Where and What were you doing on 9/11?

[AJ_rider]

Senior year of HS. 2nd period Chemistry class when the planes hit, 3rd period Multimedia class when they fell. The entire day was a complete blur after that. I remember feeling so many emotions at once, I didn't know what to think. The entire school day was based around watching the news and discussing what was happening with teachers and other students.

 

[Nelly]

This was such huge event that effected everyone, not just Americans, I was just curious what everyone was doing on this forum on that day. Unfortunately, it's one of those events that you will never forget the exact time and place where you were at and what you were doing.

For me, I was out working for the Backstreet Boys, and just finished up doing 3 shows at the Fleet Center in Boston the night before 9/11. We had a day off to get to Toronto Canada where the next show was at. All the tour busses rolled after the show. That next morning, the bus was still rolling but I got awakened from the other people on my bus from all of the loud talking. I opened up the curtain of my bunk and saw the T.V, as we had a tracking satellite dish so you could watch live T.V. Saw the twin towers on fire, but was informed by a crew member that they no longer were standing. I also heard that we just got across the border before they closed the crossing between the U.S. and Canada. We eventually checked in our hotel that morning and I watched the story unfold from my room.

Later that day I found out that one of our crew members was staying behind in Boston so that he could fly home to LA so that he could be with his wife for their first birth of their child. Sadly to say, he was on AA flt #11, one of the planes that hit the tower. So we lost a member of our touring family. As all forms of entertainment from sports to music canceled across the world pretty much for the week, the Backstreet Boys elected to perform the very next day. Their decision to perform, at the time, we were not in America. Pretty bunch of greety guys to me. They just lost a member who was on their payroll. We had a nice private memorial for him at the Air Canada Center, as we all had an opportunity to speak. As far as the Backstreet Boys, none of the four or five members showed up for the memorial with the exception of Howey Dorough. To this day, I think everyone one of them are a bunch of unpatriotic selfish little punks, with the exception of one member.

Anyway, his name was Daniel Lee, I really didn't know him very well as the tour was so big, but I did have an opportunity to pay my respect a few years later by touching his name on the plaque at ground zero in NYC. I hope his wife and daughter are doing well.

Vegas,

Thanks for posting this up, I was really surprised that no one had mentioned it. For me it is like remembering the dead from WWII.

I was working nights that week in the ER. I got off shift at 07.00 and walked home on a beautifully warm morning. I had breakfast with my wife and went to bed.
My wife was off and came rushing into my room just after the first tower was hit.
I put a robe on and went into the lounge where we were trans fixed by the burning tower. Of course moments later the other tower was hit. This was the worst live "Car Crash TV" I have ever seen. I could not comprehend how huge this was.
The things that stick in my mind, are seeing the flames and the poor souls who made the decision to jump rather than burn. Then the first tower collapsed and I still have the vivid picture in my mind of it coming down; and the dust cloud racing up the street as panic stricken people ran for their lives.
The Camera man was very brave, he kept the street shot going until he was engulfed in debris and dust. Then you could here people crying and coughing.
Those are my memories of the day. It wasn't until I went into work that evening that I discovered that there were the airliners as well.

I spent yesterday listening to a live radio program broadcast from Canary Wharf London.
One of the city brokers there BGD group lost 70% of their financial brains and workforce.
BGD since 9/11 have donated the entire days trading to charity. All of its traders and staff donate one days pay and the entire trading profits for the day. Yesterday they raised over $6.000.000. fair play to them.

Nelly

PS forgot to mention that my brother was one of the many out of state fire & rescue crews who was drafted into help search.
I have the utmost pride for the men who died trying to rescue the victims and the guys n girls who recovered over two thirds of the missing bodies from DNA and dental records.

God bless.

 

[christod1]

I had just woken up. I got out bed and turned the TV on. CNN was the channel that came up. I had the audio off and I see this plane hitting a building. I thought It was a new movie or something like that and went and took a shower. I come back to my bedroom and had a look at the TV again. I then realized that it was no movie and I was shocked...

 

[OkieDavid]

I was working in a temporary training assignment in a Federal office building in the direct flight path for arriving aircraft at an international airport.... I will NEVER forget the sight of commercial airplanes being escorted in to land by National Guard piloted F-18 fighter jets as the FAA grounded all remaining flights in North America. Each plane was escorted in with a fighter jet off each wing. As soon as the plane cleared the Federal building the jets would peel off at high speed and reverse course to intercept the next incoming plane.... The orders were simple enough to understand as no one knew for certain if the attack was over.
I was released to travel 200 mi back home that afternoon to be with my family and I just remember what a strange sight it was for the next three days with ZERO contrails in the skies over the United States......... I'll carry all the images to my grave praying no one ever has to witness them again.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

It's just very intresting reading everyone's post on where and what they were doing at the time of 9/11. As time zones differ from state to state, country to country, no matter what time of day it was for you, everyone can recall this day like it was yesterday. Didn't matter if you were from the USA, UK or from down under, everyone had the same shock and horror from what was unfolding as the amount of media coverage seemed to be just as equal no matter what country you were in. Yes, this is a global world that we live in, but events like this, sure makes the world awfully small no matter what country you are from or live in. Thanks for sharing everyone.

 

[n1one]

I remember this very clearly....I was at work, I was managing a medical device MFG plant at the time. I had recieved an e-mail from a friend telling to go to one of the news websites and that NYC was under attack!!!! I was dumb founded and could not believe my eyes.

At that point some of my production employees came into my office and said the production floor was buzzing about the NYC attack and they (45 employees) wanted to know what was going on. So I told them to shut off all the equipment and go to the conference room. I set up a TV for them so they could watch the news coverage, sadly 2 of my employees had family that working the twin towers....of course they were very distraught. They went into my office and started calling there familly members...of course nothing got through as all the phones were jammed in NYC. We did not produce anything for about 4 hours that day.

Then a bad day got worse.....my boss at the time (3rd one in 18 months...read revolving door) was pissed off that I gathered everyone in the conference room instead of insisting that they "shut up and get back to work"!!!:spank::spank::spank: WHAT AN ARSE HOLE he was! This is about the only time I have ever had to yell back at my boss because he was such a self center ARSE HOLE!

I of course was not working for that JERK 6 months later...mutal seperation go figure!:Flip:

As for the 2 employees that were directly affected, they in fact did lose family members in the collapes of the twin towers and I made sure that they got paid time to make arrangements and do what ever they needed to do to be with family.

My boss at the time was one of those people who just didn't get it. It can't ALWAYS be about the company and what the company needs, somtimes it has to be about the people who work there and what they need.

Sad day indeed.

 

[sideshow_downs]

I was a freshman in HS it was first period math class and another teacher came in the room and told my teacher to turn on the news as the first tower was burning. The rest of the day was all just watching the news. I saw the second plane hi and both towers fall it is a life changing thing. By the end of the day most of the studients had gone home to be with their family. 4 years after this and i had graduated i enlisted into the Army

 

[FZ1inNH]

I was doing a charity work day for the Seacoast Day of Caring here in NH. We had just left the ANG base for the breakfast when they closed the gates and were put on alert. I was driving to the site where I'd be working that day when I heard it on radio broadcast. At first, I thought it was just a small plane, small accident, and never dreamed it was on the scale of a loaded jetliner. I got to the site where they were setting up a TV for the crew to watch. A couple minutes after it was tuned in, we saw live, the second plane hit the second tower. Everyone fell to a chair or the floor as the shock and horror of it hit like a sledge hammer at full swing to the chest. We completed the work that day with all eyes on the TV and in utter silence. We felt angry, sad, hatred, fear, anxiety... the whole range of emotions. That night, I watched it over and over on TV and sat with tears running down my face watching people jump to their death rather than die in a fire or collapsing building. The entire day was a total tragic memory that can never be forgotten.

 

[jsw4178]

I was on patrol listening to the radio when the first plane struck the World Trade Center. On a positive note, I was treated to lunch 09-11-08 by one of the WTC survivors. This gentleman was on the 49th floor of the WTC when the first plane struck.

 

[sportrider]

I was leaving our house for work, the TV was on and I glanced at it and saw a building on fire. I thought it must be in LA or something and didn't really even notice it. as I got on the freeway I tuned in to Mark & Brian and was listening to them talk, but not yet knowing what was going on and not hearing the beginning of the show, I was waiting for a punch line to a joke I didn't get. it was a few minutes later that the second plane hit. I remember the feeling of nervousness coming over me. I wasn't sure what was going on but knew it wasn't good. when I got to work I remember everyone yelling about how we're under attack. it was somewhere around that time that I first heard the pentagon was hit. I remember thinking Holy **** this is really happening. then for a while there was all the rumors about planes being missing from LAX and across the country, it was a very scary time. I will never forget it. it's funny just typing this I can feel the anxiety from that day.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

We've had a lot of new members this past year. I thought it would be interesting to hear where some of our newer members were on that day.

It's one of those tragic global evenst that no one will ever forget in our lifetime. It's one of those events that you can still remember like it just happened yesterday.

 

[champion221elite]

I was in an Earth Science class at my local community college when the second airliner hit the tower. It was also right around this time the media began reporting a separate crash in a Pennsylvania farmers field. What was initially thought to be an isolated accident, quickly turned into a choreographed example of terrorism.

 

[Cmayer31]

I was getting ready for an EMT class when my girlfriend called me and told me turn on the TV. Went to class that day, but we were sent home to spend time with family.

 

[lewis6681]

I was in the smoker's lounge at the office where the only TV in the building was located. We had the news on but didn't pay attention, until we saw the smoke coming out of the first tower that was hit. At that point, all us smokers just looked at each other (about 8 of us) and shook our heads. We couldn't believe what just happened.... then the second plane hit. By that time, the smoker's lounge was filled to capacity. Even with so many people in the room there was not a sound coming from anyone. We all stared in disbelief.
I will never forget that day.

 

[afpreppie04]

I was headed to football practice. Heard about the first one on the way out the door after gearing up and everyone thought it was a tragic accident. At practice we got word that it was an attack and our coaches sent us home.

 

[The Toecutter]

I was working for thr Rapides Parish hwy dept.I was in my service truck listening to The Bob and Tom morning show on the radio.Chick broke in the conversation between Tom and Christie to say an idiot in a small plane had hit one of the Tower's and they all started laughing and making jokes..5 min's go by and Christie say's it was a passenger plane that had hit the tower and they all got quiet,and I was just pulling into the Bearing supply store.so when I walked in I told them to turn the radio on we listened for about 10 min and i got my bearing's for the bush hog I was repairing and left. when I got back to the shop I was telling everyone what had happened and i went up to the Hwy dept directors office and ask him to turn on his T.V. we were standing there together watching the tower burn when the second plane suddenly came in to the picture ,and hit the other tower .then the first tower colapsed,and we all stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity because we all knew this was'nt just a freak accident this was done on purpose......that series of event's is still as clear to me today as it was then......

 

[jmerch44]

I was in my field training excercise in basic training! alot of combat followed there after.:rockon:

 

[craig007]

I was at work and noticed people gathered around a TV. We were working on a project with about 200 people. They were all called into together by the project manager and he told everyone what happened. Then he told us to go home. We stayed around the TV for a while. It was something that I will never forget.

 

[texcollect]

I was working for a little trading company called ENRON at the time. We had CNN available from our computers. I came in to work just as the first plane had hit and my colleague said "someone just hit the WTC with a plane". Thinking it was a small plane I made the flipant remark "now that's just careless", but my attitude changed when we watched the second plane hit.

After the towers fell they made an annoucement over the PA system that we could all go home if we wanted. I was in a meeting room and missed the announcement so when myself and the guy I was meeting with came out the whole floor was deserted.

My previous boss was on the 101st floor of the WTC when they tried to blow it up the first time. He had to climb down the stairs from 101. He said it was OK until they got to about 30 and from then on they were full of smoke.

 

[Funkmaxtor]

I was in the middle of teaching a class when one of my students, who was running late, came in and told me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I just figured that it was somehow related to a severe pilot error, and although I felt bad about the people who died and were injured, continued on with class. One of the other classrooms had the TV on and were watching the news when the second plane hit. At that time, I called for an early break in class and went to see what was going on. What I saw was both frightening and hear-wrenching, but even though two planes had crashed into the WTC, never did I expect both towers to collapse. When I saw the first tower go down, I felt ill, and had to turn away from the TV. I just couldn't watch the horror that was happening. Luckily, the president of the college informed everyone that the school was closing for the day and that everyone should go home and spend time with their families.

During this time, I also held a second, part-time job as a designer at a printing company that was near an airport. It was extremely strange and eerie not to hear the planes taking off and landing for the next few days. When I first went to work that evening at the printing company and got out of my car, something just didn't seem right. Before I made it to the entrance of the building, I realized what it was, and got cold chills.

It was a long time before I could ever allow myself to watch any of the videos of the planes hitting the WTC, and the collapse of the towers that were circulating the Internet. It was just too difficult for me. It still is.

X

What do you teach? I'm also a teacher. I teach Technology Ed. Engineering, Photography, Graphics and TV Production.

I was sitting in a HS drafting class and watched the second plane hit on TV. It was a life changing event for me.