Where Were You On 9/11/01?

I was at school. I was sitting in my English class. The Dean came over the PA and told the teachers to turn the TVs on. And sure enough there it was. America under attack. When that second plane hit and we knew it was no accident, people cried. Some people went home to be with their loved ones. It was a horrible thing to watch but was a moment like that of the Moon Landing or the JFK shooting. Something so amazing and monumental that people know where they were, what they were doing, who they were talking to, everything.

So where were you on this fateful day? And what do you have to say? I still feel horrible for the families of the victims and the troops. They have been used as pawns in Iraq when it was the Taliban in Afganistan who attacked us. It was Osama and his followers stationed in Afganistan who flew those airplanes into those buildings.

WARNING! I do not want any "It was the government!" stuff going on in this topic. I do not want any "But Iraq uh, well, no WMDs, not a threat to America, uh, Iraq had oil!" stuff going on.

This is about the members, where they were, what they thought, and how they feel about the families, the event, whatever.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Krieger]

I was at home waking up turned tv one and saw the 1st tower..
(no sound on tv)
I thought it was some movie plot thingy...

I noticed it get real when the 2nd plane hit, called g/f and mother and law in...

I was also at school. I was sitting in my geometry class, ignoring the lecture when the principal came over the intercom and told the teachers to turn on the tv because hijackers just crashed into the WTC.

I remember seeing the second plane hit and thinking "Wow. Gas prices are going to be crazy" Sure enough, the gouging began that day. My mom brought me popeye's chicken and bicuits after school when she picked me up. My girlfriend lived in Kansas City at the time and she said gas was already at 5 dollars a gallon.

Then there was the time where there were no planes in the sky, everyone had a flag and "let the bodies hit the floor" was taken off the radio.

Me and my friends had left school early to go to the ghetto to get some weed we got smoked and tryed to sneak back in to school but when we got back everyone was on lock down and none of us knew why. Suffice to to say none of us got in trouble. then they wouldn't let the busses leave and try to keep us in the gym after school so once again my friends and i snuck off and had to run from security guards it was a crazy day!

I woke up to my mom calling on the phone, and saying we are being attacked, to turn on the television!

I really had no idea what was going on until I watched the second plane hit the other tower...then shed my tears for that day...ever since then I have been more aware of my surroundings, and keep the channel on CNN for some reason!

A most tragic moment it was...seems like yesterday!

[edit on 9/11/2008 by Givenmay]

I think it is sad that us Americans were not joined as united fellows before the event of 9/11/01. When and after the event we were showing our patriotisim with flags etc. The years have passed, we have not forgotten and still grieve, but we have gone back to the same selfish individual mentality as before.


Where was I? I woke up in the morning to turn the t.v. on before going to a friends house to write his employment resume. I have edited it several times as the years go by and see the date of 9/11/01. It reminds me of distractically writing the resume as I was glued to the television.

I was in college at the time and I lived at home. I was in my bedroom getting ready for school. My grandma called and told me to turn on the tv because we're getting bombed. I figured she was blowing things out of proportion or heard something wrong, but sure enough they showed the towers and a few minutes later the second plane hit.

I worked on campus in the IT dept so I went in to see what was going on. They were asking everyone to stay in the buildings so as not to cause panic I suppose. The whole day we were just waiting for more to happen, and I think later in the afternoon they gave the all clear to go about business as usual. They weren't enforcing any kind of lockdown, they were just trying to keep any mayhem to a minimum. They were concerned because this was near the OH/PA border - probably wondered if there were more planes headed our way since one went down in PA.

I don't particularly remember anything about gas prices going up. If they did they came back down quickly. Gas was still around $1/gal in my area back then. Katrina is the one that really messed up gas prices and it still hasn't settled back down. With Katrina gas went from 1.79 to 3.50 in one night.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by an0maly33]

That's... creepy. Man, to be reminded of it every time you work on a resume.

Well, a co worker of mine was taking her daughter to school. She heard it on Bob and Tom, thought it was a joke. Until she got to her old job and saw it on TV. She broke down. She had been in the Navy until she had her daughter. So she went back, and joined the National Guard. That's how much 9/11 affected her.

I was having cereal, ready to go to school.

Right now on like 8 different radio stations they are playing the national anthem. One is even doing Jimmy Hendrix version. Kind of a weird thing to hear. But hey, 9/11 is bringing them together.

Which it did for a few months. Everyone was AMerican. Heck even Cuba's Dictator sent us supplies and gave us support!

Too bad that fell apart.

I was off of work on 9/11 drinking in my employee dorm room when the phone rang. It was my GF calling from the hotel, she said, TURN ON THE TV RIGHT NOW! I turned on the TV just in time to see the first tower engulfed in smoke.

I was just about to say, oh what a horrible accident, when the second plane hit the second tower. I then said "oh Were at war!"

A co worker was supposed to get on flight 11 that morning, fortunately for him he had an argument with his GF and she kicked him out of the car and he missed his plane.

My ex and I were living in a small town, population 1,350...
We left early that morning to go to town to do grocery shopping, and in one of the stores I overheard a man telling the cashier about it. When we got home, I turned on the TV and was glued to the coverage for the next 3 days.

I was in the military, doing marching drills in bootcamp, when we were rushed inside, then given orange safety vests and flashlights, and told to "stand guard, and look for anything suspicious."

I guess we were supposed to wave our flashlights around if we saw anyone... ?

Nobody knew what had happened until about a week later, when someone's parents managed to include a newspaper clipping in the mail, that I guess the instructors missed, and didn't take out.

We were later told that knowing about the event would have interfered with training.

I had just put my daughter (then 1st grade) on the school bus. That was the most frightening moment of my life because I didn't know if my child was going to be safe and schools were on lockdown. I'll never forget that feeling. That day broke my heart.

Rush

I remember where I was and what I was spposed to be doing that day.

I was sitting at my desk for my second block (10th Grade) English class. Next thing I know, our teacher is asking us what are the news channels on here. One of my classmates asked why do you wat to know what channels the news networks are on. I forget who said this, but one of the students asked her why whe was wantig to know. Nex thing I know, she tells us that she got an email saying that the World Trade Center had been hit by an airplane.

My first thought was that it was a small plane that hit the building. So we turned on the television. I just happened to notice that the sky was a very clear blue. Then I realized that we had just been attacked by somebody. We're sitting there and the whole class, if not the whole school, was speculating as to who attacked us. We were just as puzzled as the rest of the world as to who had indeed attacked us.

When the first tower fell, that's when I realized that it was going to be a bad day for all of us. Right then, I got to thinking about the people that were trapped above the impact zones and the ones that went into the buildings to make an attempt to save who they could get to. When we saw the second tower come down, that's when I got to thinkin' harder as to whether or not anyone else had made it out live.

As it turns out, no one above the impact zones survived through the collapse of both towers.

1,366 civilians
341 New York City Firemen
2 FDNY Paramedics
8 Private EMS EMTs or Paramedics
23 New York City Police Officers
37 Port Authority of NY/NJ

Engine 1-0 to Manhattan!
1-0 go K.
Engine 1-0 World Trade Center 10-60, Send every available ambulance you got to this position.
10-60 transmitted fro the World Trade Center, 10-60 World Trade Center.



[edit on 11-9-2008 by gimmefootball400]

since not lving in the usa i got the news in the afternoon

i was picking up my son from kindergarten and a teacher asked me "did you hear about new york?" i didn.t and she told me "the world trade center has been destroyed" i couldn.t belive it and it was not much information
i rushed home with my kid and switched on the telly
and then i watched telly the whole afternoon the whole night
the newschannels in germany repeated it again and again - it was horrible
i was so scared and cried all night

and i still feel for the families and the children
so useless

I was getting my 3 yr old ready for preschool. When the first plane hit, the TODAY show was on and i remember thinking, no.. that doesnt look like the damage of a cessna.( what was originally called in to the station ) I watched in disbelief as ppl jumped from the buildings holding hands. I naively wondered where they were landing. It didnt set in that these ppl were choosing their death other than letting death come find them. I left to go get cigarettes and bring my daughter to school. By the time i got to the gas station the second plane had hit.
The preschool was full of moms dropping off their kids. The husbands were FDNY and had gotten called into the city. I wondered if my NYPD-ESU friend was headed there as well.

There was no going west that day. On Long Island, all roads west were used for emergency personnel heading to Manhattan. Living near a small airport on the island, the silence was deafening. The only sound was the roar of fighter planes every few hours.

I was glued to the television all day like most of the country. When the buildings came down, i cannot even begin to express what i felt. My dad worked on the twin towers during construction... and i had been there for my job as well a few times. The ppl.. were they all out? How can this be happening? So many thoughts flooded my mind.

My brother got a call later that evening. ESU Truck number 1 had been on site. Brian McDonnell, one of the finest and funniest ppl i have ever met, never made it out of the building. Only his kevlar vest was recovered.

My FDNY neighbor, Ed Rall never made it out . Weeks later, his funeral procession went down our block .I had my 2 children outside with American flags and we all saluted his casket on the truck.

My friend from HS , Timothy Byrne never came home.

The area where i live and work has been devastated. Husbands, wives, fathers, uncles, aunts, friends, neighbors, cousins, brothers and sisters. It seems everyone on Long Island lost someone that day.


Today at the school i work in, children were talking about their losses. One family with 3 kids lost their father. He was a member of the FD and HAD made it out. He killed himself months later unable to live with what he saw, and that he had made it out when so many of his brothers in the dept did not.

The ripples from this event are still reaching ppl i love and care about. A huge hole has been ripped into the heart and soul of NY as well as the rest of the country.

I had been trying to not think about 9-11 or speak of it much.. but ty for this very therapeutic opportunity.

I was in my high school homeroom. We came back to our classroom from a trip to the library and the teacher turned on the TV. My class sat in silence for the rest of the period, eyes fixed on the TV. After that class (the first one of the day) no one was allowed to have the TVs on. We only saw the results of the first plane crash and the reports soon after. The rest of the school day we wondered, but could not find out about the happenings. It was all to "protect" us, but I thought it was ridiculous. As an underclassmen, I was not allowed to leave campus for lunch. We were trapped in our high school like a prison, without contact with the outside world. Of course after school was over I was informed by my parents what was going on and we watched the news that night. I can understand that it was tough to make a decision on what to do for all the students' safety. I realize that not making a big deal out of the situation was for the "protection" of the younger students, but I felt then, and I feel now, that high school students should be considered mature enough to be let in on the happenings of their country. Especially after the beginning of the news program had already been watched. They wanted us to go about our day as if nothing was happening. I still don't completely understand the actions that the school decided to take.

Why does it matter where we were?

Anyway I just got home from school, and saw it live on TV (London)



[edit on 11-9-2008 by _Phoenix_]

I had gone back to college and was taking my first exam. Someone said a plane hit the WTC and I thought it was probably some drunk in a little plane, or a suicide with a little plane. When the exam was over, someone said it was an airliner that was hijacked. I rushed home to see the news and watch the stock market fall, but it had been closed to stop a crash.

Later, I saw the horrible videos of people jumping. I didn't get that out of my mind for quite a long time.