This day in 2001.

[macelena 1,070]

I was a 11 year old kid back then. I just had ended up my lunch and went playing PC (Fast Attack, a sub sim) when my parents called me to get to the kitchen. On the news there was an image of a burning building. My dad said "They said a Cessna crashed into one of the towers accidentally, Bulls**t, this looks like the holes in the decks of carrier after a kamikaze strike. That Cessna carried explosives" The camera was zooming into the fire, while the reporters were talking about palestinians doing it for the US support to Israel, or the possibility of an accident. The edge of a mushroom could appeared in the scren as we all, reporters included, scream "Holy s**t!!" (Translated loosely). While we saw it all we heard the casualty estimations "usually the WTC had 100.000 people working inside". The pentagon, the alert on the white house, the United 93... my dad started packing up things in the event his leave was revoked. As the islamist terrorism was pointed at, we agreed"If there were so many deads, probably tonight nukes will rain upon the middle east"

 

Now everything seems to be part of historry, but back then it was such a shock. May the innocents rest in peace, and may God forgive their murderers, as we should not.

[Derk 265]

Was with the kids on my way tot visit my wife in hospital after she had a surgery. Heard it in the car ("the Cessna") and saw the rest happening on a tv in a recreational aera in the hospital......

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

[+hgbn 91]

Was just returned from work, when my dad called and said that an aircraft just had crashed into WTC.. Naturally I turned on the TV at CNN. And saw the rest in utter chock... Like many others I did expect a nuke respond at any know Al Quada training camps in Afghanistan... I still truly believe it would have been a appropriate respond to these attacks..

[exhausted 55]

I was 15 at the time. I was in school leaving my shop class when I heard 1 plane had crashed, and I'm not gonna lie, the thought of all that destruction was pretty awesome to watch. When I got to my classroom we watched after the 2nd one hit. I knew which events would soon follow that day, like choreography. That strange thing is that with all my 15 year old wisdom I had told my parents 2 days before that if I wanted to make an attack that would be hard to foresee and stop, then flying an airliner into a target would probably work. I was trying to emphasize that I saw people being very complacent with what they thought we had.

[+daddyairplanes 10,238]

i was in germany at the time working on dinner in the dfac. most specifally i was cutting onions when a KP came in and said the 3rd plane hit the pentagon, i went out to the TV in the dining room to see what was going on. after watching for about ten minutes i called my wife to say hurry and get to the dfac. it was in the center of base and the commissary where she was at was at the edge of base. she was there shopping for her birthday cake that i was suposed to bake that night. 9/11/01 was her 25th birthday. still my most vivid memory besides the moment i found out was the next morning when i had to go back to work. i lived off base and we were told not to wear uniforms on our way in, so there i am 0330 in the morning walking upto the base in civilian clothes so as not to "look American" carrying BDU's in a duffel rather than my usual white cooks uniform and at the gate was a massive memorial from the Germans. flowers, candles, and signs for about 2 blocks before you could get to the gate and guards. whole lot has happened in the years since but i remember i remember how our german friends showed their support for us even during days that we were gearing for the response and told to not be visible in the community outside base for our safety. on a final note i never did bake that birthday cake, but my wife didn't care much bout it that year.

[+Dave 2,322]

I was stationed at Lackland AFB, my wife came and got me ad said a plane had it the world trade center. I said that it was probably a sight seeing plane as they fly close to them all the time. I walked out to the living room just in time to see the second plane hit. Life hasn't been the same since. I'll never forget.

[Abhi 3]

I was 10 at that time and it was around 9 PM in India,at that time my father worked in the air force so we had dinner around 9.i was surfing the channels when i bumped into fox news.

 

at that time 1st plane already hit the building and it was on fire,we thought its a small attack and fire fighters will be able to control it when after few minutes another airliner rammed into that building by that time i realized this is something big.then the news came of the plane that hit the pentagon.at that moment i only wondered how many more planes will crash.

 

However my most shocking memory was the collapse of towers,i had never seen such a sight.it was live and ppl were screaming all over.

 

still i salute the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 who saved many lives by theirs.

[Nesher 628]

I remember i was at home watching the news on Israeli TV channels when we saw footage of the WTC getting hit by the second plane

and reports keep coming about the first who hit the towers.. Pentagon and the 4th plane in Pennsylvania

i'll never forget the images from that day..

 

.

[MigBuster 2,884]

Was ill at the time - when I switched the TV on no one seems to know what had happened - it was strange seeing this tall building with smoke coming out of it. The cameras were showing people above the fire looking out of windows - and I remember thinking that they should be okay if the Firemen can get through the fire. Seemed to think it was like the towering inferno - never thought for one second the building would collapse.

 

When the second Airliner hit though it was suddenly clear what was going on - and watching the buildings going down live was truly shocking.

[Caesar 305]

I was in 10th grade biology class when we first heard of it. Initially thought to be an accident, but watching that second plane it, dear Lord! When I heard the Pentagon was hit as well I didn't believe it. "Don't we have some sort of defense around such a key military building?" Then I saw the pictures - guess not. Still can't believe it's been 9 years.

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

9 years ago that day, I was coming back from my parents, a 6-hour-long drive. Browsing the radio channels, I heard this damned thing, too unbelievable to be believed. Browsing again and again, hearing that again and again. First reaction: another stupid Hollywood movie to be released, pfff... Second reaction, later: another Orson Welles-style bad joke, so far away from april's Fool? Not funny at all! Third reaction: still sceptical, but vaguely worried. Then at home, hurried to the pictures and saw... that: Kamikaze Boeings over Manhattan, clouds of flames tearing the towers of glass, desesperate people making the last decision of their lives while trying to escape the flames, and the final act, in the same time expectable and unable to believe, two proud and mortally wounded giants collapsing in turn, with their shroud of ashes covering the maimed City of New York...

 

Welcome into the 3rd Millenium !

 

Three days before, I had come back from a tour in Greece, where I had met some British and Americans. The Americans had a longer stay and were planned to come back home on tuesday 11. I suppose they have been seriously delayed due to the interruption of any flight.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Capitaine Vengeur

[FalconC45 162]

Fortunately or unfortunately (pick your choice) I was asleep when the attacks happened. My mother came home to get me up and yelled "Its war! They attacked the towers and the Pentagon!". Naturally I thought WTF? Who attacked us? Then I saw the replays of the attacks on the WTC Towers on FOX News. My heart pounded heavily, thought for sure we'll respond in a nuclear fashion. Thank God we didn't, because that'll cause WW3 if we nuked something in the Middle East.

 

Falcon

[eraser_tr 29]

I was sitting in 10th grade math class and they made an announcement over the loudspeaker after a plane crashing into the world trade center. Thought it was an accident or one dumbass in a cessna like the guy who crashed into the white house a few years earlier. By the next class there was video footage teachers saw and that it was an attack was obvious. For the rest of high school, people almost s**t themselves every time the principal came on the speaker to make an announcement.

 

My father saw the interceptors fly overhead on the highway...of course he couldn't recognize what kind of plane they were.

[Silverbolt 104]

i was 11 years old, waitin for caartoons ... i think it was about 9:30 am or something like that , the the news switched to a image of a tower burning during few seconds the announcer didn't said a s**t...i ws not very familiarized with WTC so i tought it was in são paulo.....than he started to say again n a angle when you could only see the south tower of perspective and the announcer in the news said that it could be an accident that a plane crashed into it , but right after i saw another fireball i tought it was the same building but than the zoomed out to another camera and there were two towers burning.

 

 

RIP to those who fall.

[Ruggbutt 45]

I was at work and I was scheduled to turn a brand new home over to the homeowner. Usually we could listen to the radio all we wanted at work but when the homeowner is closing that was a no-go. I made sure I looked busy and put my headphones around my neck and cranked my radio, so I could hear what was going on. I felt helpless, angry then scared for what was happening to my country. It was the worst work day in my life, surpassing the destruction of the shuttle Challenger (and I'll never forget where and what I was doing that day). After turning the house over I had an hour left in the day so I had to check on what the rest of my crew had done that day with the new builds. There were two illegals working for the company (on my crew, I wouldn't take any more) who were chattering in spanish about how great it was that America was attacked. I don't speak spanish as well as I read or understand it so I addressed them in english. I'd just left a new build that had no electricity, I was carrying a four D-Cell Maglite flashlight. I was on a full sprint with it screaming at the spanish speakers that it was time to declare war on Mexico. My foreman had to physically restrain me by taking me to the ground cuz I was well on my way to committing ADW (assault deadly weapon). He got them to take off and he kept me from following them. The next day they showed up sheepishly with an american flag sticker on their back window.

 

I never said a kind word to them again, only told them what to do and to do it well and quick. When I was told a year later it was time to lay them off it was the only time in my life where I enjoyed telling someone they no longer had a job. Mess with my country, mess with me. That being said, I will never forget my countrymen that lost their lives that day. I'm fortunate in the fact that no one I personally knew was in that attack. But I take it to heart and still take it personal because my countrymen lost their lives to a bunch of cowards.

[Viggen 644]

I was eight years old at the time and in third grade. I didn't find out about the attacks until my dad picked me up from the bus stop. I'll never forget the look on his face when he told me "Two passenger planes hit the World Trade Center in New York." When I walked into the living room, the TV still on, the first thing I saw was a clip of the South Tower collapsing. A seemingly normal day had turned upside down, even for a eight year old in a quiet New England town. I knew what was going to happen next.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Viggen

[MaverickMike 10]

I was on the way home from school on the school bus when the first plane hit. The first I heard of it was when, one of the guys on the bus said 'Someone has driven a plane into a building in New York'. Being young and i guess a little ignorant i thought nothing of it and continued to plan my pushbike ride with my mates that we were hoping to go on that evening. I got home and instantly knew something wasnt right because my mother and father were both sitting in front of the tv with looks of disbelief on there faces. I watched all of the footage on the news channel until it was time for me to go to bed.

 

I guess its one of those days where everyone will remember where they were when they heard for the rest of their lives.

 

RIP to all the innocent victims killed

 

And to the guys who did it, may you burn in hell for all eternity

 

Mike

[fallenphoenix1986 603]

I was 15 and in Geography class when one of the other geography teachers ran in with a radio. Classes pretty much went out the window for the rerst of the day as most realised it was a "where were you when Kennedy was shot" moment. Pretty much every one there asumed it had been a GA accident until we heard about the second jet. Got home just in time to turn the TV on and see the first tower fall.

Three years latter three of the guys that had been in that class were in Afghanistan, one of them never came back, one is now in a servicemans hospital and the other is on his third tour right now.

 

 

RIP

[Wrench 9,848]

Was getting ready to go to work and open the shop, as on every morning we were watching the news. I remember Pat (mrs wrench) coming into the bedroom -as I was the late riser- and telling me a plane had crashed into the WTC. I got up in time to watch the 2nd aircraft hit.

 

I remember seeing it and thinking "that aircraft was FLOWN into the building. it's a kamikaze". The second thing that come to mind is 'this is how my parents must have felt that December morning in 1941'. We'd just been given our 2nd Pearl Harbor.

 

Had a small TV/Entertainment unit at the shop (dvd/vcr/stero), and it was on all day. All the other folks from the center (it was one of those Auto Strip Malls with small repair shops) popping in all day long to see what was happening.

 

Indeed, things would never be the same again.

 

wrench

kevin stein

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I was driving a delivery Car from the depot I worked at to a customers house..before I left, a work mate mentioned that a 'Light Aircraft' had crashed into the WTC in NY

 

By the time I delivered the Car, the customer had told me, that it was a Jetliner...and when I got back to the depot..all the guys were glued to a portable TV...I arrived just in time to view the Horror of the Collapse!

 

A day I will never forget

[serverandenforcer 33]

I was 21 when this happened and still living with my folks. I got up early to get ready for work and found my mom watching the news and told me that a plane flew in to one of the WTC towers. I saw the damage that the plane did and knew it wasn't some small prop plane, that it had to be an airliner. Until the second plane hit, I was trying to figure out what would have cause an airliner to crash into a building. I was asking myself a lot of questions as to how on earth this could be possible. I figured it was some catastrophic failure that the plane had and lost control while flying over NYC. Then the 2nd plane hit and I realized we were at war. Infact, I was thinking very likely this was the begining of WWIII. My mom was in disbelief. I said to her, "Oh, somebody, somewhere, is going to get ****ed up big time!" I was expecting a nuclear response from us, and was disappointed that we didn't send that. I knew the results of that kind of response could provoke someone else to respond with nukes, but we would have been justified in such a response, and I felt that the lives lost would not have gone in vain if we had retaliated with such strength. It would have sent a clear global message on what happens when you really try to **** with us, especially on our own soil.

Edited September 13, 2010 by serverandenforcer

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

I was doing uni at the time, stayed up late studying teh maths. Got up late, after both towers had already fell. I slept through the whole thing. Typical.

[+streakeagle 871]

I had returned from naval service in 1997 and went back to the University of South Florida in January of 2000 to finish the degreed I had started in 1987. So there I was in the "fishbowl" where all the engineering students hung out and studied between classes. People in the nearby computer lab could no longer get through on the internet, as it was choked with traffic. So I mostly got 2nd hand verbal information. I was in a state of disbelief and didn't really come to grips with what had happened until I got home and saw everything on TV. While the President's initial response upon being informed wasn't the one I would want from the man leading this country, I fully understand it: utter shock and disbelief. He was literally stunned.

 

<S> to Flight 93! In a no-win situation on the worst day in recent US history, they managed a victory. That one aircraft could have made an already bad day quite a bit worse.

[Fubar512 1,350]

The first week of September 2001, I was presented with two possible assignments by an IT recruiter. One was a short-term (4-5 week) project working for the Port Authority of NJ & NY, at the WTC. The other, a four to six-month position at a logistics firm located in Parsippany, NJ (in the heart of NJ's silicone valley). Both projects started on Monday, September 10.

 

I took the latter, despite the fact that it paid less and required that I work a shift from 6 AM to 2:30. But, it would keep me busy into the late Winter or early Spring.

 

The first day on the job, I was told to expect a large file transfer, every morning, from the firm's office at the WTC, no later than 9:30 AM. On the second day at work, the WTC file did not arrive on time. I waited until 9:45, and then called the 'Trade Center office to find out what the holdup was. I got an automated reply, stating that "all circuits were busy". I tried again at 10:00 AM, and then called my supervisor. My supervisor wasn't in his office.

 

I then decided to make myself a coffee, and as I walked into the coffee room, I saw that it was empty....given that it was break-time, I thought that unusual. As I was walking back to my office in the basement, I encountered a colleague, the very one that I was supposed to route the large WTC file to. As I began to explain why it was late, he looked at me as though he'd encountered a lunatic, and replied "My God, haven't you heard? The 'Trade Center's been hit by an airliner! Everyone's in the cafeteria, watching CNN".

 

I rushed into the cafeteria, and found literally the entire office staff watching the big screen projection TV that was in there. I came in just as they were replaying the collapse of the South Tower....

 

Later, as I drove home at 2:30 PM, I could see the plume of smoke from the WTC fire on the Eastern horizon, some 35 miles away. The roads were eerily empty....

Edited September 11, 2010 by Fubar512

[FastCargo 412]

I thought it was an exercise input.

 

I was stationed at Beale AFB at the time, and so on the west coast, we were lagging by a few hours. My wife was off having spent the night at a sorority she was an alumni of and was doing some chapter advisory work for. I woke up, cleaned up, and drove into the squadron, having not turned on the radio or TV (I lived on base at the time).

 

At the time, we were going through an exercise, playing various reindeer games. I walked in to go the morning brief, noticing, oddly, that it had started before I got there (I was early). I sneak in the back while the SQ/CC is talking, with what sounds like a scenario input, but it seems oddly disjointed. It wasn't until she made the comment of "We're not going to let these assholes try to cut the balls off our country" that I started realizing this was more than an exercise.

 

Right after the brief, we all gathered around the TV in the squadron bar and kept up with events. They shut down all access to the base, and my wife called wondering what was going on. I told her to hang with the sorority and that we would be fine. It still seems surreal at times.

 

FC