Where were you? What were you doing?

[djlunacee]

September 10th was not a good day for me personally. My girlfriend and I had one humdinger of a fight. I did not sleep well that night, I fell asleep around 4AM. So when she came barging into the bedroom, I knew something was wrong, but nowhere near the scale of what I was about to witness.

Without saying a word she turned on the television, and we watched as the smoke billowed out of the tower from the first strike. I casually started calling some old friends who lived in NY to see if they were okay and if there was anymore information than what we were hearing.

The next thing I heard was a scream, and I am not talking about a startled scream, this was a blood curdling, peel the paint off of the wall scream. I felt as though someone had shoved a vacuum down my throat as I stood in shock and stared at the second hit. It wasn't until later that I was told the scream came from me.

Then 9/11 became real to me, all to real, as the announcement came through the television that a plane had struck the Pentagon, it hit home. That is where my mother's office is(was). Panic and fear rushed through my body like a lightening bolt. I tried to call, all phone lines were down, redial, could not get through, not to her office, home, or cell. Panic and fear were now replaced by anger and rage. I was in my truck so fast that I literally forgot my shoes. I was living in Raleigh, NC. I was on my way home to DC to find my mom. About four hours later, and 2 warnings for speed, I was 30 minutes from home when my brother called from California, he asked where I was, and told him I was on the way to find mom, and that I could not raise her on the phone. Suddenly relief flushed my body as my brother told me she was working offsite in Germantown, MD.

I got to my mom's house she arrived a few minutes after I did.


It was this day, September 11th, 2001, I learned to never take anyone or anything for granted ever again.

[Titanic Explorer]

I was in Boston- I woke up when it was already underway- i heard a news blurb on the local radio that the WTC was on fire, then turned on CNN.
Then I turned on Howard Stern's radio show- and I have to say, his coverage of that day and the day that followed was spectacular...

[Sabretooth]

Seeing that the ten year anniversary is little over a month away, I thought it pertinent to bump the thread....

[NoahFence]

Working - my brother called to tell me a small plane hit the WTC. Then I noticed our company televisions being wheeled into the cafe, went to take a peek and didn't get much else done that day. Every so often I (well, pretty much everybody) had to leave the room because we were getting too pissed off.

[sylvan8798]

I had been up late Monday night grading some papers, so decided to get some more sleep once the kids and husband were off to school and work. Around 10:30 the house phone rang, then when I didn't answer, my cell phone. I rolled over and ignored it, then the house phone rang again. Knowing only my husband would persist like that, I picked up the phone and (for the only time in my life) stupidly shouted "Where's the fire!"

He filled me in, I ran to turn on every tv in the house, and spent most of the day flipping stations hoping some sane talking head would appear and say it was all a joke. When I went to pick up the kids from school the other parents were all pouring in, but no one could even speak. It seemed like everyone was just fighting to keep from bursting into tears on the spot.

On the way home, my 8-year-old son asked if the hijackers would go to hell if they thought they were doing what God wanted them to do. I said I figured they hadn't understood God correctly but that we had to leave those matters up to God to decide.

[erwinl]

I came home that day from work and put CNN on before I got the kids from school.

There were visuals of the first tower burning. I remember feeling miserable about the ordeal of the New Yorkers when this was their second accident with an airplane and a skyscraper (The B-25 in the Empire State Building being the first).
After I got the kids from school and came home with them after their swimming lessons, I put CNN back on again.
Only one tower was then still standing and burning. It was at that moment I knew it couldn't possibly be an accident and that it had to be an terrorist attack. And I knew it had to be Al Qaida who did this.

Just as I got this notion they replayed the images of the second plane entering the tower. After a minute or ten, possibly less, I saw the second tower coming down. As they were talking about the amount of people that usually were in the towers (I believe 25.000 were mentioned) I got scared about the possible reaction of america. What would their reaction be when possibly 25.000 of their people just got killed?
Nucleair attack on Afghanistan? And could I even fault them if they did something like that?

[uke2se]

I had the day of from University but had some frat work to do with the new inductees in the afternoon. Think I was playing computer games or something when my mother called and told me to turn the tv on and then she promptly hung up. I was more or less petrified in front of the tv until I realized I was late for the fraternity work and had to rush off. I spent the rest of the day watching the skies.

[Blaupunkt69]

I was getting up to drive 4 hours to Vancouver to visit relatives before I was to fly on September 12th (my first time flying). My mom woke me up to start getting ready and told me I should see whats happening on the news. I was half asleep and saw the first building was on fire. I was tired and wanted to sleep in some more. I was woken up again by my mom screaming as she watched the second impact. I was wide awake after that, saw the buildings fall. I was 20 years old and at wondering if in no short time we would be involved in a full scale war and I would be drafted.

My flight on the 12th didn't happen and was pushed back to the 19th. I started an 8 month long government youth travel/volunteer program (ages 17-21) where we had little access to the internet and no TV for much of the program. I missed much of the world's reactions to the attacks in the months following. I remember, in the months after 9/11, hearing songs like No Doubt's Hey Baby on the radio and thinking it was such an inappropriate song given the the situation.

When I returned home in late April 2002, I was somewhat surprised at how everyone had moved on while I had been in this media blackout for 8 months

[Wolrab]

I got up and was called into the living room. At that point, the first tower had been hit. I was saying something about how clear the skies were and how could this be an accident. Soon enough, the second plane hit and I realized this was no accident.

The rest of the morning I spent watching the tv (virtually all channels were preempted) listening to the talking heads who had nothing to say and a lot of time to fill. Many things were said that turned out to be erroneous, yet they kept talking.

In the afternoon, I was helping my brother put siding on his house and we were both astonished at how crystal clear the sky was(I live near Rochester, NY). No contrails anywhere. It was kind of eerie.

I did call to see where my infant son was (this was before I got sole custody). I was worried that his POS mother might be at some federal office trying to fleece the taxpayers. I obviously had no idea as to the scope of the attack. All sorts of terrible scenarios played out in my head. It is bad enough thinking of all the bad things that can happen to an infant without throwing terrorists into the mix!

[Skeletor]

I was working as a building security officer in downtown Portland, Oregon on September 11th. Usually in my carpool on the way to work, we'd listen to the morning radio news, and they mentioned there was an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center. Initially, I figured I'd see some footage of a Cessna sticking out of the building when I got home from work, but when I got to work I decided to go online to see if there were any news reports. I saw none, so I headed to Starbucks to get my usual morning coffee. On the way back, I spoke to some of the employees and they said ANOTHER plane had hit the other tower, and they were big airliners.

Needless to say, as I was a security officer in an office building, we had tightened security to the nth degree. News kept pouring in about the attacks at the Pentagon, and how another plane crashed outside of Pittsburgh. Then the towers started to collapse. I didn't get a glimpse of footage until after 2 PM Pacific time, and I don't think I believed anything anyone told me until I saw it with my own eyes.

[BStrong]

Preparing for a BOD meeting.

My girlfriend called me and informed me that a plane had hit a "skyscraper" in NYC.

I thought it must have been a private aircraft, went on line and got caught up when the second plane hit.

At the BOD meeting, the President called for a moment of silence for the victims, and for the first time we unfurled the flag and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. We've done so at every meeting since.

I knew we were at war, we were going to war, and my only thought was how I was going to re-enlist.

[DC]

I was sleeping on the train from Bejing to Shanghai. when we arived in Shanghai, the tourist guide informed us about the atakcs on the WTC. No further information was avaible to us and speculations run wild on the way to the Hotel, once in the Hotel we went to the newspaper store and got newspapers and went to our rooms and watched News.
and only then we realized what a huge atack it was. It changed our vacation pretty much.

[OCaptain]

I was at work, on my first week at a new job, still an unknown face among strangers to me. Somehow, the notion got spread that New York was under some kind of attack, by 10am we were all glued to the TV to watch the videos play over and over, hearing NPR playing on radios with their normally-staid announcers at a loss for words.

We, like most, thought that a commuter plane clipped a tower, at most, not two fully-loaded jetliners. That reality sank in slowly.

Living in Charlotte, and at the time working downtown, on 9/11 we didn't know what was the motivation for the attack, and once we heard that other planes had been hijacked, a more real fear set in, because we wondered if it was financing centers that were being targeted, because of who some of the tenants of the Twin Towers were.

BofA was, and is, headquartered in Charlotte, and we half-expected an attack here. Their corporate center was 5 blocks away from where I worked. We were numb, shocked, and paranoid about what might happen next.

[Sabretooth]

*bump*

[jhunter1163]

These anniversaries are always hard for me. I lost three friends, but met my now-wife that day in a chat room (see post #25). We remember in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon; the worst of times, and yet the best.

[SpitfireIX]

I thought of not bumping this thread this year, now that it's been more than a decade, but I decided I will bump it and see how many new responses there are.

[Mudcat]

I was in Basic Training when my drill sergeant came to us in the field to pull us out in a hurry back to the barracks. When briefed us on what had happened, thought he had been watching too many crappy action flicks (he was a fan of Bruce Willis films, as I recall, so it wasn't a stretch).

It had to be a mistake, things like that didn't happen outside of badly written screenplays.

When I learned just how real it was I still found it hard to believe. I still do, even 12 years latter.

I don't think I ever apologized to that drill sergeant, though.

[Ts4EVER]

Interesting thread. I was only ten at the time, but I actually remember it. I was just walking through my parent's kitchen. We have a really old radio in there, from the 50s I think, but it still works. On 9 11 the news were on and I remember the dj saying that there had been a terrorist attack in New York, that informations were scarce and confused but that it looked pretty bad.
Now I have to admit that my first reaction was pretty callous. I didn't really follow the news back then, being 10 and all, but I had already noticed that from time to time there would be some terrorist attack or war and I was never really concerned with it. I filed it under "stupid foreigners killing each other", shrugged and went about my business.
Then later I watched the footage on TV and it became clear that this was bigger than the usual stuff. But I can't say that it affected me on an emotional level, I certainly found it horrible, but I never had sleepless nights about it or anything like that. I remember thinking if there was going to be a third world war and who would win it.

[thedopefishlives]

I was in high school - a senior in high school, 12th grade for those who don't use Americans' class enumerations. I had just finished my first period class and was switching between classes when I heard a buzz in the hallway about the WTC. My mind flashed back to the '93 bombing, and I wondered if there was a documentary on in one of the classrooms. Then my second period teacher came out of his room and remarked to the teacher next door, "Did you see that? Another one just hit!" With a sinking feeling I slammed my locker closed and dashed across the hall into the classroom, just in time to see the replay of the second impact. I don't know how long I stared, numb, at the screen before finding my way to my desk. I don't remember which channel we had it on, but they had a reporter at the Pentagon at the time it was hit, and you could see the worry on the anchor's face as he listened to reporter giving the account of the blow - and this guy was about 1/4 of the way around the building from the impact point.

When I got home that afternoon, I was accosted by my dad before I even got in the door. "Grab your keys," he said, "we're going down to the gas station to fill up." Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the line was already 1/4 mile long, so we abandoned that idea and he went home while I went to work. I watched the President's speech and the other proceedings from the small Radio Shack display we had in our store while people randomly drifted in asking for American flags or if we had candles for the candlelight vigil they were holding in town.

[gabeygoat]

I was getting ready for work. I didn't see the first tower go down. I did see the second. There was a reporter who found some payroll records in the ashes, and that made me cry as my girlfriend at the time was an accountant.

[cjnewson88]

NZ is 17 hours in front of New York, so it was around 2am when 9/11 happened. I didn't find out until 4 hours later when I got up for school. I was 13. My older brother told both me and my mum that the radio is saying terrorists crashed planes into the Pentagon and Twin Towers. Being 13, I only barely knew what the Twin Towers were. It wasn't until an hour later when I was talking to my bus driver on the way to school that I heard for the first time that both buildings had collapsed. I was shocked. As little as I knew about those buildings, I knew they were dam big, with a lot of people inside them. From then on we watched it all on the TV in our classroom with our teacher for most the day. He briefly explained to us about terrorism and why they do acts of mass violence like that, although I cannot remember much of what he said. I vaguely remember the collapse of Building 7.

Excluding the next couple of days, it was a non-topic. I and others never really thought about it much until 2006 when conspiracy theories made their rounds. Even then, and even now, it's a non-topic, except for the anniversary every year, no one even talks about it. Strange.

[Bell]

I stood on top of WTC2 just three months before the attacks. Before going up there, I visited FDNY's Ladder Eight (see my avatar) and talked to a firefighter there. We talked, among other things, about the 1993 bombing and how terrible it would have been had the tower (or both) collapsed. I also imagined that it would have been visible from all over the five boroughs. This experience made the 9/11 attacks more personal to me and for a very long time I found it difficult dealing with, especially all the poor people trapped on the upper floors of the towers.

[LSSBB]

I was at work, at my desk. I'm not sure what I was working on at the time, when I overheard one of my co-workers, a junior engineer, talking to a friend. He said something about a plane hitting the world trade center. I went over and talked to him, the friend had emailed him about it. I then went back to my desk and after scrambling around I was able to pull up a news stream from WGN at my desk top. Other engineers and factory line supervisors in that office came to my desk and there was a crowd watching it. Then they opened up the customer support center across the hall, which had live TV in it, and folks migrated over there to watch. The only thing I remember saying was that I was pretty sure the pilots were killed by the hijackers, because knowing many pilots through Navy Reserves I couldn't see them piloting planes into the skyscrapers, even under duress. I was upset and shocked when the buildings collapsed but not too surprised considering the damage. I was hopefull a lot of people escaped by the time they collapsed.

After the attacks I was pretty busy. The Navy bases all went into lockdown, and since my reserve unit supported Great Lakes, all of our junior enlisted got called up to guard the gates and patrol the beach. The unit was actually supposed to support the boot camp, but since they had no reserve plans for Navy School base security for terrorist threats they used the closest thing they could get. I helped my CO execute the recall. I did not get recalled, nor any of the other officers. One cheif got recalled, because his civilian job was running security for the Museum Campus in downtown Chicago so they figured he would be a great resource. The unit was recalled for about a year or so

I was 36 at the time. A little over a year after the attack my ex started going nuts and I ended up moving out. I often wonder if the attacks added strain to the marriage, and a lot of other families too, beyond the immediate victims. Plus, my ex is middle-eastern