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Off-Topic Where were you on 9/11?

I was not yet living in the USA but was in vacation here, specifically in Weston. I remember being asleep and my mom panicking and waking me up. Weirdest day of my life up to that point.
 
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Thanks to all of you that have served or are currently serving. I too had the opportunity and honor to serve as did my dad and uncle. Have a son in BCT now and am extremely proud of him.
I received a call from a good friend that day. His words were something like, "Get to a TV now." I did, and my heart sank. Still hurts to think about 19 years later.
 
I was a sophomore in college. I left my girlfriend’s apartment to go back to mine and change and get ready for class. When I walked in my apartment, my roommate immediately said I had to turn on the TV. It’s a bit of a blur. I believe at that point both buildings were hit but still standing. But perhaps I saw the second plane hit the building. Today I work next to Freedom Tower so it’s surreal. Here is my WTC ticket to the observation deck back in 1990:

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I was in one of the AG programs off campus every Tuesday in 3rd grade. They didn’t even take us back to our respective schools or tell us anything. I remember very vividly two of the teachers whispering about a tower being hit, but wasn’t close enough to hear which ones and by what. The older I get the more I don’t understand why we weren’t at the very least sent back to our schools.

When I walked in the door to my house my mom was watching the news and I couldn’t believe what had happened. At that point it was like 3pm so there was no doubt we were attacked.
 
True story no cap. Had a friend I served with who worked at Chase Bank at the time in lower Manhattan. He was looking out the window and everyone was like that plane is flying really low. When the second plane hit, they knew it was an attack and had to excavate. He ended up in midtown, quit that day and enlisted.
 
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I was working as a recruiter at the time. At the office we started hearing stories about a plane crashing into the WTC. I initially thought some drunk pilot flew his Cessna into the building. By that time internet was bogged down and it took awhile to get any web page up. Eventually we did and we saw the first pictures and it became clear it was a full on passenger plane and it was deliberate. As the minutes went by the info got worse and they sent us home. I was on the couch in disbelief when the first tower came down.
 
Number1CanesFan said:
I was there watching my building burn. I worked in the North Tower on an IT team for a financial firm. I was 5 minutes from work on the Jersey City side at 101 Hudson when they shutdown the PATH train just after the 1st plane hit. There were several hundred people on the streets near the PATH train talking about how a plane accidentally flew into the North Tower. Since the PATH train was closed, I walked down towards the Hudson River to catch a ferry accross to my building when the 2nd plane hit the South Tower. I knew this was no coincidence and immediately started walking in the opposite direction 6 blocks to the next PATH station that could take me West to my home because I knew the trains would be shut down soon and I didn't want to be trapped.

I made it home about 10:30 a.m. I was in complete shock when I turned on the tv watching my building collapse to the ground. I stayed inside my home for several days remaining in shock.

Since the phones were tied up, my IT team communicated thru our pagers (yah we had those back then). Everyone was ok. NYC was on complete lock down. My coworkers had to walk home. Some to Brooklyn. Others all the way uptown accross the GW Bridge over to Jersey.

A few days later, my IT team was relocated to our 101 Hudson building in Jersey City which is literally right on the edge of the river on the Jersey side directly west of the twin towers. It was very depressing every day eating in the cafeteria watching the buildings burn for weeks. The towers are so massive that sitting in the cafeteria across the river looked like you were viewing them across the street.

Sadly, a friend of a friend tragically died that day. Me and my coworkers use to hit up Windows on the World for Latin night every Thursday after work. My coworker/friend Ross had a group of female friends that would hang with us. One of them was walking home after the colape of the buildings. She walked towards the World Financial Center building which was connected to the North Tower via a catwalk. She was on the phone with her mom telling her she was ok when the catwalk fell on her crushing her instantly. Very sad.

This is what I remember. Sorry for all the details, but it's rather therapeutic for me on this day.

I've been back to NYC a few years ago when they were constructing the Freedom Tower. I didn't even recognize the area without the twin towers there. Perhaps it's time I visit the completed Freedom Tower to reconcile the past.
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Sorry you lived that **** and for all of your loss because of it. Glad you were late for work that day.
 
2nd grade, tv in the corner and playing the airplanes hitting the towers. I remember that like it was yesterday. I also remember in my Navy days talking to (at the time) my senior officers and they told me when they got word, everyone was recalled back to their ship and went underway. Bases beefed up security as well the ships while they were in-port. I believe they told me they were on lock down for about a month or so.

Another story - my first year in, our Supply Officer recommended to make a cake to commemorate 9/11 and my Captain looked at him like a dumbass, and said "does it look like we're going to ******* celebrate 9/11 with a cake." Said this in our Wardroom with all the other officers there. My mouth about hit the floor.
 
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I was with a team in Virginia and we had just drove in to town from Boston. We were working some clients up and down the east coast that week. We heard the news on the radio as we were pulling into our hotel to check in. We all ran inside the lobby and watched it all go down on TV, stood there in shock. We were miles away from the Pentagon only a day or so before.
 
djnellz said:
as a vet who was in basic training during this time, this day holds close to me.

P.S. @RVACane please keep an eye on this. This is to remember 9/11 and not other CIS shenanigans.
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As a vet who joined because of this, all I have to say to my fellow Americans is never forget. Never forget! And god bless all the hero’s on that day and god bless America.
 
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djnellz said:
as a vet who was in basic training during this time, this day holds close to me.

P.S. @RVACane please keep an eye on this. This is to remember 9/11 and not other CIS shenanigans.
Click to expand...


Worked in the tallest building in Miami (at the time). Over the next few months, we were evacuated multiple times.

One of my co-workers (and a fellow UM alum), his brother had just started working in one of the WTC buildings (not one of the two towers) the day before, he was in training, he called to tell us what was happening before the national news coverage was up and running.

After we were sent home around 11 am, I drove up 95 to my place in Hollywood, traffic was light, and I noticed a guy in a vehicle who was obviously in a "celebratory" mood. Won't go into too many specifics as to what he looked like, the flag he had in his car, etc., but I stayed behind him on 95 for a minute. He sped up and I lost him at the Hallandale Beach Blvd. exit. Based on what we now know, I've often wondered if he was a part of the group who lived in Hollywood and took flight lessons.
 
Number1CanesFan said:
I was there watching my building burn. I worked in the North Tower on an IT team for a financial firm. I was 5 minutes from work on the Jersey City side at 101 Hudson when they shutdown the PATH train just after the 1st plane hit. There were several hundred people on the streets near the PATH train talking about how a plane accidentally flew into the North Tower. Since the PATH train was closed, I walked down towards the Hudson River to catch a ferry accross to my building when the 2nd plane hit the South Tower. I knew this was no coincidence and immediately started walking in the opposite direction 6 blocks to the next PATH station that could take me West to my home because I knew the trains would be shut down soon and I didn't want to be trapped.

I made it home about 10:30 a.m. I was in complete shock when I turned on the tv watching my building collapse to the ground. I stayed inside my home for several days remaining in shock.

Since the phones were tied up, my IT team communicated thru our pagers (yah we had those back then). Everyone was ok. NYC was on complete lock down. My coworkers had to walk home. Some to Brooklyn. Others all the way uptown accross the GW Bridge over to Jersey.

A few days later, my IT team was relocated to our 101 Hudson building in Jersey City which is literally right on the edge of the river on the Jersey side directly west of the twin towers. It was very depressing every day eating in the cafeteria watching the buildings burn for weeks. The towers are so massive that sitting in the cafeteria across the river looked like you were viewing them across the street.

Sadly, a friend of a friend tragically died that day. Me and my coworkers use to hit up Windows on the World for Latin night every Thursday after work. My coworker/friend Ross had a group of female friends that would hang with us. One of them was walking home after the colape of the buildings. She walked towards the World Financial Center building which was connected to the North Tower via a catwalk. She was on the phone with her mom telling her she was ok when the catwalk fell on her crushing her instantly. Very sad.

This is what I remember. Sorry for all the details, but it's rather therapeutic for me on this day.

I've been back to NYC a few years ago when they were constructing the Freedom Tower. I didn't even recognize the area without the twin towers there. Perhaps it's time I visit the completed Freedom Tower to reconcile the past.
Click to expand...
Appreciate you sharing this!
 
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Sitting in sophmore homeroom glued to the tv with a dead silent classroom. They let us out early that day. The most harrowing live news ive ever watched.
 
1st grade in Virginia. I remember it was recess time and parents started showing up to pull their kids out of school. My dad worked across the street from the Pentagon so my mom was the one who picked me up. She was in tears and I was too young to process it. She drove me home and had me sit in the living room while watching the news with her. Took a while until my dad reached out that he was fine. As young as I was, my memory of that day is vivid.
 
I was starting my freshman year at Daytona Beach Community College (now Daytona State College). My first semester I was making the drive from my home in Palatka Florida. I just put in two twelves in my 1999 Nissan Sentra. I was listening to Stankonia so I wasn't paying attention to the news. My first class was college algebra at 9:30am. When I got to class, a note was on the door canceling the class. I went to the beautiful commons area and every tv had on the news. Students gathered around the tvs not a word was spoken. complete silence and shock.
 
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Twice in my life of 82 years I have experienced actual fright as an American. The 1st was during the Cuban crisis in the 60's when I lived right on the beach in Neptune Beach, FL. I awoke to see battleships with guns drawn from my bedroom window and Army/Marine troops on A1A headed south.
The 2nd was 9-11 when I reported to work here in Daytona Beach and some employees were standing in the waiting room watching TV in total silence. When I looked it showed the 1st tower had been hit and very shortly after, the plane hit the 2nd tower and I thought we were under total attack. Very little was said as we were all completely stunned. A few days later we found out that one of the guys involved had attended Embry-Riddle Univ. here in Daytona and my daughter-in-law who worked for a car dealership had sold him a car. Just hope he is still burning in **** along with the rest of his buddies. My youngest son lived in Florham Park, NJ in a "yuppie" gated community and around 25 people who lived there lost their life on 9-11.
 
Was living in Delray Beach at the time and had just gotten out of the shower. Looked over at my computer that was on, I believe, the Yahoo! News site and the headline stated that a plane had struck one of the towers. Just then my sister called (her and I had not talked for months over some trivial bs). In a panic she screamed "They're flying planes into the WTC!! Turn on the news!!". I turned on the news and watched a continuous loop of the footage of the 2nd plane striking the other tower. We sat on the phone for hours talking and saying "Oh my God" about a million times, through the attack on the Pentagon, evacuations around the capitol, reports of other plane hijackings, the crash of flight 93, ect.

Shortly thereafter, I learned that less than 100 yards away from my townhouse in Delray Beach, at the Delray Racquet Club, was the former apartment shared by two of the hijackers who were on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. They had lived there up until 2 days before the attack. It was surreal to be watching the coverage of such a momentous event on the news and then walk outside and be able to watch crime scene investigators, some in hazmat suits (anthrax scare was going on at the time) from the FBI swarming a nearby apartment complex connected to that same event.
 
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