What were you doing on Sept. 11. 2001?

Question

I was 17 yrs. old and was just waking up when the alarm sounded, i had it set on the radio. As i was laying in bed i heard something about the "Towers". I jumped out of bed and ran into my mom's room to see the t.v. she was still asleep i woke her up and shouted to her, "look". I was so overwhelmed with emotions. I was 5 months pregnant and was glad that for that moment i could protect my child as i thought of all the parents who couldn't protect their children from this deeply dark day in American History...Even though i live in Southern California i felt as though my heart was in NYC...

As the 5yr. anniversary comes up i was wondering where you were and what were you doing when you learned that America would never be the same?????

This is changing history its changing how we do things. Even though most people dont believe on the war, just please continue to pray that everyone comes home. My daughter is 4 now and i know one day she will ask me, "Where was I on Sept. 11. 2001" that's not a conversation I am looking forward to. My parents remember JFK being shot and always told us about that, and now it's our turn to tell our children about the day we will never foget.

This is changing history its changing how we do things. Even though most people dont believe on the war, just please continue to pray that everyone comes home. My daughter is 4 now and i know one day she will ask me, "Where was I on Sept. 11. 2001" that's not a conversation I am looking forward to. My parents remember JFK being shot and always told us about that, and now it's our turn to tell our children about the day we will never foget.

Answer 1

I remember it like it was yesterday. I'm sure I will never forget.

I was at Prince Sultan Air Base, in Saudi Arabia. We had been there for about 100 days already and were supposed to be coming home in a few weeks. (120 day rotations) I was working night-shifts, so I had just woke up for a Birthday Dinner (My Birthday is Today!) that they have for everybody that had a birthday in Sept. As I walked through the compound towards the chow hall, I remember it being empty. In late afternoon it is usually busy since the temperature was starting to go down, but no one was walking around. When I got to the dinner, everybody was just staring at the TV. It was just before the second tower was hit. We finished our dinner and went to work. All our days off were canceled and we worked constant 12 hr shifts wondering if our replacements were coming or if they were going to be re-tasked to where-ever, or if we were going to be forward deployed while our replacements took over our Southern Watch Mission and we went off to begin the War on Terror.

When I did get to come back to the States on 26 Sept, I was amazed in the weeks and months to follow how strangers would just come up to me while I was getting gas, or stopped at the store for food, see me in uniform, shake my hand and just thank me for my service and how much they appreciated me being in the Air Force protecting their freedoms. It choked me up sometimes and all I could do was give a sheepish smile look at my boots and say "You're Welcome".

Five years later I still get thanked for serving, and I consider it a great honor. All I'm doing is my job, to the best of my ability. I'm thankful that we live in a country that I was able to choose this life and it was not forced upon me, and I serve to ensure my brother's and sister's children, and one day my children will have that same choice.

Answer 2

i was 12 years old at the time and we were going to second period science class in school. thats when our teacher told us about the first plane t hat hit the north tower. i live in nyc n it was all kind of surreal. i remember thinking that this kind of thing only happens on television. the worst part was the days after, because we had off from school n the only thing on tv was the attack, n we would sit around hoping and praying that more ppl were found. i personally wanted so badly to go down there n see the sight n help the rescuers but i knew noone would let an 12 year old do that. its still kinda hard to believe that septemeber 11 really happened. evertime i go into manhattan i look up at the skyline hoping to see the towers, hoping that it was all a bad dream, but it wasnt.

Answer 3

My mother told me that I would always remember where I was and just what I was doing on Sept 11. She says that it was such a horrible event that it would stay in ones mind forever. She still remembers just where she was when Kennedy was shot. So its true, Sept 11 was about the worst thing I ever seen in my 23 years on this earth tied with Katrina. I still think back on both the events and tears come to my eyes. You're right after Sept 11, the world would never be the same, Americans would never take freedom so lightly anymore because we're more aware now, I think, how quickly and without warning our innocent life's and freedoms could be taken away. Its something that people defiantly learned not to take for granted.

On the morning of Sept 11, I was still in bed. My brother (God rest his soul) came in screaming at me to get up, get up, that something was happening a plane stuck the WTC in NYC. I rolled over and told him that it was too early to be smoking dope and to let me sleep. Instead he grabbed my remote and flipped on my TV just in time for me to witness the 2nd plane. I think I sit up and was in shock, I thought it was a nightmare that it wasn't real. My mother and father came into my room, mom was crying. We all hugged and just prayed for the people in the two buildings and prayed that we were safe and had each other.

Answer 4

I was at work, at a bank. Our drive-up window had just opened and a customer said, "Did you hear a plane hit the World Trade Center?" Of course, we hadn't, so we turned on a radio just in time to hear them say another plane hit the second tower. We knew then it wasn't just an unfortunate accident. I got the TV out of the break room and set it up in the lobby so we could watch. That was the slowest business day we ever had (not counting really bad snow storms, I'm in central Illinois). Nobody was out and about, everyone was at home or work, glued to their televisions.

I picked my daughter up from kindergarten at 3:00. They had been told about it at school, of course, and talked about it. We talked it more for a long time after that. She just couldn't understand why people would kill thousands of other people and themselves. Frankly, I can't understand it either. It wasn't the most fun talk I've ever had with her.

Answer 5

I was ironing my shirt getting ready for an interview for a new position with my employer. My wife called me from where she was working and told me to put the TV on. The first plane had just hit minutes before. I felt at that time it was done on purpose, but I had no clue that what I was about to see was another plane hit the second tower. I was shocked, upset and very scared because I felt like it wasn't going to end for a long time that day! I skipped my interview and drove to get my wife and daughter and bring them both home. I was extremely shocked to later find out that the hijackers that boarded one of the planes, drove by my home that sits on route 3 in Belfast, Maine the day they spent the night in Portland on Sept 10th. Great question!

Answer 6

Well, here in NZ we're 17 hours ahead of EST. I woke up at about 0700 to hear the bedside radio saying something about it. As I worked around the house I listened to the radio. It wasn't until about 1500 that I thought to turn on the TV. That's when I saw the first of many reruns of the planes flying into the Towers, jumpers, clouds of dust and people running through the streets saying omagad.

Answer 7

I was actually in NYC, I'm still here too.
I was in school when it happened. We all thought it was thunder for some reason because that's what it sounded like (the school was in lower Manhattan). When a student came into the classroom to tell us what happened, we didn't believe him but it all became very real when we looked out of one of the hall windows and saw the large hole in one of the towers after the first plane hit...

My mother had to come pick me up from school since the school was in lower Manhattan. I live about 10 blocks or so away from ground zero. I still remember all the smoke...our building was even given air purifiers because of it.

Answer 8

I was drinking coffee and watching the news when a breaking story came in. I thought that a plane had accidently hit one of the towers. I called my mom to tell her and another plane hit the second tower live on CNN. My daughter was very sick, so I had to leave to take her to the doctor. On the way to the doctor, I was listening to the radio when the towers began to fall. The radio stations were playing sounds of the towers collapsing.

Answer 9

I was a senior at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. I was coming from my morning work study job at the campus library. I was in the lounge area where the large screen t.v. was and it came on out of no where. Me and only one other student was there until it became crowded with other people from the nearby offices. It was a scary time. I called my mother at work but the phone lines were all tied up. When I got through she said a few of her co-workers had family who worked at the WTC. When she called me later that day she could see the smoke in NY from our apt. in Montclair, NJ. Classes were cancelled that day. It was the talk of the campus. I spent the whole day with my rroommates watching it on t.v.

Answer 10

AT that time I was attending my clinic when a patient told me that some aeroplane has struck in a tower in Amerca. I thought that It could be an accident, later when the news of the second plane was heard I went to my house to see it live on CNN.