I’ll never forget 9/11. I lost two close friends, and many neighbors and acquaintances. I worked downtown, and went to the WTC every morning - I was off that day to have a tooth extracted (knocked me out cold) and when I came back to reality I saw the carnage on TV.
My friend who drove me to the appointment kept telling me, “It’s NOT a movie!”
Partly from the drugs, and partly because of sheer disbelief, I was asking her, “Why is this movie on every channel?”
The phones were all out of service, so I didn’t speak to my sister (three blocks from ground zero) for weeks! It is something I will never forget, and I hope one day I have the opportunity to kill a jihadi pig.
May God continue to Bless America, MAGA.
the skies were vacant for seven days in my city. no planes for seven days.
We were vacationing on the Florida Gulf Coast. Our cottage had an 18” TV. I logged on to Free Republic via a very shaky telephone connection that I feared would collapse at any moment. Later I began to worry if I was going to have to pay by the minute for the connection that was several hours in duration.
I knew it was war from the from the first instant. Then there was this confirmation.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/520333/posts
When the first plane hit, I thought of the B-25 that hit the Empire State Building. When the second hit, I knew we were at war.
I was working for the FAA then. We had a new guy ask where he could get a cup of coffee so I took him up to the cafeteria and saw breaking news of fire in tower one. Shortly a plane hit the second tower. Talk about a memorable first day at work.
An Air Traffic controller walked by talking to himself in disbelief saying “How could he not see the tower with 15 mile clear visibility?”
Things were real crazy for weeks.
it was a beautiful day, I was out walking my dogs. I came home and my husband had called to say “ Don’t worry, I’m not at the Pentagon today” which i found odd.
I did not turn on the tv for awhile, but when i did, it all clicked. Thank God he was safe, and had called me! Our phones lines were down all day.
I was in McAllen, TX eating breakfast at the hotel when GMA changed to the first tower burning. When the second plane came in I assumed it was NYPD coming to check what was happening when it hit the second tower. Since I was working for the US Marshals Service and had been going to NYC on detail for a number of years to work in the command post for the 1993 bombing I knew immediately what had happened. After I finally pulled myself together, I got on the phone and called my office in Houston and told the secretary to tell the Marshal to turn his TV on because “we’re at war”. Will never forget a minute of that awful, heartbreaking day.
I lost two close friends and my county, Richmond County New York City - Staten Island was among the hardest hit. One of every 11 who died in the WTC came from Staten Island.
On the South Shore where I live, after a few days there were three and four funeral masses a day in three Catholic Churches whose areas spanned about ten miles. Six days a week for three weeks church bells could be heard on the South shore from 9 AM to 4 PM.
I also recall seeing the cars in the park and ride that just sat there because their owners were never coming back.
As a retired cop I volunteered to do what I could and formed a group of retired cops who gave aid and advice to widows in our community.
Let us resolve to remember our dead and those whose lives were destroyed by never letting our guard down again.
Right now, Fox News carrying 9/11 remembrance speeches by President Trump and VP Pence. CNN and MSNBC ignoring the speeches, while they blab on about how bad Trump is. These people truly hate America.
I recall the massive traffic jams in Jersey City as people left work and downtown around 1030am.
Do not recall if there Too much smoke to see towers fall but heard on radio. And could tell when each was not standing.
We were staying with friends ion their ranch outside Jackson Hole. We had just arrived in the 10th. The morning of the 11th our hostess came upstairs and to,d us to turn on the tv. The first plane had hit the tower and everybody speculated that it was a terrible accident. Then we watched in horror as the second plane hit.
The ranch had a target range and our host had just returned from a hunting trip in Alaska. He brought back some wanted posters from a tiny post office in Alaska. The posters were bin laden. We spent the day shooting at the posters. Then we had the idea to take copies of the posters to the local bars and let the bartenders sell them, as long as all proceeds went to the American Red Cross, on the honor system. A few days later my friend got a call from the ARC’s lawyer telling him he could not use the Red Cross name, even for fund raising. Can you imagine? They did not deserve our charity, I guess.
Was in Paris. Saw the ragheads celebrating in the streets. Will never forget.
At the time, I worked for a small business and the accounting office where I worked was at the owner’s house (in an office area set up there where his wife was my boss). In any event, the owner called us up at about no later than 10:00am and said he heard on the radio that hijacked planes had slammed into the World Trade Center and also the Pentagon building.
They had a cousin who had worked at the World Trade Center, but had moved to Philadelphia (IIRC) by the time of the attacks. They were able to speak to this relative a few days later and the relative said that they still did not know how many people that he/she knew at the WTC were still alive or who had died.
I was in Ft. Worth, working as a consultant at the then-HQ for Radio Shack (which was co-housed in a mall).
When it all started I heard it on my e-feed from the only internet radio at the time — NPR. The report was “a 2-engine plane has struck one of the WTC towers.” Attempts to look at it online locked up.
We all were not sure what was going on, but we heard from others that nearby tall building were being evacuated.
Eventually RS brought TVs into several places but most of us congregated in the cafeteria where they had a number of TVs. The part that angered me (and other consultants) was we were expected to continue to work.
It got stranger and stranger as the morning moved on. Eventually RS released everyone including consultants. We were a little dazed as our group headed back to the hotel. We were in a small restaurant when the first tower collapsed (we heard about but did not see the 2nd plane hit). Most of us started crying as we realized what had just happened.
Being consultants, we analyzed what had happened and the loss of life as numbers since intellectualizing it was a shield against what were seeing and experiencing. It was the only shield we had.
I guess we were there for a while since we then saw the second tower collapse. I just remember the silence. The stunned silence.
I went back to my corporate housing apartment and called my wife who was besides herself (I was unable to get home for 2 weeks).
I called all my friends, even some somewhat estranged ones, to let them know that if I was to die tomorrow I cared about them.
The next day RS had a big sort of rally where they reaffirmed the corporate love for America — pins and ribbons were issued to everyone. I wish I still had them but I wore them whenever I flew and over time they disappeared.
Given nike’s “we hate America” kaperdink commercial it is difficult to picture a company that actually professed love for the USA. They are almost all gone since $ is found in the ironically liberal pockets.
I had just made my way down to a Panama City, FL Beach with my wife and five children. My mother called and told me to go turn on the TV, but wouldn’t say why. Yes, she’s like that. We lingered for a bit but then decided to pack up and return to the 11th floor room of the condo and see what was happening. 10 minutes after turning on the TV the first building began to fall. I had been to the World Trade Center complex so I had a pretty good idea just how large these particular skyscrapers were. Within an hour I was at a Home Depot buying a couple of gas cans and then filling them so that we would have enough fuel to get back to Indiana.
Remember, initially we had know idea when the attacks would end. By noon we were packed up and ready to cut our vacation short by a week, but later that afternoon we changed our minds. My wife said it would be just one more victory for the terrorists if we went home.
Was in a meeting at a Local Chamber, someone came in rattling off about the Twin Towers and zpentagon, didn’t make initial sense as I was trying to think what towers were near pentagon. Then a member and I talked for an hour outside.
It wasn’t until I reached the office and saw everyone gathered watching TV in the lobby when someone explained what was going on
I was one of the last to know
Since a person of prominence who had a history with radical Islamusts officed in my building, I decided to grab my laptop and head home
But first I went to church and prayed, tears streaming. I was never so glad to get home. Then watched TV late into the night
NEVER FORGET