Posted on 09/10/2014 6:28:18 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
My wife and I were asleep when my sister-in-law called and said to turn on the TV, that one of the Twin Towers in New York had been hit by a plane.
We did and watched as the second plane crashed into the other tower, eventually bringing them all down.
We heard about the third plane (missing) and that a fourth one might also be missing.
Little did we know that the sound of a plane coming in low close to our neighborhood was that fourth plane, once as it circled the area and then as it hit the Pentagon.
We heard the explosion and felt the shock, from almost 2-1/2 miles away. It set off some car alarms on our street. Later we could see the smoke rising up into the sky (we live at the bottom of a long hill so our view of the Pentagon area was totally obscured).
In another 20 minutes or so, we would have been driving by the Pentagon on my way to work.
My friend’s son was working in Building 7 (World Trade Center Building 7) when the planes hit. Fortunately they quickly evacuated before their building was destroyed by debris.
Other friends were in the Pentagon when it was hit. They survived but many of their friends and colleagues didn’t.
NEVER FORGET!
My oldest son was 17 that year.
Just as I pulled into the MARTA station to take the train into downtown ATL they announced on the news the first plane hit. As I walked to the train a bad feeling washed over me.
As I stepped onto the train there was a couple talking with a young man sitting behind them listening to a radio with ear plugs. The woman said something about Osama Bin-Laden. I tried to remember where I had heard that name before.
As I sat down the dread darkened and I asked the man behind me (we 5 were the only ones in that train car at the time) if he knew what was happening. I called my mom in TX. She did not have the tv on, but turned it on. You could hear her audibly gasp.
After they did a voluntary evacuation of ATL, coming back on the train, it was the most beautiful site I have ever seen. The train was packed! and everyone was talking with everyone else. Folks with radios sharing information with everyone. Everyone was so polite and caring.
The freeway was packed and going 10 mph or so. Again everyone so courteous letting folks in, slowing down for others. The looks on everyone’s face was grim. Some ladies were crying. I held up until I looked over at this older man in the car next to me weeping like a child. The dam broke.
Long story short, like everyone else I came back home and held my two boys.
That 17 year old boy is now with SF (green beret). 9/11 was his motivation. This afternoon I got a call that he will be ‘busy’ for six months or so....
Sign
On 9/11/2001 Listening to the first reports as I was driving to work close to DC. When I arrived - my co-workers were watching TV and we realized that the Pentagon fire could be seen from the 4th floor of our building.
Praying that we don’t ever have a thread that asks “what do you remember about the horror of 9/11/2014?”
Thanks for posting this.
My 9/11 memories will always be tied up with memories of my mother. She was on hospice care and died in my home in Great Falls, MT on 9/2/2001, her 70th birthday. My boss insisted I take 2 weeks off after her death to process everything and grieve so I was at home on 9/11.
I’d had trouble sleeping and was asleep when my phone rang. My sister in Sacramento was on the phone crying and said “Get up and turn on the TV.” When I asked what channel, she said “Any channel” and hung up. As soon as I saw the news I picked up the phone to call my mom......only to remember....
On my way to work in lower Manhattan.
Bookmark
I was asleep at home. My grandmother called me and told me what had happened.
At about 8:40am on that morning, I was walking into the Court building on Adams Street (actually, the Court St. entrance) in Downtown Brooklyn to start serving jury duty. As luck would have it, I had been halfway to the train station before I’d realized that I’d left my Walkman on the kitchen table, so I didn’t bother going back for it. I figured I’d just get a newspaper. Besides, I didn’t know how well I’d be able to pick up AM inside the building anyway.
I sat in a dark room watching a video on How to Be a Good Juror, oblivious to what was going on right across the river. We were told to relax in the room that they have, and I looked out the window at the Marriot Hotel. Traffic on Adams St was snarled, not moving. Must’ve been an accident on the Brooklyn Bridge, I thought. (It was a block away.)
People were standing around outside the hotel. Must be waiting for a tour bus or something. What did I know.
Fire trucks and ambulances started flying by on the wrong side of Adams Street, which had no traffic. Okay, traffic doesn’t come into Brooklyn much in the morning, but something was odd here. I had been facing 180 degrees from where I needed to be looking.
Finally, they had made an announcement. America was at war, under attack. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon had been destroyed. They were trying to get coverage on the TV sets in the jury rooms. I don’t think they succeeded. Even if they wanted to, only CBS would be available because it still broadcast from the Empire State Building.
People were beside themselves, many broke down, everyone was rushing for the payphones. I met a woman who had been listening to her radio. She let me share her earbuds. She was shaken and needed a cigarette. I don’t smoke, but I walked her to the smoking room. (There was one on the floor. Quite a few people were there.)
We were dismissed. Not much was going to get done in the Court building that week. Groups of people huddled outside with questions, comments, gossip and hearsay. Some of the lawyers said they saw it happen. What kind of plane was it?
Does anyone know if the trains are running? What about the buses? No trains. No LIRR. A few buses and they’re all packed. It was time to start walking and no one wanted to walk alone. We walked in groups.
Dust was falling from the sky in downtown Brooklyn like a dirty snow that was covering the cars. Papers fell too. We started walking up Atlantic Avenue. People were wandering around with their cell phones out trying to get a signal. no luck.
We took a turn down Third Avenue. I needed to. I wanted to stop at my mother’s house. It was a good resting point for me. The group I’d tagged along with decided to join me. One guy stopped in a hardware store for masks and passed them out.
When we passed Third St and reached the Gowanus Canal, we had our first real look. It was like a scene out of a bad movie. The skyline was there. But the Towers were missing. Just a terrible column of smoke and a cloud drifting our way.
We didn’t stay long. We kept walking. I made it to my mother’s house and said good-bye to the others. Some were walking all the way to Staten Island. One who had joined our group had walked over the Brooklyn Bridge — after having walked down 50 floors of Tower 1. God was looking out for him.
I watched some of the coverage until the trains were running again. I took one that left me about a mile or so from my inlaws, the meeting place for the rest of the family. I stopped in at St. Athanasius on the way. I hadn’t been there since a wedding about 15-20 years earlier. I stayed for a little while and walked the rest of the way.
Thankfully, my wife, who worked at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side had evacuated immediately before the trains had stopped running.
It’s not a walk that I’ll forget ever forget.
TS
It was just a normal morning...till I saw the 2nd plane hit the tower on the TV.
Then...the whole world changed in a heartbeat.
Bump
For me, on 9/11/01, I had just gotten to my job at the local community college when after giving my mother a call, she told me that she saw what she thought was a plane crash at the first WTC towers or was a movie scene. We never thought it would be an a attack.
Thank you for that post. Amazing. Tears.
On the morning of September 11, 2001 I had only a vague awareness of the Taliban and had never heard of Osama bin Laden. I couldn’t even spell Afghanistan.
While working from my home office I normally listened to CNBC as background noise. That morning, they cut from business news to a local NYC-TV news feed and reported a fire at the WTC. I posted the news on FR, tried to find more information about the fire, and quickly learned of unconfirmed reports of hijacked planes, terrorists, and a guy named bin Laden. Other Freepers, I quickly discovered, were way ahead of me.
I watched the second plane hit the WTC - live. I freaked out. I ran upstairs where my wife was getting ready for work. Screaming, cussing, I told her NY City was under attack. Something was happening. Terrible. Awful. What the hell was going on?
Fast forward.
I could not work. I watched all of the remaining destruction that day - live. The Pentagon. A plane somewhere over Pennsylvania. Skyscrapers falling into the ground. F-Word! President Bush flying to a military base in LA then Omaha then back to the White House. Bodies falling from the WTC. Papers and dust everywhere. The Pentagon in flames. Zombie people walking the streets of NYC covered in dust and death.
My life changed. My country changed too. I told my daughters that night that liberty and freedom must, from time to time, be defended. We did. And I am proud of each and every patriot who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and every other swamp we drained in the last 13 years killing the bastards who attacked us that day.
I fear we are perceived to be weaker today than in 2001. Our border is wide open to those who want to do us harm. I now have a granddaughter. I don’t want to explain to her someday that evil exists, or the consequences of American weakness.
Now, I pray for America while celebrating the heroes of 9/11 and those who followed protecting our nation. God Bless Jim and FreeRepublic for archiving that day.
Let’s Roll!
Two nights ago I watched the 9/10 special on Nat Geo and re-experienced the utter spirit break and heart break, shock, and ill feeling of 9/11. I owe it to all who perished. Last night I watched the same channel’s 9/11 special. Crying, honoring, remembering. I need to do more tonight but there is nothing on on any channel. It should be on EVERY CHANNEL except the kids and sports ones. (Nat Geo is again running the 9/10 special - good if you haven’t seen it)
We don’t need a bleeping day of service. WE NEED A DAY TO MOURN THE LOSS OF OUR INNOCENT FELLOW CITIZENS. WE NEED TO MOURN OUR LOSS OF INNOCENCE. We need to thank the Almighty again for the heroes on that day and afterward.
There are no words -— the media, run by supposed human beings, is destroying this country. Unless they were given stand down orders, and they are mere goons. Our children need to see us crying about this attack every year. We need to show them as they grow old enough WHAT IT WAS LIKE. I have one son 17 who was 4 the morning he crawled into my bed and asked why I was crying. He will never forget. DON’T THE VICTIMS OF 9/11 DESERVE THAT?
We should have responded with nukes that day, the following couple of days, where we had a window - but didn’t.
We should have.
Can you imagine the USA if we had? We’d have allies galore because no one wants to be left out of that kind of protection. Damn sure Barack Obama wouldn’t have ever been elected president. And bin laden would have lost many years of sex with young women and porn. Ha.
If anyone happens to find these posts, can you report back on their numbers or copy them into a current post? That is indeed interesting — state dept attack and smoke signals to the Capitol.
Don’t forget that one month earlier, brilliant actor (my favorite) James Woods was on the same flight from Boston to LA and was very alarmed by the behavior of four Muslim men on the flight. He summoned the pilot in fear that these guys would try a hijacking.
Here’s a link to read about it, where the news came out that Mohammed Atta was on that very flight. The dry run.
http://michellemalkin.com/2005/04/24/report-mohammed-atta-was-on-flight-with-actor-james-woods/
My sister in Sacramento was on the phone crying and said “Get up and turn on the TV.” When I asked what channel, she said “Any channel” and hung up. As soon as I saw the news I picked up the phone to call my mom......only to remember....
So sad. I’m sorry.
Yeah, when they say “any channel” that is not good.
Thanks Yaelle, I appreciate your comment.
I spent the entire day watching this unfold on FR. Thank God I had a T1 line.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.