Where were you on September 11th, 2001?

Question

I'll never forget that day. What was it like for you?

Someone asked me where I was.....

I was at work. I distinctly remember it was a beautiful day that day. I was working in downtown Detroit. A guy came flying into my office to tell me about the first tower being hit. We both just kind of thought it was an accident. A few minutes later I heard about the other one....then the Pentagon. Everything went into slow motion. The company rolled TV's into the hallway and we all watched while the towers fell. I panicked and left work. Took me close to 3 hours to get home. (It normally took me about 15-20 minutes) I was devastated. I thought the world was ending. My heart was breaking for all of those people and their families.

Answer 1

I remember just getting up around 10:00 AM, and as I usually did in those days, I turned on the radio to get the local news on CFRA, a CNN affiliate here in Ottawa. When I noticed the station was carrying CNN audio footage, I thought this must really be serious because CFRA doesn't usually cut to CNN unless it's a really big story. Within minutes, it was clear: the World Trade Centre had been hit. One of the station's talk show hosts, Steve Madely, was "hosting" the relay of the footage, and when the south tower fell, he said, "Oh, my God."

It was then that I went downstairs and found my parents watching CNN. I was glued to CNN for the better part of the day. I had never felt so helpless in my life because I had a girlfriend in Connecticut at the time, and I always went through New York City to visit her. I had a thousand questions going through my head. How long was Manhattan going to be shut down? They seemed to be talking about how this was affecting the airlines--how, and to what extent, were Greyhound and Amtrak affected? My ex was scheduled to go in for surgery in uptown Manhattan a couple of weeks later--to what extent would the need for hospitals to set up triage centres affect her ability to even get admitted? And on and on.

I remember seeing Paula Zahn on TV later that morning, interviewing people who were searching for loved ones feared lost, and she was literally near tears as she was summing up people's emotions. At that point I wished I could just reach over through the TV set and give her a hug and say to her, "Hang in there. We all love you." When she concluded her report, her anchor remarked something like, "In this business we're trained to be indifferent, but we're not inhuman."

A couple of months ago I went to see the movie United 93 and it was like experiencing the shock of 9/11 for the first time all over again. I could actually hear Madely's "Oh my God" echoing in my mind at one point. I haven't seen the movie World Trade Centre yet, but I might go on Monday.

I hear CNN will be re-running their 9/11/01 coverage on Monday morning. I might set my VCR for that. This is an event that touched and shaped our lives in ways that we could never have foreseen, an event that we must never forget.

Answer 2

I was at work in DC, not far from the pentagon. While watching what was happening in NYC, I heard lots of noise and sirens, looked out my office window and saw the smoke rising from the distance (turned out it was the plane that crashed into the pentagon). All the phone lines were down - so people in the office were frantically trying to call our colleagues in NY, and family members were trying to reach us. There were also rumors on the local news that the white house and other places had been blown up (my home is just 4 blocks from the WH). I ended up walking the 60 blocks home (there was no other way to get there) - wondering the whole way if my home still existed. It was really wierd and surreal - I'll never forget it.

Answer 3

I was in my apt. on vacation. I turned the TV on while the coffee was perking. It was set to an American channel & showed the north Tower. I thought it was a computer make up thing, so i turned to CBC, & then to CTV, all the same. When I sat down to watch, another plane came on the screen, from the right and went behind the south Tower. It reappeared and went into the Tower. Then I literally became sick to my stomach and threw up.
I will admit, that was when I went into complete shock. I tried to call my friends at work, but had to have the operator put me thru. While i was talking to them, they only had a radio, the south tower imploded, and I know I was crying & they wanted details. Then the second Tower went down. I told them what happened & that I would Call them back. I was so messed up, I even tried 3 times to call my sister. I kept getting the recording, that the # was no longer in service. My sister had died in 1995, that is how freaked out I was. And what where you doing???

Sorry, I can't dwell on this any longer as I'm getting emotional while I'm typing..

Answer 4

I was driving into work listening to a NYC based news radio station when they said live on the air OMG I think a plane just hit the WTC. They went on to ask the traffic chopper what he saw. By the time I got to work they confirmed that a plane had hit but still thought it was some sort of accident. The folks at work had no idea and thought I was fooling when I walked in and told them. We didn't have TVs so all we could do was go out to the cars and listen to the radios. It wasn't until that evening that we saw all the videos and the magnitude of what had happened was fully appreciated.

Answer 5

Getting ready for school. I went in to tell my dad I was leaving for school(I walked) and he was watching the TV and it was going on. I went to school and every1 was tlaking about it and the teacher gave us a talk about it. I didnt get why it was SUCH a big deal..I mean I knew it was bad but memorials everywhere and every1 talkign about it I didnt get. Until about a year ago when I watched a video-memorial about it on YOUTUBE where I just broke down crying right in front of my computer..Mostly because It was so horrible and some part that I felt so bad I didnt give those people respect when it happened. After that I learned everything I could about 9/11 and saw UNITED 93. I still feel bad that when i was in 4th grade I didnt get it..but I understand now and I respect now. It was so horrible I dont want to think about it..but then again I know those people DESERVE us all never to forget..so I never will.

Answer 6

I was at my computer and, I decided to check the news and, I saw the first tower on fire and, I watched the second plane hit. I knew when I saw the first tower on fire that it was more than a small plane that hit it. I knew in my heart that it was terrorism as soon as the second plane hit. It tore through my gut and, I woke my entire family up. We were all in shock and extremely sad at what we saw before our eyes. I was a night owl at that time and, I was unable to go to sleep until 10:00 a.m. I was mad at myself because, as a Christian, my job is to pray for our Country and, I realized that day, that I had not been doing enough of that. It has made me so much more aware of what is going on. I could not get it out of my mind. We kept Fox News Channel and CNN on for about three weeks. I won't ever forget that day!

Answer 7

I was in 7th grade in social studies when our teacher told us...I didn't really know what a terrorist attack was though exactly; I thought it was a pilot who all of a sudden got terrified while he was riding the plane and accidentally crashed it into a building. Even though I lived in NY State, I wasn't sure what exactly the World Trade Center was either...I thought it was a bank? Yeah...wow. But the next class I had, language arts, my teacher got a knock at the door and then she went all the way to the window on the other side of the room and stared out of it for like 3 minutes and when she looked back at us she had tears in her eyes and she was like "I'm sorry...but I just found out that my son is actually ok" cuz apparently he worked there or around there... that made me want to cry...& yeah idk my mom was gonna pick me and bro up early..but the principal said I didn't need to...and yeah I didn't really fully understand what was going on as I was 11-yrs-old, but now I do...and I'll never forget that day...

I remember it just like it was yesterday, actually...

Answer 8

I woke up and took my kids to school. I had seen a building on fire when I walked past the TV but didn't catch exactly what was happening. On my way to taking my kid to school I heard the whole story on the radio and just got this rush of fear through my body. I was in shock and didn't know what to do. I took my son to school he was in the first grade and I thought he would be better off there then at home with me. Once I got home I called my husband and begged him to come home, but since he was the person in charge he couldn't leave. So a neighbor of mine and myself sat down in front of the TV and were memorized by the whole thing. We also took a couple of shoots. I will never forget that day. It was unbelievable, it through me off so badly mentally and emotionally, I actually started my period.

Answer 9

Living in Okinawa, Japan. The time there is 11 hours ahead of New York time so it was night time when the first plane hit. It was hard to get TV coverage of the event for the first few hours. I did not fully understand what was happening and the mood until I moved back to the states in December, 2001. I still don't get it.

Answer 10

I was at Gatwick airport in London picking up my parents and sister and her flight went to the wrong terminal everyone was in a panic because we was hearing about the unfolding atrocities in America scary day scary stuff