Where Were You When You Heard?

[Toad82]

Where and what were you doing when you heard about the 9/11 attacks. Someone on another fourm I am on asked and it was interesting to hear others tales.




I was at home. I worked weird hours and that day I had to be up at 4:30am to be at work on time. I always helped myself wake up by turning on my TV. When I turned it on, they were already showing the first tower. I thought it was a movie or something so I went on with getting ready for work. I figured out what had happened and at that moment was when the second tower was hit, I saw it live on the west coast.

I really didn’t know what to think. After awhile as the newscaster talked I figured that is what other countries go have to deal with all the time. Then I had to leave for work. When I got there my bosses was debating if we should take the day off, but he did make us stay.

A few days later, after all of the talk on the news about other possible attacks we (Salem and Portland Oregon as well as the surrounding areas) had a huge thunder and lightning storm. I lived in a one bedroom apartment and I slept with my bedroom door open. I was woke up by a huge crashing sound and light. I ran around my place as my apartment lit up with each lightning strike. It was about 2:00am and I was still sleepy, but I was the most scared I have ever been. I thought we were being bombed.

It took me about 40 minutes to figure out it was just a storm. While at work that day I found out that lightning hit a lot of things in and around Salem. When I got home I was told the house I could see from my bedroom got hit with lightning and a few trees and other things in the neighborhood. That is why the sound and light was so loud and bright. Seems silly now, but that probably is the most terrifying thing I have lived through. I actually thought we were at war.

In my defense I lived in a very government area. On one side of my place was a house. On the other down the road a little bit was the Oregon National Guard air base. On the other side was the offices for the ONG, and HQ for a few other things within government. And about a mile and half away was the capital building.



RJ:lokai:

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

I had just woken up to go to work when I worked at my college. I There was already fear and confusion at work when I got there at 8 a.m. Because where I lived was right next to the Naval Air Weapons Station and many of the kids we worked with Lived aboard the Base, they were to be brought back from school because the Base was put on Lock Down for security reasons. No one would be able to get aboard unless they lLved on the Base.

We had only been at school a short time that morning when our Bosses came and told the tutors and us Mobility Aides that the kids were being taken back home on the Base, or their folks were being called in to take them home. (Many of the college students we worked with had mental and physical disabilities, and some could not be left by themselves at home)
All of the students were given the option to go home, or to remain at school that day. There wasnt many regular classes that day. We all mainly congregated in the Cafeteria where we watched the News casts on the wide screen TV there. Some of us huddled together in fear and confusion, comforting and holding one another and all of us tried to make sense in what seemed like a world gone mad. Many of the younger people cried openly for those who lost their lives either in the towers, or for the lives lost on the plane.

It was a black day in history..all because a man who tried to cripple a nation. All he did was turn the world against Him, and draw the people of the United States closer together.
God and the Spirits bless their memory and Bless all of us through out the world.
Cat

[darkeyes]

I wos on holiday wiv my hubbie in France an wer on our way 2 Rheims for the day wen the news came ova on the car radio... we hadn planned 2 visit the cathedral cos we had dun so only a few days earlier an am not religious.. but sum how it jus seemed the rite thing 2 do..

[Bluebiyou]

November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination.
April 12, 1981 Launch of the first space shuttle (Columbia).
January 28, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger.
September 11, 2001 World trade center.

Oh yeah, I remember each of those days very well.

[darkeyes]

ooo Blue..ya r an ole wrinkly.. tee hee:tong: but quite a nice ole wrinkly... tee hee:bigrin:

[void()]

I was at home and attempting to access the AJAX web site. It had mysteriously gone down around 8:58 AM, and did not come back 'up' until around 3 or 4 pm. Even then it was restricted.

So, I glanced over to news.yahoo.com and was ran over by a photo of a plane impaling a high rise. Then, I dashed up the hill to my wife's grandfather's. He had coffee on, the telly as well. It was horrific. Neither he nor I could move or speak.

About 11 AM he started. "Well, better get to work. The crazies gone and done it again."

He grinned "Didn't they would did you?"

"North Wood?"

"Probably. Let's go rick that firewood."

"Be there once my coffee is ..."

"You finished the last cup of the pot ten minutes ago."

"Oh, okay."

It was and was not a shock. And it is difficult to say why either way. Excuse me, don't care to think much about it. If I do I get very angered.

[kimba_n_hotrod]

We were living in NC at the time. Both of us were still working our "summer jobs" I had gotten to work early and finished up my transcription for the day and was surfing around in chat. People kept posting that something was going on and there were many conflicting stories. Finally someone posted that the WTC had been hit. Then they were saying that Chicago was next. Scared the hell out of me because we were moving to Chicago in a few weeks. I called Rod and he came over at lunch and we walked over to the School for Public Health at UNC. They'd tuned their big screens to the news channels and there we saw what really happened. I remember feeling sick to my stomach, mad, hurt, confused and terrified.

[angelrose1955]

Yes, I remember those days very well too.
On this occasion, I had just gotten my son up for school when we turned on the TV. Being a little groggy still, the first thing I saw was them showing the plane crashing into the first building...and I thought what a bizarre movie. Not really paying attention to it at first..getting things ready for the day when my son hollared at me to come watch what was going on. It was only then that I realized it was for real.
My son stayed home from school that day and we watched the news unfold all throughout the day....stunned like the rest of the world at just an act.

AngelRose

[jamieknyc]

I was there when it happened, and witnessed the events. I have cut-and-pasted an e-mail that I sent to friends and relatives at the time:

I am sending all of you this e-mail to tell you what I saw and heard on Tuesday morning. Thank all of you for your concern.

I was in court in lower Manhattan when the events occurred and saw most of
it. I did not see the airplane hit because I was in the subway under the
East River, but arrived by train at Broadway and Wall Street within 5-10
minutes after that time. If you know lower Manhattan you know that that is
only one block from the World Trade Center. On the southern side of the
south tower there was a gaping black hole and the two floors where the hole
was were burning. The north tower was also burning near the top. Heavy
smoke was everywhere in the area, and papers were lying scattered in the
street that fell out the windows. I walked north past both towers, which
were burning on the affected floors. No-one who
wasn't actually in the World Trade Center, or in the adjoining streets or
buildings, was in any immediate danger.

I went into the courthouse at 80 Centre Street, which is two blocks north of
City Hall, at about 9:30. At 10:00 the south tower fell and they evacuated
the courthouse. I did not see the south tower fall because I was inside,
but when I came out of the courthouse, everything south of Chambers Street
was a huge cloud of smoke and ash as tall as the surrounding buildings,
which are about 20 stories high.

When the building came down the cloud of smoke started people moving faster
in the uptown direction. Everyone who was south of where I was got covered
with dust from head to toe. I did not because I was one block too far
north. For the rest of the day thousands of people were making the long
walk uptown, anywhere, just away from the disaster site, while ambulances,
fire engines and trucks carrying firemen went south. I started up East
Broadway in the direction of the Lower East Side. I got as far as Henry
Street when the north tower came down. Big chunks of the building fell off
all sides in the downward direction, with a loud rumbling sound like an
avalanche, and the TV tower just sank downwards into the huge cloud of dust.

A lot of the people walking northwards were covered with dust and some
people, especially women, were starting to break down and cry and were being
helped further northwards by friends and coworkers. Others were distraught
because they had spouses, or brothers and sisters, or other family members
who worked down there. I personally did not get covered with dust. Many of
the people walking uptown worked in or near the World Trade Center, but
escaped because they were late for work. Others who saw the airplane hit
were telling the rest what they saw. One or two people saw bodies falling
from the buildings. Some people started screaming when the north tower came
down, but on the whole the entire scene was very orderly. Military jets
were circling over the city for the rest of the day in case of further
attacks.

To make things worse all cell phone communication was out until about 2:00
p.m. Like thousands of other people I was trying to get a cell phone signal
as I trudged northwards. All subway service was out in Manhattan and all
bridges and tunnels were closed. My wife and my parents called my office,
and my colleagues told them I was in court in Brooklyn to keep them from
panicking. I had to walk as far as Astor Place where I was able to get a
bus uptown to Grand Central. My wife works at Bear Stearns at Park Avenue
and 46th Street, so I went up there.


Naturally no-one there had any work to do with the stock exchange closed
down. Everyone was sitting around either watching CNN or trying to figure
out how to get home. The only way out of the city was to walk across the
59th Street bridge to Queens, so the two of us ended up walking across the
bridge with thousands of other people.


I stopped in downtown Brooklyn to pick up my car. From there you could see
a huge cloud of smoke where the World Trade Center used to be. The
prevailing wind was blowing south, so everything in downtown Brooklyn was
covered with smoke and ash and burned paper. Even where I live, which is
about five miles further south in Brooklyn, paper from the World Trade
Center was lying in the streets.

My son and some of his friends went downtown to Canal Street that evening to
see scene. No one could get into the disaster area, of course, but they saw
long lines of cranes and bulldozers going south into the disaster zone.

A friend and client of mine who works in downtown Brooklyn saw the airplane
go into the south tower. He told me he was watching the fire in the north
tower from his office when he saw the plane. His first thought was that the
plane was flying too low to avoid the smoke, when to his horror he saw the
plane fly directly into the building.


Another friend of mine was on a New Jersey Transit commuter train that was
stopped outside the city when the second tower came down. She told me that
everyone on the train was watching the events, and the whole train suddenly
went silent in an eerie way when the passengers saw the second tower go
down.

The next morning there was a long plume of smoke starting from where the
World Trade Center used to be and stretching as far as the eye could see in
the direction of New Jersey and Staten Island. Even on Thursday afternoon
the site was still smoldering. I was in downtown Brooklyn on Thursday
afternoon and passed by the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
Dump trucks of all shapes and sizes were heading down into the tunnel, and I
saw a few coming out the other way filled with rubble and pieces of broken
steel. From downtown Brooklyn you can see a panoramic view of lower
Manhattan. The whole place was silent and deserted across the water, with
no traffic, no boats, no Staten Island ferries or anything else except an
occasional ambulance or police car.


I personally do not know anyone who is missing, although everyone keeps
hearing about others who have friends or family members missing.

[12voltman59]

I was on my way to work--I had just pulled the car out of the garage and had on NPR's "Morning Edition" when then host Bob Edwards broke in a story and talked about a plane of some sort hitting one of the Trade Center towers-at that point--it was thought a civilian light plane had gone off course somehow and hit the tower--I did turn the car off--go back in the house and turned on CNN--they already had the video of the tower burning--as did all three of the cable networks and the regular networks too.

I got back in the car and headed to work-I had about a 20 or so minute ride and during the course of the trip--I was on the phone to both of my editors who were watching things on the television and I was listening to the NPR coverage as things began to unfold---

When I got to the downtown area---I could see in the distance to the east out over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base--one of the several "Doomsday" 747's busting it up nearly vertical to gain altitude-I did not know a 747 could fly like that. The Doomsday jets are flying command centers that get underway during national security emergencies and are able to take control over national defense should that be necessary.

At that time it was just starting to be suspected that we were under terrorist attack and by that time too--the second jet slammed into the second tower.

When I got to work we followed the news and since the one community I covered is where Dayton's airport is located---when they announced the national air stop and that airliners were being brought down immediately to the nearest airport---I went out there to cover the arrival of the passengers on those planes making their way to our airport.

The airport was a wild scene with people scrambling to find ways to get home--many having destinations in places like Canada and the western US.

One guy offered to buy my car!! One group of businessmen traveling together were able to purchase a multi-passenger Ford Econoline van at a dealer 50 or so miles from Dayton.

I was interviewing people when I heard this one young woman-who was watching a television set up at the desk of one of the car rental companies crying and saying: "My God one of the towers just fell!"

Everyone grew silent and very upset.

As I recall--the Pentagon had been hit by this point too.

It was, for such a lovely fall day---a very unusual and sad one of course.

I did not know directly anyone who died---but had about six people I know who lost someone that day--in some cases their son or daughter or son or daughter in-law, a husband, wife, mom or a dad.

I could not imagine actually being caught up directly in the terror of that day---let us hope that such a thing does not happen again---and most thankfully that the terrorists never did seem to follow that day with more attacks between 9/11/01 and today.

[nothings5d]

November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination.
April 12, 1981 Launch of the first space shuttle (Columbia).
January 28, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger.
September 11, 2001 World trade center.

Oh yeah, I remember each of those days very well.

When Challenger was destroyed I was only 6 days old, so I can't remember that one myself. But as for 9/11 I was in High School when I found out. My school was a little delayed in telling us but when they did the basically just herded several classes together into one room to watch it on tv. I had barely sat down in the room when the first tower collapsed. My reaction to it was, what is this we're watching. I had never seen pictures of the World Trade Center before that day so I didn't even know the attacks were on American soil until the newscasters said that it was the World Trade Center in New York City.

[Hephaestion]

November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination.
April 12, 1981 Launch of the first space shuttle (Columbia).
January 28, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger.
September 11, 2001 World trade center.

Oh yeah, I remember each of those days very well.


Ditto!

[12voltman59]

November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination.
April 12, 1981 Launch of the first space shuttle (Columbia).
January 28, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger.
September 11, 2001 World trade center.

Oh yeah, I remember each of those days very well.

With the Kennedy assassination-I was a wee lad so I have only the faintest of memories of that whole thing
I don't recall the first space shuttle mission all that well but do remember the big Apollo missions, especially Apollo 11--my sister was born during that time period.

I very much recall the Challenger disaster and will never forget that since I did do something for that in a peripheral way---I was in the Coast Guard---I was doing TAD for one of the other boat crews cooking for that crew-so I was supposed to have my time in port while my crew was in stand down time, but had to do a patrol with that crew too so I did not get a day off the boats for over two months--but on that day the Challenger blew up---one of the girls on the crew came down to the mess deck saying that the shuttle had been destroyed---we turned the tube on (we had cable for the boats) and the coverage was on---

Everyone mustered on the mess deck and watched the TV and shortly thereafter we got the word we were going to head for Canaveral to assist in recovery operations--we were readying the boat--had the engines warmed up and were ready to cast off lines when they told us we weren't going to help out--we stood down for a day but did go the next day to provide security coverage for four or five days. That was a sad mission to have to do.

And--interestingly enough--when I was out of the service but was then working as a Florida probation officer---- I wound up getting someone on my caseload very high up in NASA who did something very much out of character for him-- a violent criminal act---thanks in large part to the stresses and such caused by his long time work on the shuttle program and his feelings of regret and remorse over the loss of the ship and her crew.

[newlybi&shy]

I remember that day like no other. I was late coming home from school so my brothers and sisters got there before me and was expecting the usual noise that you get from having 5 teenagers, my nan, dad and two German Shepherd dogs and lord knows who else in the house but the moment I walked through the front door there was just silence...no arguments, no talking just a loud silence. I walked into the kitchen and everyone was gathered around the table watching the telly, not a single word was said. I looked at the screen and saw the plane go into the 2nd tower....That was the first and last time that I have prayed to God and really meant it.

[texasman6172003]

Well i very well remember where i was y'all. It was the first time i had ever gone too Las Vegas.Personally i and my younger brother were in our room in the Hotel we were staying in getting ready to go out for the day and have some fun. My older brother and his wife were in there room. Well we had no idea what was going on at the time. All of a sudden we get a call from our Mother here in Sherman.She ask's us if we new what was going on after we put the phone on the speaker phone.We told her no and she told us to turn the TV on CNN and look at what had happend.Well me and my brother looked at each other like what the hell is she talking about? Then we saw it. You could have heard a pin drop even on the carpet.We were stunned at what we were seeing. Iwent too get my older brother and his wife.They could not believe it either. Well needless to say the next thing in order was to find a way back home.With all air traffic grounded there was no flying home.We ended up having to drive over 1,000 miles to get back home. We made it home and were so happy to be there finally.I will never forget the way i felt that day in our room. And i will NEVER forget SEPTEMBER 11TH,2001

[Mrs.F]

Oh yes, I do remember where I was. I remember the whole week actually.
I was woken by the phone ringing, it was my dad asking me if I had the tv on, I said no. I got up finally and turned it on because he said something very bad had just happened. I turned it on and stood there with my mouth open for probably a good 5 min. I had to be to work at 11am and lucky for me, I work at a Blood Center. I had to drive by the front of our building to park my car and all I could see were people standing in line out the doors. I thought...oh shit, this is going to be a LONG day. We must have seen 150 blood donors that day. I am the one that screens and sticks the donors so I was on my feet all day long and did not get home till after 9pm that night. Talk about exhausted. It was that way the rest of the week. Our medical director and CEO finally put out a statement to the media stating that "We know you all want to help and feel helpless at this point, but we have no idea how much blood will be needed at this point. We can't send any blood to NY until they give us the call stating they need it and if you all give now, you will not be elgible to donate again for 2 months...so please hold off until we have more information"
The blood center I work for sends blood regularly to a NY blood center so we knew that we would be sending, but it's not always made public knowledge how much or when is sent. I do know that our total for sending there was WAY higher than normal amount.

I have to say that it was somewhat the same when the Oklahoma bombing took place. People just feel helpless as what to do and donating blood or money is about the only thing they can think of to do at a time like that.

To me, and I'm sure many others for different reasons. 9-11-2001 still feels like it was yesterday! :angel::angel::angel:

[jo69guy]

I was on a supply vessal in the Gulf of Mexico, on stand bye at a rig. Mess up a lot of private helicopter flights and crew changes that day.....:2cents:

I remember worrying about my Aunt who was teaching at NYU at the time. I worried about her until I spoke to my Mom and found out all was well. Other than that I just remember a lot of outrage on the vessal, and disbelief.

[rissababynta]

I felt so stupid later when I really realized what had happened...

I was in High School and I wasn't feeling so hot so I was in the nurses office taking a nap. The vice-principal came into the office and started going off about how someone had just crashed into the world trade center and that the towers were smoking and so on and so forth. For some reason it didn't phase me at the moment and I rolled over and told him to be quite cause some people were trying to sleep...so stupid of me...


Once I left the nurses office I went to my spanish class which had already started and they had the whole thing on tv. When I saw it all happening, including the second plane, that's when it really hit me of what he was talking about...


My school handled it badly and actually caused a little bit of rioting for the rest of the day...

[meteast chick]

Well, I had been married for almost 5 months and was 11 days short of my due date with my first son. I had just stopped work for maternity leave and when I woke up I turned on the tv and thought it was this horrible soap opera. It was just minutes later and the 2nd plane hit and I realized this was real. I was just panicked as my then husband was working as a land surveyor at Lambert Airport in St Louis, so I called him at work so worried that they might attack the airport. Funnily enough it was him who was worried about me and the baby as we lived a stone's throw from an oil refinery in Wood River, IL. My son was born on Sept 23rd so naturally we have quite alot of news articles and papers saved for him from that time. It's too bad that a friend of mine was actually celebrating her son's first birthday on 9/11/01, and his birthday will be a forever reminder of the tragedy that befalled this nation.

luv and kisses,
xoxoxoxoxoxox
meteast

P.S. I was a 2nd grader at the time of the Challenger explosion and my teacher had ushered all of us into a room to watch this wonderful event. Naturally when that happened the teachers were open-mouthed and hurried us out of the room. That is what I remember as well as the mass quantity of television coverage about it.

[steve195156]

i work from my house, so i was at home when my wife calls and said turn CNN on. thats when i heard and saw what was happening that day. watched has the second plane it the tower. i am truly surprized that it has not happened again. sometimes it takes things like that to really wake the world up. i cant imagine anyone having that much hate for anything.

[Bluebiyou]

November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination.
April 12, 1981 Launch of the first space shuttle (Columbia).
January 28, 1986 Space shuttle Challenger.
September 11, 2001 World trade center.

Oh yeah, I remember each of those days very well.

The launch of the first shuttle (Columbia) - I was in engineering school.
Some 200 guys gathered in the commons (student council had recently bought a huge projection TV and put it in the corner). When the engines first went off there was a huge plume of smoke/steam until the shuttle disappeared entirely from view. 200 guys simultaneously gasped and held their breath. What was probably only 5 - 10 seconds seemed like an eternity. A few guys started the quiet "go - go - go - go - Go - Go -...". When the nose started rising out of the plume, the 200 guys simultaneously screamed "Yeah!!!!". We all took not only human/American pride in the event, but a vicarious engineering pride. The Stanley Kubrick's fiction "2001 A Space Odessey" we all saw as kids, was becoming a reality. We did it! It worked!

[sammie19]

I was still at school. When I heard I was sneaking a kiss and a cuddle from my boy friend in an empty classroom when his friend burst in an told us what was happening. I am a little ashamed to say we werent that interested and told him to clear off, but when I got home later and my mother told me of just how bad it was then it hit home.

[fairbankswingers]

Roger was in Qatar, deployed, and I was home in Alaska on the base. That was a day that really changed all our lives and I did not get to see Roger for almost 18 months later and never knew where he was in the world. I did find out he flew alot of detainee missions from Afganistan to Turkey, and he really does not talk too much about that or Iraq.

[Tom41bimwm]

I was in North Carolina, stationed in the Air Force...I had a meeting that morning, and after the meeting my troop and I went to Burger King for breakfast and were sitting in the parking lot when the wife called and told me on my cell. We got back to base quickly and that was a long day. Will never forget it. Less than 2 months later, I was on at a location with a lot of deployed personnel. I was permanent party there.

[12voltman59]

One more bit about my connections to the first shuttle disaster---as it happened on the day they launced the first shuttle since Challenger--I was working as a probation offier in Brevard County----home of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center----I had to go do some things at the Titusville Probation office and the Titusville Court facilities building.

As it happened---they thought they might scratch the shuttle launch that day due to something---but I heard on the radio the launch was on and was going to take place in just a few minutes as I reached Titusville--I turned down a street off US 1 to the right that lead down to the intercoastal waterway--and just directly off to the east sat the shuttle out on its launch pad.

Other people were there--we heard the countdown on the radio--and first saw the fire coming from the shuttle--it is about ten or so miles from that point---then saw it going up--in a few more seconds came the roar. It was awesome even that far distant from the launch site.

I watched the ship go all the way to orbit--hard to believe it moved so fast that in the same amount of time it took me to get from that point to the office by car--the shuttle was up in orbit.

I did get to see a number of launches in the time I lived there with night launches really being impressive.

As amazing as it is to see a shuttle take off---the people I knew in the area who had lived there many years--some of whom worked on the Apollo missions-- said that seeing one of those go up was far more impressive than the shuttles because the Apollo was multiples of times more powerful than the shuttles are.