Where were you, and what were you doing when you first heard about the attacks on 9/11 ?

Question

I was just going to sleep in a tent in the Western Australian desert and heard a brief bulletin on the BBC that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, before dozing off.

When I woke up early the next morning and turned on the radio again, I realized the scope and gravity of what had happened. It had not been a small propeller plane that had struck the WTC, as I had inagined the night before. I was totally blown away.

I had recently returned from Pakistan where I had seen posters of Osama Bin Laden riding a white horse with a kalashnikov held in his arm like a sword. He was idolized as a champion of Islam. I knew something was going to happen soon. Still, nothing could have prepared me for an atrocity of this magnitude.

So here I was, about as far from NYC as you can get, 40 miles from the next human being. I just made a xmall campfire and sat motionless all day listening to the BBC and ABC(Australian Broadcasting Corp.) and visualizing the whole scenario in my head. Too surreal!

I only got to see video footage of the attack 4 or 5 days later when I got to Perth. Even more shocking that what I had seen in my head.

Thanks for sharing. All were great

Answer 1

I was at school learning and i had no idea what everybody was talking about when they said the trade center was hit.

Answer 2

My wife and I had moved to Anaheim California from New York in June 2000, where we both had lived all of our lives. My wife and I were sleeping, and we used the TV as an alarm clock. The TV came on at, I believe 6am or it may have been 6:15 am, not too sure but anyway the TV woke me up and my wife was still sleeping and I saw a live picture of the World Trade Center on fire, several stories up and I remember wiping my eyes like am I seeing what I am seeing. I said to my wife, "The World Trade Center is on fire" and she said "What?" and I replied, "They must be filming a movie" because I knew, with the cement construction, there was no way that the WTC could be burning. She [my wife] sat up and at that moment the second plane hit and we knew it was for real. So sad to see a icon of the worlds most recognized city in ruins.

Answer 3

I was just waking up in the morning to my 3 y/o boy and decided to call the bank about an account I had before turning on the tv so that I wouldn't forget. The lady I was talking to said are you watching the news, I said umm no I try to avoid it, the strangest things happen that I would rather not know. She said well do you have family in NY? I said no, why do you ask. She says well thats good. To find out what the heck she was talking about I turned on the television and watched the two towers go down to the ground with people jumping from the building. I asked is this real what the heck is going on? Then to find out another plane was trying to go for our White House.

I will say UNITED 93, is a devasting movie that I watched on the NEWS. Now its a movie. Now, as harder as it was before, I always watch the news.

Answer 4

I was tuning in to the weather report for the day; the weather channel guys were acting really serious...then they said all the airports were closed ! I thought "What? there's a hurricane in New York?"
tuning to CNN, I saw the tape, it didn't seem real "what an idiot, flying into a building ! What's wrong with him?" I soon found out...when I heard the Pentagon got hit, I felt really shocked & said "Oh, no; this will mean war !" It felt like someone socked me in the gut, and I started shaking so hard I had to take a sedative.
My reaction surprised me; during Vietnam we had always hoped that something would happen to the Pentagon...but now it was not a good thing. It was hard to get thru the day at work...but I decided I needed to be around people...
I never would've thought . . .

of course, I knew that war-mongers would use this to change our world for the worse...
it will not be over till the last battle is fought...on the plain of Armaggedon....if you believe the Bible.

or even if you don't . . .

Answer 5

I'd just arrived at work (my sister was my boss) to deliver telephone books and everyone was very somber. She asked if I'd heard the morning news (we were in Los Angeles, California), and then said, "Go in the next room and watch the television. I don't want to talk about it." I did that, but couldn't comprehend the whole thing. So I sat there watching the videos of it all morning long before I left work and drove home on empty streets with not one single airplane in the sky for about a week. It was eerie and frightening and I didn't feel safe being in Los Angeles at all. Now I live in the High Desert of California where the population is much lower and you can easily see 25 miles clearly in any direction. I didn't move because of 9/11, but it was another reason to add to my long list of the disadvantages of living in such a huge city.

Answer 6

Well, you are much more exciting than me.

I didn't have to work in the morning and woke up around 10 or 11 with a bunch of messages telling me to watch the news. So I turned it on and called up a bunch of my burnout friends (at the time) to watch the news.

The only remotely different part of my day, as opposed to anyonre else's is that I was living in Dayton,Ohio. And on that day, all of the flights in the US were grounded. Meaning that no flights were allowed in the entire country.

However, some of the Bin Laden family were allowed to leave the US and seek refuge. And, of course, the president was allowed to travel from his hiding spot back to the DC. Well, one of these flights stopped at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and refueled. I, and many, many. many other people saw a plane flying overhead. And all of the sudden there was a huge explosion, and everybody freaked out. I mean the entire town collectively stopped what they were doing and just started to panic. I was driving my car along one of the main thoroughways and literally drove my car off of the road, jumped out and just started to lok at the sky.

Everyone in the entire town was freaked out.

It was on the local news. They even had an explanation for everytyhing. It was very simple.

DAYTON, OHIO IS UNDER ATTACK FROM THE TERRORISTS11111111111111111111111111111

They even picked out a real important target. Apparently they crashed a plane into the local VA hospital uptown. How fiendish.

Of course, as it turned out, the president's plae that was flying overhead of our city and was flanked by two fighter jets at the time. When they reached a sonic boom. It shook everything that was underneath its flight path.

There was no terrorist attack on our little city.

But thank God that our responsible news force double checked the facts before they did anything to induce public panic.

Oh. Wait a minute.

Answer 7

When i woke up that morning my sister told me that the white house was on fire. I turned the tv on and i saw that it was not the white house but a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. At that time I thought is was just an accident. While driving to school i had heard news things on the radio but kept changing to stations that were playing music. It wasnt until school started and i was watching the news that i found out that planes also hit the towers and that it was terrorist.

Answer 8

I was in 4th grade, and I was in math class at my elementry school. The day was a normal day: My teachers lecturing, the recess activities, and everything. We hadnt recieved any information. So then, on the school bus home, me and my friend overheard some talking, but we didnt know what was happening. Then, at home, I learned the news: The planes crashed into the twin towers and the pentagon. At first, me being an idiot 9 year old, wondered what the big deal was if no one died. I was badly scolded and told over 1100 people died in the tower. then, 180 people died in the pentagon. Thats when I realized it was of serious importance.

Answer 9

It was shortly after I'd fed my children (then ages 4 years and 7 months) breakfast and I was about to take a shower. I turned on the TV which was already turned to CNN and saw the towers burning. (This was right after the second plane hit.) I read and heard very quickly what had happened and, forgetting the shower, immediately moved myself and my children to another room of the house so I could watch the news on a better and larger TV.

Answer 10

I was leading a gas man to read the meter in a basement of an old building. He mentioned it to me, and I thought how dumb the pilot must have been. Then I went into a kitchen and started watching the live feed of the 2nd plane.
Not being too far from Chicago, I wondered if they were going to hit the Sears Tower next.

Answer 11

i was at home and at that time we lived in an apartment,my mom called and told me terrorists had hit the trade center. so i went out on my deck to see if there was anything crazy outside going on. i asked her if i needed to leave and go somewhere for shelter.when she first told me i thought she was talking about the universal trade center down here in our city springfield mo.so i was freakin out! but then she was like it's happening in new york. i had just woke up so i didn't really know what all was going on so i turned on the news and seen all of the things that were happening. then after i seen what all had happened in all the different states i started praying cause i didn't know what the terrorists were trying to do cause i was only 16 at the time. but i think we all should still be praying for all the families that lost a love one on that sad day. my love goes out to all the families and lost lives