9/11

[marinneli]

I was just going to gym... Opened the front door and exchanged some "hellos" with staff. There were three tv's on 24/7...when it suddenly stroke: All the three tv's were showing a plane hitting the first tower, people screaming... We all just stared at the tv's not even knowing whether we should believe our eyes or not. And then came the second plane...

I was quite sure that would be the start of World War 3

Even though I live far far away, even though I wasn't there to see it happen and don't know any survivors or victims... Even still every time I see another documentary on 9/11 my eyes water. Just like now...

 

[DaGiant]

I was a reservations agent for Amtrak, I was on the phone with
a passenger. She was asking me questions and then just screamed
in the phone and started sobbing. I asked what was wrong, if she was ok,
she then told me what had happened. I called my supervisor to tell her,
and we all went into the lunch room to watch it on tv just as the 2nd
plane hit. As said before is very sureal, we couldn't believe what was
happening.

 

[jpccusa]

I was still living in Brazil. My mom woke me up to say a plane had crashed into a building in the US. I started watching the news to realize that was the WTC. A little later, the reporter said "and here is a footage of the plane hitting! No wait.... that was a second plane!?!?!?" From that point on, I knew that hell was braking lose. I stuck to the TV for the rest of the day... And cried hard when the towers collapsed... :awcrap:

 

[jazzgeek]

It was the second day of my new job, the "big break" I was looking for in my career....

I was hired by an IT consulting firm with the understanding that their primary needs for my skills was NOT in Wisconsin, but rather, in their "Eastern Region"; Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City....and since I was involved in a long-distance relationship with a woman who lived in the Buffalo, NY area, it was a given that I'd relocate to there, and just fly into the city of whatever client to which I was assigned.

But there was a week-long "new hire orientation" at the regional headquarters....in Newark, New Jersey. Across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

And as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that."

Dale

 

[ghosthousecorns]

At the time I worked for the parks department of a small town in San Francisco Bay Area. Our daily routine was to do the parks checks first thing in the morning and then come back to the shop for breakfast break. When I was out doing my rounds I ran into the building maintenance guy and he told me about it. By the time I got back to the shop everyone else knew too, and were watching it on a small black and white TV with grainy reception and no sound. To see it like that seemed almost surreal. When I got home and saw it on a bigger screen with cable in color it really sank in the enormous tragedy of what had happened.
I lived near a small airport and it was very strange to not hear any planes since I was so used to having them fly overhead.
The town I worked for put all employees through a disaster preparedness and emergency response training soon after.

 

[ciara]

I was at school, working on rebuilding an engine. Someone came running and said something about someone bombing the Trade Towers and Pentagon. We didn't believe him, but went to the TV anyway. They refused to let us leave and go home, wanted us to finish the day. I left anyway.

 

[a_god_s]

Trying to get to sleep, after working 3rd shift, a close friend called. She was hysterical and was talking about a plane hitting the WTC. I thought it was another "War of the Worlds" show and tried to calm her. She kept insisting I turn on the TV, I did.....we stayed on the phone for more than 8 hours...watching the footage in shock and disbelief and crying.
There was a reality show ... Mystery in Small town X, and a firefighter named Angel (from New York) was my favorite. He won the show, gave the Jeep Liberty to his father and used the monies to set up college funds for his nieces and nephews...and went back to work. He was one who made the ultimate sacrifice .... may he and the many others never be forgotten!

The other times in my life that I can remember being so transfixed by something that was to become seared into memory, was the day President Kennedy was shot (I was in class in sixth grade at the time) and the day the Berlin Wall came down. Lots of "important" stuff has happened the past 56 years, but these 3 events were, to me (and many, many others) life changing, and will be remembered in great detail forever.

Kathy, I remember the Wall in '89, I was to young for Kennedy but my 3rd event was the Shuttle disaster. These are life changing events, that will live in our memories forever...but I also make sure to remember the good ones! The weddings, births and graduations...
I want to focus on the positive but we'll never forget...9/11.

 

[Susielea]

I was doing the ironing and had just sat down to have a coffee, I had the TV on and the regular scheduled programs, I don't remember what was on originally, all changed to news coverage of the World Trade Centre just after the first plane hit. I watched in astonishment that an accident like this could happen, then the second plane hit and I knew it was no accident

I spent the rest of the day watching the TV, it was heartbreaking.

 

[Kokopelli]

Well I was way over in the other hemisphere... but I saw the live footage from the first plane crash... just as they were filming the other one crashed as well.
May they all rest in peace.

 

[bekers71]

I was living on base at Ft. Campbell KY with my now ex-husband. We were in the process of transferring, so the movers were there. We had the TV on just listening to it as they packed our things. At first I thought it was some movie that was on. Then I realized what was going on and my heart sank. Sirens rang all over post and all the gates were locked. No one was going out and no one was coming in. The soldiers prepared them selves quickly and set up guards at every entrance to any family housing. The children wanted to know why the soldiers were sitting in trucks with guns. It was a situation I will never forget. It took the post command a couple of days to start letting people in and out of post. But even then they searched every vehicle.

My current husband was working at the Pentagon that day. I did not know him at that time so I'm not sure what exactly he experienced. All that he has ever told me was he was in the tower. Other than that he doesn't talk about it so I leave it alone.

 

[Jordan G]

I was in the car going to the airport

 

[v_various]

I was in college. I didn't have a tv of my own, but there was one in the student lounge area, everyone was crowded around it and I didn't really get to see anything.

There were lots of people stranded at the airport in my home town, my parents volunteered to take in a couple for a few days. It's all us Canadians could really do, at the time.

 

[jazzgeek]

The other times in my life that I can remember being so transfixed by something that was to become seared into memory, was the day President Kennedy was shot (I was in class in sixth grade at the time)

I wouldn't start kindergarten for another year, but I remember throwing a 4 year old's tantrum because The Mickey Mouse Club wasn't on TV during it's regular time!

Agreed regarding the "searing" memories, but when I finally hit the "age of reason", the dual assassinations of Bobby Kennedy/Martin Luther King were etched in my young psyche as well.

Dale

 

[tom e]

I was going to culinary school at the time in Pasadena, and working at a Starbucks to pay the bills. I was opening the Starbucks that morning at 5 AM.. I remember hearing the news in bits and pieces from commuters that were listening to the morning news in their cars.. I remember when the first one told me there had been a horrible accident and a plane hit, and every other customer was telling me the same information. When another told me about it later, I remember telling him, "Yeah I heard, that's terrible" and he said, "No, ANOTHER one hit the other tower" I was in shock. I sent one of the workers home to get a portable radio and when we had it in the shop, all our customers were gathered around the counter just listening.. It was kind of a special moment in the coffee shop, nobody rushing forward, some not even ordering just kind of silent and listening. My somewhat bittersweet thought at the time was "At last Starbucks has become that 'third place' they always wanted to be"...
That night in school, a chef instructor who I thought was a jerk (really mean, lol) was trying to talk to us about her friend that cooks in the restaurant on the top of the tower, and she started crying uncontrollably. I don't think there was anybody in the room who didn't follow suit.
In October my best friend and I joined the Army on the delayed entry program, so that we had till December to finish school. That was something I would have never imagined myself doing..

 

[Hypancistrus]

I was in a college zoology class from 8 AM until 9:30 AM. I got out and walked to the student union to get a hot chocolate, and the place was wall to wall packed. I said to another student "What's going on?" and he said "Both of the world trade centers were attacked."

Then I walked to our building and every professor was gathered around the TV in the lounge. VT cancelled school for the rest of the afternoon because a lot of folks parents worked at the Pentagon or were in NOVA. It was the only time while I was at Tech that they cancelled classes.

I will never forget that day. Never.

 

[Tula_Montage]

That was 7 years ago?! woaaa... I can't believe how much time has gone by...

 

[Cornsnake124]

I was at home, my mom was doing somthing with the plants, and she had a little TV, and I looked and I just thought wow. are they playing a movie or somthing? Guess they weren't...

 

[Nanci]

You're better off without the adult memories, I think. I remember thinking that day, "The world is never going to be the same as it was, ever again." But lo and behold, seven years later, it hasn't happened again.

 

[Hypancistrus]

You're better off without the adult memories, I think. I remember thinking that day, "The world is never going to be the same as it was, ever again." But lo and behold, seven years later, it hasn't happened again.

It's really not the same as it was though. A lot of things HAVE changed.

 

[jbrubak1]

I was a sophomore in High School, and I was in either History or Government (Don't know which, the same teacher taught both so he is the only thing etched into my memory).The principal came over the loud speaker and told all the teachers to turn on the TV. The sound of her voice will stay will me forever, I knew something was wrong. The rest of the class we watched tv coverage and at lunch time I didn't even eat, I just starred blankly at the TV.

We live close to a nuclear power plant, so many parents came to school to get there kids. I stayed the whole day but when I walked through the door of my house, I saw my mom glued to the TV and I knew she knew what had happened. Later that night rumors flew through our town that gas prices were going to go up, so me and a friend drove to one of the two gas stations in our small town to fill up. They actually had to have police officers direct traffic into the gas stations. I will never forget anything that happened that day, it will stay with me forever.

Just like some still remember where they were when Elvis died, or when Kennedy was assassinated.