As the 15 year anniversary is upon us this weekend, I am curious what memories everyone has of that day.
I posted this in the Sideline section and wanted to try and keep it non-political.
I was in college and worked nights at a company that processed credit card applications. I did not have to be up early that day and slept in a bit.
I got up like any other day. I was eating breakfast when my mom called me. She asked if I was watching TV and that she heard on the news a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.
I turned on the Today show and was stunned to see the image of the North Tower with a huge indention where the plane had made impact. Fire and smoke shooting out of the building. At that time, it seemed like this must be some horrific accident.
When we saw the second plane fly in to the South Tower at a speed never seen for planes at that altitude, everyone knew this was more than an accident.
I remember an odd feeling that I was likely watching hundred of people dying on live television but I couldn't turn it off.
Once the first tower fell, you had the realization that you were watching the most horrific event to happen on American in our lifetime. And one likely to never be passed.
We then got word of a plane that crashed into the Pentagon in northern Virginia. I had an uncle that lived a few miles south of the Pentagon. He was at home and told me about being able to see the smoke from the Pentagon and being in a city where you really did not truly know what could happen next.
None of us really knew what could happen next, so my roommate and I went up to store and bought things like water, batteries, non-perishable foods and filled our cars with gas. It was like we were preparing for a hurricane.
I went to work that night. It was very surreal as we had almost nobody contacting us. We mostly just sat around and talked about what had happened that day.
It was great to see the way all citizens rallied around this country in the weeks proceeding these horrible events. It was sad though that it took a horrific attack.
I spent time as a kid in Connecticut and we visited NYC on several occasions. It's still strange to see the New York skyline without the World Trade towers. To me though, it is a reminder of the terrible potential of human beings.
Visiting the memorial in NYC, and seeing the memorial in Arlington are moving experiences. Knowing how many people (many of them first responders) lost their lives that day.
Occasionally, I catch myself watching 9/11 footage on YouTube. Probably just to remind myself that it actually happened. I have a DVD of the Concert for New York, held later that year and watch it on occasion. I would highly recommend it, especially for anyone too young to remember that day, and the aftermath.
I was at FCCJ Kent Campus. Between classes I went to the cafeteria for breakfast with buddy and glanced at the TV and saw something about a plane hitting a building but didn't know what it was about nor think any more of it until faculty came by my class after that telling everyone to go home. As I was leaving I recall seeing a small amount of military personnel on campus with rifles. My buddy who was with me does not remember this though.
We went to his house not to far from campus and got there just after the second plane hit. It was easily the most surreal experience of my life. It's weird how I can barely remember some things, like faces of past girlfriends or even my great grandmother's but I remember everything about that day. The only exception are those military personnel. I would swear up and down that I saw them directing students out to the parking lots to go home but no one else remembers this.
At home. It was actually my sister that turned on the TV a few moments before the second plane hit. I was 15 at the time and as a family we didn't watch a whole lot of TV together anymore since all the kids had their own TV. We were pretty much glued to the TV in the living room until dinner time.
Downtown Jax in my office. Listening to the radio and heard about it. Called home and was talking to my better half as the second one hit as she watched. I'll never forget the horror in her voice as she explained what had just happened. I don't want to hear it ever again. I immediately closed shop and went home. The streets were already ghost empty. Terrible day for our country and countless families.
I was at school. A senior. I remember sitting next to my girlfriend at the time (now wife) watching the second plane hit. (My second period teacher got news of the first plane just as the period was letting out). I remember the feeds being cut out at school, and hearing about the pentagon being hit. My mom was supposed to be in the pentagon that day. So was my wife's dad. A lot of kids at school had parents who worked at the pentagon. I know a few students had to go see the guidance counselor. I think it was all we talked about. When we got home, I was relieved to see my mom home. She didn't make it to the pentagon that day because her co-worker at the time had some other stuff he had to get done first, then he stopped to watch the news of the trade center being hit. I don't think they let my dad go until much later that day, and a co-worker brought him home. My girlfriend called me later to tell me her dad was okay. Of course my mom knew people who were killed, and so did my now father-in-law.
A lot of schools in our area let out early, but our school refused. A lot of people just wanted to get home and check in on their families.
Sophomore in High School 2nd period I believe. Only one or two people in a class had a cell phone at the time so info didn't come in too rapidly. Principle informed all teachers to keep quiet on the matter and try and ride out the day. Instead of embracing the opportunity to teach a very important current event as it happened they chose to hide it from us. By third period enough teachers had disobeyed and changed their lesson plans to us all watching the news.
About six days after 9/11 I pretty much gave up watching mainstream news. The fear mongering and ratings whoring that was going on started to be too much for me. There is a south park episode that kind of pokes fun at that a bit.
I look back and wonder if we should have just licked our wounds and rebuilt instead of spending trillions sending millions of soldiers to two separate wars while passing a panic act (patriot act) that allowed the government to spy on its own people. The damage that caused is far greater than the couple thousand lives lost that day. We moved too fast after the attack.
I ended up in the army in 2005 because 911 made my patriotism sore (actually I couldn't find a job since construction had dried up at the time).
I think back to the years just after 911 and see a united country behind a goofy president who managed to throw a strike right down the middle at yankee stadium. I think back to the Chappeles show and don't remember a lot of racial tension.
I remember how surprised I was America had gotten attacked and I think how much that has changed now. Pulse happened and it was a tragedy but I can't say it surprised me like 911 ever did.
I was working on the west side highway in Manhattan when this happened. Very chaotic day.
A mile from the Pentagon. I was watching the WTC coverage on tv in disbelief. They cut to the Pentagon. I went outside and could see the smoke. It was surreal. Cloudless, perfect blue skies and the sound of scrambled fighter jets ripping through the air providing air cover over the nation's capital.
I had just gotten home from work a bit earlier and was listening to the radio while doing some work on my computer. They said something about an airplane hitting the World Trade Center so I flipped on the TV and pretty much stayed glued to it all day. I remember calling my father and telling him to turn on the TV. I remember getting several phone calls from work, and ended up not being able to go to work for a few days, and then it taking MUCH longer to get to work (on NAS Jax).
I had only been out of the Navy for a couple of years when the attack happened, and I remember seriously considering going back in.
I was in the tower at Washington Dulles International airport. It was the longest, yet shortest 22 hours of my life.
I posted in another thread that my greatest sadness came the following day seeing the empty skies. There was just nothing. Great great sadness.
This is my recollection written on 12 September 2001. I wanted to write it all down while it was fresh in my memory so years later I could read it and remember it as it was, not as my mind eventually processed it all. I went out and bought every magazine, newspaper, etc., I could find when they began coming out in the weeks after. I still have them all. It's fascinating to read them and remember what the mindset was then compared to what we know now. Also, if you have never seen the documentary
9/11 you really should. It's very interesting and sad. I've owned the DVD since it came out in 2002 and have watched it almost every anniversary. Anyway......
September 11, 2001 started out like any other day. I woke up, had my coffee and breakfast and watch a Monday Night football game. I was living in Germany at the time and the game was tape delayed to been seen on Tuesday due to the 6 hour time difference. I had just finished watching it when a news report came on saying something had happened at the World Trade Center in New York. Like anyone who lived through the media farce that was the OJ Simpson deal, I didn't give it much thought until I saw the second plane headed straight toward tower two. I watched in horror as the building swallowed the 747 whole. I quickly counted back 6 hours hoping it wasn't opening time for the offices in the building. It was. I couldn't take my eyes off of the TV screen no matter how hard I tired. I was hoping beyond all hope that I was seeing a movie with great special effects or someone was playing a trick on us. Neither was the case.
No one on the morning news shows was making sense. They said there was the possibly this was a terrorist attack. A what? Someone with NBC was talking to a guy at the Pentagon. He suddenly says he's heard a big boom. He thinks the Pentagon has been hit. What? That's impossible, I think to myself. You can't hit the Pentagon! What the hell is going on? I keep watching and listening. A plane has hit the Pentagon for sure. The President comes on the television to say there has been an apparent terrorist attack on America, then he heads off for parts unknown for security reasons. All of the airports have been shutdown and planes diverted to Canada to land.
All of a sudden Tower One of the WTC begins to crumble. One hundred ten floors of steel and glass implodes on itself. Weren't there people still in there? People are running in the streets as fast as they can to get away from the debris falling fast behind them. Some people stand still to watch, either out of shock or morbid fascination. It's as black as night and when the dust clears everyone and everything is covered in white. There are people screaming and crying, either in pain or because they just lost someone in the crush. I feel myself getting sick. I feel like I have a fever and that I'm going to throw up. Soon after a portion of the Pentagon collapses and I later learn that there were 74 active duty Army soldiers killed. I cry.
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The White House and UN have been evacuated, there are Secret Service guys everywhere with high powered automatic weapons at the ready. For a split second I wish one of them would shoot me so I wouldn't feel this much pain. I have seen dead people before, I have a medical background, but I have never seen such devastation in my short life.
At approximately 10:30EST the second tower at the World Trade Center implodes. Surely they evacuated that building after the first attack- right? They had a twenty minute head start after the first plane hit the first tower. I learn later that people were told to go back to their offices, everything was okay. Now those people are dead. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, cancels a visit to South America and heads back to the States. Police confirm there was a plane crash in Pennsylvania. Was this part of the attack. I start to freak out- how many planes are in the air? Who will get hit next? From Louisiana President Bush promises that the United States will “punish those responsible”. I want blood. I want death to those who did this to my country. I want to kill them myself. This is war and the president as much as says so.
<div>Tom Brokaw from NBC was on. He wasn't telling me what I wanted to hear. It seems Osama bin Laden was the suspect so far. This was not a surprise to me. The fiend has been trying to kill us for years although I didn't know why. Before this day I was the typical American. I wasn't too concerned with other people's issues- I had plenty of my own to deal with. I never really watched the news either, too depressing. Now all I could watch was the news and as far as I was concerned, everything was my issue.
I stayed awake that night, getting more depressed by the hour. Not just because of what happened or what was being said, but because there were people trapped in those buildings. The rescue needed to hurry and get them out! I knew they understood this because they were doing the best they could. A media mouth at Ground Zero was saying there was about 300 rescue personnel missing. Apparently in the buildings when they went down. In my book they were instant heroes. They were estimating the missing to be in the thousands at the WTC, a couple of hundred at the Pentagon and Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania had 38 people dead. So many innocent people. My blood ran cold and the thought of murder for these terrorists flashed through my mind again.
I went out to the nearest German cigarette machine just down the street. I needed to do something. I had quit smoking a few months back and had been doing really well with it, but not tonight. The cold air felt good against my hot skin and I took a deep breath to clear my head. I walked quickly and as quietly as possible, the roving guards were out and there was a curfew of eleven o'clock which meant I was breaking a federal law mandated by the command of the installation. I got my cigarettes and and I was walking back I heard voices. I stopped dead cold and listened to hear if they were the roving guards or someone else. Hearing American voices I sighed with relief and half walked, half ran home.
Back in the house I lit a cigarette and sat on my couch to hear more news. They still had not found anyone alive at any of the three sites. I said a silent prayer for the families and friends of those missing and went to bed.
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I was in my office when a co-worker came in to tell me the events which were on the TV in the conference room. As I watched the tower collapse, and the second plane hit, the thought overcame me.........."Why do they hate us so much"
As I contemplated that thought, the answer became more apparent as time went on.
Regards.............the Chiefjag
I remember being in the college cafeteria - the news came on over the radio and we were all devastated at what was happening across the pond! :-(
I was sitting in home room at southside middle in 6th grade, the technology teacher Mr. Langley got on the intercom and announced that something was happening on the news and they may want to turn the TV's on, pretty much as soon as the TV came on the 2nd plane hit the tower.
We were getting ready to go on a road trip vacation. I was packing a suitcase and Mrs. hb came into the bedroom and said an airplane had hit one of the towers. I was picturing a little two-seater. I'd been an air-traffic controller in a previous career and she asked me if that could have been an ATC accident. No way, I figured something had gone wrong with the pilot medically. We were listening to the radio on the road when some of the details started to filter in so missed some of the TV coverage that day. Remember it like it was yesterday.
I was in my junior year of high school with my brother in law in English class. I remember another teacher came in towards the end of class and whispered something to our teacher who began crying. The bell rang we walked to our next class no idea what was going on just pure silence in the halls. We get to our next class and the TV's on a few minutes go by and we see the 2nd plane hit, that was the oh [BLEEP] moment. The teacher lost it had us convinced planes where going to start flying into schools. Obviously nothing was ever the same again but for the rest of that year at least that day was in the shadow of everything we did.
I don't remember much from my teenage years but that day replays in my head like it was yesterday.
I was thirteen years old. I was in the 7th grade at the time at Twin Lakes here in Jacksonville, FL. Middle of a school day. We were sitting in our World History class. Mr. Ruggio was going over some new school year items. And I remember an intercom message came on from our principal. She was advising the teachers to turn on their televisions and turn it to the news channels. And I just remember sitting there with the rest of the kids in shock. We weren't really sure what was happening being kids and all. I distinctly remember watching every single kid that day get there names called over the intercom from my class because parents were leaving work early to get there kids. My parents couldn't get me that day. I ended up taking the bus home. And then we just kind of watched the news all day and listened to the reports come in.
I was just a kid. Wasn't very mature for my age by any means. Was socially quiet and awkward. So I didn't really know how to emotionally process what I was seeing. I just remember my dad and mom being shocked and ticked off. Wanting to know what was next and who we were going to go after, etc. Being twenty-eight years old now. Looking back on it. And after all the reports that came out and the War that transpired and just the controversy around it till this day seems to rile me up from time to time. I really would like to know the truth of it all.
in the 8th grade on a school bus when the first plane hit.
I was in college living with 3 other guys in my friends house near UNF. Overslept from a bender the night before and they came in to wake me up to tell me, but I told them to shut up because I didn't believe them. It was a weird day.
I remember the moment vividly.