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.

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]

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.

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

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.

I actually remember exactly where I was when I found out. I was running my crew in my landscape maintenance company we were at a little mini mart gas station doing maintenance when I heard the news

I was at my desk, working, here in Cary NC. I remember it was a beautiful day, clear skies, bright sunshine. They put it on every screen in every conference room, and I remember noone said a word as we watched the horror unfold.

Lisbon, working.

I was at home and a friend called me on the phone and told me to turn on the TV. If memory serves me right it was morning time here (Ireland) At first I thought that it was something like the War of the Worlds radio show that scared so many people. But it soon sunk in that this horrific event was real and I was watching it as it unfolded. To see such appaling terror unleashed on innocent people on such a beautiful day is something I will never forget.

I was at my then girlfriends house listening to the Mayor of New York claiming that God had a purpose for sick carnage.

Walking back to from the dining hall to our residence hall with my roommate. Didn't believe it when we heard people talking about an attack. All of our courses turned into discourse about what was going on. First class that day, the towers hadn't fallen yet.

I worked for a computer software firm and our headquarters was in Tower 2. Worst effn day of my life. I was in Maryland that day at one of our satellite offices teaching a training coordinator class. Lost a lot of really good friends especially a girl who I'd just met and she had recently married.

I was at work in Leominster, Mass. I had just went to the hospital with a patient in labor. Every labor room had it on the TV. It was very surreal to sit with a woman in labor, and deliver her baby, while this tragedy was unfolding. Doctors, nurses, visitors and patients were frantically calling family and friends, to see if they're ok. One doctor asked me to take over for him, because he was leaving for NYC, to make sure his son was ok. So, I was sitting with my own patient and one I had only met a few minutes ago. I left to drive up to Maine to visit my daughter the next day. It was strange to not even see a single plane in the sky.

I was listening to the radio in my car as I went to meet somebody to give them some t-shits for publicity/fund drive for a project I was involved with in Savannah. News of the first plane hitting was just being announced on the radio and the AM jocks were speculating on it.
But contrary to some urban legends there was no footage of the first plane hitting live or even that day. The first plane hitting the tower was not known about until at days later because a film crew happened to capture it.
It was when so many eyes and cameras were on the towers a few minutes later that everyone's heart nearly stopped.
Until that moment there was still the chance that it was a terrible, inexplicable accident.

Wellman Iowa. I worked the night shift and came awake to a high school friend who lived in Manhattan calling to say he was ok. I had no idea what was going on.

It was my fifth day as a teacher (6th grade), and the principal came around to the classrooms at about 10 o’clock and told us to turn on the TV, because something important was happening in New York... I don’t think she actually knew what was going on, she just wanted the newly installed “cable in the classroom” to be used I suppose! My TV didn’t work, so I didn’t know all of the details until lunchtime in the teachers room, and everyone was just silently watching and crying. For the rest of the day tons of kids kept getting paged to the office for dismissal, which was so frightening because I work north of Boston and we didn’t know if it was over or more horrors had happened closer to home.

I worked for the company who manufactured FDNY's turnout gear at the time. We had a half dozen'ish firefighters from FDNY visiting, getting ready for a PPE standards conference (we were working on some new thing and these guys were field testing it). They were all watching the news in a conference room, before going out to a controlled burn for the day (this is how you entertain visiting firefighters, burn shit), when the first plane hit the news I was in there shooting the shit with them (I grew up in the shop and FDNY quartermasters, some of these guys were more like uncles). I'll never forget how silent everyone went all at once. As soon as they started live coverage on the ground we started trying to make out back patches so we could tell who was going in. When the second plane hit they all started trying to figure out how to get home. There was no way to get back into the city that night, was what they were being told. When the first tower fell, we started comparing notes of who we had seen go in and hadn't seen back out on the street. My Uncle Jack sat on the floor of the conference room, with tears streaming down his face for what seemed like hours. A retired FDNY veteran, who had seen it all, was numb with horror. Around 3pm or 4pm, we finally got word that all of the guys could get back into the city in a semi truck if we were sending goods to help the relief or search and rescue efforts. So, the company owners rented two straight trucks and we filled them both with boots, bottled water, replacement heat channel knee pads and everything else we had on hand that we thought would help. I think it was about 4am on the 12th when they finally pulled off for the city. We were aware of the other flights at the time, but because of the businesses relationship with FDNY, my personal relationship with so many of the firefighters and the fact that we had so many retired and active FDNY captains in house that day was 100% about New York for me.

In the dentist's chair, getting my teeth cleaned. I could tell something had happened by the way everyone was acting, but I couldn't ask questions. For about 5 minutes, I was the only one in America who had no clue what was happening.

Stationed in La Maddalena Italy with NSA La Maddalena.

Home with pneumonia, watching t.v. stuned that such a tragic accident could happen...then the second plane hit the other tower. ...could only hope that the responsible could be found...so many heros that day, and many that followed...too bad our current president is such a poor excuse of an honor to them.

In kilby state penitentiary waiting to go to my assigned camp. I was on my way out the door and saw it on the tv.

I was at work in Fort Smith Arkansas watching it on a little portable TV we used for weather.

At work at my IT job. I first heard a plane hit one of the twin towers, and I thought of the small biplane that crashed into the Empire State Building back when. But then I hear a second plane hit the other tower, and my soul shuddered...

I had just turned 21....and still lived at home. My Mom woke me up with the craziest face I'd ever seen on her and said we were gonna be at war. I worked with my Dad and he said "fuck this we're going to work ". Wierd day of work and talking to absolutely everyone including strangers about the latest.....hard to explain to my kids how strange that day was

I was teaching on 9/11. When I heard that a plane had hit one of the towers at first I didn't think that much of it. I had heard of small planes hitting buildings before. Then I saw the videos and realized the scale of the thing. That ended the lesson. We started over the next day.