9-11-2001 - Where were you?

[jbsoonerfan]

Tomorrow marks the 20 year anniversary of the most tragic event for the country that I have lived through. It is one of those events that is seared in my memory and I can remember every detail of that day, as I'm sure most of you can as well. I was getting ready to go to my college history class and I was watching TV. They broke in and said a plane had hit one of the twin towers and I watched as they broadcast the second plane hit. That's when everyone knew the US was under attack. I got ready and went ahead and went to school. About halfway through class they closed campus and sent everyone home. I had to be at work at 3:30 that afternoon and I needed gas. I remember the lines to get gas were wrapped around the block. When I got to work I remember the attitudes of everyone and how mad, scared, sad, etc. the emotions were that evening. My story is one of just an average American, I know this event had such a large impact on so many lives that even 20 years later it still seems unreal that something like this happened. 

[flatcreek]

I was framing an addition on the back of a house from the kitchen side.

The homeowner stuck his head out the door and said look through the window at the tv.We saw the smoke and fire from the first tower,stood there a while watching and saw the second plane hit the other tower. We will never forget that day.

[Log Catcher]

I was at work that day driving my van from place to place doing maintenance work. I remember going back to the shop to pick up some parts I needed. All of our offices had a tv in them. As I walked past one office I saw several of the supervisors and foreman watching tv. I walked in to see what was happening. That is when I found out the first plane had just hit the tower. Went through the rest of the day in disbelief that this was really happening.

[Bubba 460]

 

I was at home in Alaska sleeping (at that time there was a 5 hour time difference from the east coast). My brother called me about 4:30 in the morning and told me to, "Turn on the TV, we're about to go to war!"

[Bankbeater]

At that time my job was right next to the airport.  One of the guys in the office said an airplane hit the World Trade Center and it was on fire.  The entire building must have tried to get on CNN at the same time because our network crashed. 

I called my parents because I knew they watched the morning news.  My dad said that an airliner had crashed into one of the towers and they were trying to evacuate it.  Then my mom said be quiet, shut up.  I asked what happened and my dad said a second airliner had just hit the second tower.  I remember I said something like this isn't an accident.

A couple of hours later one of the guys I work with came back in the building from a smoke break outside and said you guys have to go outside.  We all went outside and it was surreal how quiet that airport was. 

[slonezp]

I was on the roof of a Burger King repairing their hvac. Came down around lunchtime and that's when I found out about it. 

[whitwolf]

I took a vacation day to work around the house. I didn't  do a thing but watch TV.

[12poundbass]

Senior year of high school. Around second period we saw teachers looking at the TV’s and we all began to watch. Then we were evacuated to school buses, then those of us that could drive were released to go home. I remember driving through town that evening and seeing lines upon lines of cars waiting for gas. We sat and watched the TV the entire night as a family. 
 

I remember that day like it was yesterday! Trying to explain the significance to this traumatic even to our 11 year old son is interesting that’s for sure. It’s like Pearl Harbor, if you didn’t experience it you won’t fully understand the impact that certain day had. 
 

Interesting story, one of our family friends is a medivac pilot for the Army National Guard, and has done a few tours. He said most of the guys under him weren’t even born when 9/11 took place. Crazy to think up until recently these guys could be called into action over there and most weren’t alive for the reason they’re being called to duty. 

[MN Fisher]

Was already hip-deep in a coding issue when the first plane hit, took lunch at my desk, too brain-dead from fighting the compuker all day to register what my office-mates were talking about as I headed out, listened to a CD on the way home...then the wife told me what had been going on all day...so was after 5pm before I even knew.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I was sitting on the edge of a recliner tying my shoes and watching the news when the second plane hit. 

[DitchPanda]

I was 18 and had just graduated. I was working overnights and living with my folks . My mom called and woke me up...she said you need to turn the news on they are bombing us.

[soflabasser]

20 years ago I was in high school when the teacher put the news on that showed what happened. At that time it was the worst thing that happened in this country. Now there is a Pandemic that lasted for almost 2 years and has killed over 675,000 Americans.

[Glenn]

My clock radio alarm woke me up, with the announcer saying, "You're probably going to hear more about this later today, but we're just hearing that a plane struck a building in NY. Might be a Cessna or small plane, we're not sure. But you'll hear more about it today I'm sure."

 

Slight understatement, ya think?

[Catt]

I was working for European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) in the Manufacturing Engineering Department. When the first plane left its flight path & before it crashed into the World Trade Center our computers were on fire with reports that this was intentional.

 

It was first suggested the plane was an Airbus which had every computer in the room monitoring every live stream available. 

 

One Engineer was on the phone with her brother 2 blocks away givng us live updates.

 

All of management (French, German, & American) shut the facility down & called a meeting in one the hangers. 

 

Not only did these attacks effect America, it effected the Aerospace Industry across the globe.

[DaubsNU1]

I was director of a Student Union on college campus in Missouri...I remember students, faculty and staff standing in the cafeteria watching the big-screen...an eerie silence...we could not believe our eyes. 

 

Earlier that morning I was on-line looking to book a flight to Minneapolis for a conference...later that day I decided I would drive to the conference. 

[Koz]

I was running a Marriott property in Lafayette, LA. On that day we were having our annual Marriott Quality Assurance inspection. At one point we passed the lobby and there must have been 50 guests watching the TV but I had no idea what was happening. When we started inspecting guest rooms I turned on the TV and found out what has happening.

 

To his credit, the Marriott inspector ignored the TV and went on with their job. At that point I didn't care about the inspection.

 

But here's where my story gets a little crazy and scary.

 

When the press starting naming the hijackers one name stood out. Then it hit me. About 7 months before I was running another Marriott in Greenville, SC. As GM, many mornings I would be down in the restaurant greeting guests, talking to them in the lobby, and on that particular morning I jumped behind the front desk because we had a heavy number of checkouts.

 

One guest came up and just handed me his key packet with the room number on it. He just stared at me and said nothing. I remember that he was wearing a light colored, short sleeved dress shirt. But the way he looked at me was with hatred or contempt. I thought maybe something was wrong with his stay. I asked him about that and he just glared. I handed him his receipt and he walked away.

 

The name of the guest was Mohommed Atta. I recognized his face when they showed it on TV. I immediately called my old hotel, told them to print out his receipt and call the FBI.

 

But wait, there's more.

 

Early in my career I was the GM of another Marriott in the Portland / Scarborough area in Maine. A friend of mine was the GM of the Comfort Inn down the road. That's where one group of the hijackers stayed the night before the murdered people.

 

I still remember that day and the next few days like it was yesterday.

[N Florida Mike]

I had driven out early that morning to a small town to leave some equipment to be worked on. I remember it being a beautiful morning and nice relaxing trip. When I got back to I-10 there, I stopped at a gas station to get a coffee. The cashier was watching it on TV as I paid. She said a plane had crashed into the world trade center. I had not heard of the WTC before to my knowledge having never been to new york. 

I said, must be some pilot that didn’t know what he was doing , or something like that.

So I drove the 30 miles back and had to stop and get some lawn chemicals at the store. Right as I walked in , the rep ( A red haired woman named sharon) was watching it . As we were talking, we watched the 2nd plane crash. Then we knew it was an attack. I got off early that day and watched TV the rest of the evening until very late.

I remember being so angry I was going to enlist , but they said I was too old. 

 

[Mobasser]

I was working on a house rehab, in an older part of Kansas City Mo, with two other men. That day, we were working on replacing the plumbing from the basement on up into the old two story house. We had the radio on while we were working, and heard the news of the attack.                      After that initial news, we were almost in shock. We looked at each other in disbelief. One of my crew said, I think I should go home and be with my family. We picked up tools and went home early for the day. I watched the events on TV. I've never forgotten that day.

[Mobasser]

Like everyone, I felt so so many emotions when this attack happened. Fear, anger, and a sense of helplessness. When I made it home, I was sickened by what I watched on TV. I never thought that an attack of this scale would ever happen.

[clayton86]

In my freshman year math class, Mr Bennett was teaching what ever it was don’t remember that part other than math when another teacher knocked on door to wheel in a TV and we started watching the news. Every class rest the day had the news on and school basically stopped as we all watched. 

[Mike L]

I was driving to a job site when what I was listening to on the radio was interrupted with a news alert. 
I went right home called my kids and wife at work.
I turned the tv on and sat in that chair for hours getting more angry as the day went on. 
 

 

Mike

[TnRiver46]

Sophomore classes in high school, we watched TV all day in every class 

[A-Jay]

Assigned at the US Coast Guard Air Station in Atlantic City, NJ

As a Search & Rescue Mission Coordinator, I was busy.

For a while.

There wasn't much in the standard operating procedures manual to cover that insanity.

Didn't seem real.

Did what we always do.

Get it done so others may live.

Never forget

?

A-Jay

[CountryboyinDC]

I was in a lab at the University of Virginia in the Old Medical School.  Someone from the office came down and myself and the principle investigator wondered how a plane could ever so far off course; Newark, La Guardia, and Kennedy are so far from there.  We rigged a TV we had been using as a instrument display (our lab was pretty poor at the time) back as a TV and watched as the second plane crashed into the south tower.  When the plane hit the Pentagon, I told my boss I was taking the rest of the day off.  I went to the recruiting stations, and found the shortest line was in the Air Force one and hopped in line.  It was more than 2 years later when I shipped out (not to the Air Force either, but that's a different story), but those events were still what motivated me.

[moguy1973]

I was working at what was Harrah's Casino in St Louis.  I was on a 4am-noon shift and was a normal day in the middle of my shift when one of my co-workers came over the radio and said, "What the heck is going on?  A plane just crashed into the WTC".  We all ran up to our shop and couldn't get on CNN or any other news website because the traffic was so high so we went out to the casino floor to some of the TVs and changed the channel to a news station.  Watched for a while, thinking it was just an accident like the news stations were thinking also.  Then the 2nd plane hit and lots of curse words were said by some of my co-workers and then we knew the first plane wasn't an accident.  By then all the TVs in the casino were showing some sort of coverage of the attacks.  I remember asking myself, "What is the date today?" and then asking over the radio, saying it was 9/11 and that had some sort of significance to what had happened.

 

To my amazement, and still to this day it amazes me, there were people in the casino gambling, totally oblivious to what was happening, and they didn't care one bit.