zeroptzero

I remember it like it was yesterday. I know exactly where I was, and where my wife was, and my 6 month old son.

I was driving home on a work trip sometime before noon, just after leaving a business meeting that morning. I heard these words from a local radio announcer - " The World Trade Centre buildings have been wiped off the face of the map" , it was an image I never could envision driving and just hearing that description on the radio. I was in a business meeting that morning just as the event was unfolding, and one of the guys arrived late and he was talking about a plane hitting a building and it must have been accidental etc. But no one really knew what was going on or the exact details, I didn't know what location he was talking about, and we just pushed on with the meeting. When I heard mention of a plane hitting a building I thought maybe a small Cesna or something like that. Then I heard the radio report on the drive home and once I got home I seen the images on TV. No words could describe what I was seeing.

I live in Ontario Canada, about 2 hours from the Detroit border and Buffalo border, and one hour from the Port Huron border, so pretty close to areas affected by the border closings. There are some documentaries about Canada's assistance in accepting planes and people that morning. Canadians took in countless stranded travelers that were in the air as US airspace was closed down. It was quite the accomplishment on our side of the border.

Since that time I've visited NYC and going to St. Paul's Chapel is one of the most moving experiences I've ever had, it was an experience that is very hard to describe unless you have a chance to go through that facility. I purchased the children's book they sell at the Chapel and it remains on my coffee table to this day.

S2KRAY

We were staying at an Inn in Lewes, DE. We’re were trying to check out but no one was at the front desk. The staff were in a room watching tv right after the first plane hit the tower. We kept watching then the second plane hit. We checked out and headed for home quickly. As we drove by the Dover air base there was a mad scramble by Air Force personnel. Some were getting into planes. Before we got home another plane crashed into the pentagon. After we got home Flight. 93 crashed in PA. I simply said WTF is happening. We couldn’t believe it. We were glued to the tv and when the towers collapsed we cried. We will never forget this awful day. May all the souls RIP and God bless the courageous first responders who walked into hell that day. Many are still suffering today and will have shortened lives thanks to those bastards.

MsPerky

This is an edited post from a couple of years ago. It is hard to believe it has been 20 years. It really does seem like yesterday.

We had a small TV in my office which was near the Capitol. We were hearing a plane was headed for the Capitol, but then it ended up being the Pentagon. We saw the film of the plane crash into the WTC building on the TV. It got very scary. We all pretty much left the building immediately, not waiting to be let go. I was not about to get on the subway, so ended up walking home several miles in not very comfortable shoes. I was then living in a smaller apt in the same building I still live in, also overlooking the Pentagon. There was mass gridlock in the streets and cell phones did not work. It was surreal. As I went past the Willard Hotel on 14th St saw my cousin from AZ walking down the sidewalk with his wife! He was staying there and I did not know it. Crazy coincidence. Used their room phone to call my parents and let them know I was OK. They had to shelter in the basement, so I kept walking. A German news crew stopped me on Constitution Ave and chatted for a bit. Asked me if I thought the president would take action. I said at that point I did not really know what happened and needed to find out. Went across the Roosevelt Bridge and saw all the black smoke billowing from the Pentagon. Could see the side where the plane hit from my balcony. Flames burned on the roof for a couple of days. There were no flights in or out of National for awhile. Just lots of helicopters flying around constantly. It was very strange. I spent the next year observing the rebuilding, since there was a resolution to complete the rebuilding in a year and have people move back in. The deadline was met.

The last couple of nights there has been a white beacon of light shining into the sky near the Pentagon. Quite beautiful and moving in a way.

dlq04

As I have posted before, I was in the garage messing with the MG. My wife called from her work location at the county to tell me to turn on the tv. I watched it all happen live by myself. It was very unreal and hard to grasp.

robb

I was working in a condo up at the resort and had the t.v. on in the background with CNBC on, I remember the anchor was Mark Haines. I remember the first plane hit and they thought it was an accident and then the second one came along and we knew we were under attack, then I remember watching as the towers fell. This was before everybody had cellphones so I phoned our office to let everyone know what was going on and then went there and we all watched what was happening. My generation had not gone through anything like this and I honestly didn't know what to do we were all worried about what was going to happen next. There are a lot of things that stay with you and one is I remember my friend telling me that after 9/11 everytime his little daughter saw a plane she would point and say look Daddy a bomb.
God bless everyone affected by that day.

JonasM

Virginija, my parents and myself were climbing Mt. Whitney in California. We camped the night of Sept 10th at the Trail camp (12000ft elevation). During the trip, we noticed frequent training flights of fighter jets, most likely from Edwards Air Force Base. On the 11th, we headed towards the summit. Moving slowly, due to the low oxygen and allowing my parents to set the pace, we arrived at the Trail Crest in the early afternoon (this is the part of the trail where you cross over the mountain range to the western slope, go down just a bit, then a long steady uphill to the summit (elevation 14505 ft). A little after the crest, we stopped for a quick snack & water. A hiker coming down from the summit stopped to chat. "Have you heard the news?". Virginija quickly answered, smiling: "What? That it's my Birthday??" He looked at her and said sadly "sucks to be you", then proceeded to tell us what he knew. Being the days when not everyone had a cell phone, details were very sketchy and, it turned out, grossly exaggerated: 500,000 people dead, the White House in flames, etc...
It was then that we noticed that no training flights had been seen all day. No airplanes at all, as a matter of fact.
We camped a bit short of the summit. I pulled out the small champagne bottle that I had hauled up the mountain to celebrate Virginija's birthday. It seemed strange to celebrate that evening, but I believe that Virginija's day still deserved recognition and celebration. That night, we huddled together as the winds whipped our tent, snow blasting the rain fly and keeping us up most of the night, contemplating the world we would encounter when we returned to civilization.
At the summit the next day, the sky was the clear, intense blue that you only get at that altitude. Not a cloud or vapor trail in sight. One younger hiker had a cell phone, and I overheard him saying "So all the airports are still closed? OK."
So Sept 11th was a Tuesday. We arrived back at Lone Pine, the town closest to the mountain, Thursday morning, when we saw our first newspaper. Things were so surreal. After breakfast, we drove to Las Vegas, where we had planned an overnight to recuperate from our climb, then fly home (theoretically) Friday. As we passed Edwards AFB, a B-2 bomber with fighter escort took off right over our car. First thought: "Are we at war?"
I cannot express how kind every person was while we were in Vegas. Though events went on, shows continued, every now and then folks would stop what they were doing to look at the nearest TV screen for the latest news. The friendliness and comradery was palpable.
Thankfully, the planes were flying Friday, so we made it home on schedule.

ralper

I was in my office along with some of my colleagues. We got a phone call from one of the partners who wasn't yet in the office telling us that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. At that point nobody knew it was a terrorist attack. It was thought that it was a private plane that accidentally crashed into the tower. In disbelief, we all scrambled into our conference room and turned on the TV. Because we didn't have cable (the TV was mostly used for video CPE sessions) the reception was terrible, but we could make out what was happening and hear the commentator. When the second plane crashed into the other tower and the first tower collapsed, we knew what was going on. We closed the office and all went home for the day.

The very next morning I was on Interstate 78 heading towards a client in Newark, NJ. There is a sweeping turn on I-78 from which you looked directly at the towers and could see them. That morning the sky looked like I'd never seen it before. As I looked to the left the sky was bright and blue, as I looked to the right the sky was black and full of smoke. I will never forget that image.

Just a few years earlier, Liz and I lived in a loft on 5th Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan less than a mile from the World Trade Centers. When we stood on the sidewalk, directly in front of our building we could see the towers. They were so close we felt almost as if we could touch them. Now when we go into the city and stand there, there is an emptiness that seems very wrong. Back in the day, before the attacks none of us could get over how ugly the towers were. Once they were destroyed we all missed them.

A final thought. That almost 3,000 people died in the attack is unforgivable, yet somehow it is amazing that the number is only about 3,000. Something like 25,000 people worked in the towers and many more people were always on the sidewalks around them. I don't know what miracle prevented more deaths, but the number could've been in the 10s of thousands.

ralper

I do wonder, if the 9/11 attacks happened today would you get the same unity that we felt after 9/11? I doubt it. I think that both parties would spend time pointing fingers and blaming each other for the lack of security and putting America at risk.

jukngene

Here is a picture Bea took when we were flying up the Hudson on the way to visit her sister in Vermont.

MsPerky

It's always a bit sad when I see a movie where the twin towers are featured - like Moonstruck and Working Girl.