Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01?

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  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    I was at the office and my late business partner and I were glued to the streaming news services all day. My wife has family in NY and several of them worked close to the WTC, fortunately they were unharmed.
  • Tikibar72
    Tikibar72 Posts: 93 Member
    I was at my desk at work in Kansas City. My newborn had just had his one-week check up at the pediatrician. We were released from the office shortly after the first tower fell. I made it home in time to witness the second one fall. The pain of that day lingers.
  • bugaha1
    bugaha1 Posts: 602 Member
    Everyone in our office heard about it so we all went to the main floor of the building where there was a bank. We went into their conference room and watched on the TV. There was about 30 of us just standing and staring at the TV. A Canadian friend who worked with us was making unappropriated comments then the second plane hit. I heard a woman from the bank cry out oh no! and she started crying. The Canadian guy shut up.
  • gingerheadgirl
    gingerheadgirl Posts: 75 Member
    I was active duty at the time. I was on Fort Hood when they realized what was happening and the entire base was locked down. So scary, I remember it like it was yesterday.
  • FabulousFantasticFifty
    FabulousFantasticFifty Posts: 195,832 Member
    Was in Maine getting Kids ready for a trip up the coast for a day at Rogue Beach! Heard about the 1st Tower on NPR then turned on the TV. What a tragic day for our Country and for the many Families all over the World that lost their Loved Ones! May they Rest in Peace! :cry:
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
    Sound asleep - was working Mids shift that week....................

    Glad to know I wasn't the ONLY person who slept through the entire thing. A friend of mine called and woke me up about 6:00 that night to tell me what had happened. She said she debated calling me as soon as it happened but was afraid I would stay awake all day watching the news coverage instead of sleeping. She knows me all too well!

    Edited to correct grammar.
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
    I was working in the World Trade Center in Denver. I promptly went home spent the day in front of the tv with my best friend (we had to take a break from the news at some point and watch Labyrinth). Her man came home early and proposed to her when he walked in the door. Shortly thereafter, my daughter was conceived. Those are the things I choose to remember.

    ETA: I also remember that I was already upset, as it was the day after Ed McCaffrey fractured his leg and ended his career. It's weird the things that stick in your head.
  • dcresider
    dcresider Posts: 1,272 Member
    I too was in DC. I had just come in to work 15 minutes early. My co-worker had the tv on when the first plane hit and I thought...what a horrible accident. And then I notice the 2nd plane and I knew something was horribly wrong with the scenario. I was shocked to say the least. Meanwhile, we heard the Pentagon got hit and ran to my bosses office (he had a view of 395 in DC and could see smoke from a distance). After that, we were all told to go home for fear something else might happen. Craziness. Watched TV all day and DC was a ghost town the next 3 days.


    I was on my way to work in DC. I heard about the first tower hit just as I was getting on the subway. I thought it was a joke... or maybe just a mistake. I didn't hear about the second hit until after I got to my desk. Everyone sorta came out of their offices and cubicles to see what was happening on CNN. That's when we heard about the Pentagon. There was so much confusion and chaos about what was happening. There were a lot of false reports of the Capital burning. We all wanted to get home but everyone was evacuating DC. The subways were jam packed and there were a lot of folks saying that there were possible attacks that could happen underground. I called home to check on things and my mom was hysterical telling me to get out of DC. My aunt was yelling at me to get out because the Pentagon was on fire. My fiancee was out in Denver and I couldn't get in touch with her because all cell phones were busy. When I finally got in touch with her, she told me she wanted to come home. My cousin was on 395 and was stuck in traffic when the plane hit the Pentagon. I finally managed to hitch a ride with a coworker to go back to my fiancee's place in Silver Spring. Traffic didn't move much and I remember my coworker driving on the sidewalk to get around some idiots. When I finally got home, I continued talking to my fiancee to get her back home. Rental car, train... whatever. She ended up having to fly and she was scared. I told her that if anything happened to the plane, she should fight.
  • WandaWoman41
    WandaWoman41 Posts: 153 Member
    I was working in the area (Wall Street & Broadway).
  • jogamaster
    jogamaster Posts: 5 Member
    I was in my car on the GW parkway in VA going to my office in Alexandria. My wife's sister lives in NYC and called my wife and told her a plane had crashed into the tower and she was going to go in the office (not the tower), my wife called me in the car and that is when we heard the second plane hit and my wife said, that was not an accident. As I was driving past Key Bridge I saw a black cloud of smoke rising to my right about a half mile away. As I got near National Arpt, I realized the smoke was coming from the Pentagon bldg. and thought to myself "Is this related?" By the time I got into my office, we knew what was going on and sent everyone home from the office. I went back home around the beltway the opposite way to avoid traffic and desperately tried to get ahold of our nanny who was with our kids at home. I got ahold of her about 30 min later and she didn't even know. I could not get in touch with my wife who was stuck in a massive traffic jam in DC until hours later. We found out later, thankfully, that my wife's sister was on a bus down there when the bus driver stopped and everyone got off and walked home. I will never forget
  • LazerMole
    LazerMole Posts: 99 Member
    I was sitting in my second-period English class my sophomore year of high school when we found out about the Twin Towers.

    I was more terrified when we heard about the Pentagon, because a lot of kids at my school had parents who worked in DC.

    Some of my teachers tried really hard to keep us on task, but that was a lost cause.

    Someone called in a bomb threat to the nursing home my mom was working at that day, too. They had to evacuate all 180 of the residents (some of whom were entirely confined to their beds) across the street (which they did in 12 minutes!), right outside the gates of Ft. Detrick (which was terrifying because it's a potential target for attack due to the biological research done there).
  • caramelgyrlk
    caramelgyrlk Posts: 1,112 Member
    I have flashbacks every year. I was at work and 6 months pregnant. An Analyst in my office, his wife works for the Pentagon and he could not get through to her. The sheer terror and worry on his face caused all of us distress. My employer at the time is not well received and after multiple rumors of our areas being possible targets, we closed and my team helped me get down 6 flights of steps. Typing this up gives me chills.

    May we never forget how precious life is and take nothing for granted, as none of us are promised tomorrow.
  • Carmenbraun55
    Carmenbraun55 Posts: 50 Member
    I was in Schweden on vacation at the time, switched on the TV and not speaking the language I first thought it was an bad action movie playing until my husband came into the room and translated some of it for me. We than turned the radio on to listen to the German news and I remember I still couldn`t believe it (even spelt out in my own language). Such a terrible day !!!
  • USMCGunny
    USMCGunny Posts: 3
    I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. That afternoon we were briefed by higher HQ Intel (S-2); the next day drawing gear from supply; three days later boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Yeah, I remember it quite well.
  • trainguy917
    trainguy917 Posts: 366 Member
    I've been telling the story to my students, who were between 2 and 5 when it happened, about my memories of the event and aftermath. I think it's important never to forget.
  • Sendyk
    Sendyk Posts: 15 Member
    I was in 4th grade, I remember sitting in the classroom, and the principal came on the intercom telling the teachers to turn on their televisions. I was only 9 at the time, so the whole situation was a little overwhelming and too much to take in, more than I could understand. But it's something that I will never forget.


    wow, I feel old now. I was in 10th grade at the time.

    Man! I REALLY feel old. I was a teen fresh out of H.S. getting ready for my retail job. Saw it on T.V. in the bedroom and cried. I'm not normally a watering pot of a female, but knowing that it was real and that those people had families who were all probably watching and wondering was devastating.
  • amyhoss
    amyhoss Posts: 414 Member
    I was at a home in Ohio. I woke my boyfriend up to tell him that something was going on. Then the second plane hit.
  • spiralated
    spiralated Posts: 150 Member
    In Chemistry class. My previous biology teacher came in with this look on her face as she flipped on the tv (the cable company had donated one for each classroom) just in time for us to see the second plane hit. Our school was on lock down for the remainder of the day. Traffic was really bad but also people were just patient (we lived on the major routes to the Manhattan crossings). Which was hard because its a commuter town and no one knew for a long time who was coming home.

    Two other things we remember. The smoke, it was there for us for over a week. And laying on the grass, watching the empty skies (no planes) and the fighter jets make a grid pattern over head.

    {edit to add}

    Oh and my dad being locked in Quantico base for a lot longer than he had appreciated lol!
  • cottagegirl71
    cottagegirl71 Posts: 167 Member
    I was in the food court under my office building in Toronto getting a coffee with some co-workers.....the tv's had the first plane crash on the news and I was watching CNN when the 2nd plane hit. Everyone screamed when they realized what had happened :(
  • essjay76
    essjay76 Posts: 465 Member
    I remember like the back of my hand. I was on Summer break from college, working a temp job. I was on my way to work, stopped by a Starbucks, and the guy at the counter said that the Pentagon was attacked. I didn't know what to think of it because I couldn't see the news and reports on my car stereo barely had details as well. Then I got to the office and everyone had their eyes on the TV. I watched the towers come down and it seemed like work and life stopped that day. Customers and vendors from the east coast were calling in but it wasn't all business talk. I was in shock and just could not even begin to understand why this was all happening. I don't think I've ever looked at the world the same way since then.
  • DogloverTerri
    DogloverTerri Posts: 70 Member
    I remember that morning for the first time, I decided not to turn on the morning news but instead to read quietly. My best friend called and asked if I had seen the news. I turned it on and did nothing but watch in horror the rest of the day. No work. I couldn't come to grips with what had happened and what it would mean for so many families.
  • tapirfrog
    tapirfrog Posts: 616 Member
    I don't see how anyone could not remember.
  • charlottemmarks
    charlottemmarks Posts: 61 Member
    I was in my 7th grade Social Studies class. The news came over the intercom, and the school fell silent as teachers turned on their classroom TV's. At the time, I had no idea what the World Trade Center was, and it was evident that very few in my class did, either. But the way the tone immediately changed throughout the school was indicative of something quite insidious. Everyone was terrified.
  • LizN63
    LizN63 Posts: 129 Member
    I was on holiday in Greece and saw the footage in a car rental office. I thought it was a film. :frown:
  • beccaboo46
    beccaboo46 Posts: 8 Member
    Sitting in US history class... then we all understood what was happening during the passing period directly afterwards. We watched the news in every class after that. The 2nd tower went down as I was in Spanish class.
    I remember it like it was yesterday.
  • akklm005
    akklm005 Posts: 2
    I was in the air, flying from Atlanta to Jacksonville when they ordered all planes down. We had just left Atlanta, we were allowed to fly to Jacksonville since the Atlanta airport was too crowded for another plane. I didn't have a clue what happened until we landed.
  • beccadaniixox
    beccadaniixox Posts: 542 Member
    It amazes me that some people who were below the age of 10 years old had schools or teachers who tried to explain it to them while it was happening... I wouldn't have understood at all.

    I was in 4th grade in central NJ. You could hear the loud speaker going off in classrooms with kids being called out of the classroom to go home here and there.
    My mother was on the Board of Ed and her job was to go around to the schools in the district and talk to parents and get parents to keep their kids in school and to let their children have a normal day. Parents would explain things to their children when they got home from school.

    I heard they had turned the TVs on to the news in the 5th grade classes, but none of the grade levels below that.

    My mom explained it to me over my afternoon snack with our little kitchen TV playing the news in the background.

    At the time all I really knew was that two planes had crashed into two buildings in NYC and that people were dead... and I knew I wasn't going to be taken to see a Broadway show in the city for a while now.
  • RunsOnEspresso
    RunsOnEspresso Posts: 3,218 Member
    I was at school, between classes, and heard mumblings that something was happening. No one really knew what. I went to business law and it became clearer that something had hit a building in NY. A helicopter? A plane? No one really knew at that point. When I got home I found out my grandpa was stuck in Vegas. He was supposed to fly out that day. It took 3 days for him to get a rental card and drive home.

    I also vividly remember going to work that night and the tot spot tvs were turned to the news. We all stood around watching. There wasn't too many people grocery shopping that night. After work I spent most of the night watching the news, reading info online and messaging with friends about it.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    Like it was yesterday. I live in Vancouver Canada - I was getting up for work and my alarm was the radio. I woke up to the radio announcers crying as they relayed the information about the first hit. My initial thought was "if this is someone's idea about a joke, it's disgusting". I turned on the TV and watched the news and my blood ran cold as I realized it was truly happening. Went to work and we all sat around listening to the radio all day. My boss's friend worked in the first tower and he was desperately trying to reach someone (turned out his friend wasn't at work that day). I will never, ever forget that day. In fact I'm getting goosebumps just typing this.
  • NessaReh85
    NessaReh85 Posts: 140 Member
    Thank you USMCGunny & gingerheadgirl for your service to this country!

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