Where were you on 9-11-2001?

[ArmedProgrammer]

I was at home in Northern California. It was a rare break between consulting stints, so I happened to be not on the road. My sister in law - who lives in Southern IN, called us and said that "they think some kind of plane has hit the WTC". We flipped on the TV and watched the rest of it unfold.

 

[Glockapoppadopolis]

I was at my mom's house, getting ready to go to class at IPFW. My mom was off work, which is extremely unusual, and my girlfriend was watching the news with her while I was in the bathroom when the first tower was hit. They came and got me and we watched the second tower get hit together. They were both crying and I remember just feeling like I was in a dream state. I kept thinking about how that could ever happen, I mean we have all kinds of safegaurds in place to keep this type of thing from ever happening in America.... right? I really couldn't come to terms with it all, very stunned and confused. I ended up going over to campus and everyone was sitting in halls and classes, some in groups, some alone, some watching TV's that had been wheeled out everywhere, some just clutching each other balling uncontrollably. It took about ten minutes of walking around before it all came crashing in on me... This is real, it's not a nightmare, it was not an accident, this was an attack on US soil. I sat on a bench with a group of other students, put my head in my hands and cried like a newborn. I spent the rest of the day with my family, watching the news, talking with everyone I know and love, by the end of the day I made sure that everyone knew exactly how much I cared for them.

 

[jd42k]

I'll never forget for as long as I live.

I was in FL trying to help my mom with funeral arrangements and financials due my dad suddenly passing on 9/7.
I never felt so overcome with emotions as I was trying to deal with my dad's sudden death, staying strong for my mom and feeling trapped 1200 miles away from my wife and 3 kids and no way to get back as we know airlines were canceled for a time.
A few days after 9/11 my uncle who happened to live not to far away gave me a car to drive home to be with my family. The car must have been from Canada as the speedometer was in kilometers. It was an Dodge Aires "K" car. A convertible at that. It was really a POS but it had wheels and was drivable. I think I put in 6 quarts of oil on the way home.
I was fortunate to have some company on the way home as my moms sister, my aunt who strongly reminds me of my grandma who I loved dearly rode with me and I coordinated with her husband to take her home too.

So long story short I drove 21hrs home on 9/14. Never been so glad to be home.

 

[spitfire51]

It was my freshman year of college, and I was asleep in my dorm room. My alarm clock went off and I heard the guy on the radio say a plane had hit the WTC. At the time I was learning to fly small private airplanes, and it didn't register that he could be talking about a big airliner. He also didn't say anything about it being a terrorist attack, so my first thought was, "what an idiot pilot." I crawled out of bed and turned on the tv, the audio came on before the picture and I heard Tom Brokaw's voice. Once I heard him on the morning news I knew it was serious. Ended up grabbing breakfast, coming back up to my room and telling my roommate what was going on after he came back from class. Stayed glued to the tv the rest of the day.

 

[buford t justice]

I was a mechanic at courtesy motors in decatur walked in to the shop and no one was there they were all up in the break room watching the tv,just about the time I walked in the second plane hit

 

[96firephoenix]

I was in 4th grade... I'm young, I know.

they didn't tell us, but they told the 5th-8th graders and let them watch the news all day. I do remember that both my parents were there to pick my brother and I up from school (which never happened, always just my mom) and I think we cancelled school for a couple days right after that. whether the school did that or my parents did, I don't remember.

I feel old though, knowing that this summer 9/11/01 will have been a half a lifetime ago. (I know, I know, I'm just a young'un)

 

[PistolBob]

I was at work...we watched all day on TV. Not much got done that day. I carried my rifles in the truck of my car for a couple of months.

 

[buzzined]

I lived in Long Island, NY at the time about 30min from the city. On 9/10 I was in the city having surgery on my wrist.

On the morning on 9/11 the wife and I were out shopping, we forgot something and went back to the house. She ran inside then came running back out telling me to come in NY was under attack. We watched the second tower get hit and then watched them collapse. There were many military aircraft buzzing us all day.

On 9/12 I had to go to a funeral and as we were driving over the Verrazano bridge you could normally see the towers, but on this morning all I could see was smoke still coming up from the ground where the towers use to be. Brought a tear to my eye.

 

[c2joe]

Denver, Colorado. I had just gotten off work, and walked in the door and saw it on the tv the wife was watching.

 

[Psode27]

Sitting in my high school cafeteria taking PSAT's. We didn't know till after the test anything happened.

 

[dieselman]

i was in 4th grade, gym class, holding a purple kickball, i could go back to my elementary school and show you exactly where in that gym i was standing when the principal came on the PA.

 

[beau.brandt]

I was teaching an introduction to engineering class (at the high school level). We actually watched the second plane hit and saw the first tower collapse in that engineering class. Don't think I will ever forget that day. I also remebered it was eerily similar day to when the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed.

 

[K_W]

High School, in Algebra 2.

 

[down3green]

.

Ironically, I was in a Boeing 737 simulator in Atlanta. I wound up stuck down there for several days after the airspace shut down and there weren't any rental cars to be had.

The quiet around Hartsfield Airport was eerie.


.


.

 

[strahd71]

i was in truck driving school in southbend, my wife and son were in grand rapids michigan at Devos childrens hospital with my premature twin girls in the NICU. it sucked no one knew what was really going on, were there going to be more attacks, gas stations were gouging, and there was general panic. one of my daughters came very close to dying that day, my wife having spent the morning watching the news of the attacks walked into the NICU to find a team of doctors working on our daughter, she lived but it sept 11 was a crappy day all the way around

jake

 

[chraland51]

I was working at my desk in the state office building when we got the news that a passenger plane just crashing into one of the towers. I got up to go listen to the radio that one of the other employees had at their desk. Then the second plane hit the other building. Another employee plugged in the 9" television and we crowded around that to see what was going on. I do not remember how long it was between the pentagon plane and the one that those heroic passengers brought down in the field, but we were are thinking that this was the beginning of something much bigger.

 

[badwolf.usmc]

I was at work when i heard about the first jet and i thought "How does someone crash into a building?" and was watching Good Morning America as they covered the event live as the second jet hit. I went numb thinking that this could be no accident and that many Marines were going to be dead before this was all over.

 

[snowman46919]

Freshman year keyboarding we stayed glued to the TV. The most resonating memory would have to be one of my history teachers, a vet stating although we must remain patriotic we can not dwell on retribution and payback so blindly that it consumes us because then we are no better than they are.

 

[Grizhicks]

I was in London, Ontario, Canada; on a work 3-month assignment (had only been there a week). Wife had a bicycle accident 2 weeks later, and had to come home; I a US Government employee, and if I had not had an official possport (red), would not have been able to get back in county for a while. -- Greg

 

[USMC_0311]

I was at my office after having the biggest fight we ever had with my wife. To this day we can't remember what the fight was about and never had another one since.