Where were you eight years ago today?

My daughter was a student at the U of Minnesota. Fran and I were in town visiting. My daughter's boy friend's (now husband) apartment was down the hall and we all watched TV there in horror as the United States was attacked. I was nauseous all day with the thoughts of the loss of my coworkers, my fellow Americans, and the hatred whelming within me. I have never been so critical of totally inept network newscasters and their wildly incorrect speculations of what was happening. I felt they were sensationalist idiots then and those same feelings remain with me today.

Later, I was flying Paris - Miami the same week as the shoe bomber attack. I missed it by two days. As I reflect on the two events I know full well it could have been me either time.

The saddest part of 9-11 is that America still doesn't get it.

I have educated myself and donated to the one organization that thoroughly understands what we are up against and I will continue to be a part of it.

Buzz

I was working part time.... tuesdays were my day off so I slept in.
DH was on the road in Wisconsin..... called and just said turn on the tv.... this was after the first one.
After my son woke up, I watched the rest in horror..... I was born in NYC, I'd been in those towers quite a few times..... My SIL was let go from work because she worked in the tallest tower in Minneapolis, we went to her house and cried together til DH came home...

I was off work due to surgery. As was my morning ritual, I rolled out of bed around 9 and flipped on ESPN shortly afterward. I sat down and there was no ESPN on... there was a special broadcast of a plane that had hit one of the towers. I sat there watching as the tower smoked and the reporters speculated and then saw the other tower get hit... right then I knew this was no accident.
I don't remember if I flipped stations to a news network after initially seeing this happen, but the reporters seemed to be reporting as best as they could, considering nobody knew what was going on at this point. I didn't move as things unfolded with all four planes and the collapse of the towers, other than to talk to friends and family on the phone beside me.

I was in my office at 31st & 5th Ave. A couple of us were having coffee together and one of them said "That plane came over really low. I hope he gets in trouble." A few minutes later, we heard what happened. Since I know the building manager, I was allowed up on the roof where we saw the hole in the tower. We saw the second plane go in. A bit later the towers went down. my stepson was two blocks from th first tower when it fell. Someone pulled him into a deli and shut the door as the cloud came up the street. It was after noon when we were able to contact him. My other stepson joined his GF - now wife. at her office a couple blocks from me. i told my other employee that I would not leave her ans stayed till she secured a way out of the city. I then joined my two step sons and the GF. We tried several ways to get out of the city, all to no avail. finally we got out on th Hoboken ferry. In Hoboken, we were sprayed down by the firemen because of fear of PCB contamination and put on NJ transit trains that went as close to out homes as possible.

Just as an aside, as long as i have lived in this area prior to that day if you ever got lost, you could drive to the top of a local hill, spot the towers and find your way home. I do not expect that I will ever get over the smell in the air when I had to go downtown in the ensuing days and weeks to help my customers get back working.

We shuttled donations from local Red Cross back to our office, loaded up our truck and I drove it into Manhattan. Myself and 2 other semis waited at Chelsea Piers until around 930pm, then we got escorted to a church near Ground Zero that stocked some of the supplies.

That truck was seriously over weight. When people saw a truck going into NYC they knew the only thing it was carrying was supplies..people cheered...was amazing.

That was one of the last trips that truck ever made for us. 9-11 killed off what little trucking business we had.

Adillo303 said:

I do not expect that I will ever get over the smell in the air when I had to go downtown in the ensuing days and weeks to help my customers get back working.

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I lived across the bay in Port Monmouth, that's all you smelled for days.

I was at work, and slowly people began talking. It spread quickly and they ended up rounding up TVs for every floor and stuck them in empty offices. We would all walk by and pile around the door to watch as things unfolded. Our internet connection was inundated with everyone going to news sites, and a couple of our servers actually crashed. Work pretty much stopped for most of the day as we all watched things unfold.

We are only 5 miles from a major Military base and Nasa installation, and lots of people started getting worried that we might get attacked. Every time a plane flew over (and big ones fly over all the time as they go to that base or the airport that is 12 miles north of us) people would freak out. Lots of people ended up taking the day off.

The next day, they passed out little American Flags to all of us (there’s 1400 people working here in 3 buildings). Everyone got magnetic clips and hung the flags on their office doors. It was an awesome sight to look down these long hallways and see so many flags! The big flags out front stayed at half-mast for the rest of the week.

I woke up to the news on the alarm clock radio. I sat at home and watched the towers fall on TV. I had just started at OSU-Tulsa, and I wondered if they would cancel classes, they didn't. I had just gotten laid off, and decided to go to school full time, so I went up to the campus, did my studying, and followed the news on the TV's in the common area. I went to class that night with much sadness.

From the balcony area you could always see planes taking off and landing from Tulsa Intl. Airport. There were no planes that day.

I remember I was delivering landscape block to an out of town job when the first tower was hit, and of course everyone was still thinking it was an accident. By the time I unloaded and got back in the truck, the second tower was hit and it was obvious that these weren't accidents. By the time I got back on the road, the news of the Pentagon being hit had reached me, and I knew that life as we knew it would never be the same.

By the time I got back to the yard to get re-loaded, everyone was crowded around a 12" TV watching the news footage and cursing everything, and everyone from the Middle-East. I've never felt as much anger in one place in my life, and we can all be thankful that none of the guys I worked with were in charge of the military at that moment.

You know, you don't notice how many planes are in the sky on any given day until they are all grounded at once. I realize we don't "hear" them, but there seemed to be an eerie silence just the same.

My next load took me south of Omaha, right past Offutt AFB. As I drove down the highway, I noticed at every exit there were at least 2 government cars (if they are supposed to be undercover, how come guys like me can pick them out?) and as I drove past the base, I saw Air Force One coming in for a landing. At that moment I felt sad and angry, and at the same time proud that I lived in the greatest Country on earth. And I also knew that we would overcome this. And we have.

My wife and I where about to open our Public Storage facility for the day and had just got off the phone to my daughter whose birthday it was that day. She had just turned 31 years old and lived in Louisiana. On September 13 at 6 PM we received word from the Pompano Sheriff's department that our daughter had be shot and killed. At that point we pretty well spent the next month in a daze.

I was on the bus going to work, and I heard something was happening but didnt understand what until I got to work and everyone was gathered around a TV.... We also worked right next to an airport, so with every large plane that went over I held my breath.
My now fiance was suppose to have been on the flight that went down in PA, but had to cancel his flight due to a change of plans with work....

God Bless the souls taken and their loved ones left behind!

joec said:

My wife and I where about to open our Public Storage facility for the day and had just got off the phone to my daughter whose birthday it was that day. She had just turned 31 years old and lived in Louisiana. On September 13 at 6 PM we received word from the Pompano Sheriff's department that our daughter had be shot and killed. At that point we pretty well spent the next month in a daze.

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Awww, Joe. What an awful week for you.

Yes September has been a bad month for us for awhile now. My grand daughter is at her boy friends grandfather's funeral today. She was the youngest of my daughter's children and she will be here later today. She is now 17 years old, her older sister just moved back to Louisiana after being here a year with her husband and son. The boy is now in Louisiana also but will be moving back to Kentucky as soon as his job ends.

joec said:

My wife and I where about to open our Public Storage facility for the day and had just got off the phone to my daughter whose birthday it was that day. She had just turned 31 years old and lived in Louisiana. On September 13 at 6 PM we received word from the Pompano Sheriff's department that our daughter had be shot and killed. At that point we pretty well spent the next month in a daze.

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My condolences Joe. I can only imagine how tough that would be.

I was at work when the planes hit the towers. Will never forget that day.

I cringe when I hear Charlie Sheen and the ex Green czar Van Jones support and spout the theory that 911 was a huge hoax perpetrated on the American people by G.W. Bush & his administration. Conspiracy theories like that can tear us apart, when we need to focus on protecting our country from further attacks.

I was living in West Yorkshire, England at the time.
My late husband, Steven and I had decided to go on holiday to the south of England with the first few days being camping- to get away and rough it. Then we'd had a few B&B's reserved for the remainder of the trip.
We'd found a camp site in Buckinghamshire, outside of Milton Keynes days after the attacks.
We'd had no newspaper, hadn't had the radio on in the car and had been "away" from the world for those days.

I'd walked into the office of the next camp site we'd found to pay for that night's stay.
While talking to the owner and his wife, the owner recognized my American accent and said "this must be a very sad time for you as an American."
First thing that popped into my head was the president had been assassinated.
They then showed me a copy of the Telegraph, with the front page saying Armageddon In America.
At first glance I was thinking it was the Chicago skyline on fire, then began reading what had happened.
After that, Steven and I spent hours sitting in a lounge/pool room watching television of the coverage.
Total shock.

The very first time I watched the first plane hit the first tower, I was thinking to myself it looked like a freaky accident.
Then when the second plane came in, the chill and horror of knowing it was such a sick and horrible/deliberate act of terrorism made me ill.
As soon as possible I called some of my family members here in the states and said we were aware of what had happened.
The next day we headed to London to join the massive crowds at the Roosevelt Memorial across from the American Embassy to sign books of condolence.
It was comforting seeing our young men and women in uniform there.

I remember watching TV, feeding Justin & talking to my MIL on the phone. Justin was not even a year old yet. I remember her saying "holy shit - turn it on your news channel" and there it was. Tom beeped in on the other line and said a customer came into the post office and said a plane hit one of the towers. i said yes, then he asked me if it looked like an accident. i said what else could it be. we talked for a minute and then the second plane hit. i screamed - he yelled in the office "the other tower was hit as well" you could just hear the panic in the background. i started to cry thinking about all those people and when the towers fell i lost it. I think it was glued to that TV for the next 4 weeks. i was scared to leave my house.

I was on Padre Island. I had gone down for a few days and was by myself. My husband called me and said turn on the TV.

Apparently, it had just happened and no one really knew what was happening so the video at that moment was almost silent. I really thought it was a hoax of some kind, or that I was tuned into one of the spanish channels and it was a weird movie or something. Gradually, it became apparent that it was real and it wasn't over.

I went down to the hotel restaurant just to be with other people. We all crowded round a TV on the wall and watched in stunned silence. There was such a weird disconnect for all of us because we were standing in front of a huge window and the gulf was a few feet past that. The day was perfect and bright and sunny, but because of the images on the TV, everything had this dark feel about it.

I went home the next morning.

I was at home with the boys and switched on the TV and watched for the rest of the day.

I was on the computer and had the Today show on. All of a sudden they were screaming on the tv and showing the first plane hitting the tower. I was glued to the tv and DH came downstairs to see what was going on. We both saw the second tower get hit and were dumbstruck! I was crying thinking of all the devastation and not really knowing what happened.
It was such a scary feeling and we called the elementary school where Andrew was and said we were coming to pick him up. The school was on lock-down. There were alot of parents there picking up their kids just to have them home with them......We spent the rest of the day watching the tv.

i was pulling a motor and transmission out of a jeep, laying in a puddle of transmission fluid. the boss called us up on in intercom to watch what was going on.

It was very early morning for us when my daughter woke me up with a call to turn on the tv. It was like watching something made in Hollywood. I wish to God it was. Could not believe it was real.

I was at work, testing a system on a new ship and when I came out I could see the older ship that was owned by the Navy had a lot of action around it and the security boats were out in full force. I was like WTH, something is going on. When I got back to the office we were told about what just happened. A hlaf an hour later we "non-essential" people were sent home. We watched the news all day after that.

I had just gotten in the car to go to work and turned the radio on. I kept thinking is this real or a prank? Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" kept popping into my mind. And then I heard the live commentary when the first tower went down. I cried the rest of the day and was terrified to sleep that night. We live near the airport and the eerie silence of no planes passing by scared me sh**less. Then when the helicopters came out, it scared me even more.

I was at the fire station that day for my normal 24 hour shift when it happened, I've been to NY several times and had run some ride alongs with FDNY i lost several friends that day.
In the days that followed several of us traveled to NY to help cover shifts while FDNY members worked at ground zero. Spent some off time there myself but not much.
i lost 343 family members that day.

FireCapt said:

I was at the fire station that day for my normal 24 hour shift when it happened, I've been to NY several times and had run some ride alongs with FDNY i lost several friends that day.
In the days that followed several of us traveled to NY to help cover shifts while FDNY members worked at ground zero. Spent some off time there myself but not much.
i lost 343 family members that day.

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Unsung heros. I hadn't heard that before now.
My hat's off to you.

When my job of hauling milk from dairy farms folded at the end of August of 2001, I landed a temp job at the TRW Aerospace plant located here in Jamestown, North Dakota. 9-11 was my second day on the job. TRW Aerospace (now Goodrich Aerospace) makes cargo handling componants for Boeing aircraft. One of the guys nearby had a radio which began broadcasting the reports of the first plane hitting the Twin Towers. Like so many have said here, I thought it was just a really bad accident and envidisioned some sort of computer/gyroscope/mechanical problem with the plane which caused it to take the trajectory that it did. When the second plane hit, I KNEW it was no accident. Another employee went to a computer terminal in my area and found footage of the crashes. We watched off and on for some time until the reruns of the reruns became monotonous and we returned to our stations, listening to reports relayed from radios through co workers.
When I got home that afternoon, I watched the footage again. Why, I'll never know, but my mind saw people fleeing down staircases in those buildings being met by firefighters going in. That's what firefighters do. When the buildings collapsed, my mind saw turnout clad men and women being entombed in steel and concrete. Such sadness.
Firefighters and police officers know when they leave home for their shifts, it might be for the last time. It's a given. However, NO ONE should have do die while doing their jobs.

Our police forces wore black bands over their shields for 11 days afterward.

While I'm here, Fire Capt. Thank-you for what you do on a daily basis. Thank-you for going to NYC to help out. My sincerest sympathies for the loss of your comrads...yea, family.

Joe, I'm sorry for your losses too. May Septembers become a bit easier to bear in the future. Until then, I'll be thinking of you.

FireCapt said:

In the days that followed several of us traveled to NY to help cover shifts while FDNY members worked at ground zero.

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I knew about this as my daughter was dating a San Antonio fireman then. For about a month, firemen from all over the country were sent to help their brothers in NYC, while the rest of the firemen stayed behind working double their normal schedules to cover. I'll bet you didn't get home much that month, FC. Please accept my thanks, too, for your service.

this is the very first time i've talked about this online. i knew 3 of those killed in the towers: 2 that worked at the transmitter, and one was a childhood friend's little brother.

i had just gotten home after a midnight shift and went to sleep when dw called me to tell me that "a small plane just flew into the the world trade center!" i dragged myself out of bed, turned on the tv and watched as the second plane hit. i told dw to get home a.s.a.p., that we may have to get outta dodge. i ran downstairs to get my survival packs and gear ready, as silly as that seems now.

by the time she got home, very low flying american fighter jets were circling over our house every half hour or so, which gave me a sense of security. i called into work to see if they needed help cutting us (cbs) over to the empire state building, but i found out that the city was shut down - no one was getting in.

i called my sister to see if her husband was there. he worked in a building adjacent to the towers. fortunately, he'd just gotten off the path train under the towers, up to street level when they struck. he ran with the crowds getting away just in time. i think he finally made it out on a ferry later that afternoon.

in the following days, and daze, i think i remember most the acrid, sickening smell that wafted around the city, even as far north as 57th street. there's no way to describe that smell, or that feeling.


it still seems strange to drive down the west side highway and not see the towers. they were the landmark. you could see them from just about anywhere in manhattan, giving you your bearings. nevermore.