Remembering 9/11

[tryfuhl]

10th grade.. English Lit class.. Mrs Leatherwood, the old hag.. another teacher ran in and told us about it. Our teacher told us that it was not class-related and we would not be watching the coverage. Conversely, shortly thereafter we had to list the 5 things most important to us. Many people listed religious things and she said that she saw us in the hallways and there was no way that any of us really held that most closely. She said that there was NO excuse to not have your country as number 1. I was quick to remind her of the incident with the WTC.

Anyways, back to the actual day. I ended up walking out of the class and a few others followed me. We went and sat in on our next class.. right as we were walking in, the first tower fell. We sat there in disbelief watching the smoldering of the other tower. Somehow I knew that the 2nd was going down right when it did. I said, "It's about to collapse" and as the s sound came out, tower 2 fell. It is horrible what happened but we're somewhat fortunate that the death toll was "only" in the 3000s.

[Ruhskins]

On 9/11/01 I worked in the Admissions Office at the University of Maryland, my first job out of college. My office was down the hall from our lobby area that had a TV. I remember walking to the bathroom, and seeing a large gathering in front of the TV; thinking it was a campus tour, I ignored it...but when I realized the time (too early for a tour) I went to see what was happening and the realized what was going on. Immediately I ran to my office to call my sister and her husband, who worked in Manhattan, and my NY family. After a while, I was able to find out that they were fine. Being close to DC and after hearing the attack on the Pentagon, and the possibility of another plane being out there (the one that eventually crashed in PA), the campus was in a state of nervousness to say the least.

I also remember visiting NYC that following month (work related), I remember getting as close as possible to the area, and seeing a street narrow down to a grayish background and seeing construction cranes surrounding ground zero, it was quite a sad sight. Also, the city just felt so different from its old self. Also later that month, I remember the sight of a National Guardsman with an M-16 at a security check point at BWI, and just getting the feeling that things were different now.

May God bless those that were affected and their family. Also, let's not forget the brave policemen, firemen, and all involved in the rescue operations that day.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I was living in Colorado at the time, and had just gotten up to get ready for work. Turned on the TV to start the day, and saw it. Stunned and shocked I just sat down. I was also in the midst of a huge personal tragedy and all of that week just blurs, If there was one week I could simply erase from time it would be that one. Eventually I made it to work, where the owner set up the main conference room as a prayer/meditation room. People were in there constantly through the day, with tv's and news reports heard in every office and cubicle.

The most positive thing I remember, was waiting in an hour and half line of people in colorado springs, all of us waiting at a red cross donation center, giving a few dollars, or whatever. The red cross had set up certain collection points and lines stretched out with US citizens waiting to help people they had never seen, never knew. Truly awesome emotional outpouring and support. I am tearing up even as I remember that time.

I had never been to NYC beforehand so the magnitude of it never really struck me until I went and saw the crater in January of 2007. Looking up at the surrounding buildings and knowing that the WTC was much larger than most. Looking down from the 1st observation deck on the Empire State Building and realizing there were another 20 or so floors on the WTC from the point in which I stood (something really cool happened though, it was snowing and the snow at that point was actually coming upwards).

What REALLY hit me was right in that area are the Jersey trains. At the time they had an exhibit of drawings done by children that had lost parents, grandparents, and other family in the tragedy. I never grew up with my father and never said "I miss you Daddy" as many times as I saw written on the pictures that day. There were so many that had pictures of footballs, baseballs, etc and how they missed going to the Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets etc games with their dads and uncles. That's really when there was a connection as it still hadn't fully hit me, I know that people die and I know that raw material collapsed. Without a real tie to it I hadn't really realized the emotional aspect. I actually had to stop typing this for a bit because my eyes were so full of tears. It was also on that day that I realized that sports are just a game, though I treat them as a lifestyle still. When the minds of the innocent are so dearly affected not much else matters anymore.

[firstdown]

I remember watching it on TV for about an hour before I had to leave the house for an appointment. As I drove I was listening to it on the radio and they were talking about other things they could hit like tunnels just as I was entering the downtown tunnel going to Norfolk. If I could have stopped and turned around I would have and then to top it off I got stuck in tunnel trafic. It was a really weird feeling as I sat there helpless.

[SmootSmack]

Was working as a news/sports producer in DC. Had been working the early morning news that day. Filling for a co-worker for a local break (you know when the Today show or whatever tosses to your local station for a quick weather/traffic/news update)

I was exhausted, but figured let me just get this quick two minute segment out of the way and then I'll go take a little nap before I get ready for the Noon news.

Honestly, when I heard that suddenly breaking news was coming in from New York that a plane hit a building I don't know why but I turned to my co-worker and said "Osama" I was purely speculating.

I ended up spending 7 straight days working and sleeping in the newsroom. My mom was supposed to be at the Pentagon that day. Luckily, a last second meeting at her office kept her away at the last minute. As part of her job, she was actually overseeing the identification of all the bodies at the Pentagon.

[KLHJ2]

Reading this thread brings me both tears of sadness and of comfort. Thank you guys for sharing. Although it is a dark age in US history the first hand stories provide a wide range of unknown but accepted perspective.

[BleedBurgundy]

I was serving in Iceland on the NATO base up there. We all couldn't believe it, went from saying "how does a pilot not see the twin towers?" to instant action when the second plane slammed in, right in front of our eyes. We knew it at that point and things were never the same.

[Chico23231]

History Channel ran an absolutely brillant documentary-like show: 102 Minutes Which Change America over the weekend. It was released in 2008 and is presented with only amature footage and some local news coverage that occurs during the entire event on the streets on Manhatten. Narration is only by the people shooting from there phone or cameras along with emergency calls on 911 or emergency services radio. It was the first time I saw it and it was simply amazing. It should be a requirement in all modern american history class across the country.

[over the mountain]

I was in my first year of law school in san diego. had a small apartment downtown on top of a hill. the airport in san diego is right next to downtown so my apartment was literally right next to/under the flight path for planes landing.

when the planes flew by I could see the bolts, whether there was a blond or brunnette sitting in the window, the planes shook my apartment everytime a plane flew by, you had to put calls on hold b/c you couldnt talk on the phone fromt he noise.

a plane passed my apartment probabaly once every 3-7 mins. domestic planes flew regularly from aoubt 5 am to 10 pm. after that only international planes.

on 9/11 around 6ish am i am dead asleep. my phone is ringing, i dont answer it. phone rings again, i dont answer it. thrid time i pick up the phone and scream a profanity laced tirade. it was my brother from the DC area. he said some things aobut a plane and towers, i cursed some more, he said just turn on the tv.

im lying in bed, trying to go to sleep, trying to decipher what he was saying in my morning daze. i then dont hear any planes go by. this was strange.

turn on the tv, the rest is history. went to my morning class, we had a discussion session, school was closed for the rest of the day.

went to a dive bar, got drunk, talked with a guy on a business trip from NYC, saw all the cops on every street corner.

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

History Channel ran an absolutely brillant documentary-like show: 102 Minutes Which Change America over the weekend. It was released in 2008 and is presented with only amature footage and some local news coverage that occurs during the entire event on the streets on Manhatten. Narration is only by the people shooting from there phone or cameras along with emergency calls on 911 or emergency services radio. It was the first time I saw it and it was simply amazing. It should be a requirement in all modern american history class across the country.

i dont know if i saw that particular documentary/video compilation. i saw one which was shot from personal video by firefighters in the tower after the first plane hit. it was heart wrenching and not at all for the faint of heart.

at one point (before the 2nd plane hit or towers collapsed), fiefighters where in like this first floor area kinda basement area, there was this constant but not rythmic thud sound happening. one guy asked what that sound was, another said that was bodies of people jumping. i couldnt watch much more after that.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

History Channel ran an absolutely brillant documentary-like show: 102 Minutes Which Change America over the weekend. It was released in 2008 and is presented with only amature footage and some local news coverage that occurs during the entire event on the streets on Manhatten. Narration is only by the people shooting from there phone or cameras along with emergency calls on 911 or emergency services radio. It was the first time I saw it and it was simply amazing. It should be a requirement in all modern american history class across the country.

Saw some of it, very good but had to turn it off when they were playing the 911 calls. Those calls were just too tough to listen to.

[ArtMonkDrillz]

It's weird how much I remember about that whole day and now it totally makes sense when I hear people say they remember every detail of the day Kennedy/MLK/etc was shot or Pearl Harbor was attacked. It was so surreal watching everything unfold on CNN and I still get teary eyed thinking about it all. (sorry for the impending mega-post)

I was a sophomore in college and my professor showed up a few minutes late to a 9am criminology class. He apologized and said he had been glued to the computer reading about a plane flying into the WTC. He didn't have many details and I kind of assumed it was a Cessna or something that got out of control and had an accident. It wasn't til I got back to my dorm that and turned on the TV that I saw what was really going on. I couldn't believe my eyes, especially when I saw the clip of the second plane hitting. It looked like something out of a movie.
A little later I went to a 10:30 class but was only there for a few minutes before someone stopped in and said the school was closing for the day. That professor later apologized to us for even beginning his lecture that morning but I didn't blame him since it was all so crazy.

Later that night there was an impromptu candle light vigil in one of the campus squares, and I can't even write about that now without getting big tears in my eyes. Throughout the day I was happy to hear that my loved ones in the military (including a cousin who had just started working at the Pentagon a few weeks prior) were okay but I knew others weren't so lucky.

I had to fly to Denver around Sept 20th, right after flights resumed, and that was pretty interesting. I wasn't that scared for myself but I was really nervous that my mom, sister, and grandmother were all on an earlier flight that day, so I worried about them. I sat next to my dad and he refused to buckle his seat belt as he gave the evil eye to anyone who got up.

I wouldn't say things are completely normal now but it's strange to think what we've all gotten used to. Now I get annoyed if I go to a baseball game and I feel like they're not doing a good job of checking people when they enter, and I'm always on the look-out for suspicious stuff when I'm on Metro. Next year with the 10th anniversary it's going to be even more intense.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

i dont know if i saw that particular documentary/video compilation. i saw one which was shot from personal video by firefighters in the tower after the first plane hit. it was heart wrenching and not at all for the faint of heart.

at one point (before the 2nd plane hit or towers collapsed), fiefighters where in like this first floor area kinda basement area, there was this constant but not rythmic thud sound happening. one guy asked what that sound was, another said that was bodies of people jumping. i couldnt watch much more after that.

The thing that always sticks in my mind about the jumpers is this. You go to work on a beautiful morning, just another day at the office, and a few hours later you are leaning out a window thinking that jumping 80 stories to your death is a better alternative than burning to death. And then actually doing it. Wow.

[over the mountain]

that was what stuck in my mind too. that regular people just like me or you typing away on my computer were later faced with this decision no person could be prepared to answer.

man that video/documentary was so vicious, so real, you heard it in firefighters voices, i think they kept rolling as the tower collapsed on them.

last 9/11 I was heading to the DC area, theres a bridge (same one that i posted about the "skins country" sign actually) that always has an american flag hung on it. i was leaving early that morning, standing on the bridge was the most badass dude i have ever seen, had to be ex military, with black special ops type uniform on, built like a pro wrestler, standing frozen in a position holding a huge american flag up.
made this man cry.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Saw some of it, very good but had to turn it off when they were playing the 911 calls. Those calls were just too tough to listen to.

Those were very tough...I thought the video of the fireman and listening to the radio recordings were extremely hard to watch. Those guys were super brave, I mean, they must have known looking up that 1st tower wasnt gonna be up much longer and yet they suited and climbed 70+ floors to do what they could. Its just amazes to me. Justin Tuck running out of the tunnel with the NY firemen hat on the other day was f*ing awesome.