Do you remember where you were on 9/11?

[bobb_sledd]

We had the day off. I was playing golf on an Air Force Base just outside Washington D.C., one of the gentlemen in our group received a phone call informing him of the first aircraft striking the WTC. It was assumed to be an accident. Not long after he received another call informing him that the second plane had struck the second tower. He and I both left the course – him to his job at the pentagon, me to home to track the story before going into work. I spent the remainder of the day supervising the preparation of fighter aircraft soon to be flown on combat air patrols over the D.C. area. I stood on the flightline the evening of 9-11 and watched Air Force One returning President Bush to the capital.

 

[HordHolm]

I was at home in London, with a Canadian visitor (and very experienced Middle East traveller) who had just arrived in country - by only a couple of hours: a later flight and he'd likely have been grounded. I got a phone call to tell me to stick the BBC on and we saw the second plane hit. We just looked at each other and said Al Qaeda. It was just so obvious: the idea that anyone else could or would pull that off wasn't realistic. Being a Brit it wasn't quite so shocking to me as we'd had thirty years of bombs and shootings - essentially my whole life by that point, looking out for unaccompanied bags, massive truck bombs in the centre of London and mortar attacks on Downing Street. The scale of it was something else, though.

 

[MrPixel]

I was at home in our basement office, working on files for a consulting client. Wife calls from work telling me I need to turn on the TV, "We're at war," she said. It was after the second tower and before the Pentagon, and the news flash was that Flight 93 was MIA.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

We were living in Beijing. I was watching a program in our living room, and the rest of the family were flipping channels in the family room. They called out to me and told me to put on CNN. When I saw what happened, I went in and I watched it unfold with them. At first we thought it was just a small plane that accidentally hit, till the second plane hit the tower.
At the time, our was oldest was across the world going to school. He sounded scared when he called and said the subways were shut down, and all the tall buildings had been evacuated.
I also got a call at 4:00am letting me know that the International school, where my younger two went was closed, because they didn't know if Westerners were under attack. We also had to start showing ID to get into our compound after that.

 

[Dearelliot]

At work and I said, "That can't be an accident." I remember when it happened in the early 40s but I couldn't believe it would happen now.

 

[Duleigh]

I was actually writing a fanfiction for Farscape and chatting with friends on the SciFi channel fan forum when someone said "TURN ON YOUR TV" I turned it on in time to see the second plane hit. I was at the recruiter's office within the hour but I was too old and there was no plan to recall retired veterans.

 

[vanmyers86]

This is an old thread, and maybe our new members are mostly too young to remember the Sept. 11 attacks, but I thought I'd resurrect it for today. Some of our members posted fascinating stories, including the late KeithD. If you are new to the thread, your stories of that day and its aftermath are welcome!

 

[old_prof]

I am certainly more than old enough to remember the event, but I've only been on the forum for a few months. It is one of those moments that remain clearly in your mind -- I also remember the immediate aftermath of the JFK assassination.

When the first plane hit, I was in a meeting where we were discussing the need for some new computational geometry tools for use in IC layout. The chips were starting to hit some new implications of quantum physics and the designers realized they needed to look for certain combinations of shapes across the billions of them on a chip. Because of tunneling, the different shapes might not even be electrically connected at all and might be in completely different subsystems. Even though many of us were interested in the problem, I don't think that group ever met again.

One of the participants in the meeting had a cutting edge device -- he got emails on his watch. Shortly before the end of the meeting, he announced, a plane had hit the tower. I assumed it was a civil aviation disaster, not a terrorist attack.

By the time I was into one of the main buildings on campus, someone had rolled TV's out into the hallway and people, including students, faculty, and staff, were standing around in shock.

As I walked in the building, someone asked me, "A plane just hit."

"Yeah, I heard about it."

"No, a second one."

That conversation could've been last week.

 

[dirk2024]

I was at work that morning. Word quickly got around when the first plane hit and we had a TV on and watched the second plane hit. It was quite shocking.

At the time, my wife was across the country at a conference in Virginia. So she ended up having to stay for a few more days since the airports were shut down. We spent a fair amount of time on the phone together during this time. Fortunately, the hotel was very accommodating. Eventually, she and a coworker also attending the conference rented a car and drove back home to California. I was so happy to have her back!

 

[Milo9012]

I was on travel for work and woke up to the first tower pouring out smoke and was stunned.

Time stood still. The towers were more than just a familiar sight to me.

Then I cried as I watched people jumping rather than burning alive. I couldn't help but think of the loved ones they were leaving behind without saying goodbye. That, above all, made my heart ache.

 

[ericalauren]

I was 14 years old. My school made the decision not to tell us about the attacks. When I got home, I asked my mom what she was watching on tv. She replied, “didn’t they tell you? We are at war!”

 

[NuclearFairy]

I used to be frequently sick in the fall because of undiagnosed asthma, and my grandpa had given me an old black and white TV for my room because of this. That TV had the best reception in the house. That morning my dad who was a SAHD came in, and tried not to wake me as he turned my TV on and flipped to the news. As he was turning the little knobs to get it to come in its best I woke up enough to ask him what was going on. The only answer he had though was, "I don't know."

 

[THBGato]

I'd been working late in a bar the night before, so slept in. I had Uni work to do, pre-reading for the new academic year, so pottered about doing that. I didn't have a TV, or Internet at that point, so I was in a little bubble.

It was only at 5ish, when I phoned a family member to wish them happy birthday, that I found out to truth of the phrase ignorance is bliss.

So much of the shit happening in the world today got a boost, or even originated, from that moment. However you cut it, it seems like the terrorists won.

 

[dirk2024]

Then I cried as I watched people jumping rather than burning alive. I couldn't help but think of the loved ones they were leaving behind without saying goodbye. That, above all, made my heart ache.

At some point, the news camera was on the firemen as they were coordinating their efforts to go up and rescue people who were trapped. I kept hearing these crashing sounds in the background, then found out those were bodies falling from above.

 

[Milo9012]

At some point, the news camera was on the firemen as they were coordinating their efforts to go up and rescue people who were trapped. I kept hearing these crashing sounds in the background, then found out those were bodies falling from above.

Yep. I remember the reporting about that.

Some of the firemen couldn't go on after witnessing it and, God bless 'em, today suffer from PTSD.

 

[MillieDynamite]

There is a myth that stockbrokers jumped from windows the day the market crashed in 1929. But it's no myth on 9-11.

 

[MetaBob]

Every year, for the rest of my life. It doesn't get easier. Yes, I'm crying now.

My family group chat has been active today, sharing photos and remembrances of my cousin, who was beloved to us. It's been wonderful to share positive memories rather than dwelling on her loss again.

Blessings to all of you who survived similar trauma that day, and to those who never had to and who I hope never will.

 

[AwkwardMD]

So much of the shit happening in the world today got a boost, or even originated, from that moment. However you cut it, it seems like the terrorists won.

This is a sentiment I have held privately for some time.

 

[AG31]

I am always curious about people's Sept. 11, 2001, stories. I don't know if folks outside the United States have the visceral memories many of us do, but if you'd like to share your memory, I would like to hear it.

I was still a journalist, and arrived at work just after the second plane hit the tower. I remember walking into the newsroom and everyone was gathered around the televisions, utterly speechless. Then we kind of shook ourselves off, hunkered down and put out an extra edition. All kinds of rumors were flying that day, and people kept calling with new ones.

What I remember best is what a beautiful day it was - clear and perfect - and how weird it was to go out into a deserted downtown and not hear any planes or see any jet trails in the sky. . I still recall how numb I felt for a good three days or so. Our wedding anniversary was the next day and we spent it in a daze. We couldn't bring ourselves to celebrate it.

I was working at home for a software development company, my usual practise, and I contacted someone for a scheduled meeting. They said, "Aren't you watching television?" I turned on the TV and so reporting of the first tower and then, right before my eyes, the second tower.

 

[AG31]

I also remember the immediate aftermath of the JFK assassination.

I had to wander around to find out why no one was in German class in college. Finally found the answer and a bunch of us sat down in the stair well. We must have had a radio? I'm not sure how we learned the details.

 

[alohadave]

This is a sentiment I have held privately for some time.

The writing was on the wall when the Patriot act was passed. Anyone who was paying attention could see it, but people cheered because were 'doing something about it'.

 

[AwkwardMD]

The writing was on the wall when the Patriot act was passed. Anyone who was paying attention could see it, but people cheered because were 'doing something about it'.

You're not wrong. I arrived late to the party, but sooner than some.

 

[Nightaelf]

It was my bachelorette party. My brother and sister were going to pick me up and we would do something fun, a surprise for me. My mother called to ask if I had already watched the TV, but it was 4:00 pm here in the Netherlands, not exactly a usual time to be watching. Everyone was shaken, and the news started to slowly sink in.

In the end we went out anyway, to have dinner, but the restaurant was empty, even though they had struggled to get a reservation. The streets were eerily quiet and everywhere we saw people watching TV.

Two days later I got married, and I had asked the registrar beforehand if we could hold two minutes of silence for the victims of the attacks.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

I am always curious about people's Sept. 11, 2001, stories. I don't know if folks outside the United States have the visceral memories many of us do, but if you'd like to share your memory, I would like to hear it.

I was still a journalist, and arrived at work just after the second plane hit the tower. I remember walking into the newsroom and everyone was gathered around the televisions, utterly speechless. Then we kind of shook ourselves off, hunkered down and put out an extra edition. All kinds of rumors were flying that day, and people kept calling with new ones.

What I remember best is what a beautiful day it was - clear and perfect - and how weird it was to go out into a deserted downtown and not hear any planes or see any jet trails in the sky. . I still recall how numb I felt for a good three days or so. Our wedding anniversary was the next day and we spent it in a daze. We couldn't bring ourselves to celebrate it.

I was at work. One of my assistants came in with the news and we all kind of went 'how awful', then when the second plane hit, I got a queasy feeling. Didn't really hit home until I switched on the evening news. Here in the UK we were sort of used to terrorism, what with the IRA and all, and it wasn't that long after the Omagh bombing in 1998 which was pretty terrible but watching the news it was clear that this was on a different scale entirely.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's hard for me to believe it's been 24 years. I remember that moment I found out and that day so well. It was so shocking I couldn't pay attention to anything else the whole day. The Internet was slower then. Information came in more slowly and it took a while for some of the news videos to load. My parents were in another part of the country and couldn't fly home so they rented a car.