9/11/01 Where were you?

leadiax3

Ohhh. I no longer have sirius radio.

dawn_eichert

My MIL called and told us to turn on the TV just in time to see the 2nd tower hit (we are on the west coast). I remember sitting on the bed in shock. At the time, my son was 2, I was pregnant with my daughter and my mom was in the hospital recovering from what we had hoped was life saving surgery for cancer. I remember thinking that our lives were never going to be the same... For me personally it was so hard to comprehend that terrorist used the product that I helped build to bring terror to our nation. Airplanes were for bringing families together...not tearing them apart. Needless to say, work sent most of us home within a few hours.

With much of my familiy in the military, this has been a difficult road for many years as I have watched and prayed for them to leave and come home safely (and thankfully have). My heart just breaks for the families that were torn apart that day and then the days/months/years afterwards as additional lives were freely given in the fight for our safety and way of life.

GorillaNJ

no joke... I was at the gym on elliptical and listening to Howard Stern. he was awesome I remember he narrated the whole thing from his New York radio station.

yep- his broadcast was amazing! They repeat it every year. I turned it on today to listen, but for some reason it wasnt on.

He was my number one sorce of news that day after I finally got to my car trying to get from the city to my parents house. It was really a moment in radio history that he deserves more credit for.... I also like when he throws baloney at womens *kitten*...

emjaycazz

When I heard, I was in my office three blocks away from the White House.

Then, I spent the rest of the morning underground, in the DC Metro system. No one had any idea what exactly was happening. The trains moved very slowly, but everyone had patience and a kind word.

When we finally emerged, I spent about 2 hours at the East Falls Church Metro waiting for my husband to pick me up. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant close by to watch a grainy picture of the Pentagon with smoke billowing up.

And then finally, at home in Northern Virginia sitting on my back porch, completely numb, with my then-3 month old baby sleeping in his carrier while fighter jets circled the air space above.

RilantheFirebug

I was 13. In middle school taking ISTEP (standardized statewide testing), school went on lockdown and the teacher presiding over the test FREAKED OUT but was mum. Didn't know what was happening until the test was over in history class around 12:30 when he didn't say anything and simply turned on the TV and said, "This is your Pearl Harbor".

nataschalouise

I had just arrived home from school in Northern Ireland (3.30pm gmt) . I was 11 and my sister was a lot younger, and was upset because all the cartoons were cancelled on the TV (she didn't understand).

I remember being horrified watching it.

I went to the lovely city of NYC and paid a visit to Ground Zero, the Ten House and other places when I was 17 and I have always admired you guys for having that community feel in a city as large as NYC.

My heart is always with those that were affected.

Thanks for staying awesome, NYC.

TeamDale

I live in Nebraska. I had just arrived at work and someone said they just heard on the radio that a plane hit the World Trade Center. We though a small plane. Then I turned on my radio and heard what was happening. I worked in a small office and we went into the owners office and turned on his TV. We spent the rest of the morning there. He sent us home at noon since he knew no work would be done anyway.

I was so numb the rest of the day not knowing what would happen. I went to a church that evening where people were gathering and wept with them. I found myself hugging people I have never seen before or after. But we all needed each other.

Hexahedra

I was in my apartment getting ready to go to campus. When I turned on the TV it showed that a plane hit one of the towers. At first they treated it like any other news, but when the second tower was also hit then the media began a non-stop coverage. The first tower collapsed and my jaw was on the floor, thinking this would be really terrible if the second tower collapse too. Me and my big mouth, the second tower fell shortly after. I just knew that the world will never be the same again.

dbmata

This question is asked once a year, evey year.

It is...and while I answered, I still find it annoying that people do this...every year. And the whole thing is played on TV...every year. I remember being at work on 9/11/02 and they played everything on the radio. It was awful.

You don't have to read it every year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxauqa7rJgI

Jersey_Devil

Ohhh. I no longer have sirius radio.

it's on youtube.

ccburn5

At work, Frisco Texas. Looked up in time to see on the big screen TV the 2nd plane hit. Everything pretty much came to a hault as we all gathered around to watch.

Jersey_Devil

no joke... I was at the gym on elliptical and listening to Howard Stern. he was awesome I remember he narrated the whole thing from his New York radio station.

yep- his broadcast was amazing! They repeat it every year. I turned it on today to listen, but for some reason it wasnt on.

He was my number one sorce of news that day after I finally got to my car trying to get from the city to my parents house. It was really a moment in radio history that he deserves more credit for.... I also like when he throws baloney at womens *kitten*...

yeah the show started with Howard talking about kissing Pamela Anderson, but the tone quickly changed as news trickled in. What I liked about the coverage was not only were we getting news as it was coming in...he was in NYC...and we were getting EVERYONE's reactions.

LauraMacNCheese

no joke... I was at the gym on elliptical and listening to Howard Stern. he was awesome I remember he narrated the whole thing from his New York radio station.

yep- his broadcast was amazing! They repeat it every year. I turned it on today to listen, but for some reason it wasnt on.

He was my number one sorce of news that day after I finally got to my car trying to get from the city to my parents house. It was really a moment in radio history that he deserves more credit for.... I also like when he throws baloney at womens *kitten*...

yeah the show started with Howard talking about kissing Pamela Anderson, but the tone quickly changed as news trickled in. What I liked about the coverage was not only were we getting news as it was coming in...he was in NYC...and we were getting EVERYONE's reactions.

I had flipped over to Howard Stern on my way to work, thinking I'd be hearing all of the latest. It didn't even occur to me until I was about halfway to work that there was a time delay between when his show was recorded & when they aired it out here. I felt so dumb. I hit up CNN as soon as I got to work.

Panda_1999

I wrote this in 2005
I live and work in New York City, so the world trade center was a part of my landscape. Memory can be a funny thing and as you get older there are times when the past feels more real than the present. By real I mean properly grounded, that it makes more sense. That is part of an important connection I have found with my children; they keep me up to date.
Looking at the twin lights reaching skyward from what had become a vacant abscess in my skyline as I ride my ferryboat toward home I cannot help but think of how much has changed. I remember because I have taken this trip back and forth for almost 20 years.
My story of that horrible day is not remarkable, but I saw what it did to this city. I work in midtown, back then I had stayed at a friend’s apartment the night before, so I did not have to travel in from Staten Island that morning. For all I know that fact may have saved my life, the timing would have been close, but I digress.
When I got up that morning I had no idea, see, I don’t start my morning with news, I sleep as late as I can get away with then dressed and get to work. There was a strange feeling to the air I should have paid attention to, but mornings (even as late as after 10am) are not my best time to function. When I made it into the office is when I learned what had happened. Being the last of our staff to arrive they were relieved I hadn’t been caught underground.
They had the TV going in the conference room and that was the first time I saw the infamous footage. I guess we were all in a kind of shock, each of us trying to understand what had happened. I am so glad to have been able to contact my family, for us phones and internet were still working. Gradually initial news of the extent of the damage and the limitations to travel came out and many of the people at work started their long walks home. But for me it was a different story, lower Manhattan was cut off and there wasn’t going to be a boat to bring me home, I was stranded. Taking a cig break I could see the beginnings of people walking up town to get to the bridges and off of the island towards home. Looking south, I could see the great plume of smoke wafting over toward Brooklyn had become a major feature dominating the view.
For hours the exodus continued, and as time went on more and more of them were the walking wounded. People with the life drained from their eyes, people covered in gray soot, and just more and more people who looked lost. The local stores had a mixed response. Some places were price gouging (I have never gone back to them), but there were also others who were giving water away to the walkers in need. By late afternoon most had gone, what had been a thriving vibrant city had become a ghost town. I was fortunate to have my friend’s apartment to return to, but they had been at work in Queens when this happened and had quite a time walking back onto the city. I was stuck for a total of 3 days, but things were never quite the same after that.

Mustang_Susie

Hoboken, NJ right across the river from the trade center. went into NY 2 or 3 days later- ground zero and thanked rescue workers near a red cross makeshift center. my profile picture is my buddy'e grave. I knew 2 people in the towers...one got out and one died.

Thank you for sharing.
That is a different perspective.
I had not seen a headstone from 9/11...

The headstone is in Connecticut. I remember the day I found out he died. I was watching the news in November and they reported that they identified the remains of more victims. Then I saw my friends picture. I did a double take then called a friend who went to college with us to talk about it.

Oh, how awful and sad.
I'm so sorry.

GGDaddy

I was in the Pentagon.

Am quite glad to be reading the posts where people remember where they were, e.g. "at the dentist in Topeka" as alluded to earlier. 9-11 is certainly an important day in my family, I'm very grateful that other people still feel the same way.

angmarie28

8th grade history class

Hellbent_Heidi

At work..everyone started getting phone calls, and getting online to read the news. Someone ran out and bought an antennea to hook to a television used for training videos, and we all went to the cafeteria to watch. The day was a blur...but I basically lived in the runway approach of an Air Force base at the time, and I remember that fighter jets were screaming overhead the whole night.
Every time I woke up hearing them, I thought something else had happened, so I'd turn on the TV to check it.. It still makes me nauseaus just thinking about how scary those first few days were...just wondering what was coming next....

Sabine_Stroehm

This question is asked once a year, evey year.

It is...and while I answered, I still find it annoying that people do this...every year. And the whole thing is played on TV...every year. I remember being at work on 9/11/02 and they played everything on the radio. It was awful.

I don't find it annoying (which is why I read the threads. Of course, you can choose not to). I read these threads because each year I see 9/11 through someone else's eyes.

I think it IS important. I teach young adults, and see that already it's lost its significance for some of them. A post 9/11 world is all they've really known...I try to explain to them that myself and many others lost a bit of ourselves, a bit of our innocence that day.

But again, folks are free to skip these threads, and change the channel.

YaGigi

On a date. We came home, turned on the TV and thought it was a movie going on...