gastric bypass, as my husband and I sat to see the surgeon we heard about the first plane, my husband is a US Marine (13yrs) and all He– broke loose where we were, that day I knew my life was about to change with the surgery but being a marine wife I knew we were heading to war, and I was right, my husband has been to Afaganastan and Iraq and I am a lucky woman he came home to me, unlike so many that has died for what happened on 9/11. As for me personally I have major complications with the bypass and I will never forget that day as I was changed as was all those that lost loved ones, plus seeing my husband return from 2 wars due to this senseless act of haterd..Well that is one Marine families story, nothing to compare to those that has lost loved ones in this mess. My life changing experience with this will be with me until I die, and I will never forget, as I live with my problems that remind of where I was and what I was doing that morning…God Bless all those that are still here and Thank You to those that aren’t…
Marine Family
Camp Lejeune NC
Aylmer Ontario Canada I was deep in the woods of Northern Ontario. We came out for supplies on the 12th. When the store clerk asked what we thought about the incident we thought it was a joke until she showed us the newspaper article and pictures. It became a very sober moment for us and we felt the anger and the saddness envelope us all.
I was at home getting ready to go to my office when my wife told me to come into the living room and to see the news on the TV.
I was at my mother in law’s. My husband’s aunt called and said “Are you watching the news? A plane just hit one of the twin towers!” I turned the news on just in time to see the second plane hit. My husband at the time was in the Army and stationed at Fort Hood, TX. I think it was a diferent kind of fear, knowing the father of my child could be called to war at any moment.
At a life changing doctor’s appointment, that morning I was preparing to have a life changing surgery the gastric bypass, as my husband and I sat to see the surgeon we heard about the first plane, my husband is a US Marine (13yrs) and all He– broke loose where we were, that day I knew my life was about to change with the surgery but being a marine wife I knew we were heading to war, and I was right, my husband has been to Afaganastan and Iraq and I am a lucky woman he came home to me, unlike so many that has died for what happened on 9/11. As for me personally I have major complications with the bypass and I will never forget that day as I was changed as was all those that lost loved ones, plus seeing my husband return from 2 wars due to this senseless act of haterd..Well that is one Marine families story, nothing to compare to those that has lost loved ones in this mess. My life changing experience with this will be with me until I die, and I will never forget, as I live with my problems that remind of where I was and what I was doing that morning…God Bless all those that are still here and Thank You to those that aren’t…
Marine Family
Camp Lejeune NC
Pennsylvania I was thinking about how we were going to celebrate my daughter Laura’s 13th birthday that day, when I saw on Good Morning America about a small plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers in NYC. I’ll never forget the reaction of Diane Sawyer when I watched in disbelief as the second plane flew into the other tower! Later that day, we ended up scratching our plans to have our traditional birthday dinner at a restaurant, and I made dinner at home. It was very difficult to turn off the TV while we tried to celebrate Laura’s birthday. It sure did overshadow the happiness we should’ve felt that day. Today is her 18th birthday and we still remember that sadness of the day 5 years ago.
I was in a hotel room with my family getting ready to attend the funeral of my uncle. My mom and sisters had an adjoining room with my 2 brothers and we opened the door to see if they had the t.v. on as well. When we arrived at the funeral, it was a sureal experience to know what had just happened.
I was in SLC, getting ready for work, wondering what was going on with the tower in NY airports. We were then shocked to see the 2nd plane go into the building.
I was…living on Holloman Air force Base in NM. The phone rang to call my husband and the sirens went off. I immediatly turned on the TV to find the twin towers up in flames. My daughter stayed home from school for 2wks, she slept in my bed and was afraid to stay on base. We wanted to drive to El Paso to stay with my parents but they shut down the base and locked us all in. No one could leave or come in. My husband was deployed soon after. My daughter now 13 remembers it as the single most tramatic event of her life.
I told he to keep the experience fresh in her mind to always appreciate what we have and why we have it.
I was working as an inmate at a recycling center when the detail officer told me that a plane had hit the WTC. When the second one hit, they said, “Load up, we are headed back to the prison.”
Bonn, Germany I was working in my office at the faculty of law of Bonn University. I was in a very sad mood already because of my mother’s illness (last stage of cancer. She died on the Saturday following the attacks.). In the afternoon (Central European time is 6 hours ahead of Eastern time) suddenly one of my collegues came into my room and told me about the attacks. So, I turned to the CNN website and watched how the catastrophe developed and when the second plane hit. I was just stunned. I cannot recall whether I cried. Only gradually I remembered that half a year before the attacks (in the week before Easter) my mother who had been very ill already at that time told me of a strange dream that kept returning every night during the whole week about a plane crashing into a sky scraper. I remember trying to comfort her and telling her that it would only be a dream and that she should not be worried. But she didn’t want to listen to me. She said: ‘This is different, Friedrich. It somehow keeps returning, and it’s always exactly the same dream. I see the plane and then suddenly it’s all flames.’ I asked what kind of house it would be and she answered: ‘It’s looking like the one on the postcard you sent me from New York.’ (I had been presenting a paper at World Trade Center One in 1999 at a congress on the 55th floor where Pace University used to have an institute.) I am a Christian and I don’t believe in parapsychology and such stuff. But this has shocked me very much. I want to add that in this time which was very difficult for me personally president Bush’s determined response has comforted me very much. God bless America.
I was working for EDS, the first thing that keyed me into knowing something was up was I was testing a web based application and the network traffic suddenly spiked. Next thing I knew I had like 20 some emails from friends telling me to turn on a TV, radio or something all heck was breakin loose. I tried cnn.com, foxnews.com, local paper everything was timing out, finally hit with bbc.com.au and slashdot
Alexandria, Va I was in my Geometry Class when a teacher told our teacher that something had happened. They locked our door and told us we weren’t allowed to leave, but the teacher said it would be alright if we hooked up the TV. We started watching around 9:30. Because of our close proximity to the Pentagon, no one was allowed to leave the school and we were locked down in our class rooms. I remember watching the news with everyone and just hearing planes over head being diverted. When we heard another plane was en-route to DC we started to become a little scared because we still heard planes above and were afraid it could miss it’s target and hit nearby. And it all started out like a normal day…
I was at work thinking how beautiful of a day it was. A coworker said a plane had hit the WTC. I didn’t think much of it, must be a freak accident, until I was told another plane had hit the WTC. I plugged my radio in and began to search the net for information. When I learned of other missing planes, I prayed for those aboard to not be afraid.
Nevada I was…on the bus on my way to 10th grade about the time that somebody confirmed to Bush and his cronies that their plan had been a success, and that we could move in for all the Middle East power and oil we wanted.
Pittsburgh, PA At work in a conference with my VP from California. My phone started ringing off the hook and I left the conference room to see if it was an emergency. It was my dad calling and telling me what happened. I tried to log on to CNN.com but the site was down. As I was on the phone with my dad, the second plane hit. At that moment I left work to be with my family glued to the TV set. My VP drove from Pittsburgh, PA to California since he couldn’t get a return flight.
Huntington Beach,CA I was entering into my first day at work at a new job. As I walked into the room, instead of a warm greeting, I noticed everybody was glued to the TV. I thought to myself “Cool, this is going to be an easy job!” Later, as I realized what had happened, again I thought to myself, “I hope this is not a bad omen to this new career I am embarking!” This is why my anniversary date is very memorable.
syracuse, ny At work, at taco bell, and completely unaware of the mornings events, when a coworkers husband called to tell us. We turned on the TV and saw the towers on fire and the pentagon had been hit. I remember feeling so vulnerable and afraid and wanting to get my husband and daughter and go home. I was just in shock, that this could happen. I went to my class at noon, and it was all anyone could talk about. I remember my instructor saying “I don’t know who it is you pray to, but now is a good time to do it.” They closed school at one, and I went and got my daughter and my husband and we just watched the news all night.
Tallahassee, Florida I was sitting on the couch with my 7 month old twin sons, feeding one of them as the other lay by me and slept. I looked up to see the first building on fire, and not knowing what was going on, I continued to watch, as the second plane hit tower one, my eyes welled up with tears. I couldnt believe my eyes. It was scary for me that this was an attack on our country, because of George Bush, and I am in the capitol of Florida, where his brother reigns as Governor, would we be next? My twin sons are now 5, and as I walked them to class holding both their hands this morning, I realized that the 9/11 generation, is all the babies born from 2001 to 2002, and they are all 5, just like my sons. Its tough enough to explain life in general, but to have to see the footage on tv and think that some mother has to explain to her baby that their parent was in that building is something that I dont wish on my worst enemy. My heart goes out to all the mothers who lost their best freind, husband, children and to all the sweet babies, who are now 5 just like mine, who lost a parent. I was only 20 at the time, and I had never witnessed such a tragedy in my 20 yrs of life at that point. I have read some of the stories of the ones who are blessed enough to fall in love again, to carry on and to be strong for their children. I still have the People magazine of all the babies, and I have followed up on their stories because as a fellow mother, parent, woman and human, seeing so many lives destroyed broke my heart, and I never witnessed it or lived it in the flesh, just from the news. For all the previous things that have been entered below, if you wasted one of your breathes laughing at this situation, your not an American. It doesnt matter if your black, white, asian, green or purple, nor Republican or Democrat, that day, race, color and creed didnt matter. Yes, the US is wrong letting every tom, dick and harry into OUR country, but all those deaths are in no way humerous. My heart has been filled with sadness all day, and when your 5 year old asks you why that plane just hit that building and made big fire, and did it hurt people, then you realize that you are a part of a day when the whole country just wanted to stand as one and help out our fellow americans, not pausing to laugh. God Bless America, and I cant wait for 2008!!!!
Awakened by a call from my wife as I worked nights. Her call came after the second tower was hit and I watched the towers fall and heard about the Pentagon as it happened. I do not have anyone that was lost, but feel that those who do deserve to know what happened. God bless!
I was on communte from San Antonio to Dallas. I commuted daily via aircraft to Love Field where I was employed. We were unaware of the attack, which began when we were in the air. We landed and they were evacuating Love Field and we heard they had attacked the World Trade Center and shortly there after we saw the attack on the Pentagon. My heart goes out to all those that were effected by this horrible attack,
Virginia Beach, Virginia I was in 10th grade and I was the second person to walk into my religion class. My teacher was watching the TV and the headline read: “Attack on America”. I looked up and hoped to God that it was some movie my teacher was playing. Together we watched the towers fall. Then my principal came over the loudspeaker and we had a moment of silence and together said the “Our Father”. I don’t think as kids we had ever said those words with as much meaning as we did that day. I remember the halls were more quiet than usual. In most classrooms everybody was watching the news. Many people knew someone who lived in nyc or worked in the Pentagon. My cousin is a nyc fire fighter and it took us three days to get a hold of him. Students and teachers cried and kids were being picked up early from school. Many of us were from military families and had our parents shipped out that day. My dad was one of those and he said that for a while he had no idea what exactly had happened. From the moment I got home I never stopped watching the news. I cried so much that night, and I cried myself to sleep. The images of those people trapped in the towers have never left me. I still get shivers when I think about 9/11. I had taken pictures of the towers one month before 9/11 and I visited ground zero four months later. On 9/11 I was scared and horrified by the acts of these terrorists, but it did not take me long to realize how resilient we all are.
I was just waking up, and sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the news. I was in shock as I watched the first plane crash into the first tower. I then watched in disbelief as the second plane crashed. I was in shock, and it just didn’t compute with my brain what was happening. I remember sitting there, crying.
I called all of my family….even though we live out here in California…..I just needed to know that everyone was okay.
What a horror…what a tragedy. Thank God for all of our heroes.
California I was in 6th grade in September of 2001. After waking up, I went downstairs, surprised to find that the TV was on. Smoke was coming from one of the two towers. I assumed it was only a fire. A fire in such a tall and crowded building was not a good thing, but they would be able to take care of it. Why was my mom staring at the TV like that? Still half asleep, I put some English muffins in the toaster for breakfast. “A plane hit the world trade center,” my mom said. Oh. That was worse than a fire. But planes crashed all the time… I was eating the English muffins when the second plane crashed. This is when I started to wake up. But not understanding why any of this had happened, I was thinking more along the lines of, “Well that really sucks.” School that morning went on as usual.
Tulsa, OK. I was at the intersection of 51st & Sheridan here in Tulsa taking my kids to school. It was 7:57 and I was flipping stations, landed on KBEZ. Cindy Bear was giving the intial reports of a small plane crashing into one of the towers, so I looked at the clock and switched to KRMG since I knew they’d be about to go to news. Wrong, they were already in coverage and by the time I’d driven about a mile, the 2nd plane hit.
I’d just de-planed in Pittsburgh, expecting to make a quick connection to Ft. Lauderdale. My connection was delayed and when I inquired as to why, I was told that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. Like millions of others, my first reaction was: how could that happen? I assumed it must have been an GA aircraft, an inexeperienced pilot. I found an open bar with a television and saw the second plane hit the second tower. My immediate thought was: we are at war. Even so, the unreality was such that I still expected my flight would take off, and went to the gate to check…..
I was in 5th grade, just about to go to recess, and one of the 5th grade teachers ran into our room & screamed “Turn the t.v on someone has crashed into the World Trade Centers”. I remember they told us we could go to recess or stay in and watch the news. I choose to stay inside. About and hour later my mother came and got me from school. I will remeber that day forever.
Northampton Pa i Was at home laying in bed watching Jerry springer when the show was cut off to go to live breaking news! That was when i saw the second plane crash into the other tower.
Göteborg Det var en solig dag i Göteborg och jag hade cyklat ut till Saltholmen. För det mesta brukar jag ha min lilla radio med hörlurar. Men just den dagen hade jag lämnat den hemma. Då jag på eftermiddagen mötte en väninnan frågade hon mig om jag hade hört på radion eller sett på teve nyss. Nej, vadå? Två flygplan har åkt in i en skyskapa i New York. Va??? Jag trodde att det var en olyckaoch min väninna visste inte mer heller då. Väl hemma rullades infernot upp och jag trodde inte mina ögon. Då jag såg en människa hänga utanför ett fönster högt upp och sedan dingla utefter husväggen blev det för mycket. Vilket fasa. När den andra skyskrapan sjönk ihop blev det bara för mycket…
Jag är rädd för vad framtiden ska innebära av terror och ondska.
I was in Physics class in high school, and it took a while to realize that my teacher wasn’t teaching. I got a glimpse of something on the computer, a shot of the second plane hitting Tower 2. I thought maybe it was an action shot from some movie. We discussed the situation using, “If the towers have been hit…” The first tower had already collapsed by the time we heard anything. I will never forget people talking gossip at lunch, like nothing had happened, but I knew that our world had changed. My French teacher told us where she was when she found out about the assassination of President Kennedy, and she told us we would always remember where we were when we heard that unfathomable news.
I was had been at work for a couple hours, when I heard a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers in NY. Not knowing what kind of plane had crashed I thought, “How odd, whoever did it must’ve been flying awfully low and it just is a weird accident to loose control then to have hit the tower.” I also thought, “Well, that’ll seem strange to someday visit the tower and have them say ‘Here is where the plane was.’” Then a coworker said, “Another plane just hit the other tower.” I knew then that it could not have been an accident, but something intentional, something planned. I had been in NJ during the WTC bombing in ‘93, and that had just seemed incompetant to me then. We went to a reception area to see the news on TV, then went back to work and checked the ‘net for details. Then we heard about the plane hitting the pentagon, then a plane going down in PA. It just seemed too weird.
My first conclusion was “What could we have possibly done to make anyone hate us so? Why would taking innocent lives on such a scale seem to be justified to anyone?”
When the towers collapsed, I felt whoever had planned this must’ve also researched how the towers were built and concluded the heat from the fires of a large plane crash would bring the towers down from the weight above. I thought, “Such engineering research and careful planning… what a waste of human talent to devote it to such destruction.”
I went home that night to my wife and young kids. My thoughts went from wondering how or why to anger against the people who had done this. Revenge wasn’t the right word, but I was angry at whoever had worked this plan, whoever had aided their cause, whoever instilled in them the idea to just kill anyone to make a statement. I didn’t know where “they” came from or why they did what they did, but I knew it was wrong in every sense of the word. I knew my feeling wasn’t right either, but that didn’t make me any less mad. I prayed whoever had worked with these people would see what they had done was wrong, wrong, wrong.
I still don’t know what the right response should be.
I was working at the VA hospital in Cleveland OH. I was paged repeatedly that there was a national crisis in progress and that all essential personal were to leave the hospital. I am a doctor and considered essential. We heard that the one aircraft had passed over the facility (this was the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania). The veterans kept coming in for their appointments so we were unable to leave and it was very difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Very difficult day for even the people not directly affected that day.
in 1st or 2nd period in 8th grade on Long Island. And I didn’t really know what had happened until I got home from school.
Levittown, NY I was in 7th grade…in Italian class…about…10:30AM when I heard the news. I didnt believe it at first. But later that day in math I heard someone say the pentagon was hit…and then an anouncement was made saying what had happened…obviously I knew it was real at that point…
Pennsylvania in my 5th grade classroom, in english class, learning about prepositions.
South Carolina I was in a training class in Columbia, SC for Windows 2000 Server. My wife text paged me that someone had flown a plane into the Towers. As the news spread, more and more pagers started going off. We went into the break room at the training center to see the replay of the first tower being struck. As we were watching that, we witnessed the second tower being hit. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day in the breakroom watching the events unfold.
Rochester, New York I was…in spanish class when my principal made an announcement over the loud speaker that a plane just flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings. Our class was allowed to go down into the cafeteria to watch the news. Since it was live, I then witnessed the second plane come from the right side of the television set and hit the second tower. I was only in 7th grade.
Ishpeming, Michigan I was sitting in my science class my junior year in high school. A teacher aid came running in and turned the TV and my classmates and I were talking about what was going on.
I was working at a call center in Chelmsford. I had just made a call to New York. Someone mentioned do’nt you know what is going on? It was just before nine o’clock. Another friend by my side was calling a different area. It wasn’t long before we all went downstairs for a meeting, and were told of the news. I guess it is very hard to describe what we all felt at the time. It was very traumatic to imagine, what we heard. It has been a little while since I heard the song that makes cry still. Today, I am proud to be an American. Everyday after that seeing the flags out it was part of my daily routine. I’m crying now, just thinking of all the beautiful people that died in such a terrible way. God Bless and keep us safe. It has been a wonderful life with freedom we take for granted, until something like that happens. I am very proud to be an American and so proud of all those who protect us. Let our freedom and protector’s keep us safe.
Duluth Mn I was sleeping in my aunts living room. I woke to the sight of the first tower smoking and burning. I remeber feeling soo bad for all those trapped by the flames. Then I remeber seeing the second plane hit, and my feelings went from feeling bad to pure fear. I knew at that moment the world would never be the same.
viriniga.I was in school too,7th grade, the tv was on in the classroom. At frist the kids were laughing but when when the second plane went in we all know that it was not funny anymore. I haven’t lost any one but i felt the sadness and anger after that. this I can say after all this time, people who shouldn’t have died did. There is nothing we can do now but give a shoulder to those still grieving families. sarah@thelincolns.net
Anonymous
Iowa
I haven’t watched TV much for years, so I wasn’t even aware anything was going on till I got online that morning and everyone in the groups I was in were all talking about what had happened, worried that people they knew who lived in NYC and Connecticut might have been hurt. I went out and turned my TV on, just in time to see the replay of the planes hitting the twin towers. I spent the next six or seven hours just staring at the screen, unable to process that what I’d just see had happened.
Every generation has there ‘Where were you?’ moment. I remember my mom talking about what she was doing when the news came on the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. People who came of age in the mid-late 60s know exactly where they were and what they were doing when Martin Luther King and J.F.K. was killed.
9/11 was my sons “Where were you?” moment. They came over to the house, and we watched TV and talked about what had happened, and how such a thing could happen in America. Because fools that we were, we truly believed we were invincible.
I sometimes think that, ever so often, the Powers that Be find it necessary to do something to knock us all off our pedestals and get our attention. I’d like to think that 9/11 could never happen again, but I’m not stupid. The world (America included) is not the nice safe place so many people want to believe.
My heart goes out to all those who lost family and friends in 9/11.
I was sleeping when my wife called on the phone to wake me up and told me to turn the tv on because something had happened. when i turned the tv on i witnessed the second aircraft hit the the south tower . I was horrified !
I was in FBI marksman/observer school in Catoosa Ga. Our instructor was paged when the first building was hit.
Patty Pozywak I was at the dentist’s office and heard about the first plane on the radio. It was the first time I can remember my mother speeding to get home. Saw the second plane hit and the buildings tumble on ABC.
in auto mechanics class in high school. in Mr. Verbekes Advanced auto class
I was in Brooklyn, N.Y. It was the end of my vacation, before returning to school. I remember I was somewhat upset about not being able to go visit the twin towers that morning because my aunt couldn’t make arrrangements for it. It hit me how fortunate I was for not being in this horrible tragedy. And I reaffirmed the fact that it was not my time and I was just lucky. Specially when from the valcony of my aunt’s apartment , as I was looking into the smoking coming out of the towers I realized that what I thought was building debris coming down to the ground, in the TV and from upclose those was desperate people throwing themselves into death. My heart aches for them and many others that perished that day. I will never forget.
I was in school. 8th grade at the time, and I didn’t hear about anything until like 8th period which was 4-5 hours after it happened. And I still didn’t know exactely what happened. I just knew something bad happened. Then when I got home at 3:00 I saw all the footage on the news.
Hawaii I was at my daughters house in Missouri and about to drive a Ryder truck,filled with furniture to Nashville Tn, to my son’s house. I came out of my room and my daughter was standing watching the tv. She said “mom a plane just flew into the world trade center building. We stood there watching the news and talking. We were still standing there when the second plane flew aroud the corner and hit the second building. We all remarked “That is no accident”. We were all shocked and filled with unbelief that this could happen. I felt very funny that day driving the Ryder truckk to Tenn. because of the Oklahoma federal building. We listened to the radio all the way. God bless America and may she ever be free.
I lived in Los Angeles at the time but had just moved there from NYC. My mom called me crying because she couldn’t believe that had it been just weeks earlier, I’d still be living in lower Manhattan.
I was in the train when the first plane hit & in my office when the second plane hit in downtown, Wall street.
I was on 2nd shift, at home watching TV. I was so shocked at the intensity, that I went over to my parents’ house/home business to finish watching it. I cried all the way to their house. On the way, I saw 2 ladies standing and crying- but one looked really distressed. I stopped to make sure she was okay. It happened to be a lady receiving salvation and the other was praying with her. I watched the rest unfold, the bldgs going down – we all just cried. We were distraught, but thank God- not in despair. I think the media in the following years, and the movie producers pushed the 9/11 remembrance down our throats and too soon. I don’t want to see any movies about it. I don’t want to see the pictures. Give us some space. We know where to look if need be.
I ‘m french, when I come back from my work, I’have seen the tv the two tower with the plane, I was dismayed…
Eric
I forgot to say that I was in Dominican Republic in the city of Santiago… but I saw the terror methods of Shining Path in Peru…
Malmoe, Sweden At work, here in Sweden, listened to radio, they broke the current program to announce a plane had hit WTC. I immidiately went to my computer, hooked up to a bulletin board and posted what I heard. Some ten seconds later, a guy I know lived (and lives) in NY posted:
*looking out the window*
Amazing how fast news spread
Long Island NY in the middle of an english class in the 8th gradew, discussing how human behavior brings downfall to themselves
At work, here in Sweden, listened to radio, they broke the current program to announce a plane had hit WTC. I immidiately went to my computer, hooked up to a bulletin board and posted what I heard. Some ten seconds later, a guy I know lived (and lives) in NY posted:
*looking out the window*
Amazing how fast news spread
working… and a friend called me to say that a jetliner crashed into a tower… I do not understood at the moment what tower he was telling me, and a few minutes later I turned on my TV and saw that scene that I will never forget… I think terrorist must die… they did too much damage in my country….
Fairfax, Virginia In Annandale, Virginia at work. We had a TV on in one of the offices tuned to the NBC4 morning show. We saw the images. I used one phone line to try and contact my firiend in New York that worked two blocks away from the towers. I used a second line to try and contact my husband that was working close to the pentagon. I didn’t know what was going on but once I got a hold of my firiend and husband I asked them to just stop and go home. In a matter of 20minutes from the first crash I helped close the office and we sent everyone home.
In Annandale, Virginia at work. We had a TV on in one of the offices tuned to the NBC4 morning show. We saw the images. I used one phone line to try and contact my firiend in New York that worked two blocks away from the towers. I used a second line to try and contact my husband that was working close to the pentagon. I didn’t know what was going on but once I got a hold of my firiend and husband I asked them to just stop and go home. In a matter of 20minutes from the first crash I helped close the office and we sent everyone home.
I was at work in Herndon, VA, right near Dulles Airport, listening to the radio when I heard about the first plane crash. After that I was glued to the radio, scared for what was going to happen next. Being so close to DC and hearing so many false reports on the news about bombs all over the city, really made me panic. I remember trying to leave work early to get my children’s daycare but I was not the only person with that in mind. It usually takes me about 1 hour to commute home but on this day it took over 3 hours. Still to this day I tear up thinking about the people who lost their loves ones on that day.
New Hampshire I was in my freshman year of highschool going into lunch. I noticed a group of friends feverishly trying to get an old radio to work and another group trying to tune in a television to any news station. I was just thinking how weird their behavior was when our pastor came in and asked us to sit down. Once the room quieted he announced that it appeared that America was under attack and that a few hours earlier two planes had struck the World Trade Center towers, another had struck the Pentagon, and another had gone down in Pennsylvania. At first I thought it must be a mistake, perhaps this was a story with a moral about our faith which immediately made me think how cruel of him to make such a heinous analogy. As if reading my mind he hung his head and said, “I wish this weren’t true, let us all take a moment to pray for those involved…”. Half of the congregation began hysterically crying and the other half remained motionless and dumbfounded. I began crying, “no no no no, I know people in New York, please God let them not be in the city, please God please!” as my friend reached out and grasped my hand tightly. I believe we were let out early after the prayer to go home, but I’m not entirely sure. The whole day after that moment seems like a distant dream, or a childhood memory barely retained. All I remember that evening is watching broadcast after broadcast of the footage of the planes hitting each time hoping it would turn out to be a mistake… only to realize now that the only mistake was our not paying attention to the threats outside our nation. If any silver lining is in this cloud it is this: 9/11 can only make us stronger, bring us closer, and make us realize that we are all one nation united, and as long as we remember 9/11 may we continue the fight against hatred and violence and lift eachother up in the spirit of love and friendship.
God bless you all my fellow Americans, and all my love to the friends and family of our fallen heros.
IOWA: I was at work when the planes hit in the morning.That afternoon I was at a local scheduled auction buying the house I have since restored and now currently live in and watched Air Force One fly overhead with the fighter escorts with Bush on his way back to D.C.That afternoon I also learned that one of my best friends lost his dad in NY.He was I believe the only Iowan there on business that day….
I had just started a new job in NYC two months prior to Sept 11. I was in my office in complete disbelief, I was emailing my family and friends to tell them I loved them in case something more happened. I could not get in touch with anyone via the phone. I did not get back to my house in NJ until 11:00pm that night. I take mass transportation and it was shut down. I eventually took the ferry across the hudson river where they were hosing people off on the other side who were exposed to debris from the WTC. It was one of the scariest days of my life, but I am still here working in NYC 5 years later…..
I was walking out of my daughter’s doctors office when my boyfriend, who is in the national guard, called me to tell me what had just happened and how it was believed to be a terrorist attack. I rushed to daycare, dropped off my child then rushed into work, turned on the television and all of the employees sat in front of that television the entire day watching in total amazement and shock. I can still picture the tears rolling down everyones faces as we watched people jumping from the buildings and then the screams of “Oh My God” when the buildings collapsed. Every year I contact everyone that was with me sitting in front of that television on that day just to tell them I love them.
Tennessee I was at work in Knoxville, TN. I’ll never forget the sight and sound of the 2 F-16’s screaming toward Oak Ridge to cover ORNL, K-25, and Y-12 nuclear facilitys about 10 or 15 mins after the first plane struck the first tower, I’ll always remember the feeling of fear and sorrow for the people in the towers and the pure rage toward the UNGODLY pieces of trash who commited such a savage act. may eternally burn in the fires of the Hell they created
I was sleeping as my dad came into my room and woke me up yelling to turn on the tv . I turned on my tv, and watched the 2nd tower get struck, buildings fall, and the other pentagon/PA planes. The thought of WWIII crossed my mind. I thank god that we had Bush in office. God Bless the Bush administration.
I was still in middle school and it was after first period basketball practice. Everyone was in the locker room changing and having conversation which was echoing every which way and the principal came on the announcements and said something about a plane crash, I didn’t really know what was going on because no one would be quiet. I had no idea that it was so big until I got to my next class where the teacher had the TV on and saw the second plane hit.
I had just arrived at my job at a music store and I thought, “That’s odd, the radio in the repair shop is on, but the repair man isn’t here on Tuesdays.” For about an hour I listened in disbelief to the reports. Then I said to my boss something along the lines of, “I don’t think we’re going to do much business today and, all things being equal, I’d rather be at home with my family.”
Central Square, NY I was working at Deluxe Check Printers, Syracuse, NY in their call center when we heard about the attacks. Like everyone else it was unbelievable and very scary. I had to leave work to just be with my kids. It was also devestating as some of our bank customers that we talked to regularly were in the Towers, which made it very hard, although we never met face to face, we would speak to them almost on a daily basis.
I was at work in Atlanta Ga, and the supervisors let everyone come to the break room, brought in a TV and we watched in Horror, We cried and prayed. I will never forget that day – NEVER
i was at home and in total shock!!!!
sorry im asking friends
I was at work Groveport, OH… it was a beautiful clear sunny morning. My birthday. I spent the rest of the day praying for those who were in the planes, those who were in the towers, those who were in the Pentagon, their families, and especially for those who were there for first response for rescue….. I prayed for our Country……
N/A i was at my house during that time
and i herd about it that day it happend?
~Shawn
ATL, Georgia
I tried putting this in best words i could describe in an essay for my college class.
Where were you on September 11th?
I remember waking up and getting out of my bed at age 14. I was a freshman at Harrison High School. I remember doing my hair and getting ready for school, throwing on some Tommy Hilfiger clothes at the time, which was the new “In” style. I packed my lunch and walked out the door to walk with my friend Michael. The bus wouldn’t come for us since we lived right across the street, so we had to walk about a mile to get to school every morning. It was good, well not so good at the same time because I was trying to be cool smoking my cigarettes demanding to look cool as all the teenagers were driving by. (Just to mention I was addicted smoking three packs a day for five years until recently I quit and have been quit for nearly five months). So we are walking trying to look all cool with our cigarettes joking around saying “dude is today 9/11 as in 911 we should get together and pull like a prank on the school like pull the fire alarm or something to get the cops out here wouldn’t that be ironic”. We laugh and carry on, noticing that there are piercing noises like a group of airplanes flying. They bellow over our heads as I count five or six go by. We said to our selves how bizarre that was this early in the morning. We get to school and there’s a line of cars with their doors wide open, with parents lined up trying to get their kids out of school. Behind schedule and clueless to what was going on we finally uncover what was going on, and why people were freaking out. I remember the principal and other members of the school taking us inside and telling us to get to our homerooms before we had been served detention and ISS (In School Suspension) for not doing as we were told. So I make it to my homeroom and everyone’s so gloomy. I know somewhat of the story from rumors in the hall to what was going on, but I have no idea about the trade centers, for all I knew I thought it was a place where people actually traded goods and stuff like that? As we watched the realistic and heartrending actions the people were going through on the television it made me think, how could someone execute this? Is this great country that detested? Are we that defenseless to terrorists? The entire class as time flew we all saw an additional plane come from out of no where, which was sent into the beautiful work of art that was once the trade centers both being struck with a blaze of inferno pouring out from the immense skyscrapers. Smoke bucketing from the top ends of each building. We watch as people, real live people plummet and commit suicide from these scorching structures, each looking a thousand feet tall, tumbling to earth where they were killed. As time went by both of the towers had collapsed. A report goes across our TV screen saying more terrorist attacks on the United States. We found out a plane had also gone down into Pentagon, and another heading towards Washington D.C. to clearly take out our White House. The plane was taken over by its fellow Americans who had made the terrorists crashing the plane in oblivion into a field in Pennsylvania. This day September 11th, 2001 was a day where nearly three thousand people where killed. A day where our country had to be reminded that there was awful and brutal people out there who wanted war with us. A day that ironically reminded myself of my birthday, Pearl Harbor Day. A day when our country had to be slapped in the face to be aware that we are hated, we need to realize we cannot be safe anywhere. But we can sure try out finest to locate righteousness and perpetrators in the world who perform these actions of wrong doing terrorism to be as minimal. It’s inflexible to consider it’s been five years already from the time when it happened but it is as though it was just yesterday. Every characteristic of that day is flawlessly clear. My only hope is that the future of America will be stronger than ever against terrorism and that we never have to live through another catastrophe like 9/11/01 ever again in our existence!
I was…working at my gym training clients when a co-worker told us that a small plane crashed into one of the towers…we all were glued to the television and the whole gym’s operation came to a hault when the second plane hit the other tower. Then word came over the screen about the Pentagon getting hit and a forth plane went down in a small PA field. I was so saddened and extremely angry due to the fact that alot of my clients, friends and others were in the towers that day as office workers, NYPD and FDNY. Alot of lives were lost and families were destroyed that day and for what? I’m SO PROUD that our military is over ther in the middle east making a difference against these terrorists and their terror cells that plague our Freedom and the World. GOD BLESS AMERICA and our TROOPS!
9-11-2001 NEVER, EVER FORGET ALL THE BRAVE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN that made our lives better because of their BRAVERY, HEROISM and most all COURAGE!
i was in class in 6th grade and was watching it unfold on the news
i was visiting my mamal before she got on the plane
Houston Texas I was on a plane from Incheon in Korea to Los Angeles watching the map on the TV monitor because I expected soon we would be served lunch and we would be preparing for our arrival at 2.30. Suddenly the small plane on the screen made a considerable change of direction and a few minutes later the cockpit called to say that we were diverting to Vancouver because of a problem on the West Coast. We landed there just after noon and I was amazed to see through the window so many planes. They like us had been diverted to Vancouver through the kindness of the Canadian Authorities, who didn’t seem to have the opinion that planes that had been in the air for so many hours as they crossed the Pacific would be any danger. They did accept us with great care, however, and we did not leave the plane until 8 o’clock that evening
We spent 3 nights in Vancouver, all the time as the guests of our airline Asiana, watching the television and waiting patiently for news as to when we would depart. My room mate was a serviceman who told me he was flying Asiana because there was a scare that some US planes were to be hijacked so they had been switched to a foreign airline. We were in a beautiful area of Canada but could not take advantage of it because we were all the time waiting for the announcement that we were to leave. That did not come until the early hours of Friday morning. What did we do? We watched the television and the continuing development of the horror in the East.
We asked ourselves ” how could the buildings fall down so easily as many of us had been told that all these tall buildings were designed to withstand a 747 flying into them?” Eventually, shortly before midnight on Friday, I finally arrived at my destination of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 74 hours after my take off from Xi’an, a journey that normally took 24 hours
at work receiving a new copy machine when I heard on the radio the gasps and despair after the first plain hit, the delivery man and I looked at each other confused, then we heard the crying as they watched and described the second plane. I didn’t see it until lunch time and I went to the bar!
I was at work as a teller when a customer came in and told us that the World Trade Center and been struck by an airplane. We all looked at him in disbelief.
I was…in Redondo Beach, CA at my health club watching the north tower of the World Trade Center up in smoke. Those who were covering the breaking news all thought it was some sort of strange accident – not a terrorist attack.
Rick, Hamilton, On
we were sitting on the couch flipping through channels when i caught site of heavy smoke billowing from a rather large building, about 8:45 am, on CNN. when we found out it was the twin towers we were glued to CNN until about 1:00 am the following morning. that’s one day i never hope to see ever again!!! that was to close to home considering we are not to far from NY, NY.
Minnesota Standing at my desk at work watching the TV we moved into the area in utter disbelief. Holy cow!
I was in Indiana (my home state), on my way to take my oldest child, then 4 to preschool. I also had a 2 1/2 year-old and was pregnant with my youngest. I remember sitting in the preschool drop off line thinking, do the people in the cars around me know what is going on? I drove to my mother’s house in a complete daze, barely able to see the road for the tears. I also remember in the days following being terrified to bring another child into such a cruel world. This is a day that will not be forgotten. GOD BLESS AMERICA
I had just dropped off my son and his friends at school, and was on my way to the office when I heard that the first plane hit. Then, at the conclusion of the news story the announcer made what turned out to be the understatement of his career….”well I suppose that will be the big story today.”
San Antonio, TX Hi, it wasn’t good, but i lived in new york city. and my school is in manhattan, which is only a few blocks from ground zero. I was in class when it actually happen, and they wouldnt let us out, i dont know why, because the empire state building was two blocks over. I was thinking what if someone wanted to fly a plane into that building ,then we would get hurt, because the building is so huge, and i thought it was going to tip over. Anyway when i got out of school , it was so sad and there was smoke everywere. Helicopters were flying over our heads, and we couldnt leave the city. The military were walking down the streets holding m-16s and it was just so sad. I hope it never happends again.
I was…staying at a friend’s house and we wre getting the kids ready for school (California) as I was standing at thre coffee pot, my friend told me that a plane has struck the trade center. A couple of minutes later, the second plane struck, then the third, and a fourth. We got the kids off to school, and sat glued to the TV, the rest of the day. I remeber just feeling numb, and in complete shock, every second of the news coverage, it got worse…
in my car, crying, on my way to work.
on Columbia St. in Brooklyn watching the whole thing across the harbor. Lost 4 good friends(FDNY) that day and knew about a dozen others. Worst day in my 47 years on this earth.
Hi, it was good, but i lived in new york city. and my school is in manhattan, which is only a few blocks from ground zero. I was in class when it actually happen, and they wouldnt let us out, i dont know why, because the empire state building was two blocks over. I was thinking what if someone wanted to fly a plane into that building ,then we would get hurt, because the building is so huge, and i thought it was going to tip over. Anyway when i got out of school , it was so sad and there was smoke everywere. Helicopters were flying over our heads, and we couldnt leave the city. The military were walking down the streets holding m-16s and it was just so sad. I hope it never happends again.
I was at home watching the Today Show waiting for my husband to get back from taking our daughter to pre-school.I watched as it all took place.I was terrified something bad was going to happen in our town.I made my husband sleep on the couch that day instead of in our bed.I burned candles for those who died.
bay city ,Mich I was at my O.B. appointment for my second child,I just pulled into the parking lot and heard it on the radio.I went in for my app and everyone was talking about it I remember coming home sitting down and watching TV crying.Praying to God to save and help all those people. God Bless you all.
Cave Creek, Arizona I was awoken to the words the Trade Centers are gone!!!
What? I didn’t understand what that meant. Then I saw for myself on TV – they the were knocked down. I was shocked and saddend. I remeber them being built when I was a child growing up in NYC.
It still hurts, I cannot beleive they are gone!
Northern Virginia I was working at a local high school as a sign language interpreter for a deaf student. I kept signing from the tv and finally the teacher took us to the office where that tv had closed captioning and we stayed there the rest of the day so she could watch.
I was…driving to my morning class at the college when I heard on the radio that the first building had fallen. I delivered that news to class and we were sent home for the rest of the day.
I was on my way to work in small-town Iowa when I first heard on the radio that a small prop plane had hit the world trade center in NYC. I learned when I got to work that it was much, much worse.
I was driving from an appointment, listening to a c.d. so the radio was not on. My buddy called me and told me about the first plane. As we were discussing what he was seeing….the second plane hit!! No more speculation…we knew there was trouble!
I was sitting at my desk at work….(in a Federal Gov’t. building) when my sister called and told me to hurry up and collect my things and leave the building. She told me to go home turn the TV on and call her. Thank goodness a few minutes later we were all told to evauaate the building becaue of terorist threats on Gov’t buildings. I went home and called my sister and turned on the tv and was horrified. It was a very sad day that no american will ever forget.
I was @ Dispatch/cablevision watching the whole thing from the tv and across the river from the whitestone bridge.
Montgomery, AL. crying all day
i was on a plane over chicago
I was at Battery Park looking over the towers after they were hit.
At home, I came home from high-school, put on the TV and saw the second plane fly into the tower.
Yech..
I was at work when a colleague told me that an airplane had accidentally hit one of the towers. We were al shocked …and then a few minutes later the same person said to me “Sandy, another plane hit the other tower. We looked at each oter – eyes widening – and togeth said, “this was no accident”. I ran to the phone and called my son out of state and told him that I love him very much…in case we were going to be hit too. We were in the MTA Headquarters Building above Grand Central Station.
New Delhi, INDIA I was at work, when a friend called to tell me what’d happened. Didn’t believe him, but when I tried going to news websites, they were _slow_, so I knew it was something big. Later, I managed to get the story from cnn.com… and videos back home. What a sight, I’ll never forget!
I was driving to the office to attend the meeting at 9 AM and on the way I heard the NPR radio news saying, a flight hit the WTC building. I thought it might be some technical fault in the flight and went to the meeting. After 15 minutes, in the meeting, one of my friend said that one more flight hit the other building and then we all were suspecting on terrorist attacks.
After the meeting at 10:00 AM, we heard about the pentagon and again about Pennsylvania. The whole day we were watching the news in the office and talking about the attacks.
Kent, OH I was in the hallway on the way to my American Governement class in my senior year of high school. We got to class and Mr. Romano had the TV on a local news station. The plane had just hit the first tower and they were showing the flames and people jumping out. As we were watching and trying to get an idea of what was happening, the 2nd plane hit on live TV. We didn’t do any work in that class that period. We were glued to the TV the entire time.
Brooklyn I was in my apartment in Queens, NYC. View from the park on the corner looked right over lower Manhattan, and my neighbors and I gathered to look at the smoke. The weather was beautiful that day, felt very weird. Then, I had to find my Dad who had to walk out of Manhattan – took me hours to get to him and bring him home to Long Island. Still get very upset when I see the remains at the World Trade Center.
I was in the mountains in Montana on a hunting trip. I did not learn of the attack until the following Sat. afternoon. We usually have a radio in camp, however, it was forgotten that trip. When one of the guys went into town for supplies, he came back with a newspaper and we couldn’t believe what happened.
Finally saw it on TV the following Sat.
My wife was worried about our flight back, but by then the airlines were running and security was tighter than before.
God bless our troops and Pres. Bush.
Utah I was at home, barely waking, when the phone rang. I thought it was my husband, again (we were still newlyweds). But something in his voice, when I said hello. He asked me to turn on the tv. Then sat, silent, as I watched what he was watching, what we all were watching. He had to get back to his desk after a few minutes. And I sat alone, just watching the towers burn, and fall. I had never felt so helpless in all my life. Just watching.
Caroline from Queens, NY.
My husband and I had moved to Sweden about 3 months before 9/11. Lived there for about 4 years.
I was in my Swedish class filled with foreigners from around the world when I got the news. Class was almost over when a student from another class came in and told me a bit of information that there was an attack in NYC. I was the only American at the time in class. Anyway, I got very little information so didn’t think too much of it and tried to stay calm, but I rode my bike home as fast as I could to try and see if there was any news on TV.
When I got home and turned on the TV there were views of the WTC on every channel in this European country. I realized it had to be extremely serious. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes – the World Trade Center was burning??? Impossible! I just gazed in shock at the unbelievable live shots of smoke flowing out of one of the towers. Felt unreal like I was in a dream. Couldn’t speak, couldn’t think straight. Tried to take in all they were saying on TV about what was happening as to if it was an accident…or what. All of a sudden, another plane hit the second tower. I was alone in the apartment and felt completely helpless and in total frozen shock. Tried calling people in NY but the phone lines were busy. Called two other American students in Sweden(one from OH and one from TN) just to connect and share what was going on back home. I used to work on Trinity Place 2 buildings from the WTC so that area felt like home to me. Always went there to eat, look at the free concerts, shop and even go to the eye doctor. Knew several people who worked there as well. Thousands of scenarios flashed through my head and prayed that the majority of the people would be able to get out.
Wanted to be in NYC to help in some way. I just sat at the TV the rest of the evening in tears. Got many emails the day after that my loved ones were OK thank God, but later heard that some of my former university acquaintances were killed.
For months I couldn’t sleep/had nightmares and grieved for the WTC and all who perished horribly in 9\11…and their families who suffered as a result.
How could people have such hate in their hearts to destroy and kill thousands of innocent souls? I prayed for future peace. Keep faith.
I was junior high age and living in Canada at the time of the attacks. I remember watching the second plane hit the tower, and the way the whole country immedietely banded together to help the United States.
It took a while for me to grasp the seriousness of the situation, but it was a day no one will ever forget.
I feel saddened for all the people who lost loved ones, and admire their strength as they press on.
ddd
I was a Junior in High school when the attacks happened. I was sitting in my history class in Kansas. We were all in shock. We all gathered around the teachers desk to watch.The news was announced only 20 minutes they announced the death of a fellow student. Sept. 11 is a day that no one will soon forget.
getting married in Las Vegas
I was…taking my 5yr. old to school, came back home to rest and my husband said “the world is ending”. I thought he was crazy until we turned on the T.V. At that moment we watched the second plan hit the towers. I had one child at school and my two other children with me, I was in shock and didn’t know if I should go outside. I called the school, they didn’t know what was going on. We waited for further time to pass, as minutes went by, the shock turned into sadness. We continued to watch T.V. All the images re-play in my mind, people jumping,running, just trying to escape the sites that were hit. I just held my baby girl and cried. The moment that hurt the most was when the tower began to fall, even now I feel my heart crush. I am deeply saddened for the families that lost loved ones, I hope your pain has been eased over time.
I was teaching Kindergarten, and we had grandparents here celebrating Grandparent’s Day in the cafeteria. It was a struggle to maintain a calm, cheery “teacher” face while fearing for my little students and my own children in school across town. I will never forget the helpless feeling of being stuck here away from my family, coupled with the urge to protect my students no matter what…..
At work and just spoke to my mom, who worked at St. Luke’s & Roosevelt Hospital. She was at the Roosevelt site and I remember after hearing the first tower fall, trying to contact her and not being able to get through. I didn’t know how far from the towers she was and thank goodness my husband took off that day because it was his birthday and he came to pick me up and told me she was far enough away from them. I tried calling her all day and could not get through. It was one of the most devastating days of my life that I’ll remember. Fortunately, my mom is fine and well, but unfortunately my husband will remember this day forever because it is his birthday.
getting started with my daily routine in the kitchen of the country club I worked at. My daily produce delivery had just arrived, and I was discussing the produce with my vendor when he received a call on his cell phone. He said, “What? A plane just hit the WTC!” I checked my delivery, signed the invoice, and resumed my routine. One of the other cooks had wandered into the bar room of the club and turned on the TV, and watched the second plane hit. He came in and said, “A second plane just hit! And it’s an airliner!” I had to go and see the repeat footage. I was shocked, and horrified. All day long the bar manager would come back with updates, especially when the towers began to fall. Then we started hearing rumors that gas prices were suddenly spiking, as owner-operators began to price-gouge. When I got home, I was glued to the TV for the rest of the night.
I was sitting in front of the television witnessing what severals others did across America that day…two planes crashing into the Twin Towers. It was horrific and devastating.
I was a senior in highschool. The teachers locked down the school, turned off all tv’s and radios, and wouldnt tell anyone anything. So, I found my 7th grade sister, pulled her out of her class, and left. They fought me the whole way, but I’d rather have been at home than to be locked into a school and not being told anything.
on september 11th I was in the seventh grade now im a senior in high school. I stayed home from school that day because the day before i got stung in the eye by a couple of bees my eye was all swollen and i looked really bad so when the first plane hit i was watching an old good time rerun and it got intrupped by the news alert i thought nothing of it and just sayed oh well then my grandma called who has passed since. she knew i was staying home and she wanted to know if i saw the news she informed me and we just watched the news on the phone both of us in tears.
I was at home with my 9 month old daughter.We were getting ready for the nurse to come out to see how she was doing.The nurse asked us if we heard about the World Trade Center we said not yet,we just got up and got breakfast.After she left we turn on the tv and saw what happen.It was so scarey and sad.When I saw a plane crashing into the Towers and all those people who were in there.It is still sad today. I feel bad for the people who lost love ones.I still see Pictures of the Towers having a plane crashing into it.I hope all the people know we are sorry. My name is cambria ILL cambriasheridan@hotmail.com
Somerset PA I was in my humanities lit. class when the first plane hit. After that, I ran back to my apartment to watch the news. When I heard that the plane had crashed in Shanksville (a5 minutes from home) I called my parents who had seen the plane fly over their house
I was in traffic on the George Washington Bridge. Saw the flash of the 2nd plane hitting from the bridge. Everytime I am on the bridge it will always be with me.
I was at work … had a road rage incident prior to that; where some jerk was tailgating me. Wonder if he still does that.
Working. I went to my office, turned on the radio, and got excellent coverage from, of all sources, Howard Stern. He took calls and tuned in to network TV coverage, doing an excellent job of providing the facts. He actually was the voice of reason, telling people not to overreact after he learned of several attacks on Middle-Eastern looking cab drivers.
I was…at the Santa Cruz IRS office and was
ordered to shut down the office and go home.
Las Vegas:
Arrived there on 09-09-01 on a flight from Atlanta.
Stranded 2 days beyond our original itinerary.
I remember feeling very cold and numb as the events of the day unfolded. This feeling was replaced by desperation as we realized we were stranded until the no-fly ban was lifted. All in all it could have been worse:
1) we actually made our original destination point.
2) we were stranded (if you can call it that) in one America’s favorite destination hot spots.
3) we were stranded with the owner of the company I work for. He was very concerned about our comfort & care and spared no expense for the duration of our extended stay.
Watching the news later that day and the next, we realized how many people were possibly dead or missing, but also realized that there were literally thousands stranded wherever their plane happened to land, eating whatever food was available, and sleeping on makeshift cots and beds.
We were indeed very fortunate and blessed.
when the first plane hit the north tower, i was on 71st floor of the south tower.
I was in the 9th grade. I was in my ELP class. We had heard the news, turned on the television and watched the second plane fly into the second tower. They let school out early that day.
On a stone wall reading a book waiting to get in a class. When a friend of mine told me of what happened when the first plane hit the tower. I saw the second plane hit the other tower on the TV.
In Boston, MA trying to find out how I was going to get home!
Getting ready to go out of town and just watching the end of Good Morning America. I was shocked and called co-workers who didn’t know at that time. I was scared and saddened and really still am.
West Virginia I was attending school at The Culinary Inst. of America, an hour and a half north of NYC. I was just getting out of Breakfast Pantry when I ran into a classmate from my sister group on his way into Lunch Pantry. We called him “Crazy Dave” so when he was telling me that they were bombing New York, and that the WTC was going down in smoke I thought he must be mistaken. He was usually a bit manic anyway. I got back to my dorm just in time to see the second plane hit.
My best friend was living in DC at that time and her husband (then fiance) was at a training seminar inside the World Trade Center. There isn’t a single time that I remember this tragic day without thanking God that they are both OK.
A Michigan resident on business in Los Angeles. My customer & I ended up driving from LA to Detroit on 9/12/01 to get home to our families. The eeriest thing I’ve ever experienced.
I was in classes. (H.S.), the bizarre things is that it was at Chicago Military Academy-Bronzeville, and they did not allow us to hear or be told of it until the last period, so i was in 8th period class, American History.
it was my 40th birthday, my friend paid for us to go to turkey, she said it will be a birthday to remember, that happened, and i no longer celebrate my birthday.i will never forget my 40th.the more we remember that day and show it on tv, the more the terrorists are getting publicity, for the distruction they caused around the world not just the usa, we were all affected, one way or another. j bell uk
on a seismic boat in the arabian sea…immediately after the attacks we received death threats
the netherlands I was at home, seeying out my grandfather who just visited us, when the 9y old girl next door told us “someone hijacked planes to destroy the WTC”. I immediately rushed back in to turn on the TV… That’s where I stayed for the rest of the day…
at home getting ready for work. We don’t normally have the TV on in the morning but my daughter’s boyfriend had just broken up with her the night before and she had the TV on as a distraction. She called to me to come and watch after the first plane hit the Towers, and we watched the second. It took quite a while to grasp what we were seeing. The horror has never left.
North Dakota I was just getting ready to get up when my mom came down and told me to turn on the television because a plane has just crashed into the Trade Centers. I thought that she was joking so I didn’t do anything. Well, then she turned on the television and I saw the first plane hanging out of the building and then was in shock as I watched the second plane crash. Then came the daunting task of finding out where my friends were at. Unbelieveable to think that 5 years has passed already.
I was sick, and cleaning the Garage out and it was a beautiful sunny day i had the Radio on and then my daughter called from Work she siad mom hurry put on the news
I broke down and cryed so much then i called my husband I will always remember that day
I was on Ft. Hood on lockdown…deployed one month later…
On the bus
at my house sleeping in from a birthday party the day before. When i turned the tv on and saw what had happened i was terrified. My husband is in the air force and he called and said the base had been locked down. I did not turn the tv off for days. I could not believe what had happened. Today on the fifth anniversary I still cry, it is a day that will sadden me for the rest of my life.
Jackson, MS I was at work and heard the news on the radio during the “Big Show with John Boy & Billy”.
Midland, Michigan I was at work, listening to the radio when the news broke in. At first it seemed like an awful freak accident. When the 2nd plane struck, we all knew it was no accident.
I was at work, getting foods & drinks ready. I decided to close cafe & went home. I watched tv.
Louisiana I was asleep. I woke up to hear someone urgently pounding on my apartment door. When I answered the door, it was my mom, and all she could say was, “Turn on the T.V.” She had been crying. My dad was flying home from visiting family that day, and my first thought was that something bad had happend to my dad. We turned on the television and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We both just started crying. Thankfully, my dad’s flight was from Indiana to Louisiana and nothing had happened to him.
A home, getting ready to go to school. I was in South Pasadena and was in 8th grade. It was one of our first days of school.
I was working on the Hudson river just a few miles north of the towers. When I heard the news all I had to do was look south to see the smoke. My wife saw one of the planes fly over that hit the south tower and wondered why it was flying so low. A day I will never forget.
ontario canada I was at work when i heard the news of the first crash. Thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit. Inew it was no accident. My heart goes out the victims and families .
I was…changing my 9 month old and getting my 2 1/2 year old ready for school. My husband called me into the living room to see after the first plane had hit. We were watching together as the second plane hit. It was horrifying. I listened on the radio on the way to my son’s school as both towers collapsed and cried the whole time. An hour later I was back at school picking up my son because a local radio station mistakingly reported that there had been an attack at a school on the west coast. I didn’t feel safe anywhere!
Portland OR Sitting in the dentist’s chair at 7:00am Pacific time; I had left the house without turning on the morning news and was already extremely depressed over the death of a young friend in a car accident which had happened two days before. At first I thought I was hearing the ravings of some radio shock-jock, but the dentist’ assistant confirmed that what I was listening to was all too real.
I was at home (Sweden) watchin everything on CNN news.
I was sitting in my 7th grade geography/history class. We were marking out maps when one of the science teachers bolted into the room and turned on our tv without explanation but a few whispered words to our teacher. He then ran out and turned on others’ tvs, too. I sat watching, not realizing the magnitude of the situation or realizing the impact it would have on our country in the future.
North Carolina I was… working for a large bank on the east coast. We got a call telling us to secure our last task and head home. The Federal Reserve was closing the banks due to a possible terrorist attack.
I cried as I watched the TV, remembering that I was originally supposed to be in NYC that weekend — for a business trip and the finals of the US Open. My return trip was scheduled to fly out of New York’s LaGuardia airport around 8:00am the morning of September 11, 2001. Through a fortunate set of events, and by God’s providence, I didn’t have to go to New York that weekend. Instead, I was working in North Carolina, like I would any other weekday.
My heartfelt prayers go out to the friends and families of those who lost their lives on September 11th (and the days after).
State College, PA anxiously waiting for my the birth of my daughter, due that day. I was watching the Today Show from 8 am. on and as soon as I heard what was happening, I called my parents to come over, not sure of the stress I could endure. From that moment, I did nothing but cry for those I knew and those I didn’t.
driving to work sitting in traffic when I heard the news of the first plane striking the north tower. I wasn’t sure if it was real or just a joke…it turned out to be very real and then immediately the radio announcer said that it was not a joke…I eventually got to my office about five minutes after nine…I missed the announcement of the 2nd plane striking the south tower. At that point, sheer panic set in wondering what was going on not being able to get online for any information or use the telephones, etc. I immediately was concerned about my brother who is a police officer with the Metro Police at Virginia Dulles Airport. I couldn’t reach him and wondered if he would be called to help at the Pentagon since he frequently assisted at Reagan National Airport as well. It wasn’t until 6 p.m. later that day that I heard he was at his regular site and he was okay. Needless to say, that afternoon was so tense and worrisome but I’m fortunate my brother was okay. I found out later that some of the Port Authority officers who died that day were men I knew as my Dad was a retired P.A. officer. It became very clear that there weren’t any immediate survivors and I said many prayers for the many people whose lives were lost and those left behind and will never be the same because of that day. That night was very difficult to sleep as the possiblity of what might happen next was in the forefront of my mind. It’s hard to believe it’s 5 years already since it happened but it is as though it happened yesterday. Every detail of the day is perfectly clear. My only hope is that the future of America will be stronger than ever against terrorism and that we never have to live through another tragedy like 9/11/01 ever again in our lifetime!
I was at home getting ready for work (west coast). I was getting ready to leave on a business trip that week when my mom called hysterical wanting to now if I had left for my trip. She told me to turn on CNN. I was able to see the second plane hit the WTC. We talked about who did this and we agreed that we were under attack and was no accident. I will never forget…
Visiting friends in Louisville, KY. I was getting off the Watterson Expressway at Newburg road when I heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Since I live in New Jersey and know how large the WTC is, I could not understand how this could be an accident.
On maternity leave getting ready to have my first child. I was watching the news that morning getting ready for a doctors appointment, when I saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Knowing I had to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, I was scared. I thought about all those people who lost their lives and was thinking of the kind of world I was bringing my child into; two weeks later he was born.
I was getting ready for school and watching FOX news. I saw the first plane hit the WTC, I thought it was an accident and moments later the second plane hit and then I realized it was no accident. I remember being scared and crying. When my husband picked me up to take me to school, he too could not believe what he was hearing on the radio. I still went to class, but we couldn’t help but turn the TV on in every room because we still did not know what was happening.
I was driving my car to the mechanics after having worked out at my college campus’s rec center. I remember exactly what I was wearing and can picture it even now. I then got in my friends’ car and told her to listen to the radio, then we went back to my place and ditched class to watch the news coverage with my roommates. Even though we were in Kansas, we were only 15 miles from a large army base, and didn’t know if it would be safe to be outside in case the base was a target as well.
I was at my high school, and nobody knew what was going on or what to expect.