Where were you when learned about 9-11?

Question

I had worked the grave yard shift and my mother called me around 9:15 a.m. I immediately turned on the tv and to my horror saw what was going on in New York. I remained watching tv all day. I called a friend of mine in New Jersey but was unable to get through. I did speak to her the next day and she said she could see the smoke from her home. I was ever so relieved when my husband and kids got home. It made me worry about our future. Also the gas price in town went up and I wondered if I should fill up. It almost made me feel that the end of the world was coming. I felt helpless, confused and saddened by all the destruction and death.

Answer 1

I was at work in Chicago and called someone who told me that a plane just hit the World Trade Center. I didn't really get the enormity of it at first. I tried to get information about it on the Internet, but every site was going really slow.

A bunch of people were in a conference room watching the coverage on TV right after the first tower collapsed. Everyone was horrified, then some people came in and said, "Excuse me, we have this conference room booked." They were just going to go on with their meeting, which seemed really absurd at the time.

Eventually everyone went home and we purposely went quickly past the Sears Tower because there were rumors that a plane was hijacked from O'Hare.

The trains to the suburbs were crowded with people going home early.

I'm not usually affected by things, but this really made me feel violated, like if someone broke into your house. It really felt like some kind of innocence or security was lost forever.

Answer 2

Had just awakened and was getting my tea and toast and turned on Good Morning America with Charlie Gibson and Dianne Sawyer. They showed the first tower and said a small plane had crashed into it , but then quickly retracted that and said a hijacked plane from Logan in Boston had crashed into the towers. My older brother on occasion travelled to NYC so called my sil to see if he was there, morning is not her best time but no he wasn't.

Was just finishing my breakfast when the second plane hit. At that instant my friend from Winnipeg called crying. Her son had supposed to be in NYC the night before for a ' shoot' at the wtc that morning. His flight was inexplicably cancelled the night before. ( and you guys say there aren't guardian angels and a God) and she was driving him to the airport to make a 8 forty five am flight.

I sat transifixed for the next week, almost like I did with JFK's assassination and Bobby Kennedy's and ML King's.

Not just Americans were killed that day, 24 canadians, I don't know how many brits, australians etc. It was a world tragedy for all of us. Our world hasn't been the same since and probably never will be again.

Answer 3

Being on the West Coast, I was still asleep when the first plane hit. I was half awake when I heard the news but I didn't think anything of it until I got up and turned the TV on. Since I had late arrival in High School that day, the school was dead-silent when I got there. I mean no one was in the hallways, no one was talking in the class rooms, I mean it was absolutely silent and while I'm walking in the hall, a friend pulls me into a room jam-packed with people watching the news about the attacks. I'll never forget that day.

Answer 4

I was in Japan and it was about 10:00pm. I always turn on the news before I go to sleep. I first saw the pentagon and I thought...Bush is going to have someone's a## for throwing a cigarette in the trash can. Then I saw the twin towers and knew right away - I just had a gut feeling. I was stunned. My husband walked in the door from work (military) and I told him - he wasn't even home for 10 minutes before he was called back into work. He took a shower and left...he didn't come home for 16 days after that -
Like you I watched TV for the next 6 hours straight (until about 4am) until I feel asleep. I kept every newspaper and magazine for the following 30 days and then all major events about Iraq, Saddam and Osama after.

Answer 5

I was in between classes at St. Cloud State, I grabbed some food and was walking by some TV's when I noticed the story on the news, and I became instantly glued and in quite a bit of shock. It was a very wierd feeling, I am not the kind of person that really cares or pays very close attention to current events normally. Some of the other big news events like oklahoma, columbine, OJ, etc. I knew of but only second hand knowledge, I never actually tuned in or read of them in the paper.

Answer 6

I was just finishing up a 24 hr shift with the ambulance co. I worked for and was transporting a stroke victim to the hospital. I heard it on the radio at first and thought it was a joke until I got to the hospital and saw the t.v. Knowing that so many of my fellow "brothers" had just died left me empty and saddened as I knew that there families were watching as well and they knew what was coming when the phone rang.. May we never forget 9-11-01 BROTHERHOOD FOREVER.. Rest in peace my fallen hero's

Answer 7

I was at the breakfast table feeding my 14 month old son. My mom called and told me that we were being attacked by planes and that the world trade center just got hit with a plane. I went on to work, where we plugged in a TV and watched the buildings fall. I left early that day to be with son. That was a bad day that I never will forget.

Answer 8

I was at home alone, after I took my kids to school I came home and turned on my T.V. and there it was to my horror I picked up the phone to call my Grandmother where my Dad was that morning he being a firefighter at the Pine Bluff Arsenal I alerted him to what was going on and in the 2 minutes I was on the phone the fire dept called him in although we were in Arkansas the Arsenal is a Army Base and to my horror again, they had put them on alert and he was sent in, all this time due to the chemical war heads that they have at the Arsenal my kids were put into lock down at the school we couldnt pick them up and on top of all that my finace at the time (now husband) was in Bahrain on deployment and they immediatly stopped all communications with him and he had just dissappeared for 3 days we herd nothing and all this time I was alone, my Dad sent back in to work, my kids in lock down at school, my finace was just who knows where and all I could do was sit and watch and cry and pray!!!!!!! Thank God that after 5 P.M. my kids were released from school and 2 days later my Dad got to come home! It was so so scarey I also thought that it was the end of the world! But 5 years later the day still haunts me I think of that everyday and especially when my husband was deployed to Iraq for 8 months, my heart goes out to the ones that are still there and to all the families that are going through the deployment as we sit here and chat! God Bless us All! My prayers are with all the deployed service members and their familes!!!!

Answer 9

I was on vacation from work getting ready for my daughters 3rd birthday. My sister in law called from Puerto Rico to tell my husband to turn on the TV. My daughter and I were walking to the store to get a few things for her party and we stopped in a Dunkin Donuts to grab a quick bite. It was strange because this particular DD never had both of their tvs on. We walked in and saw as the second plane hit then the third. The phone calls started right away because we both have family all over the place. Unfortunately we lost two cousins on my husbands side. It is very tough every year as we prepare for our daughters birthday . Also because my mother in law passed 2 weeks before my daughter was born

Answer 10

I was on the phone to a friend i went to primary school with about 18 odd years ago. We were on the phone for at least 2 hours, and before i hung up I said to him "life is too short so be careful," because he was a bit of a dare devil. I went to bed in (Aussie time)I got picked up that morning to go to work and on the news my friends were saying that an aeroplane had crashed into one of the twin towers and they thought it was some kind of movie coming out, but it was real.