Where were you at 9/11/01?

[M&M]

On 9/11, I was serving as Press Secretary to a Congressional Candidate on a special election in Arkansas. We didn't have a TV set up in the campaign office yet, so when I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, I assumed it was a small plane that had gotten lost in bad weather. Campaign offices get enough calls on a regular day, but on this day, we could barely handle the deluge of calls from people trying to give us information and advice.

Needless to say, my entire press schedule for the day went right out the window. Our campaign manager had previously been a high ranking Clinton administration official. Someone e-mailed her a picture of the Pentagon taken from her old office in DC -- it looked like the photos of the Pentagon we later saw on television.

We had to pull the candidate from his schedule and get him into the office to regroup. And in a situation like that, you really have no idea what is going on, so it's hard to know exactly what sort of response someone will expect from your candidate.

As all of this was going on, I was thinking about my good friend from high school who was in Manhattan working in the fashion industry. Was she okay? Had she been anywhere near the World Trade Centers? No one could get any calls into NY.... My campaign manager and good friend was in a panic over her friends who were in Washington She couldn't get calls into DC either, so she sent out a "roll call" e-mail asking all of her friends to let her know if they were okay. Not everyone responded. We heard from one gentleman who had been a high ranking military official. His former office was destroyed in the attack on the Pentagon. He told us that he assumed his former secretary had died when the plane hit the building.

Several of us attended an impromptu church service that evening with the candidate. It was a very sobering day for everyone involved. For me personally, it was the first time that the true weight and responsibility of political office really touched me in such a profound way.

I am now working in the private sector. Interestingly enough, my current boss and the CEO of the company where I now work was on his way to a meeting in the World Trade Center on September 11th. He was running late and drove up towards the building in time to watch the first plane crash.

I must admit that this is the first time I have ever really tried to write anything about my own perceptions and experience of September 11th. What I am posting is really only a superficial version of what I saw and thought and did. I don't know if I will ever be able to really capture the way I experienced that day in words. I had a feeling that morning as I was fielding calls from the press and from others that I was not really there... I felt like I was out of my body somehow and watching the entire situation unfold, and it wasn't really real.

I'm going to stop now, because this is already really long, and if I keep typing I risk becoming REALLY overly-emotional. But I've answered the original question of "where were you?" So... where was everyone else that day?

M&M

[GiantsChic]

I was walking to class when I found out... I had just moved into my dorm the week before, and my roommate was still sleeping- so i didn't turn on the t.v. or the radio, and didn't have my cell phone on yet... as i was walking to class, i turned on my phone and had a message from my mom saying "the twin towers are gone"... I had no idea what she was talking about, and kept walking to class... i found a friend of mine on campus and she tried to describe to me what had happened, but it's hard to picture in your head if you hadn't seen it yet on t.v... i got to class and stayed for the whole class... I didn't get to see any pictures until I got back to my dorm after class, and finally saw what had happened- I was in total shock, and in some ways I think I still am...

[DeltAlum]

I guess it's like any other really extrordinary event. I remember where I was when I heard about the JFK (high school PA room) and RFK (College and Union streets in Athens, Ohio) assasinations, the Challenger explosion (the chief engineers office next to mine at a NBC Owned TV station) -- even Columbine (at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas) since that is so close to home.

In this case, I was in Lincoln, NE on business. I had been at the UNL Delt Shelter the night before, and attended a very nice initiation. When I came down from my hotel room the next morning, the coverage was on TV. I went to an appointment at Nebraska Public Television.

Obviously, I couldn't fly home, so I was watching the coverage, and since I spent many years as a TV director/manager doing live news and sports, I felt like the proverbial retired fire house horse who hears the alarm bell and can't do anything. When the president landed at Offutt (Sp?) Air Force Base -- about 30 minutes from Lincoln -- I called and actually got in touch with a friend who is Senior Director for NBC News and volunteered to head over there. He said that would be a great idea and he would get back to me. Of course Bush didn't stay there, so I ended up doing nothing in Lincoln for four days and then catching a bus to Denver.

Having a lot of friends in the networks and other jobs in New York, I was pretty worried about their safety. In addition, my former company had a TV facility right across from The Battery, very close to the WTC. It took a couple of days to find out that everyone there was OK -- although the facility was shut down. I had visited there many times, and we sometimes stayed at the Marriott which is no more.

I fervently hope that this is the last event in my lifetime where I will remember where I was when I hear the news. But, unfortunatley, I wouldn't count on it.

[Cluey]

I was actually in the middle of teaching a class. I teach at a high school and one of my students came in late with a tardy slip. He broke down in front of the class with the news. I turned on the television, just to see what was going on. I couldn't believe it. It seemed as though every single one of my students had a family member or friend who either was flying that day or who worked at the World Trade Center.

I am fortunate because I work at a Christian school; we openly pray. We pray before every class as it is; on September 11, 2001, classes were taken over by prayer, prayers for our country, our President, our families, our friends and all those effected by this immense tragedy.

I know that this was a tragic event, but I also do see the good coming forth from it -- renewed faith and patriotism. I think that every generation has one pivotal event that shapes them; maybe this is ours.

God bless America.

[Fewdfreak]

I was in high school still, it was homecoming week. We had went TP-ing that night, and I had stayed up late to finish a paper. At school, everyone was talking about the night before--we had a battle of the bands, and it got out of hand, and the cops ended up macing people, and arresting some kids. So we were riled up about that, then in painting class, we always have the radio playing because our teacher is like all punky and is cool and lets us listen to music. Well anyway, the radio news comes on and says something about terrorists and attacking and I didn't hear it all, so I think it's about Israel or something. So I go to my second class and one kid is like "Yeah, I was in weightlifting and on the radio it said that New York and Chicago are being attacked by terrorists." Then my teacher says "NO, you must be mistaken, I don't want to talk about world events, we have work to do." Then (since the class spans two hours) we go to the library to work on our research projects, there are like 100 people in the libaray watching TV, and we start to watch, and we see the second tower falling live, and my teacher who was like "lets get to work" was like "Oh, my God, and I don't want to talk about it." That's when I found out about Bush and Cheney, and how they had been moved to a secret, undisclosed location. I remember seeing the Verizon Wireless building in the background on NBC as the news reporters talked. Then, through out the day, we watched TV in each class and listened to the radio. That night, while I was doing homework, I was glued to the TV, and I didn't go TP-ing that night, we were supposed to have a tennis meet that night, and all the sports got canceled, and people were like why, NYC is so far away. Me and my friend went out, and there were lines like a mile long, spanning nine blocks to get gas, people were panicking. The Casey's station had jacked up prices for gas up to 4 dollars, but no one else did. Then my friends mom called and told her she wanted her home because there was a rumor that the terrorists were going to bomb the Arsenal, a military arms place by where I live. So we went home, I was out of gas, but the lines were too long to stop. Since that week was our homecoming week, tons of the events got canceled, such as movie night, the pep rally, and during our assembly the chant, because it would "incite riot" as did the battle of the bands, and it would be innapropriate. We signed banners during that week to send to the victims families, raised money, and at our dance, sang some patriotic songs that got everyone, including administration, in the USA spirit. I was not shocked at first, though, because who were we to think that we were invulnerable to attack, because look at other countries such as Israel or Palistine, I expected something like this, eventually, but not of this scale. I was a little shocked because I didn't expect such a big building to come down like it did, and cause all of the carnage that it did. I didn't cry when it happened, but like 6 months later, I saw a special on the people who lost husbands, and such, and one woman told how they found her fiances heart, but not his body, and I just lost it. Now, when I see stuff, I tear up, because this was senseless.

This, too, was my first time actually talking about my personal experience during 9.11, hmm...

L.

[Excelsior301]

I was home in PA, and I was sleeping in late b/c I didn't have to be at work until 2pm, and my mom came into my room and told me after the first plane hit, and said something had happened at the WTC. I wasn't really all that worried, b/c I remembered the last time something happened like that at the WTC back in like 92 or 93, so I thought it was just another like car bomb thing or something. Then, she came back in and said turn on the news, it's worse, and that's when i saw just how bad it was. then, the plane crashing into the pentagon and in somerset happened, and i was like, is this the end of the world? i was really shaken up b/c although Somerset is like 2 hrs west of me, it's still in PA, plus I live only about an hour north of DC, and I was supposed to be in DC for a concert, but my mom persuaded me a few weeks earlier to go to the same concert in Philly on the 12th, b/c Philly isn't as confusing as DC is, drive-around wise.
I still had to work that day, b/c I worked at a little video store that didn't want to close, so I was stuck there for 7 hrs w/ this really mean woman I hated working w/, whose husband is some specialist in the Marines, and she kept scaring me w/ all this war...let's go kill the bastards talk. And that was my Sept. 11, 2001 day

[DigitalAngel126]

That day was terrible for me, as I have family friends in Jersey/NY, I myself am from upstate NY (it's still home to me even though I now live in Indiana), and my best friend lives a little bit outside of DC. I was sleeping my loft when my phone rang.. Of course I didn't get down to answer it..But then whoever it was kept hanging up and calling back, so I tumbled out of bed and picked up the phone by saying "I don't know who this is, but this BETTER be good". I knew it was an on campus call so I wasn't worried about being rude because I had been woken up.. But anyhow, it was one of my best friends and all he said was "Turn on the TV".. And I was like "DUDE, I'm SO sleeping, call me back later".. And he was like "NO, AMY, turn on the tv!! Something is going on in New York!!!" ... That, of course, immediately sparked my attention, so I turned it on. I had turned it on right after the very first plane hit, so I saw it alllll go down.. I was going up and down the halls of my dorm telling people to turn on their tv's (I think I was the first one on my floor to find out)...

Well in my flurry of telling everyone to turn on the tv, I hadn't heard anything about DC...When I finally get back to my room and had talked to my parents, I hear about the pentagon... I absolutely flipped out and destroyed my room looking for my best friend's home number.. I called there and it was a madhouse (her dad and uncle were both stuck downtown in DC cuz it was gridlocked in a big way).. So I call Jeanine (my best friend) at school and she's absolutely bawling.. She's telling me "Come get me Amy, I'm so scared....Please...I can't die.. I can't leave my room, we have a lock down beacuse all of campus has a bombthreat...Come get me out of here...I can't die without seeing you again, you're my sister!!".. And so on and so forth... So as you can imagine, I TOTALLY lose it at this point.. All day, I was walking around in a daze, mostly locked in my room.. Crying... Worrying...Talking on the phone...Glued to the TV.. It was terrible...

Thats my story anyhow...

[Fewdfreak]

Oh, Digital, I cannot imagine what that must have been like for you, I am so sorry.

I remember on the way home from the coffee shop that we planned on going to after tennis, we saw a truck that had a sign that said, "GOD FORGIVE THE TERRORITS, WE WON'T" We didn't go out for coffee though, I came home to watch TV.

[Hootie]

I was at my apartment getting ready for my first class. I always kept the television on in my bedroom and had it on Today and was walking in and out between my room and the bathroom. I don't remember what they were talking about that caught my attention, but suddenly they interupted to show the first tower on fire. They knew a plane had crashed into it but it was unknown why, how, where it was from...etc.

And then, right before my own eyes, I witnessed the most horrific sight...the second plane crashing into the second building LIVE on television. I started shaking and called my dad at work almost in tears.

Needless to say I didn't go to school that day. I was too shocked and sad to see what was happening unfold before my eyes. That evening I finally left the house and there wasn't a song on the radio...only the national news. The gas pumps were jammed packed because people here feared a gas spike that was reported to be $5.00 a gallon.

And that evening I sat on my mom and dad's bed, like a little girl, and watched President Bush address the country...and cried with my mother.

I will never forget.

Hootie

[juniorgrrl]

I was asleep. I always sleep with the TV on. About 6 am, I had awakened, switched the TV from Comedy Central to NBC and gone back to sleep. I awoke to hearing Katie and Matt on the Today show talking about the first plane. Then the Pentagon was hit. I got out of bed and started calling my boyfriend. He didn't answer. So I kept calling. Finally I got him up and told him to turn the TV on. He was over at my apartment in a matter of minutes.

In the meantime, my roomate and her fiance had come back - their 9 am class had been cancelled. We all sat around and watched TV. The guys talked about how they would do what they had to do to protect their country. The girls talked about ways to get keep their guys from being drafted.

I had 2 classes that day. My first class, at 10:30 - either the teacher didn't know or didn't really want to stop class, becasue we still had a quiz. In the noon class the teacher said something to the effect of "this is bad, but we have work to do." I found that to be really tacky.

That night, some friends and I went out to dinner at Fudrucker's and watched the TVs there. It was so surreal. The president was on TV. We were at war.

I couldn't sleep that night. Or the next.

[aephi alum]

I was on my way to work when the first plane hit the WTC. I was totally oblivious... listening to a tape instead of the radio. I got to work, walked in the door, and heard a commotion in the break room... went to the break room, and there were most of my coworkers, watching as the second plane hit.

I was freaking out because my parents had told me of their plans to "spend Tuesday in the city" so I thought they were in Manhattan... turns out they had been talking about the following Tuesday, the 18th, and were in fact safe at home on Long Island. I tried to call them, but of course the phone lines were down, so I emailed them "PLEASE email me IMMEDIATELY and tell me you are safe!!!" About an hour later, I got their reply.

My office was closed around 2pm. I don't know how I drove home, I was crying so hard. I just kept thinking how easily it could have been me, either on one of the planes or in the WTC; I live within commuting distance of NYC (though it's a stretch) and I used to fly on a weekly basis out of Logan Airport. Self-centered, I know, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight

God Bless America. I will never forget.

[LeslieAGD]

I was in my house up at school. I had woken up and was flipping channels on the TV in the living room. My roommate came in the front door and told me to turn on the news...the first plane had just hit. We watched in surprise thinking it was an accident...then in shock as the second plane hit. We stayed glued to the TV all morning. My roommate got a call that her cousin was inside one of the buildings (he was later pulled out of the rubble alive the next day) . I got a call from my sister that all our relatives in New York were accounted for, but that my uncle had been at the towers about twenty minutes before the first plane hit. That was kind of scary!

My chapter sold 9/11 T-shirts and sent all the money (a couple thousand dollars) to the American Red Cross. Unfortunately, I couldn't help because I was a Rho Chi at the time.

God Bless America!

[Tom Earp]

Where Was I?

JFK in my room at the Dorm at NWMo.

L H Oswald talking to my Mother on the Dorm Phone

Elvis Presely at Aspen and could not figure why so many people were crying till got back to the Condo!

Sky walks in Kansas City Collapsing killing many people at a Tea Dance that My Aunt usually attended!

9-11 at my shop in KCKs with a best freind who is a Police Officer. Came over the Radio that a small plane had crassed into one of the Towers! Dan said there was a TV at Division across the parking lot and left. My employeee hada small TV in teh Back and I brought it up to watch, just before the second plane hit!

We as LXA lost many Brothers in this terrible Tragidy and found out later that one of My Chapter Brothers was at the bottom waiting to meet a client when the first plan struck!

He was spared thank God. There were to many fine people who lost their lives in this act of Cowardice!

May We all remember this people who were killed and pray for the whole world for what about is to happen!

May it not!

[texas*princess]

I had skipped my first class of the morning. I was waking up and getting ready for my next class, and it happened to be politcal science I was going to next.

I made it to Poli-sci a little bit early... I was still oblivious to what was going on, until my good friend Michelle walked in. She mentioned we might not have class, and I asked why? She said "Because of the thing happening with the airplanes". I was confused. Our poli-sci professor got to class a lil early too. He seemed to be in a rush, and unsettled. He had this weird look on his face, so I kinda knew something really bad had happened. We went to the Student Union as a class to watch the news. We watched in horror as the second plane hit My friends and I were very emotional about it and were crying.. for the rest of the day people just went about in what seemed like a daze. Sitting at the front desk of my residence hall (I was an RA at the time) all we could talk about was how unbelievable the whole event was. "What could make someone hate THAT much?" was all we could think.

I went to my volunteer radio DJ job at the campus radio station and it was a bit chaotic as well. It was so weird. I was normally one of the most "bubbly" radio personalities and was in such a state of awe. I felt so robotic reporting the latest news on the incident. The campus radio station had taken off the music from the air and had a live radio feed from one of the parent news stations. An hour into my shift I was told to switch back to music and was given a list of music *not* to play due to the lyrics and the given situation. Even with the music, I couldn't pretend that everything hadn't happened. It was so hard not to cry while on the air that day.

That night our school held a candle-light vigil on University Blvd. and everyone was bawling. We were very worried about the incident because there was a Naval Air Station in the city we lived in.. and also another one not too far away.

After the vigil, we went back to our residence hall where everyone was huddled around the television in the main lobby watching the footage of the attack... and of the President's Address. It was a very sad day in history.

[ChiOJenn78]

I was asleep. I had worked 3p-midnight the night before, and was sleeping in. Mr. ChiOJenn called and woke me up in the morning and said, "Get up and go turn on your TV, someone just flew a plane into the WTC". I said, "So what" and went back to sleep. It didn't even register what he had said, because i was dead asleep. An hour later, he called again, and left a message on my machine that I might want to call my bf Erin, and see if she was ok-she lived in NY at the time. I rolled over, and went back to sleep. An hour later he called again, left a message saying that they were evacuating his building and he'd call me later. I finally got up, and was mad, b/c I couldn't understand why he was calling so much and giving me a play-by-play of his day. So, I get up, go into the living room, and turned on my TV-and all I saw was black smoke over NY-the towers had both just collapsed. I just sort of sank to the ground and screamed "Oh my god, what's happening!". I tried to call him-no answer. I tried to call my parents-no answer. Needless to say I was so scared. I was shaking and crying-I just felt so lost. I called my bf's mom and luckily she had heard from Erin, and she was ok. But I remembered that I had a friend who is in med school, and his wife, who is a nurse-and they were vacationing in NY at the time. No one knew how to get ahold of them. It turns out they were ok, and they went to the hospitals to help out. I called my friend Amy, and she had no idea what was going on. b/c she had a final that morning and hadn't seen the TV.

I was in shock all day. I had to work that night, and the floor I was working on was the post-partum floor-moms and their new babies. I kept looking at all these new babies, and thinking-what kind of world have you come in to?? Mr. ChiOJenn came over that night and we both cried and watched TV and tried to make sense of our world. I was scared to go to sleep that night. What blows my mind is that our grandkids will ask us where we were that day and what were we doing. I kept saying-this is like Pearl Harbor, but this stuff is only supposed to happen in the past, like to our grandparents-but not to us.

I'm crying as I write this and as I read all your stories. I still can't watch footage of the second plane crashing into the building. But I love America and thank God everyday that I live here.