I started work at 7:00 am CDT. Went to my shop office and was busy checking out how the night shift did and what the latest production schedule required that day. I didn't turn my desk radio on because things were a little busy.
Phone rings and it's a call from my younger brother. He never calls me at work. Something has to be wrong...
Brother - "Two planes hit both of the World Trade Towers in New York."
Me - "What?"
Brother - "Both World Trade Towers are on fire. Both were struck by airplanes"
Me- "Both? Two airplanes?"
Brother - "Yep. The second tower was hit just a minute ago. I actually saw it live!"
Me- "This is straight out of a Tom Clancey or Dale Brown novel. This is like a bad movie."
Brother - "Get to a TV, you won't believe your eyes."
Me - " They actually did it this time."
My next thought was how do I calmly and factually inform the shop and my family? I put my thoughts together and started passing the word...
i was in San Diego and i sleep usually with the radio on. as i awoke to the news. at first thought that i was listening to a some sort of repmake of Well’s “The War of the Worlds”. i turned on the TV only to see replays of the attacks, i still didn’t fathom what was going on.
as i followed the events of the day. i realized that our coutry had been changed forever. i concluded that we were going to be at war for a very long time by an enemy that had been invited to our midst.
my first supposition was that this was a Soviet/Russian sponsored event and i happened to spend the evening at Roger Hedgecoks’ restaurant. he didn’t appear to have have an insight at that time.
i recall meeting some liberal broads at the restaurant that were convinced that we were all doomed, that it was time to give up and die.
the next day, there was a fireworks display that i only heard in the distance (which i thought was in poor form); it kept me up late wondering what was going on.
needless to say, i drove back to New England, instead of flying.
my Prayers are with You All
It was a clear, cool, beautiful fall day. I was at the bank listening to the radio after the first plane hit, and then the second plane hit as I drove home. I phoned my spouse at work and as I was talking on the cordless in the backyard, I heard what I believe, given the time, was the sound of the plane slamming into the Pentagon several miles away. All that day, smoke from the burning crossed the southern sky in front of my house.
—tkoed
I went to the office and into a meeting. Someone came in and told us the Pentagon had been hit. No one said a word.
I checked in with the family. My husband was watching it at his office and said they were evacuating his building. The kids' school was on lock down. We're no where near where any of the attacks were happening, but no one knew that for sure at the time.
I was a freshman in highschool writing something up during a free period when one of the teachers mentioned a plane had hit the twin towers. I thought it twas a small plane, but then the school principle grudginlgy delivered a small message about what had happened.
There wasn’t alot of info I remember some kids thinking the chinese had done it.
No ceremony, no prayers, or condolances at school. It sank in when I got home and turned on fox news. I might add there was a 9/11 moment of silence schedualed the next year and no one followed it, it probably doesn’t exist now.
Sister called, plane had hit WTC tower, fired up TV just in time for second strike. Terrible accident had become war. Lord, was I out of touch, I should have expected it.
He told me a plane had accidently hit the first Tower and that I should turn on the news. I turned on NBC (didn't have FoxNews then) and saw the smoldering Tower.
As I was watching that, I saw the other plane hit Tower Two. I was momentarily confused...couldn't figure out how Tower One was still smoking but I just saw the plane hit.
I said to hubby "another plane just hit the other tower. He said What do you MEAN another plane just hit the other tower?!"
I was on another call for business when the Pentagon was hit. I said to the woman on the other end "They've bombed the Pentagon." We mutually agreed to end the call.
I don't specifically recall about Flt 93.
I was on FreeRepublic.com, just starting my day by checking the headlines.
This was my email that went out to my family and friends dated Sept 14, 2001. My Brother-in-law appeared in a film with his Emergency Service Unit Truck #2 ESU NYPD that won Academy Award for documentary short called Twin Towers. 9/11 will always be a day in history I will never forget.
It was hard for me to imagine that just 3 weeks after 9/11 that these same people that I write about in my letter attended my wedding despite the tragedy that faced our country. I thought about changing the wedding date but my brother Alan said to me “Don’t change the date because after going to so many funerals we need a reason to celebrate. I had asked my brother-n-law to wear his dress blues at my wedding Oct 6th 2001 in honor of the men he lost.
10/14/01
I have been making some observations of the events that have taken place in our country. This is the second tragedy I have witnessed while sitting in front of a TV as a mental health worker amongst people that have already been dealing with trauma in their lives. The first time being the Challenger space shuttle in front of a group of emotionally disturbed children and now this tragedy in front of adult psychiatric clients. My ability to focus at my job despite being worried about my brother-in-law Rob and brother Alan along with thousands of other New Yorkers was being put to the test. I tried calling Mom Tuesday morning and she said she was alone at home. I asked if she had heard from anyone and she told me Alan had called from his cell phone and stated “ I think the whole entire city of NY is under attack and right now there is complete mayhem.” She then went on to state that she was unable to contact my sister Michelle to find out the condition of Rob. I later learned he was safe and just came off a night shift working for NYPD. Rob was at a training to extricate warrants for his ESU squad. I went on working but then started looking around finding my coworkers tearful and busy on the phone at Anna Jaques Hospital. I had not realized being from Massachusetts that so many of my colleagues also had relatives working in near the Battery of Manhattan. We then received a call from our Emergency Room to please come downstairs and talk to a women that had a confirmed death of a loved one on flight #11 that struck the World Trade Towers. We tried to comfort her while the TV in the lobby continued to show the tragedy unfolding. She swore the terrorists up and down as a large crowd was gathering around the TV to make sense of what was going on. We to could only watch in horror as we waited to hear from our own families in NY. I am proud of New Yorkers, I am proud of my brother Alan who volunteered to help set up a triage center in the battery of Manhattan, I am proud of my brother-in-law Rob who puts his life on the line every day as an Emergency Service Worker, Truck #2 for NYPD. I am proud of my brother Eddie that serves our country as a Commander in the Navy and defends us as a beacon of strength from this mad man Usama Bin Laden. I am proud of my Canadian relatives and what Newfoundlanders did to help Americans in transit whose flights were grounded. They responded to us with great compassion at a time of need. The City of New York, the Pentagon along with our whole nation are now in a state of mourning. We are dealing with a lot of folks that have remains are still missing and my heart goes out to their families. I am astonished at the humanity involved in resolving the pain and grief that exists but when you ask someone on the streets near this tragedy in the Battery of Manhattan they State “What would you expect from a New Yorker.” You Folks can’t see me now but I have tears coming out of my eyes as I am writing. Though my emotions have been struck my vision and thoughts of what needs to happen has not. This feeling of patriotism is spreading quickly across this nation. I heard reports in the news about people being trapped in the World Trade Towers calling their family to tell them they love them just before they perished. I have heard reports that people with cell phones on the hijacked plane called their relatives to do the same. I heard about one man that called his wife on the plane that was downed in Pennsylvania stating that he along with two other men planned to take on the hijackers after hearing the fate of the planes that already crashed into the Word Trade Towers and Pentagon. The grounding of this plane saved innocent lives. These people were sending us a message to us that they wanted their spirit to continue in our lives. I would like to leave you with some words I wrote in the past that I feel strongly about. I am sorry if my spelling or grammar is off but I am happy to share my thoughts.
Soul God always allows life to take us to the brink before we can learn. We see many things that happen in our lives to believe in a higher being greater than ourselves. I am finding it extremely difficult to understand that God doesn’t exist. We have witnessed people heal physically and mentally. We have watched disaster strike when people have united to support each other in the time of crisis. I ask myself? How can people celebrate the birth of a new life as well as they can accept the death of a love one? We make confessions to cleanse ourselves from the wrongs we do so that way we may move on with our lives. It’s the soul of other people we reach out for and try to find within ourselves. The spirit of those that leave us should remain as strength to guide us though life. People that have faith in life succeed no matter what the circumstance may be and will prevail.
My sister who is normally not a spiritual person after 9/11 sent me a quote from the Bible 1025 book of proverbs “When the whirlwind passes the wicked shall be no more and the righteous shall have an everlasting foundation.” This quote my brother-in law hung up at his precinct in Harlem on their bulletin board. There were three men that covered for Rob and his partner’s shift while they went to their training on 9/11. All three men were killed SGT. Curtin, DET. Vigiano and P.O.D’allara
One last thing. I walked around for days muttering “Dirty Bastards! Dirty, Dirty Bastards!!!”
Wow. I’ll never forget it.
Both my wife and I had the first half of the day off to go buy a car. We ride out to the car dealership and take it for one last test drive. While driving, I wanted to check out the factory stereo. I tuned into my favorite station for music and heard chaotic news instead of music. They had said a plane hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I thought about how much of a mess that must be, and how that had to be one hell of an accident. We continue to ride in the new car, paying more attention to the news from the radio than the car, then we heard of the second plane hitting. It was then obvious to me what was going on. Dazed, we rode back to the car dealership and the salesman came out saying that he just heard they hit the Pentagon. We went back to his office and listened to his radio. As an afterthought we decided we wanted the car, and he went to get the paperwork. While waiting, we listened as one of the towers fell. I was in disbelief. I was wondering how a skyscraper like that could just fall... It was killing us to listen to all of this and not see it on television. The salesman came back as the other tower fell, then we went onto a finance lady who was in tears. I remembered telling my wife that with such a plan there had to be more targets and all airline traffic should be shut down immediately. Not long after that we heard that all planes were being grounded(I could be out of order on this). We signed the papers and drove away from the car lot with a new car that we loved, but we were shocked, grief stricken, and unhappy. The rest of the day was one of the most beautiful days one could ask for, yet is was eerily still, almost haunted. The entire afternoon seemed like the world was at a stand still. There were no signs of planes in the sky, which was so unusual for where we live. My two eldest children were very young at the time, and they saw it on TV that evening. Even they could see the horror, and was disturbed by it. The older of the two was scared of airplanes for a month or so after that day.
It’s certainly not a day I will ever forget, and I hope won’t ever be repeated. How ever I’m afraid it WILL be repeated, and next time it will probably be worse...
I was one of many passengers in flight to their destination when the WTC and the Pentagon were hit. My flight arrived at its destination without any special comment from the flight crew. My wife called me to tell me of the news and that her high rise office building back home was being evacuated as a precaution. Shortly after our arrival, the state troopers arrived at the airport and closed it down for departing flights.
I ws at work and a friend runs in and said that a plane hit the tower. I reached behind me and truned on teh radio as I began to ask him for details. The first thing I heard was a reporter say “Oh my God, another one just hit the tower.”
Sat around in somewhat shock for much of the day. Tried to give blood but was ineligible. Some customer called mad about something. I said, have you been listening to the radio at all? he hadn’t and I told him what happened. He got over his anger.
My company HQ is in view of the towers in New Jersey. They watched the second plane hit and the towers drop. One co-worked had kids stay at her home that night cause their parents were missing.
The story came on and everyone's first impressions were pilot error in the face of the bright morning sunshine. At that time it was being reported as a private small aircraft.
I phoned my wife to tell her about it and then went back to watch the coverage.
While I watched, at 9:03....Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower.
I called my wife back and simply said to her, "We are at war."
Everything was very clear to just about everyone watching at that point.
I had just gotten my daughter off to school when my older daughter called and told me to turn on the TV. I turned it on just before the second plane hit...called my pastor’s wife and told her to turn it on and we both started to pray. Horrific morning and days following..I was glued to the TV.
I had just opened up the community college computer lab, a Mac lab, and I had decided to give my mother a phone call to let her know I got the letters she asked me to send out. I was talking to her when she told me that she had said that a large airplane hit the first WTC Tower. She had thought she had seen a movie on tv, not knowing it was for real. When I had been told the other tower got hit, I knew that this was NO plane accident, but that this was an act of war. This is my reflection of where was I on September 11th, 2001.
I was working for Continental Airlines Cargo. I had arrived early to complete a presentation. I was dressed in shorts & a T-shirt because I was supposed to go paint a shelter for volunteer time.
I was the only support person for Cargo operations there.
When the first plane hit, one of the secretaries called me & told me somthing strange was reported on the radio...
I rushed down & told the VP & my boss. We turned on the TV in the conference room & saw the other plane hit a few minutes later.
They were all speculating from the camera’s viewpoint what type of plane, passenger, cargo etc.
Then we went to work, downtown Houston became a ghost town, as they scrambled to get planes out of the air & any precious cargo. Animals, donor organs, medications etc safely off planes & if possible where they needed to go by truck etc.
People don’t really think of things in the belly of the plane they are on.
It was surreal.
I was at the community college for a half-a-day, then was sent home with everyone else. Was in shock and frightened about being attacked again.
Im a fireman..I was on duty.
My captain knows I follow current events...so much so that they give me hell about knowing everything before the newpapers because of FR. He came running and said you want to see this!!
We all stood and watched...knowing, because we too are big city firemen, that what was goin on inside the high rise as it burned was something so, so fearful, and beyond what you could train for.
When it came down... we ..were..silent.
All of our thoughts werent only about the people, the civilians, but about what our brothers were going through all up and own those stairwells.
I will never forget it.
Since then we have seen training films that they dont show to civilians. People jumping..... radio transmissions of dieing firmen screaming fo help... videos of body parts and how to protect the scene etc.
FDNY will forever be the best in the world.
I got into work at about 8:40 am that day and called my mother at about 8:50 am.
I was working at a radio station in Northern California at the time and getting ready to go live on the air at 6:05 PST right after the 5 minute top of the hour ABC News broadcast from New York. The top of the hour story was of a “small plane” hitting the World Trade Center in New York.
After the final commercial, the news commentator, Doug Limerick, came back on and said that a second plane had just hit the other tower. My very first thought was “Muslim terrorists” as I had been exhorting to everyone I knew for the past twenty years that our next big war would be started by them.
I went to music while I monitored the ABC News satellite feed and then I heard that President Bush had been told of the incident while at a school. I rushed to our computer and pulled up FR and read much more information there than I was getting from ABC so I called our local news guy at home and he came rushing in.
We tried our best to keep everyone updated over the next hour or so but the phone calls were overwhelming, so we finally decided that it would be best to pull up the ABC News live feed with Peter Jennings over our airwaves which we did commercial free for the next ten hours or so.