Where Were You on September 11th?

[Annette]

I was @ working at a daycare center about 40 miles outside of NYC. People came in,frantically and quickly, to pick up their kids. I remember driving home "upstate" and the NYS Thruway NORTH was a virtual parking lot with people trying to get as far away from NYC as they could. The southbound side was lined with emergency vehicles heading into the city. Living right by West Point and Stewart Airforce Base, all we heard were the sounds of the fighter planes taking off and flying overhead. When I got about 1 mile from my house the road was blocked by Army tanks and they were only letting residents through. I remember thinking I was either in the safest place or the most dangerous. I still thank God every day that my brother took off that day, the job he had was only 2 blocks away from the WTC. My cousins' cousin was killed, and many friends and neighbors lost loved ones. There but for the grace of God....

[Annette]

I was @ working at a daycare center about 40 miles outside of NYC. People came in,frantically and quickly, to pick up their kids. I remember driving home "upstate" and the NYS Thruway NORTH was a virtual parking lot with people trying to get as far away from NYC as they could. The southbound side was lined with emergency vehicles heading into the city. Living right by West Point and Stewart Airforce Base, all we heard were the sounds of the fighter planes taking off and flying overhead. When I got about 1 mile from my house the road was blocked by Army tanks and they were only letting residents through. I remember thinking I was either in the safest place or the most dangerous. I still thank God every day that my brother took off that day, the job he had was only 2 blocks away from the WTC.My cousins' cousin was killed, and many friends and neighbors lost loved ones. There but for the grace of God....

[Faustino]

I live in Irondequoit, NY--a small town in Rochester. I remember it was a day just like any other . . . it was also my aunt's 40th birthday. It was supposed to be a great day for her; she was planning on flying to Las Vegas. Anyway I was 12 years old and had just begun 7th grade, and was a major geek with glasses and was soon going to get braces. The morning was a total blur until 2nd period Math class. I remember the room I was in and exactly where I was sitting. We were doing work out of our textbooks when our principal broke the news over the PA system. He said this is no laughing matter and nothing to joke about. I remember being shocked because I had just gone to NYC that June and seen the towers. And I also remember saying to myself this will definitley be on the front page of the paper tomorrow. Little did I know it would not only be on the front page of our newspaper but on essentially every newspaper in the world, and on every news channel for the next several days and weeks. Later, band class was cancelled and the students and teachers all went in the auditorium to watch the news. They hooked up the TV to a special projector so we could all watch it on the big screen. That's where I first saw the towers fall. I wasn't initially shocked at first but I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. When my older sister and I got home from school we tried to call my aunt who lived in NYC at the time; she lived in the East Village and was on a bus going to work when one of the planes hit--and my great uncle was also in NYC for a business trip or something. My aunt and her roommates had to wear surgical masks because of all the dust and other supposedly toxic particles in the air. That evening we were all tuned into CNN, and it was just a solemn quiet night for the most part, other than the sounds of the TV. I watched the news on my little black and white TV while I was in bed. For the next week various fundraisers went on in our school; we sold red white and blue helium balloons and put our loose change in a jar. When we took our aunt out for dinner at TGI Fridays for her 40th birthday that Friday, I remember the restaurant was decorated with red white and blue balloons, and they did a special candlelight vigil. 9-11-01 is a day we should never forget and it really makes me proud to be an American. I just wish we could've prevented the attacks from happening. 

 

[Noss]

I remember getting off the subway at my usual time 8:40am on September 11, 2001. As I walked to my office I looked up and admired the beautiful, clear, blue skies. It was a gorgeous day. By the time I got to my office the first plane had struck 1 WTC. We were all in disbelief, but something deep inside me told me it was terrorist attack. I knew this was not a private plane. I made a few calls to people I knew who worked in the WTC complex. I only got to speak to one and she told me she just witnessed the second plane strike 2 WTC. The city was shut down at that point. I lived in Weehawken, NJ, which is directly across the Hudson from Manhattan. The only trasportation to Jersey was the ferry. I had on 3 inch heels that day and not one shoe store was open. Myself and 2 other co-workers walked from 48th and Park Ave to 38th and 12 Ave. If you know Manhattan you know how long the avenues are. I stood on the ferry line for 2 hours and as the boat pulled away I could see the clouds of smoke billowing in the air. It was a devastating sight. The New York skyline had changed forever. I lost a few friends and many associates. I attended many memorial services. New York was never the same after that day.

[Severe Clear]

The day was bright, sunny, perfect weather. I'll never forget how the sky was a pure shade of blue without a cloud in sight. I remember the stark contrast between the weather and what was happening. Everybody looked frozen, scared, nobody knew what to say. I didn't know how to feel. We spent the day in our pajamas, our eyes glued to the news. It was an experience that bonded us. I saw a freshman girl that I had mentored just a couple of weeks earlier, helping her adjust to being at college. We bumped into eachother outside, on the grass, nobody else was around. She looked so scared. I'll never forget that face. In that moment she looked even younger.

I remember feeling strangely numb that day. I didn't know what to think or say, or even exactly how to feel. In fact, its really now, years later that I'm beginning to process what happened. I can't help but think about all of the victims and how scared they must have been. And how brave everybody was on that day. 

[Everglade]

I was at work when a bulletin came over my computer from MSNBC that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I thought it was probably a small plane and I thought it was just awful. A little later another bulletin came on about the second plane and then the Pentagon. By then everyone was running around trying to find out just what was happening. I thought "Oh my god, someone is trying to wipe us out"! It was an awful, frightening feeling and and I felt total disbelief that this was happening in our country. When what had happened finally sank in I felt sick and I couldn't figure out what I should do - feeling that I should be doing something. My heart ached for all of us but especially for the victims and their families and friends.

[Zanotti]

I was working in a rental shop close to the Calgary airport that day. I knew something was going on when the planes stopped coming and going all of a sudden. For the very first time since moving to Calgary the sky was quiet, no planes, no air traffic of any kind. Customers had stopped coming in and the ones that did looked to be in shock. At the same time the radio that was playing in the shop went silent and then the shocking news was aired. I went into the office to find the other employees huddled around the T.V, I walked in to see the second plane crash into the tower. I was in shock just like the rest of the world I didn't know what to do. It was 8 years ago today and today was the first day I openly wept for the people in the towers and for all of humanity.

 

[Mancha]

I was going to school in Newark, NJ. I was awaken by my roommate who said "a plane flew into the twin towers." As I sat up, still groggy, I got a phone call. It was my dad saying "we're under attack." I couldn't even speak. I was just filled with disbelief. We ran down to the end of the hall, where we could see out the large windows in the stairwell. Smoke was rising from lower Manhattan. It was just completely surreal. When you live in an area where stuff is always happening, to see everything stop for a moment... to see everyone staring at the same thing... it was like being in a movie. I spent most of that day trying to get through to reach anybody I could, the cell phone networks were jammed.

[Survivor]

All I remember thinking about on that day was that we can't bomb them back soon enough.

Bastards.

And animals.

[Survivor]

Worse than animals.  What kind of a god even makes these pigs exist?

[Jebari]

I would like to express my condolences on the event of 9/11 to my American friends.  It was trly a bad event.

[Brigster]

I can't say for sure where I was.  But I can frigger where I probably was:  I was probably at AR reading some good research by Georgeos Diaz Montexano.  That's something you'll find only at AR, not here. 

[Enigcom]

I was working in the Newsroom of a Hearst Newspaper watching three gigantic monitors and listening to my colleagues who were mostly Liberal Progressives scream and cry at everything they saw. I was with them in the crying thingy. It was horrific and one of my buddies said, this is the biggest thing in my life. It indeed was a turning point for many of us. I also heard some say that this was something that Bush caused. Even on that day when one would surmise that we as a nation could come together, a darn politico had to start in on something like that. From that day forward I saw him amplify his verbiage to everyone he met. All I could do is shake my head. Since I was a conservative and old, a few days later, I was let go along with 500 others at Hearst because they said that they were afraid revenues would collapse. It was a good way to get rid of conservatives and amplify the voices of the Progressives. Never let an opportunity go unused.  I never really recovered from that episode in my life. I taught school and freelanced, but I loved the Newspaper business and I had just received my last appraisal which was exemplary and beyond expectations. I was the communications director and Intranet director creating 200,000 pages for our employees. After I left, the company intranet died. Now, newspapers are dying (nothing to do with me). Life is strange, my first job in life was when I was in the 8th grade...throwing newspapers. I was once a publisher for a metro newspaper. I designed 14 major newspapers and 5 magazines. It was a great life. 9/11 was bad for a lot of folks.    

[Bob137]

I was a full time AGR in the Army National Guard, and immediately put the Armolry on lock down, and an arabian fellow came to our Armory within ten minutes of me locking the place down, and wanted to get in, I refused, and called the police, and FBI, and State Headquarters. The investigation ended up with the guy and his fellow buddies that were also going around and taking pictures of the Armories that day, ending up in jail, and who knows where afterwords. In regards to the terrorist attack, it was an attack from the Bin Ladin goonies, not Osama, that were in Afghanistan, not IRAQ, and the fool G.W. Bush sent only a few 10,000 soldier to go after him in Afghanistan, (which he still hasn't been caught), but sent most the military to IRAQ. Also after the took over IRAQ, the Brigade Generals started securing the borders of IRAQ, and per G.W. Bush they were all made to pull the troops back, because he did not want the war to end then. The Army War College had already played this scenario out over and over prior to going to IRAW, and said that that was the only way to win a war there, and that was what the Generals were doing, but G.W. Bush did not care, he had other plans. He stated during his inaguaration, that he was going to go after Sadam Hussein, which was prior to 9/11. He also stated that he wanted complete economic control of the area, not  just control of the oil, but who listened and remembered what he actually said, I do, how about you! Also the Generals that were made to pull their troops back, so as not to end the war within 6 months, were all given a hard time, and each one retired immediately. Something wrong with that picture. If you have questions regarding this info, you just have to check with military sources for the whole truth on this subject, but it is certain, that there are still those that do not wish for this information to be widely known, for various reasons, but it is fact! Also when all the planes were grounded, and knowone knew who for sure had the terrorist attack done, G.W. Bush authorized for Bin Laden's siblings to be flown out of the U.S. immediately, but know one else was allowed to leave, (something fishy in that)! So if you want spout something, stop spouting nonsense, and get the facts first, or drop it.                       Logic will overcome ignoroance, and stupidity!

[Kristina]

Bob137,  have come across most of the details you related in my own research and can verify them - except for the part about the Arab persons trying to get into the National Guard armory.  That was news to me. Can you go into a little more detail about that?  Was he threatening about it?  What unit were you stationed at, was it near New York?

I doubt that we will ever know all that really happened on that day.