I was at work when everything happened. My boss was on a business trip so the phones starting ringing off the hook. Everybody was wondering where he was and if he was okay. I had to explain to everyone that he was in Detroit and he DROVE. His wife was in Amsterdam and she couldn't fly home because they had cancelled all flights.

I didn’t get to see anything until around noon. One of my co-workers went home on her lunch hour and taped CNN for an hour and brought the videotape back to work.

I tried to call my uncle but his phone was tied up for hours. I finally just sent him an e-mail to make sure my cousins were okay. One of them lives in Yonkers with his wife and the other one works at the Museum of Natural History in DC.

I was sleeping when it all happened. Around 11am, I was driving to my 11:30 class. I turned on the radio and heard some news report. I wanted to hear music so I kept flipping through the stations. Every station had a news report on. That's when I knew something was up. I listened and, at first, I didn't believe it. I thought it was a new version of War of Worlds. It took me a minute to realize this was really happening. I called my dad because I was really worried because he travels to NYC all the time. Luckily, he was at home safe just as shocked as I was that this was all going on. My boyfriend had a 4 hour Chem lab that day from 8am-noon so I knew that he had no clue what was going on. I called his cell phone to inform him. He went back to class to report it and his lab stopped mixing chemicals to watch the news.

I had just gotten out of the shower, and walked back to my room, and my bro in the next room, was like, steve, get dressed and come over here. he told me what happened. we were watching when the second plane hit. we were just in disbelief. after the first plane hit, we thought it was a plane off course or something, but the second one hit and we knew it wasn't!

my boss, along with a couple dozen other NSWC Crane employees were at the pentagon when it was hit. no one from Crane died though.

On the morning of 9/11 I missed my first class. I went out the night before and got seriously wasted. I woke up because my girlfriend was leaving to go to class ( She doesn't skip). I had a major hang over and I ran out to the frig to get some Fiere grape gatorade. I fell on the bed afterwards and layed there. I turned on my TV in my room and saw one of the towers on fire, I was like dayum, " I knew somone was going to get pissed at all those high air fare prices".......then next thing I know I saw the 2nd plane crash into the other tower. Then I thought to myself, the democrats might be trying to start a revolution since the shadyness of the bush win. Then the pentagon got nailed.....Finally I figured out that we done pissed off some of Saddam Husseins cousins, enough to make them crazy Mullahs bust a cap on the trade center. The main thing that kept dawning in my head was "Dayum, there goes the Dow Jones".

I find it rather odd that Baby Bush was in Florida at the time of the attacks and not in D.C.

I was at work, I get there around 6:30 and am sitting at my computer when someone was like "a plane just crashed into the world trade center." But we all just think that it was a freak accident, like maybe it was flying too low and clipped the tower, until someone yells "Oh My God, the other tower has been hit." So we feel like we feel like we just got stuck in the middle of a war that we hadn't been informed was coming. Mind that I worked for one of the US's biggest defense contractors.....so we did what we had to do, we geared up for world war III. Glad it didn't come.

I was watching Good Morning America as my aunt was getting ready for work and they came back from a commercial break saying a plane had crashed into WTC. I really didn't think much of it because of the attack there a few years back. I decide to go into the bathroom to get ready and my cousin screams "another plane has just hit" I play it off thinking she's watching a replay of the first plane. When I come out Diane Sawyer, trying to keep her composure is saying how another plane has hit. They then show a building burning with an American flag perched on top and I thought it was another building in New York. It was a few minutes later I found out it was the Pentagon. My mom is in hysterics trying to tell mewhat happened. She knew I was scheduled to take a group of seniors to the Mayor's annual picnic. Local news came through saying two planes were missing. One crashed outside PA but local news said it was heading here to Chicago. I really got scared then because both of my aunts work in close proximity to Sears tower. Cell phones were a joke because it took forever to get through. That picnic was one of the most somber events I had been to. Staff tried their best to perk things up, but when something of that magnitude happens, there's no help. As I headed home from work, I have a great view of the Chicago skyline andcouldn't imagine a time without seeing the Sears Tower. I always took it for granted, but now I treasure it.

At work
 

I am in the Army and as the first plane hit I was stansing waiting to be inspected in my dress uniform... As the inspection commenced our Command SGT Major told us that the US had been terrorized. We all had to go home and change and I remember it took me 4 hours to get back to work... A drive that usually takes 3 minutes because of all the security at the gates(They were checking peoples trunks) We were then put on a state of alert and warned that we may not be going home that night and to make arrangements for childcare. It was crazy. We have special forces and Rangers here and they had crazy security everywhere.
A sad state of affairs :-(

I had just arrived at my 9am journalism class about 10 minutes early when my TA ran into our classroom and told us that an airplane had just flown into one of the WTC towers. Well, there is a TV in all the professors' offices so we all ran up to my prof.'s office and watched the news. About 15 of us were glued to the TV and witnessed the second airplane flying into the other tower, as well as when they both collapsed. We were all horrified and immediately knew that this was not an accident, but a terrorist attack. After watching various news programs for about 2 hours with my class, I left to walk home.

When I walked out of the journalism building, I had a surreal feeling as if this could not be happening. Everyone was on their cell phones trying to get through to family and friends, and people were gathered around trucks that were blasting radio broadcasts. When I got back to the house, I tried calling my parents again for about the 20th time, but to no avail. Both my parents work in NYC, but not near the WTC. I finally got in touch with my mom when she used her co-worker's computer and IMed me. Without IM, I would not have known whether both my parents were okay.

I decided not to go to my last class of the day (Our school remained open and professors kept students in class). I was in a total state of shock and basically locked myself in my room and just cried all night. I was also glued to Peter Jennings and every other news program that entire night. I kept thinking that this was just a bad movie and maybe that I was having a nightmare. My professors kept comparing our rememberance of where we were when we first heard about the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. to when our parents remembered what they were doing when JFK was assassinated or when Peal Harbor was bombed. In all honesy, that was probably one of the worst days of my entire life.

Where were you on 9/11
 

I ran into my Contracts lecture, got to my seat, and figured I had just made it under the wire (Prof was pretty uptight about punctuality). Most of us had not yet heard what happened and as I got there just this side of late I didn't hear anyone talking about it. Anyway our professor came in, right on the mark as usual, and announced "Ladies and gentlemen, I can see that most if not all of you have not heard what has just transpired. I must therefore regretfully inform you that our nation has been deliberately attacked by terrorist elements in what appears to be a coordinated series of strikes against multiple targets. The news media report that commercial airliners have been deliberately flown into both of the WTC towers in New York and another commercial aircraft has been flown kamikazi style into the Pentagon Building in Washington. There are apparently several other aircraft which are deviating from flight plans and may be part of this undertaking. It would appear that a great loss of life has occured and that property damage will be substantial. There will doubtless be interrelated effects which will develop over the weeks and months to come.
Upon completion of this lecture and discussion I intend to to follow a tradition by which Americans respond when we are attacked. I will contact the Army Reserve Personnel Center and offer my services should there be a need for Field Artillery officers. To those of you who are reservists or have had recent military training I suggest you consider what actions might be appropriate on your parts.
Now, as the object of terrorism is disruption we shall deny them that object. Regarding "Pinnels Case" ... he was then drowned out by applause but called for order and proceeded with the class.
He reminded me of Cincinnatus at the bridge! This nation is filled with heroes.

"Even from nightmares, a dream is born."

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We will never forget...

I worked every Tuesday morning before class, so I was up getting breakfast when our house mom told me that a plane hit the WTC. My first thought, which I will probably always remember, was, "What kind of dumbass flew right into a skyscraper?" Then I walked into the chapter room in time to see the second plane hit. I called work, told them I wasn't coming in, and was glued to the TV.

Then a message from our mayor came on telling us that they were evacuating downtown Cleveland because one of the hijacked airplanes had just entered Cleveland airspace (which was flight 93 turning around). Meanwhile we were trying to find one of my sisters who was leaving for Chicago - no one could remember if she flew out that morning or the next day. When flight 93 crashed in PA, one of my sisters was frantically trying to get a hold of her mom who lived in the area. Another sister was trying to locate her older sister who had a meeting in the WTC that morning (luckily it had been cancelled the night before). People were trying to contact friends and family in NYC and DC and everywhere, and the rest of us were glued to the TV.

The University *finally* cancelled classes at 1 or 2 pm, but it's not like anyone was going anyway. So the out of house sisters came over for dinner and we all got into this huge argument over whether the attacks were justified - we have a couple sisters from the Middle East and were trying to express the views of the people in the region, but at the moment, none of us were the most receptive to hearing alternate views. All I remember was a lot of shock, a lot of crying, and a lot of screaming. Then somehow, we got through everything.

The one other thing I will always remember is the sound of the first jet I heard after flights resumed. Everyone around me looked up at the exact same time, and all I could wonder was how I had never noticed how noisy they were before. And I haven't really noticed any since.

I had just started a new job about three weeks prior to 9/11 and I was getting ready for work (CST). I was listening to the radio and the morning show people stopped being funny and said that a plane had hit one of the towers. I thought it was a joke or something and I walked into my living room and turned on the Today Show. The first tower had just been hit and a woman was talking on the phone who they had connected with the show. She kept saying that a huge commuter plane had hit the building and the Today Show people kept saying that there was no way a plane that big had hit. Then the second one hit and I don't really remember what they did after that. I got to work and heard about the Pentagon and Pennsylvania a little later that morning. Work was totally unproductive and we were all just stunned all day long. My then fiance got home and I felt like I never wanted to let go of him.

I was in the shower when the first plane hit. Then I went to my microbiology class and at this point no one in class really knew what was going on. Someone said something about 2 planes hitting the WTC, but for some reason no one really thought anything of it. I guess we all probably assumed it was little planes and that it was an accident. Then the department secretary came to relay a message to our professor, but apparently she had incorrect info because the prof came back in to tell us that the White House was on fire. So after class I went to work my shift at the campus switchboard, and there I finally learned what was really going on. I didn't have time to think about it till later because all I did for the next 2 hours was take calls from upset students and parents wanting to know if classes would be cancelled, or if they should go home. A lot of students were panicking because they were from the DC area and they couldn't get in touch with their parents. I'll never forget one idiot who called and asked if the college was closing. I said no, we were staying open as usual... and he said "Well what if they attack here?" Ok, really, Longwood University is this tiny little school that a lot of people have never heard of, but of course it's the logical location for a terrorist attack! :rolleyes:

So after I got off work I spent the rest of the day in the chapter room with my sisters watching the news. The school didn't officially cancel classes, but most of the professors decided to cancel their own classes. I did go to micro lab that afternoon but the prof just sent us home early.

I didn't personally know any of the victims, but one of my sorority sisters lost her mom and her stepdad... they had just gotten married and were on their honeymoon, on their way to Hawaii, so they were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. This sister had graduated a year or so before, so most of us still in school didn't know her but it was amazing how we all came together to do something for her.

I'm on the west coast, so I was in bed. But the co I work for is a division of Cantor Fitzgerald, so... I won't go into it, I lived it and...

Well today--9/11/02 I can think of no better place to be today than at the office. We lost over 700 employees in the WTC attacks. The NY offices are closed today, and attendance for us in LA was optional, but you know what? ALL of us are here.

I had 2 choices--be at home and watch the coverage and bawl, or be with the people I was with that day--when we heard the stories breaking when we all first woke up one year ago, we all ran to the office in whatever disheveled state we were in and sat in the conference room and watched it all together. We've all spent the past year watching our company grieve and rebuild. No one understands the particularly emotional spots we are all in better than each other, that is why I wanted to be at work with my coworkers today.

When I walked out of my apt this morning, I saw six fighter jets flying overhead trailing six American flags in their wake. It was so beautiful and yes, it made me cry.

But there are no truer words than those of the Pledge of Alliegiance: "One nation, Under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all" and of the Star Spangled Banner: "Oh Say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave... O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave..."

America will always remember where they were, what they were doing when they heard the news. She will never forget the lives that were lost, or how much damage it caused. And most importantly She will never forget the day that we as a country stood up and said we would not crumble to the ground. September 11, 2001. God Bless America.

Thought It was an appropriate time to *bump* this thread.

I'm from NYC so I was there when it happened. I wasn't anywhere near the WTC, I was in school about 15 miles away, but from my classroom window we were watching the smoke. My friend's little sister went to school right near there and so they were let out as soon as the planes hit, but there was no public transportation, so she had to walk about 200 blocks home.

I was in my office and happened to go downstairs for something. The people on the first floor were in the conference room watching television and told me that a plane had hit the WTC. While we were watching, the second plane hit. We were still watching when the first tower collapsed. I commented that if that one went down, the second would also. They argued with me that it couldn't. Of course, we know that I unfortunately was correct. The president of our small real estate company told us all to go home and be with our families. I watched TV with my family for the rest of the day. I don't think any of us have ever been the same. A lot of innocence and feelings of invincibility were lost that tragic day.

i was on my way to work when it happened. when i got to work, everyone was all quiet and sad. the radio was on and that was when i heard it. i didnt see any footage until i got home that afternoon. it was a very weird day

I was in London - I spent the semester abroad, and we had some tense days when we thought we were going home... it was crazy.

I remember walking home from the grocery store, and thinking that it was a beautiful day. And then I got back to my flat right after the first plane had hit - we didn't know if it was an accident or what at that point. And then we saw the second plane hit the second tower, but I still don't think we realized it was a terrorist attack - we all thought it was some bizarre horrible accident.

When we found out about the Pentagon also being attacked is when I think it all hit home. My dad worked in the Pentagon for five years, and I used to go visit him there - so it just made it real. I called my mom, who was in California (it was like 7 am there I think?) and woke her up, and I was crying and she thought I was hurt or something was happening in London - I just kept saying "Turn on the TV, turn on the TV..." I was the last person who was able to call America that day, phone lines were completely blocked.

My roomie and I went to our last class, just to tell the teacher what was going on. We got there and everyone else was there, and our teacher wanted to have class. Lexi and I basically told him that we weren't staying for class, we just wanted to make sure he had heard abou it - he still didn't want to cancel class, but we just left and I guess he ended up cancelling it.

A whole bunch of people ended up congregating in our flat (like 25 people... it was packed) and we just sat and watched the TV with these horrible shocked expressions. A friend that a bunch of us knew had worked in the WTC, 97th floor... So we were all really worried about Garry, and other FSU theatre alums who lived in NYC.

We had a meeting that night, and they told us to try to not look like Americans (no white tennis shoes, no college sweatshirts, etc.) and they took the FSU sign off the front of our buliding. It was pretty scary. The first time I was able to cry was like September 14th - we went to the American Embassy in London and there were all these millions of flowers and candles and balloons and letters - and I just broke down and sobbed forever. :(

i was heading to class, so i had no idea. when i got there the professor mentioned something about the first plane that hit, but thought it was an accident and we went on with class. i went to my next class which is immediately after and people were talking about both towers being hit, but i still really wasn't sure. the professor of that class came in looking all distraught (sp?) and said i really can't be here right now, go home. i remember having messages on my cell phone, my phone at my apt, and im from my dad saying to call as soon as i got home. my sister was in philadelphia at the time and had been evacuated. her and a guy she works with ended up renting a car and driving home to st. louis that week b/c of airports being closed. the majority of my cousins live and work in manhattan and nyc, my dad told me heard from one of them who heard from every other cousin but the one who worked in the second tower, no one could find her. we finally heard from her late that night, she had been on that subway that was running late. i heard so many stories from my cousins about walking from manhattan to brooklyn and stuff. one of my cousins friends ran all the way until 34th street in high heels. she went into macy's to just rest for a moment, and the people working there gave her something to eat and drink and a pair of socks and sneakers because her feet were getting all cut up from her shoes. my roomates and i all sat in our living room for the rest of that day and as much as we could the rest of that week watching cnn and trying to absorb it all. it still amazes me that two years have already passed...

I woke up right before the 2nd plane hit and I was really confused about what was going on. My parents had been watching it and explained what had happened. I pretty much spend the rest of the day (and several days afterwards) glued to the TV, making sure those I knew in NY and DC were okay and was really shocked. I remember it was a really nice, calm day with blue skies and great weather and it didn't feel appropriate.

In Class
 

I was in class, Law & Society, when the attacks happened. I remember that I was SO happy when I got out of class because the class had been SO boring. I had to meet a girl from my Shakespeare class after and she asked if I had heard what happened. She then filled me in. I had never been so scared in my life. Since no one was at my house, I decided to stay with my BF in her dorm room. We watched it on TV all morning long. I also called to check on my co-workers since I work in a federal building and we're not that far from NYC. I also remember a LOT of students being scared because there are a lot of people at my school from NYC.

I was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the time. I'd recently lost my job in a reduction in force at Williams Communications and had a lot of time on my hands in betwen looking for work. So, after a late night of watching TV I fell asleep with the TV on.

Woke up in the morning around the time UA 175 hit WTC2, when I receive a call from my mom in Dallas telling me about the crash... I was practically glued to the TV set and trying to calm down a couple of friends of mine over the phone who were freaking out at the unfolding events on TV. Went online to a couple of other boards (this was well before I joined the eDodo RM) and those on the board were totally confused about what was going on.

Saw both towers collapse on live TV; when the second one fell, I actually wound up saying a Hail Mary, something I rarely do since I'm not a practicing Catholic.

My apartment was practically on the approach path to Runway 36R at TUL, and it was second nature to see and hear planes coming in to land (or taking off from 18L if the winds were the other way.) When the FAA imposed SCATANA (Security Control of Air Traffic And Navigation Aids) and grounded all aircraft - SCATANA was only supposed to be used if the Rooshians were on their way with bombers. It was a strange feeling to not hear aircraft on approach or seeing them line up for landing at TUL.

That evening, I went to my Masonic lodge meeting; all of us stood for a moment of silence in memory of those killed that day.

I hadn't begun working yet (actually started a week after 9/11), but I had a doctor's appointment that morning so I was awake when it happened. I headed downstairs to turn on the TV and see what the weather was supposed to be like, and they were showing the first tower smoking, but no one really knew what happened yet. Within about 2 minutes after I turned on the TV, the second plane hit, and everyone realized that this was not an accident. I immediately started calling my boyfriend, who was working as a salesperson for Enron (ha!) in Manhattan at the time, but I couldn't get through to him. I had no idea where his territory was, but his office was in the Chrysler building, which isn't near the WTC, so I figured he was ok if he hadn't left his morning meeting yet. I headed to my doctor's appointment, since there was nothing I could do at home, and it was there that I found out about the Pentagon, which really freaked me out because my best friend goes to grad school in DC. So there I was at the doctor's office, freaking out because my boyfriend is wandering around Manhattan and my best friend is in DC. I bolted home right after I saw the doctor, and thankfully there was a message from my boyfriend on the answering machine, saying he was ok and that he was going to try to find a way home (he lives in NJ). I kept alternating between trying to call him in NY and my friend in DC and signing online to see if any of my other friends in NY were ok and to see if they heard from everyone yet. I got through to DC, and my friend said her classes were cancelled, but they didn't know what was going on. I finally got through to my boyfriend after that. It turned out that he was on the bus in the tunnel when the first plane hit, and people who were listening to the radio told the bus driver to turn around and go back to NJ, but the bus driver couldn't do that. So he got off at Port Authority in the mass chaos and walked to the Chrysler building to see if he could find anyone else he knew so he wouldn't be by himself. When he got to the building, he saw a huge crowd of people running towards him, and he had to run with them to keep from getting trampled. He ran probably 10-20 blocks before he was able to get away. He then started asking people if they knew if any of the busses were running to NJ, and that's when he found out that they closed down all of the bridges and tunnels. Luckily someone told him that there was a ferry to NJ, so he was making his way over to that when I finally got through to him. We stayed on the phone for quite awhile because he didn't want to be all by himself. I gave him the addresses of a few friends in Manhattan in case he was stuck there and needed a place to stay, but he ended up waiting for the ferry and finally made it home by 11 pm. I was extra afraid for him walking around NY like that after they started speculating that it was terrorists from the Middle East, because he is Indian and I was afraid that someone might attack him thinking he was Middle Eastern.

So that's my story...it seems like yesterday, and I'm sure it will still feel that way for a long, long time. :(

ETA: I almost forgot another part of my story...I live outside of Philly and about a mile away from an Air Force base, both of which were feared targets. Not a good situation, all around.

I was in bed, and my mom called to wake me up at 9:32am that morning and tell me about it. Like most people, I was glued to the TV all day and night waching. I still tear up when I watch the replays because it's so sad to watch all of those innocent people lose their lives right in front of your eyes.

One of my sisters was driving me and another sister to class. We had the radio on and the music was interrupted with the announcement that a plane had crashed into the WTC. It made me wonder, but then I jumped out of the car. Before I went inside, I tried calling my parents since they both work in NYC and I wasn't exactly sure where their offices are located, if they're near the WTC or not. I couldn't get through to them, so I went inside. My teacher made no mention of it so I thought it wasn't a major crash. I went to the book store to get tape for recruitment fliers (I was Director of COB at the time), and I was waiting in line and I heard people talking about the crash behind me. Then I heard one guy say that one tower had fallen. I immediately turned around to talk to them and see what other details they knew. I started to panic and after leaving I ran into my friend and ex-boyfriend. They tried to comfort me saying that my parents would be fine... I went to my next class passing people crying, everyone was on their cell phones. He talked to us about what was happening, and opened the floor up for speculation on who was responsible. Some people were leaving, so I just got up and left. There were trucks all over campus blasting the radio news reports. I stopped at one and talked to strangers about who we know and love in NYC. I went back to the house, where I lived and found out my parents were okay, but were obviously stranded in NYC. I was really upset, but I went to a recruitment chair meeting with our VP Recruitment that night to figure out the recruitment parties schedule in light of 9/11. I couldn't even make it the whole way because I felt so sick to my stomach thinking about everything and my parents so I left. Last year I participated in my school's rememberance ceremony by laying a wreath during it.

I remember that Tuesday morning was absolutely gorgeous, a perfect fall day. My boyfriend had just dropped me off at my house. I walked through the chapter room at my house and one of my sisters was watching the news. They had the cameras on the Towers, but the first plane had just hit and no one really knew what happened (I think some people even thought it was a little pasenger plane at that point). I went upstairs and turned on my television, and called my mom. She already knew what was really going on and told me to go back and watch the news. I turned just in time to see the second plane hit. The rest of the day as a blur--my sisters were piled in my room watching the news, and many were trying to find their family members (my school has a huge student population from NY and NJ, and one of my sisters had several family members working at the Pentagon and in the DC area). Miraculously (for us), none of my sisters lost any family members that day.

I think about that now--as each site was hit, and each building fell. We had no idea how many planes were in the air, who was doing this, or what was next. It was a horrible, helpless feeling. An alum told me later about being stuck in Boston that day. I can't even begin to imagine how scary it must have been to be stuck in those large cities.

I had to go to my clinical at a midwife's office that night. The highways were pretty empty for a weeknight, and most people didn't show for their appontments. We mostly sat in the office in shock, listening to NPR.

I had slept through my first class - when I got to my second, this girl was down on the prof's computer. I was still asleep practically when my prof came in and told us all to go because there had been an attack.

For the rest of the day me and the rest of my chapter were hold up in the chapter room glued to the TV crying. My dad was a government employee at the time and he was locked down in the National Archives in DC and didn't get home until the next morning.

I was in the shower that morning when my mother yelled that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that it must have been a Cessna or Piper and that the pilot must have had a heart attack, because how could you miss something like that? I turned on the Today Show, and watched the replay and saw that it was a big airliner. Then the second plane hit, and I knew this was not an accident. The first thing I did was call my best friend in Chicago. His wife is a flight attendant for American, and she periodically flies out of Boston. Since by this time they had said where the flights had originated from, I was afraid it could be one of her flights. Fortunately, she was stranded in LA for the next four days.
I hurried to work, listening to NPR on my commute when flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. By the time I got to my office in the University Center, they had rolled every available tv in the building into the big central lounge, and there were hundreds of people watching. I was horrified when they showed people jumping out of the north tower.
Then the towers collapsed. I just kept thinking that 20,000 people worked in those buildings and that there was no way they could have gotten out.
One of my students had a brother who worked in the World Trade Center. It took nearly 20 hours before they got word that he was ok.
The feeling I had that day was of feeling absolutely helpless and sick. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling.

The local gas stations had raised their prices to $5 a gallon by mid-afternoon. When I went home that evening, there were gas lines.

Our campus is directly on the flight line for Lambert (STL) and Scott Air Force Base. For weeks afterwards, if you were outside you looked up at the sound of a plane, any plane. The skies were virtually empty except for the occasional F16 from the Air National Guard. The silence could be just eerie and very unsettling.

I was still in bed and my roomate had gotten up a little while earlier. All of a sudden she turned the TV on, this was really strange cause she was always considerate if I was still sleeping. She was like, wake up planes just hit the WTC. I can't remember if both had been hit at that time, or just the first one. I remember seeing both towers fall though. I was scared, we had a girl just down the hall that was from New York, and my mom worked at the airlines at the time. So I called home about noon and talked to my mom about what was going on. It was kinda comforting though because she said that the info that they recieved at the airport led them to believe that all of the planes had been accounted for by that time. So I felt I didn't have to worry about any more strikes.

Granted I am in po-dunk town Wisconsin. There was still fear of something happening here, we arn't that far from Chicago, Milwaukee, or even Madison.

I cannot believe it has been two years already. Its been a rough time for us all.

I was in a journalism class when I heard - I had class at 8 am that morning, so I didn't hear about the events until I got to my second class. We were let out to watch TV with about a thousand other students in the College of Communication student lounge.

I remember having about a million calls from my mom, worried because I was in Boston (where the planes flew out of).

I also remember being really worried because one of my best friends had just moved to NY city and worked close to the area. Finding out he was ok was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

Just an unreal day I will never forget.

I was asleep in the topbunk of the triple bunkbed in the one room apartment that I shared with 4 other girls, no lie, when our campus minister walked in and got our TV and told us all to get dressed and come see the news because the World Trade Center had been hit. (I lived in the BSU.) I just remember sitting on the couch watching the news and crying, and then we saw the second plane hit. I was terrified of what would happen next, and every time something new would come out I would cry more. I was shocked and felt violated. When I saw the kids on TV dancing andsigning in the streets, it broke my heart and made me wonder what they must have been told.

I was safe and hoping my friends, family, and neighbors were also. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Two years ago the only son of family very close to mine lost his life serving as a member of the FDNY. Since then, both a street and a local public school have been named after him. Two of his sisters have gotten married, one of whom is currently serving our nation in the Army. I think of him often. What a devastating tragedy. He was only 23 and a recently college graduate.

I was at work at the Coffee shop when it happen. I had a couple of my regular customers called me and asked if I heard anything about the attacks. I said No. I thought It was a sick joke. I close the store early since it was a slow day. When I got home, I turned on the news and I saw the pictures of two planes crashing into the WTC. What I saw, I could not believe. I was sad and angry at the same time. that day made me realize we're not invincible at all. :(

:(
 

Remember to observe the moment of silence tomorrow.

-Rudey
--I hope they do this outside of NYC.

I had just parked my car in front of my office when the news director came on the radio and said in a confused tone, "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center." I ran across the street; the tv was already on and we saw the second plane hit. My mama called my dad (who was golfing with my brother & sister-in-law), and we were talking about how I had lived at the foot of the WTC (John Street) while taking some training. Then the plane hit the Pentagon. My mama called my dad again, keeping him posted. They announced that a plane was flying almost out of control near Pittsburgh, and I said, "Dear Lord, can that be connected, too?" My mama called my dad, and this time, my brother took the phone & asked what was going on. My sister-in-law said words she will never live down, "Are you going to talk on the phone all day or golf?" Just then, they saw a large plane flying very low over them - Flight 93 crashed minutes later about 30 miles away from them, in Somerset.

My mama & I got on our knees to pray. For the people, the country, the President, the military, and all those who would forever be affected by this tragedy.

I had no power nor phones most of the day, and my fiance was beside himself. The national report had just said "South of Pittsburgh" and that's where I (currently) live. He finally got through around midnight, and just sighed with relief - but he had the best word for the day: surreal.

I had been in DC just days before, and making a long story short, was wearing a Chicago Fire (soccer) polo when a Fairfax fireman stopped me, thinking I was a fireman's wife. Since some some alecks around us were giggling over his mistaking the MLS shirt of a firefighter's shirt, I ignored them, and refused to embarrass this kind man. We talked, and as we went our separate ways, he said, "You take care of your man - we all need our families' support & love." Three days later, on 9/12, I saw him as part of the Pentagon footage - exhausted, tears streaming down his face through the soot as he took a much needed break. I lost it at that point.

On a side note, I wrote to my English friend that night, pouring my soul out to her, my views, my fears, etc. My house is in the military flight pattern, and the only planes I heard all day were the planes headed towards Washington.

Tomorrow morning, 9/11/2003, I will fly my flag at half-mast. It is my sincere hope that Americans will forever see this day as our Wake Up Call, and will never forget that, as mighty as the United States truly is, we must always be diligent in maintaining our security.

God Bless the USA!