Where Were You On Sept 11?

well, even though it did happen when i was a sleep, i still feared for my life for a while, i was sleeping at my grandmas house and she lives in pearl city, pearl harbor is a few miles away, if they decided to start dropping bombs in that area, i'm sure theres a possiblity that something may go wrong and they might hit us with something. that was my main concern. having pearl harbor and the pacific fleet command on one island isnt too good for the sanity when your on that island
 
I think I might have been one of the last people to find out in North America... I was on a boat, with some friends, doing some fishing. We usually get together and go fishing during the summer. We don't do much fishing, just relax on the boat and enjoy the day.

Anyhow, we had smoked a little bit, and decided to have some lunch. We got back to this little shack that was owned by the owner of the lake. Very small little place. The guy who owned it was this real hardcore hillbilly french guy.. When we got in, he started telling us how a war was going on in the states, and new York was getting hit. . but he spoke in a very strong "quebecois" accent, that we hardly understood what he said. Plus, in the condition we were in, it was even harder to understand. We thought he might have had a little bit too much to drink, and didn't think anything of it. We thought he might have been a little crazy.

Anyway, we went back on the boat for the rest of the afternoon. no cell phones or anything . Just us, on a lake.

Low and behold, when we finally left the place, we turned on the radio in the car , and were stunned to hear what actually did happen...
 
My wife and I were on a road trip from CA to NY. We took a month for our honeymoon and were "camping across America". Hitting a lot of National Parks, Yellowstone, etc. We hit some super bad weather on the 9th with tornados and decided to turn back and head south. We were in Arizona on our way to Las Vegas on the 11th. The thing is, if it wasn't for the bad weather and our decision to turn around, we would have been in NY on the 11th. Thank God we weren't...who knows where we would have been.
 
I was asleep when the first two planes hit. My older brother woke me up (we both had the day off) to ask if I knew where something was. I don't remember exactly what he was asking for. I answered him and rolled over to go back to sleep. As he left my room, he said "oh by the way, our country is under terrorist attack. people are flying planes into buildings." and he shut the door. For a few minutes, all I could do is lay there wondering if he was serious. Then I got out of bed and out into the hall to see him in his room, glued to the TV. I watched in horror as the World Trade Center burned. Then the first tower collapsed. I had no idea what to think. To this day, I still am not quite sure what to think about that day. It brings new meaning to the high school drumline picture I have hanging in my bedroom. It's a poster-sized photo of our drumline on Liberty Island against the New York skyline, with the WTC towers standing proud.

http://cajuncc.myrtlemadness.net/drumline.jpg
 
i just got back to my high school from vo tech and went to my history class, it was on the tvs then and all over lunch
 
My day

I had just left the house in the car and heard about a small plane hitting the WTC, very brief report, but for some reason I decided to put off the errands and go back home to see what was going on. When I got home, the TV was showing the first details, not much info, and I had stepped away for a moment when the second plane hit, but I saw the reports right after that, they were still disbeliveing what had happened. I sat and watched as many TV channels as I could. Eventually I called my daugher who had just started college out of state and called my parents and my husband. At some point I popped in a tape to tape some of the broadcasts, I still have it, have never replayed it though. At about 10 AM I decided to go to the Junior High where my son was, for I realized things might be weird there.

Sure enough, when I got there there was along line of parents stretched out the front door, parents wanting to pull their kids out of school. I pitched in and helped the staff, matching up parents and kids and verifying that this person actually was a person who had permission to take a kid out of school, we are pretty strict about that. One woman insisted that her neighbor would have wanted her to take her kids, but she was not on the forms with written permission --turned out the actual mom did not want the kids pulled, glad we checked! At least one kid I saw left for an hour to be with his mom, who was very upset, then returned to school, I suppose after the mom saw that the kid was not freaked out by it all. One mom was nearly hysterical, I thought maybe she had family there, but no, she was just so upset she needed to pull her girls out of class to go home and have a good cry about it. The kids had heard about it, a few classes had TVs on and were interrupted I suppose, so eventually the principal made an announcement. I eventually stepped away to see my son during his lunch period, he had heard a bit about what was going on, he was quite unnerved, he had been reading some Tom Clancy book or similar that was pretty close to the same situation.

Pretty soon after that, the boy my daughter had been dating joined the Army and went to Iraq. The twin boys across the street almost joined as well, but various medical issues kept them out.

I remember being quite concerned about the safety of schools after OBLadin put out a tape talking aobut the suffering of the children in Iraq under UN sanctions and worrying that they might strike back at children in the US. I found myself taking note of high pressure petroleum lines near schools or public places.

I visited DC for the Cherry Blossum Festival that spring and a woman told me that NYC was hurting for tourists so I went to NYC the next day which was just before the Tribute in Light was to end. The messages at the wall tore me up, where brothers and wives and loved ones left last words to the ones they lost. The site itself was just a hole and not at all visible by then.
 
As much as I hate to remember it....

I was headed to work in downtown Brooklyn. As a part of my commute (by car) I would always catch a glimpse of the WTC from a particular intersection. That day like every other before it, I looked up at the towers only this time there was a hole in the side of the building with fire and black smoke pouring out of it. I immediatly turned on 1010 WINS and called my wife who works in midtown. Now at the time, only the first plane had hit and details on the radio were sketchy. I recall telling her that a plane had hit the tower and it must be a terrable accident. The news didint have much more info then that so we said goodbye and I continued on my way. After passing the intersection I could no longer see the WTC due to the buildings around me, but by the time I had reached my parking garage the second plane had hit. I walked in to my office and announced what had just happened and headed for the water. My office was about 7 city blocks from the east river and lower manhatten. There were throngs of people headed to the river as well. The site from this point is somthing I wont forget. Both buildings are on fire now with dense black smoke pouring out. The contrast of this smoke against the blue cloudless sky is tough to forget. I recall seeing what I thought was sparkles in the smoke only to realise that it was bits of paper swirling in the wind drivin higher and higher by the heat of the flames. Then while standing there we were hit by a sickly smell, it wasnt just the smell of fire, but the smell of the building burning was awfull. I remember looking around at all the people and I noticed it was eerily quiet for the amount of people there. I then became afraid. I begain to understand that we were under attack and I didnt know if more was coming. Throughout the morning I went back to the office and back to the water a couple of times. I was trying to reach my wife by phone again but all the lines into manhatten where either busy or down. A saw a coworker on the street who just reported that one of the builings had fallen. He was headed home. I was now in disbelief. The thought of the buldings falling never crossed my mind. I arrived at the water just in time to see the second one fall. I was now in a panic. I went for my car and struggled (along with everyone else in Brooklyn it seems) to get away. All I wanted to do was get my daughter from school and try to contact my pregnant wife. My ride towards home was frustrating, the lack of information on the radio didnt help. I did finally arrive home that day. My wife arrived a few hours after me, she had to walk home over the 59th st bridge into Queens. For those that know NYC at all she walked from 59th and Park to Queens Blvd in Woodside, and an overladen city bus stopped for her and made room for her. The weeks following 9/11 were very strange. The city was very on edge. The people were amazing, I never saw New Yorkers pull together like that before or since. I personally did not know anyone that lost there life on 9/11. But I know many, who lost friends and loved ones that day. I know the question was where were you on 9/11 but just saying "In Brooklyn" just wouldnt have worked. Thanks for reading.
 
I was driving to work when the first plane hit and then heard about the second plane.... After I got to the office I heard what was really going on. I raced back to my car, since I was the closest to my house, to get a TV from home....As I was exiting to go to my house I heard the first building collasped and I was totally incredulous. My practical part of my brain took over and I hoped and prayed people were able to escape in time and that the second builing would hold long enough for everyone to get out. By the time I got inside the house, I heard the second had fallen. I was so freaked!
My thoughts immediately went to my fiancee, now husband, who was in Chicago on Business. I had no idea where he was in that city. I felt Chicago might be a target and that really freaked me out. I knew I was safe in Houston as no one thinks of Houston for an attack and I was working about 15 miles from downtown. Anyway, the next few days were really hard. I was supposed to be in the final planning stages for our wedding and who wants to even think about such fivilous stuff in the face of such horrible catastrophy??? I also, had to get my fiancee / hubby home! I finally got him on his cell phone, He said he would drive north and find a hotel ther and spend the night. he did. The next day he said the airports should open soon (not to be for at least a week) and that he was turning in his rent car. I had already heard of people buying bomb cars and driving them home. I said hang onto that car and start driving to Houston. So the next day and a half I talked to Ed for hours to keep him awake as he was driving back to Houston. He made it! This was such a hard time for everyone and for us as we were beginning our new life together.

After a couple weeks Enron happened and many of our friends were deeply affected by that. Needless to say it was a very difficult Month / year for so many people....
 
I can remember it well. I was in a meeting when our security chief came in and told us what was going on. We locked the base down and people were not allowed to come or go from the base. We then spent the next 12-14 hrs completely securing all access to the base. For the next couple of months, it was a pain just to go to work.

"T"
 
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