Remembering 9/11

[tazzboy]

I was home in bed when the first one hit it was 5:48am out west here and my came and told me about it and I got up and watch it on tv.

[LT ED]

I remember as if it was yesterday, I was working out on the moors in Cornwall here in the UK. It was a nice sunny day and I was doing some electrical work for a customer in a farm house.I turned the power back on and turned on the tv about 10 mins before the second plane hit and I just remember thinking that is a nice special effect, I wonder what film this is from and then of corse It all became very clear what had happened. It was a strange feeling you can see whats happening but your brain just can,t compute then my phone starts to ring and its just my wife telling me what was going on and I do remember saying that I love you which is not like me but it just came out. My wife told me that Gregg and Renata, our next door neighbors from OHIO were on the phone to the U.S.A trying to contact family in New York but could not get through but it did turn out that they were ok [thank god].I just can,t imagine what it was like to be there on the day, the things people saw on that day are things that people should just never see or be a part of. My heart goes out to everybody who died and all those that lost loved ones.

[DanvillRob]

Paul Simon's "Sounds Of Silence" played at the NY memorial inspired me to learn his song....

 

I left home that morning to go to my office, but my wife only knew I was going to Washington that day.

 

She thought I was going to DC, so she called my office and I answered. She asked what I was doing there.

 

I said I work here!

 

She said she thought I was going to Washington DC, I said no, I was going to Seattle, Washington later that day.

 

[fl00dsm0k3]

i was at home we didnt have school that day

[milod]

Bluzhammer et al...

 

I'm half way through a day of 9-11 observances in the literal geographical center of the 50 United States.

 

Bluz, your note of your background and the effect it had on you is perhaps an example that the sacrifice of those emergency responders, and just the "regular people" who gave their lives to help others, was not in vain.

 

Their efforts are an example to all of us - and your story alone tells us that virtue has an unbound power.

 

m

[jaxson50]

Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011,

I watched memorial services on a large flat screen TV.

Closing my eyes I watch that day replay in my mind. I dream.

I go out on the patio, a refreshing breeze sweeps over me making the 92 degree air feel soothing. I sigh.

The sounds of young children playing ball mixes with cheers from parents drifts over the back fence. I laugh.

The sounds could be from my childhood 55 years ago. I smile.

I remember September 11, 2001. I pray

[Tman5293]

Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011,

I watched memorial services on a large flat screen TV.

Closing my eyes I watch that day replay in my mind. I dream.

I go out on the patio, a refreshing breeze sweeps over me making the 92 degree air feel soothing. I sigh.

The sounds of young children playing ball mixes with cheers from parents drifts over the back fence. I laugh.

The sounds could be from my childhood 55 years ago. I smile.

I remember September 11, 2001. I pray

 

Awesome!

[rocketman]

I just got out of my class when I heard about the first plane hitting the tower. We talked about how weird the "accident" was in the sense we thought it was a real accident. Then when the second plane hit I immediately went home. I stayed and watched news all day. My friend was down the street. He told me that there was ash everywhere.

[retrosurfer1959]

I woke up and was getting ready for work, when I noticed it was weirdly quiet outside with almost no traffic noise and just silence. I walked in to the bedroom and told my wife something was going on just before my pager went off annoucing that the emergency operations center was being activated where I worked. And yes I lost a very good childhood friend that was one of the emergency responders on the scene. Ive also lost two other good friends in military action since then so that kinda counts also in my book.

[damian]

Interestingly, the towers were designed for a 727 crashing into them by accident.......( Not a larger plane flying at beyond normal speed ).....

 

Now, this design technique can will never be used again......Soon after the towers were built, I went up to the very top, on the roof,

 

and you could walk quite close to the edge......What a view........Anyhow, yes, an enormous tragic event.......

[EVOL!]

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was on the phone with a client (I work in the financial industry) and he had CNBC on in the back ground. "A plane hit the WTC", he said. Hope everything is OK was what I thought. Then the second plane hit and the client threw an explicative. A few minutes later my boss came over and told me we were evacuating the building and shutting down for the day. Reason being is that we are almost directly across the street from Willis Tower; formally the Sears Tower. Got home, tried to make some phone calls, but the lines were down. Went over to my friends place and the rest of the day we just sat with blank expressions watching the news. Neither of us could believe what we were seeing.

 

I remember in the days that followed the immense sense of unity and pride we felt as a nation and the outpouring from other nations. It was a unique opportunity to take a tragic event and use it to unite people. Due to events in March of the following year, by May I was saying F-it and I am still saying F-it. Got tired of being called un-American and being asked why I hate freedom & America. We squandered that opportunity and now we are more divided as a nation and a planet.

[Namvet]

was my off day. Got a call and spent the next few days at work implementing emergency security plan, recalling personnel from vacations, off days etc.

[Daryl M]

I rarely watch TV in the mornings, and when I do, it's SportsCenter. But, I had watched the football game the night before, so the TV was on ABC when I happened to flip it on that morning. The second tower had been hit and chaos was already in full swing. I remember hearing the news anchor, who I think was Peter Jennings, say, "I'm not sure what we are seeing here.." as I stood in my den and watched along with the rest of the world as the first tower began to collapse.

 

I drove into Nashville, listening on the radio at the coverage. Then I went to my office, on the 18th floor of a Nashville high rise. I stood with my co-workers and watched more coverage. The Pentagon, the Pennsylvania crash, rumors of bombs near the White House, planes that were in the air but couldn't be located...it was nightmarish. We all felt so vulnerable. After about an hour, I drove back home. I had 2 children, ages 10 and 7, in school and I picked them up early. They knew that something was wrong, but didn't know what. It was good to finally be at home with my loved ones.

 

I really can't fathom the magnitude of the tragedy for those who lived it, and for those who continue to live it. I can't fathom a hate so powerful that would lead someone to such an extreme. It makes me think of a comment made after Kennedy was killed in 1963. I think it holds even true today. "We will live to laugh again...but we will never be young again."

[jnastynebr]

I lived in Kingston for the later part of the 80s. Pops had to frequently travel to the city for work, so some of my earlier memories involve midtown and lower Manhattan. I could see the towers from dad's office. My sister has lived in New Haven since the late 90s, so visits always included a trip to the Metropolitan Art Museum or a Knick game. After Uni, my sales region was NY/ NJ/ White Planes/ Long Island. Since moving to CT a year ago, work brings me to Midtown once a week.

The city has been part of my life since I was old enough to walk. I was in Nebraska during the attack, living in student housing near city college. I remember for the first time in my life being unable to interpret my feelings. I was 20, but I didn't believe it was happening. I thought it was fiction. For many people my age in the Midwest, it was an attack on some buildings they have never seen, in a city they have never been to, but for me it was something else.

The memorial will be packed for a while, but we have a trip planned for next Monday to pay our respects. I am really glad that they finished the memorial in time for the 10th anniversary. This will help bring closure to many New Yorkers, and pseudo NY'ers like myself.

[DanvillRob]

I lived in Kingston for the later part of the 80s. Pops had to frequently travel to the city for work, so some of my earlier memories involve midtown and lower Manhattan. I could see the towers from dad's office. My sister has lived in New Haven since the late 90s, so visits always included a trip to the Metropolitan Art Museum or a Knick game. After Uni, my sales region was NY/ NJ/ White Planes/ Long Island. Since moving to CT a year ago, work brings me to Midtown once a week.

The city has been part of my life since I was old enough to walk. I was in Nebraska during the attack, living in student housing near city college. I remember for the first time in my life being unable to interpret my feelings. I was 20, but I didn't believe it was happening. I thought it was fiction. For many people my age in the Midwest, it was an attack on some buildings they have never seen, in a city they have never been to, but for me it was something else.

The memorial will be packed for a while, but we have a trip planned for next Monday to pay our respects. I am really glad that they finished the memorial in time for the 10th anniversary. This will help bring closure to many New Yorkers, and pseudo NY'ers like myself.

 

A guy I work with was working in the South Tower, for Aon Insurance, on the 92nd through 98th floors.

 

When the North Tower was hit, he took the elevator down to the 78th floor. There were about 200 people on that floor.

 

Keat thought taking the elevator down to the bottom wasn't a good idea, so he started for the stairway. He as almost there when the 2nd plane hit... he got knocked bum-over-tea kettle, and when he woke up, he was pretty badly injured.

 

He, with 2 of his co-workers, walked the 78 floors to the bottom, (even though he had a broken leg).

 

We were eating breakfast when he told me this story.... I left most of my meal on the plate... I'd known this guy for maybe a year, knew he was "in the tower" on 9/11... I had NO IDEA he was one of 18 people who worked abobve the 78th floor to make it out alive.... and one of ony 12

on the 78th floor who wasn't instantly killed!

[Tman5293]

A guy I work with was working in the South Tower, for Aon Insurance, on the 92nd through 98th floors.

 

When the North Tower was hit, he took the elevator down to the 78th floor. There were about 200 people on that floor.

 

Keat thought taking the elevator down to the bottom wasn't a good idea, so he started for the stairway. He as almost there when the 2nd plane hit... he got knocked bum-over-tea kettle, and when he woke up, he was pretty badly injured.

 

He, with 2 of his co-workers, walked the 78 floors to the bottom, (even though he had a broken leg).

 

We were eating breakfast when he told me this story.... I left most of my meal on the plate... I'd known this guy for maybe a year, knew he was "in the tower" on 9/11... I had NO IDEA he was one of 18 people who worked abobve the 78th floor to make it out alive.... and one of ony 12

on the 78th floor who wasn't instantly killed!

 

Amazing story!

[DanvillRob]

Amazing story!

 

Blew me away!

[TommyK]

I was at my desk at work. While I had internet access, I'd never used it much. Someone came in the room to say a plane had hit the WTC. My first thought, Piper Cub. But the conversations got more serious, so I ventured to one of the news sites NBC, ABC or something. There were reports and updates coming every 20 seconds or so. Then the second tower was hit. My next words to my co-workers, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war."

 

We had a co-worker who was scheduled to leave O'Hare that morning. The cell phone system was jambed. After an hour or so we finally made contact. He was stuck in a limo on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Traffic to O'Hare was all backed up.

 

 

When I got home, I watched the news. By this time Bush had left Kansas, headed for D.C. I went outside and looked up. I could see several fading contrails streaking from horizon to horizon. Knowing that all commercial air travel had been grounded for hours, I knew these trails were left by Air Force One and it's fighter escorts.

 

Did anyone notice in the video we got of Bush arriving at the White House, that Bush was NOT on Marine One (the President's helicopter)?

 

Having just landed, Marine One's door opened and a suited individual appeared in the door, but you couldn't see his face, but looking very presidential.. Then without much warning, the President walked from right to left in front of the cameras. I don't think he was on that helicopter. I think the individual in the door of Marine One was a decoy. Good Job Secret Service!

 

 

It also felt good that we had friends who cared. I remember the British Parliament, singing, "God Bless America" that night. Thanks guys!