8 years ago today...
 

Where were you? How has your life changed?

Feels like Yesterday
 

I was in transition from my first to second class of the day as a Sophomore in college.

Since, I was in class when it was happening, I didn't know about it - and when I got to the second class and the information started coming out - at first I think we all thought it was a joke, atleast those of us who had a prior class. We were let out of class, and I ran back to my room and turned on the TV - and there is was. I'll never forget that day, that roommate, everything about that day.

I come from a HUGE family of firefighters, both cousins are now in the FDNY, so while I may not think of September 11th, everyday - I think of our first responders (firefighters, police officers, EMTs) daily.

So today, I honor the 343 FDNY who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and those who continue to do a job, often without pay for those they don't know personally but only as their fellow man:

"Firemen are going to be killed right along. They know it, every man of them... firefighting is a hazardous occupation; it is dangerous on the face of it, tackling a burning building. The risks are plain.... Consequently, when a man becomes a fireman, his act of bravery has already been accomplished."

FDNY Chief Edward F. Crocker 1908

I was in my dorm room. It was my freshman year and I remember seeing the first tower on fire, and then I saw the second plane crash into the other one. I just remember being totally freaked out and calling my mom and dad right away. I can't really say it's changed my life though. I still like to travel and I still do pretty much the same things I've always done. Sometimes, I do fear another attack though. Something much worse. Just kinda scary, that's all.

I was in my car listening to my morning radio show (Rick Dees in the morning) driving to campus.

I remember thinking I wasnt in too much shock when I heard it happened to the first tower (tall buildings have planes fly into them sometimes) but then as the second tower was hit, then the pentagon was hit, then the plane went down in PA, Congress and the White House were evacuated....it started freaking me out.

When I got to campus it was a mass panic outside. People were running and crying. It was club day outside. I was manning the table for Theta. Across from us the International Student Union had a table which looked to be manned by students from the Middle East. My sorority sister and I felt sorry for them because no one was going to their table and they were gettign dirty looks from passers by. So we went to their table and talked to them for a while until they decided they needed to close down their table. Instructors and students alike were upset that classes werent being cancelled. I went up to my sorority's dorm floor to find another panic. One of our sisters was in the sky that day flying cross country and we couldnt find her until the next day. That evening a lot of people were in the student center watching President Bush speak on the days events. When he said the line, "Freedom will be defended" a roar of applause and cheers broke out.

A kid showed up to my anthropology class the next day drunk. His mother was apparently on the plane that flew into the Pentagon. So in his understandible drunkeness he was of course disruptive and campus security and someone from the student counseling center came and got him. People were very concerned that Richmond (where EKU is) would be on a target list for a terrorism hit because of all of the mustard gas and what not that is being stored at the Army Depot there.

I'm more aware now about surroundings and suspicious people. I am more likely to call the police when I see suspicious behavior/activity. The only major inconvience I experience is at the airport going through security. It isnt too much trouble for me to take off my shoes (thanks to the shoe bomber) but it is an inconvience to not be able to have a water bottle in my bag, have fluid volume restrictions, and having it all fit into one plastic baggy. Since 9/11, I am a lot more proud to be an American citizen and I am just sorry that it took such a senseless act of violence in order for me to realize that. I was iffy before 9/11 but now I have a much deeper respect and admiration/support for our troops and emergency workers.

ON a happy note. On this day in 2003 my husband's divorce from his ex-wife was finalized. On this day in 2004 my husband and I had our first date and became an official couple the next day. So for me, this day brings back crap memories of panic and anxiety, but also very happy ones with my husband.

I was transitioning between classes in high school. One of my friends told me in the hallway that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. I remember thinking "what a horrible coincidence," because I thought a plane malfunctioned and just happened to crash into the building on its way down. By the time I made it to the next class, our teacher had the t.v. on and we all watched as the second plane flew into the second tower. Everyone was confused, scared, and just sort of frozen. I think we spent the rest of the day, in every single class, watching the news and/or discussing what had happened.

I was living in Arizona at the time, I was in my junior year of high school at the time. It was 6 AM, and I was just waking up to get ready for school. My mom was up, and I turned on the TV and right there were the towers both with smoke coming out of them. We just sat and watched and couldn't believe what was going on.

I didn't have a car at the time so I was taking the bus to school. I went to the bus stop, and there was a landscaping truck parked right there, but they left the windows open, and the news on the radio was turned up loud. We all stood there in silence as we listened to what all was going on, and that's when the towers started to fall.

I got to school and a lot of students were in random classrooms watching the news. I watched the news in my first hour class, as the class was AP US History.

I was on my internship, at a house visit. We watched in amazement when the first plane hit. In the 15 minutes it took to get to the next house, the second plane had hit. We left the home and went back to the office in stunned silence. A 45 minute trip home took me THREE HOURS. I live in the DC area, so everyone was scared. I have never heard the Beltway so quiet. It was a very long day. I kept trying to call my mom and the daycare center where my daughter was and couldn't get through. My now ex-fiance will forever have a place in my heart because when I called him hysterical because I couldnt get through to Mom, he had her on the other line.

We will NEVER forget.

I was living in the Seattle area at that time. I woke up thinking, "my wedding day is exactly 3 months from today!". I was stoked. Then I heard on the radio, "if you have a flight out of Seatac today, don't even THINK about heading to the airport"
WTF? I turned on the tv and saw a horrifying picture. My joy was killed REAL quick! I lost a buddy in the WTC that day. It still sends chills down my spine when I see 9/11 images. I will never forget!

You just reminded me, my friend almost had to cancel his wedding plans that following Sunday because the majority of their families were flying down from...where else? NYC. (Nikki, that was Smu's wedding) Most wound up renting cars and driving down instead.

Driving to Andrews AFB when the towers were hit. There was a higher alertness and lots of DOD planes were in the air when I entered the base but they still let ID card holders on post. When I arrived at my destination, the Pentagon had been attacked and I (along with everybody else) was trying to contact our people in that building. There was a rumor (ended up being true) that all bases were going to lock down so I left quickly so I could get home before my kids' schools ended. As I crossed back into VA on the WW Bridge, I could see the horrible, thick, black cloud of smoke up the Potomac. It was just hanging there, not dissipating at all.

My son's school kept the news from the children. My daughter's school did not. She and many of her classmates were in hysterics as they had parents who worked in the Pentagon.


Our lives were disrupted to an even greater degree in October of the following year when we had to deal with the DC Sniper for 3 weeks.

I couldn't see the smoke, as I was coming from VA into MD. But everytime I pass the Pentagon, I say a prayer for all those that were lost that day. I also get extremely angry at the balls it took for the terrorists to attack us on our own turf! :mad: I can't imagine what it must have been like for the drivers who SAW the plane hit that morning.

UGH, the Sniper. I had to call and check in with mom and the ex fiance for that entire episode. That was scary, too. And I worked across the street from Union Station, at the time.

No matter how much I try, I will never forget that day. I was a sophmore in high school at the time. We heard rumors that a plane had hit the first tower in religion class of all classes. I thought it was just an accident. Then we started to hear more and more news about it. I have a relative who worked in the towers and one that transfered at the WTC to get to work. We spent all day trying to get in touch with them, which we eventually did. Such a horrible day.

Not to hijack this thread too much, but I remember the sniper, too, and was constantly worried about my mom, who was living and working in D.C. during that time :(

I was heading home from work to a meeting. I -35 was a standstill. Everyone was in a daze. I had just joined GC and was on here daily but it was offline for 2 weeks.

I wouldn't call it a hijack....heh!

What I remember from that incident is that everyone just KNEW it was tied around the 9/11 attacks and that those responsible were Middle Eastern terrorists. Surprise, surprise.

I was sitting at the very desk where I'm sitting now when a co-worker came by and asked if I could get the all news radio station in on my radio. She said a plane had hit the WTC and the internet news sites were so swamped you couldn't get to them. I turned on my radio and she and I were listening to the news coverage when the second plane hit. Initially, we figured it was an awful accident. The realization of that second plane meant that it was deliberate, quite a shock. Someone ended up pulling a TV out (we only use TVs to show corporate DVDs and stuff around here.. not many of them around) and getting NBC News in with a very fuzzy signal. Right about then, they were reporting about a plane hitting the Pentagon and that was when I started to feel really scared. They were attacking our government. If the Pentagon wasn't safe, what was? We were all crying and praying at work, watching the towers collapse, hearing rumors about 250 more planes unaccounted for, car bombs near the White House, so many rumors going around. Then the plane in PA. It was just all so shocking, horrifying and terrifying. Some of the images will never leave my head and make me really sick, especially the ones of people jumping from the WTC. How awful must it have been in there to even consider jumping? So scary. In the afternoon, I went into the sundry shop in our building and saw a newspaper from that morning where the headline was "Michael Jordan Coming out of Retirement" and I very clearly remember thinking "That's from when the world was still normal". My ex-husband had my kids that week so I went home to an empty house. My sorority alumnae club had a meeting that night and I was glad they didn't cancel it. I didn't want to be alone that night. For the next several days I had a very hard time NOT watching the coverage on CNN/MSNBC/FOX news network. I kind of had to force myself away from it. I was coaching soccer at the time, it turned out that Todd Beamer's niece was on my soccer team and we took up a collection for his family. His wife is the one who wrote the "Let's Roll" book. The next several months were really difficult for everybody in this country, I think. However, over time, things feel "normal" again. I feel just as secure as I did on 9/10/01 at this point in time. And, that's probably dangerous for all of us.

My life surely hasn't changed much at all with the exception of more inconveniences when you fly. The incident with the Coast Guard this morning doesn't help my confidence that our Homeland Security Department is really improving communications among all of our first responder agencies. I kind of figured at the time of 9/11 that it would be a while before any more terrorist attacks were attempted here.. once we relaxed, once we got complacent again. That's probably the biggest concern at this point. Have we become complacent again?

I was getting ready to play tennis & had just gotten my kids off to school.

When the first plane hit, I thought it was an accident, when the 2nd one hit, I knew it was bad. I called my partner to ask if we were going to play, and she said the team was still playing - I couldn't believe it.

Weird thing, we played this "old lady team" (funny because I'm one of them now LOL, but that's how I thought of them back then) and their reaction was like, "Hey, things happen, why let it get in the way of tennis." I thought they were absolutely NUTS!

Finally, all us "young moms" starting getting calls from the schools to pick up our kids, so we, as a team, forfeited all the lines.

I then went home with my kiddos and watched the coverage - SO SAD!

How my life has changed? I'm alot more cynical, I don't trust the government to take care of me or my safety. But I think that's just age...

I had taken a vacation day that day, so I was sitting on the couch listening to the radio (The Ticket in Dallas, for those in the know..). They mentioned the first plane in an offhand manner, so I turned on Good Morning America to see what was going on. Watched the 2nd plane hit live as I continued to listen to the guys on the radio.

I called my boss at work, knowing that they did not have access to a TV. I kept them appraised of everything. I remember when the pentagon was hit I called her and said "My God, we are going to war."

Since I was still single, and my family was 1000 miles away, I called a friend who was a nurse and who was also off that day. He came over and we watched everything together. We just sat there in silence. Finally, about noon, we were hungry so we opted to go out for lunch. (this sounds a little callous now, but I had a tiny apartment, no food, and I think we both just needed to get away from the TV a bit).

We went to a Chili's type of establishment. It was probably half full... and completely silent. Very eerie. By the time we headed back to my apartment many companies/stores/etc were closing. I remember all the hand-written signs saying "Closed early for national tradgedy." The Dallas Morning News did an "extra" that day and we bought one. I still have it.

I was living and working in Northern VA at the time. I'm a PA native, so to all my friends and family, I was "in DC."

For some reason, I was running late to work that morning. My drive took about 40 minutes, and I always listened to Elliot in the Morning on DC101. For those of you not from the area, he's really irreverent and smart@ssed, but mostly funny. That was how I heard of the first plane, early on in my drive. As time went on, I knew this was something serious because Elliot was not cracking jokes. At all.

I got to work, and instead of going to my office, which was in the lowest level, I went upstairs to another office where I knew they had TVs. I think (can't quite remember) that that's where I heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon. My building was only a couple miles away, as the crow flies. Everyone rushed to the conference room to look out, but we were too low. Some of us went up to the top floor, and we could see the smoke from the Pentagon.

The main things that stick out in my mind are kind of small in comparison, but heartening in a way. Since, as I said, everyone I knew thought I was "in DC" they were all emailing and IMing me to check up on me and make sure I was OK. My ex worked in DC proper at the time, and his friends were all doing the same to make sure he was OK. He evacuated, and I forget how many hours it took him to get home. My office stayed open; by the time I drove home at 6 that night, the roads were almost deserted. So eerie.

My sister was in the second week of her freshman year at my alma mater. My dad was at work, my mom was at some meeting about 40 minutes from home. When I first heard about Flight 93, all I heard was that a plane went down in PA. This is a pretty big state, and my family members were in just a few small parts of it, but my brain automatically went to "oh my God, it was at school or at home." It wasn't, not even close, but just shows you what that day was like.

Me and my brother were getting ready for school, and we turned on the tv just in time to see the second plane hit. We saw the towers fall before we went to school.
And then a few hours later when I was in my literature class. I was in 7th grade. Our school is maybe... 20 Miles from an Airforce Base, and in the middle of class while doing book work, we heard a jet pass over our school. You know the noise of an airplane flying over a building? It starts as a low noise, then a monstorous roar, then just as the chills leave your body it fades into a low noise again. Well, that whole process felt like it took 5 minutes for that plane to pass over us, and all of us 12 years were shaking and staring at each other. It was crazy.

I was driving to work when the first plane hit. I was listening to a cassette tape rather than the radio, so I didn't find out what had happened until I got to work and found everyone in the break room watching the news. I walked in just in time to see the second plane hit.

We tried to conduct business as usual, but many of us were upset because we had family/friends who lived/worked in NYC. (I live in Connecticut.) My parents had told me of their plans to "spend Tuesday in the city" so I was freaking out. I tried to reach them on their landline and got "all trunks busy". I tried their cell, but they never turn the damn thing on. I emailed them, and I was VERY relieved when I got their reply. It turned out their NYC plans for for the following Tuesday, the 18th, and they were safe and sound on Long Island.

The office closed early, and I headed home and tried to get my head around what had happened.

A friend of DH's family, who had just gotten married, lost her new father-in-law. He worked in one of the Twin Towers and was a safety officer for his floor.

Never forget.

I hesitated to post on this thread because I know there are people on GC who lost family members in the attacks. I had only been on GC for a few months at that point, and I remember reading the posts of people who had lost touch with loved ones, or who had found out that family and friends had died.

Where was I...well, I was still a student at Boston U. at the time. I had an early class, so I didn't see any of the TV coverage until much later. When I got to my second class of the day (a journalism class), everyone else in the class had heard about what happened. The professor walked in and told us that he was cancelling class, and informed us that the media lounge downstairs (we were in the College of Communications at the time) had televisions playing with the news coverage. We all went down and started watching TV.

Now, you have to understand, a good number of students at Boston U are from the NYC area (especially the city and Long Island). So campus was a bit crazy. I remember seeing people walking down the street crying, some hysterically, as they tried to call loved ones in NYC.

A guy who was in the same chapter as KSigRC and I was working in NYC, so essentially the whole chapter was trying to get in touch with him to confirm he was ok. I ended up talking to him for almost two hours that night...it was just crazy to talk to someone who had been right in the middle of it all. He was still in a sort of shock at that point.

The campus itself was a weird scene; BU doesn't really have a campus, per se, it's just smack in the middle of the city. There were almost no cars on the streets, and people were walking around, trying to get reception on their cell phones. I saw a close friend trying to get in touch with her cousin, who worked in the city...I found out later that her cousin was one of the many who lost his life that day. It was kind of like something out of a movie - it was like Boston had completely shut down.

Luckily, the College of Communications had these old-style phone booths, so people were taking turns calling home, loved ones, etc. I called my parents, as I knew they would be freaking out once they heard that one of the planes went through Boston. I called, promised them I wouldn't ride the T for the day, and let the next person go.

Only one of my classes went forward, a History of the Presidency class taught by Professor Dallek. It was really a fascinating class - he's one of the foremost experts on the Presidency, and he talked about Presidential responses to tragedy.

How has it changed me? I really don't know. I remember it, and my heart and thoughts go out to all of those who lost loved ones. I knew one person who died (my orientation advisor was on Flight 175). I consider myself lucky that I didn't lose any close friends or loved ones in the attacks.

I was getting ready for my 2nd day of work as a high school teacher that day, when I turned on my cell phone and listened to a message from my mom. She said that a plane flew into the WTC. I was a little shocked and told the husband (then BF) to turn on the TV that a plane flew into the WTC. We saw the 2nd one hit. Both of us just stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to think because not a month earlier he had been working on the 60-something-th floor for Morgan Stanley. Seeing the footage of the towers collapse made me sob as I had been there several times. Two of his co-workers were there doing their training. One of the guys potato-sacked a woman who froze in the stair well and carried her down 30 flights of stairs. They made it out, and rented a car to drive back to CA. They only stopped for gas and took turns driving.

How has it changed me? I realized that this country can be attacked, which wasn't something I really had ever thought about before. To me that is the moment my generation will always remember - Where were you when you found out kind of thing. I think we were one of the few generations who didn't have one of those until 9/11. My mom's generation had Kennedy's assassination, the moon landing etc...as well as others, but this just blew me away. I actually have pictures of the skyline in July of '01 from the Statue of Liberty. So sad.

A lot of my family in NY's friends lost members that day.

Never forget.

I was in 8th grade at the time. When I got ready for school, we always had the TV on in the morning as we got ready for school. Usually my brother and I had cartoons on, but there was always a point where my mom would turn on the news for a bit. As I was gathering my things and getting ready to leave, the news caught mine and my mom's attention; a plane had flown into the WTC. We were tuned in right when information started coming in, so we didn't know many details. I assumed it was a small plane, and not a commercial plane. I honestly remember thinking "sure technical difficulties happen, but how do you mess up that badly?"

On the short car ride to school, we happened to catch the report on the radio. It was an FM station, so they didn't have as much info as I'd imagine the AM news stations were reporting. At this point, I was still pretty in the dark about what was actually happening.

I got to class, and my class waited outside until one of the teachers came down to let us all in (on a side note, did any other school do it that weird way?!) We were all just chatting normally, no one knew much at that point.

When I walked into my homeroom, the TV was on, showing the coverage of the news. I cannot remember if the second plane had hit yet, but I remember not paying attention to it. I unpacked my bag, put away my coat and my classmates started getting ready for class. My teacher turned off the TV, and stopped by the other 8th grade homerooms to check in/chat with the other teachers before prayers and announcements. Soon it started getting late and we did not have prayers or announcements. Our teacher was still not in our homeroom. Suddenly she came, almost sprinting, through the door and announced, in somewhat of a panic "Two planes have hit the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon is on fire!" I just remember a lot of gasps, and everyone started chattering about what this could mean. Our teacher turned on the TV and we began watching the news.

Prayers finally started, a few minutes late. I don't recall if there was any notice about what was going on.

The rest of the details and order of events are pretty fuzzy. I remember that some teachers let us watch the news the entire time, while others tried to go on with class. I specifically remember, however, sitting in biology and seeing the first tower fall live. We were all shocked. It was the scariest thing to see live.

I know at one point we were basically put in "lock down". We had one morning and one afternoon bathroom break, lead by the teachers, and we all had to eat lunch and have recess in our classrooms.

I also remember hearing the crazy rumors and predictions of what people thought was going to happen next. Since we were in Chicago, everyone was terrified about something happening to the Sears Tower.

Another thing I remember is that I live about 7 miles from O'Hare. It was weird NOT hearing planes all day.

I was in 12th grade when it happened. I remember class was interrupted by someone bring a memo to our teacher. She stopped class and said "Oh. A plane hit a building." We thought it was an isolated incident and it was business as usual. When the 2nd plane hit, they stopped classes and turned on the TVs in all of the classrooms. We watched for a few hours (we weren't required to go to our following classes). It was very surreal. The last time I remembered feeling like that was when Columbine was happening.

My mom had a flight to the east coast at that time and I couldn't get in touch with her to see if she was OK.

I was part of my campus's Leadership Academy, and we put together a series of events to raise money for victims. I think we grossed about $20K and we were able to donate half of that.

I am from the east coast, so every year, I take a moment for those that were affected back in 2001.

Did you all have school that day? How did you all handle it?

I can remember the principal made an announcement, and as he came on, we all expected it to be a rah, rah, good luck to the athletic teams kind of thing, but then, it was to inform us of what had happened. For whatever reasons, ours was one of the schools that kind of decided to limited access to news that day. We were advised not to have the TVs on with students in the room and that, coupled with the internet being at a crawl, fostered crazy rumors of things being even worse than they really were.

When I talked to other people who could watch the news all day, I got the impression that actual news coverage as the events unfolded wasn't much more reliable than the rumors running through the school. In hindsight, I'm kind of grateful that I didn't watch the planes hitting the towers or, more likely that day, the towers falling in a perpetual loop all day. There was a TV documentary with a lot of 9/11 footage recently (nothing "truther-y, just news), and I had to turn it off. Too much fear, sorrow and pain came back. Remember the missing fliers that people put up looking for their loved ones?

When we observed the anniversary a couple of years later, kids were talking about where they were, and it was kind of strange when one of my students could remember every detail of that class period. It made me glad that I hadn't completely lost my stuff and openly wept at my desk or anything, not just for his memories, of course, but because the relative normalcy was comforting to him, I think.

I went to a coworker's wedding that weekend on Lake Union in Seattle. One of her bridesmaids was absent because she was not able to catch a flight back home to Seattle.

My doctor at the time has a son who worked in the World Trade Center. He was running late for work that morning because he overslept. He saw the events happen while he was commuting to work. For once, he was glad he late for work!

I was at a new job that I had only been at for 2 1/2 months. About 15 minutes after the first plane hit, one of the women who worked for me (and a big gossip) said she had just received a call from her daughter about it. I told her to go back to work. Shortly therafter, nobody could access the internet. It was at a crawl. That is when everyone's phones started to ring.

All news sites were jammed. You could not get into CNN, so we all ran over to the company gym (6 TVs) to see what was going on.

Early that afternoon, the company offered early release to everyone. I had intended on working that afternoon, but my employees all left.

During this time, I was in corporate housing one block from work, in downtown Cleveland. One of my friends started to work there about 2 weeks earlier and was also in corporate housing. We got a call from a co-worker to meet us at a bar a few blocks from the bank.

There was no one in site, no cars on the street and the police bagged all of the parking meters. When we got to the bar, all that we saw was a "Closed" sign. Talk about the Twilight Zone.

Neither of us wanted to go back to our apartments, but there were no restaurants or bars open. We ended up at the bar in the Embassy Suites where all of the guests were glued to the TV. Cell phone reception was minimal. When someone could get through, you were telling the person on the other line to call someone for somebody you didn't know.

My mom kept telling me to drive home. Why? I would be glued to the TV there too. She thought that the terrorists would fly a plane into our building until I told her that they would need to swerve passed quite a few taller buildings before finally hitting our building. Trust me, they would say that our 9-story building just wasn't worth all of the work.



Tonight, I talked to my friend that I was with that night. She just moved to North Carolina, and we still talk about it every anniversary since.

I was at home, getting ready for a club meeting before school. When I got there, everyone was there, but there was no meeting. Everyone was watching the news on TV and that was the tip-off. The teachers never turned on the TVs unless the class was watching a video--the fact that it was on told me something huge had happened.

I remember, I had been 16 for exactly 2 weeks that day and almost every day had been bad or come with bad news: someone had just died, my great-aunt had Alzheimer's and my grandfather might have it too and now this. I remember writing in my diary how devastated I was to think there might be a war. War was supposed to be something you read about in history books...I didn't think I'd ever see one. So I kept the newspaper that came out the next day because I knew my kids would one day do a report on this and I'd want them to have it.

It's so crazy how vividly I can remember 9/11, but I can't even remember what I wore a week ago.

I remember it was a Tuesday. I didn't wake up in time for my 8 am class, so I figured I would go to my 9:30 class which was Poli-Sci. I got to class a few minutes before class started and our professor wasn't there yet. My friend Michelle - who I had known since Jr. High- sat in front of me in Poli-Sci class. As soon as I sat down, she said "Did you hear?" And I asked "hear about what?" "The planes.." she said and just in that moment my professor hurriedly walked in. He was an older man - tall & skinny with white hair. He had this weird crazy look in his eyes and before my friend Michelle could say anything else or finish her sentence, he told us to get our belongings because we were going to the student union building.

No one said a word on our way to the Union. I still didn't fully understand what was going on.

When we got to the Union, all of the people who were normally hanging out there playing pool or just hanging out were all gathered in a room. The TV there wasn't working, so everyone sat there silently listening to the radio over the speakers. We heard when the towers fell.

I remember my professor saying "this is going to be a war" over and over. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was a college sophomore then, and I had so many HS friends of mine that joined the military out of high school. People were crying.. it was pretty surreal.

That afternoon I went into the college radio station for my DJ shift. What was normally a fun experience was so awkward. What the hell do I do? What do I say? We didn't play music. We had a feed from a sister station that was all-news. I'd cut out occasionally for commercials or to do the time/temp/station ID. I remember after 9/11 being handed a list of songs I couldn't play on the radio due to the senstivity of the whole 9/11 thing. It was just so weird.

That night, there was a social in my residence hall. I was an RA and helped plan it with another RA.

Instead of doing the activities that we had planned for our social event, we gathered around the TV and watched G.W. Bush's speech. There were so many tears. We were near a military base and I think everyone there knew at least one or two people that would be shipped off.

It was a really sad day.

9/11
 

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I remember that day clearly. I got up a little late as well and was headed to class. I still remember what I was wearing that day. I wore my black Phi Mu Alpha Polo and Khaki Ralph Lauren shorts to class. I left my dorm room, an apartment style dorm where you open the door and you're outside, that morning and was walking to my history class when I came across Clyde the custodian in the parking lot of the residence hall. He began telling me about some planes crashing. I too was running a little late and figured it was just some type of small private plane, like a Cessna, so I pressed on. I got to class a few minutes late and the lecture had already begun but I didn't hear anyone mention anything about what was happening. After class I headed out to the student union because I needed to turn in some paperwork to the student org office on behalf of our chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. When I walked into the union I saw a lot of students glued to the television sets like it was a scene from some type of movie. When I realized what was happening I was just in shock. In light of the event, the university ended up closing at noon that day so students could go home. One of my fraternity brothers that knew I was a weekend warrior in the Air National Guard called me up that afternoon and asked if I'd meet him at the local college bar. As I walked through campus and headed out towards the bar I remember seeing a guy seated on a bench playing a trombone. He looked kind of like a hippie with a beard and baseball hat and played very solemn, calm, almost weeping style music through his trombone. He was unaccompanied and seemed to be playing for himself. I got to the bar and saw my fraternity brother. We hung out and talked about the 9/11 event, war and wondered where the country would go next.

Check out this 9/11 conspiracy clip. You may need to cut and paste the link and put it on your browser.

http://www.freedomunderground.org/me...tagon.php#Main


Regards,

Boodleboy322

We had just started back to school the Thursday before 9/11. I was teaching second grade at the time. One of my volunteer mothers Lori, who I knew very well came into my classroom right before 8:00. Her husband was a pilot for American Airlines and he was also a member of their crisis team. Her face was white; I asked her what was wrong and she confided in me that her husband had just gotten a call to report to work because one of their planes had just hit one of the World Trade Center towers. Something in her voice told me that this was more than an accident.

Shortly after 8:00, my principal came over the intercom and called for a "Code Red" lockdown in our school. I had to lock my students, Lori, and myself into my classroom, close the blinds over our windows, and take attendance which would be sent to the office. I was then to continue teaching "as normal." Our principal then told all teachers to not turn on televsions or radios in our classroom and to log in to our computer for an email message that would be coming shortly.

My students understandably became alarmed during our Code Red. I reminded them of the fire drill we had just had the day before and explained that we were practicing a different type of safety drill. I remember changing my schedule to allow the students time to do their learning centers so that I could monitor the computer for the message my principal had promised.

Finally, about twenty minutes later, I received the email. The teachers were informed about the two planes hitting the World Trade Center and the fear that this was an act of terrorism. We were reassured that Chicago and its suburbs did not appear to be a target, but that we would continue a modified Code Red lockdown for the rest of the day. We were told to keep the blinds closed and that students would not be allowed outside for recess or p.e. classes. However, we were now free to move around in the building -- this was a big relief because as soon as the lock down was called, my students all decided they needed to use the restroom.

I continued my day as "normally" as I could with my students. When lunch time finally came, I was able to go to the school office to find out more about the situation. At that time, I found out about the plane that hit the Pentagon and Flight 93 which went down in Pennsylvania. During this time, I also heard that the White House was on fire, which of course turned out to not be true.

Going back to spend the afternoon with my students after finding out all of this information was very difficult. The decision was made by my school district administration that we were not to share information about what had happened with our elementary students; that delicate task was left to their parents.

I remember leaving school immediately after getting word that all of our school buses had made it safely back to the transportation department. I went home and sat in front of the television watching the news coverage for hours. I remember sitting and crying but not being able to pull myself away. I kept praying that an announcer would come on and explain that this was all a mistake and that none of it had really happened.

It was very difficult teaching in the classroom on September 11th; however, it became even more difficult in the days that followed because my students were confused and wanted an explanation of why these terrible things had happened.

Being in my classroom yesterday on the eighth anniversary of September 11th, it struck me how odd it was that none of my students have actual memories of 9/11. They were all born after that day. The students know only what they have been told. My school had our first spirit day of the year and asked students to dress in red, white and blue to recognize Patriot Day. The principal started the day with a reading to commemorate the anniversary over the intercom followed by a moment of silence. During the day, I read the book On That Day, A Book of Hope for Children to my class to discuss why we celebrate Patriot Day. We followed the story up with a social studies lesson from our curriculum about what we can do to be good citizens.

We did have school, but in the interest of keeping it calm-ish, a lot of us decided not to have our TVs on to watch the coverage, because we really didn't know what was going to be shown.

It was a rough day, I remember that much.

I was in San Antonio in my 8th grade math class when my principal came over the intercom and asked all the teachers to turn off radios and TVs. Of course, several of them turned them on... at that point, we all thought it was a commuter plane.

I ran down the hall to my old science teacher's room in time to see the plane crash into the North tower. My father had only been out of the Air Force about four years at that point but still worked on an Air Force base, and I was concerned that he would be reactivated. Maybe that was silly to think, but I was 13 years old and no one would tell us anything. My mother also worked in the Medical Center, where there were rumors of bomb threats.

I remember friends' parents coming to say goodbye as their military units were activated for one reason or another. It was complete and utter chaos - no one knew exactly what was happening.

Both of my parents were there to pick us from school that day, only to have to go to the hospital because my grandmother had fallen and shattered her elbow on another Air Force base in town. The hospital was insane because San Antonio was on alert to receive patients from NYC and D.C. - this was before we knew that there wouldn't be any.

While it was comforting to see my parents, I remember the main voice of comfort for me was Laura Bush. She addressed the children in the nation, reminding us that while things were kind of messy at the moment, that the adults were doing everything they could to keep us safe.

I visited Ground Zero during my trip to NYC for Christmas 2007. Words cannot express what I felt standing there, remembering my last trip to NYC in 1997. I remember driving by the WTC and asking to go up to the Observation Deck, but my mom said we would go the next time we were there. Little did we know that it would be another 10 years or that they would be gone.

I have family in NY so NYC has always had a special place in my life. I actually had the pleasure of going up to the Observation Deck many years ago. It truly was an amazing experience.

On the day of the attack, I was in high school. I could tell something serious happened, but the faculty was instructed to not discuss it and to carry on with our lessons. On my way home (which was a 2 hour commute) I heard bits and pieces of what happened. I lived by Miami International Airport (busy place, lots of traffic in that area) and it was very quiet all day. (I think it was another week before they permitted aircraft to fly from MIA. I remember watching the first flight leave from MIA, eight years later.) By the time I got home at 6pm, the news was buzzing with all kinds of info on the events.

When I watched the footage of the planes crashing into the tower, my mouth dropped. But when I saw the towers fall, my heart stopped and I got dizzy. I had to sit down and watch the rest of footage through tears because I could not look away. My dad frequently has business in NYC, but attempts to get in touch with him were not successful. It was another day before I found out he was ok.

I visited Ground Zero Christmas 2002, shortly after they finished clearing the debris. My dad and I spent 2 hours there looking at this giant hole in the ground and thinking about the people who died because they enjoy freedom, the firefighters, paramedics, policemen/women, etc etc. I also spent time at St. Paul's Chapel where the iron gates where still covered with flowers, missing persons fliers, letters to people who died, FDNY shirts, pictures, etc etc. It was a rough trip.

I was in NY again early August and I saw the construction on the Freedom Tower and the Bell of Hope at St. Paul's.

The loss of life that day is incredible, but the city's and country's ability to rally together and help each other out when it counts is truly outstanding. I will never forget that day, nor will I forget the way our country came together.

I was standing in my classroom hustling students in to start their work. I got a phone call from a police officer friend telling me to put the TV on NOW. We stood there motionless watching the scene unfold.

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]
It's been eight years already. Where does time go? I was a senior in high school when it happened.

I was in class...one of the girls came in to school late. She said something about a plane hitting the towers, but no one really thought much of it. We all thought it was a small commuter plane, done by accident, just like many people thought at first. After our morning break, we were all called down to the lunch room. I will never forget the look on the faces of everyone as we were told what happened. I was sitting right up front a mere foot or two away from Rabbi Frielich as he told us. I will never forget the tears in his eyes as he tried to remain as calm as he could, although it was hard. It was the first time I ever saw him in tears like that, and I remember hoping I would never have to see him like that again. There was a mad rush ot get to the one pay phone in school...and the guidance counselor let us use the phone in her office...I was the first one that was allowed on it. The rest of the day was a blur, with only one teacher teaching. I remember sitting in most of my classes listening to the radio with one headphone, and the teacher with the other, all of them trying to answer the same questions: "Why?" "How?" We were sent home early and spent the next 36 hours watching TV :(


I always stop on 9/11 and think back and reflect. I think we all do. This year though it was different. Knowing how close it came to being another name on the list. Knowing how close Wayne (my most recent ex/friend) came to being in the second tower whe it fell. He and his crew were some of the first EMTs/Medics on the scene...and his entire crew was in the 2nd tower when it fell...and none of them came out. He got lucky, a cop pulled him into an empty triage tent. That is the only reason why he wasn't in the second tower. /COLOR]

I was a junior in college and my first class of the day didn't begin until 11am. Basically, I slept through the towers getting hit. When I woke up, I could hear the news blaring from my roommate's TV. I didn't think much of it so I started driving to campus. I got in my car and my usual rock station had the news on it. I thought that was strange so I changed the station. Again, the news. It finally hit me that there must be something going on. I remember the news anchor saying that the towers had been hit but they weren't sure yet whether it was an accident or not. I called my father from my cell and asked, "Is this a joke? Is this War of the Worlds or something?" I could tell he was in shock from the morning's events and said, "No! This is very serious! The towers are gone and the Pentagon has been hit." I still went to class and I remember sitting there for about 5 minutes when our professor came in and dismissed us. I went straight to the sorority house and watched the TV with my sisters.