9/11: Where Were You When It Happened?
As I was growing up in the 60’s & 70’s, there was a saying “Everybody can tell you where they were the day JFK was killed.”
I was probably filling my diaper.
This generation’s saying is “Everyone can tell you where they were on 9/11.”
I’ll never forget it. It was strange enough to see this gaping hole in the first tower with the billowing smoke.
“WTF?”
“Did a helicopter hit it?”
“Plane?”
“Terrorist attack?”
Nobody could be sure. Nobody really knew.
Then, live, on TV, we watched the second plane hit.
That was the moment we were forever changed.
Tell us, Oh Dollard Reader, where were you when it happend?
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I was in 8th grade going to my 3rd period class. Now I’m at the United States Military Academy at West Point because of that very day.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:22 am9th Grade English when I got word of it, was in my World History II class when the attacks began.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:34 am8th Grade English class.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:35 amGetting ready to go to work, my Dad called me and told me to turn on the news. After a moment of shock, we discussed cash, water, food and fuel supply, not knowing where this might be heading.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:37 amI was on my way to the hospital for outpatient surgery. My husband and I were listening to newsradio and at that time the first crash was considered an accident.
I saw the second plane hit on the Today Show while in the waiting room. That waiting room was filled with people of all races and walks of life and, let me tell you, it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. We were all stunned and everybody knew at that point that what we saw was an act of war.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:42 amDriving my daughter to Elementary School - She was just starting fourth grade having transferred from private school to public school.
Today, I drove her to high school. She had her tee shirt on that has a picture of a flag on it and says “American Armed Forces - the True Freedom Fighters” from Protest Warrior. Every year I remind all of her friends to wear red, white, and blue on 9/11 - Every year, my daughter is the only one of her elitist friends saluting our flag on 9/11.
I was back home, standing and watching television as the second plane hit - I could not believe what I was seeing. I remember how very quiet in the DFW skies over the next couple of days. Everyone was quiet and reverent. Drivers had their lights on and had red, white, and blue ribbons on their antennae.
“Train Traffice Halted After Fire in the English Channel Tunnel” - Breaking News on Fox
September 11th, 2008 at 7:42 amI had just gotten out of bed and was getting ready for work when they announced it over the radio. I turned it off and turned on the telelvision. I remember the sense of disbelief I had at what I was seeing.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:45 amI was a senior, in my high school chemistry class.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:45 amSomething I left out, my Grandfather a WWII Vet, was in failing health and would die 6 days later. That night I visited him and he looked at me in a moment of clarity and asked me if we had ample ammo supply. I told him the truth and he was comforted.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:46 amAt Dunkin Donuts in Worcester MA. when I first learned about the “incident”. As I sat watching the TV, having a coffee with a colleague we saw the second plane hit. At first I thought - wow, I can’t believe they have an instant replay available for this accident- Then within moments it sunk in………….. I can feel it again in my skin as I type this now.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:46 amI was sitting at home because i was building houses at the time and the company i was working for was transitioning to a different jobsite.
i remember them showing the first tower with a big hole in it and smoke pouring out. they said a plane had crashed into it and at first i thought it might have just been a horrible accident. but i really starting freaking out when i saw on live tv the second plane hit the other tower then seeing the Pentagon burning. the plane that crashed in shanksville came very close to my house. there were fighter jets cruising the skies from here back towards wright patterson afb alot of the morning.
i was there by myself just yelling at the tv. couldnt believe what i was seeing. didnt know what was going to happen next. definitely changed me forever
September 11th, 2008 at 7:48 amI was at work and a lady had a small TV on in her cubicle. About ten people were gathered around it and we watched the second plane hit the tower.
anger filled me….I knew that this was a terrorist plan but did not now who they were. I was driving downtown afterwards to go to the Federal Bldg when the first tower collapsed. Obviously, the Federal Bldg was closed before I got there. Sad day in many peoples lives.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:48 amAt work my Mom called and said WW III has started.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:48 amI was on my couch nursing a low back sprain when I turned on the TV to see the second plane hit live. I was pissed.
I wrote and recorded the following songs (questionable quality as I am not a musician) about my feelings following 9-11. I still think these will be enjoyed by patriotic Americans. Give ‘em a listen, they stream for free of course:
“Love and Retribution” a crappy sounding acoustic song
Song page: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=38559
“9-11″ featuring eorge W Bush sound bytes
Song page: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=55632
“Time Again” about Americans ready for the fight
Song page: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=96101
“Bin Laden’s Cave” a parody of Octopus’s Garden
September 11th, 2008 at 7:51 amSong page: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=38562
I had just arrived at work, and had logged on to the web for morning updates. There were headlines everywhere with some pics - nobody knew any details yet. About a half hour later the boss called us into his office where he had satellite TV, and we all had our worlds rocked as we watched the second plane hit the tower. It was like watching some kind of Schwartzenegger action movie, but the reality of what we had just seen slowly dawned on us, and we knew that the world would never be the same again.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:56 amDriving to an appointment on a bright sun-shiny morning in upstate NY.
Local radio broke in w/live coverage from WABC. In listening to the coverage nobody seemed to know exactly what the hell was happening. While listening, they were speaking w/a caller when the 2nd plane came in. Suddenly the realization that this day would change the world came over me.
I had three appointments that day. At each home, the TV was on and everyone was riveted. One woman invited me to watch awhile w/her. Her husband worked at the local paper and had to rush out. No one spoke. People jumping out of the towers…
As I drove back along the lakeside north toward downtown, I kept listening to the radio, The pentagon hit, the 4th plane etc…I saw a plane coming in from the west toward the city wondering if it may be another.
Got back to the office. Ex-wife called - very nervous. Our two kids were in school and the school was in lockdown. In the days/months that followed, couldn’t beleive the non-partisanship coming out of capitol hill from the dems, but I knew it wouldn’t last.
Sense of stunned disbelief and anger. The disbelief is gone, the anger lives. Damn those evil wretches to hell who did this, planned this, celebrated this.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:04 amStanding on Fulton Street after getting out of the Subway downtown. Shortly afterwards, panic, shouting, confusion - soon after covered by a dark cloud of dust, running without any destination.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:16 amAt work, watching it on tv, after the second plane hit, I went to my desk and called my wife, giving her instructions on what to do if we heard the nearby nuke plant sirens go off.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:17 amWho
I was late for work and heard the bulletin about a plane hitting the WTC - I immediatelt thought “like the B-25 that hit the ESB? Can’t be!”
I told every soul in the office on the way back to my cube. Eveyone gathered around the radio in our corner (only place to get reception).
I was trying to work and ignored the buzz and chatter until I heard someone say the Pentagon was burning.
I exclaimed, “My brother works in the Pentagon!” — all became silent but for the radio, and all eyes were directed toward me.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:18 amWe didn’t find out my brother was safe until late that evening.
I was upstairs at my home working. I glanced at the tube and saw the smoke rising over Manhattan. I went downstairs were my home schooled daughter sat doing her work. We put on FOX news. When the second plane hit I told her, “The world just changed”. “What!” she said, “We’re at war.” I replied.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:19 amA couple of days later I was stunned by the silence of the sky.
I remember waking up that Tuesday morning with a start, and an inner unctioning compelling me to go turn on the TV set. I was watching NBC when the second plane hit the tower, and the gasps in the studio everyone let out seeing it. And through it all, somewhere, I could sense Evil Spirit laughing what it believed was a triumphal laugh.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:20 amI was over at our accounting office doing maintenance on one of their servers that morning and had stopped into one of the accountants office’s to say high. She had her little 5″ diag b/w tv tunred on when the reports of the first plane hitting the building came on. I remember everyone in that office standing around watching the images on this tiny tv in amazement and shock at what was happening.
I’ll never forget that morning ever.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:21 amI was at work in Charlotte, NC at my desk and heard about the first crash. We went into a conference room to turn on the cable in time to see the second crash, WTF? Everyone knew then what was going on, and we were pissed.
Death to the jihadi, all of them.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:22 amMy husband had woke me up to get the kids ready for school. He told me one of the towers had been hit. Once we had the kids off to school we sat watching. I ask if he thought it was an accident or on purpose.. 30 seconds later the second plane hit and I had my answer.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:24 amI turned on the computer and a Yahoo headline said a plane had crashed into the WTC. My first thought was maybe a Cessna Piper or other small plane. I turned on Fox and as I was watching, I saw the second plane hit. My wife and I were speechless. I was working at Lowes (in CA) at the time and when I got to work and walked into the building, it was silent. No pages, no forklifts going, silent. One of the guys used to work in one of the towers and he was just walking around like a zombie. Another guys mom worked in the Pentagon and we found out later she didn’t make it. The next day I met the parents of Lisa Frost, a new BC grad, dual major, who happened to be on one of the WTC planes.
I can honestly say that is one of the worst days of my life.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:26 amAt work, watching it on tv, after the second plane hit, I went to my desk and called my wife, giving her instructions on what to do if we heard the nearby nuke plant sirens go off.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:29 amI was the paranoid guy in her office until the Pentagon was hit. Ours cars were fueled, and cash was pulled by midday.
I went to the local gun shop that afternoon.
I remember the contrails of the combat patrols over Detroit
and the nuke plant.
I remember being deeply pissed off.
I was on a construction site for a Home Depot in Jacksonville, Florida. The superintendent came out and told everyone to shut down for the day, as a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center (first plane, second hadn’t hit yet, but he knew).
He sent everyone home. By the time I got to my house in Daytona, the second plane had hit already, and within five minutes of me turning on the television the first tower fell. The radio hadn’t really been much help on the ride, as they didn’t realize what it was other than to say that a “terrible accident has happened where a small plane has hit the World Trade Center. More at the top of the hour.”
I can remember the feeling that came over me watching the tower fall on live television. My reaction was bitterness toward not only those who would commit such an act, but antipathy toward those who would allow such an act. I became instantly angry at the government (Clinton government, and yes, I know Bush was in office at the time, however it was Clinton who allowed it). I knew that we were instantly at war and that it would take decades before we contemplated peace again.
Here we are 7 years later, and look at what they are trying to do to our country again. The Clinton cool aide drinkers want us to step right back into that September 10th mentality. “Bring the troops home.” “No war for oil!” all those ignorance infested catch phrases.
As I sit today and watch the History Channel’s “The Day The Towers Fell” I am compelled back into the same feelings I had seven years ago. Anger, resentment, anxiety, and sadness. A sadness that will not allow me to forget how deeply we were stricken that day. This was a cut to the bone on our country’s fabric that can never be repaired. Like our President, I watch these events again and state that there is no in between. You are either with us, or against us. If you are against us, may God have mercy on your soul, because we can not stop until you are dead. For the preservation of not only freedom, but the preservation of all that is sacred, we can not stop.
God has blessed this country, yes, but on the flip side of that coin, His blessing has become our albatross. Those who envy wealth and prosperity fight against us with no regard for morals or integrity. Some of those who fight our very existence live within this country’s borders. This fight is monumental. We must never forget how monumental this fight is, and we must stay vigilant with our watch. Even if it means revolting to take our country back.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:29 amI was in 9th grade, was in American Civics class, learning about how the government works - or is supposed to work, anyway. An English teacher rushed in and turned on the TV as it happened.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:32 amMy wife and I were at a trade show in Vegas, we walked ot of our room and into the elevator in the morning, a worried woman looks at us and said “I can’t believe they destroyed them” we looked at her perplexed then she said “Oh you don’t know yet”
September 11th, 2008 at 8:34 amthen she would not say anymore. We got out of the elevator, the casino still had a few people gambling away, we turned a corner to face the giant horse racing jumbo-tron screens with the planes going in and turning to fireballs. That was that.
8th grade math class. Made my decision final- joining the military. Currently serving in the USAF.
Also went and got the first part of a large tattoo I am planning-
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v706/CptObvious0113/100_2842.jpg
September 11th, 2008 at 8:42 amThat night I went to work at the radio station I worked at in L.A., KEARTH. As I drove up the 5 fwy to the 10 fwy I realized that there were no planes in the sky. Every night I would see the planes lined up to land for miles and that night, nothing. There was hardly any traffic on the freeway and everything seemed really quiet.
That was how one of the worst days of my life ended.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:46 amSitting in my pathology class at Penn State my first year of Physician Assistant program when my professors’ pager kept going off with messages because she was on the red cross team and she said that a plane hit the WTC not sure details several mins later it went off again with another plane and suspicious plane flying over western PA, when it went off again with plane hit pentagon at that point the entire class gasped it was in that moment we knew we were under attack. We all left to go to the student center to watch the news we were there about 4 mins when the first tower collapsed. I wept and then I was filled with rage, still feel that rage, the same as it was that day.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:46 am12th grade homeroom.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:47 amI couldn’t concentrate at all on anything that day…
just was so shocked
I was in my appartment in Bergen County, NJ. I was sick that day so I stayed home from work. My wife called from her office in Hackensack and simply said, “Turn on the news or look out the window. I will talk to you later.”
I did both. I watched from a few miles away as the second plane hit the south tower. I called my mother who was in a town a couple of miles south of my location. She saw the news and was watching out of her window too. The north tower fell and I dropped to my knees as I knew 58,000 people work in the World Trade Center. I got off the phone. When those buildings fell, something died inside me. After the initial shock, I felt a rage greater than anything I have ever experienced. Seven years later, I still hate. I won’t act on the hate I have but I will never trust anyone who had ANYTHING to do with the Muslim religion. Call me biased, call me a bigot … I simply do not give a shit.
Just one of the reasons I hate Barack Obama … that he would even consider the Muslim religion disqualifies him from being President via my vote.
Anyway, back to 2001, I was sure the death toll would be high. I am relieved that it was much smaller than was thinking estimating. The NYPD and FDNY did a stellar job of getting people out of those buildings. They saved thousands of lives and I am in awe to this day. In 2001 I was a volunteer firefighter in the samll town I was living in. I got dressed and went to the firehouse to see what the implications would be to us and if we were going to go into the city. We, unfortunately, did not.
That day have changed the world and not for the better. For me it is the second worst event in history, just behind the injustice dished out to Jesus Christ and just beats Pearl Harbor.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:55 amAt work directing about 30 collecters. Heard about the first hit, watched the second happen live standing in the dining area. Called my old reserve unit, made sure thay had contact info for me if needed. After the second tower fell, all i could think is we are in it for the haul this time, Thank God for having Bush in charge.
My very pregnant wife called shortly after that, asked about my reserve status, and did the best thing I could, I lied and told her her my 6 year IRR had expired, I has zero chance of getting called up. Four days later shen she got around to checking the paperwork at home, she realized I still had 6 months to go, and 8 hours later my son was born. So much for trying to avoid early labor… I have kept a very healthy stock of 9MM, .243, and .30 caliber ammo along with an unhealthy number and variety of shotgun shells in personal stock ever since.
The two thoughts I had most of that day were God have mercy on the souls lost, and how long would it be before I was back in uniform…
September 11th, 2008 at 8:58 amI was visiting my folks in Boston, and had already packed my bags for my flight back to the west coast a couple hours later. The airlines were shut down and I stayed another 4 or five days. If I had taken an earlier flight, I might have been on one of those planes that hit the Trade Center. Any chance I would have realized it was a suicide mission, and that we had to fight?
That week my sister told me about a small child of one her friends, only 3 or 4 years old, who had done a crayon drawing of an airliner about to hit a tall building. In the windows of the plane were smiling faces. When the child showed the drawing to its parents, they were concerned. Did their child not know what had happened, or was he perhaps building some mental wall against the scenes of mass murder, and depicting this inner conflict for them to see?
“Why are the people smiling?” the parents asked delicately. But the child was not at all confused, explaining: “…Because they don’t know….”
“Oh God,” the parents collapsed around their child. The little one knew everything. But how many adults still do not understand the lesson of 9/11, and of Flight 93?
We are supposed to KNOW now that we are at war, and must be vigilant against our Islamofascist enemy, but half the nation is still pretending that Islam is a religion of peace, and that it is okay to elect as president a man who lies about his Muslim upbringing.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:01 amOn duty @ LAX, foam 2–LAFD
totally quiet after grounding of aircraft, every thing stopped in an otherwise controlled chaos operation, patrolling inside the fence-expecting a hit. a very unusual silence.
Totally pissed (still am)
(PS–f–K Islam)
September 11th, 2008 at 9:08 amI woke up to the coyotes screaming as they went by my uncle’s house in Bayfield Co. Deer season was going strong and I thought today would be the day to fill my tag. The morning was beautiful, but there was a strange silence unlike I have “heard” before. I missed a deer and thought my day was over with. Arriving back at my uncle’s…he walked up to me and said the WTC are gone and the Pentagon had been hit by hijacked planes. My first words to him were..Osama Bin Laden. He nodded in agreement. My dad and I arrived back in Columbus, OH on 9-14. Driving back was the saddest thing I ever seen. EVERY flag was at half staff…people had flags all over their cars and I thought….hell..we are united.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:09 amI was about five minutes from work and listing to the radio. I got to work and nobody believed what I was saying. I turned on the radio and logged in on the computer. Fox news had just updated the web site with pics of the first tower. No work got done that day. I called my wife and told her pack supplies and get ready to meet me at the house.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:09 amI was in Okc area when the bombing happend there. It was so surreal because it was like reliving the whole experience again.
At the breakfast table watching the morning news (I work from home). My father was a Captain for American Airlines, gone for 18 years now, but I was wondering if any of the crew on the American flights were friends of his, and if I had lost any friends in the towers, as I had grown up in NY and CT, lots of friends working and living in the city. I called my wife who worked in a highrise in downtown Nashville and told her to keep aware and safe. We were days from closing on a new home, had that moment’s pause, but decided we had to go forward, send out our small, personal message that we will not be stopped by an act of terror.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:20 amTeaching High School. Two co-workers came running into the room telling us about the first plane into the Towers. We turned on a audio/visual TV in the back of the class. It wasn’t even connected to antenna but, it picked up a local Indianapolis station broadcasting live as the second plane struck the second Tower.
Having been there before; I knew we were at war! I was hunting Islamic terrorists with the United States Army and later law enforcement years before: I knew who it was and I knew what needed to be done. We stopped our class and prayed for America, our military, and our President. Then we thanked God, because it was not Al Gore!
September 11th, 2008 at 9:20 amI lived in NYC, but I was heading to a meeting in Hartford, CT. I was about to stop for some breakfast and meet up with one of my guys & was listening to Howard Stern for some reason and it seemed like I was listening to Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds.
There was no traffic into the city for four days, the first chance I got I headed to the city. I lived below 14th Street, the East Village (no I am not nor have I ever been a Libtard Moonbat, family friend was my landlord) so when I tried to get to my apartment I had to show ID and thankfully the cop let me drive the rental car to my apartment. Lower Manhattan was still smoldering. You could see the towers from the roof of my building at the time, probably a mile as the crow flies. I just had my Mom out from Coeur d’Alene the Labor Day weekend and other family over and we had a summer night of cocktails upon the roof, and I remember her being so impressed with the towers that I had to for granted as part of the real estate.
After I dropped of my gear I went up First Avenue to drop of my rental car, and just got stuck in traffic right by the Medical Examiner’s office right before NYU Medical Center. They had already started putting refrigerated trailers on site to deal with the inevitable remains that were to be collected. I saw a cop on the corner of I think 31st St, who looked just ragged tired. Every face I saw was in shock some angry and for a month in the city it was like being in a small town.
After that first month it started to turn into the “what did we do to bring this on ourselves? As the months went on it got really sickening to be in the city. The 9/11 Inside Job crowd began to be really shrill and annoying.
New York City, with the exception of the Emergency Services and the families whom lost loved ones, really has a cesspool of degenerates that aren’t happy enough that around 3,000 died on that day, in fact I suspect to many of them enough didn’t die because our nation to them is evil. International ANSWER and other Soros funded outfits have taken to protesting as close to the site as possible. Sad.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:21 amI was a flight attendant on a flight leaving Omaha and was in the air when the first plane hit. Our first information was when we were ordered to “land/nearest”. We sat on the tarmac, wondering why there were so many planes on the ground in StLouis. The First Officer remembered that he could tune in AM radio on the transponders.
I was in the cockpit at the time and the Captain knew what was going on immediately(TWA had more than its share of Military pilots). He instructed me to go back to the cabin as he announced that the passengers were free to use their cell phones to let their “family know they were on the ground and safe in St Louis.” I was to walk the ailes and “look confident”, yeah.
I watched the blood drain out of face after face. I offered what comfort and reassurance I could. The Captain had suggested that the passengers with cell phones pass them on to those that didn’t have one and soon the whole plane had talked to somebody to let them know they were safe. We were together on that plane for a couple of hours before we debarked. I got home a few hours later, after checking on the status of our TWA ticket office in the trade center.
I turned on the TV at home and sat down on the sofa. I didn’t leave that spot for about a week. The TV was on the whole time. I wanted to be there for everything. I wanted to know. I wanted to stop crying. I wanted to see somebody pay for this horrible crime. My dog thought I had gone insane. I had.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:28 amTwo in the chest, one in the head - three for every fuckin’ jihadi over there.
:gun: 
I’ve said it before, I’ll reiterate it - I fucking hate Islam. I can’t stand Islam. As hard as I try not to hate people for adhering to that fucking stupid viral religion… I can’t help but look at a lot of them with enmity, knowing full well that they either ARE the enemy, or are appeasers of my nation’s enemy - MY enemy. As much as I want to win the war in Iraq, I don’t think we can trust them. We freed them to choose their own government, free of oppression. Well, once we leave… I’m thinking they’ll go right back to the way they were before. It’s in their nature. Every day I become more paranoid of those people in the Middle East. Our so-called allies, I consider enemies.
This is what drives me to resist the liberal takeover of my nation. These bunch of complacent pigs are the ones who got us into this shit in the first place. Now they want to dig a deeper fuckin’ hole. I fuckin’ see these sons of bitches online every day, still behaving and talking as if those motherfuckers didn’t even attack us. These people are never going to wake up. They are beyond hope. The enemy can overrun our perimeter and the only thing they’re going to do is fuckin’ whine that we didn’t do enough, and then run to fuckin’ Canada or some shit because they don’t want to be drafted. How we raised such candy-asses is beyond me.
I was too young to do anything about it then; this time - it’ll be over my fuckin’ dead body. I have been preparing myself to go re-enlist ever since I got out of the Marines. This will drive me to push harder.
It has especially burned me up to hear fuckin’ troofers deny the fucking truth and blame our government for such a horrific, cowardly act. My uncle is one of these people. To this day, I hold no respect for him. I do not speak with him, especially after he disrespected me for choosing to serve in the Marines. Fuck him and everyone like him. You motherfuckers are no better than the enemy.
This was an impromptu rant - pardon me if I don’t really make any sense. The more I thought about it, the more I started seeing red.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:33 amI was at work at a large manufacturing plant. A supervisor told us a plane had hit one of the towers. Those of us that were not on a job went to the break area to watch the TV there. Watched the second plane hit,then the towers falling. Not much output from the plant that day,closed for the next few days. Driving home was dreamlike, everybody was very polite for a week or so. Never forget !
September 11th, 2008 at 9:36 amI was in the DEP (waiting to go to boot camp, for those who don’t know) and heading out the door for a history class. I watched the news until around noon, went to the recruiter and tried to go to boot camp then.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:41 amI worked for an EMS helicopter company in Lubbock, Texas. We were getting ready to have our morning briefing & had the tv on. Heard the news of the first plane & watched the second. The FAA called shortly after that & told us everything was grounded until further notice. The airport filled up quickly with airliners that had diverted to Lubbock…I heard you couldn’t find a car to rent for days.
I flew to Odessa, TX the next day…truly bizzare. I was the only aircraft in the air for the 2 1/2 hours of the flight.
God Bless the NYPD and NYFD.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:48 amI was a senior at Wichita State University. I was in the printmaking lab when I was told a plane had crashed into one of the towers. We figured it was an accident, we turned on a small tv to see what was going on. When the second tower was hit, it became clear this was no accident. We left class and went to the student union building, where the staff had set up every projector and television in the building to the different news outlets. My classmates and I watched the towers fall from there.
I went to my next class, getting no work done, then went to work and got nothing done there either. I couldn’t decide how I should react, whether shock or anger were more appropriate than the other. I decided on anger.
I thought a lot about what my dad would have done, had he not passed away only a year or so before. I don’t doubt he would have reenlisted that very day.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:49 amI was at work. I never had a radio on, my the girl next to me did. She leaned into my office and told me a plane had hit the WTC. My first thought was WTF? What a horrible accident, the pilot must have had a heart attack or something. I called my husband who worked for a federal agency, but worked at home. He always had Fox News on. For some reason, this day, he didn’t. I told him what I heard. We were talking when he said, “holy shit, another plane just hit the second tower”. I felt the blood drain from my face and knew, this was it. We were at war. He stayed on the phone with me for 3 or 4 hours. I know you can all re-call the confusion that day. Someone said a bomb had gone off at the pentagon, rumors flew that Cheney had ordered any planes remaining in the air be shot down, it was crazy. When it was confirmed that the Pentagon had also been hit, I got hysterical. I was thinking OH GOD, how many more will they hit today? I was crying, my husband was trying to calm me down. I said “calm down!! My country is being attacked!”
September 11th, 2008 at 9:51 amMy dickead boss (a foreigner) wouldn’t let us leave, so I didn’t get to see any footage til that afternoon. For the first time in my life, I slept with the TV on that night.
For those who have commented you signed up soon after, God Bless you for your service. God Bless all the soldiers who have served and continue to serve. We are all in your debt forever.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Well, I tried to answer this, LOL- my post got eaten. Oh well.
God bless all who have served and continue to serve this great country.
God Bless America
September 11th, 2008 at 9:56 amI was at work and after we heard that the first tower had been hit, we pulled out a small B/W TV that happened to be laying around and a few moments later, we all watched in horror as the second jet flew into the WTC.
I still vividly recall, as if it were yesterday, the sick feeling in my gut that accompanied the realization that our nation was now at war and the blood was just beginning to spill. I can imagine it was the exact same feeling Americans had when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
To all the young men and women who answered our Nation’s call after 9/11, here’s to you:
September 11th, 2008 at 10:04 amI’m struck by the number of you that were in school then. It doesn’t seem possible that it was so long ago. You who have been taking our rage to our enemies, I salute you for doing what some of us old folks can only imagine.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:06 amThe stepson of the Flight 93 co-pilot went to high school with my cousin.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:09 amI was driving to the track for PT. (Cali Time) I heard it
September 11th, 2008 at 10:24 amon the radio and the DJ’s were thinking some errant crop duster or the likes thereof had hit the first building. By the time I got to formation the CO had the real skinny. Less than an hour later we were dividing into details for gate/perimeter patrols and getting ammo issued. In between jamin’ from one place to another I caught glimpses on the news in different offices. All I knew was that the shit had hit the fan, and it was time to turn some part of the world into a giant parking lot!
I was in 6th grade math class. They wouldn’t tell us shit, total information black out imposed on the 6th grade wing. The school is built like an equilateral T, with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in it’s own wing. Real, physical lock-down of the younger kids was possible as a result.
But I had a job as the teacher’s runner. I had an assignment to pass a note down the hall to another 6th grade teacher. I delivered the note and just… didn’t come back. I slipped out of the 6th grade wing and went to the library, where every TV they had was hooked up and tuned to a different channel. I remember being so surprised at the number of stations that had news divisions, like WGN, that you normally didn’t see.
I watched for what felt like 90 minutes, even though I don’t think that matches the timeline, saw the second plane impact live. I was chased out of the library then, but went home by faking sick. Watched TV for the rest of the day, got home just in time to see the second tower collapse live.
Made the decision to join the Marine Corps that day. I’m in college right now, getting my degree so I can buck for a commission.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:29 amI was in Ft Benning, Georgia. We had arrived earlier that morning from our deployment to Bosnia. We completely stopped our regular business and just sat in front of the tv. All day.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:36 amI was in SOI at camp pendleton.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:48 amBeing that I was on Presidential Support Duty at an undisclosed location, there is not much that I can say about that day other than it forver changed my life.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:29 amI was in court for a speeding ticket. It was also my 21st birthday.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:32 amhad gone into my office at the Commerce Department because I had a business trip to Venezuela on September 12 out of Dulles on American Airlines.
read on Lucianne we were under attack. went outside to the White House and they told everyone to run away as another plane was coming in. Watched the Pentagon burn from across the Potomac. Walked back home across the Mall with hundreds of thousands of others as the metro was shut down.
Joined the Air Force 3 years later and worked at the Pentagon..
September 11th, 2008 at 11:35 amSitting in a classroom at Naval School of Health Sciences San Diego in Independent Duty Corpsman school studying for an NBC exam.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:42 amI was at MCRD San Diego cleaning my rifle after finishing my final drill 3087
September 11th, 2008 at 12:06 pmI was at MCRD San Diego cleaning my rifle after finishing my final drill 3087
September 11th, 2008 at 12:07 pmOn 9/11, I was walking down 2nd Ave with a buddy from work to get breakfast. A firetruck came roaring out of the Queens-Midtown tunnel and turned south so fast that the right side lifted off the pavement at least a foot. I said it was probably a terrorist attack, because that was the only thing I could think of big enough to bring in companies from other boroughs. I am not, by nature, an optimistic man. I hate being right all the time.
I walked into the diner, saw everyone staring at the TV, to see the tower burning. When the second plane hit, I knew (I had strongly suspected terrorism the second I saw the video) that this was a terrorist strike, and that they were muslim terrorists, since it was obviously a suicide attack. Almost everyone around be was in shock. They couldn’t believe what was happening. I was in a rage. I didn’t feel any disbelief or fear or horror. All I felt was cold fury and pure, clean hate.
People say hate is wrong. They are fools. Hate is good. It gives the strength to do what needs to be done, and the fortitude to endure what must be endured. Forgiving your enemies is condoning their actions. Forgiveness is something I’ve never asked for or given. Redemption is overrated. Nothing can change the past, and it’s a waste of time to try. Deal with it and move on.
I didn’t start screaming or throwing furniture like an animal. I was icily composed, for the most part. I think I paraphrased Halsey when I said, “The Arabic language will be spoken only in Hell.” Some dumbshit asked how I knew it was the arabs, and I said, “Who else? If it was one guy, well, everyone’s got their lone nuts. But the only place you’ll find enough maniacs to pull this off is the arabs.” I remember saying something like, “First, we bomb Afghanistan flat, and move on from there.” I knew Bin Laden did it. I’d been paying attention to Islamic terrorism since high school. A terrorist attack didn’t surprise me. The scale and effectiveness is what caught me off guard.
Two things stick out about the reactions of those around me: First, most of the people were utterly incapable of dealing with the cold, hard reality that had smashed their comfortable world to pieces. They were paralyzed by shock and fear. I didn’t see any anger. They just had a dazed, “This isn’t happening” look. They were sheep.
Second, the staff. The wetback motherfuckers didn’t give a shit. They were pissed they were losing business. One of them tried to turn it off because nobody was ordering anything, as if we’d just forget and go back to normal. I said if he touched the TV I’d fucking kill him.
I meant it. The normal restraints on my temper were not functioning that day. I need reasons NOT to do horrible things. Deep down, I’m a very bad person. Certain things bring that out. Watching thousands of my countrymen die in seconds is one of them.
Me and my buddy, who was quiet for the first time since I met him, wound up going back to the office. I had called in to say I was getting the fuck out of dodge, and this piece of shit who wasn’t even a manager told me to go to the jobsite, which was next to the goddamn Empire State Building.
After I did a good impression of someone with Tourette’s, he said to come back to the office. We did, sat around while everyone trickled in because they wanted to account for everyone, then we left.
I took a train that had been sitting in mothballs for thirty years out of Grand Central. Once we went from the tunnels to the El I stood in the open doorway and looked south. I could see the cloud of smoke until we were well past the Tappan Zee Bridge. I did not sleep that night.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pmI was stationed at Fort Carson. 1st Squadron, 3rd ACR and myself were about 1/3 of the way through our pre-deployment safety brief for Bright Star ‘01 in Egypt.
All of a sudden they stopped the briefing and the command group, Sergeant Major and all the 1st Sergeants ran out of the auditorium. About 2 mins. later the Regimental Surgeon came back in and said the briefing would restart shortly but that they would put on the TV on the big screen for us to watch while we waited. The channel was Bloomberg. I don’t think any of us realized what we were seeing at first probably 30 sec. or so. Murmers then started to fill the auditorium as everybody realized something had hit one of the towers.
Then, it happened. The 2nd plane. Big as fucking shit right there on a 20 ft. movie screen. About half of us had been up talking to our soldiers and our buddies at the time but in that instance everything just stopped. It was like we all got punched in the stomach at the same time with the sound I heard. Son of a bitch…
Fuck em. Fuck em all.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:35 pmIt was either a desert Firing eXercise or a CAX. We’d been up since 0600 sitting out there in the middle of the desert bored and a little pissed that the range hadn’t gone hot yet (artillery likes to shoot) and well everyone was MORE pissed when we found out why the range stayed cold that day.
At first we weren’t even sure it was true until a Marine that was doing their tapps and ceps stuff came back to the pause with a newspaper. At first I didn’t know what to think since this guy was known for tall tales and he was skating that whole field op anyway since he got to go back to the rear each day to do stuff related to his EAS.
Somewhat later these fools learned the hard way that “God fights on the side with the best artillery. God fights with 3/11″
And all you guys talking about being in grade school at the time are making me feel old…
September 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pmLate to the party again.
I was on a NJ Transit train pulling into Penn Station in Newark, NJ, headed for work with my nose buried in a book. Had I looked out the window just before we pulled into the station, I would have seen the first plane hit. Didn’t find out about it until 5 minutes later when I walked into my office and the help desk ladies clued me in. I got stuck in New Jersey overnight because they wouldn’t let anyone into the Manhattan. Had to stay at a co-worker’s house overnight. My rage still burns. I never want to lose that and get complacent, like half of the population obviously has.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pmMarine combat training
I shit you not.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pmI was stationed at Camp Kinser, Okinawa when the attacks happened. Me and a few buddies had just gotten off a 16 hour shift with the Camp Kinser Disaster Control Team(typhoon cleanup crew). We were hanging out in Ponsano’s room, wrestling and just cracked open a couple beers when someone started banging on Petey’s door. It was Vergas, a Dominican Republic kid who sounded like he was straight off the boat. My buddy Rodriguez who shared a room with petey asked him what the fuck, and Vergas says, “We’re being bombed!” And we were like shut the fuck up, and he was like “Im serious, everyone is in TV lounge, come look, come look.” Me, Petey, and Rodriguez looked at each and said “holy fuck” and took off running for the second deck lounge to finish watching the attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Centers.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:05 pmI was sleeping off a late night drinking when a lady friend woke me up to tell me to turn on the TV…
By 3 that afternoon I had put in a call to a recruiter to re-up in the Corps (I had already done a fiver), I was that pissed off.
Turns out my rocky relationship with law enforcement made me ineligible to re-up then, by the time they called me up a year when they were hungry for boots on the ground I was already doing the “private security” gig to get some.
I cried when those poor bastards were jumping out of the windows.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:43 pmhomeroom in the 10th grade.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:46 pmI was working in my shop, fireplace mantle I think. When the radio announcer said that one of the towers had been hit.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:15 pmI was a Division Officer aboard a Naval Aegis Cruiser off the Coast of San Diego, didnt see the attacks or the tower falling as I was understandably busy handling some administrative duties for the Weapons Officer as she was in Combat (go figure). Once my morning duties were complete I spent some time in the Officer Wardroom with others as the ships training events were all cancelled. I remember the moment as I was heading to Officers Call when one of the other Division Officers informed me of the attacks. Remember like it was yesterday. As the day progressed there was a pervasive feeling that this was a prelude to a full scale invasion. There was no information anywhere. Around the middle of the afternoon, the Commanding Officer, the Weapons Officer and I met in the CO’s cabin to discuss upgraded security procedures.
I’ll never forget the looking at the data streams in regard to ships at sea and seeing the entire flotilla of ships based in San Diego sortie out of port.
The other thing I will never forget is pulling in to Port Hueneme later that week after about 4 days outside the City of San Francisco (we had been ordered at flank speed to head up there and help protect the airspace).
I was on the bridge wing next to the CO as we are going through the channel and finally the CO leaned over and expressed what we where all feeling. As we traversed through the channel under heavy Navy and Coast Guard protection the Captain looked at me and said (God, I will never forget it!) “I wonder what kind of world we are coming back too.”
After a few days in Port Hueneme we headed back to San Diego and the same feeling entered our hearts and minds. I remember being very very angry because we put on the uniform, risk our lives, sacrifice time with our families so that we dont have to come back to our cities and go “what can we expect, what will the world look like!” It pissed me off to no end and continues to this day!
I get so fucking incensed with the fucking pukes that have no idea what happened then and still havent got a fucking clue.
God bless America
RA
September 11th, 2008 at 3:39 pmLT USN
“fmder”
I was at home sleeping since I was sick. My daughter called me from school and told me to put the t.v. on right away because something horrible was happening in N.Y. She said her whole school was at a standstill and they were watching the news. I put the t.v. on and thought maybe the first plane hit was a horrible accident and then bam the second hit and I cried because I knew it wasn’t and all I could think about were the people there. Then there was only anger.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pmRadio alarm clock went off at around 5:45 a.m. (PDT) and
the hosts were talking about a plane hitting the WTC *on a clear day* so I flipped on the tv and sat and watched and wondered. Ten minutes later I am watching the video as the 2nd plane hit and the talking heads (must have been watching a delayed feed) are babbling for a couple secs about some irrelevant topic. I alerted my folks then called and woke up a friend and his wife.
I recall talking to a friend the next day who lives in Vegas and he was pissed that members of the Saudi Royal Family were staying at the hotel he worked at and were taunting and joking with the employees about the attacks.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:17 pmI was loading a truck full of custom woodworking (I’m a cabinet maker in NJ) when the first plane hit and we were going to start off to Manhattan after lunch. My girlfriend worked in the North Tower and was late to work that day, she was turned back on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
She lost many friends that day.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:20 pmI was in 6th grade, living in LA at the time. My dad woke me up earlier than usual telling me to watch the news. I saw the 2nd plane hit, and both towers were down by the time I left for school. I didn’t know anything about terrorism back then, but I suspected the Palestinians. Turns out I wasn’t far off.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
This Guy - Semper Fi!
September 11th, 2008 at 4:47 pmI was sitting in my apartment in Amsterdam. It was late afternoon and I was watching fucking CNN World. I knew the world had changed and so had I. For a month, starting on my birthday Oct 15th, I considered joining the CIA. As a pianoplayer, I thought I could work in hotels in Europe and gather intel. They probably wouldn’t take me. After we went into Afgahnistan and the CIA performed so well, I thought they really don’t need me.
I salute those among us who did sign up after 9/11. You are the coolest people in the world. God Bless you all.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:51 pmI was awakened from a dream by explosions and screams.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:32 pmGetting ready to go see my orthodontist. Spent all day at school (9th grade) watching the news and talking about it.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:08 pmI as in a highschool computer class when we heard what happended, grabbed a TV and watched all day. that is the day I decided to join the military, and 7 years later i just finished my first month as an officer in the air force.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pmAt home ready to go to work when my wife came out to look at the TV and I said, “You ain’t going to believe this one.” And then bang, the second plane. The D.C. plane and then Pennsylvania. God bless the souls of the victims. May the terrorists all burn in hell.
Islam sucks. And all who follow it suck including any that may be in our military. They are the enemy of the nation. Get them out of the armed forces.
September 11th, 2008 at 6:55 pmDeath to Islam.
Death to the followers of Mohammed the pedaphile.
I was driving to a meeting at the county building when I heard on the radio. My husband called me and we discussed whether the building would pancake. When I heard on the radio the second one hit, I knew it was a terror attack and called him. By the way, all you babies who were still in school–bravo, you brave and gallant boys and girls who joined the military. You answered the right call. I salute you and thank you.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:01 pmTurned on the news first thing in the morning as I always do. The first plane had just crashed into tower 1. The thing I remember most is how confused all the reporters were. They kept reporting contradicting info. I remember watching live as the second plane hit the tower and knowing 100% we were just attacked. They cut to Washington with the Pentagon, but no one had any real details. I never expected the towers to fall, as they did the flood of emotions went from disbief to sadness to anger. As the numbers of dead were reported the desire for pay back was first in my mind. My heart broke as people looked for news of missing loved ones or the fire & police that were killed as they rushed to help others.
The memory most in my mind is how everyone came together. Flags went up on nearly every house on the block. When all the members of congress stood on the Capital steps and sang God Bless America my heart swelled with love for this country.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:08 pmI was asleep, the ringing of the phone woke me but I was alone in the house and did not want to answer it ( worked the mid shift, off @ 1AM) so I was just laying there waiting for the machine to pick up and when it did it was an old family friend Frank Travelle who usually called me to ask me if I could help him with this project or some repair issue at his home. See, Frank was pushing 90, a WWII vet who was retired from the movie industry, going blind, with a right arm that didn’t do much thanks to a German Mauser round during his capture in North Africa but that’s another story.
Usually soft spoken, but not this morning, no, his voice thundered out of the machine in the kitchen, boomed down the hallway through my open bedroom door and brought me to wide awake with…”RICHARD…GET KIM….GET THE KIDS..RICHARD GET EVERYONE DOWN TO THE BASEMENT…HOLY…THEYRE BOMBING EVERYTHING!!!”…..(click)
With the world’s biggest W T F look screwed onto my face, I padded to the TV in my room, turned it on and saw the Twin Towers on fire. WTF soon turned to, “Those MF’s,THOSE MF’s!!”
I will never forget Frank’s warning nor the irony of having the alert sounded by someone who almost did not make it back fighting for this country’s freedoms as my son now does with the USMC serving tour #4 in the sand-box with what may be ( I pray) a very dull rotation thanks to what he and ALL of our fighting forces did on the first 3 tours. Since 911 I stay alert to things around me daily and I go to the range frequently. 911 woke up the sheep for a brief time (sadly). Now we have the Rosie troofers,code pinkos(a mouth sized tampex please) CAIR, a muzzie congressman and worst yet, a Marxist (”O-muzzie?”) with his gaggle of fellow travelers standing on the cusp of becoming the CIC.
The sheep-dogs shake their collective heads in wonder
September 11th, 2008 at 9:55 pmI was at a client’s site in West London. The whole office was squashed into the reception area watching a TV that the security guard had for when he worked nights. It felt like the beginning of the end of the world.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:15 amI was decorating my home for my best friends birthday. She turned 50. I was outside putting up appropriate decorations. I came back in, was running late and didn’t plan on turning on the TV, but I did. What did I see…the burning first tower, I heard a rather confused Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. I was very late to work that day. I will never forget. I have been in the Army 20 years, and would stay another 20 if I could. I recently went to Iraq and would also go back there. Judy
September 12th, 2008 at 8:46 pm