Remembering 9/11: Your Stories!

A true search for the truth should not exclude the reality of loss and pain that affected far too many.

They called to us all on that day, we could only watch.

We lost a great deal on that day. America may have been forever changed, but the greatest loss of all was fellow human beings, lost forever to family, and friends.

Reading through this thread, it is clear that people from all over the world witnessed that day, each has a story of their own.

Respect those who we lost forever on that day, respect each other as you continue searching for truth, or answers to the incredibly tragic events of September 11, 2001.

I remember waking up to the news station reporting it and i wake up rather early maybe 6am or something around that but yah. I went to school (i was in 6th grade) and they playground was basically in chaos. Kids were crying and screaming and kids dressed in camaflauge gear saying were in war! and stuff like that. then for almost the whole school day, we watched it on the news. I wasnt that scared, a bit worried tho but I have always been very mature about things since i was a kid so i thought about it for a while. Oh and my little cousin was also born that day

Hachiban08, I find it impressive that such a young person has any recollection of that day.
Thank you for sharing.

At this time of year I start thinking of those days again, I want to remember, I want to keep the feeling of those days in my life.
To me they are infinatly important.

That day changed my life.
WIS

Originally posted by WalkInSilence
Hachiban08, I find it impressive that such a young person has any recollection of that day.
Thank you for sharing.

At this time of year I start thinking of those days again, I want to remember, I want to keep the feeling of those days in my life.
To me they are infinatly important.

That day changed my life.
WIS

Yes, i have always been able to recollect important events .You are welcome for the sharing=]
It also changed my life, I could have lost someone from NY * i have family there* and my little cousin was born. So i dont believe I could ever forget that day

I work at night so on the morning of 9/11 I didn't wake up until close to noon. In Toronto (I think) we are in the same time zone as NYC so I missed the whole thing live, but like most people saw the endless replays. When I woke up though, a person who also rents in the house I live in told me what had happened, that planes had crashed into the WTC and that the towers had collapsed!

I flat out didn't believe it (the collapsing part). I thought there must be some mistake, that she (who is a little wonky at the best of times) must have got the information wrong. She told me to turn on the TV. There it was. I was dumbfounded and totally engrossed in the awful spectacle of what was happening. At that point and for quite a while afterward I wasn't really thinking critically. The only conclusion I came to early was that someone was going to pay heavily for this, and that perhaps some of America's chickens were coming home to roost (although I hated to think that.)

[edit on 17-8-2007 by ipsedixit]

On my way to work on the radio, they annouced that a real tradgey is unfolding in the US today, then he said what it was. Everybody at work both staff and customers were utterely stunned and confused that day.

I can tell you not much work got accomplised that day, I imagine most of North America went the same way that day.

And I believed the government line for over 4 years.
Now I know at least some of the truth.

i remember myself comin home from school i was only 11 years old and i used to allways watch a u.k tv serie so i turned on the tv and it never started that program i was gonna watch they just showed the same thing over and over again and it took me like a half hour to understand what had happened

I remember thinking it was a "war of the worlds" type media hoax. I thought they were doing a spectacular job with the special effects, until I realized they weren't effects at all.

Then I thought about how long it has been since the US was last attacked... thought of how often some other countries get attacked, and decided it was due to happen eventually, and it did.


Anyhow, I thought I might update those who don't know.

I know the engineers who have received the contract for the Freedom Tower. The contract for the structural side of it is a 4 year contract. It has only just been handed out, so the plans for the Freedom Tower will be ready for production in 4 years.

Essentially, don't expect them to do anything with Ground Zero aside from cleanup for 4 years. Yes... that gaping hold in the ground will be there to remind you for quite some time.

If you ask me, the contract should have been handed out a LONG time ago.


[edit on 1-9-2007 by johnsky]

I live in Manhattan, but on the Upper West Side, quite a distance from the World Trade Center.

I was just arousing from sleep (my work started at 10) when my phone rang and the machine picked up and I heard my mother absolutely screaming turn on the tv, oh my God, the World Trade Center, etc.

So I got up and switched on FOX News and saw the smoke coming from the first tower. At that point they still didn't know exactly what was going on. So I called my mom and we were talking when we both saw the second plane hit the other tower live on TV. That will certainly be a memory burned into my mind until the day I die.

As a New Yorker, I had been in those buildings countless number of times for both business and pleasure. If there was some twist in fate, I could easily been there when they were hit.

The emotions were overwhelming.

Luckily for me, I didn't have any close friends or relatives that died in the towers of my own, but I did have many friends, coworkers, neighbors and acquaintances that did.

It was like time almost stopped for days and days, really people at my office didn't get back to work for a week. It was a very, very trying time.

I hope to God that something that tragic never happens to this or any other city ever again.

Originally posted by the_sentinal
, I realized that this was a historic event taking place. I grabbed a blank VHS tape and began taping the news, why I do not know, but I remember thinking that I had to record these events.

]

Sentinal, I think you have recorded some of the truth. Your recordings may very well contain some reports that were later buried. I remember that morning of my life as a pivotal point in my personal take on our government. I awakened early for some unknown reason.

I worked second shift at that time, and my husband was bartending at night. It was 8:30 am, when I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. I knew I needed more rest, having been awake til well past 4 am. I couldn't go to sleep, and so flipped through the channels incoherently until the first report shocked me wide awake. I then knew why I was awake. I began to cry immediately with the very same sinking feeling I experienced a few years earlier, when flight 800 went down. That flight had 16 students from the high school in the town where I and my boyfriend, soon to be husband resided.

I watched in tearfull horror, lamenting over and over again, "you watch, this will be buried". I watched people jumping to their deaths, and each time a new wave of anguish washed through me. When I saw the tower fall, my first and most immediate thought was, "that was controlled, that was deliberate, no way it could be happening unplanned." When the second tower came down, I watched controlled demolition destroy the lives of many people I did not know personally, yet, it felt like they were my brothers and sisters dying. When tower seven came down, my belief that this was deliberate was cemented.

President Bush just sat there, pretending he was too shocked to move. I was screaming at him. Do Something, you, F*in IDIOT!
(The pentagon brought seconds thoughts to my mind about the positive notion that this was not only expected, but planned.) Those doubts were very short lived. The immediate grabbing of all recorded evidence only served to make me ever more convinced that something too sinister to be believable was indeed afoot.

Flight 93 went down, I was in immediate irate dirty SOB's mode and near to throwing something at the telivision, because the reporters were failing miserabley by this time to convince me that the truth was being broadcast. I called it like I saw it. I told my daughter, the plane was shot down, there were no hero's, that was a bloody feel good lie told to soften the news for first the families, and second the public. We can't have our own government held to account for the death of all those innocent people.

Never forget our brave presidential advice, to ignor crazy conspiracy theories. Foreshadowing it is called in scary movies, what do you call it in real life; Foreknowledge? I do.

Truth has a certain resonance like a harmonic, it rings in harmony with your inner being. Just a slight blandness, that becomes perfect harmony within. I apologize for my perception if it angers anyone who lost a loved one on that day, sincerely. Yet, I can't shake the feeling that what I feel is right.

The largest conspiracy I feel we should shun, is the one promulgated to the enrichment and benifit of criminals, who have no remorse for the gains they raked in, on the blood of our brothers and sisters. Those who gained or participated in any way, should be tried and hung in public. Instead, they got promotions.

[edit on 9/2/2007 by Churchmouse]

I was in tenth grade.....

I lived in indiana at the time and we had to take a graduating standardized test.....(i think it was part of a no child left behind program, since you had to pass to graduate....and you got five more chances afterwards)

most know how those go....you got 20-25 people grouped by last names... plus a couple teachers in the room....and it was about 10 am local time.....i dont remember if it was central or eastern.....since indiana was a part of it's own time zone that neither leaped ahead or fell back......

it was that stupid quiet that you get when everyone's trying hard or sleeping.....(i was half asleep, you had to be really slow not to pass)....and suddenly over the inter com....(which was supposed to be turned off for the rooms that were being used for testing)...came the principal....who never talked for anything....

she said...."earlier today, the world trade centers and the pentagon had been bombed.......we dont know anything else at the moment"...

i had no idea what the world trade centers were....since i was a simple midwesterner...but i did know that the pentagon was this uber military place.....at lunch we discussed what happened.....i dont remember what we said....i know there were jokes and stuff....but no one knew what was going on......

when i got home my mom was watching the tv.....i have never been one for the news.....i watched enough to see that planes had crashed into the three buildings....and that the twin towers collapsed....that was it...

i dont mean to sound cold....but it never affected me the way most people talk about.....i didnt cry.....i didnt feel hatred towards muslims that most had in the following months....i heard thru a friend of a friend what "lets roll" was from...

up untill last year i didnt even know there was a conspiracy on it....after watching the archived news.....i still dont think it was completly run by our government.....there may have been someone who knew a ton more than has ever been acknowledged....but i have plenty of posts that say how i feel.....

That day...on My case the night before i couldnt sleep..i tossed to one side of the bed to the other..all night....it was around 7:30 am...or a bite more..I live in Monterrey, Mexico by the way, so i put the radio on a sports stattion to hear the sport news...while hearing peoples call.

Then one of the callers mentions: Have people check out the News?.. they are saying a small plane crash on one of the world trade center buildings. they are passing the images in TVE (that's TV Española..or spains tve network) So I inmediatly put the channel and was the live feed of the 2 towers..one was burning...and i said to myself...How can pilot crash on that big building..either was very dumb..or something mechanicall happen to the plane i was thinking it was a small plane the one that crashed...a cesna or something like that. Then while watching the feed woow ..a second plane appears on the imagen and bOOMM...gets in the second tower... I said to myself..what the FU....K was that? thats a commercial plane...Holy God...

Then I run to another TV (tv room actually)... put Directv to CNN (thank good i have USA news) and there was the 2 towers burning ...and CNN saying they dont know what was happeng but they started to put on their news America on Attack real fast....minutes later they put the pentagon HIt..well only the black smoke coming from it saying it was hit by another plan...and hte nes guys and everybody was becoming paranoid..like not knowing exactly was was goin on.

I was real affected..i was thinking Hope God to these people..hope this thing doesnt scalate to more ..... then the rest is story...

reply to post by Churchmouse


Thank You, for your account Church Mouse, and Welcome Aboard, it looks like we can look forward to your input in the future.

I hope we all remember, I hope we all are able to see clearly.
WIS

reply to post by UM_Gazz


I actually flew over New York city appx. 10 hours before the planes hit. I was on a flight to England for a military exercise.

On my train ride from London to Lincoln, I heard the ticket takers talking about planes crashing, and buildings collapsing, etc... I thought they were talking about a movie. One of them then sat down across the isle from me, and being an american in england for the first time, I just wanted to make some small talk, so I asked them what they were talking about. He, of course, knew right away that I was American and said, "You haven't heard?" He then told me what had happened. It was quite a shocker since I had just flown over NY.

Probably the most interesting part of my story was the trip back...of course all planes were grounded for 1 week, so I went to the airport 24 hours ahead of my flight time. I'm glad I did...it took over 3 hours from the time they announced ticketing for my flight to the time I got to the terminal. This is the weird part (and I use "weird" because I can think of no other way to describe it): Once everyone was on the plane and seated, it was eerily quiet...no one was talking. You could literally see people eyeballing each other trying to figure out who would be "the terrorist". I know I was already formulating plans in my own head of what I would do if there was a terrorist, and I know I wasn't the only one.

Every now and again, I take a peek at my passport, which is stamped Sept. 11, 2001, to remind myself that it very easily could have been my plane that smashed into one of those buildings.


[edit on 4-9-2007 by Jaruseleh]

What an interesting 9/11 story you have there Jeruselah! What a shock it must have been for you to find out what you did when all you wanted to do was have a chat with the locals!
And then taking the plane home so soon after 9/11, I'm sure if were me I would have opted for a rowboat or even a kayak than flying home in a commercial airliner. Good that you made it back ok! Thanks for sharing!


[edit on 6-9-2007 by Palasheea]

On 9/11 I was living in Tulsa, OK (I'm back there now). I was in between jobs and on some strong medication. My wife shortly after the attacks woke me up saying that her oldest daughter had called saying "they bombed New York." Of course I had no idea who "they" could have been and what type of bomb was dropped.

Basically I was glued to the tv for three days straight trying to find out why and what happened. I also read on the internet but I didn't have much internet experience at that time.

Shortly before 9/11 I did work for American Airlines so this hit home too close you could say.

This changed things in ways I'd rather not say. However my wife and I did split up for a few months do to 9/11 and several other things.

After time we got back together and moved to another city for a few years. I know it's worse for know those who were lost that day. I do have a friend who backed out at the last minute on one of the lost flights. She lost a friend a coworker who flew without her.

Thanks to those taking the time to read this. My heart goes out to those who suffered lost on and because of 9/11.

[edit on 7-9-2007 by Sanity Lost]

allow myself to quote myself:

Originally posted by Crakeur
I was at my office when the first plane hit. My mother had called for some reason and we were talking and she said something to the effect of "look out your window. can you see the towers?" I did and I could. I was stunned. I hung up on her to call my wife and tell her what was going on. She was just getting out of the shower and we were talking when plane 2 hit the other tower. I told her to stay home as she works a few blocks from where the towers stood. I watched the day unfold from my office, which was on the 38th floor of a building on 34th and 7th. We had an unobstructed view of the towers and we everyone on our floor, all the employees of three different companies, were jammed into my office watching. Extra people provided some comfort that morning. When the first tower collapsed I remember the crying. I remember making the list of friends and family in the vicinity of the towers, trying to figure out who I might have lost (3 friends never got checked off that list). I remember wandering home at the end of the day (I stayed in the office to avoid being on the street in the chaos). I remember the soot covered people wandering uptown, making their way home. The blank stares. The tears. The moaning and the crying. The long lines for the pay phones. The lines at the ATM machines. I remember hearing that the blood donation drive wasn't necessary as there weren't going to be too many people needing the blood. I remember seeing the stories of the missing. The signs everywhere. The people holding onto that last shred of hope that their loved ones would be found somewhere. I remember praying that I didn't see anyone I knew on those signs or in those stories. I remember reading about my friend's fiance who was to be married in a couple of weeks. I remember reading about another friend, who I had spent two days with the weekend prior to the 11th. He went back up to his office to make sure everyone left and didn't return. He was one of a handfull of people from his company that died. He managed to get the majority of the people to leave but he stayed to ensure that nobody else came back.


Most of all, I remember walking home from my office a couple of days after the 11th. It was evening, the streets were deserted. I noticed stores had candles burning in the windows, messages of hope and prayers for the lost accompanied these lights. Flags hung in the windows. I walked up and down the 23 blocks north and 7 avenues that seperated my office and my apartment. I remember being alone at first, reading the messages. Suddenly I noticed I was a group of 3, then 7 then ten, maybe 15. We walked as a group, we read the messages, we looked at the flags and the flickering candles. We didn't speak to eachother. People were crying and hugging and still nobody spoke. People joined and others left as they got to where they were headed. It took me several hours to make the 40 minute walk. When I entered my apartment my wife looked at me and didn't say a word. I'm sure she was worried about where I was that night but the look on my face must have been enough of an answer. The next morning I told her to go check out the streets. Walk around, see the windows and soak in the emotions on the street because this was NYC and the love and comfort and emotion wasn't going to last very long.


Every year the stores do various things with their windows to honor the fallen. Nothing will ever compare to the sight of every store on two of the most famous shopping streets in the world being devoid of merchandise and containing nothing more than some light and a flag.

This city isn't the same anymore. The people, who once walked with a chip on their shoulder, have lost a bit of their edge. We look up at the planes flying overhead and we wonder "is it happening again?" We hear about the threats to the subways and airports and what not and we know we are the target. We know it will happen again. It is only a matter of time and yet we stay. We stay and we learn to shrug off the constant threats and the sight of the various anti-terror drills that seem to be spotted all around the city. Sure we're still scared. How could we not be? We are, however, New Yorkers and Americans and backing down and kowtowing are not in our nature.

R.I.P.
Doug, Joe and Tom
www.september11victims.com...
www.september11victims.com...
wtc.technologyshoppe.com...

and all the others who suffered and continue to suffer as a result of that day.

Just wanted to drop in and thank everyone for the amazing participation we had on the "Memories Of 9/11" ATS MIX Show. Because we had so many AUDIO STORIES, we did not have the show time to READ any of the posts here.... and there were a BUNCH of GREAT ONES!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks again to those of you who took the time to SHARE with our RADIO AUDIENCE your stories.

Dave

[edit on 9/10/2007 by Dave Rabbit]

Well on 9-11 I was at the time working for the Trans Alaska Pipeline in Valdez, Alaska. I was up getting ready for work, when the phone rang. It was around 6:30am. I answered the phone it was my dad. He said honey, turn on the T.V. now, I said why? He said we are being attacked right now. I was like What? What are you talking about? I turned on the T.V. and then I saw the two towers. I got my boyfriend (at the time) up and told him to get into the living room. We were in shock. I told him I didn't want to go to work, I knew the Pipeline Terminal would be crawling with security, plus I didn't know if they were going to be attacked being a supplier of oil to the U.S. At the time I was pregnant as well, so this was really stressful on my body.( I started having contractions and a few days later I lost the baby. ) We ended up going to work and I was the assistant to the Main Manager for the my company there. My sister (in Anchorage) called me shortly after I got there and said an airliner in route to Anchorage from China had a terrorist on board and was headed for us. I packed my stuff up and told my boss I am out of here. He didn't believe me at first and then got a phone call right after I told him, saying they were evacuating the terminal. We hauled it out of there! Right when I was leaving I looked up and saw the airliner in the sky being escorted by two F-16's. I freaked out and my boyfriend and I floored it! We found out later that the pilots on board "accidentally pressed the terrorist on board code and they were escorted to Whitehorse Canada. No one ever heard a thing about it again. Later that night, all night long, fighter jets patrolled the sky over us protecting the pipeline. It was such an eerie feeling. The next day life was never the same again at the terminal. That is my story in a short round about way.

9/11 i woke up late for work, so i jumped in my service truck (im an electrician) and drove 40 miles to get to the job site. on my way i was listening to the radio and a caller called in and said a plane hit one of the towers. the radio jockys said "ya were looking into this". little while later another caller called in and said another plane hit the other tower.

right then it was switched over to news all day.

after work (not much was accomplished that day) i drove to a hospital where a friend of mine was recovering from a heart surgery. so i drove into where the parking garage would be (saw alot of guards and police) and realized i wouldnt fit into the normal parking garage cause the van was too high. so i asked a police officer there was a place i could park (regular parking lots were under renovation) so they allowed me to park where the ambulances park, but i was met by 2 police officers and was walked up to my buddies room.

after i was there for awhile i went down to my van and noticed a 5 cops and a police dog sniffing around my van. so i just asked them if they wanted to take a look inside, so they looked around and i went on my way.

over all, given the situation, they were pretty cool about everything.