September 11, 2001: Personal Stories 10-Years Later

I was working at the FAA offices on 14th and K downtown DC. We were about to attend a meeting when someone said that a small aircraft had hit one of the towers. We went down to the break room and turned on CNN. We watched for awhile and I couldn't help but think, it's a beautiful day, clear and a million (air traffic verbiage for unrestricted visibility), how could anyone hit that big building? Well, the next plane hit the building and I thought, we are under attack! We watched for a few minutes and someone said that a car bomb had gone off near the Pentagon. A group of us hurried up to the roof (10 stories) just in time to see a mushroom cloud rising from the vicinity of the Pentagon. I said to my buddy, "If that was another plane, the FAA will shut down the airspace". My friend said no way. Next, security closed the roof. By the time we got downstairs, the message went out to close the airspace. After a couple hours, we were all told to make our way home. The streets were pretty chaotic. Cars everywhere with people walking around looking up at the occasional sound of a military jet. A group of us decided to get together at an apartment down near the Waterfront area. I walked down there listening to my small radio and the broadcasts of another jet inbound to the DC area. The Capitol and or the White house was the intended target. Fortunately, that never happened (that was Flight 93). Things started to settle down as DC emptied out and we started to try to calm down with vodka and fresh orange juice. Within about an hour, one of our fellow works came in and it was discovered that her husband was on the flight that hit the Pentagon. That, of course, stopped the gathering. I was able to jump on the last bus leaving DC and made it to Southern MD a couple hours later. I'l NEVER forget that day...

I'm from Anniston, Alabama, which is a long way from NYC. I was at home, watching tv with my best friend. I had just gotten married the month before and found out that we were expecting our first baby. I didn't feel well so I ran down to the corner store to get some soda and saltine crackers. After I paid for my stuff, the clerk gave me the wrong change. That was the first time that I really looked at her. Her eyes were red and teary. She told me I needed to go home and turn on the news. I got to my tv just in time to see the second plane hit. My best friend and I watched the news for a few minutes longer and headed to our church. We stopped and filled up our cars because we didn't know if the attacks were over or if there would be more in other places. Our town has a a chemical weapons incinerator and a chemical weapons storage depot so everyone was worried that something might happen there. The road leading to the depot was blocked off and a no fly zone was put into place, immediately. I was terrified about the kind of world our new baby would be living in. We hadn't told anyone that we were expecting, yet, because it was so early. We decided that we would tell everyone that nite. It was the one bright spot in our lives for quite a few weeks to come.

At 5:00 AM Tuesday, Sept. 11 2001 I began my first day on a new job working at the UPS facility in Hodgkins IL, the largest UPS ground hub in the nation. I was to be a package auditor, surveying packages as they flew past on the conveyors, grabbing every third one to count whether they had proper labeling on them and report whether or not they did. There are televisions scattered throughout the place, but for the most part they kept me very busy. I remember as I was being led through the place I'd look up and see CNN news reports all morning long. The place is really loud so the volume was down all the way.
At one point I looked up and saw the north tower burning. My boss and I stopped for a moment to read the news ticker and then he moved on quickly. I wanted to stop and continue reading.
We continued on with our day, not knowing about the attack on tower two or the pentagon until, when sitting in the office, my supervisor walked in and said "The south tower is gone."
"Gone?" I asked.
"Gone."
I could grasp what he was saying at all. "As in, not there anymore? Collapsed?"
"Yep. It collapsed. Its gone."
For the rest of the work day we continued on, business as usual, catching glimpses and clips of the towers collapsing and the pentagon burning and flight 93. I couldnt believe we just kept on going as if nothing even happened. I couldnt wait to get home to my wife and kids and to hear the news reports to get a better understanding of the events that had taken place that morning.
I remember feeling angry. And afraid. Ive lived in Chicago suburbs all my life and knew people that worked downtown everyday. I remember worrying what was next? Would there be more attacks? Would Chicago be on the list? What would I do if it was? I decided if it happened I would be downtown as fast as possible to help in any way needed.

In the weeks that followed I remember seeing packages go by on those conveyor belts with yellow stickers attached. I grabbed one, as this was not normal. I could feel the color in my face drain as I read the strange new label; Undeliverable due to the events of 9/11. My blood ran cold when I read the New York address and realized this was supposed to go to the WTC. I remember reading the name and wondering if they had fallen victim to the attack. I placed it back on the belt and watched it zip away, soon disappearing down a chute, and wondered how the senders would be affected when they received their packages back. I think this is was I most vividly remember about that infamous day.
At that time we lived in Bridgeview, a south suburb of Chicago and home to a Muslim mosque. There were large demonstrations on our front lawn as people tried crossing Harlem Ave. to march and protest at the mosque. From our third floor apartment I could see the large parking lot across the street FILLED with police from at least 13 surrounding towns. There were squads, wagons, armored trucks, and RVs set up as command centers to control the crowds and keep them away from the mosque. People all up and down the street were chanting anti-arab sentiments on the east side and police formed a line on the west. My family was scared. It felt like a powder keg just waiting to blow. Things never did get violent, thankfully, but nontheless we left and stayed with my in-laws for a couple days.

I will never forget that day, and so long as blood flows through my veins I will not allow my children to forget either.

I live in Wichita, Kansas and had owned my new wine and spirits store for a little over 11 months. Tuesday's were usually very hectic and I had gotten up around seven central to get a head start on a day filled with deliveries, orders, customers and our monthly wine-club tasting which was to be that evening. My shower was downstairs and my T.V. upstairs and when I came back up from my shower and turned on the T.V. around seven fiftyish Central time to see the smoke coming from one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. My first thought was, "How are they going to fight that fire?"
I sat glued to the T.V. flipping back and forth between the big three and CNN,HLN, MSNBC and FOX. I had my T.V. on MSNBC when the second plane hit the South Tower and thought to myself, "Oh Sh*%t!." I knew nothing of Al Qaida and figured this was revenge from Saddam Hussein and the Gulf 91 War. Made me wonder if there was nuke on that plane that failed to go off. For the next hour, I forgot about going in to open my store and watched all the events unfold. After all, it was my store and if we opened late because of this it would not matter, no one would be buying liquor today. I watch events at the Pentagon unfold until about eight fifty CST. I got my act together just long enough to get in the car and head to my store. I switched on my radio to NPR and was just outside of my store's parking lot when they announced that the South Tower had collapsed. My only thought was, "Today is going to be a very different day." Stepping out of my truck I could not realize how beautiful it was outside 68 or 69 degrees, crystal clear blue skies, not a freaking cloud and most extraordinary for Kansas, not a breath of wind.
I went in to my store turned off the alarm, fired up the computers, got my cash out, did a quick check around the store and immediately turned on the store T.V. One of my regulars came in for a pint of Viaka, I barely paid any attention to him my eyes focused on the collapse of the South Tower being played over. He looked at me and said, "Did one of the towers collapse?" I told him "Yes," and then I said something stupidly prophetic, "I'm just waiting for the other one to go." A few minutes later, it did. I start to speculate about who could of done this, thinking the Pentagon hit was a missed target, they were obviously looking for the Capitol or the White House and kept thinking Iraq, maybe, Palestinians, not enought resources, North Koreans possibly.
Around nine thirty CST, I hear them mentioning that all aircraft in the entire U.S. have been ordered to land and start to hear the reports about Flight 93 crashing. My late father calls, a WWII veteran, and informs me, "we just got our assed kicked again." He was a retired executive at a major brokerage firm and knew of people who worked on Wall Street.
About ten o'clock CST, one of my sales reps and co-sponsors of our wine club comes in and asks me if we should postpone tonight's wine tasting. I simply told him yes. "There is nothing to celebrate today."

I was 19 in 2001. Just decided that my extended stay in Germany might be for life, but I wanted to come back to the states to see my family. My plane ticket was to leave on September 9th - with layovers - which I would have ended up finally making it home on September 11th. I called my mother on September 8th and told her that I was staying, that I was in love and I wanted who I was with at that time.

She told me to do what I need to do to be happy. September 11th, I was upstairs discussing how much money we had spent over the last week when we heard his father shout up the stairs. "Turn on the t.v., something bad has happened in American!"

The first thought I had was 'What? Did it finally all crash around their ears?" I popped up turned the t.v. on CNN and the picture of the towers was up - first building was smoking. My mouth hung open - second thought was to call my mother. I grabbed the phone and as I called and waited for her to pick up the second plane hit as I was watching. I heard him say "I hope they don't fall!"

The rest of the details of that day is lost somewhere in the back of my mind - packed away I suppose with next four years I spent there defending my nationality, whose side I was on, and gaining a fresh perspective on my country. I still can't believe it's been 10 years since that day - my word, how my life has grown so much since that day. My thoughts are with everybody who lost somebody on that day.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Hey Skeptic,
Wanted to say thanks for starting this thread regarding our own personal stories, because you know what? They do matter to alot of us out here. So, thanks to you and your fabulous website here, I really appreciate it.

My memories are not much different than many of the posters here...
I remember being online, in my home, chatting to a friend in France.
She told me that one of our skyscrapers was on fire in the news.

I turned on the tv, and watched with the world as the first tower burned.
I saw the second plane hit, and was glued to the news, like soo many others, for the rest of the day.

My feelings were many; but overall was the tremendous sense of loss.
A deep sadness for mankind in general...

I am not a prolific writer, but I would like to offer a small contribution of my own creation for this memorial...


"Stand by me a while" - 9/11


Stand by me a while,
in silence hold my hand...
While time walks on with blind detach,
like the whispering of fallen sand...

Twas here they fell, you see the marks,
like scars that will never mend...
And many brave tried, and in valor
they died, now their sacrifice we can commend...

For the moral you see, is that Love is still free,
and is highest in the minds of good men...
So stand here a while, and pray with a smile,
for we shall all meet in salvation again...

reply to post by Khurzon


Thats a beautiful poem!
Great job

reply to post by Khurzon


That was nice to hear and thanks for sharing. Very heartfelt.

My story is very uninteresting because I was not there, but I was watching it on TV, and I did see it all happen.

I do remember a friend who was so shocked, they literally shutdown and fell asleep after watching it. Falling asleep would seem like they didn't care, but on the contrary; they had seen to much and there body literally had to recoup like they had been awake and active for an entire day (this was a few hours after it happened).

I did find myself questioning the official story almost immediately, but not on that day, because there was too much going on to process it all.

I lived in Northern Virginia at the time of 9/11. I came downstairs and turned on my computer to check email. I was using AOL then, as most people were. AOL had a window that came up with the headlines and so forth, and front & center was a picture of the towers burning and the headline "Twin Towers Collapse". My first thought was "Oh, looks like AOL got hacked." There was no way that could happen, right? I did not believe it when I first saw it. I though they got hacked and someone put this unbelievable fairy tale up as a joke. I then went over to the TV and turned on CNN and watched the replays they showed over and over and over. I was in a state of shock like the rest of the world for the next few days.

A couple days after, I drove past the Pentagon to get a look. It was much worse than you see on TV, so I could only imagine what NYC was like.

As a sidebar, I have been in the WTC once as a tourist. I rode that huge express elevator up to the observation deck and took lots of pictures. You could feel the building swaying in the wind way up there. Knowing what it was like to be in that building way up there, I can't even wrap my mind around the experience those people must have been going through.

Originally posted by Khurzon
"Stand by me a while" - 9/11


Stand by me a while,
in silence hold my hand...
While time walks on with blind detach,
like the whispering of fallen sand...

Twas here they fell, you see the marks,
like scars that will never mend...
And many brave tried, and in valor
they died, now their sacrifice we can commend...

For the moral you see, is that Love is still free,
and is highest in the minds of good men...
So stand here a while, and pray with a smile,
for we shall all meet in salvation again...

I was 15 and still living with my parents. It appeared on television and soon the entire family was watching the news. My father said that America would take revenge so hard the world would be shocked. I never thought about it again until many years later. I began travelling around with my bagpack and had lost all interest in worldly matters. Only 2,5 years ago when living in the south of Portugal I got to see Peter Joseph's film Zeitgeist. I was convinced immediately that it was a false flag. I never paid much more attention to it. Only this year, because of an internet connection at home, I regained interest and began researching on both sides of the story. For a moment I was even more convinced and took a deep dive into the conspiracy world. Only to be so disgusted by all the inconsistencies, propaganda, bs, insanity and everything that comes with. At this moment I cannot tell what happened. I am inconclusive. I also don't really care any more. Most intriguing to me is how we all forget to end the wars and instead preferred to speculate about demonic conspiracies. The 9/11 Truth Movement is the best thing that happened to the establishment. If they didn't order it, they sure as hell must have been glad with it.

At the time, I was an Account Manager for a retail software company (we had a program businesses used to run things).

One of my co-workers, a former career Israeli military man, often listened to news radio while he worked. We were good friends at work, and often discussed politics, etc.

He called me in to hear it, when the first plane hit the tower.

Of course, we were both in shock. Initially, there's the wonder..."was it an accident?" We both didn't think so.

I quickly got out the TV we used for training videos, and rigged a quick coat hanger antenna...(back then, you could do such a thing). We got in a station clearly, and thought we were watching a replay, when in fact, what we had seen, was the second plane hitting the building.

I turned to him and said, "We just witnessed the first attacks of World War III". He just nodded gravely.

The rest of the day was sheer confusion. Those who weren't there don't remember, but there was a LOT of wrong information flying around even through official channels. We didn't know who to believe. Reports of several planes down, more buildings...

Then, the footage of the Pentagon smoking.... It was pretty unreal. All thoughts of work had left our minds. We had a client in the WTC...I learned. They were on lower floors, and got out safely, but it basically put them out of business (we'd soon learn).

Of course, that's nothing compared to when we started seeing more footage of people jumping out of buildings...choosing the quick death of impact over the painful slow death of being burned or buried alive.

The story about the flight that fought back came out, and there was still a lot of speculation as to whether that really happened, or if we shot it down.

I remember thinking...I was supposed to fly into NYC that day. Lucky for me, the client had cancelled about a week earlier (not the WTC client), and wanted to reschedule,

Terrorists of course, were the suspect, and OBL (due to his earlier attempts at it) was prime suspect #1.

I remember all of the flights being grounded, then starting back up, and military escorts, etc.

I also remember that for a brief moment, all of our differences disappeared. There was no black or white, etc.,,,just Americans.

We were all foaming at the mouth for some payback too. At the time, most of us would have gladly suggested turning the entire Middle East into a glass parking lot. (Sad, but it was just how mad we were)...and I'm a guy who's lived there, and known some great people there.

10 years later, and we still have questions we'll never know the answers to.

About a year after the attack, I got the chance to go to NYC. Oddly enough, I flew up for the same client. This time, I had my wife join me,(client was in north NY). We drove down to NYC on that Sat., and spent the day there.

We saw the subway signs for the WTC stop, still there. We saw ground zero, and the memorials on the church's iron fence. You could really FEEL the event there...there's just no other way to describe it.

My story of 911 is vivid on my mind but I thought I would post to a audio to a incredible story about a neighbour to my north ...Newfoundland ..specifically Gander .... www.cbc.ca...#/Radio/1447825254/ID=2125783732
Such love of our beloved Newfies are instilled in Canadian society and much much appreciated ...peace

ps. I found some very important info at the 1;13 TIME ...HEY THIS STUFF IS VERY EARLY RECOLECTION FRON A NORAD [SORRY KEY STUCK] inteligence officer ...must listen to ...every thing prior is great but the norad commender personel is worth a listen to ...