11 years ago today... where were you?

[ddbaab53]

Waiting with my niece at her home for a phone call from her husband, Port Authority officer Richard R, saying he was okay....

It never came:(

 

We will never forget!

 

 

Miss you Richie

I am sorry for your lost but thank you for what he did.

[higgib]

I had just collected my 3yo from her first day at Nursery (kindergarten). I am from London, so it was just after 1pm. My DH rang me and told me to switch on the tv because the WTC in NY was on fire - he thought it had been hit by a small plane. As I watched, horrified, I saw another plane approaching, and screamed down the phone as I saw it hit the 2nd tower.

 

An hour later, to my horror, that tower collapsed. I had to collect my elder daughter from school, and by the time I had returned, the other tower had also fallen....

 

That evening I visited my grandmother in hospital and asked her if she knew what had happened today. She said "Of course I know!" 6 days later she died.

 

I am part of the world firefighting community, (I work for the London Fire Brigade) and when I went to work the next day, everyone was in such shock that our brave fire service colleagues in the US had been involved in such a horrific tragedy. We sent a book of condolence with literally thousands of tributes to try to offer some form of comfort.

 

2 years ago I had the honour to visit NY with 55 Brigade colleagues to take part in the Tunnel to Towers run along with thousands of Americans, and representatives of worldwide emergency services. It was pouring with rain, and I'll never forget running through the Battery Tunnel and coming out the other end to the applause of 343 NY firefighters standing soaking wet in dress uniform, with huge photographs of their lost colleagues around their necks.

 

These firefighters were applauding us!

 

It was my huge honour to take part in this annual event organised by the Stephen Siller Foundation (he was a firefighter lost in the tragedy), and I felt truly humbled that so many New Yorkers thanked us for coming over to support them.

 

Our hotel overlooked ground zero, and I couldn't believe that the huge empty space once had those 2 proud towers standing where now there was nothing but a building site.

 

New York is still a fantastic city, and today, everyone involved is in my thoughts. G-d Bless.

[pralinequeen]

I was on my first cruise with Carnival at a flea market in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. While getting into a cab the driver told us that something bad was happening in the States, planes were flying into buildings. When we got back to Miami, we had to stay on the ship for awhile while customs went through records. It was a good thing that I drove from NC because my sister had flew in from PA. There was no transportation moving or leaving for a couple of days. So she drove back with me and stayed until she could get a flight out.

[thesanders08]

I was in the 8th grade. I did not go to school that day. I just watched the tv all day just feeling so awful for everyone and their families. Just sat there in disbelief.

[thesanders08]

Waiting with my niece at her home for a phone call from her husband, Port Authority officer Richard R, saying he was okay....

It never came:(

 

We will never forget!

 

Miss you Richie

 

I am so sorry. Keeping you and your family in my prayers.

[MissKIA]

I was 15 and a junior in hs. My hs was one block south of the towers. I saw things, felt, smelled, and heard awful things that still haunt me until this day. I will never forget it.

 

Oh my what a horrible thing to witness at such a young age! It was terrifying watching it on TV never mind being there and experiencing it. I can't even imagine.

[Uri1961]

I was on my way to work when I heard it in the news. When I got to work one of my co-workers was crying b/c her brother worked in one of the buildings and she did not know if he was alive, I felt so bad for her. We had an awful manager that said "keep working, nothing has changed" I will never forget that!!!.

 

I guess she got in trouble b/c after a while we were able to listen to the radio. I will never work for that woman again!!!!

[missygirl]

We were at the hospital awaiting the birth of our first grandchild who in fact did arrive 9/11.

[Dymediva]

I was at college in class....I could not believe what was happening. I will never forget that day, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was so sad and heartbreaking:(

[KansasK]

I was at work and a coworker called me to see something on TV in her boss's office. Normally the TV was off. We could see the tail of the first plane that hit the first tower and could not believe it. I had to go to a training and the trainer said her son possibly might call her because he was coming home from China that day.

 

I work for a school district, and people were from other school buildings and got e-mails, so others checked CNN and we were all in shock. The trainer's son was diverted to another city and did not make it home that day.

 

When I got back to my office, I found my son had called from work and my daughter had called from college. I talked to both of them and they were OK, but naturally shocked by what had happened.

 

When I got back from lunch, in the one large meeting room, they had a wall size screen set up and projected the news onto it. I stopped at the door and saw them play the tape of the second tower falling. It was so large on that wall. I remember I was shaking when I got to my desk.

 

I remember how we all struggled to understand what had happened and why at first. This is still a sad day for me every year.

[Aramis]

I'm in Melbourne Australia, it had happened the night before about 10pm for us, I had already been in bed but on the way to work they kept talking about something, sat in the car waiting on the news, for the first time our 5 minute radio news was 30 mins and then 1 hr at lunch time. I sat in the car crying, charged into the office and put the radio on. It's the only time we had talkback radio on all day for the constant updates, I seemed to spend all day and weeks and even now crying. It still conjures up so much emotion. Between reading JH facebook and the news this morning, it's been a weepy start.

[nybumpkin]

My most vivid memory, being 120 miles north of NYC, was just how blue the sky was. A perfect late-summer day. To this day I am bothered by the fact that AA Flight 11 probably flew right over me as I drove into work. And bright blue, late summer skies always remind me of 9/11.

 

However, I am so proud of my then 10 YO son. He was in 5th grade, but had a 6th grade math class because he had already completed the 5th grade math program. He is was in the 6th grade classroom when another teacher ran in shrieking, "A plane has hit the World Trade Center!" Right in front of the kids. Needless to say, that class ended in shock. Son was late returning to his 5th grade classroom, and the teacher asked him gruffly, "Why are you late?" Son asked to speak to the teacher privately and explained what had happened. That afternoon, son told me that he didn't want to upset the kids in his class. I'm still amazed that he had the presence of mind to do that. He's now applying for a commission as an ensign in the Navy - please keep him in your thoughts and prayers....

[shappkb]

We were on a cruise. Watching TV in our cabin. We were docking in Cozemel. Later in the day when we returned to the ship we were scanned with hand held metal detectors. That was the first time we were checked returning to a ship.

[cincycruisincouple]

I was at work but the day before I had left Washington, DC. I was there the previous week on vacation with my friend. His parents live in the downtown area. We had spent the week going to the monuments, museams, airports, we drove past pentagon, all the places I saw on the news being closed down. I found out after the plane crashed in Pennsylvania that we actually drove through that county on the way home.

 

While on vacation we drove to Richmond, VA for a NASCAR race. In the months after the attacks when other potential targets were discovered, the race I was at was one of the targets. The track hold something like 160,000 people. It was pretty freaky. Not the closest to everything but close enough for me.

[falkcor]

i was just outside of nyc in westchester, first week of college... i was still sleeping and awakened by my housemates, and we all ran down to watch on the local nyc station(s) in our living room...

 

friends came over, and we all watched in shock... much discussion, and tears as many friends i knew from nyc couldn't locate their family and friends. kids walking all around campus, in pajamas, crying, trying to get a signal, while other rumors swirled in the mass of confusion. cell phones were useless - ask my mom, she must have tried 200 times.

 

we watched in shock and awe as the first tower fell, and i thought, surely the second will stand, as a big f-u to the jerks that did this... then much to our dismay, the second tower started to fall, and as soon as it did... #STATIC# via our rabbit ears... the tv tower was on the top of wtc... that kinda 'hit home'.

 

classes were kinda 'if you and / or your professor can' for that first week... many professors lived in the city and couldn't make it in... but my social psychology professor did that very night, my first class of the year, and that very diverse group of young adults and one of the most brilliant men i've ever met shelved our curriculum and just talked about what we were feeling that night. it was rather cathartic, actually.

 

i saw quite a few fighter jets, helicopters and radar planes flying through the bright blue skies for the next two weeks or so... quite unnatural.

 

several of my friends had family or friends that didn't make it out, and our high school lost a few alumni that bright blue september day.

 

i will never forget...

[CdrescherRBL152]

Woke up just as the second plane hit. With in the hour I was at work driving bus with members of the UMASS Medical Center Emergency Respond Team from Worcester to NYC

[Baby_Bear]

As a lifelong New Yorker, I was in the city on that day. I had just started working full time and was on my way into the office in midtown Manhattan when I heard the bus driver on his radio. His dispatcher sounded very upset and I knew that something bad had happened. As soon as I got in, I heard about the first tower. My parents were overseas in Asia at that time and I remember my mom calling me very upset and my dad trying to calm her down. A bunch of my coworkers and I went up to the trading floor and actually saw the plane hit the second tower on the big screen TV's. At that point, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was an act of terrorism. We were all sent home. I was walking on Park Avenue and will never forget the sound of airplanes overhead and that horrible feeling of fear before I looked up and realized they were F-16's and were our own planes that had been scrambled and were flying overhead to give us cover. I remember sitting at home watching TV listening to Guliani telling us not to come to work the next day so that the roads could be kept clear for emergency workers. And I remember going downtown to St Vincent's Hospital to donate blood, they actually turned us away as the blood banks were already full. A girl I worked with lost her dad that day, I remember trying to comfort her.

 

You never ever forget where you were on such a terrible day. I really have no words for what I felt. That's why I always get mad if I ever hear anyone criticizing New York - this is more than a city, it's my home and home to 8 million fellow people all of whom love it to death. It's a city that has suffered terribly and had to endure tragedies no one should have to bear.

 

A friend of mine summed it up best: she said it doesn't matter where you were, it matters that you don't forget.

[falkcor]

You never ever forget where you were on such a terrible day. I really have no words for what I felt. That's why I always get mad if I ever hear anyone criticizing New York - this is more than a city, it's my home and home to 8 million fellow people all of whom love it to death. It's a city that has suffered terribly and had to endure tragedies no one should have to bear.

 

A friend of mine summed it up best: she said it doesn't matter where you were, it matters that you don't forget.

 

very well said.

[askimdog]

I was at work and first heard about it around 10:30 AM. By Noon the word was 1 plane accidently. By 2 or so it was apparent of an attack and two planes. I never heard about the Penn. flight and the Pentagon till later at home talking to my sister. We have not had television the last 15 years, so it was several days before I saw any images.

 

News travels slow at times, and I can still recall how nonchalant many were during the morning while driving in remote Minnesota. No TVs, no cellphones and to many folks, it was at first, an accident which proved to be so much more.

[workin to cruise]

I was just getting done with my first class for the day. I went to one of the campus ommons areas to get a cup of joe. I turned on the big screen in the lounge. The tv was on NBC and the breaking news had just started on the first building. I turned channels to see additional coverage as all stations had limited info so far. I stopped changing and landed on a channel that had a live view of plane #2 crashing. The reporter was speechless. Dead silence for what seamed like several minutes. I went to my next class and explained what was going on to the professor and she cancelled class and told everyone to go be with their families. Remember it like it was yesterday. I will NEVER forget...

[mek]

I was on vacation that week, just staying home, but sleeping in. We turned the TV on around 8:45 and when the first announcement was made, I thought like so many did that it was an accident, probably involving a small plane. As it became apparent what was happening, we were glued to the TV over the following days.

 

I think besides the passengers in the planes, the most horrific event that day involved the people who jumped from the towers . I can't imagine doing what they were forced to do. I don't think they get much attention, generally because I feel most people can't stand to look at the photos. But last night I looked at some of them for the first time - they estimate around 200 people jumped to their deaths. For me, those pictures are much more personal than anything else that happened on 9/11. When you see the planes crash into buildings, you know people are inside, but you are somewhat buffered because you can't actually see them. With the jumpers, it's different; at least to me it is, and it is saddest thing I have ever seen.

[CapeCodCruiser]

DH & I were in Caernarfon Castle in Wales. A large group from a tour bus had just arrived and were talking about a plane hitting one of the WTC towers. I remember thinking had sad that was but remembering how a plane had flown into the Empire State Building once and although a few has died it was not a total loss. I had no idea how different this would be.

 

All day we kept getting information little by little. It was very hard to imagbinr the full scope of what had happened until later in the day when we checked into our hotel and saw the reports on TV.

 

I will never forget the outpouring of love & support from the Brits. Everywhere we went there were books of condolence, impromptu memorials with letters, photo's and WTC souvenirs from Brits who had visited. As soon as folks heard we were from the US they were expressing their condolences for us & all of the US.

 

One stop was in Coventry where we visited the Cathedral - the New Cathedral is built adjoining the sight of the remains of the original Coventery Cathedral which was heavily bombed during WW II. We happened to be there on a Friday when the Litany of Reconciliation is done in the ruins. This particular Friday the Bishop from Canterbury came to do the litany for the events 0f 9/11. It was very moving to be a part of. We were interviewed by BBC Radio that day as well.

 

I will never forget the events of that day & how it affected not just the US but the whole world.

[acruisingpeach23]

Oh my what a horrible thing to witness at such a young age! It was terrifying watching it on TV never mind being there and experiencing it. I can't even imagine.

 

It was pretty terrifying! Last year for the 10th "anniversary" I wrote a whole thing on my experiance and was interviewed by numerous children for their history classes which leads me to believe that there has to be a reason as to why i was down there and experianced such a tragedy. If you would like to read it or of anyone else does I am willig to post it.

 

I don't talk about it unless asked about it because i sometimes feel people dont want to hear it.

 

Its a day like today where i really reflect on my life and promise to try to be kinder, less judgemental and etc...

[soozles]

I was in band class in NYC. Word spread fast,a crisis center was set up in our auditorium. We went to whatever classroom we were supposed to be in, but nobody actually bothered teaching. The teachers allowed those with cell phones to try to make calls. I remember the sky going from a beautiful blue day to a dark gray sky. One of my teachers drove me home because the subways were shut down. My block was littered with business cards from the towers. The scariest part was we couldn't get in touch with my dad for a day and a half. He got stuck in NJ, but we knew he was scheduled to make deliveries in lower manhattan that morning. Sowe had no clue if he was still in his NJ office or if be left already. I'll never forget that day.

[cruisela2012]

Getting ready for work when my HR director called me and told me not to come into work because our building was closed for the day - when I asked why she was so upset she just told me to turn on my TV -at the time I worked in the twin towers in Los Angeles