9/11/01 Where were you?

In college. Married. Oldest was 3 days away from his 1st b-day. The night before I had fallen asleep while watching the movie "Armageddon". My buddy called me to tell me to turn on the news and that "NY was under attack". At first I didn't believe him, but turned on the news anyways. Skipped some classes that day and was basically glued to the news the rest of the day...

I was a sophmore, in between classes in High school. We then went to our American History class, and watched the news the whole time. It was very shocking. Although I had no relatives who were affected, it was very scary and sad. Now that I am older, and I understand more, my heart goes out to ALL the victims and families. Especially the first responders, as I am in the Healthcare field. Such a sad tragic day. This has changed history and we will never forget. RIP!!! God bless America

I was exhausted after being up most of the night with my daughter who was a little over 7 weeks old. My best friend had called and yelled at me to turn on the tv. Of course the first thing I saw was the first tower smoking. At first I just thought it had caught fire until the newscaster said something about a plane. I hung up on my friend and ran downstairs and turned the tv on in the living room just as the second plane hit. I, like everyone else was so scared. A little later it was reported that the Pentagon was also hit. They were still unsure as to how many planes were unaccounted for. I just held my daughter and cried for a couple hours until it was time to go to work. Leaving her that day was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My heart goes out to everyone who was affected in a more first hand way. I can't being to imagine how hard continuing on has been for them.

The thing I rember first about that day was how clear the sky was, I had remember thinking that to myself as I walked out of the WTC at 7:45am. A crystal clear day always brings me back to that morning.y

I had a hangover actually because the Giants had played the night before so I dragged my self into the office when my buddy called from his window we could see the first building burning, we had no clue what was going on but we decided to get out off our building right away.

We went outside and walked to Battery Park (about 3 blocks away) watching the first tower burn someone said a plane hit the tower... what do you mean a plane... just then the second plane flew over our headns and I watched it fly right into the tower and the giant fireball shoot out of the building. every single person standing there said Holy *kitten*.. the entire builing flexed and I thought it was coming down right then so I took off running.

It was mayhem. I watched a woman get car jacked and people going crazy. I wanted out of the city and headed to the ferry. The doors were locked and the terminal was filling... crowded... when the ground shook, I did not know it at the time but the first tower came down. People started shoving and screaming and the doors to the boat finally opened. It was a sea of people fighting to the boat when I saw a woman get knocked down.. I yelled for people to be calm and I stood between her and the crowd until she got to her feet... as we got onto the boat the cloud of smoke covered us...

I did not even know the towers were gone until I landed in Staten Island... the rest of that day I spent trying to get home... which was an adventure in its self... including hitch hiking with a Hazmat crew..

Two days later I was working with the fire police and emts on making maps of ground zero trying to find where oil tanks, gas lines, electrical mains or any other potential dangers were as they searched. The people who went into those buildings to save others are the bravest people I could ever imagine.

I was in my fifth grade class. I remember the teacher turned on the TV and we all sat watching in shock. It was very unusual for my class to be that quiet. I live in Wyoming so it didn't really connect all that well for me that we were being attacked, it just felt very surreal.

I was 18 years old, working as a 911 dispatcher and was on afternoon shifts. I woke up to the horror and watched the news all day until I had to go to work, where I continued to watch the chaos and heart break unfold. I kept thinking to myself if I was a dispatcher in NY would I be able to do my job, thinking about my officers/firefighters/EMT's and trying to keep them safe. As a dispatcher they are your priority, their life lines. I will never forget that day and I still cry watching the footage or hearing those calls.

I was at work. I had a conference call scheduled with our bankers in NYC. They weren't answering.

My friend Rosa came over and asked if I'd heard "about the planes and the towers". I waited for a punch line, but she just stared at me. I was the only one on our floor who had an actual radio so I cranked up WGN (Chicago News Radio) and we just sat and listened..... Work gave us the option of going home. Nobody did. We didn't work much that day, but it was good to be together. The company bought a ton of TV's and set them up....leaving the internet for those people trying to get in touch with loved ones.

My strongest memory, though, was the drive home thru my neighborhood. Everyone was outside. Flags were already flying. The news was so horrific people chose to actually be neighbors than to watch the news.

I was a newlywed. And this was all before my ex had gone bat$hit crazy and started being abusive so we were doing newlywed "things." we lived in an apartment and our downstairs neighbor started banging on her ceiling, objecting the noise when it was really not that loud so we didn't understand what she was so cranky about. we got up and went to get breakfast and turned on the tv. most of the channels were out so we thought the cable was out. then we found what we thought was a movie instead of maury on. it struck us that it was not a movie. it was real. we looked out or apartment window towards the city and saw a cloud of smoke that was unreal. it looked like a mushroom cloud over it. my now ex drove to this one bridge not far from home and watched the 2nd tower fall. i was supposed to have my 1st class for the new semester that night but it got canceled. he had to work. i was home and hated it there. i was freaking out. i decided to go run errands just to keep my mind occupied. i remember going to the grocery store and it was a ghost town. only employees. they were huddled together around a tv and crying. it hit me how bad this was and i decided to go pick up my little sister who was only 6 from her school. they didn't even question me. they didn't call my mom to confirm it was ok. they just knew i was her sister so they released her to me. i tried to shield her from it all the rest of the day.

I live in California so it was really early when it happened.
I was driving to work, heard on the radio that a plane had hit the world trade center and the first thing I thought was "Ooops"
I couldn't think of anyone doing it on purpose, I thought someone had screwed up and hit it on accident. When I got to work (I worked in a lab/clean room) and that is when I found out what was really going on. We all watched the news on our computers. A couple of hours into the day they let whoever wanted to go home. It was a crazy day.
The thing I really remember was noticing the lack of airplanes in the skies in the days after. And wondering if there was going to be anything going on on our side of the country. I remember the national guard patrolling the bridges in SF and all of that craziness.

Being on the West Coast I was in bed. I worked late the night before so I didn't get up until 9am pacific time and by then the towers were gone. I turned on the TV and couldn't believe what was going on. Phoned my mother to find out what the hell happened. Then the re-runs of the morning events started and I just cried. Very sad day.

I was at work in Washington, DC, just across the Potomac River from the Pentagon. I received an email from a friend about the first plane, and then another about the second (no accident), and then the Pentagon was hit and the sky was filled with black smoke. DC was evacuated. I hunkered down with a friend who lived near the Capital to watch the news unfold. You had to walk. The streets were packed and the subway was a threat. Everyone was afraid - what was coming next?

Later that night, I felt safe enough to ride the subway. I was alone on the train will never forget seeing National Airport look like a ghost town. My wife picked me up at the station and when I saw the little heads of my 3 young sons poking up from the back seat, I broke down crying, thinking of all the people who wouldn't make it home to their families. Even now I cry for them.

Later that day, I learned that one of my best friends, who worked in the WTC, was missing, and then a few days later, we all came to realize that he didn't survive. JR and I played college lacrosse together, spent a month in Ireland together, stood up for each other at our weddings. We were as thick as thieves. We had a lot of laughs. His son was born a month after he died - he was so happy to be having a son.

Tonight I raise a glass of Jameson's for JR, may he rest in peace. And may we all find peace.

OP - Thanks for starting this topic. It's good to remember.

Dave

Sorry to hear of your loss. And yes, very good topic, indeed.

in eighth grade in school...I was in my English class when another teacher came over and told us

I was in 7th grade middle school, early in the morning getting ready for school. My mom had the news on. I was confused and scared. It was a weird day at school for everyone. We didn't really do much work or anything.

I was on my way to work...and I heard about it on the radio. I got to work & my co-workers and I were glued to the news websites all day. I remember trying to get in touch with my mom (who lives outside of Philly) and freaking out because I couldn't get through.