Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?

[AggieBrad]

I am just curious to hear other peoples' stories of where and what they were doing when the planes hit the WTC and the Pentagon.

I was at work. We did not have internet access there at the time and my wife had called me to let me know what was going on. We all went into the break room and watched it all unfold. A very very sad day.

 

[Matthew Hobbs]

In September of 2001, I was serving as a first lieutenant at Fort Lewis, Washington, as a recon platoon leader. Here's my timeline for that morning:

0600, PST, Ft. Lewis, WA - I report to my troop for the early morning brief with my commander, First Sergeant, and all platoon leaders and platoon sergeants.

0615 - Briefing over, we head to the back to our platoon tac rooms to round up the soldiers. It's Tuesday, our organized athletics day, and all my guys want to kick my "college boy" butt at soccer. Two guys mention they heard on the radio that a small plane ran into one of the WTC towers. We blow it off as an urban myth, or tragic accident involving a Piper Cub.

0630 - head out to the field to get muddy as heck and have some fun.

0735 - limping back from the field, my platoon is informed that both WTC towers have been catastrophically hit. We are to remain on post, shower quickly, and report to the Arms rooms NLT 0830 to draw weapons and begin security patrols of Ft. Lewis. The base is shut down - no civilians will enter or exit until late that afternoon. Traffic on I-5 through the post is at a standstill for five hours.

That was my day on 9-11. We were all confused, scared, and angry. I'm from DC - half my high school and college friends worked in the city, and I was very, very worried.

 

[jayswife29]

I was doing what I do every morning, cleaning the house when my mother-in-law called and told me to put the news on. I did, and did not understand what was going on. Then when we saw the second plane hit we knew it wasnt an accident. When the plane hit the pentagon I knew we were going to war. When the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania was when I first heard something about it being an act of terrorism.

 

[crazyfingers]

I was on my way to the airport for a cross country flight (Providence, RI to Las Vegas) for a business trip.

I watched the planes hit on TV while getting ready to leave home in the morning. I was most the way to the airport when they cancelled all flights and the towers had fallen by the time I got home again.

I was of course greatly relieved when they cancelled the flights.

 

[crazyfingers]

My Boss was on his way to the WTC for a 10:00am meeting. He was in a taxi and saw the 2nd plane hit.

 

[eldermike]

I was at work. Someone came in my office and said to turn on the radio. In the early afternoon we scheduled a prayer meeting outside on the front lawn and announced it for all that wanted to come. I think all employees came. I heard later that evening on the news that many places of business did the same.

 

[Blessed75]

I was at work. The tv was on in the conference room and I saw the second plane hit. I had no idea what was going on. I thought I was seeing a re-enactment of something. When I realized what was going on, I immediately got in touch with family, especially since my Aunt flys for United. I remember I was pregnant with my son at the time and terrified to go to the mall, hospitals etc. for fear it would happen here. Because I work for some pretty influential politicians, I remember my husband really wanting me to come home. He was worried. It was just pure chaos. I still cry when I see the images of what happened that day......

 

[Reader Nilus]

I had just taken my wife to work and when I came home, it was my day off, my step children said someone crashed a plane into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon so I ended up spending the day watching it unfold on TV.
Jeff the Finn

 

[BarbB]

I was in my deceased husband's house, waiting for the movers to pick up my stuff for NJ and FL. My stepdaughter's boyfriend called for us to check the TV. We watched all day (and all the following days). The mover showed up the next day (he had been caught in NYC). I'll remember that day forever!

 

[Michael0701]

It was day 3 of a stomach illness, and I was in the bathroom when the wife shouted out that a plane had hit the towers. Like everyone else I have spoken with the assumption was a small single engine plane with problems smacking into the building, until I finally got out of the bathroom and saw the second plane hit and knew it was an attack. I was taken to the emergency room in the early afternoon. Lying there I could hear the tv broadcast and the scope of what was actually happening up in NY and DC became clearer to me. I can still remember someone (staff) in the emergency room franticly trying to get ahold of her brother or nephew, it was to be his first day on the job in one of the towers (later on that evening, we found out he was late getting there and was safe). It wasn't until the following day that the phone calls started to come in, letting me know a good friend was missing.

http://www.brama.com/news/press/020914skala_wtc911.html


We must remember that it was hate, pure evil hatred, that flew those planes that day. It's still hard for me to believe my own words that only love can heal our wounds and comfort our loss, but I hope that if I say it enough I will actually believe it.


Thanks to AggieBrad for starting this thread. I hope you all can take a moment of your lives to view the link, it is just one of many telling Yash's story.

 

[Godzman]

I was in school, in my creative writing class, it was a very sad day.

 

[Monika]

My husband and I were both leaving the apartment for work... on the way to the cars our apartment complex's gardener asked us if we'd heard that a plane hit one of the WTC towers. We hadn't heard... and thought "that's so weird"

At the time, I worked at a major bookstore. No TV, no radio... and with something like this, the magazine and newspaper stand is useless. Our only info was from the very, very few customers we had... and our manager's daughter would call with updates from the news. That's where I heard about the 2nd tower, the Pentagon...

It was so confusing and scary - we kept hearing rumours and didn't really know exactly what was happening.

 

[LadyLamond]

My husband had just went to work, I Had just turned on the tv and was channel surfing, when the replay of the first plane, and I was in total shock, then I sat there and watched the rest of the day unfold...

 

[Inspired]

I was on my way to my history class. I was at UA at the time. I had just dropped a friend off for work, adn walked Sara to her class. I saw my professor standing in the hall crying, I could hear the news, but couldn't make out what they were saying. I knew this professor on a more personal level, she was a faculty advisor for a group I was in on campus. I asked her what happened, I heard what she said, but it didn't sink in at first, because what she said, made no sense. I starred at the TV, then it all it at once. I called my friend that I had dropped off, then went and got Sara out of class, we all went to the basement of New College, we had just put a big screen in there. I was sitting there trying to figure out what in the world was going on, when we saw the second plane crash. UA dismissed all classes, the foriegn exchange students were taken to Coleman coliseum for their protection, as 3 had already been attacked on campus, in the process of a half hour. They cancelled our football games.
The owner of Hooligan's, a local mediterranean resturant, that we hung out at 4am to study, was shot in board daylight entering the resturant. They had the National guard come out to campus to protect the foriegn exchange students, who weren't allowed to go to class for several weeks.
My birthday was the 13th, it didn't even occur to me that my birthday had some and gone til weeks later. Me and my friends sat infront of the TV for days.

 

[Hank]

I was working in our home, when we got "urgent" message.

First I thought they are joking, I mean come on, planes into WTC, and then I turned on the radio and realized this is no joke. My phone rang of the hook and ICQ got wild. The news was confusing at best; the shock came when the towers came tumbling down. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out what actually happened. Who what when where why - that took days.

 

[rotorhead]

I was still at home when the first plane hit. I heard something about the towers and a plane over the clock-radio. Turned on the tv to see a little more. Then drove to the airport. I was scheduled to test for my flight instructor license on the 12th. (Needless to say, that didn't happen). Everybody there just sat in front of the tv. Spent a while going over emergency security procedures with airport security.

Oddly enough, not long after the initial impacts, when everybody in the media was still clueless about the methods the terrorists used, I made a prediction that they would decide it was 4-5 terrorists per plane, and that they had used knives.

 

[rotorhead]

A side note to that: The terrorism actually hit home in an interesting way. One of us at the school suddenly remembered the next day that back in the previous winter, we had been contacted by a group of Saudis wanting flight training.

Then not long after the investigation started, it was discovered that one of the cars that had been rented by the terrorists had been rented at our airport.

 

[Wolseley]

I was at home on-line, surfing through bulletin boards. I received an e-mail from my wife, who was at work, asking me to call her immediately. I got off-line, but before I could call, the phone rang; it was my next older sister, who was very upset....she had received a call from our other sister, who was practically in hysterics. I had turned the TV on about this time, and was trying to make sense of what was going on.....


While I was talking to my sister, her daughter came in, yelling "They just got Camp David!" That, of course, wasn't true, but things were so totally confused that morning, nobody knew what was going on; all I knew was that the country was under attack and nobody had any idea just exactly where the Commander in Chief was.

My sister and I finally agreed that she should call my other sister back and tell her to get out of the house and down to where her daughter worked (she's a resturant manager) and that under no circumstances should she be alone. (She is rather high-strung, and 9/11 just about put her over the edge.)

I finally called my wife, and by now I had watched enough news reports to figure out the basics of what was going on. We talked for a bit, she said she would stay at work, but that if I went anywhere, to let her know where and for how long. I didn't go anywhere for the rest of the day----I sat in front of the TV and watched the whole thing until late, late that night. I remember feeling very grim, and thinking to myself, "You sons of b*****s.......you do this to my country?"

It was a very, very stressful day. I kept trying to figure out how it could happen on such a beautiful day----how could such horror just come out of a clear blue sky?

And I thought then---and I was right---that this would be one of those "chronological divides"; that forever after, people would divide history into pre-9/11 and post 9/11, just like people did with Pearl Harbor. I remember knowing with a sort of sickening certainty that life as we knew it had just ended; things from this point on would be different, and nothing would ever be the same as it had been before again. I think we are still in just the beginning phases of that realization. I believe we are headed for a gigantic clash of cultures---Islam against the West---and it will not be pretty.

 

[psycmajor]

Let's also remember those who died at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, as well.

 

[water_ripple]

I am just curious to hear other peoples' stories of where and what they were doing when the planes hit the WTC and the Pentagon.

Well, on this day I was sleeping in. My sister-in-law calls me up. I am rather annoyed that she calls so early. Today is my wedding anniversary, and my husband and I are planning a late evening out. "Oh well" I think, "I'll just catch a nap later since the kids are with the sitter."

After about 10 rings I pickup:

"Hey woman what's up?"

"What are you doing?" she asks

"Well what I normally do this early...sleep."

"THE WORLD IS FALLING TO PIECES, AND YOU ARE SLEEPING THROUGH IT?"

"What in the **** are you talking about?"

"turn on the tv."

CLICK

silence

I hang up on her. I cannot believe what I am seeing. I turn the stations it is displayed on every channel. I sob. I watch the people dirty and terrifed standing around or running or screaming in agony. The image burns into my brain. A pan of the camera...a single baby stroller...the place has a daycare with infants and children...speechless. I am in awe of the distruction.

The plane crashes in Sommerset Pennsylvania. I live an hour away from here. Panic arises. I have brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews in school. Parents run to get their children home out of the schools. Who knows what is a next target. The school administration tries to prevent the parents to pick up their children. Virtual ghost halls are left here. The parents ignore even the enforcing police officer. "My kids are going home where it is safe."...

I realized what I was thinking about when I answered the phone. I am sickened by my selfishness. My anniversary seems to no longer matter at all. I grieve.