What were you doing on 9/11/01?

The Australian ^ | September 09 2003

[Liberal Classic]

I was running a little late for work, and had cable news on the TV as I was getting ready to go. I saw the second plane hit on the live feed. I did a little posting on FR but had to go. I was quite late to work, and when I did get there none of us got any work done. We few vets at the office called our old units, but they said don't quit your day jobs because we should try to lessen its effects on the economy.

[retrokitten]

I worked 2nd shift (2pm-11pm) back in those days, so I was still asleep. My husband was already up and came in the bedroom and hugged me. In a sleepy voice I asked him what was wrong and he told me the World Trade Centers had collapsed. Now I was wide awake. I just thought he had to be mistaken, buildings just don't collapse on thier own. I went into the living room and saw on TV what was going on. I couldn't do anything but sit there dumbfounded.

They kept showing that 2nd plane going into the building over and over and once it actually sank in that this was not a movie or a cruel joke I just broke down and wept. Who would do this to us? Why?? It was just so unreal. We both sat there transfixed all morning.

Work for me was cancelled, but my husband had to work and they did nothing but listen to the radio all night. I just sat and watched Fox News. I don't even remember eating. I just sat there with my box of tissue.

I couldn't sleep decently for at least a week. Everytime I closed my eyes I just saw the buildings falling and people screaming and running over and over. I took that time that I was tossing and turning to pray and I prayed more then I ever have in my life.

We did nothing for what seemed like weeks but watch Fox News. I'd cry everytime they would play one of those musical montages (sp?) set to "United We Stand" or "Proud to be an American" or any of the others. (I cry pretty easily)

[BureaucratusMaximus]

I had called in sick to work that day and saw it ALL on TV LIVE! Seeing that second plane LIVE had to be the most scariest moment of my life, and I live in the suburbs of Chicago.

The weird part is...when the east coast got blacked out a few weeks ago, I had already called in sick to work as well. And yes...that was the only other day since 9/11 that I missed work. (minus a vacation here and there)

I consider myself a national security threat if I have to call in sick.

I thought 9/11 was going to be the turning point of this country and we would actually see America becoming America again...well...you know the rest of the story.

[Salgak]

I was in my office in a dot-com in Arlington, Virginia. We had a conference going on, I was surfing FR (I was the Systems Administrator). Suddenly, the net slowed to a crawl: most news sites were unreachable. A colleague ran into my office, and told me to turn my radio on, a jet had crashed into a building in New York. . .

We turned on the Company TV, just in time to watch the jet hit the second tower. At that point, it was obvious that this was NOT an accident. I was reporting just that to the company President when a jet flew by, far closer than normal. About thirty seconds later, we heard a loud explosion and felt the building shake a little. (We were about 3-4 miles up from the Pentagon.) Then the TV broke the news that a plane had hit the Pentagon. 10 minutes later, we closed the offices: I started a fresh backup of our data, and took the last three consecutive backup sets home with me that night.

I also have a friend who lived on the hill overlooking the Pentagon, somehow, I got through to him at his office at the Patent Office, and offered him an Evac out of the area, not knowing what would happen. Mistake on my part. 7 hours later, after fighting traffic on a scale DC had never seen before, or since, I got him, his cat, and 6 random GI's out of the Pentagon area, dropped the GI's off at a commuter parking lot in Woodbridge, Virginia, and got home, to a TOTALLY hysterical wife (cell phones were pretty much useless after about 10AM in DC. . . ).

The ride out was memorable: with the exception of my pal, everyone in the car was either military or ex-military, and we all KNEW that a war had just begun. . . .

[Only1choice____Freedom]

I consider myself a national security threat if I have to call in sick.

How are you feeling today? Let us know when you start feeling a little ill, I wanna know!

[in the Arena]

I remember trying to get away from the TV/Internet for a while and sitting in my yard staring at the night sky...not an aircraft to be seen or heard...except the jets out of Luke flying CAP...

[evilC]

My brother was visiting me in New York. The previous Friday we had gone on the Ellis Island boat trip. On our we back went to the viewing deck at the top of WTC 2. When we came down we stopped and enjoyed the sun on the plaza.

On September 11, I awoke sometime after 8.00am. It being a studio apartment, I tiptoed across my still sleeping brother. After showering and dressing I grabbed a coffee from the local deli.

Back at my apartment, my brother was still sleeping. I fired up the PC, checked my e-mail and headed to Freerepublic. In the sidebar was the headline *** PLANE CRASH - WORLD TRADE CENTER ***.

After reading that I spent a few minutes trying to find details. No websites that I went to had details up. I turned on the TV, and there was WTC 1 with smoke billowing out of the top floors. My brother woke up and asked what was happening. I filled him in on what little I knew and we continued to watch, trying to figure out exactly what had happened.

About two minutes later a plane appeared to the left of WTC 2 and veered right ......

It may seem strange, but there are two things that gave me a smile during that time. The first was a sports commentator who was to update us on cancellations and began "Perhaps when the history of this is being written sports will be seen as secondary ....." [he realizes how dumb this sounds] "... or maybe tertiary [making it sound even dumber]". The other was footage of someone running from the dust cloud of the falling WTC 2, as he ran you could hear him say "hoooooly shii[expletive clearly heard]". During grim times you sometimes have to dig around for smiles.

[AppyPappy]

I know what I didn't do. I didn't turn on the news that day. I think I watched the Food Channel for about an hour. I got everything from FR. I just didn't want those images burned into my brain.

[PigRigger]

"I was 2-1/2 miles North of the WTC."

Same here, office between 26th and 27th.

I get in at 7am, around 8:45am a fellow colleague stated he heard a very large explosion outside. I went on FR and soon realized a plane had crashed into the WTC; I believed it was deliberate from the get go.

For most of the day I just watched and listened while roaming the streets. The pain and grief was obvious everywhere. It was surreal, everything was quiet except for the sirens, helicopters, passing military jets over head and the sobs of those crying.

All attempts to contact my wife were fruitless, the circuits were always busy. Sent an e-mail to my brother asking him to tell my wife that I was alright, wasn't sure how I was to get home though.

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.

Walking to the LIRR around 4pm was easy that day, no cars were on the streets except for emergency personnel. It was so quiet. We were greeted at the LIRR entrance by Police in Flap jackets and Automatic weapons. Dogs sniffed us up and down, while the police searched us. Although there were thousands of us waiting, no one seemed to mind.

The ride home was crowded and very quiet for the most part. Seating was accommodated for those who were obviously more affected, the amount of sought covering them gave them away. It was if we were all in a state of shock.

When I got off the train in Babylon I went to the Church around the corner from the station and prayed.

When I got home I hugged my wife and kid, I couldn't let go of my daughter.

Later that evening I sat with my frightened daughter in her room and attempted to explain to her the meaning of the days events. That day she learned about good and evil.

That's what I did on 9-11.

[1L]

I had a 7:30 (CDT) haircut appointment that morning prior to going to work. I planned on stopping by McDonalds on the way home to pick up breakfast. After leaving the barber the radio station I had on (WBAP 820 DFW) had the morning guy Hal Jay mentioning that a plane flew into the WTC. Perhaps he said something like, "we have reports of ..." Anyway, it was somewhat vague, but I didn't really think much more about it than I would any other type of accident. I assumed, as did most everyone else, it was a small, Cesna type, plane. I estimate it was about 7:55 CDT at that point.

At any rate, I drove through McDonalds and then home. I don't remember if I was switching stations or not, but I do remember immediately after leaving the McD parking lot, 820 had their news director on the phone with someone in a building just north of the trade center. The guy on the phone had to be to the north and east of the towers. The conversation went something like this:

WBAP: Describe what happened.

Phone guy: (Explanation on what he saw with the first plane; second plane hasn't arrived. Explanation continued for a minute or two).

Phone guy: My God, there's been an explosion.

WBAP: (Interrupting) A second plane has hit the other World Trade center. Did you see the plane?

Phone guy: No, it wasn't another plane it was an explosion.

WBAP: No, on the telecast it clearly shows another plane.

I don't recall exactly what the phone guy said after that, I'm thinking WTF is going on. This is obviously a terrorist attack. Later, when I realized how much confusion there was -- even at the scene -- that we would be hearing about all sorts of stuff. The phone guy wasn't trying to mislead; all he saw was the wicked explosion from the south tower, and was either blocked from view, or far enough away that it looked to be from the same tower first hit.

I get home, turn on Fox and flip between that and CNN. Most people are running some sort of local NYC feed. Its probably about 8:10 CDT now, and they are showing replays of the second plane. I eat breakfast and watch for about 20 or 30 minutes, then get ready and head to work. I don't remember for sure, but I think both towers collapsed as I was listening to the radio on the way to work. Either that, or the North tower went right after I got to work.

I didn't know anything about the Pentagon or the false State department bomb until I got to work and huddled with everyone else around the TV. I think I billed like an hour and a half, if that, that day.

[hemogoblin]

My kids (then 6 and 10) came in and told me about it as I get up (I work into the wee hours and get up around 9:15 EST).

I stood there w/ coffee and watched it on TV and kept telling them, "Always remember this day, right now, because it's going to shape the rest of your lives."

Then we took a homeschoolers' field trip to some botanical gardens. First we all prayed, and then I listened to the news on a walkman as we walked around. I took this picture that morning:

[k omalley]

DH and I were in Valenca, Portugal. We were sitting outdoors at a cafe on a beautiful day. One of our guides went back to the van to make a phone call and turned on the radio. He came back to the cafe and told us what had happened. We were terrified as two of our daughters live in Washington, DC. We crossed the river to Tuy, Spain to our hotel and immediately went to the lobby to watch TV. It was like watching a disaster movie, only it was real.

[finnman69]

I remember for days after quiet skies in NYC with no helicopters, not aircraft other than fighter jet patrols which themselves were very loud and unnerving.

9/11 itself was a beautiful warm clear day with incredible blue skies. Very surreal.

[Grammy]

I was sitting at my kitchen table drinking coffee, talking to Mr G and I noticed the banner on Fox that said "plane hits WTC". I turned up the sound, and as soon as they had pictures I knew it was terrorists.

It was unreal to watch the second plane hit live. My brain kept saying it was a replay, but the smoke was already there so it couldn't be!

Mr G was talking to an architect when the first building went down. They had just agreed that the collapse was the only possible outcome for both buildings. We were surprised at how quickly it happened though. Obviously, all work was off for the day.

Then there was the discussion with my ultra liberal brother in law. He said we were making too much of it, that this was just the equivalent of a national snow day.

[OldFriend]

I thought there were no more tears until I began reading the comments from Freepers.

Thank you for this thread.

[Labyrinthos]

I will never forget that day. I live in the northern suburbs along the Hudson River. I remember going out to the end of the driveway to pick up the newspaper and seeing a low flying passenger jet heading south along the river valley. Although I thought the plane was flying a bit low, I never imagined there was a problem because planes often followed the river south before turning right to land at Stewert Airport in Newburgh, New York. I finished dressing and then hit the refresh button and reloaded Free Republic one last time before heading off to the office. At the top of the breaking news column there was a report, but no details, about a plane crashing into the World Trade Towers. The low flying plane that passed over a few minutes earlier never crossed my mind, and I assumed that a small plane had hit the tower by accident, perhaps causing superficial damage to the building and a few injuries and deaths.

I got in my truck for the three mile trek to the office. My radio was already tuned to the "Curtis & Kuby Show" on WABC, and by the time I reached the end of my driveway, I realized that the small plane that I thought had hit the Tower was actually a commercial jet loaded with passengers. My first reaction was "oh my God." My second reaction was terrorists. Then as I was turning into the parking lot at my office building someone on the radio, who I believe was live at the scene, announced that a second plane had crashed into the WTC. Terrorism for certain.

I sat in the parking lot listening to the various reports coming in live as the event was unfolding. I became angry and sad and at one point I hyperventilated because I had attended a meeting the day before at "One liberty Plaza," which is one of the low rises at the WTC, and I was supposed to attend another meeting at the same place at 10:00 a.m. that morning, but sent one of my employees instead.

The news had spread quickly and by the time I reached my office, everyone had learned about the attack. I logged onto Free Republic and became a source of breaking news and lot a speculation. And dozens of people from all over the building crowded into our conference room to watch the events unfold. Silence and shock was the initial reaction, and then many of us weeped as we watched the towers collapse one by one.

We had no contact with our employee who was supposed to be attending the meeting at the WTC, and as the day progressed I spoke with her husband, and father, and sister on multiple occassions, trying to give them hope, at a time when hope seemed so distant. Another employee literally had a breakdown because her brother was a trader in one of the towers. And a third employee left the office to comfort her family because her sister,eight month's pregnant, worked on the 45th floor of South Tower.

I closed the office at noon, but many people stayed because they didn't want to be alone. People who had seen each other in the building for years, but had never spoken, were now friends. By 3:00 p.m., I was the only one left in my office suite, and the parking lot was nearly empty. Still no contact with my employee. At 4:00 p.m. I went to the local pub and had a few with the regulars. Everyone had a story like mine, a friend or family or co-worker who was missing. At 6:00 p.m., several of us went to the train station to offer comfort and assistance to those who had made it back. I can't describe right now what I saw and the stories I heard from some of the survivors who had been at or near the WTC that morning because I'm starting to get emotional just typing this post and I think I'm about to lose it again for the third time in three days.

I'll end the post here, except to say that I heard from my employee late that evening. She was a few blocks from WTC at the time the clocks stopped, close enough to get caught in the fallout from the plume of dust and ash and debri and the rush of people to escape. She eventually found her way across the Hudson River to New Jersey and then on to a PATH train to another train station many miles from home. The relatives of my other two employees also escaped without physical scars. Thouands of people weren't so lucky.

[OldFriend]

The safe landing of untold numbers of planes that day continues to be one of the most amazing accomplishments of that terrible day.

Thanks to all those who labored to make that safe landing happen.

[Reagan Disciple]

I was just about to leave my office in Midtown for a 10am meeting on the 70th floor in WTC 2 when my mother called and told me the WTC 1 had been hit by a plane. I told the people in my office what had happened and no one could believe it.

I got on CNN's site just before it crashed and saw the image. My sister, who worked and still works in WTC 3, called and said from her office she saw the first plane go in. Not knowing what was going on, she though a smaller jet (Lear-like) had gone in and was told that security was going to find out what happened. She hung up with me to call our mother.

She called me back a few minutes later and told me she hadn't heard a thing about evacuation and that the smoke was so thick that she could bearly see outside. I was on the phone with her when the second plane hit - she thought that the first plane had exploded. I heard her office get rocked from the second plane and told her to get out of there - she agreed. She hung up with me and I called my mother to tell her she was leaving.

We tried to get in contact with our collegues in WTC 2 but could not. The whole floor milled into conference rooms to see the horror. I stayed by the phone to wait from my sister. I was still there when WTC 2 fell. My heart dropped. No one had heard from anyone. My mother was a mess and there was nothing I could do. Thankfully my wife works close to home so she left work to be with her.

Then WTC 1 fell and my office went nuts. Everyone started to disperse without knowing where they were really going. I think they were just so scared that they wanted to be anywhere but where they were.

At around 11am my mother called and said my sister called from 23rd St. and was heading up to Penn Station so I started over there. I went with a friend from work since we lived in the same area and figured we would get home together.

I got to Penn Station and it was a mess. People were everwhere and to look down 7th Ave and see the black smoke was sickening. I told my friend if he wanted to leave he could because I wasn't leaving without my sister but he stayed to help me. We started walking down 7th and there were people all over the street and I thought, "I'll never find her in this." People from downtown covered in dust and soot were everywhere. A lot of crying and screaming but for some reason it sounded quiet, an eerie quiet.

I was in the middle of 7th now - so many people were there that we walked in the third car lane from the sidewalk. As I approached the MSG marquee the crowd split for just a second and from the street I thought I saw my sister on the sidewalk. I called to her but the crowd closed up. I yelled once more and I heard her yell back. I told her to stay put. After a few seconds I found her and for a second I forgot about what had happened.

We walked over the 59th street bridge into Queens and hitched a ride home from my friend's father-in-law. Walking over the bridge and looking downtown at all the smoke was surreal. I got home at 6pm.

All but one of my collegues made it out of WTC 2 that day. And their stories don't end like mine.

[krb]

I was asleep and my roomate barged into my room and told me that I should get up, "someone is flying planes into the World Trade Center."

I got up and we watched the news for awhile and she decided to go to work. She got halfway up the driveway and I saw her turn around and come back, running in. "The radio just said a plane just hit the Pentagon! Jesus!" So we watched the tube some more, then she had to leave again.

Same thing happened again. "Another plane went down in Pennsylvania!" as she ran back in the house for the second time. This time we both stayed home and were glued to the TV all day.

[Crawdad]

I was taking my kids to the dentist.