Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

[VDusen04]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

There's a website called Understanding 9/11. It has about 20 TV station's footage archived in full from September 11th and beyond. It's hard to watch, but I did anyway. The thing about the news coverage, to me, was knowing that television was always supposed to be professional, even when something bad happens. Anchors keep their wits about them, and there's most definitely no sound coming off screen from show workers. All of that went out the window on 9/11. When the 2nd tower is hit, the audible gasps coming from entire studios makes me tear up.

Here is a clip of Peter Jennings, a pro of pros, on the verge. Somehow, strangely, I was able to connect with Jennings, because he clearly felt how we were all feeling. There were no words: http://www.archive.org/details/911/d...rt/14:00:56UTC

[Jr.]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was in my Junior english class in high school. A teacher from the class next door came in and said a plane hit the World Trade Center. My teacher turned on the TV a few minutes before the second plane hit.

When I saw that I remember not being able to move and couldn't hear anything. A friend of mine sitting next to me said he was talking to me for about 5 minutes before he realized I wasn't listening.

I remember walking around the rest of the day in a fuzz. We watched the news coverage in the rest of my classes. A lot of people went home. Charlotte is a large banking city, so a bunch of kids were freaking out thinking that the city might be a target.

It didn't hit me how big of an event it was until I got home that night and talked to my parents about it and what it meant.

[Segagendude]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

It was 6am Vegas time when the first plane hit.

I was at work at the post office listening to Howard Stern (Before he went to satellite) and I remember him yelling "OMG!!! A plane just crashed into the WTC!!"

I thought probably a small plane, and didn't think much of it. But as the letter carriers started arriving early, they were saying how we were under attack.

Somebody had a small portable tv, so we huddled around it for most of the morning, in shock and disbelief. Wondering if this was the end of the world.....

My wife and I were scheduled to fly back to Cleveland for my brother's wedding later that week, and we wondered if it would happen. It did, right after they lifted the flying ban. Talk about being a nervous flyer when we went.

[cardswin2006]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

Senior in high school, Spanish class. One of my classmates came into the room after going to the bathroom and said to the teacher: "two planes have hit the WTC." He immediately turned on the tv and we watched for the rest of the period. I remember the reports coming in about the Pentagon getting hit, and like somone else remarked earlier in the thread, that's when it got scary. The Pentagon is the ultimate display of military strength in the world, and here were people scrambling to stop the fires as the walls crumbled.

I remember us putting names up on the board as we brainstormed who was responsible. Some of the names were Saddam, Bin Laden, and I think someone even mentioned North Korea. We all pretty much agreed that it sounded like Bin Laden, though.

When the towers fell, I remember the classroom being almost completely silent, and then our professor said: "A lot of people just died right there. We're going to war over this." He said it so matter of factly it was unnerving--we were all thinking it, but hearing it out loud made it worse for some reason.

I think the biggest thing successive generations will not realize about the event is not knowing how safe everyone felt on 9/10/01. America was always safe. Nothing like that ever happened to us. Sure, an embassy on the other half of the world would have a car bomb go off, but no one ever left their house thinking something like that could happen here. Even Pearl Harbor happened in Hawaii, which is still very far off on its own in the pacific. To see something like that happen in the contiguous 48 was scary. No one alive at the time had been alive to see an attack from a foreign adversary on this continent.

As for the rest of the day, I remember working out after school at a sports training facility and watching the news coverage as I jogged on the treadmill. When I left that night, there was a car parked in the parking lot with an American flag draped across the inside of the back window--a sign of the patriotism that would engulf the country over the coming weeks. When I came home I saw huge lines at the pump for gas...which for some reason made me angry that people would put their own pocket book in front of what was happening.

In the days afterward, it was weird not seeing any planes in the sky. I do recall seeing a few military planes/choppers in the sky afterwards which actually made me feel better. For the next year, whenever you heard a plane engine, everyone would look up to make sure it wasn't flying too low.

[kingkilla56]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was in 6th grade science class when I heard. It didnt hit me till I saw the smoke clouds in the manhattan sky from the far side of Brooklyn. Then when I saw the images and my mother crying it got me.

[Blaze125]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

6th grade social studies. The principal came on the PA and said that the towers were hit. I remember talking in the hall to my friends, not wanting to believe it was a terrorist attack. We didn't have TV's so I didn't know the extent of it until I got home, then I really understood what had happened.

[Jasong7777]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I had taken the day off from work. All I could think about was getting Jay Z Blue Print album earlier that morning. All that soon changed. Just a terrible terrible day.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was sleeping after partying all night, had the day off or work, my ex called me and woke me up to tell me, I was 22.

[slickdtc]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

Was in 6th grade. Homeroom. Our teacher had a TV, which many rooms did not (they shared a TV that was on a cart). He turned it on for a little bit and I mistook the WTC for a building that was in the city. That's what I remember most.

I had heard of plans for some light memorial thing at the site of the WTC, but never got around to looking more into it. Wow. The lights into the sky... it's almost as chilling as that day was, in a completely different sense. If you could possibly say that a memorial did those who died that day justice, that would be it. Absolutely phenomenal memorial and kudos to whoever designed it.



The way the light beams shoot up into the heavens in a seemingly endless ray of light... jaw-dropping, hauntingly beautiful.

[l3ulvl]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was in college but at home at the time. I remember thinking my channels had been changed by the cable company again because I was stuck in the CNN section, only to realize 5 minutes later that every single channel was showing a major tragedy.

I wasn't sure just how big of a deal it was at first, and let my roommate sleep in. But then I thought it seemed like I should wake him up and let him know what was going on because for all I knew he might have family to check on.

It really never hit me all day the enormity of what I was witnessing.

Selfishly I recall hoping my work would be closed that night due to the events (I worked at a large UPS center), it wasn't, and the lines at the gas stations that evening were insane.

[Rouchicus]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was in my freshman gym class in HS. Someone came in and told us about it. We stopped class early and I think we were watching stuff about it for most of every class for the rest of the day.

It's weird, because I have the same feeling about it now that I did then, which I figured would change after ten years. I didn't know anyone in or around any of the areas that were attacked, but I was just completely dumbfounded by all of it. Still am. I'll think about and have no idea why or how the human race can be capable of the things that we are capable of.

[fishepa]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

In college at Auburn in my apartment watching on TV.

[st0rmb11]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I was sitting back, talking about September 11 with my dad earlier, and it made me look up this thread, just to see if there was one on here.

With the 12th anniversary coming up, I figured giving this thread a little bump wouldn't hurt, and since I hadn't contributed to it during its original go 'round, I'll do it now.

I was in 7th grade, and at the time of the events, I was in 2nd period U.S. History with Coach Tim Grant, who was from Rochester, New York. (side note - he would later go on to Fort Meade, FL, and was on the coaching staff for Andrew McCutchen's football team in high school).

I want to say we had just started class, and our headmaster came over the loud speaker and announced to us that a plane had struck one of the World Trade Center buildings. Being 12 years old, and pretty naive and ignorant, and having little knowledge about anything outside of South Carolina that wasn't NBA or MLB related, I had no clue what the WTC was, nor did any of my classmates, aside from Coach Grant's son.

So, as he was explaining to us what they were, where they were, and that it was likely an accident, our headmaster (Dr. Michael Connors, who was from around Syracuse, New York), came back over the loudspeaker, with a shaky voice, as though he were choking on his heart, and announced that the a second plane had struck the towers, and that more information would be brought to us as they found out more, and that any teacher that wanted to keep up with the situation could turn on the TV in their classroom; Coach Grant opted against it. He was visibly shaken by the what we had all heard. This man was a 6'5" 275 pound former college football lineman, and was a man I looked up to immensely as a coach and as my best friend's dad, who I had never seen even remotely shaken up, so when I could see it in his eyes that he felt completely helpless and insignificant at that moment, it really got to me.

At this point, a few girls in the class started to get hysterical, and Coach Grant recomposed himself, to try to settle them down, as best he could. The rest of the school day is really a blur. I remember seeing girls and teachers in the hallways very distraught and upset, and I remember a handful of students going home, as I think classes were sort of unofficially set aside for the remainder of the day, as teachers just tried to manage all of our emotions, and serve as leaders in this time.

That night, I recall, for the first time in my life, sitting with my parents and my sister, and watching the news for hours, as more details became available. That night, I remember lying in my bed, fearing that if I went to sleep, I may never be given the chance to wake up. What if these were just the first of many attacks to occur in the coming hours? I hadn't slept with my parents since I was probably 3, but that night, I walked into their room, only to find my younger sister was already in bed, crying, so I tried to "man up", and I offered to stay with her in her room for the night. On the outside, I can recall trying to stay as tough as possible for her, as she was only 8 and was terrified, but on the inside, I was just as fearful as she was. Even though we were living in a small town in South Carolina, how were we to know that they wouldn't go after the whole east coast?

In the days and weeks following, the school (a small, private, Christian school) had prayer meetings every morning at the flag pole. We started a huge fund raiser, selling chain links (made of paper), to wrap around the fence of the football field, and eventually sold enough to wrap around our entire football/baseball field 3 times. We sold bracelets, our school's homecoming football game was coming up, and we had a tribute to the USA on the back of the homecoming shirts, and all proceeds raised by all sales were donated. We raised somewhere between $15,000 & $25,000 dollars to donate to the cause, which considering the size of the school, was crazy.

It's insane - 12 years ago, and I still remember so many details VIVIDLY. I have a great memory, anyway, but the events from that day and the days and weeks following just stand out so much more clearly than things that happened a month ago.

I know this is a bump of an older thread, but I just felt like posting, and hey, maybe some newer guys to the forums can share their experiences, as well.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I remember it being a really eerie day from the start. There were tornado watches and warnings all around us that day, it was real windy and it was just a strange day outside, Little did I know the events to come. I was in 6th grade, and we were coming back from a bathroom break, when a teacher I knew well, and had her daughter in my class, was just crying uncontrollably, and she was not an emotional person. I didn't know what was going on, I guess the teachers decided to keep us in the dark at that point, because they wouldn't say anything.

I didn't really think much of it, until I looked around, and there was just this depressed look all around the school. The last time I had seen something similar to this is when Columbine happened. This eerie silence, and just sadness. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. So finally, it came out, and there were rumors from hell flying all around, the older kids were saying Cincinatti got bombed, Louisville got hit, and all the large U.S cities. And then eventually I heard about NYC and the Pentagon and a plane that was supposedly heading towards The White House.

I had not grasped it at that point, but my mind was thinking the worst. What if they come to this little small town in Kentucky, I don't think our National Guard can hold off Russia or China (At this point nobody knew who it was) I just didn't know what was going on till they let us out of school. My Dad picked me up and he was really nonchalant about it, he had worked in the FBI in NYC and DC, and he was surprised something like that had not happened sooner.

I get home, and I turn on the news for the first time in my young life lol. I see the footage for the first time. I'm just blown away, those towers were so beautiful and so tall and for them to just come down like that, I felt vulnerable, and insecure. I was terrified and angry at the same time. Then they showed a video of some people jumping around and happy that America had been attacked, and then I had this hatred just come over me, I wanted to kill all of them. I had so many emotions running through me that shouldn't have been at such a young age. I was ready for war, I hated whoever did that to us.

It really was a time where my innocence died. I thought that the U.S was invincible, and nobody could touch it. Seeing my favorite city get attacked, well it really bothered me for a long time. It really was a memorable day in the worst way possible.

[37]

Re: Where Were You on September 11th 2001?

I skipped a day of high school on 9/11....was walking around Queens with a few buddies