where were you 9/11 ?

[Poli]

Onboard USS Nimitz. I was supposed to leave early that day for a going away party for my best friend on the ship. Turned out I spent the next two nights onboard.

edit: I then spent every other night onboard until we changed our homeport from VA to San Diego.

[Roberto]

It was said of my parents’ generation that everyone could remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard JFK had been shot. For my generation it would have been John Lennon; for the next generation perhaps Princess Diana. But our memories depend on our time zones. Save for the latest night owls and the earliest early birds, the West Coast slept through the events. Here in Europe, it was the afternoon of a normal working day.

It must have been about 2pm London time when a colleague rushed into my office to tell me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre.

Never having been to New York, I did not grasp the possible implications of this. In those last, sweet, moments of innocence it seemed one of those strange things that only happened in America, and/or only in movies.

Soon after, he rushed in again, to tell me a second plane had crashed.

This sounded more serious.

I work in what Americans would call a law firm. We have one TV in the office; that afternoon it was being used for a training video for the new trainees. Nobody brought radios to the office; nobody left the office to seek information outside. So we sought out information on the internet. Only to discover that we could not log onto any of the obvious news sites "due to volume of traffic".

Another colleague thought of the Guardian Online website. There was less demand for that - it did not offer pictures. So most of us logged onto it, and read with increasing disbelief headlines about another plane crash at the Pentagon (true), a car bomb at the State Department (false), a fourth plane crash (true, though only later did we learn it was the one in Pennsylvania), a fifth plane heading for Washington which could not be contacted from the ground (false), evacuation of the offices at Canary Wharf (true), an attack on the Sears Tower in Chicago (false), and the fall of both towers (all too true).

Even then I don’t believe we really grasped what had happened. We knew what had happened, but we had not seen it.

About 4pm the training session ended. By public demand (a rare thing in a law firm!), the TV was moved from the main conference room back to its base, in the one room fitted with an external aerial connection. As many of us as could squeeze in did so.

At that point even the BBC was running a continuous loop of the first tower burning, the second plane and then both towers falling, with voices behind speculating about the number of deaths.

Everyone was very quiet and very pale. A secretary who had family members on the East Coast began to sob.

Looking back, I remember my mind trying to rationalise those scenes in terms of Hollywood. The burning tower was Towering Inferno. The street after the fall of the first tower, when everyone was running away from a cloud of white debris as if pursued, was Independence Day. But there was no corresponding reference for the second plane. That forced us to confront that what we were seeing was real. Impossible to imagine three hours earlier, but real.

I cannot imagine what it can have been like to see those images live, particularly for those who had friends or family members in the planes, the towers or the Pentagon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks later, I met an Australian who told me that in Australia and New Zealand (and, presumably, in Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and all points thereabouts) the events had been shown live in the evening viewing peak - what Americans would call prime time. She had been terrified by what she had seen, and so had everyone she knew.

[tucker342]

I was in school watching it on TV.

very sad day

[korme]

Everyone keep sharing, I have read each one. I'll probably end up bookmarking this thread.

[Buccaneer]

Lots of good stories here.

With my usual morning routine, I was unaware of anything until I got to work about 7:30am (I don't do radio). And as usual, I went to foxnews and cnn websites but for some reason, I couldn't get through. No big deal, it's just the typical political blather anyways. So it was onto the important site, FOFC.

And then I saw it...

The incomprehensible news in a thread (it had been about 30 minutes now since the first attack).

I think I did manage to get to a newsite and saw more of the details, including the rumours about many buildings in DC on fire. Then my wife called from her gym. I told her, it's probably bad. But there was an unspoken question that we were afraid to ask amidst all of this...what will happen to our vacation? I told her, I don't know, I don't know what's going on. When others in the office was getting around a TV they wheeled in, I asked to go home and find out.

We were both at home watching TV and very soon, we saw the towers collapse. It was then that we fell apart. It was so shocking. As best as we could, we tried to determine our plans. You see, we had this 10-day vacation planned to take Sean to California to visit my folks and then for my wife and I to spend a week in New England. It was the most anticipated trip we had planned. I told her I have to go to the travel agent and see what our options are (we were scheduled to leave in 2 days). Well to make a long story shorter, I spent the afternoon watching our little boy play in the front yard. It was his joy that got us through the day.

And now it comes full circle...

For tomorrow, we are taking that trip that was postponed from 9/11/01. We spent today thinking about the events of 9/11 and what our country went through. We will never forget.

Have a great week, guys.

[FrogMan]

Great story Bucc, enjoy your trip!

FM

[Killebrew]

Working from home, waking up on the couch with CNN still on from the night before, something I never usually do. The biggest emotion I felt after shock was dread, if either of those are even emotions.

[evil homer]

long time lurker here. i felt compelled to respond to this thread.

i walked into my office in fort lee, nj (this is at the foot of the George Washington bridge that connects northern new jersey with manhatten) that morning at about 8:50. my phone was ringing, and when i picked it up, a co-worker told me to look out my window. i saw the smoke and flames coming from the first tower. by this time, everyone had heard about it, so we started moving around the office. we congregated in an office that had a TV hooked up to cable and we had CNN on. as we were watching the screen, we saw the explosion as the 2nd plane hit. we looked out the window and saw the huge ball of flames. we sat stunned for a minute, and then we tried to contact our families. my wife was at home in staten island with our 2 year old, and was scared. i left work to try to get home, but by then, all of the bridges had been closed. i drove around for a while looking for someplace to go. i stopped at a rest stop on the NJ turnpike, and it was packed with people trying to use the phone (cell service was spotty). i finally reached my wife's uncle, who lives in southern NJ. i drove there and spent the night. i don't think we said more than 10 words to each other the whole night as we watched the coverage. the next morning, the bridges were finally re-opened, and i was able to get home to my family.

i will never forget the events of that day. to make this even more personal, i had worked in the WTC during my college days 6 years earlier. i was able to contact some of my ex co-workers, and was relieved when all had been accounted for. i guarantee you that i will be able to re-tell this story for the rest of my life.

[kcchief19]

I was on my way to work listening to the news when the local station reported that there had been an explosion at the WTC. After the commercial, they said that it was not reported a plane had hit the building and they were switching to NBC Radio News. My initial thoughts were that it had to be a small plane that went off course and lost control.

I was still about 5 minutes from work when they were interviewing a guy on a cell phone when the second plane hit. His reaction to seeing the plane hit was gut-wrenching.

When I got to work, everybody was glued to the TV. When the first tower fell and we saw the sudden cloud, someone said that it looked like there was another explosion. I was the first one to realize that the tower wasn't there any more. I said, "The tower isn't there anymore." It was a few seconds later that another camera confirmed the building was gone.

[JeeberD]

I would really be interested to hear what Senator would have to say on this subject (if he can get away from the auditors, that is)...

[STK]

I was sleeping until a "wake up, something happened to the world trade center" came through the bedroom door. I turned on the tv just in time to see the second tower collapse. The rest of my day was spent in a FOBL chatroom with speculation of the whereabouts of other hijacked planes and DC area fobblers.

[AnalBumCover]

Was on my way to work in Downtown Los Angeles when the story broke on the radio. No one was exactly sure what was going on after the first plane hit. Thoughts of a plane flying out of control, away from the normal flight pattern. An accident, they would say. Until the second hit, then it struck me. It struck everyone... this was no accident.

As I drove up toward downtown, my eyes kept on the skyline... just looking for anything that may happen to any buildings here in Los Angeles. It was a sombering sight. Still dark at 6:00am on the west coast. Nonetheless, I continued on.

At my desk on the 10th floor of one of the shorter buildings, I turned on the radio, and just listened to everything unfold. First tower collapsed. Then the second. Pentagon struck. Then the rumors started flying within our office. A plane was coming toward Los Angeles.

I was the supervisor of my department. I wanted my people out of the building and home safe. But I was overshadowed by upper management. We had to stay. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! My brother called me, who also worked in downtown. He was sent home, and he wanted me home as well. I told him I could not... that I needed to watch over my department. He pleaded me to get out of there. I was torn. I wanted to be home with my family, but I had a responsibility to stay with my department.

Overhearing other conversations, I learned that half of downtown is closed. Everyone's gone. Except our firm. We were locked down. Prisoners. I begged to my immediate manager. My people are scared. They need to be home. I'll be here to hold down the department. Just send them home! My manager told me she had no say on the situation. She was not given the word to let anyone go.

Finally, five hours after the first attack, we were authorized to send everyone home. I stuck around to speak my mind with fellow supervisors and managers. We all had the same issue... and we were pissed.

Once outside the building, downtown Los Angeles was a ghost town. It was completely silent. Reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. I drove home, no radio... no news, no music... just my thoughts.

I got home. Hugged my Mom. And turned on the television.

[Poli]

I forgot to mention the initial thought I had once I saw the television.

I came into my shop after escorting a civilian tech rep through a space and was intent on asking for some help. I opened the door, and it bumped into someone.

That's because the TV in the shop in the corner that the door was...someone was watching right in front of the door.

Now what got me was the time...here it is in the morning, and my supervisor and bunch of others were watching TV. I even joked about it saying it was a little early to have the TV on, right?

I looked at the screen, and saw the burning building, and as of yet, no one had told me what had happened. I didn't immediately recognize the building, and I didn't realize it was live television. I thought it was one of those "action" movies...the ones with the huge explosions.

Then it caught me. I saw the NBC peacock in the lower right corner. Oh shoot, I thought. There's been a terrible accident.

I work on identification friend or foe systems. It's a little different in the military, but the civilian sector has similar systems. I know that should some horrible accident arise, this could possibly happen.

Everyone was kind of freaked, and I mentioned my theory. The horrible accident theory and I believe people bought into it, since I'm an expert in my field. Then the second one hit. I knew then this was no accident...as horrible as it was. Someone was doing this intentionally.

My life in the military certainly has changed. Obviously, I'd be home right now if it hadn't. Our deployments are longer; it's no longer a given you'll be home 6 months after you leave...if it was, I'd have been home earlier this month. As it is, I'm looking to come home next month, without my shipmates .

Security also increased tremendously. Even after the USS Cole attacks, I feel ships were easy to attack in port. That's no longer the case, in my opinion. Getting onto the base isn't as easy, either.

I sometimes wonder had we taken the USS Cole incident more seriously if we'd be remembering 9/11.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I just wanted to add my thanks to lathum for posting this. And to everyone who shared their thoughts from that day.

And at the risk of jinxing it, I was very pleased and thankful that this thread was kept free of politicization. There's ample opportunity for that in other threads, but this one ... well, whether it makes sense to anyone else or not, this thread was my observance in many ways. We remembered the fallen, and that's what needed to be done most of all.

Thanks again lathum.

Jon

[Critch]

On September 11th I was working at Pentagon City in one of a small group of office blocks across the motorway from The Pentagon. I turned up at work late, but while trying to sneak to my desk I noticed a group of people were crowded around the tv in reception watching something about the World Trade Center being on fire.

I got the news of what had happened in New York from one of my co-workers and went to my cubicle to try to check CNN or the BBC for the news but the sites were overloaded. While sitting searching for a news site that wasn't down we heard the sound of a low flying aircraft and a thump that shook all the windows. My first thought was that it was another plane hitting, but as we worked close to National Airport and right beside a motorway it was easy to account for the noises so the second thought was "nah, couldn't be." A minute later a guy came over from the other side of our floor and said something had hit The Pentagon.

Everybody was crowded round the windows looking out at The Pentagon where black smoke was pouring out of the side wall. We were to the side of the wall that was hit, so we couldn't see the damage from the front and to be honest it didn't look too bad. When the radio reported it was a commuter plane that hit our general opinion was that it must've been something smaller as it didn't look bad enough to be that big a plane. While we were standing at the window we heard what sounded like another explosion in the distance to our left which shook everybody up, but as nothing else was reported I guess it must've been something innocent, or something from within the Pentagon echo-ing off the buildings around us. Still shook everybody up though, the thought that buildings were blowing up all around.

By now the rumors were flying, somebody heard that there had been car bombs in DC, one of the Treasury buildings downtown had smoke pouring out of it (one of my friends who worked downtown at the time still says this was true), then the radio reported that the USA Today building in Rosslyn had been hit too (which would have fitted in with the explosion we thought we heard to our left). With the reports of car bombs we moved away from the windows and back to our cubicles to avoid any flying glass if there was a car bomb.

As there were reports of another plane inbound we were sent home, as a couple of the blocks next door to us were federal buildings (DEA, I think) and could be targets. Standing outside our building knowing there was a plane load of poor innocents heading in the way and that they had no chance was the worst feeling I've had. The roads were completely gridlocked, every now and then we'd be held to allow through minivans with minor injuries from the Pentagon. People looking shaken and completely covered in ash and soot. Eventually we got home to Maryland (driving past the USA Today building in Rosslyn which was intact in all it's ugly glory at the side of the road, the first hint that some of the "news" we'd heard may have been rumor gone wild).

The mobile phone system had been out all morning, so I finally got through to my wife who had gone to the local metro station assuming I'd be coming home that way. She told me that the cab drivers were puting their prices up sky high, $50 or you weren't getting anywhere. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, I guess.

[Craptacular]

Sorry for being tardy, but I've been away from the board for a few days.

I was unemployed and therefore sleeping until noon. My wife (fiance at the time) calls me up and says something to the effect of "two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, gotta go, bye". This was still well before either tower collapsed, and I believe before news about the Pentagon came through. I stumbled out of bed, turned on the TV, and tried to figure out what was going on. I actually had a 2nd TV on the floor for watching two football games at the same time, so I put one on ABC and switched between CNN, MSNBC, and FoxNews on the main TV. After calling a couple of friends who were at work to see if they had heard, I basically just sat and watched TV for a couple of days. I didn't know anyone who lived or worked in NYC or DC, so I had no worries about friends or family being victims. My parents were vacationing in London at the time, so I was concerned they might be stranded for a while. It was a weird day. I didn't feel a personal connection to the events, but like most people, was completely engrossed by it.

[digamma]

Bumping and unarchiving for a little remembrance. Maybe newer members (or older members who didn't post) would like to add their stories. I think with a lot of tragedies it helps to make our story part of it in coping, and this is especially true with 9/11. It is part of us, and for me anyway, sharing how we experienced it is always moving.

I hope taking a minute or two to read a few of these posts helps you to remember that day we will never forget in a helpful way.

[Grover]

I was a senior in high school sitting in Law class watching Mississippi Burning. Around 10:30-11 were were ushered into the auditorium to watch the newscasts of what was going on. I remember being absolutely glued to MSNBC when I got home that night.

[Alan T]

14 years later, and this is still a tough day for me. I still remember the day vividly, and every year it causes me great anxiety and internal pain re-living it again.

We had just sat down in a conference room at work, waiting for some vendors to get there for a meeting when I suddenly got a call from my ex (my wife at the time), telling me about some plane crashed into the trade tower. At the time, it sounded like a small plane had lost control and we went on with preparing for our meeting.

She called back again a few minutes later saying the second plane had hit and we suddenly realized something else was going on, and ended up canceling our meeting and turning on the tv to see.

It did not take too much time before we realized at work that the planes had left from Boston and we had multiple co-workers and friends on one of the flights. We later found out that one of the co-workers ended up having not taken the flight due to other business reasons, but that was a very very tough day for all of us at work.

Still to this day, every year on this date I think back to our old friend and his poor son that pretty much has had to grow up without really knowing his father.

[britrock88]

High school freshman. I remember my 4th period biology teacher seeming a little shaken, but not explaining anything. Then in 5th period computer applications, the teacher decided to show us the news coverage. The conversation at the lunch table was paranoid, apocalyptic...

[miami_fan]

I was on temporary duty on Nellis AFB, I was sleeping after working a night shift and my wife called me and told me to turn on the TV. As I turned on the TV, a co-worker began banging on my door. I just stood there stunned and told my wife this was bad and I would call her back. My co-worker and I began to gather some of the members of our group. The rest of the day was spent watching a lot of TV, going to meetings, and preparing for whatever was about to come.

[BillJasper]

Sleeping.

I was working third shift. My wife woke me up right after the first plane hit and said there was an accident at the World Trade Center.

My daughter's eighth birthday.

[JAG]

I had a long commute into work. There was a driver with a small bus that picked a number of us up from the train and brought us to the office. Normally he listened to some awful music station, but that morning he had the news on. I was talking with someone else and didn’t notice, but after I realized it, I asked what was going on as I couldn’t determine it from the news coverage. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this point, but he either said one or two planes hit the WTC (the timeline would suggest 2, but information was jumbled during the day). I was a bit stunned and wondering how that could’ve happened, at some point he or one of the commentators mentioned it being a terrorism and I remember getting a cold sinking feeling.

As soon as I arrived at work, I pulled up cnn.com and there was practically nothing there because they were being so badly slammed. Eventually they worked up to having a little text blurb and later in the day pictures with the article updating. Meanwhile I was trying to frantically call my parents and find out how our extended family in NYC was doing. They were ok, just had to walk about 30 blocks back to their place through the dust clouds due to everything being shut down. Then we heard about the Pentagon getting hit by a plane and I placed a call to my friend in D.C. and after that called and woke up my brother in SF to warn him not to go to the city. Our CEO left a message for the company that the phone lines were being jammed by so many people calling and asking us to please leave the phones for business communications. My father told me one of the towers collapsed and later told me about the other one collapsing. I was stunned. On one trip to NYC I had visited them and I had trouble processing that they weren’t there anymore, that the view of them in the NYC skyline was gone.

Information was a mess that day. My wife (then girlfriend) called me and asked if we were going to war with Israel based on some things her classmates were saying. On the train ride back, someone had an evening paper that stated a group in Afghanistan (Northern Alliance I believe) launched rockets at Taliban targets (the groups meant nothing to me at the time, but the stuff going on there just added to the insanity of the day). The bus ride after the train, there were two kids playing noisily in the back and a lady told them to quiet down, that we all had a hard day. Lastly, I remember watching the news at home, nonstop until I went to sleep, and every day for the next few days. I couldn’t remember ever seeing the news anchors looking as exhausted as they did (might have been a day or two later, can’t recall now), having trouble completing sentences. Of course, no commercials, no breaks for them.

[Fonzie]

I'm a psychologist, and back in 2001 I was doing my clinical internship (the final portion of the training prior to doctoral degree completion) at a major university medical center.

My wife was up before me that day and woke me up, told me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center, and ran out of the room. In my foggy state I just assumed that a small prop plane had an accident or something, and wandered out to see what happened. By the time I got to the TV the second plane had hit, and it was clear this was no accident. I was not in the greatest emotional shape, of course, but I had clients scheduled that day so I went in to the hospital.

Shortly after I arrived I was told that appointments were being cancelled, but no decisions had yet been made about sending staff home. There were conflicting concerns about having mental health staff available for on-call work and worries that as a Level 1 Trauma center our hospital could become a target (at that time, the attacks were ongoing but their extent was completely unknown).

My director of clinical training cared deeply about her interns, and being a bit older I suspected she was much more worried about how this would affect us than how it would affect her. Shortly after the Pentagon was hit, she looked upon me with sadness and said, "I'm so sorry, Keith. Your world will never be the same." Shortly thereafter the administration sent non-essential staff home (including me).

I spent the rest of the day at home with my wife, alternating between tears and fury as we watched reporters try to piece together what was happening.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I was living in Washington, DC at the time. I had come into the office early that morning, before 8:45 or so, because I had been on vacation the last few days. I had actually flown into National Airport that evening around 10:00 pm.

I was sitting at my desk, drinking coffee, and surfing the net. You know, getting warmed up for the long day. Shockingly, I was reading some ign.com review of new Transformer toys (the adulting I do at work is so overwhelming at times). A co-worker walked by my office and said "Some just flew a plane into the WTC." My first thought was "What kind of jack-ass flies a plane into a giant, fucking building? It's pretty hard to miss. Maybe he passed out or something." I was thinking a small plane. One with propellers and such. So, I go back to my serious adulting.

Co-Worker walks by again and says "A second plane just hit."

At that point I thought "One, maybe a mistake. Two? No fucking way." I walked over to a conference room where a TV had been set up. I stood there stunned, watching the smoke and flames billow-up from the towers. We were watching for a few minutes and then I looked out of the window in the room. The side of the conference room was all windows and looked out over the Potomac.

That's when I saw the smoke.

It took me a second to realize and then I said, at work, "Holy shit! They bombed the Pentagon." Everyone looked over and saw the thick, dark cloud of smoke scarring the clear sky. Some people said that it wasn't the Pentagon, but I had lived in that area for a summer and was positive it was. This was all before anything was reported about the Pentagon.

I stood there for another few minutes and decided, "Fuck it. I am going home." I grabbed my laptop and walked home. As I left, I kept hearing reports of another plane coming towards DC (the one that crashed in Pennsylvania) and a car bomb near the State Building.

I walked home and it took about an hour. It was incredibly surreal. People wandering around the streets, trying to use cell-phones, the streets grid-locked with cars trying to get out. My walk home took me through the National Mall, past the White House, the Capitol, and Supreme Court building. The roads were all blocked off, because of all of the various reported threats, so I had to walk way out of my way to get home.

I finally got home at sat in front of the TV all day, stunned. It was hot. I was exhausted. I fell asleep every few hours for about 15-30 minutes at a time. Not sure why. Just overwhelmed I guess.

My former wife had it much worse. She was in the subway going from Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan for work. Her office was directly across the street from the WTC, One Liberty Plaza. (There were a few post 9-11 reports that the building was on the verge of collapse, though it never did). Her mother worked in the WTC (but was late to work that day) and her brother was on a flight from Newark to San Francisco. (His plane landed in Indianaoplis.) The subway stopped a few times and they reported there was some problem with the tracks. After a long delay the subway finally made it to the station. My wife came out of the subway and saw the smoking, flaming towers. She tried to make it to work and was turned back by the cops. She was one of the people running down the street away from the debris and rubble. She collapsed out of fear and exhaustion, thinking her mom had died, and had to be picked up off the street by some woman. She couldn't get a hold of her mom until around 2 PM that afternoon.

She went back to work at One Liberty Plaza in December. About two years after 9/11, she developed severe asthma. She is one of many who had to live/work around the site who now suffer from lung damage.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Fell asleep on the couch in my apartment in Anaheim the night before (as I sometimes did when it was hot at night--and it's always hot at night in California in September).

My brother (my roommate at the time) walked in and woke me up at around 9 a.m. PDT (12 p.m. EDT). He told me a friend of ours called him on his cell and said planes had hit the WTC and they were gone.

He told me this as he turned on the TV (in the same room I was sleeping). I basically said "no fucking way", then when he turned the TV on, we were seeing shots of the WTC. It took us about an hour or two to piece together the WTC was indeed actually gone (had been for an hour or two before we woke) and that we were looking at old, pre-fall shots of the WTC.

Then, of course, the planes into the buildings, over and over and over again, courtesy of CNN. We spent the whole day watching TV (I still remember it was a Tuesday...how weird, unless my memory is leaving me).

Every time I think my support for a war on terrorism is lagging, I think about that plane flying into the second tower. It's burned into my memory forever. That usually does the trick.

CR

Re-reading this, I now recall I actually went to work at my restaurant job that night. Not surprisingly, it was pretty much empty and they sent us home. I don't think the managers at the restaurant really knew what to do.

[cmp]

I was in 10th grade sitting in class. The principal came over the PA system and informed everyone what was going on. We all turned the TV's on in the classrooms and watched as the first tower collapsed.

[Peregrine]

I was on vacation with my parents, brother and aunt and uncle in Edisto Beach, SC. It had been a great vacation up to that time - understandably 9/11 pretty much ruined the trip after that.

[Dutch]

Its hard to believe it's been 14 years...

[bhlloy]

Sleeping in (must have been a really late night the night before as this would have been around 3pm local time, but I was definitely still in bed), 18 years old getting ready to go to University the week after. Friend texted me to turn on the TV with no particular details, I think after the first tower had collapsed but before the second one had. Even having never been to the US at the time and not really understanding the significance the towers had still the most unreal and shocking event of my lifetime. Like many others in this thread, we just watched the news until late into the night, dumbfounded.

[Butter]

Found out my wife was pregnant with my youngest son the day before this happened. Mixed emotions that night for sure. went and sat in gas station lines like a moron that night for like a half hour.

[lighthousekeeper]

I was unemployed in NJ at the time, alone in my apartment. I think I pretty much watched it unfold live on tv (it's hard to remember exactly, what with the countless video replays shown in subsequent days, coupled with the fogginess of slowly coming to a particular realization. e.g. when I recollect the video of the 2nd plane come in and the reporter's reactions and my own visceral reaction, was that when it was played live, or a replay done 3 minutes later, or am I remembering it from a replay I watched on youtube 8 years ago...).

I do remember going outside on my balcony to see if I could see the smoke (no) and also to watch the sky, as I could hear what sounded like military aircraft. There was that short period of time that day where you really had no idea of the scope of the attack, and could easily imagine the worst. I was imagining the possibility of military jets shooting down additional planes in the sky overhead.

While others mention how weird it was to see no planes in the sky, I experienced a different oddity: many planes flying especially low in the sky. There was probably a lot of planes held up waiting to land at Newark. I was unsettling to say the least.

I also remember the look my wife and I shared the moment she came home from work, and the silent hug.

[digamma]

Nipping the political stuff in the bud. Take it elsewhere.

[Antmeister]

This is my memory while living in Escondido, CA (North San Diego County). My daughter had just turned 1 year old 3 days prior. I remember having the news on in the background when I was getting ready for work in the morning and remember when the news reported that a plane had struck one of the towers. At the time, I remember telling Lori that it was just a tragic accident.

I remember heading to work just listening to some of the events on the radio, but I also recall that news travelled a lot slower back then because the events were still a bit sketchy and when I arrived at work is when I learned that the 2nd tower was hit.

At this point people at work was getting worried because no one knew if we were in a state of war, did this happen two suicide pilots or something else all together. Details were all over the place across various news outlets. I recall that there were reports the White House was hit as well as the Pentagon. All my coworkers were just huddled around radio across the office with no one being able to do any sort of work.

People were starting to wonder if Downtown San Diego was going to be hit next and there were rumors that the military bases were on standby if the events escalated.

When the towers fell, I only got to hear the reports on the radio at work and was in complete shock. There were a few people in tears while others wondered if this was yet another rumor unverified. But as more of the radio stations gathered info, it was definitely true and I remember rushing to the TV after work to be astounded that it was way worse than my imagination even thought it would be.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by digamma

Nipping the political stuff in the bud. Take it elsewhere.

Thank you!

[Subby]

I was at a meeting at the Hay-Adams, a hotel across the street from Lafayette Park and the White House. It was a live demo of some association management system and it kept bogging down (internet tubes in 2001 were teeny tiny I guess). The sales people left the room to see what was up with the internet connection and came back after a little while and said "there have been coordinated attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon and there are reports of another plane heading toward DC. Please GTFO (paraphrasing)."

My walk took me right by the White House - fortunately my office was only two blocks over and three blocks down from there. People kept looking up at the sky and police officers on the street were urging people to keep moving away from the White House. When I got back to my office it was empty. I can't get in touch with my wife because the cell system is overwhelmed. Our two kids, who had just turned 3 and 1, were in a day care about 2 miles from my office and down the street from my wife's. I had driven everyone in that day, so I went down to the parking garage to get my car (90s Ford Explorer) and headed toward the Dupont Circle area from my office (at 13th and Penn). I have the radio on and Dan Rather is alternating between a) describing the towers falling and b) the car bombs that are going off in DC. I am crawling along in traffic, just looking at the cars parked along the street, waiting for one to explode. I can't reach my wife. I don't know what the fuck is going on, if she has the kids, if they hightailed it out of the city, nothing.

45 minutes later (a trip that typically took 7 minutes) I make it to daycare (which was at a church down the street from national geographic). Relief. My wife is okay. My babies are okay. Time to get home.

It takes us three hours. It was excruciating, listening to the radio, trying to call loved ones, sitting in traffic, crawling along.

We get home to McLean (we had just moved there in July) and watched along with the rest of the country. We eventually turned it off and played with our kids and went outside and talked to our neighbors. Did whatever we could to return to the way our lives had been just a few hours before.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready for work when a co-worker called me and told me to turn on the TV.

I'm not sure why I lied about this, but I was actually sleeping through an early class when my co-worker called and woke me up to tell me what was going on.

[aknott]

I was an 18 year old working at Best Buy in Dayton, OH and mowing lawns on the side. I had to cut grass that morning and then go to my regular job so I drove separate from my dad to mow. I never listened to the radio much and had a CD playing. When I get to the house my dad asked if I heard what happened and I had not. He tells me and I say, “wow” and don’t think much of it. While I was mowing I received a call from Best Buy because one of the girls is freaking out over what happened and they asked if I would go in early. I worked my shift and got off around 4 and what happened didn’t really hit me until I got home and saw it all for the first time. Some of the customers at work had talked to me about it, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I actually saw it.

It used to amaze me how my parents and others could remember what happened when they found out about JFK. Well, with each passing year, I get it more and more. I think about what that day quite a bit and it still gets me. Maybe a part of it is I’ve always had a fondness for New York. I haven’t been back for over 20 years, though, but when I do I’m sure I will cry like a baby.

[molson]

I moved from the grove street area of Jersey City and my midtown Manhattan job back to central MA in August 2001. My Jersey city neighborhood had a big Arabic population - I did read later that some of the 9/11 terrorists lived in the area - I wondered afterwards how close they were.

I'm pretty sure Howard Stern broke the 9/11 news to me during my new commute into Needham, MA. Then I went into work and everyone was already watching things unfold. I remember the Internet went down and wondering if shit had REALLY hit the fan. The CEO told everybody to go home. I drove home really fast, 30 miles or so back, wondering if things would be even worse by the time I got there.

Then I went with a few friends for a long weekend to my friend's father's little cottage on cape cod. No Internet, no TV, we just drank a lot to get away.

[hawk4669]

On 9/11/2001 I woke up to go on duty at then Humboldt Fire District Station 12 (now Fire Station 2 for Humboldt Bay Fire) in Eureka, CA. I was a newly promoted Engineer and like everyone else, the day began like every other before it. I never listen to the news or anything in the morning before work....so when I left for work, I was clueless as to what was happening.

On the way to the station, my truck's radio was on but turned very low. I heard the DJ say something about "Pentagon" and "attacks" but figured it was something elsewhere in the world going on.

When I got to the station the off going crew, my crew, and the department Assistant Chief were glued to the TV. Still clueless, I said hello to everyone. A few of the guys glanced my direction, said nothing, and went right back to the TV. It was only then that I began to see what was unfolding.

For the rest of the day, my crew and I watched the news all day only pausing to respond to emergency calls in our own jurisdiction. With each passing news story, the gravity of how many citizens, Firefighters, Police Officers, and EMS workers had lost their lives began to set in. Come evening time, my Captain at the time turned off the TV and told the crew that we didn't need to see this anymore. It was a great decision.

The other part of this story is my wife being at home with our two year old. She (my wife) too was watching the news reports and was emotional over the loss of life....especially as a young wife of a Firefighter. Our two year old asked her mom why she was crying. My wife told her that some bad people had done something and that a lot of people had died or were hurt badly. Tori glanced at the the TV screen, saw pictures of several FDNY brothers digging through the rubble and said:

"It's ok Mommy....the Firemen will make it all better."

Never forget.

[Groundhog]

It happened while most of us were asleep in Australia. I was working morning shift and somehow managed to get ready and catch the train into the city with no idea it had happened - I had headphones on listening to music. An hour or so later when others started coming into the office, a guy comes over to me and says 'Hey, how about those planes that crashed into the buildings in the US?'. I went into the kitchen, turned on the tv, and saw it for myself.

[BillyNYC]

Grad school in Florida, just several weeks after concluding a temp job at the NY Mercantile Exchange (which was across the street from the WTC).

On Feb. 26, 1993, when the first WTC bombing happened, I was in 5th period computers class, in HS 4 blocks away. We heard a thud that sounded like a truck backfiring. We eventually heard sirens and saw lights. This was years prior to large apartment towers being built between my HS and the WTC, so some rooms had a clear view of the activity. 8th period precalculus was one of such classes and we spent the whole period at the windows. A police helicopter hovered maybe 20-30 feet away. A classmate waved, the pilot waved back and then headed towards the mass of blinking lights. After class, went down to the site and saw some people with soot on their faces outside. I don't think at that time, pre-Internet, we knew yet what had happened. One of the 6 people who died was the father of a 7th grade classmate of mine.

Anyway, back to 9/11. My class was smallish and I was the only NYer. A classmate mentioned that a plane had crashed into the WTC, which struck me as odd. Why would a plane be flying there? Went home after class, and basically was catatonic in front of the TV the next 24-36 hours. I felt really isolated and wanted to fly back to NY, but did not.

No one that I knew personally died in 9/11 (a HS classmate, whom I unfortunately barely remembered, did). Yet, with my 1993 history and having walked through the WTC daily just weeks prior, 9/11 is more emotional/personal to me than would be otherwise expected.