Do you remember where you were at and what you were doing when you found out about the World Trade Center?

Question

I was at work and working on a machine. A friend came over and told me that the WTC had been bombed. I said, "OK. What's the joke?" A little later he came back and said it wasn't a bomb it was a plane and another one hit tower two. My brother-n-law was in NYC just three days before it happened. He was in Tower 1 at the top.

Answer 1

I remember. I was about three blocks away. When the first plane hit, they made an announcement that the building was to be evacuated. No one really knew what was going on. We just figured it was a bomb threat or something. We knew it wasn't a fire because there was no fire alarm. When we got outside there were people everywhere trying to figure out what was going on. Finally one person said the world trade center jost got bombed. We couldn't really go anywhere because of the mob of people and the traffic was dead stopped. So we just kind of hung out there and waited for news. People were crying. One lady next to my group had a son who was there, and she couldn't get through on the phone. No one could use their phones because the lines were all tied up. Finally her son walked to us from there and said he had been outside in his car.
He said there were two planes that just hit the WTC. Everyone mobbed him with questions and he tried to answer but he was also trying to calm his mother down. He was holding her and she was just crying, and pretty soon we were all crying. A lot of that day is really blurry but I'll never forget the feelings. Hundreds of people who didn't know each other were standing there and we were like some refugee camp, not afraid to let others see us cry, drawing strength from people we had never talked to before. It's the first time I realized I'm glad to be an American.

Answer 2

I was on my way to a service call in Bowling Green, Ohio from Wayne, Michigan. I didn't have the radio on, but my CB was on.
The truck drivers were saying that someone hit the Trade Center with a plane. Then there were jokes about air traffic controllers on the unemployment line.

A few minutes latter there was more chatter about another plane hitting the other tower. This got me to turn on the radio and tune in a news station as many music stations had not even said anything yet. Of course there were even more stupid jokes and speculation as to what was going on in New York.

Just past the Michigan/Ohio boarder, news from the CB was that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. I pulled over. My mind racing, trying to get any information from any station anywhere. I kept thinking, "Oh my God, are we at war?" I called in to the shop and asked them what was going on. The people at the shop did not even know about the first plane strike yet. I asked the boss to check the Internet, cable TV, or anything and let me know what was going on. I then continued on my way to Bowling Green.

Once I arrived at the job, I started working and hoping we were not at war. 80 miles from home and wondering what is going on while working on a roof top on a clear warm day. At lunch all I could do was watch that first video as it was played over and over.

That video and the news that the president had grounded ALL air traffic with in the U.S. boarders until further notice, was all the information I had as I went to bed 80 miles from home and posibly at war for unknown reasons. I didn't sleep well that night.

Answer 3

I had just woken up and turned on the tele and I took a shower when the first one hit, and then I watched the 2nd plane crash live and I thought is was ridiculous? hmm I said I thought I turned on the news, this has got to be a movie, but lo and behold it was real. Devasting to watch that, there was a lull of silence after that cars stopped and most of the nation was in shock, it was no more than an hour after that the silence hit the streets. People were in awe, and scratching their heads. Businesses were closing up and fear hit but panic did not thank goodness. Yeah for America they never won, they did not stop us then and they wont ever.

Answer 4

I was in a row of tobacco covered in dirt and tar when our boat truck driver told us that he'd heard that planes had hit the WTC in New York. We didn't believe him at first, and since we didn't have a radio in the field we couldn't check. After a few more trips through the field and more conversations with our boat truck driver we believed the story. After work we all sat in the truck and listened to the radio. I went home covered in tobacco gum and watched Giuliani on the television. There was a clock in the background, which I remember vividly.

Answer 5

I was at work as activities assistant at a nursing home. Someone came out of the kitchen and said there had been a plane flying into the WTC. All I could think as I turned on the TV, was that I hoped it was a small plane. When I saw it was a bigger jet, all I kept praying was please don't let anyone have been on that plane.

Answer 6

I was at work in center city phila, and accross the street was a doctors office with a TV in the waiting room, everyone on the street started gathering and we were like wjat is going on, so one of my co-workers ran accross the street and came back and told us, we put okn the news radio and listed as they reported about washington DC, which my uncle was working just outside the pentagon area, iot was crazy, I have never seen a city empty out in a few hours, the only people on the street were the bums.

Answer 7

I was in the student center at my university. I had just left my 8:00 am class. Everyone was crowded around all of the televisions. I knew something big had happened. I was able to catch a brief glimpse and see that it had something to do with a plane crashing. All I thought was "Dang, why do people keep crashing big assss planes into big assss buildings?". I proceeded back to my apartment to fix my early lunch and turned on the news. I believe I was watching when plane 2 hit. I just sat down and stayed glued to t.v.. Thanks for providing another outlet to discuss that day.

Answer 8

I was in 5th grade and we wanted to go outside during lunch but we werent allowed. A teacher said that a plane hit a building and being in 5th grade we didnt realize what that meant. I got home and my mom came home from work early because most places on Long Island let workers out early and closed. I live about 50 miles away and a few kids I go to school with lost their parents. It was a terrible day.

-God Bless-

Answer 9

I was teaching a class of severe/profound young adults. We were watching the morning show while feeding kids, and the story came on TV. We were in awe... I remember looking at the sky most of the day, as we could usually see airplanes heading into TF Green Airport from the playground. The sky was empty all day... ominous and dark feeling all day. I had just arrived here from the west coast, and wanted so badly to get into NY to help, but I had my class, so I stayed.

Answer 10

I was working as a security guard at a hospital and was letting a guy out of the parking lot, who forgot his pass. He was listening to the radi and told me that a plane had crashed into the world trade centre. At first i thought it was a Cesna or something. I waled into the hospital and turned on a t.v. and saw the devistation. The whole hospital came to a standstill.