Where were you...?

[LadyS]

It's hard to believe it's only been 20 years since 9/11. Feels like a century. I'll never forget that day though. Where were you when you first heard and saw?

I was only a senior in HS, and incidentally I was in U.S. Government class when we heard. Someone came in and said something to our teacher and he turned on the news. During that time we watched the North tower fall. After that I remember our school was in sort of a panic, mostly because we lived near a naval base. I also remember our crazy calculus teacher was the only one who didn't let us watch the news, because at the time she lived, breathed math. I remember going home for lunch (at that time they allowed off-campus lunch) and watching the news and talking to my dad about what was happening and not wanting to go back to school.

I did get a chance to visit the WTC with my family around Christmas in 1999, and my parents went a second time only 3 months before 9/11. I remember that I wasn't really scared of heights until I went to the top of the towers and looked down (they had seating right by the windows so you could look straight down the windows). Now looking back, and seeing how people desperately jumped from that height, just can't put into words.

Also met my then future husband right across from ground zero where they were constructing the Freedom tower. So many associated memories...trying to hold on to those memories.

 

[QuestJan]

Where were you when you first heard and saw?

Driving to school listening to the radio, they discussed the initial crash. I parked and ran to the student lounge and heard of the second. I heard about the third later.

Several years later I saw the Aflack movie, Pearl Harbor and was shocked at the similarity.

I would like to think that this nation learned from it, but today's headlines show that we now know less than ever before.

 

[Ken]

I was at work. At that time I was a broadcast engineer working at a local TV station. We got live feeds from tower cameras as it was happening - before it was ever news.

 

[Misery]

At home. I'd graduated in 2000, so was still getting used to... er... whatever the heck it was that I did back in 2001.

I remember I woke up, seemed like a normal day. Then I get this weird panicky call from my mom, telling me to go turn the news on and tell her what I saw, because at her work they didnt have a TV to watch it on and the radio guy was apparently confusing. So I wandered downstairs, still not quite getting all the excitement here, turn on the TV, see the towers in flame, I start to describe it... and that's when the 2nd plane hit, live on TV.

I also remember a friend of mine was planning that day on going down to the mall with me for some reason, so we still went and did that... or tried to, only to find that while the mall itself was open, the stores were, uh, "inactive". They werent technically closed. But they were utterly dead and you couldnt buy or interact with anything. We wandered around confused for awhile until someone working at the bookstore in there told us that basically EVERYTHING was shutting down. I think that's the moment we both realized the seriousness of it. Wasnt until later that I heard about the crash into the Pentagon.

For many years after that the two of us would make a point of going and doing something together on that day each year, as sort of a way of remembering that.

 

[unperson]

At home watching tv, so saw it beamed live, was about 11pm here. Very strange.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I was at school at the time.
Had no idea about it until I came home after 3:00pm and turned on the TV to watch CITV and/or CBBC, only for the kid's programs to be cancelled as the event was all over the news.

 

[Magna]

It was a Tuesday (I had to look it up). I was at work. People heard the news on the radio because some of my coworkers listened to the radio. I remember they said a plane hit one of the towers and we all thought that was bizarre but initially assumed it was a freak accident. Then another plane. Then a plane into the Pentagon. People turned on TVs in conference rooms. Some coworkers were crying. It was a very tragic and sad day, no question. A day those of us that were around at the time will never forget. A lesson for humanity that cruelty to other human beings, regardless of who perpetrates it is always wrong. A lesson that humanity, like other such lessons (war, genocide, etc), won't listen to or learn from.

I was living within the flight path of a busy international airport at the time. The flights to and fro were more or less constant to the degree that the airport commission had to pay for soundproofing of homes on the ground under the paths. Our house and those in our neighborhood still shook from the planes.

It was very noticeable for the week or so in which no air travel of any kind was allowed. The skies were silent for the first time there in memory. I remember feeling guilty because the silence for that brief time was glorious.

 

[jleeb05]

I was in school, 9th grade. There had been a huge fire the night before in my hometown so when I went into English class and saw the TV on, and images of smoke rising from the building, I assumed it was related to that fire.

I read the caption about the World Trade Center being attacked and didn't think much of it. I knew it had been bombed before and thought this was archival footage. So I nonchalantly asked my teacher, "When did this happen?" I remember him responding, "It's happening right now."

Being fairly young, it's kind of a blur. I think both planes had hit by then but they were replaying so many images it was hard for me to understand what was happening live and what was being rebroadcast. I do remember we were watching when they learned of a plane striking the Pentagon and crashing in Pennsylvania. I think they were already showing Osama Bin Laden's face and it was clear a war was coming.

As a young kid in Ohio, I think we still felt fairly removed and safe from the chaos. I remember the big topic of conversation for us kids was whether the Principal was going to let us go home early. He didn't. I don't think it quite sank in until my Mom picked me up from school. Seeing fear in your parent's eyes wipes away all your security.

My biggest memory is that everything just stopped. It was the only thing on the news, everything shut down, and the whole world just seemed frozen in place. In some ways, I long for those days because it felt like the last time our country was truly united. The resulting wars, fear, nationalism, xenophobia, Islamaphobia, etc...The world became a very dark place after that.

 

[Suzette]

I was at home and my boss called me to turn on the news. I turned on the t.v. and watched the north tower be hit live. Of course I was stunned and I couldn't believe I was watching it play out live. I felt sick and scared too.
That night F15s left from the airport near my house few hours and did a fly over every hour or so. My house shook with the sonic booms adding to a sense of terror.
My son was just two and he cried all night long so we huddled together and I kept saying "It's o.k. baby, that's the military keeping us safe."

 

[Neonatal RRT]

It was a warm, sunny day in west Michigan. We were in the midst of some home remodeling and I was outside painting some wood boards for a project we were working on. My wife opened up the window nearest me and said to come inside and see what was on the television. The first plane had hit a tower, smoke billowing up, the news reporter describing what was going on. The first thing out of my mouth was, "This is a terrorist attack." "No way a plane goes off course like that and hits a building." I no sooner said that,...my wife never had time to argue with me,...and as we watched,..."BOOM!!"...the second airplane hit the next tower.

So much for the painting project,...we were pretty much glued to the TV that day,...later learning of the plane that crashed in a field,...and the other that slammed into the Pentagon. Watching those towers collapse and fall,...WTH!!!,...will never forget that.

 

[Unclewolverine]

I was in the lounge at my college dorm checking my email. Most of my classes got canceled that day.

 

[clg114]

I had went to work early and was at a customers site working on a forklift. When I got done, I went to the office to get my paperwork signed. They had it on TV in the office. After I saw what was happening, I went home and watched it on TV for the rest of the day. My wife and I could not hardly believe what was happening.

 

[Thinx]

At work in an open plan office in the UK. They turned on the TV, which was unheard of, and we all watched. It was so shocking and sad.

 

[MyLifeAsAnAspie]

I was in a long meeting. The meeting leader had this idea we should meet where no one would find us and that's what happened. I didn't find out until late in the morning. I am downwind from the towers and could smell the smoke sometimes in the days that followed. My in-laws where trying to drive into NYC before they knew about it and were turned around at the bridge.

 

[Wulven]

At school. Got picked up by mom. Didn't really know or understand what was going on. Saw the second plan hit on television. For me it seemed far away and unreal. Still does to some degree.

Peace to the fallen.

 

[Fino]

I don't know. I was nine so I hardly paid any attention.

 

[dragonfire42]

I was in second grade, I was doing laps in PE, and I was the only one in the back of the room, I noticed that someone had brought a TV in on a cart and everyone else was gathered around it, so I went over, too, but I didn’t have a clue what was going on

 

[SusanLR]

I was at home and hadn't gotten up yet, so I didn't know until later in the day.
It just seemed impossible for those large buildings to fall into ash from the plane hit.
I didn't understand how they could.

The guy I live with now, was a cop in Brooklyn at that time. So he has many live memories of it.
We live near this beautiful memorial in Palm Harbor, FL
https://cdn.f1connect.net/media/153590/r/535x720/p/0x-30x650/CH-9-11-lights-web.jpg

 

[Martha Ferris]

I was at work running stress tests for the Cardiology department. I saw the result of the first plane hit the first tower and watched as the second plane hit the other tower. I thought "My God, we are under attack."

 

[Judge]

Let's just say it was a terrible thing to wake up to. Ruined my day along with millions of other Americans.