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9/11 was not just a national tragedy
it touched many lives here in our state
No, I will never forget
I had just purchased a used car
and was driving back to work
listening to the horror unfold
on the radio
Continued prayers for the families
of the victims
the survivors
the first responders
and our nation
I was living in the Boston area, working at Harvard Medical School (just a staff flunkie), and there were alerts of possible terrorist activity nearby. Given that two of the fatal flights originated in Boston, that was not an unreasonable fear.
The only TV at work was in the Public Affairs office in the basement. There were only four of us crammed in a small office watching.
No one I knew personally died, but most of my friends lost someone they knew, including classmates of my daughter. So, although we think of it as a NYC tragedy, which it was of course, people were impacted elsewhere too.
To add to the creapiness, the Boston terrorist team stayed in a hotel that we drove by regularly.
I was living in NYC. I saw the first of the towers fall from an office window. Brought a bunch of friends back to my apartment (we walked, the subway system was shut down) for the day. I remember walking through Times Square on our way uptown. There was no traffic, everyone was just standing there shoulder-to-shoulder in the street, gape-jawed watching the enormous TV screens. Fighter jets came roaring overhead. At that stage, we still didn't really know what was happening. Didn't know if more attacks were imminent or what was going to happen next. I knew that I sure didn't want to be standing around in Times Square though, as I figured that could also be a target. My friends and I went back to my apartment on W. 78th St and Broadway. We bought a bunch of beer and watched the news all day until those who lived outside of the city could get out.
The smell permeated Manhattan for about a week. It was mostly a burning smell, but an odd burning smell, I can't describe it. I remember feeling very numb at the time. Horrified and terrified. But mostly numb.
I was at home on that bright September day. My husband called and said to turn on the tv. But watching it, I thought it was just "another" disaster as we were already becoming accustomed to disasters all the time.
Went to my PT at the Y and no one seemed to know anything. Came back and looked at the tv again--this time I realized. Made me want to leave the country, just not be anywhere in this country at all.
I'll never forget, either. I was where I am now, south Florida, and was bringing my daughter to her very first day ever of pre-school. Beautiful Tuesday morning. I first heard a report on the car radio on the way about a plane flying into one of the towers but there wasn't a lot of fuss about it and the impression was that it was just a small private plane that lost control or something. So I didn't think that much about it other than "Oh that poor guy", went on with dropping her off at the school, and thinking about pre-school stuff.
For some reason, after about half an hour at home, I thought I'd put the TV on (I've never been much of a TV watcher) and by that time it was all over every TV station and I was just in time to see the second plane fly in. The real fear set in when the plane went for the Pentagon and there was a realization that there was yet another ready to hit somewhere. Who knew how many more were ready to go at that point. It was horrifying.
My mother was away up in the Adirondacks for vacation, no TV, and just a radio they sometimes put on. I called and they had no idea, of course, and when I tried to tell her she needed to turn on her radio because we were being attacked, she yelled at me and said I was horrible for thinking that would be a funny joke. I'll never forget it. I burst into tears and told her it was no joke and she needed to get that radio on.
I was really scared when I found out later the pilots lived one town away from me and trained locally. too. Still makes me ill to see video or pictures of it. I can't even begin to imagine how those people on the planes felt. They knew it was coming. That has haunted me since. It was a long time before I could get on a plane again. (Even now I hate it.) in_newengland is right: it was the day the world changed in my eyes, too.
Prayers and thoughts for the victims, their families, responders, and everyone affected.
Moderator cut: orphaned, the post you were quoting was simply trolling
I was at work, watching it live on a few big screen TV's. I was a volunteer fire Captain at the time as well. I got approval for some time off from work, and we had a team ready to go to assist, but as with many others that were ready to go, we weren't needed as there was little rescuing to be done.
I was a 2d Lieutenant at Hill AFB, Utah driving into the munitions storage area with my commander to surprise one of our Airmen with a supplemental promotion to E-5, when we heard it on the radio. We gave the Airman his stripe, then headed right back to the office where we found out this was not an accident, but a terrorist act. Glued to the TV for the morning. At noon, we leaned forward and got ourselves ready for the munitions outload we knew would be coming soon. Our unit's mission was to palletize and prepare for shipment air munitions that would be flown into forward air bases to supply Air Force combat units for the first 30 days of an air war. We sent out 2.4 million pounds of bombs and bullets over the next few months, including 6 12,000 pound bombs called BLU-82 Daisy Cutters, and everything from 25mm to 105mm shells for the AC-130 gunship. I like to think that most of it found a deserving target.
Everyone should visit the 9/11 Memorial in NYC at least once in their lives. I took my 10 year old last summer.
That was an awful day that made me and many others feel sick. I continued to feel sick as information unfolded as to how ineffective we were at detecting, preventing, and combating this type of attack, to the point of training the terrorists to fly a plane. As for wanting to leave this country, that day and the response of New Yorkers made me proud to be an American and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. Thank you Dave for your reminder.
Husband called and woke me up. I am on the west coast so still early here. Said to turn on the tv a plane hit the World Trade Center. I could not believe what I was seeing.
Portland had just completed the "red Line" light rail out to the airport. I was planning on riding it for something to do then stop in downtown, go to the bookstore and stop by to see my husband. None of that happened.
I was thinking of my former boss, she is from NYC and most of her family were still living there. A few weeks later I saw her and she told me her sister worked in the South Tower, looked out her window and thought it looked like confetti coming down. Her boss told everyone in the office to evacuate the building, she did, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then someone at the Port Authority gave her a ride to Long Island where her parents lived. My bosses family all either worked in FDNY or NYPD. They were at Ground Zero. I did not personally know anyone who lost their life on that day. NEVER FORGET
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