9/11 Where Were You?

First day of college.
I had the TV on watching the news and heard the early reports of a crash in NYC. Didn't really understand the extent of it until I got onto the main campus and they were cancelling classes and sending students away. Went back and watched the rest unfold on the various news outlets.
 
I was on route 3 driving a delivery truck, listening to Howard Stern, when he interrupted their conversation about being in a strip joint with Pam Anderson and said the WTC had been hit by a plane. Ralph who was on the phone looked out his window at it and started screaming about how badly it was on fire and I changed the station right then and when the second tower was hit, called my buddy in California to get him out of bed to turn on the TV, then went home, watched TV there for an hour and a half or so and put it on CNN or FOX and put in a VCR tape to record while I went back to work. I kept stopping in at Best Buy and Circuit City to stand in front of the TV's throughout the day.


It was while I was watching at home that both of the towers fell.


I remember talking about it at my stops and in the warehouse, saying how bad it was and I remember how the people who didn't have TV's, and didn't visually see it, weren't nearly as upset as those who had seen it.


It was also the very last day that I listened to WZLX. Being in a truck I listened to the radio for hours and every station up and down the dial switched to news coverage except for WZLX, who just kept playing the same old f-ing songs like nothing happened. I will never listen to that POS radio station again as long as I live.
 
I was at work. Earning a living and paying taxes.
That attack hastened the end of the America I had known all my life.
What we were left with is nothing like it was.
I have sorrow in my heart for all those who lost and gave their lives for that America.
In the Towers, in the Pentagon, in a field in Pennsylvania, In the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, men and women have shed their blood and lives for that America. If it's ok to want. That's what I want. That America.
 
I was in 8th grade in the middle of PE when my history teacher came in shouting "Everyone, in my classroom, now!" We proceeded to spend the rest of the day huddled around the TV, despite the principal telling all teachers to turn off "all TVs". I'll never forget his words when the principal went door to door making sure the TV's were off... "I am a history teacher and encourage my students to always be aware of the world around them, I will be damned if I pull a cover over their eyes for this one." Not sure how that would go over in today's world, but that has stuck with me since.
 
I was teaching my 9th grade history class. My fellow teacher next door popped his head in and told me a passenger jet crashed into the first tower. I brushed it off as a bad accident, "thinking of the B17 that crashed into the Empire State Building." Ten minutes later, he came in again and said a second passenger hit the second tower. I sat down and realized they weren't accidents, America is under attack. God bless our beloved country.
 
The prior two weeks I had been dealing with the sudden bankruptcy of my ISP, and arranging for an emergency co-lo with an outfit in Hartford. Servers were moved (via my old 85 Chevy van) Monday morning, final configuration bugs fixed that afternoon, and we went out for sushi to celebrate "life finally getting back to normal."

So on Tuesday morning, I was out on customer calls, mildly hungover from too much sake. They were discussing the plane hitting the north tower on the radio at my first call of the day. I was still there when the second plane hit.

At the time, I was still very much involved with a, um, certain very large international non-profit organization (whose name I won't mention, but whose symbol is very well known). Since one of the servers co-lo'd was theirs, I was due for the final clean-up trip to the office, anyway. One of the ladies in the office told me, when I arrived, about the first tower that fell.

It goes without saying life didn't return to normal. I ended up spending a LOT of time the next few months working with that organization, including (the next day) setting up a Web-based means of inter-chapter communication (since the phone lines were jammed). When the checks started coming in, I was drafted into helping process them, which was no simple matter, with the Byzantine rules the national office established to determine what fund which check should go to (and kept changing the damned rules daily). I remember telling the local exec, "This won't end well." It didn't, in more ways than one. I learned what *******s people can be, even when they're trying to help. (FWIW, I am no longer associated with that organization, though that came several years later.)

We have a (not so small, anymore) airport up the street from us, which at the time was quite busy. I'll corroborate the eeriness of not hearing airplane noise for weeks.

I found out several weeks after the fact that friends of ours lost their niece in the south tower. For the record, they are - and she was - Muslims.
 
I was in college headed to get coffee when a friend told me "a plane hit the world trade center." we got coffee and saw watched the 2nd plane hit while waiting in line. my school cancelled all classes and gathered in the school chapel. People from put up the names of friends/family who were in NYC, DC, or traveling from Boston.

There were hundreds of names listed; as we got word that the person was safe they crossed their name off the paper. At the end of the day only 1 name remained on the list, John Ogonowski, a close friend of my family that I knew from Grange and farming. That night I left school because I couldn't stand everyone coming up to me asking me how I knew him.
 
Was driving to work with the radio on. I was in Wyoma Square in Lynn when they said a plane has hit one of the twin towers. I used to fly small planes, so thought some nut had committed suicide by crashing into the tower. Soon enough they said it was an airliner and knew it was an attack. I watched the towers fall on an old TV at work.

At home I usually hear airliners in and out of Logan. That night I remember only the distinctly different sound of fighter jets patrolling. The whole day was surreal.
 
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I was still driving a tractor trailer back in those days. Was listening to Howard Stern live on the radio driving between stops.......unreal listening to his broadcast when it happened!

A couple hours later I was back at the warehouse and my wife called for me when the pentagon got hit. Her dad was still a full colonel working at the pentagon and she was scared as hell! Found out a couple hourse later was not injured but lost a few buddies and co-workers and was assigned as a casualty notification officer in the aftermath. He was never the same man after that day! It hit him hard emotionally.​
 
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I was in the air. I had just returned from 2 weeks in South America with a couple buddies. We cleared customs and immigration in Dallas and were on the final leg to San Francisco when it happened. They dropped us in El Paso TX and we snagged a car and drove 23 hours straight home listening to NPR trying to gather information. They put us on the ground so fast we saw the second tower going down live from the airport bar. Surreal is about the best word to describe the scene at the airport.
 
My wife and I had just spent our first night on vacation camping alone (no kids) up in Acadia National Park. It was a stellar, crisp autumn morning, incredibly clear blue sky. We had just finished our first breakfast. I had left strict instructions that we were not to be called by anyone for any reason unless there was a severe emergency. My wife and I had jumped into the van, headed for our favorite lobsterman (we'd been up there many times before) and had just about reached him when my cell phone rang. I was extremely pissed. When I answered, my oldest daughter said that an airplane had hit one of the towers in NY. I told her that, while terrible, it didn't warrant a call to me and to just relax and that airplanes had hit tall buildings in NY before. She didn't tell me anything else and we hung up. We continued onto our destination when my phone rang again. Now I was fuming. This time, however, she was crying and told me a second plane had hit a tower. Now my interest was peaked. We pulled over in Bar Harbor and walked into a bar that had a TV on. That's when we saw what had happened and we were awe-struck as you all were, I'm sure.

We only stayed for about half an hour. We couldn't stand it any longer and left to continue heading for our destination albeit a lot more subdued and less enthusiastic than earlier. When we got to our lobster guy, he told us that this would be the last lobster available because the boats were forbidden to continue fishing. As we stood there, a Navy boat drifted across the mouth of Frenchman's bay. We made our purchase and talked about what we should do. When we got back to our campground we decided that we would try to salvage our precious time away as best we could and continue with our time there. We started by going to the visitor's center to grab some literature. There we saw, first hand, how the attack was going to affect the public. There was one woman crying in the corner on her husband's shoulder. No one was talking at a place where there is usually a boisterous din occurring. It was like a church. We headed back to our campsite and turned on our emergency radio to try to glean just what had happened. It was pretty awful as you all know. That was pretty much it. We decided to leave the next morning as it wasn't practical to leave sooner.

We decided to take all back roads home, staying off the interstate figuring that we'd have a better chance of surviving should something else happen. What we noticed on the way home, however, was stunning. I think that at every 100', there was a new American flag waving hanging off of every conceivable implement and off of every building from Maine to Connecticut. The amount of patriotism that we witnessed on the drive home was unparalleled as far as I can recall. Too bad we seem to have lost that just a few short years later.

We also decided to get the family all together incase there was another emergency so we drove through Worchester and picked up our freshman daughter at Assumption College. She was thrilled to see us. The school had closed for the time being. We drove home to Enfield and unpacked and the entire family, all three kids and my mother-in-law came to stay with us as we all watched this terrible event unfold. That lasted about five days and then everyone headed back to their digs.

Allow me to tell you about another buddy, however. He and I sometimes travel by float plane to the Great North Woods up in North-Western Maine for a week at a time for wilderness fly-fishing. The pilot lands in a pond, drops us off and we fish and hike for the week and then the pilot comes to pick us up. We have no phones or electricity or any way to communicate with anyone on the outside. We're in the true wilderness, totally on our own. My buddy was up there during this time. When the towers were hit, all flying was cancelled as you all know. No planes were allows to go anywhere for any reason. So, my buddy said they had finished up their time and had retreated to the rendezvous point for pick up. They didn't have a clue. Guess what. No plane. He said they all thought they had screwed up the date. They set up a small camp and waited. They had no idea that the plane wasn't going to come. They had no more food outside of snacks, too. They were in the middle of 10,000 square miles of wilderness with no way home outside of hiking out. My pilot buddy called the FAA and explained that he had guys stranded in the wilderness and needed to go get them out. He was denied, period. Well, that wasn't going to go over well with him. He decided to ignore the denial and took off anyway flying literally at tree-top level below any possible radar. He said it was a wild ride. He successfully grabbed the stranded crew explaining what had happened and got them back to base without an incident. That pilot took a lot of chances but got them all home successfully.

I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of stories like this on from all across the country. It's a somber day to remember for sure. In a couple of weeks my wife and I will once again return to Acadia and try to enjoy another full week tent camping in the crisp ocean air as Autumn descends on Acadia once again. Hopefully this time we'll make the entire week.

Rome
 
High school 10 grade . Welding during first plane hitting. Teacher grabbed me by the hood of my sweat shirt and drag me to watch tv.

Nam vet , " the world you knew just ended "

Watched tv till we heard fighter jets over head from hanscom.

Shop teachers told us we could leave if we would drive others home if they didn't own a car befor lunch . Teacher told us he would take the blame.
 
At work trying to keep my mother calm on the phone while figuring out where my brother and father were.

My brother was working as a construction manager for the new Port Authority terminal and was at World Trade plaza that morning. He got out from Battery Park on a ferry.

Dad was supposed to have a meeting at the Pentagon, but it all happened before he left White Sands.

The Pentagon meeting was last minute and he was to be headed to California.

The Director of the program, who reported to my father was to fill in at the meeting in CA, he was on the AA flight out of Logan that morning.
 
I was in a computer class at my first college at the time, started looking it up on the computer that was right in front of me, my buddy got up to leave and the teacher asked him where he was going. he basically told the teacher to **** off because more important shit in the world was happening. After the second plane hit they evacuated the school and i spent the next 4 hours trying to get to my girlfriend at the time who was going to BU to get her outta the city.

The rest of the day was spent sitting on my buddy's couch watching the news and trying to get a hold of my friend who lived in NYC at the time, tried calling what seemed like every other minute for 12ish hours until I finally got a hold of her.
 
I was a work when I got a call from my father. My brother, Brian had called from United 175 and talked to our mother after he had also left a message for his wife addressing the situation. This rest is, well, history.
 
It was my first day off before my wedding. I was filling a bird feeder, came inside to answer the phone. It was my mother-in-law. I assumed she was calling to say that our UK and Irish relatives were en route (we were supposed to meet them at Logan). Instead she said, "put the TV on." I asked "what channel." She said "any of them."

Our relatives were diverted to Nova Scotia, where they were hosted by an anonymous family in a private residence. They managed to get a flight to the Portland Jetport on Friday, I think. My father-in-law and brother-in-law drove up there, picked them up, and got his tux on about an hour before the wedding on the 15th.

We still haven't had our honeymoon. We were supposed to go to Aruba.

My brother took me to Yankee Stadium on 9/9. Red Sox got spanked. I got quite drunk.
 
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At work at China Lake. The first plane had hit before most people got into work. The second plane hit and everyone got angry. Base was locked down at noon. After that, weapons development got very busy and stayed busy for the next several years.
 
I had taken a long weekend for myself for my birthday to go camping alone and enjoy the peace and quiet. When I woke up that morning I turned the radio on to listen to music while I cooked my breakfast. About half an hour after that the reports started coming over the radio.
 
I was getting my middle school pictures taken. I believe I was in 6th grade. They made us all go back to our classrooms and watch the news. So my middle school picture was taken moments after I heard what happened (didnt know it was an attack yet..)

Crazy.
 
Was in Texas attending class at UTI when someone said a plain hit one of the towers,

we turned on the TV in the class room to see the news and watched as the second plane hit, knowing it was no accident at this point, a feeling of being totalaly pissed off, helpless and confused, i think this was the feelings most of us had.
 
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I was at work and one of our field service guys called me from NY. At the time, we were both private pilots. He told me a plane had just hit one of the towers. He was in NY on one of the bridges. I remember we were actually ridiculing any pilot that would accidentally crash into a building on a CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) day. A little time later, he promptly told me "****, I got to go!" and he hung up. That was when the second plane hit. He told me the next day that he was stuck on that bridge for hours.
 
I just happened to be at home that morning and saw it happen live. As God as my witness, as soon as I saw that a plane had hit one tower, I knew it was terrorism.
 
Southeast corner of the O.B. Hill parking lot listening to Imus.
Went back up to the Master chimney sweep office and told the boss to break out the tv.
Proceeded to head out and do my thing. First customer gave me a flag and mast (the size you fly from your porch) and zip tied it to my vehicle.
 
At work at my desk listening to Howard Stern. His subsequent radio broadcast was riveting as he and a fewothers stayed on all day.
 
I was on rt 24N going to work. It was bumper to bumper and not moving. It was a beautiful day and I remember thinking it would be a great day to be off of work. I was listening to Howard Stern on the radio when they started talking about a small plane that crashed into the tower. 10 minites later they announced that another jet had hit and I instantly new it was terrorism. I turned to a news station and listened like everyone else to try and understand what was going on and if it was going to end. We shut down the business early and sent everyone home. It was a terrible day.

A colleague had a 12 year old son at the time. We dont work together any longer but I got a message from him in November of 2012 and he was excited to have that same 12 year old son coming home from his second deployment to Afghanistan. It goes on and on

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk Pro - typos are from the GD auto correct unless they are funny substitutions those I'll take credit for.
 
I was at my place in the woods in Lebanon, ME. Had just poured a cup of coffee when the news of the first plane came on. Watched the second plane veer in and hit the second tower. Watched people jumping from the towers and fleeing through the streets. Kept worrying the towers were going to collapse, then they did.


I cried for the first time in decades. Only things that gets me teared up are when innocents are harmed, when people selflessly help others, and when military parents surprise their kids when they come home.


Saw building 7 implode as well.[tinfoil]
 
At work in my office when someone came in an mentioned a plane hit the first tower. We walked out to the cafeteria to watch the single TV in the building for an update. There were about 30 people there when we arrived. By the time the second plane hit the tower almost the entire company was crammed into the cafeteria watching the coverage. You could have heard a pin drop in that place it was so silent.
 
At a friend's house in Kentucky that we met playing Ultima Online. First time meeting him in person. We stayed at his house. He woke me up that morning saying my grandmother called and was looking for me. I still have no idea how she got the number. She told me after the first plane hit that New York had been bombed. I told her she needed to go take her meds and that I loved her but she was crazy.

Turned on the tv and we watched the second tower get hit.

Bowling Green shut down. People started gouging for gas. We went to a restaurant for dinner because we couldn't sit in front of the tv anymore. We were the only patrons. The entire staff Sat with us, we ate dinner together. The manager wouldn't charge us. We all walked out at the same time, they closed early.

I can't even type this without tears in my eyes remembering that.

Two days later we drive home. Watched the smoke rise as we drove past NY.

Nope. I will never forget.
 

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