# September 11, 2001



## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

I arrived to my office in California the morning of September 11, 2001. 

As I entered the building I saw a few of my co workers watching the news in the rest area. They seemed hypnotized and the moment I saw what was happening I understood why. The office closed after a couple of hours since we were in shock and all what we wanted to do was watch the news. 

Vianka


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## cat616 (Nov 4, 2008)

I was waiting at home for my Dad to be ready so I could drive him to the airport.  The TV was on to one of the morning shows and I watched it from the first hit.  It was surreal.  While we were all wondering how such a terrible accident could happen the second hit came and the world knew it was no accident.  My Dad never made it to the airport as all flights were cancelled until further notice.  Thank goodness he was not already in the air.

I went into work and everyone was gathered around a very old TV mesmerized by what was unfolding.  We never even imagined the Towers would collapse, but they did.  We stayed at work but little got done.  It felt somehow comforting to be surrounded by others as we witnessed the tragedy that was happening right before our eyes.  Somethings I refused to watch.  It just did not seem respectful to watch people throwing themselves out of windows.  They had just made their last irretrievable decision and it did not feel right to gawk at their demise.

It does not happen often in a lifetime but the World Changed that day.  Regardless of Nationality or Global location, the World truly changed for all of us.


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

I was working in a tall building in Pittsburgh, and when we heard the news, the president of the company called all of us up to the top floor  to give us an update.  Then we heard that a plane had crashed near Somerset, and decided it was time to go home.

We had visited the twin towers the year before, and all I could think about that day was the people I met there - the young girl who took our food order at the restaurant at the top - the old guard in the room with the scale model of NY - the guide on the elevator.  I hoped they had gotten out, and if they hadn't, how horrible their last minutes would have been.  So sad.

Remember how there weren't any flights for a few days afterwards, and when they came back, we all stared at them in fascination?


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## identicaltriplets (Jul 16, 2010)

I saw the second plane hit the second tower live on TV as I was on the phone with hubby. I gasped/screamed as it happened.  I then had to get to Bible Study Fellowship. I didn't know about the third plane until after I came out of our BSF leader's meeting. There was NO better place to be than on my knees in prayer with all of the other leaders that horrific day!


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

I was making coffee in my home in Pennsylvania at the time when I saw the first reports.  At first I thought it was just another DieHard movie.  When I realized that it was real, I immediately thought that one of the tourist planes that regularly buzzed the Towers when I had an office on the 106 Floor of 2 WTC had gone and done it.  Then I saw the second plane hit and knew immediately that we were under attack.

I called my daughter who was working in New York to stay home and not go into the office.  A typical jaded New Yorker, she said, "Oh, Dad it's just a plane accident, I'll be O.K."

After a tearful argument, she finally relented and stayed in Brooklyn.  I'm glad she did.

The assault was particularly poignant, because I had worked in 2WTC for some years in the eighties. if I had been there that day, I would not be writing this note today.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I was twelve years old and in the seventh grade. We were still in first period, which for me was biology. We were doing some desk work individually and my teacher had the news on in the backgroumd. We were focused on our work and our teacher on the news. Then my math teacher from next door (who had a free period at the time) came in asking her if she had just seen what happened in New York City. This we saw the second plane. there were also teh report of the pentagon.

Then the pentagon happened....most of my family has been or are in the military (or have a job in the government) my uncle (naval officer) worked there. He had just spent two weeks with us a month before. When he was gone, they were moving his office to another building. The building that was hit was his old building, but we didn't know that. We spend the day like a good portion of America by the phone. We never got the call until late night september 11/earlu september 12. He said he was in his office with a collegue. He was used to seeing and hearing planes from his window. The plane got to close and things started to go into slow motion. HE said everything shook and the fireball. Everyone was grabbing their office fire extinquishers. Its usually at this point his story ends...not that I really want to know what he saw. Everything was shut down, but he was on the go. Unable to call until he got home in Maryland. Finally getting his call the family let out a collective sigh. A weight on our shoulders was lifted.

My brother and I were suppposed to go to DC for a visit that year, but my parents cancelled the trip.The image of the the plane going into the build still shakes me. No way could I watch those 9/11 related movies


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

Ladies and Gentleman thank you so much for sharing your memories.


Vianka


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## catherinedurkinrobinson (Sep 3, 2010)

I was a stay at home mom with twin toddlers. President Bush was in Sarasota, just south of us, and when my husband called to tell me, I thought it was an accident. When I turned on the news and saw the second plane, I knew it was an attack. In order to try and remain calm, I took my boys to their regularly scheduled play date and listened as they reported the falling towers on the radio.

What an awful day for everyone.

It took four years for my kids to ask me about that day. I wrote about it for The Tampa Tribune. You can read it here, if it helps parents struggling for the right words...http://www.outinleftfield.com/2010/09/03/explaining-911-to-kids/

My columns are usually funny, but it's hard to be humorous about 9/11.

Peace,
Catherine


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I watched the news report of the first plane hitting the WTC. When I arrived at school, I went to the cafeteria, where my superintendent and I began discussing the news. It was at the time that he told me about the second tower having been hit. When I went to my room, I brought up a website where I could keep track of events as they happened. Before long, news came of the Pentagon, the plane ditching in Pennsylvania, the collapse of the towers, etc. 

Although I don't live on the east coast, September 11, 2001, was a day that will live in my memory forever. I had never given much thought to my daughters' right (as well as mine and my husband's) to live free of terror attacks. No longer do I take that right for granted. I've heard some people talk about 9/11 as a day that brought NY, PA, and DC people together as one. From my midwestern perspective, I feel as is the nation came together as one, and the attacks impacted all of our lives.  May we never forget that day and the impact that it had on all of our lives.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

I remember one incident during the time I had an office on the 106th floor of 2 WTC.  There was a fire on some floor underneath us and the fire alarm sounded.  We were all told to go to the elevator lobby to await further instructions.  When I say smoke coming up the elevator shaft, I announced that I was going to walk down the fire stairs; a large group of my fellow employees joined me in the walk down the stairs.  I was later reprimanded for taking that action as the clear protocol was that all employees were to wait in the lobby until given specific orders to take the stairs by whoever was in charge.  I had violated that rule and I was punished for leading a group of people down 106 flights of stairs.

What haunts me to this day was how many people on the top floors of 2 WTC stood docilely awaiting orders on those upper floors of that doomed building because no one wanted to disobey the building standing rules?  For those who forget, 2 WTC was the first building hit.  The stairwell would have provided safe egress in the first few moment after the hit if they had disobeyed the building managers orders.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Philip Chen said:


> I remember one incident during the time I had an office on the 106th floor of 2 WTC. There was a fire on some floor underneath us and the fire alarm sounded. We were all told to go to the elevator lobby to await further instructions. When I say smoke coming up the elevator shaft, I announced that I was going to walk down the fire stairs; a large group of my fellow employees joined me in the walk down the stairs. I was later reprimanded for taking that action as the clear protocol was that all employees were to wait in the lobby until given specific orders to take the stairs by whoever was in charge. I had violated that rule and I was punished for leading a group of people down 106 flights of stairs.
> 
> What haunts me to this day was how many people on the top floors of 2 WTC stood docilely awaiting orders on those upper floors of that doomed building because no one wanted to disobey the building standing rules? For those who forget, 2 WTC was the first building hit. The stairwell would have provided safe egress in the first few moment after the hit if they had disobeyed the building managers orders.


Wow, Philip. You're probably right about that. I've always been told to stay away from elevators in the event of a fire. (In fact, don't most elevators have that warning posted inside the compartment?) Strange that the protocol was to take the elevator down to the lobby.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Besides all the "normal" reactions, a strange side effect for me was how quiet it was later in the day when I got home. Then I realized why: I live about 5 miles from downtown Philadelphia, and in the late afternoon/early evening there are always planes around at relatively low altitudes arriving or departing Philly; but not a one was to be heard at that moment. Along with that, I think everyone who didn't have to be somewhere else was indoors, glued to their TVs, so it was just Noggin, I, and the birds outside at 6pm. Eerie.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

The protocol was do not walk down until you were told to do so. You could never use the elevator because it is a natural chimney for smoke and flames. I was reprimanded for taking a group down the stairs. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Philip Chen said:


> The protocol was do not walk down until you were told to do so. You could never use the elevator because it is a natural chimney for smoke and flames. I was reprimanded for taking a group down the stairs. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.


I probably misread it, Philip. Any way you look at it, though, I would guess that there were, indeed, lives lost because people were waiting for the official word to proceed down the stairs to the lobby.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

From the day I was reprimanded, I complained how dumb that rule was. So do you know how the management responded to my complaints?  They made me the Fire Marshal for my floor. Go figure.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I was asleep when my mom called me and told me to turn on the TV. I sat there and watched what was happening until I went to work around 3 in the afternoon. I lived in the Amarillo area at the time, and the military uses the airport runway to practice landings with some of their bigger aircraft, like B-2's and C-130's, so I remember how absolutely quiet the sky seemed without aircraft.


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

My husband was on recruiting duty in California, and he came in earlier than usual to make sure I was up before  he took our oldest to school.   He said "there was an accident...a plane flew into the World Trade Center" and we turned on the TV to see the second plane hit.  There was such a somberness to the air that day, and for weeks afterward.   Just haunting.


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## cc84 (Aug 6, 2010)

I was at home watching the TV. I didnt know what was happening because i'd never heard of the World Trade Center. I was 17. We all had it on the news at home wondering when and where they would hit next. 9/11 changed the world. 

R.I.P all those who died that awful day.


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

I was getting ready for work and listening to the radio as usual. When the first plane hit, I thought how terrible and bizarre. When the second one hit, I shuddered, thinking that can't be an accident. I didn't find out about the pentagon until I got to work. I spent the rest of the day hitting the Refresh button on the news web sites.

The CEO of my company, a fairly large, fairly well-known software company, issued an email that basically said, "Yeah, it's tragic and we feel for the families affected, but if you don't know someone who died, get back to work."



His PR guy sent an email shortly after that saying, We understand how devastating this is to everyone. Take whatever time off you need to deal with this.


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## dimples (Jul 28, 2010)

I am not from the USA, I live in the Netherlands, but I too remember everything about that tragic day. I had just come home from school, grabbed a drink and turned the tv on. As I was browsing the channels I passed CNN and saw the familiar "breaking news" line. This was less than 10 minutes after the first plane had hit the WTC. They were speculating on what was going on and I kept watching... One of the possibilities mentioned was that there was some sort of a radar problem. Right after that was said I saw the second plane coming into view, make a weird turn and then watched as it hit the second tower. It was unbelievable to watch this all happen... And at that moment I couldn't even imagine the horror of watching the two towers collapse.
I kept watching CNN until nearly 5AM (local time) and I had school again the next day. 

While nothing comes close to the impact 9/11 had on US citizens, I can say without a doubt that the entire world changed that day. My thoughts and prayers go to everyone who lost a loved one there.


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## Kindled Spirit (Oct 27, 2008)

I was actually talking to a friend online that lived in new york. Suddenly he said, somethings happening...I just heard a loud boom and my building shook..brb. I had the tv on and saw what was happening. He didn't come back and I was so worried but finally heard from him later on. He was safe. It happened about 5 blocks from where he was. It was a day none of us will ever forget.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

I was getting my son ready for school, so I didn't hear about it until I turned the radio on in the car, on the way to taking him to school.  The first two planes had already hit, and I was driving when they announced the plane that hit the pentagon.  My brother was in DC at the time.  I was so totally scared, it was hard to drive and cry at the same time.

I'll never forget that day.

Vicki


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## UltraPremiumDeluxe (Aug 10, 2010)

I was on my way to the Outer Banks with my parents. We'd left home early in the morning and when we stopped for lunch, we noticed that people seemed subdued but hey, we were in a strange place. We ate and my dad went to use the restroom while the rest of us went back to the car, and when he came out he was really confused and turned on the radio.


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## Tip10 (Apr 16, 2009)

I saw the first reports just as I was leaving for work, and as soon as I arrived at work (about 20 minutes later) I headed out to the "floor" where the TV's were tuned to news channels and watched as the reports of the second plane hitting were broadcast.  Less than 15 minutes later I got the phone call to take us into total lockdown.  I spent the next few minutes scurrying around implementing our lock-down procedures. We were buttoned up tight as a drum within about 20 minutes and I spent the rest of the day alternating between watching the TV News and taking part in conference call briefings on our status and reviewing emergency operating plans with our personnel.


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## div (Aug 25, 2010)

I'm a career firefighter in Clifton, NJ...13 miles from Ground Zero.

We were watching SportsCenter when the station phone rang and we changed the channel to ABC 7 after the first plane had hit. We thought it was a horrendous accident; but how? On such a beautiful fall day?  Another firefighter and I went to the roof of the station and watched the smoke billow from the South Tower when we saw the second plane bank and hit the North Tower. 

We went back inside and the Captain brought out a police scanner that I set to the FDNY tactical frequencies and listened to numerous Engine and Ladder companies being assigned to tasks that would ultimately end in their deaths. 

Too many MayDay's, too many missing, too many funerals.

My good friend, John Scala, a Port Authority Police Officer entered the South Tower with members of the NYPD and PAPD ESU and was never seen again. Four months later his badge and gun were found in the rubble.

September 18, 2001 I was on the pile of the South Tower digging for victims. After a cadaver dog hit on a spot, we worked with the NYPD and Texas USAR Taskforce 1 for over nine hours and recovered and hand with red nail polish. I don't know who she was but I hope she did not suffer.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

esecallum said:


> I have never understood why the 9/11 victims have been turned into saints and why we must be constantly reminded every single day.
> 
> their families and next of kin have been given millions of dollars.they are all millionaires.
> 
> ...


No one has given them sainthood, and money given to families still doesn't take the place of those who were lost that day.

We are reminded (or remember) 9/11 because 3,000 people did nothing other than show up for work that day, and because they were doing their jobs, they were murdered by cowards. Many of us have a tendency to take that rather personally.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

We need to think about all the victims of September 11, 2001, tomorrow, not just the victims who looked like you and me or worshiped in the same church or temple as you might.  

My wife and I live in Northern New Jersey and visited the memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation with an out of state guest.  For those of you who have not had a chance to visit this memorial, it is located in the First Mountain of the Watchung Range, aptly named because it is in fact the first mountain overlooking Manhattan and beyond.  The memorial is simple and elegant.  It lists the names of all of the victims of that terrible day.  As you read the names, what strikes you immediately is that the names come from all parts of the world.  There are Irish names, Italian names, White Anglo Saxon names, Jewish names, Hispanic names, Chinese names, Japanese names, the sad list goes on and on.

And there are Islamic names.

As we contemplate the loss of life on that terrible day, let us also grieve for the Muslim and Islamic brothers and sisters who went to work on that day with nothing to worry about except making a living.  We can only imagine that in their last moment on this earth, some if not all, prayed to Allah and quoted the Koran as their dreams and hopes  were summarily taken from them.

Their blood flowed red just like their Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, agnostic, and atheist brothers and sisters on that day.  So when you shed a tear for the innocent men, women, children, and unborn children of that day; shed one for those who prayed to the Koran as well.

Thank you,

Phil


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## dimples (Jul 28, 2010)

Well said Phil, well said.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

esecallum.

What I would like to know is how you were able to erase my post (and yours).  I guess that is why you don't have to grieve for anyone.

Phil


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Moderators can and do delete posts that are deemed to be not in the best interest of the forum. . . . . .


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

Ann,

Phew!  For a moment there I thought we were dealing with an internet sprite.   

O.K.  back to normal.  (Does my deleted post count toward my next promotion?  )

Phil


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## webhill (Feb 12, 2009)

I was at work waiting for my first patient when the waiting room TV program was interrupted with a report that a plane had hit a trade center building. I said to my receptionist "was that an accident, or was it the Arabs?" and then we saw the second plane hit. I said "I guess it was the Arabs" and then I said "Oh my God, my brother has a meeting there this morning" and I spent about half an hour hitting "redial" until he answered the phone, brusquely told me he'd been running late and was exiting a nearby subway station when the plane hit and he ran the hell out of there, he asked me to call family/friends because he couldn't get a line out. So I made a lot of phone calls. My first couple of appointments no-showed, I think a 10:30 showed and I tried to focus but it was so hard, I only ended up seeing two appointments that morning I think before I had to go home. My mom was babysitting my one year old son and she'd been my first call after I reached my brother and she was even more shaken than I was. It was a terrible terrible day but at least my brother wasn't in the building like he was supposed to be.
When I heard the news about the crash here in PA (I'm near Philly) I thought briefly that planes would be falling out of the sky all over, we were all doomed. Thankfully that didn't happen.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I was working in the front office in an elementary school. People were coming in to pick up their children, telling us what was happening. We couldn't watch TV, cuz kids were around, but were were desperately trying to get information. Quite a few staff members had family members working at the Pentagon. All day they were trying to find out if their loved ones were safe. A friend's son was working in the Trade Center. All day she tried to contact him... she never heard from him again.

My greatest memory is how beautiful it was that day. Gorgeous blue sky with puffy white clouds. And American flags flying everywhere.


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

Like a lot of people here I remember hearing about the first tower and thinking what a tragic accident.  Then hearing about the second tower made me realize it was something much larger and evil.  I was at work and I called my husband at home and told him to put on the news. 

I work right by the SeaTac airport on the 8th floor of our own little twin tower building complex and I had a vivid memory of standing by the window with my co-workers and watching a huge exodus of people from the airport as they walked to nearby hotels and car rental agencies.  Thousands of people with wheeled baggage.  And everyone seemed so subdued.

My mother had just flown in the day before to attend my MIL's funeral which was on September 12.  It was a very sad week of losses.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

My husband and I had spent Christmas 2000 in NYC and loved it. When 9/11 happened, we were just as shell shocked as the rest of the world. Something few people realized at the time is how much it affected the local economy. NYC was hurting afterwards because tourists did not want to be there. When we heard about the economic hardship the 9/11 incident created, we got together with another couple and decided to lend our support by spending Christmas 2001 in NYC.  This was before there was even a viewing area at Ground Zero and I can tell you I will never forget the sight of Ground Zero and the fence with all the messages and pictures of missing people and the faces of the crews coming from the pit. Very powerful.
In spite of the tragic reminders everywhere, the spirit of the people of NYC came through in too many ways to count. I will never forget that Christmas and the wonderful people of NYC.


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## originalgrissel (Mar 5, 2010)

On Sept.11  I had gotten up, put my son on the bus for school and was enjoying a nap on the couch when my sister called me. She was at work, in the breakroom and she told me to turn the TV on immediately. That was just after the 2nd plane had hit the towers. I remember just standing in the middle of my living room crying. I could not believe what I was seeing. My sister asked me if anyone had heard from either Debbie or Heather ( two friends of ours that live and work in NYC) but no one had heard from either of them at that point. It wasn't until several hours later that anyone had been able to get in touch with them and thankfully they (and their families) were ok. 

The night before 9/11 I had flown back to NC from California (where I had met up with several girlfriends to see some live theater and catch up) on a United flight. So, it was pretty shocking to see those commercial airplanes being used as weapons when I had just been on one very like it about 12 hours earlier. After those of us that had been together the previous weekend got in touch in the days after the attacks we discovered that one of the planes that had been hijacked that morning (the one that had hit the Pentegon I believe) had been the same one that our friend, Brie had taken into LA from DC when we met up the Friday before. It was just terrifying to know that it could have just as easily have been any one of us. 

I said to my son, earlier tonight as we were watching a special about 9/11 on TV that one of my strongest memories of the days following it all when all air traffic had been grounded over the US was taking him to the bus stop and standing outside and just not hearing any planes. We live about 20 minutes from the airport and you can hear planes flying over our house all the time, but the utter silence outside was just something I will never forget.


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

I was asleep, when my phone started ringing like crazy. I had been out late, so I ignored it. Then a friend of mine who had a key to my house came in and started yelling how a plane had just rammed into "the empire state building." I came out and turned on the TV, and within two or three minutes the second plane slammed into the WTC. I remember watching that and feeling sick, because of all those people dying, and the fact I had a brother flying out of Boston on that day.

Due to phone lines being clogged, we didn't find out he was okay until late that evening. I remember very well how those hours felt, thinking he was on one of those planes.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I had returned from visiting friends in Montreal just two days before.  I was and am so grateful I didn't get marooned far from home.  After being near the OKlahoma City bomb six years before, it was a tooth grinding experience to watch someone else get walloped much harder than we did.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I was at home finishing my packing, as I was due to leave at 2 PM for a flight overseas. My then-business partner called me and told me about the first plane, and we briefly discussed what technical failure could possibly have led to such a terrible accident. Then he said _oh no, there's a second one!_ as he was watching it on CNN. But because his English was not very good, I thought he must be misunderstanding something, and that what he was seeing was a CNN replay of the footage of the _first _one. I was sure that it had to be a _single_ plane, and therefore a tragic accident but no more.

So I just finished packing, and then wanted to drive up the highway (toward DC) to run an errand two exits away. I got to the I-395 access ramp and turned on the radio news only to hear the truth at the same instant I reached the top of the ramp and saw the smoke from the Pentagon, 13 miles away.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

On this day, let us remember not just the innocent lives that were taken on that terrible day, but also the millions of innocents whose lives have been taken by the whims of despots and tyrants the world over or as collateral damage in the horrific conflicts that ensued.  

Let us also celebrate the lives of the thousands of young men and women who put aside their career pursuits to answer the clarion call to defend this great country of ours in dusty, grimy foreign lands, with names that we cannot not pronounce and the brave emergency response personnel who ran up on that day to meet their deaths as thousands ran down to avoid that same fate.


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

I'm taking a moment to remember that day, where I was, and how I heard the news.

I had just walked into my cubicle at the pharma magazine (on the West coast). Before I sat down, my phone rang. It was my boss, calling me from home, and he was hysterical.  (I thought he had overmedicated himself.) He kept saying, "They took down the towers!" When I finally understood what he was telling me, I was stunned. I finally managed to get my computer turned on so I could watch the news. Then I called my mother.

Where were you when you when it happened? How did you hear?


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

I was watching TV downstairs.  My brother happened to be watching CNN upstairs.  Suddenly he yelled down, "Switch to CNN!  A plane just hit one of the twin towers!"

I ran upstairs and began to watch.  A few minutes later, we saw the second plane hit the second tower.  I grabbed the first VHS tape I could find (Mr. Bean), and began recording over it.  We watched it all happen on television.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I agree, Philip. Well said.


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## tachydactyl (Sep 10, 2010)

I had just started nursing my youngest, who then was only a little over a month old when my husband called me and told me to turn on the news.  I remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking what a horrible world I had just brought my newborn into.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

Just so you know, there was another thread started on this issue a couple of days ago. http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,35849.0.html

I was home in Swarthmore, PA. when I saw the first reports on CNN. After I saw the second plane hit, I called my daughter who worked in Manhattan to plea that she not go to work., After she finally relented, she went to the roof of her apartment with others and watched the terrible events unfold (her apartment was in Brooklyn). She saw people jumping out of the towers and saw the collapse. It was a horrible thing to watch.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I had just quit a five-year employment based on a matter of, to me, ethics.
As an aside - it was not a good idea (who knew?) because no-one was hiring for the next month, or so.
I was at home, so I actually watched the second plane hit the towers "live".

.....and all the rest.


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## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

I was at home with my then 3 and 4 year old boys.  At that time, we lived in New Jersey.  The TV was already on and whatever program the kids were watching got interrupted by the event. I was glued to both the phone and the news for hours.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

I was at work with the radio on.  The program was interrupted to bring the news.  At first, I thought it was a small plane, possibly a tragic accident.  When the second plane struck the other tower, I left my office and practically ran the five hundred yard dash through the prison compound where I worked to get to the administration building where a television was on in the break room and there I stood with my heart in my mouth watching the towers fall.


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## Sofie (Dec 30, 2008)

Hasn't someone already started this thread?

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,35849.0.html


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

I live on the west coast and had just gotten up. I woke my kids (who are teenagers now) for school, and turned on the TV as I did every day. When I saw the news reports of the first plane...I thought it was some kind of freak accident but didn't understand how it'd happened on such a clear day. Then the second plane hit and I got this sinking feeling in my gut. Watching the towers fall, and realizing the number of innocent lives that were taken needlessly...was devastating.

On this day, my heart goes out to everyone who lost a loved one on that day.

Sandy


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

I was driving to work and was changing audio book cassettes when I heard the radio (NPR) report. I did not start the next tape. At work it was difficult to concentrate. I remember getting e-mails from coworkers in Canada, Sweden, and Sri Lanka. Condolences for those who lost friends and loved ones as a result of the events on that day. Remember the ones lost and work to prevent future loss.


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

I was teaching a class of 5th graders.  Another teacher came in and said someone had flown a plane into the WTC.  I tried to shrug it off for the student's sake but they knew something was wrong.  I tried to go to CNN but it was frozen on a picture of the first plane hitting the tower and I guess the internet was overwhelmed.  As soon as the bell rang I rushed to where there was a TV and watched the news as one of our teachers with family in New York stood there crying.  The entire day, and the next day and the next, spent trying to explain the unexplainable to 4th-8th graders.

My husband was fighting a wildland fire in Idaho, completely out of range of any news.  They had rapelled in from a helicopter and when they radioed for one to pick them up (on 9/12) were just told no aircraft were available.  After hiking out and getting picked up, the person who picked them up told them the news.  He called me that night.  I was completely exhausted from dealing with this and the students for two days and talking with him, the news an hour fresh to him, made me re-live it all over again.

Truly a day burned in my memory.  I also realized that I am a permanent memory to those 5th graders when one of them in his valedictorian speech seven years later mentioned being in my class on that morning.  Fast forward to this morning, talking to my husband on the phone (gone on another fire), reliving these memories and my telling him that none of my current students have any memory of this event.  Very strange, but this is just history to them.


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## AnelaBelladonna (Apr 8, 2009)

My husband and I were in Las Vegas.  We were woken up early in the morning by the HR person where I had applied for a new job.  She was offering me the job then started sounding funny.  I asked her what was wrong and she said "turn on your tv" and hung up.  We turned on the tv in the hotel room shortly before the 2nd tower was hit.  

We got dressed and went downstairs and the casino was empty except for people at the bar watching the tv screens and the people on the payphones near the bar crying.  Planes were grounded and getting a rental car was almost impossible.  People were hiring taxis to drive them home.  I heard one guy hired a taxi all the way to Chicago and some people bought new cars to drive home.  I called the travel agency where I worked and they found a rental car for us the next day so we drove all the way to Texas where we lived at the time.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

My family lived on a military base at the time, a lot changed after 9/11


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

"Meet Me In The Stairwell"

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news On September 11, 2001. Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.' I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, 'Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK...I am ready to go.'

I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn't coming home that night.

I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help. 'I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!' I said. 'Of course I will show you the way home - only believe in Me now.'

I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered.

I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them.

I was in Texas, Virginia, California, Michigan, Afghanistan. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name - though not all know Me. Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor.

Some sought Me with their last breath. Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames; 'Come to Me... this way... take my hand.' Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me. But, I was there.

I did not place you in the Tower that day. You may not know why, but I do... However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me?

Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are 'ready to go.'

I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.

God


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## Trilby (Jul 26, 2009)

I was home alone, kids were in school. I was watching the news and saw about a 'fire' in the towers, so I emailed hubby about it. Not long after the second plane hit and that dreaded feeling set in. 
We had plans to go to Vermont a few days after 9/11, the drive up was so strange! Hardly anyone on the highway and when the sun started to set, there were all these people lining the highway with candles. Also the sky was empty! That was so weird.


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Being Down Under we didn't get the news until after the event but I do remember being glued to CNN for most of the day.  I just kept trying to tell myself it was some kind of bad joke and that it couldn't possibly be happening for real.  I was watching with my Mum and we both just cried.... it truly ushered in a 'sad new world'.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

I was sitting in high school Spanish class when an announcement came over the loudspeakers. at first, I was annoyed that they were interrupting an exam, and then...we realized what they were saying. I cut my classes for the rest of the day and camped out in front of the computer in the science research room, and I wasn't the only one. This was Long Island, a mere hour and a half away from the location of the towers, and nearly all of us knew people who were directly and indirectly affected.

In retrospect, I'm truly thankful that the school stopped everything to let us know.


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## D.A. Boulter (Jun 11, 2010)

I live in British Columbia, Canada.  My girl-friend lives in Manhattan.  On the morning of September 11th, we were sleeping, here.  The phone rang and my girl-friend's cat sitter told me that it wasn't likely that my GF would be leaving today for home as scheduled.  I turned on the TV and watched for some minutes.  The phone rang again, this time my brother who lives in LA.  He asked if I'd heard from my GF.  She's sleeping upstairs, I told him.  Don't you think you should wake her up? he asked.  That jolted me out of the shock I was in at what I was witnessing.  I woke her and told her--and she didn't believe me.  We spent the rest of the morning in front of the TV.  She made it home 6 days later.  I've always been grateful that she was here and not there for that day and that week.  It was bad enough when she got back.


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## A. Rosaria (Sep 12, 2010)

I was alone at my tiny apartment, behind my computer chatting and stuff. I sometimes keep the TV on just so not to feel all alone, on that day I put it on at almost the exact moment the second plane hit.

I sat dawn in disbelief, I thought it to be a discovery what if show. After a few minutes it dawned on me it was real, I kept watching and saw the first tower collapse. I remember thinking it strange and that it looked like a controlled demolition, the feeling of oddness increased with the second tower crumbling the exact same way.

I watched it on CNN, the longer I watched the more it started bugging me how the reporters sensationalized the news. They kept on and on repeating the same thing, focusing on the drama, the people jumping. On and on and on the kept like they tried to traumatize the people watching with the horror. It stopped being news casting. It was also the day I lost the confidence in the news media.

I felt sad for the victims and their family and I foresaw pretty much what would happened after the WTC tragedy and that made the sadness worse.


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## MAGreen (Jan 5, 2009)

I was at school. I had been running a little late and there was a note on the door about no class, so I went to the student center. There were lots people outside making calls. It was packed and so many people were crying. They had the news being projected on the wall and every TV on. I watched the second plane hit the towers, and all I could think was "what movie is this?". It took me a full minute to catch on that it wasn't a movie. It was just awful. Everyone was stunned or sobbing. I went home and sat with my dad watching the news for the rest of the day. That was a truly awful day in our history.


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

I was in Washington D.C. I had just left the Crystal City Marriott, and was driving towards my company's office in Herndon. I heard the initial news reports in the car on NPR, about the first plane in New York City. Those reports were not clear about the size of the plane that hit - the initial reports assumed it must be a private airplane. I remember thinking, oh, that's interesting, I'll mention this when I get into the office. Then more uncertainty in the reports about the size of the plane - could it be an airliner? - and then, the awful certainty about what was happening when the second plane hit.

I called Carrie who was back home on Pacific time. Woke her up with the news. I had an urgent desire to be with my family. As it turned out, that couldn't happen for another 4 or 5 days.

At the office in Herndon, it was a despairing and upsetting time as we stood stunned in front of TVs, radios, and web news pages. Then the Pentagon was hit, and the attacks were brought to an even more personal level - as distressed people left the office to check on friends, husbands, wives, family. I work for a defense contractor and many people in that office had close ties to people in the Pentagon. Concerns and rumors swirled about more targets in the capitol area, especially with the news from the Pennsylvania crash.

The office is close to Dulles airport, and it was odd to see absolutely no planes in the air. Both major airports in the capitol area were closed for days.

I stayed at a friend's place in Virginia for the next few days. His teenage daughter had a friend who was pulled out of school on the 11th, to be told that her father had been killed in the Pentagon. I finally drove to Philadelphia where I was able to fly back west. It was a long and quiet flight. I sat beside a woman who was reading and re-reading newspaper articles about the attacks, and softly crying. When we landed in Seattle, the flight attendant gave her standard "we've landed" shpiel and than quietly added, "God bless America". It was one of many emotional moments from a week that will never be far away in my memories.

The short video below shows the amazing job that air traffic controllers did in grounding U.S. flights on that day.






P.S. Merging this thread with another similar one.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

I was at work and one of my co-workers got a call from her boyfriend telling her what had happened and she made the announcement in our part of the office. The news started to spread throughout the building as others got calls and made calls out at breaktime. But we weren't allowed to monitor the internet or listen to radios, so a good bit of what we were hearing was rumor. Our management decided it was best for us to continue working as if it were a normal workday. This actually turned out to be counterproductive as we were all so distressed and upset we couldn't do much. Many of the rumors were even worse than the actual facts. For example, someone said that 10 planes had been crashed and 10 more were still in the air with terrorists aboard. We also heard that the Pentagon had completely collapsed and the Capitol Building had been hit and was in flames. When I got home, my husband was already there since his company had decided to let everyone go home early. We watched for the rest of the evening, too sick at heart to even eat dinner. When I saw the footage of the second plane hitting one of the towers, I remember thinking it couldn't possibly be real and some part of me expected to see the plane emerge intact from the other side of the building and fly on. I called all my children just to hear their voices and later I cried myself to sleep. 

Linda


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

I work nights, so I was asleep. Someone called me to let me know what happened. I was watching in time for the second plane strike.

I remember thinking, "well, that would make a good plot for a Tom Clancy Novel." 

Then I found out that it had.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

I was only in 10th grade at the time and living on the west coast, but I woke up a little while before my mom came in to wake me up and knew something was wrong. I could hear my parents watching tv in their room and talking quietly. From the snippets of conversation, I thought a bomb had gone off in Canada and was thinking, "Why on earth would anyone do something like that?" Then my mom came in and told me what had actually happened. As she drove me to school, we heard on the radio that the second tower had fallen. Lots of kids at school hadn't heard anything yet, so it was a huge shock to a lot of them and the teachers weren't sure what to tell us. We spent the day watching the TV and I remember them showing the same 3 or 4 clips over and over and watching all the people jumping out of windows and falling to their death. The week after that was terrifying because there were tons of rumors going around that there were more attacks planned and one of the top targets was somewhere around us.


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## sillyolebear (Apr 27, 2010)

We were stationed In Hawaii at the time.. and the night before one of our neighbors had a small fire in her house so she and her family were spending the night at my house. The door bell rang and then someone was banging on our front door.  One of our neighbors knew I was from Brooklyn and he wanted us to know the news right away.  It was shocking. The military base I lived on went on lock down and we were not allowed to leave the base for anything but a medical emergency.  My husband was called in immediately and I did not see him for a few days after that,  
  My parents were suppose to fly out of Newark NJ on Sept 12 to come to Hawaii to meet there new grandaughter, they were able to come in October.


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## JL Bryan (Aug 10, 2010)

I was at work at a sign place where I did graphic design.  I had just finished college.  My sister lived in Washington, DC and I had a cousin who worked on Wall Street near the Twin Towers.  So there was a lot of phone calling.  A girl at my work's birthday was that day, too.

I remember people wondering who had done it and why.  Fortunately, the people on TV had the whole thing solved within minutes, which I thought was strange.


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