What were you doing on 9/11/01?

The Australian ^ | September 09 2003

[AmericanMade1776]

Walking around a beautiful Massachusetts Pond on a sunny day starting a new chapter in my life, as I had just put my only child at Virginia Tech, the week before.

It was a beautiful day in Massachusetts that Morning. It started out with such hope, and Promise. I thought about how, at the very moment I was walking around that lake in Massachusetts, how the ill fated planes from Logan airport that would later hit the World Trade Towers , were flying overhead and I was oblivious to the evil that existed.

I returned from my walk, and my daughter called to tell me what had developed. She was so far away from me. It was sobering. The News was followed by the eerie silence of no sounds of airplanes in the air, and the sight of government cars swarming the small towns of Massachusetts looking for the enemy.

[AmericanMade1776]

That was how blue the sky was that morning, I remember it well....on my walk.

[facedown]

...except the jets out of Luke flying CAP...

Either late Wed. or Thurs., I don't remember which, I went out in the back and heard a weird noise, sort of a high-pitched whine. I looked around and couldn't determine a source. Then I happened to look up and saw the contrails way, way up.

[dfwgator]

I was driving into work in downtown Dallas. I always listen to "The Ticket" which is the sports radio station here, and they were talking about seeing the WTC on fire. I turned to another news station where I was listening to them interview someone on the street there in NYC when the second plane hit.

Obviously once I made it in to work, everyone was talking about what had happened. A lot of rumors were flying around, that up to 20 planes had been hijacked, and even that perhaps one of them was headed for Dallas. Nobody really knew just how extensive this thing was.

They let us go home at about 10:30. I headed straight for the nearest blood bank (obviously many others did the same as me). Waited for a few hours before finally giving blood, but they had ordered pizza and cokes for everybody, and we all tried to help the beleaguered staff any way we could (on a normal day, maybe they get 10 people at the most to come in).

[austinTparty]

ping

[HungarianGypsy]

That morning I woke up really excited about a new homeschool curriculum. My house was clean and I was finally prepared. As I changed that morning, I did something I normally didn't do. I decided to turn on the radio. I knew something was wrong when instead of music I heard Tom Brokaw's dreary voice. I sat on my bed and wondered what could possibly have happened. I still remember the words, "And on this day of tragedy, we now get word of a plane crashing into a Pennsylvania field."
My children were watching PBS at the time, so I didn't think of turning the television at first. I still did not know what had happened when my phone rang. I thought it was a fine time for my mom to call and chat. But, it was my husband calling to find out if I knew what happened. The rest of the day seemed unreal. The rest of the week seemed unreal.
That night we went to Costco to buy some groceries. We passed less than twenty cars on the streets. This was Phoenix on a Tuesday night. Not usually a quiet place. Other than the employees, I remember maybe three other people in Costco. It was an eerie quiet.
My (then seven year old) son, still thinking it was an accident actually re-enacted the crashing plane with blocks, asking if that was how it happened. It was through tears that I told him to stop and his dad explained, at his level, what had happened.
We had bought two Veggie Tales movies that night. That was how we got away from the footage for a little while. Veggie Tales!

[facedown]

(I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class.)

Probably the wrong thread to note this on but, LOL!

[Malsua]

I was coming to work a bit late. I was listening to Stern and he said "I just got a report that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center". I was about a minute away from viewing them via 208 South in NJ. I rounded the curve and there it was, a giant smoke stack. My thoughts "I hope it was an accident but I suspected terrorism".

When I pulled into the office, which is in a bit of a low spot in Bergen county, someone said to me "Did you hear, another plane hit the buildings!" In what seemed like just a few minutes "A plane has hit the Pentagon, We're getting attacked!"

I went to the corporate conference room where there was a TV and watched as the first tower fell. I then said "Eff this", got into the car and drove to a place that gives a full view of the skyline...I wasn't alone...a zillion other's had the same thought. The 2nd building had fallen already.

I turned around and drove home as FAST as I safely could(90mphish+), which included passing cops going the other way towards Manhatten. At the time, I was getting passed by vehicles going 'away' at likely 120mph.

My wife gave me a big hug when I got home and after a trip to the store, I didn't leave for 2 days. I was uncertain of when the next shoe was going to fall, but I expected it in the next 48 hours.

I hope to never repeat such an aweful day and I will never forget.

-Mal

[engrpat]

I too was watching Fox and Friends. I remember they got ahold of a aviation expert and he was talking about the route the plane should have taken (at this time it wasn't known to be a large passenger plane) and was trying to come up with an explantion as to how this could have happened and then the second one hit. His response was something to the effect, "I cant help you anymore, this is not an accident." I couldn't believe what I was seening and called my wife at work to let her know. Know one there had heard about it.

[shotgun]

I was with Chelsea...

Actually I had just walked into the living room on the way to make coffee and flipped on the tube. At first I thought that the first tower was on fire and I yelled for my wife to come look. Then the announcer said it was an airplane, and we both stood there watching the second plane hit.

We made calls to our families so they could tune in. I was a Civil Engineer with two projects under construction at the Klamath Falls Airport which is home to the 173rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard. By the time I got there they were scrambling F-15's like fireflies, in full after burners. That was one week when they didn't have to keep the noise down for the surrounding community.

It was the wierdest feeling to not have any commerical or private flights for that first week or so. The fighters stayed up 24-7 and only landed in the early morning hours so it was as if the airport was completely void of all activity.

That was the end to routine business days at the airport. I spent the next weekend designing a new parking lot for th place because the 300 ft no parking buffer wiped out the entire lot.

[knighthawk]

It's September 11 over here now. I also still cry.

[GOPyouth]

I had just gotten up to get ready for class for my last semester of undergrad. I turned on Fox and Friends and saw that the first building had been hit. All they knew then was that a plane hit it, possibly a small commuter plane.

I was on the phone calling my mom in memphis, who, along with my stepdad, had gone up to visit my sister and her new baby when. I told her to get it on FNC. Right then I saw the 2nd plane hit. I did a double take and thought it may have been footage of the first plane. That's when John Scott blurted out that another plane hit. I rarely cussed in front of my mom, hung up the phone, called my school and told my professor that I would not be making it to class that day.

I stayed in front of the tv probably close to 24 hours straight. I couldn't leave. I didn't want to leave, in hopes that somebody would be pulled out of that mangled pile of metal alive.

[OldFriend]

After listening to those nine disgraces to humanity last night I find myself angry, sad, and heartbroken for our country.

[Centurion2000]

I was working. I noticed a commotion in the break room as people kept filing in to find out what was going on.

I logged into FR and found out the worst news of it; didn't get any work done. The boss had friends in DC that they were worried about and had reported that the DC fighters had gotten orders to do shoot downs. I kept thinking that we would have started launching ICBM's later that day or the next at whoever did this.

I remember how quiet and clear it was for the next few days when there were NO planes in the sky.

[Conservababe]

Around 11am I remember talking to a friend outside on 26th street, I knew we would soon be at war. I also knew nothing would be the same going forward.

Yes, we are at war. I remember my family telling of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But, as memory faded of the direct attack on us, many had to be reminded that we were indeed at war for our very survival.

[Euro-American Scum]

I was home sick that day, an early victim of the flu season that year. Came down with it the day after Labor Day. Worked sick the first week in September, but couldn't get into the office the following Monday 9/10.

I got up relatively late for me on 9/11 to take myself to urgent care. Hugh Hewitt was on in the morning back then. Got in the car, turned on the radio and heard Hugh say, "Ladies and gentlemen, Tower 2 has just collapsed." And I knew exactly what he meant, without any further explanation.

I went back into the house and watched the whole business the rest of the day. It was surreal, being that sick and watching a nightmare. I'm only sorry I didn't pop in a videotape to record a little bit of history as it happened for posterity.

Awful. Literally awful. Much worse than the Kennedy assassinations.

[MatthewViti]

I was sleeping before class. my mom called me and woke me up. when i turned on the TV i thought it was the end of the world or something. it was so unreal to see the planes flying into the WTC.

[MatthewViti]

The prettiest sight after 9-11 was when I was standing out on our deck a few days after 9-11. The first flight left the airport (PVD) I could see it take off into the west...directly in between a rainbow. truly magical!

[don-o]

We live near O'Hare airport. The silence was deafening.

I live in Upper East Tennessee, and when I step out at work for a smoke, I like to look up and check the planes; either on approach to out little airport, or the heavies, up high just passing through, and especially the training military missions.

The sky got empty pretty fast.

[mtbopfuyn]

I had just gotten in from driving the kids to school. Normally, I immediately turn the tube on but that day went straight to the kitchen to bake birthday goodies. My funny, funny dear best friend, who always had a joke, called and began with, "Did you hear a plane hit the WTC?" I laughed and waited for the punchline, but she was serious and said to turn on the tv. She was at work without a tv so we called back and forth throughout the morning. I knew it had to be Bin Laden. Her not knowing and me up to my elbows in cake batter, horrified as the towers fell, and trying to balance the phone.

I've been thinking about that day since Monday when I got the call she had passed away. We are just now back from her funeral. I am missing her terribly and now her memory is forever tied with 9/11. How odd it is to try to celebrate a birthday on such a day.