Posted on 09/11/2010 3:38:07 AM PDT by davidosborne
Where were you nine years ago today?
At 6:45am on 9/11, I was still in bed. I got up to the breaking news on the radio and turned the TV on just in time to see the second plane hit the south tower. I became a FReeper in December 2001.
God Bless you and THANK-YOU for your service to the USA.
I was standing in the living room in front of the TV with my mouth hanging open.
>>Sitting in front of my computer freeping...
That’s probably going to be the answer for many of us.
I was running back and forth from my home office, where I was getting updates on FR, to the bedroom, where I was getting TV reports. Finally after about 45 minutes of that I reconfigured and brought the TV into my office so I could get TV and computer updates in one place.
for me personally, it does matter where and what.... I was a deployed reservist on my THIRD tour to Bosnia, coasting, relaxed, guarding the “front line” so to speak when all of a sudden my “job” was immediately changed forever. I was glad I was in a place to “do something” about it because if I was home I would have been in line waiting to get on the next plane to the “front line”. I believe that God had me exactly where He wanted me and I am humbled that I had the honor and priviledge to serve OUR nation on the front line from the moment of the attack and to this very day nine years later.
I was in a clothing store. I remember seeing no one else there, no clerks to offer assistance. I went to the counter, and found them crying and talking on the phone. They informed me as to what happened with the first tower. I rushed home, saw the second plane hit on the news. I dropped to my knees and prayed and cried for hours.
Kids schools all on lockdown that day. Kept them for several hours, so family members of all the new orphans in our area had time to get to the schools to pick up kids that lost their parents that day. There were seven victims in my church alone. Lived very close to McGuire AFB, constant planes scrambled to NYC and DC for weeks, felt like they were 2 feet over the house. My youngest would not go outside for a long time.
Hubby watched from the roof of a building across the hudson while at work. Cried as he saw a piece of paper flutter down at his feet. His mom, dad and sister helped receive, clean up, feed and drive home victims shuttled by ferry across the bay to the harbor in the town where they lived.
That night, I laid in my husbands arms and we cried, together. It was the first time in my life that I had ever felt truly afraid for my children, my country, our way of life. I had 2 dear friends who were snarled in traffic that day who survived this attack. One of them had been in the WTC bombing several years before, so her company moved to the Prudential building, her husband was in the WTC as a commodities trader. Both lost alot of friends/coworkers that day. She died last year from brain and lung cancer. She was 50. Husband had a nervous breakdown right after the attack.
I also remember this country coming together like I had never seen in my lifetime. Patriotism, love for our country, our fellow man, and family soared. Churches were packed. People were respectful and considerate in the northeast. No horns honking by impatient drivers, people offering you their place in line, conversations being struck up in grocery lines. Neigbors came out of their homes and actually started talking to each other, flags EVERYWHERE. God bless America on mailboxes, cars, pinned on lapels.
Truly it was the worst of times, it was the best of times.
I am off to get ready for 3 different 9/11 events I or my husband/sons are working with today. This morning, an event at our city that a dear friend, who is a 9/11 first responder NYPD retired and his wife are doing, along with an art gallery of items/photos from survivors and family members, as well as their own personal items from 9/11. This afternoon, a blue Mass for the fallen, and this evening, a candlelight vigil by another 9/11 first responder and a member of my husband and sons Ancient order of Hibernians group. We will be graced by a piece of the towers at the site for a memorial garden, and we will have a piece of hallowed ground to meditate on the day forever now. Busy day, full of tears and renewed hope.
Sorry this is so long. I have never put any of my experience down before so it just felt good to say it.
Point taken David, and you’re right. I suppose I was leaning more towards the collective mindset of “get those SOBs and get ‘em good” rather than the “where were you and what were you doing” (and certainly nothing wrong with that), I want vengeance on the bastards, and when I look at the sonuvabitch we’ve got in the White House and the muzzie sympathizers and Soros-puppets enabling him, all but surrendering and running up the white flag, my blood boils.
First, David, thank you for your service.
I was right here on FR. We got a lot more breaking news that day and I picked up the first thread when the first plane hit. Went next door and mentioned it to a co-worker. We had few details. By the time I got back to my desk, the second plane had hit.
I was working at my Defense Contractor position. Still am. I actually first heard of this through an Israeli website. The initial “small plane has crashed into the WTC” reports. Things got real confusing after that. Seems like I remember Pres. Bush's parents were grounded somewhere that day.
I was probably the most innocent person on earth that day as I had no idea anything happened until about 3 pm...I was on vacation in the country and had sworn off tv and it was a gorgeous day in New Hampshire!
Brother, is that you?
My husband had lost his job in Texas two months before the attack. We had just gotten home late the night before from a job interview in Wisconsin. My MIL called and told us to turn on the TV. We sat on the floor with our 1 and 3 year old children. My daughter learned to walk that day. Very bittersweet seeing so many lives end that day and having her take her first steps.
I was on Free Republic. My first thought was also that a pilot in a small plane had an accident. “What kind of an idiot would fly so close to skyscrapers?” I turned on the TV and saw everything else as it happened, including the second plane hitting the second tower. Howard Stern was live on the radio reporting events as they happened. I made calls to family and friends to ask if they were aware of what was going on and asked if they had heard any new information. I watched in horror as the towers collapsed. Everything was so surreal.
I will NEVER forget.
Here is a link from Feb 2002 that gathered up most of the threads from 9-11 and from the reports that filtered in during the days following:
Remembrance Archive: Free Republic Threads From 9-11-01
Many of the photo galleries have expired so perhaps some of you will bring back the images to go with your words.
ALWAYS REMEMBER, NEVER FORGET
Thanks for the link to the 9-11-2001 thread. I was at a gym in Plano, TX on the treadmill when it was happening.. and saw TV coverage of the first two planes attacking the WTC. Started hyperventilating, left, went to the bank and pulled out 600 dollars, went to Walmart and purchased some emergency candles, went home and logged into Free Republic for most of the day... toggled between Free Republic and Flight Explorer - and watched the flights in the US land and airspace shut down. It was a horrifying day.
In my office hearing around 8:30 am central time on the radio a small plane had hit a building in New York. Then all hell broke lose. The newsperson was screaming through the rest of what was happening.
At that time I was working the late night shift, so I was in bed that Tuesday Morning when the phone rang. It was my Dad talking a mile a minute about airplanes and the WTC and the Pentagon. I got off the phone and turned on the TV just in time to catch the first reports of the plane going down in Pennsylvania.
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