Where were you at 9/11/01?

[vanda]

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.

[Kitty_Kat]

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 :-(

[Starlet]

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.

[dekeguy]

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.

[DigitalAngel126]

"Even from nightmares, a dream is born."

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We will never forget...

[poodleNtraining]

I was in the bed when they said a plane hit the WTC. They were unsure what kinda plane. I was thinking one of those little planes. Then they said another one, then it collapsed. Then they said one was supposed to be going to the White House, this is when I panicked, because my brother was working at the Washington Post and its only a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the WH, then they announced about the Pentagon, and my boyfriend at the time worked there. Luckily they were both ok. I couldn't believe how the plane just ran into the building like that. The angle they kept showing it from looked so fake, like a bad movie. It was so sad.

[AXOLiz]

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.

[SigK_Bama]

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.

[SSS1365]

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!

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.

[amycat412]

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..."

[texas*princess]

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.

[UGAnchora]

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

[tunatartare]

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.

[Nhfulmer]

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.

[smiley21]

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