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Where were you on 9/11?

I was working at Newark International Airport at the time of the attacks. I could see the Twin Towers clearly from there. It never occurred to me before today that there is a chance that I looked into the eyes of some of the passengers, crew and the scum that hijacked the plane that day. A day that changed the way we live.

Shelton 8 Sep 11
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2

I just walked indoors to see the first plane hit and I was blown away and still am. looked like something out of a James Bond film

@Shelton I just had chills. I'm sorry. That really a life changing experience.

@Shelton no doubt, I don't know if you were luckier than me or not

@RavenCT yes forever the most amazing terrible thing i ever have seen by far.

2

I woke up late for school that day. I just felt like I did not want to go. I had that anxiety that you get when someone says "we need to talk".

I got to school, 6th grade, and the rest of the morning went by okay. Then in American history class, my principal pulled my teacher out into the hall and that knot in my stomach returned.

The teacher came in and rushed over to the tv in the corner and turned it on. As he tried to get to the news he explained to us that something very bad happened.

When he got to the news we watched the first tower fall. Then we saw the second tower get hit and we all knew but didn't quite understand.

I watched people and debris jumping from the tower. I watched people in the streets covered in dirt and dust and smoke screaming as they ran.

I thought for a moment "it's like a scene from my comic books"

But hydra isn't real and this, this was.

After lunch time we all piled out into the lawn around the flag and had a moment of silence and solidarity. We cried. We went home early.

I wished I had stayed home.

2

I was on the FWY in Sacramento, driving my son across town to school (shared custody). We were listening to live coverage on the radio as events unfolded. By the time I arrived at work, the planes had already hit the bldgs and I watched a live Internet feed as they collapsed. It was a very surreal and depressing day, to say the least. I recall shedding tears at my desk.

2

I was in the CVICU at a hospital here in Houston doing chest compressions during a code and the cardiologist yelled “OMG” and was looking at the TV. He said a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Obviously it was a large building, but I had no idea what he was talking about. I had never heard of them before. I had to redirect the doc to the task at hand. Fortunately, our patient made it.

2

I was baking chocolate chip cookies that morning. My mother called and asked if I had the tv on. I didn't because we had company. We spent a lot of that day sitting outside on the porch looking at a sky with no jet contrails.

2

I was 14 in the 9th grade basement classroom of my last year of christian school, being indoctrinated in bible class, studying some book of the OT. I remember that morning before it happened being unusually crisp, cool and clear skies. The emptiness of the sky was surreal already, almost like autumn had descended all at once and the aerospace industry was nationally holding its breath. Not a hint of a cloud or contrail anywhere I could see around here.

Having never been to NYC Im sure I didnt know what the WTC was at first, but after news of the first plane, our teacher rolled in the television and we stared in silence at the smoking building, as the second unexpected impact happened, and more smoke, and more for what seemed like an hour; I don't remember if they televised or we noticed the people jumping to escape the fire but it was all very surreal, and when the towers finally crashed down I think we were given some somber words and a prayer and sent home. The blissful ignorance of childhood ended as abruptly as those buildings. Suddenly my awareness of politics and sense of cynicism for politics and religion were born all at once. Really strange transformation of the world to witness out of the blue at a formative age. No tragedy surprises me anymore. Not really.

3

I was puzzled by the long line of vehicles waiting to get into a nearby military base, but I didn’t hear of the attack until that evening.

But as I was working that afternoon alongside a roadway with my daughters, a police car drove by slowly. I picked up a very strong feeling of love and protection—I could feel the emotion of the policeman. He was thinking that he was ready to give his life if necessary for the protection of such as us.

Call it woo all you want. That was my personal experience and I’ll never forget it.

2

I was sitting in my office in the state of Indiana, drinking coffee...had the Today show on as background noise....I saw the 2nd plane hit live..... I called all my staff into my office and told them that the world was about to change..... and the events of that day did drastically changed my life due to my association with the military.

@Shelton I had already served during the Gulf War ......so I knew what was coming.

2

480 E coming up on my way to a customer.

2

I was watching it on TV at home.

3

I was in college. I rode my bike to school that morning alongside my younger brother. We joked about how we never watched the news and that if something big ever happened, we would have no idea....

We got to school and our first class was a religious class that we had taken together. They began the class with a prayer in which the woman saying the prayer emotionally expressed a great deal of concern over "all the people that had died." I wondered if she'd experienced a personal tragedy.

The teacher then got up and asked if there was anyone that didn't know what was going on. I raised my hand and said that we didn't know. He then told the class. I was stunned.

I went through the day in a daze, avoiding the TV's that were on everywhere. I couldn't bear to watch the footage. Because of that it was days, maybe weeks, before I found out the towers had collapsed as well. It was a full year before I finally watched the news footage. It's still so heartbreaking to me.

2

I was on my way to work. I remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I wound up crying all day.

2

I was woken up by a friend asking me to call another friend to check on if he was working in one of the towers. They had just broken up, and she was concerned. After the expected “huh? What’re you talking about”, I turned on the tv and saw the first tower on fire. I hung up with her, called my other friend checking on what he was doing. He had the same reaction, saying almost the same thing I had said. I then called the first friend back, said he was ok, turned to my father and said, gotta go...

2

I was travelling with friends around France and Northern Spain.

On our way through Spain we stopped in a small village to eat in a little bar...everyone in the bar were staring at a disaster movie on a little TV perched on the wall....

On closer inspection we realised this was not a movie but a news feed...a very real and terrible tragedy was unfolding in front of our eyes.

2

At work watching horrified on TV

2

IMO entirely too much time and energy goes into hyping up the attack. Two buildings were knocked down, and a tiny fraction of a percent of our population was killed. We’ve got lots of other buildings and there’s plenty of us left—more of us now than there were then.

Compare that with the fire-bombing of Tokyo and Dresden, or even the London blitzes.

Time to move on IMO.

3

I was asleep, then I saw the T.V. set was on, I called a friend and he brought me up to speed.

3

At work, we pulled it up on the TVs.

2

I was in first grade at the time. I didn’t even learn about the attacks until I got home.

2

High school library. I was supposed to be watching my satellite German 3 course, but it was interrupted to switch over to the news. The first plane had just hit, and the news caster was talking about what a tragic accident it was. Then the second plane came onto the screen. It took a second to realize that it wasn’t accidental. The staff in the library came in and watched in stunned silence, except for one teacher who’d been making copies. She thought I was watching a movie. I had to explain that it was live news coverage. A couple minutes later, an announcement over the intercom asked all teachers to switch to the news coverage for the rest of the period, and that after that period, lessons would continue as normal.

2

Sitting on the sofa with my 3 yr old watching Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS. My stepdad called and told me to put on the News on that a plane had just crashed in to one of the Twin Towers. I changed the channel, sat back down with my 3 yr old on my lap, watching the live coverage
as the 2nd plane crashed into the other tower.

My sister was watching a PBS station and they broke into the programming. Not sure when? Maybe I got that wrong. Perhaps someone called her.

3

That was the day I found out I was pregnant. When I got to work everybody was around a small tv watching the news. I remember Katie Couric reporting it on the Today Show. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. [facebook.com]

3

Wow like it was yesterday.

My sister was visiting from CA - we were packing up my parents house in MA (my Mom died that March and later we were all so relieved neither parent lived to witness these events).

My eldest sister (also in MA) called and said "Turn on the TV" - I said "What channel?" expecting her to say some morning program with something funny on?
What she then said was "Any channel.".

So I walked to the remote with the cordless phone in my hand - and then I sat down hard. Only the first plane had hit by then.

We sat there just stunned. We watched as the second plane hit as well.

No tears just abject horror.

We actually kept an appointment with a realtor shortly thereafter - both towers were down - and we were in the middle of nowhere CT on a Lake - at the end of a dock. I remember looking upwards and there were zero contrails in the sky? (Bradley International/ Worcester Airport/ and TF Green all intersect in this area - there are always contrails).

We all sort of stared at that sky probably thinking the same exact thoughts.

It was such a universal moment for so many? It all changed that day.

I remember going to a candlelight vigil - I think it was the next evening with all my siblings? My brother was still in CT at that point. It was not so much religious - as people needed to gather. We were so shell shocked as nation.

My memory is a bit eidetic and I so clearly remember bringing my sister back to the airport about a week later. I know there was a delay getting flights back up?

I totally remember seeing someone in military regalia - with a semi automatic as I walked her in to her flight - and then could go no further with her. So terribly scared something would go wrong again and I'd lose my sister this time?

And not just that one person - but many at check points.

I returned to work while my sister was still staying with me - and met a woman who was in the WTC - she was an insurance rep. and she was giving the a NYTs company benefits meeting.

When we realized where she was from - OMG? I wanted to cry. I wanted to hug her but knew we'd both be crying in front of all those people?

I did speak to her briefly afterwards and that stays private.

I don't know if I knew at that point that anyone had actually walked down and out? She did.

3

Home on sick leave. Watched the 2nd tower plane crash live.

5

I was living in New Orleans at the time. My husband (at that time) was military.
I was on campus at the local community college that day, going from one class to another and as I was walking past the student lounge, I saw a large group of people standing around watching the TV. I can still see and feel that moment when I realized what had happened. Everyone was just standing around stunned. There were no sounds just pure disbelief and shock. Classes were canceled and as I was driving home I started to cry. It seemed like weeks before I was able to stop crying.

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