September 11th 2001 Where Were You When the Planes Went Down

[wfgodot]

....plus relevant thoughts or links you'd like to add.

 

[katydid23]

It was about 5:30 am, California time. I had gotten up early to shower before my husband and kids had to get up for school and work. I liked to have coffee and watch the morning news while I made lunches etc... A BREAKING NEWS report came onto the local station and I sat in shock, trying to figure out what was going on...When my husband came down stairs an hour later, he was also in shock. We just sat and stared in disbelief.

When our 13 yr old got up, he saw us both crying, at the kitchen counter. So we tried to somehow explain what was going on, as he was in middle school, and I figured it would be a topic of conversation. And he sat and watched it with us. We were all so numb by the time we left for school. I took the kids to school late because of the situation and I was amazed at how many people had no idea what was going on yet. Many were up and off to school and work before hearing about the tragedy on the East coast. My husband is from Boston and this hit him very hard.

It still knocks the wind out of me occasionally. :sigh:

 

[wfgodot]

Here's a very interesting and detailed look at the president's timeline that day.

From first entry:

Sometime before 6:00 a.m. on September 11, or possibly on the evening of September 10, a van occupied by some Middle Eastern men pulls up at the resort. The men claim to be reporters and say they are there for a “poolside” interview with Bush. They then ask for a particular Secret Service agent by name. Security guards phone the receptionist at the resort and relay the men’s request. The receptionist has not heard of the Secret Service agent named by the men or anything about a planned interview with Bush. She passes the phone to a Secret Service agent, who similarly tells the security guards that no one knows of the agent the men referred to or is aware of any scheduled interview with the president. The Secret Service agent says the men should contact the president’s public relations office in Washington, DC, and has them turned away from the premises. Incident Resembles Recent Assassination Method - Some people will later note the similarity of this alleged incident to the method used to assassinate General Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, on September 9. Massoud was killed by a bomb hidden in the video camera of two Arab men who said they were journalists who wanted to interview him (see September 9, 2001).

 

[gregjrichards]

I was in 5th year in high school when 9/11 was going on there was talk that a plane had crashed into the world trade centre which I thought at the time was a tragic accident. School finished not long after and I remember seeing all the parents in cars. They all looked to be in a shocked and emotional state, their heads were in the hands or they hand a hand covering their mouths. Many waiting mums were in tears. I couldn't understand what was going on a round me. I waited a bit and my dad came to pick me up the first think he said "terrorists have crashed planes into the world trade centre in New York and more planes have been hijacked". We drove to my gran's house with the radio on and they were debating which terrorist group was behind these attacks and more being imminent.

When we got to my grans she was sitting in a chair by the TVs in very distressed state I gave her a hug and held her hand. We sat and watched footage of the world trade centre on fire, the second plane smashing into the second tower and we saw poor people trapped in the buildings or jumping. We watched and saw a plane had tragically crashed into the Pentagon too and that flight 93 had been brought down. Nothing could ever have prepared me for seeing those images.

I was worried sick more attacks were imminent. I couldn't eat that night. I remember getting home and I put teletext on the TV and seeing the headline "50,000 feared dead in terrorist attack.". I spent that week and beyond with the news on constantly terrified this was the new normal. I learned more and more about the attacks and heroic efforts of the passengers on Flight 93.

This day will live with me for the rest of my life. 15 years may have passed but what happened on that terrible day isn't any less horrific, devastating or emotional. The 2,996 victims who died at the world trade centre, the Pentagon and on Flight 93 will never be forgotten. May they Rest. In. Peace. The search and rescue people, the firefighters, police and world trade centre survivors who were exposed to toxic dust who have died since this tragic day are also in my prayers. 9/11 has left many rescuers and people clearing ground zero with terrible health problems and this is often forgotten and it is a tragic legacy of what happened on September 11th 2001.

Unfortunately there have been many more terrorist attacks since 9/11 though not on the same scale but no less horrifying. We live in a world now where there is no surprise at yet another terrorist attack taking place particularly in the last few years.

 

[Damarna]

I was sitting on the couch with my then 9 year old daughter, Anna. I recall being so confused. There was zero ability on my part to understand yet alone help Anna understand. Anna enlisted in the army after graduating high school. She was in Afghanistan - flying to Kabul or Kandahar regularly which was extremely risky. She listened to mortar fire day and night. Yhosr few moments sitting on the couch next to her mom affected her in ways I never would have imagined. I pray every day for peace for us all.

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[bluesneakers]

My story is like many others - I was living in Toronto at the time and I woke up to the DJs shouting and crying and didn't know why. Then I turned on the TV and saw what was happening and started sobbing and shaking. When I saw the first tower fall I didn't understand - that part somehow seemed more impossible than planes crashing into the buildings. When they closed the border between the USA and Canada (flights were also being diverted) my emotional state got even worse because my daughter was at her father's house in Pennsylvania (not in Shanksville but close enough to add to my anxiety). I wasn't in any shape to drive down immediately and not that it would have made a difference but I had a panic attack when I realized I couldn't even if I wanted to. I had no idea when the border would be reopened. Joint custody is difficult enough when a child's parents live in two different countries and are able to freely travel back and forth.

It also changed my life.

The next day I hung my brother's flag in the window (he died in 1987) and started applying for jobs in the USA. I was back in Pennsylvania within a month.

 

[fred&edna]

I had shuffled my little ones off to school and had returned home for another cup of coffee and a few minutes of online messaging with a friend, when suddenly/puzzlingly our internet connection went "poof". About that time my sister called, gave me an update on what was happening and told me to turn on the tv. After watching news reports of the horror unfolding many miles away, I walked outside and looked up at the beautiful, cloudless blue sky... felt the warmth of the bright sun. I remember thinking, how could hell be happening on this serenely beautiful day?!?

 

[Tillicum]

I was out in the barn cleaning the milk room after my morning milking when my husband called from work and told me. We had no television, cable, internet or cell phones, just an AM/FM radio and portable house phone. I've never felt so alone or terrified in my life. All of our family lived over 2 hours away and I made call after call trying to make sure they were all okay. It took forever because the phone lines were jammed and calls wouldn't go through. I will always remember the feeling of having to keep my sons on the phone, that connection - hearing their voices, knowing they were all right.

To this day I haven't watched the towers go down. I know it's all out there on the WWW but I just can't. I can only pray.

 

[tlcya]

Stay at home mom with my almost year old baby girl. I was trying to settle her for a nap and rocking her in the rocker recliner. The news broke and I just sat there, numb, watching the live coverage, looking at her and thinking, the world can never be the same again. She will never know what I knew. She will grow up in a world where she never felt a sense of security on her home soil from foreign acts of war.

Watching people leaping to their deaths from the towers, tears streaming, feeling heartbroken, afraid and helpless and wondering what does this mean for my baby? One thought just kept echoing - The world has gone mad.

 

[EmmaliLucia]

I had just turned eight the month prior to Sept 11th and I had lived in a small towns on the west coast all my life and was fairly sheltered from the rest of the world when it happened.


I think my mom woke me up because she was screaming, she always has and always will wake up at 6 am and immediately turn on the news. As she described it later she thought she had turned the channel to FX or some other action movie station, it took her a few minutes to register what was actually going on. As the news reports started rolling in I became extremely afraid, my mom worked in the courthouse and I couldn't wrap my mind around the difference between the Pentagon and a courthouse in a county of almost exactly 100,000 people. I remember being so terrified to go to school and for her to go to work; I kept begging her to stay home. I ended up going to school and to be honest, I don't remember much of the school day. I think my teacher kept the TV on and we watched because this was going to be one of the most important events in our lives, but I'm not sure if he actually did that or if I'm just remembering a story someone else told me.

Weird to think that there are people who are about to get their driver's permits who weren't even born when this happened.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

:tyou: for the thread wfgodot and :tyou: everyone for your thoughtful posts. I was watching the Today show in the kitchen while I had coffee and tidied up from dinner the night before. Regular programming was interrupted when the plane hit the twin towers. The phone rang. It was my sister calling to ask if I heard the news. While we were talking, the second plane struck. DS had to leave for work shortly. I didn't leave the house that day and was glued to NBC or CNN for the next 24-48 hours.

 

[AC's Grandma]

I was at work, and my 15 year old daughter was home from school sick. She called me to say there had been a plane crash on the news in NYC - I turned on my radio and then ran to the activities room of the nursing home I worked at and turned on the television....the news was horrible. My daughter was screaming and had me leave work to go home. She lived in fear for months after what she watched on television that day. We lived in Rhode Island and she begged me for the longest time to move from the east coast since she was afraid of more terrorist attacks that could hit close to where we lived.
Watching things about 9/11 online and on television still brings me to tears.

 

[DatelineFan]

I was leaving for my freshman year of college that week. On the 11th, I was driving down the long stretch at the airport, to drop my mom off so she could go say goodbye to my grandmother before she died. I'll never forget getting almost to "departures" when the announcement came over the radio. We were both stunned. Of course, my mom didn't get to see her mom that last time. I think the airport shut down, and we went home to watch the coverage in shock.

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[wfgodot]

These are great responses!

 

[Tillicum]

Remember how eerie it was when hours and hours would go by with no planes in the sky?

 

[tlcya]

Remember how eerie it was when hours and hours would go by with no planes in the sky?

Yes! Was just coming to post that same kind of thought. I live near to an airport and am under the regular flight path. So quiet, and the sky so uncluttered by jet trails. Isn't it strange how we didn't really notice them when they were a constant in our day and yet the moment they were gone we noticed their absence?

 

[pomegranate]

I was at work. It was my first "real" job, in an office very close to DC. My boss, who was usually very silly and lighthearted, called us into his office right away. He was the only one with a TV. I could tell by the tone of his voice that something was seriously wrong. I remember that none of us understood what was happening at first. We thought that maybe it was just some sort of horrible accident. I think we were hoping that it was just a horrible accident because the alternative was unthinkable. When it became clear that it was an attack, we all started to freak out a bit. My partner at the time was working a job that required him to drive around a lot, and that morning he was supposed to be going into DC. I became frantic trying to get in touch with him, but calls weren't going through. Eventually I learned that he was safe and had never made it anywhere near DC that morning because he was on his way when the attacks started, and the roads into dc were blocked.

I don't remember many other details. I do remember how beautifully blue the sky was that morning, and the faces of my coworkers as we watched the horrors unfold while we were standing around my boss' little television. I was so young and in many ways naive, that it took a while for the full impact of what happened to sink into my brain.

Many of us were still together as coworkers when the beltway shootings happened. That was another horrifying time in our lives. It in no way compares to the horror that was 9/11, but it was so tense and the fear seemed to hang over us all like a heavy fog until the snipers were caught. I remember being afraid to get out of my car to pump gas, afraid to take a walk, and the parents were afraid every day when their children were in school.

 

[HoneyWest]

Great thread.

I was at work, had gotten there early. Nose to the grindstone, us Accountants! My ex-husband called and asked if I had heard about a plane crashing into one of the towers. No, I hadn't, I'm busy. Our assistant soon came to my office and told me the TV was on in the conference room and something major was going on, so I joined about a dozen employees and watched. We all kind of went into a state of disbelief and shock together, watching the second crash, then the towers go down one after the other. Several of us were listening to radios, calling family members. I realized my boss, the ultimate workaholic, was still in his office, so I jogged over to get him. Dave! (not his name) You know something major is going on at the WTC? He said yeah. I told him to come on, we've got the TV on, and radios on you've got to see this. One of the towers is completely gone. He looked up at me and said he was busy and that we had a lot of work to do. He didn't have time to watch TV.

I felt like I was punched in the gut twice that day. Once by the tragedy of 9/11 and once by the realization that my boss, as I suspected was non human.

 

[CoolJ]

It was my first September not being in school as I had graduated from university the previous spring. I had come in to my new job that morning and all the other staff members were sitting around a radio listening to what was happening. At that point in time it was just one plane so it seemed like we were dealing with a tragic accident. Upsetting, yes... But not quite catastrophic at this point so I went about with my daily work duties.

Then I heard people freaking out again outside my office and came out to learn that another plane hit the other tower. Immediately, I knew it was a terrorist attack. I had a bit of freedom with my job, so I used a lame excuse to get out of there and went straight to my Dad's house where he and my uncle were watching it all unfold on CNN. Our conversation immediately went to a visit to New York about 4 yrs earlier and we both clearly remembered standing in between the towers and commenting to each other about a very eerie feeling we had on that day where we actually spoke about this being a terrorist target and Dad actually mentioned the name "Osama Bin Laden" because he was suspected of a previous attack there a few years earlier.

That afternoon, I recall going back to work to find that the sports complex I was working out of was filled with people. Parking lot filled with busses. We were fairly close to a major international airport and many planes were diverted there so we became a shelter for all of those stranded passengers.

It is crazy to think now how an attack on a place so far away could have direct consequences for folks all over North America.

I have researched those attacks for the past 10 years or so and have many questions that I believe have gone unanswered, but that is for another time and another place. It was a tragic day that completely changed our way of living.

 

[CoolJ]

Here's a very interesting and detailed look at the president's timeline that day.

From first entry:

wfgodot, very nice thread that you started here. I am enjoying reading the different perspectives. Just out of curiosity as I am a bit of a 9/11 researcher.... Where is this post from?