where were you when you first heard about the attacks?

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ObservingEgo		#41	[-]
Posts: 9345 (09/11/09 2:02 AM) Hi, you two!!! : ) : ) Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I had spent the preceding weekend in the most isolated part of Virginia ... one traffic light in the whole county. I remember thinking at the time that that region of the state was so remote that it would be a strategic spot for emergency relocation ... or something. On the morning of 9/11 I was running late for work. I had to get to a meeting, but my cat had shat all over the house, and I had to deal with that issue. Later when I was getting dressed, our am radio guy, Jay Lopez, said that a plane hat hit the WTC. I thought it was a small private aircraft, but couldn't understand why no-news Jay was mentioning it. Thought it was an air traffic control issue ... Fifteen minutes later when I walked into the office, colleague told me that both buildings had been hit and had collapsed. Everyone left, but I had to stay to dispense. Talked on and off to family in DC and Central America. Panama's National Police surrounded their "twin towers" and cut off all road traffic to the canal at Miraflores.
redkramer77		#42	[-]
Posts: 2345 (09/11/09 3:33 AM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was a senior in high school and had first period off. I was in my mom's room watching Charlie Gibson talk about how a small plane had hit the WTC. Then as I am watching the other plane hits, and Charlie was like "wait I think something else just hit the other tower", and that was when everything changed and we all realized what was happening as we watched the footage over and over. I went to my 2nd period class and told them that it wasn't an accident and we had been attacked. The teacher next door was WWII veteran who had fought at the battle of Gaudalcanal, I will never forget the look on his face as he watched what was unfolding. I thought, this man has seen it all, and yet you could look at him and feel his pain and anguish at what was happening.
CBRetriever		#43	[-]
Posts: 29043 (09/11/09 3:55 AM) MESS member Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	At work, so I didn't see any of the TV coverage until I got home My FIL, got everyone in a total panic by calling them and telling them that my SIL worked right across the street from the WTC and was MIA - turned out it was across the river from NYC and she had a hard time getting home.
ColbyRulesAll		#44	[-]
Posts: 11001 (09/11/09 5:20 AM) Annoying sports freak Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was at work. Just after 8am one of my managers told me a plane had crashed into the WTC. We had a small computer with internet access in the back that was part of our photo lab setup, so I was able (at first) to learn about the attacks from cnn.com before the site crashed. After a while everyone who came in the store was talking about it. By 2pm the Chicago Tribune had put out a special edition so I was finally able to see pictures of what had happened. I remember calling my wife, waking her up and telling her to put the TV on about 10 minutes before the first tower collapsed. She didn't turn it off for the rest of the day.
Lost Shaker of NaCl		#45	[-]
Posts: 1518 (09/11/09 6:37 AM) I'm demanding Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was dropping my daughter off at preschool at the local Y, and they had it on the tv's in the exercise room .... Today's weather in Chicagoland is just like that day...I remember how wierd it was to see no planes in the clear blue sky... The threads in here, and despite not being a fan, Howard Stern's broadcast of that day, still bring that day back vividly, too vividly.... I am thankful that my children were too young to remember that day...
NiceToAnimals		#46	[-]
Posts: 12241 (09/11/09 6:50 AM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I had just come back from taking my daughters for a walk in their stroller on a beautiful sunny morning. They were playing so I took a few minutes to check out Sucks. I learned about the attacks here, right in the main thread from that day. I called my mom and she told me that another plane had hit.
SmalltownBoy		#47	[-]
Posts: 6675 (09/11/09 7:17 AM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was in Denver working. I was talking to a customer in NYC. She said to me that a plane had flown into WTC and how could that have happened. She had her TV on while talking to me. All of a sudden she screamed OH MY GOD - ANOTHER PLANE HIT. She then hung up the phone. I went to my supervisor and she turned all the monitors on to CNN. My office then came to a halt while we all watched. Very similar to what my office experienced during the OKC bombing. I hope we never go through a day like those again.
cymbals		#48	[-]
Posts: 299 (09/11/09 7:28 AM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was at my desk at work here in downtown Toronto. I was at survivoraddicts.net for my morning fix as I got things started up in the morning. At the same time as the first plane hit a person at Survivor Addicts posted that he was at his desk in 'Manhattan and this had just happened. I was stunned. There was currently not a single news report on the news in Canada that I could find about this event yet he was typing all about it as he watched and felt what was going on around him until he left to try to make his way home in the midst of it all. I called my Dad in the next City and then we turned on a TV on the floor where I worked. In about 20 minutes the first news reports started to surface here in Toronto. I watched the second tower fall live on TV. I couldn't watch any more until later that evening when we gathered in front of the TV at home that evening. In between were all the posts about who was in New York and who was not accounted for and wondering if our poster friend in Manhattan had arrived home safely also. My office was within a 1 km radius of the US consulate here in Toronto. We had an order to evacuate our building. I sent my staff home but I could not leave myself because I had Canadian deadlines that had to be met and filed that day for which no extension would be available at the Canadian Patent Office. I called the daycare and they were still open so I could finish my work. My landlord twice came and told me to get out then said I was the last person left in the building. I wrapped up my work and then headed out to the daycare at about noon. Called my husband and he was also being evacuated as his building was right beside the US consulate. He also was not leaving despite the order until his deadlines were completed. My daughter and I walked over to the doctor to finish a vaccination appointment she had booked. They were still open. I was determined to show that life would carry on despite the worries I had inside. My good friend was visiting from Pennsylvania and staying with us at our home. I could not reach him (we didn't all have a cell phone back then) and he had a key to the house I believe. I knew he would make his way home from the Toronto Zoo and we met him back at home. I worried so much about my friend who was unable to fly home to Pennsylvania on his scheduled flight. He was separated from his wife and family. Living under a flight path the silence in the sky was very eerie for those three days when planes were not flying. Every day to get to work I walked past the US consulate and the tribute there was incredible. The flowers and the hand written notes that collected from people who lived in Toronto but had connections and had left candles, notes and flags. It lasted for about 2 weeks before they cleared everything. Now on the anniversary there are some tributes still left. It was like a sanctuary I had to pass through and I will never forget. My three year old daughter is now 11 years old and I drove her to school today as the time of the first hit approached. Remembering.
QualityBobby		#49	[-]
Posts: 6881 (09/11/09 7:39 AM) O.o Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was driving home from work listening to Stern when they came across with the news. I got home about 5 minutes later and spent the day watching CNN/MSNBC/Fox and anything else that had coverage....... and watched the tower fall.
maxxfisher		#50	[-]
Posts: 5668 (09/11/09 7:55 AM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was at work at Carr Futures across the street from the Sears Tower in Chicago. My company had an office at the WTC. Before we knew the planes hit all the phone lines to our New York office went dead. So when someone shouted to turn on the news and we saw the whole in the side of the building and the smoke, well we knew why the phones weren't working. At first I thought that maybe a little single engine plane had hit it. Some idiot learning to fly. I just didn't have any perspective on the sive of the whole. People around me were trying to reach people's cell phones in New York, but they either didn't get through or they went to voice mail. I left the office to go to the Board of Trade where I worked during the day during trading hours. We were watching the news there when we saw teh other plane hit the other tower. No one had heard from the New York office. No one knew what was going on. Then I watched the towers collapse. To me it looked almost like the buildings were turning to liquid, the way they fell. An announcement came over the loud speaker that trading had been suspended for the day. My buddy & I walked back to the office to find out anything we could. Our boss told us to go home and he called us. We came in the next day. Trading was still suspended. We were told at least half of the people in our New York office were dead, if not more. People I had talked to dozens & dozens of times a day were dead. One of the victims included a 25 year old Market Analyst from our Chicago office that had just gotten engaged. This was her first business trip. I almost didn't go into work on the 11th. The guy I worked with just kept getting on my nerves, just busting my chops and I needed a break from him, but I came in anyway. I don't talk about my friends very often. It's just not something I do. I stopped working for that company about 8 months later & my wife & I moved to Michigan. I wasn't worried about our safety, I just hated working there and didn't want the reminders. So that's my 9/11 story
aslanscubs		#51	[-]
Posts: 2379 (09/11/09 8:13 AM) MWV Champ and I get pecan pie! Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was at work and remember hearing on the radio that a plane had hit the first tower but I thought it was just an accident. When I got to work, my husband called me and told me a second plane had hit the other tower and they believed it was the work of terrorists. A few of my coworkers at the time were from New York so I told them what I'd learned and we all tried to crowd around a small black and white TV (someone happened to have in the office) to see what we could. I remember us all looking away, talking for a few minutes and when we looked back we said "Where'd the other tower go?" I don't think we got much work done that day and were all looking forward to going home and being with our families. I was also about 4 months pregnant at the time and was kinda scared about what kind of world my child would be growing up in. Also, I work in a state job near our state law enforcement agency and I remember seeing guys out front with shotguns and rifles for about a month or so afterwards. It was a very stressful time. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who lost loved ones on that tragic day.
Effin Ay		#52	[-]
Posts: 17 (09/11/09 8:34 AM) Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was a junior in college at Hofstra University on Long Island, just about 20 miles from the city. The funny thing is that while walking to class that morning I remember turning to my roommate and commenting on what a beautiful day it was. While we were waiting for class to start, a student walked in and said that a plane hit the WTC. Like most people here, we thought it was an accident, but soon found out otherwise. Our prof dismissed the class and we all immediately went to find the nearest TV. I cannot express how difficult it was to watch the towers falling with several students around me screaming that their parents worked in the buildings. I tried calling all the people I knew that worked in the city to no avail since cell phone service in NY was more or less non-existent. We lost two very close family friends that day, both of whom worked for Marsh & McClennan. The only comforting factor was that they both worked right where the first plane hit and were most likely killed instantly - no suffering no fear. Now, I can see the remembrance beams of light from my midtown apartment during the 9/11 week and work only about 2 blocks from where the Trade Center stood. An every day reminder of the horrific day.
zippityboomboom		#53	[-]
Posts: 8682 (09/11/09 10:25 AM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was a freshman in college. My roommate's mother called us as we were getting ready for class to tell us about the first plane. I went to my 8:30 class and there wasn't much talk about it, but when that class was over, we were told that the rest of the classes were cancelled for the day. I went back to my room and laid in bed and watched the news coverage in disbelief. I was afraid that San Antonio would be a target because of the proximity to Lackland AFB.
ChrissyB14		#54	[-]
Posts: 143 (09/11/09 12:02 PM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I had just gotten to work. I was living in Los Angeles at that time and my now husband had just flown out the day before. I got to work about 5:45am and switched my computer on and started my daily routine of checking the news. When I got to MSNBC's website, I saw that a plane had hit one of the towers and I walked back to the conference room and turned the TV on to watch. I was the only person there at that point and I wasn't really listening to the anchors, just looking at the images. I kept thinking, "that's no small plane" and how clear and blue the sky was, then I thought "this was no accident". That is when the second plane hit. Everything changed. I worked 3 blocks south of the south runway at LAX. You constantly hear the jet engines, day and night. The south runway is the long runway so most of the 747's land there also. You never realize how loud the sound is because it is always there. Until September 11, 2001. When they grounded the planes, wow, the silence was so deafening. After the towers fell, it all becomes a blur. My husband's company had offices in Tower 2 and they lost 13 people including a friend of my husband's. He doesn't like seeing anything about 9-11, it upsets him too much. I am always reminded of 9-11 everytime I see a show or movie set in New York, either you see the towers or you see that they are gone.
chilibmom		#55	[-]
Posts: 791 (09/11/09 12:25 PM) Registered User Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I posted this in the wrong thread, I think it should go here. chilibmom wrote: I was on my way to work in Chicago when the first plane hit, and I was pulling into a parking space at work when the second one hit. The talk radio station I listened to covered it. When the second one hit, I knew it was not some bad accident. I will never forget even though I was no where near. By brother is a fireman and I immediately worried for him if Chicago would be attacked. It wasn't, but having him on the force made me feel for every fireman and fireman's family affected that day. I will never ever forget.
SuperJude		#56	[-]
Posts: 13617 (09/11/09 12:56 PM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	It is here again, I can't believe it's been 4 years. I was fortunate enough to have been there for 2 week after doing recovery work. I got in with a friend who is a Sandhog in NYC, a tunnel digger I wrote that back when I joined this site. My friend, the Sandhog, is now dead. Liver cancer. R.I.P. Steve Orsulich Sitting here browsing through my photos and it still amazes me just how huge and fucked up it all was and yet how so many people came together to try and help. It's really a shame the powers that be were so unprepared to cope with the levels of pollutants released by the fall of the Towers. We were wearing paper painting masks for the first couple days, ffs. On the other hand, the FDNY, Red Cross and Salvation Army were all really great, amazing even. I was upstate when I heard over the radio what was happening. Myself and 3 friends immediately began to make our way down to the city, which took 8 hours all told between being turned around at checkpoints and finally getting below 14th street. All we did that first day was run food and water down to ground zero from the high school right there, Stuyvesant (sp). I think my friends were traumatized because they felt they really needed to return upstate. I went and came back down that night, meeting up with my friend Steve whom I mentioned before, and is now dead. 3000 people at the Javits center and they were kicking everybody out. Steve, meanwhile, is chatting up some fellow Sandhogs. A van pulls up asking if we're the "Steel workers and welders" so somebody says "yeah" and we suddenly have a ride right into ground zero. We started with 18 guys in the van. By the time we were on foot and close, those numbers had dwindled to 6 or 7. Some cop nodded towards a broken window that went through a gym, which lead directly to the center of it all. By the time we got there, it was 5 of us. Me, Steve, this guy Jake Jacobson, this other guy we called Walking Boss and some dude we started calling Munchhausen because he lied so much. Walking Boss disappeared after a few hours. Munchhausen wasn't allowed back in once he left. Same for Jake. Me and Steve had decided to sleep on the boat, the Spirit of NY and thus were still within the perimeter and thus were able to attain the Red Cards which afforded us all access, everywhere. That Red Card was like a golden key. We didn't pay for food, drinks, cab rides, cloths, nothing for damn near 2 weeks. Which of course was deserved since we were pretty much picking up body parts and destroyed remnants. First few nights were so hopeful, working furiously thinking you'd be able to save somebody. Then we all knew everybody was dead, yet all the families and people outside the fences were cheering us when we came or went, with those really sad signs reading "Find my Dad/Sister/Mother/Daughter" etc. Inside, a lot of people imagine there being, you know, like 3000 bodies. It wasn't like that in the least. Heat and Pressure pulverized most of them. The only whole bodies I saw were day 1 and 2. After that it was all partials. So everything goes out in buckets. The cranes pull of the big pieces. You get in there and dig, putting any paperwork or whatever in buckets, sending them down, debris in buckets, sending them down, finally body parts in plastic bags/then in buckets, which went to the FBI. Since Steve and I weren't affiliated with any of the construction guys or FDNY, we picked a spot by the South Tower which we worked at for the duration of our time there. This was the area where you've seen the overpass pictures, right across from the Deutsche Bank building. I found out Steve could apparently walk anywhere at any height, no matter how dangerous but he and a few people I would come to meet had a terrible aversion to human remains. I dunno, that didn't bother me so much. I feel the soul leaves the body, whatever happens, these are just remains. It was the families that really got to me, the survivors and such, just funny how everybody copes differently. It was all kind of a blur, just blended in, watching the pile get smaller, clearing roadways out till finally most of the volunteers like myself were gone, replaced by high paid Bovis construction workers, though to their credit they also dealt with quite a lot of brutal things indescribable to the average, sheltered American. Now I'm on the west coast, it's crazy how unaware people in LA can be about anything that did not directly invade their little bubble, but thankfully there are a lot of east coasters living out here. Anyway, since somebody kindly asked me to share, there's some of it. -SJ™
foulmouthedleon		#57	[-]
Posts: 2611 (09/11/09 1:58 PM) MESS member Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was working in Little Rock, Arkansas. I went into work and in the common area of my building (it was a four floor building) about twenty people were all watching TV. I didn't think much of it, but when I got to my fourth floor, there were even more people watching. So I figured something was up. Asked a friend what happened (CNN was on) and he said a plane hat hit the WTC. Like a lot of folks, I though it was a small plane and for some reason an image of a Red Baron type of plane came to my mind. I went downtown for a meeting not really thinking much of it. In the meeting, a man on the conference call was watching is all as it happened. The second plane hitting, the collapse of the first tower and then the second. Surreal. I left work, went to my parent's house with my girlfriend, brother and his wife and some others. I now live just 30 miles east of DC and it's scary as hell to think what might happen if this all goes down again. Living in Little Rock, it's about the last place you'd expect something like that to occur. But now just outside of DC, I just hope it doesn't happen again. My thoughts are still with those who lost their lives 2922 days ago.
CatNamedRudy		#58	[-]
Posts: 4002 (09/11/09 2:42 PM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I was at work and for some reason, I was listening to the radio at my desk. I still can't recall why I was listening to the radio because I get really shitty reception at my desk and very rarely listen to anything but CDs. Anyway, the morning crew was discussing how a plane had hit the towers and I couldn't figure out how in the hell a plane could hit those. It's not like they are difficult to see. At that point, they still were reporting that they thought it was a small plane. Then they said it was a commercial aircraft and I was even more dumbfounded. Then the second plane hit. I remember turning to the co-worker in the cube next to me and I just said "holy shit, another plane hit the other tower." Then we all went in the conference room and turned on the TV. Again, shitty reception but it was enough where we could see. The whole office was there when the first tower went down. After the 2nd tower fell, I went back to my desk and called a friend of mine to ask if she had heard from two other friends of ours who lived in Manhattan at the time. As I was calling her, I got an email from one of them saying he was ok and that he had watched both towers fall. He was in shock and just sort of freaking out. The other friend wasn't in the city at the time so fortunately, nobody I knew was injured or killed. I went outside at lunch and thought about eerie it was to have no air traffic. You never really realize the noise until it's not there. I went home that night and watched news reports until around 1:00am. It was still warm outside so I had my windows open. My apartment is in a flight pattern for an air force base. At around 2:00am a fighter jet flew over my house. Scared the living shit out of me!
LuvTheOzman		#59	[-]
Posts: 2125 (09/11/09 3:04 PM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	A co worker told me about it but I didn't have access to a tv at work so I called my mother and told her to put on CNN. She was babysitting my young niece and had no idea what had happened. She asked me why they were showing a war movie on CNN. By the time I got home there was coverage on every channel and I could not stop watching. To this day I still sob whenever I see the videos of the planes going into the towers. I am from Canada and I saw Ground Zero for the first time a couple weeks ago when I was in New York. It still doesn't seem real.
Meanpeoplesuck1		#60	[-]
Posts: 4099 (09/11/09 3:10 PM) Registered user Reply Quote More Recent Posts Message Connection Block Invite	I had to go meet a client and a builder at a house. I heard it start to unfold on the radio on the way over there. After that I had a Dr. appt for an ultrasound. I was 5 months pregnant with my middle son. The tech had the radio on in there and one of the towers fell when I was laying there having th U/S done. It was very surreal.

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where were you when you first heard about the attacks?

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