9/11 Where Were You?

[dcmdon]

I was driving up 395 from CT to my office in Marlboro, right next door to EMC.

I was listening to Imus when the plane hit. At first they were saying it was a private plane. Charles McCord, Imus' sidekick is a private pilot. His reply was that it looked like the hole was made by a jet liner. As I continued to drive the plane hit the second tower, which everyone saw because they were all watching the first tower burn.

When I got to work I ran inside. Everyone was gathered around one of the developers 27" monitor watching BBC. It was the only news web site we could connect to that had a live feed. I went to get coffee and heard gasps and screams from the other side of the office. Someone a tower collapsed. I expected some more damage had happened, but never thought the thing would pancake to the ground.

Just then, my cell phone rang. It was my girlfriend. (now wife) She had just been told she had breast cancer.

Then my phone rang again. It was my mother. She had not heard from my sister who worked 4 blocks from 1 WTC.
I tried to call her but got an "all circuits are busy" message.

So I texted her (on my flip phone where you had to hit the 7 key 4 times to make an S. My message was "R U OK?"

About 5 minutes later I got a reply "yes"

I head to my car. I want to be home. I'm running down 395 there are cops everywhere. With nothing to do. They are waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I go by one in the median at 85. He doesn't even look up. I press on. 90 mph. pass another cop. Not a twitch.

I am the only car on 395 as far as I can see in any direction. I'm up to 115 mph passing cops at every break in the median. Finally, I'm up to about 125 passing cops in the median. None bother me.

I made a normally 90 minute trip home in less than 50 minutes.

when I get back to CT, my girlfriend is crying. My mom is crying, and my 63 year old 50 lb overweight dad is ready to take an M16 to Afghanistan and kill Arabs himself.

It was a trulyy crazy day.

By the way. The days I remember where I was:

Reagan shot
Challenger disaster
9/11

And strangely, the day Stevie Ray Vaughn died.

 

[45collector]

My girlfriend and I watched "102 minutes that changed America" last night on the History Channel. I'd seen raw footage clips over the years of course but never spent 2 and a half hours watching nothing but those videos shot by mostly amateurs on the ground or from buildings near ground zero. It was tough to watch, all those emotions came back, and I cried a little. My girlfriend had never seen me cry before last night, even though my father had passed away just a week before I met her.

 

[sbi]

My girlfriend and I watched "102 minutes that changed America" last night on the History Channel. I'd seen raw footage clips over the years of course but never spent 2 and a half hours watching nothing but those videos shot by mostly amateurs on the ground or from buildings near ground zero. It was tough to watch, all those emotions came back, and I cried a little. My girlfriend had never seen me cry before last night, even though my father had passed away just a week before I met her.

This is a great piece of documentary which they broadcast every year. I watch it every time.

 

[kurtb]

I heard it on Howard Stern in the car on the way to work. The week before I was on the 101st floor at Lehman Brothers.

 

[45collector]

This is a great piece of documentary which they broadcast every year. I watch it every time.

I guess I didn't want to watch any of that stuff these last 13 years (I still can't believe it's been that long) but last night I decided I really need to watch it.

The jumpers... I just can't imagine what it must have been like in the final moments for those people when they had to make the decision to either burn to death or jump to their death. [sad2]

Sonofabitch I'm tearing up again. Getting back to work now to take my mind off it.

 

[Mountain]

I was working at one of my plants near Asheville, NC. Watched live footage from TV's at work, wife was watching from the room at the Grove Park Inn. Once the second tower was hit my boss suggested we head back to the kids in Nashville. Even that far away from NY, schools and businesses were closing. It was actually a little challenging to gas up for the trip back.

It was weird looking up at the sky at night and seeing no planes, at least no civilian planes. Later at night I may have seen lights from B2's coming across out of Whiteman AFB. Not sure they were but they were moving VERY fast and made no sound.

Next day after flights resumed, I was flying to either BOS or PVD from the south. Had a window seat view of the smoking destruction. Was still smoking a couple weeks later when I made another trip. That brought tears to my eyes...

 

[dcmdon]

I was an active private pilot at that time, flying about 3 times per week.

We were all grounded. I got a call from a friend on the Civil Air Patrol. He was flying from Hartford into LaGuardia in a Cessna 172 with several hundred units of blood for the injured that they thought would show up at area hospitals. They injured never arrived. Most people were either very slightly injured or killed. There was almost nothing in the middle. There was very little as far as severe trauma injuries coming into NY hospitals and very little need for blood.

 

[Qdiver911]

We were expecting the same Don....... There was nothing in between. Parts Mangled stuff from trucks- to

Never mind. Spare you details......... Cheers. Enjoy life, it changes in a few seconds.

 

[SHOCKNAWE]

I just walked into a laundrymat and heard the radio on full blast and asked the laundry girl what was going on and she told me that there was an accident and a plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York, Im thinking yikes thats horrible and stuff my laundry in the machine and go next door to a Blockbuster video and see people crowded around the TV so I go over and Im instantly watching a re run of the second plane smashing into the tower.

To actually see CNN Breaking News Flashing "America under Attack" was one of the weirdest feelings Ive ever had.

 

[NeverMiss]

I was an active private pilot at that time, flying about 3 times per week.

We were all grounded. I got a call from a friend on the Civil Air Patrol. He was flying from Hartford into LaGuardia in a Cessna 172 with several hundred units of blood for the injured that they thought would show up at area hospitals. They injured never arrived. Most people were either very slightly injured or killed. There was almost nothing in the middle. There was very little as far as severe trauma injuries coming into NY hospitals and very little need for blood.

I was told by my CAP commander that CAP were the only small airplanes aloud in the air...

 

[73BLow]

I was just pulling into the parking lot at TJX when I heard about the first plane on the radio. So I only knew it sounded like strange accident at first. As news spread throught the office about our 7 co-workers, we were all given the option to leave work.

My wife won't watch any documentaries about it. After she went to bed last night, I stayed up and watched the documentaries from midnight-2am like I do every year.

 

[Qdiver911]

Low, to this day I can't watch one. I lived it. Thanks for remembering by watching!

 

[mg42doc]

on the 11th, I take a trip in the wayback machine to check out the major news sites as they were on that day, (and in the days that followed) the speculation/misinformation flying around was amazing when you look at it years later..

http://archive.org/web/web.php


man, websites were so basic back then, I'm pretty sure I was still on dial up.

 

[Navy Moose]

I was told by my CAP commander that CAP were the only small airplanes aloud in the air...

I'm Coast Guard Auxiiary, there was at least one CGAUX Aircraft up. My current division commander was aboard and they were flying to NY.

 

[dcmdon]

CG AUXAIR members use their personally owned aircraft, just like the normal CG Aux uses their privately owned vessels. I didn't know they flew post 9/11. I thought it was only CAP. Interesting.

Don

 

[Navy Moose]

CG AUXAIR members use their personally owned aircraft, just like the normal CG Aux uses their privately owned vessels. I didn't know they flew post 9/11. I thought it was only CAP. Interesting.

Don

Correct on both counts. He told me himself one morning on a patrol on the Merrimack. I was also surprised we were in the air. I didn't know the CAP was in the air.