September 11, 2001: Personal Stories 10-Years Later

I was a first time mom at home with my four month old son. I was doing dishes and thought the Today Show was talking about the 1993 bombing. I walked in to check on my son, who was on a blanket on the living room floor. I walked in as the second plane hit. You knew at that moment that it wasn't an accident, it just took your breathe away. The America I knew and grew up in was over, my son was never going to know anything differnet. All I could do was hold him and watch in horror, in tears all day. They always talk about how blue the sky was in the east that day. I remember the sky was the same in Texas, I will always remember that blue.
Peace and Love,
Heather

I was isolated from the event while cleaning a clients house in the country, I knew nothing until I got into my car driving down a country road home and alone, heard the radio announcing, planes hit world trade center pentagon, I rushed to get my youngest from school, I remember watching for hours then days waiting for them to pull someone alive out of the rubble,



I guess one of the most personal moments was when my hulking six foot six son walked into the house crying.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Hi everyone. I posted my thoughts earlier. It is 9/11 again today. Peace be to everyone. Have love, not hate in your hearts. Sadness is another issue.



CJ

I had got up earlier than normal that morning having suffered from one of my many bouts of insomnia. I was sitting down in front of my computer playing Final Fantasy VII. I had turned on the TV to catch the news that morning as I am wont to do nearly every morning when I can't sleep. Just moments after the first plane hit my phone rang and my mother asked me if this is the event I had dreamed about long ago and had just mentioned to her three days before.

I told her I wasn't certain, there were things that still had to happen. Then I got a call from the military telling me that as a reservist I was required to remain near my phone for the next 48 hours, as I may be recalled. I called work immediately and informed them that I would not be able to come in the next two days. I grabbed all my emergency gear and placed it by the back door, just in case. Then sat back continued to play FF7 while watching out of the corner of one eye the news. When the second plane hit I was sitting there watching it come in. A neighbor of mine who lived three doors down who had been hopping back and forth between my place and his came rushing in. "They hit the second tower.. I think we are under attack.." I just sat there with tears in my eyes thinking about what was happening.

A few moments later the announcement came in that the pentagon had been hit and I nearly panicked. I was waiting for the third and final city that I was expecting to be hit to take a blow and it never came. I knew at that point that we were in for a long and drawn out event that would take many years to unfold fully.


Attrei

www.abovetopsecret.com...

i was on a two week holiday with my mum in a place called bobcaygeon, a few hours from toronto, staying with relatives. we had flown in on the wednesday exactly a week before the attacks. the day before they happened i had bought my uncle ok computer by radiohead as a present for letting us stay with them. on the morning of the 11th we were sat in his living room listening to it for the first time. the phone rings and his son is on the other end telling his mum that a plane had hit the WTC, i remember thinking wtf, how could that happen. my uncle wouldnt turn the tv on even with pleas from his wife, i was cursing him a little wanting to watch i too. guess thats the power of radiohead

a few minutes later his son rang up again and told us of the 2nd plane hitting WTC, like most we knew it wasnt an accident, my uncle finally relented and we watched in disbelief at what was happening. suddenly the pentagon got hit and they kept mentioning a plane was heading to washington, then it had crashed.

the place i was staying was out in the sticks with not much to do, so for the rest of the week i just stayed in the basement room watching on tv. they had informed everyone that it would be a week before planes would fly again, which had my mum and i on edge as we were due to fly back that same day. when we got to toronto airport the week later, people had been there for days and were waiting for any room on the first flights.i felt guilty as a few came to ask us if they could have our seats, but we had to refuse them due to having literally no money, i felt guilty for ages after that, hardly pulling together is it, my mum is 70 though, i could have stayed with my relatives a little longer but that would have meant them driving back hundreds of miles when they would have just got hom from doing that. the flight home was probably the most nervous i had felt in my life.

a few things i remember from watching the coverage was a guy being interviewed and saying how a plane which was all black, tinted black, not a commercial jet like they were saying, i wasnt into conspiracies then and aint really now but that stuck with me, as did larry silverstein saying "pull it, i told them to pull it".

apart from the obvious heartbreak of everything that happened on that day, its the fear now instilled in each of us from then on which has saddened, 95 percent of people are genuine good people, that 5 percent ruin it for everyone.

I was in a transition period of my life. I was coming off of a break up and was taken by a friend to work the Renaissance Faire in California. I was not a very social person at the time, due to recent events, and was not really relishing the experience but nonetheless there I was.

I woke up to a friend on site imploring me to listen to the radio. My first experience was the radio. I listened for a few moments and then work was called for the day. I was staying on the job site and unfortunately, my first response was that I was pleased work was called off. I was a 20 year old naive kid at the time...not entirely naive, as I had just finished reading 1984 for the first time a week or two prior but naive enough to not really get the severity of the situation.

So I heard the news and decided to get a newspaper because Hollywood had ingrained in me the need to look at other current events in relation to major ones so I walked to the gas station (short walk) and purchased a newspaper. I don't recall anything of note while I poured over that paper but I do recall remembering something from 1984...from Winston's 'manifesto' in the middle of the book where Orwell goes off on class wars he mentions that the middle class and upper class are always in a battle for the upper class status. Orwell's conclusion, for those who haven't read or don't recall, was that the upper class can remain in power by destroying itself and then rebuilding it...making revolutions moot.

The thought struck me like a ton of bricks. I can't say for sure that it is directly applicable to 9/11, even now, but it is a thought I will never forget.

After that, I went and located a television...the only one in camp was with a person I hardly knew and who is now the proud father of my adopted nephew. I can't say that we bonded over this instance because it isn't true but his was the only TV at the time within access. I thought he was a bigot at the time which he wasn't...just crass.

At any rate...I didn't watch the towers fall live. I was already trying to understand what could possibly going on for this to have occurred in my youthful and mostly ignorant status. The rest of the day was spent off topic as many of us agreed that we needed to not focus on the tragedy. We went and played a muted billiards with drinks.

I do remember as well the uncanny swiftness in the change of a billboard in Vacaville, Ca...to the logo/slogan, "United We Stand." It literally took less than two days and I was always curious how that happened so quickly...in tandem with the gas station passing out American Flag stickers with every purchase at about the same amount of time.

My Brothers were shipped out shortly thereafter and I remember that I had a hard time with that...and that is all.

Peace be with the victims. Peace be with the survivors. And Wrath upon the off chance that there are people who monied this intentionally.

My story isn't as moving or as sad as some of yours here, but I thought i'd share anyways. I wasn't very old when it happened. I can't remember how old I was. But I was just sitting on the floor playing with my toys when my mom switched on the TV after her brother called her crying talking about all of the people who died. She started freaking out and crying and I didn't know why. I was just oblivious. I could just feel the sadness in the air I guess. We sat there in the living room for a really long time just watching the plane hit the tower over and over. I vividly remember just sitting there on the floor while my mom stood motionless watching the TV for what seemed like forever. Everything was quiet except for the TV. It's hard to explain the feeling I had. It was just that there was something in the air. All I remember after that was just our night being very quiet. No one really spoke and you could feel it.

Anyways, not a very exciting story. But I was fortunate enough to lose anyone in 9/11 and I am very sorry for all who did.

Thinking of you at this time... God Bless All.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8f83f2abf133.jpg[/atsimg]

I would have been 14 at the time. Had just got home from school, it would have been about 3:30 in the afternoon. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes after i got home when my dad phone from work to tell us to switch on the news. The first tower was billowing smoke into the air, even at 14 i could tell that many many people had died already.

Not 10 minutes after i started watching the second plane appeared from nowhere and slammed into the 2nd tower. I remember thinking i had just watched several hundred people die on live tv. Up until the second tower was struck i remember wondering how a pilot could possibly manage to hit one of the towers. Now their was no doubt someone was flying 747's into things. Even to me thousands of miles away that was a scary thing to think about.

I called my friend to see if he knew about it. He hadn't heard the news. I remember coming off the phone and going back to watch the tv.

My next real memory is of the first tower coming down. Bam it just fell. No warning. Again i wondered how many people i just saw die.

I remember whatching the news for all of the rest of the day. It was like nothing i had ever seen before, perhaps because nobody had ever seen anything like it before. I suppose being 14 i didn't manage to take it all, perhaps that was a good thing i don't know.

My husband was on swing shift, we were watching the news drinking coffe in bed when the plane hit the second tower...disbelief, kind of a sick feeling deep inside. About an hour later I went to meet my good friend for our usual morning walk, when she answered the door the first thing she said was "I'm so glad we live in the country". New York City is a world away from our sleepy little town in the middle of rual Utah, but I didn't feel safe for a long time. I remember the next night sitting outside after dark, there wasn't a plane in the sky, that had never happened in my lifetime before. I am still so glad (and thankful) that I live in the country.

I was folding laundry watching the news. My oldest was in school, my youngest was just starting to get up and around. The first plane hit, OMG what hapened? The second hit. Horrified. I wanted to get my son, and have my family close. Would it happen here? I watched in shock as the fire blazed and people dove out of windows. Then they fell and I cried. Terrified for the people who ran through the buildings to escape the debris cloud that screamed death. Still the firemen rushed in. I will never forget!

I lived on 14th street between 1st and 2nd ave at the time. My mom called me on my cell phone and said to turn on the TV because a plane had hit one of the twin towers...so I woke up my girlfriend and we both sat down and watched in horror as the scene unfolded. A few hours later I walked down to my work at St. Marks place and could see the mass exodus from downtown coming uptown on 1st ave. Cars and people alike were covered from head to toe with white dust and resembled ghosts, I will never forget that image. There were National Guard troops setting up barricades along the street and helping those who needed assistance and direction. I went up on the roof of our building and took these two photos of the smoke from the towers which I've never posted anywhere before:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/25f205978bda.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/86400f5581af.jpg[/atsimg]

I think though that the next day was even more foreboding and memorable due to the fact that on 9/12 there were no subways running, no buses, no cars or cabs on the street, and it was really really quiet in the city that day almost as if the rapture had taken everyone or something. I even remember seeing a few kids skateboarding down the middle of 5th ave., and looking up in the sky and watching the military jets patrolling the Manhattan airspace, and thought to myself "...there's something I'll never see again"...

My condolences to all the families of the victims on this day. Be well.

Was sitting on the computer e-mailing a friend when my mom came in and said something like "a plane hit a tower in America....it's on the news" - in my mind I saw a small private plane hitting a radio mast. I heard her go tell my dad too and thought it was strange she was so concerned....and why had the BBC had a breaking story on such a relatively minor accident? I went into my room and turned on the TV out of curiosity. I didn't turn the TV off again for about 36 hours. The thing I remember most was when they thought another plane was on the way to DC - I can still feel the sense of dread. Where would it all end? Would the US start throwing nukes around?

I have been avoiding this thread. I really do not care to dwell too much on that day, the raw emotions, the fear, and what ultimately became my "awakening" to many things. Today I really could not help myself. I got home from work around 6am (CST) and I had left my TV turned on to CNN before I had left. So when I came home the Memorial was only one hour away so I sat down and watched, not really sure what to expect or how I would feel. I am still a little shaken (for lack of a better term) even now, that day still brings raw emotions to the surface. It almost can not be helped and what it makes so strange for me is that I am not an emotional person. Many would describe me as cold. Before I get to my "story" I do want to acknowledge that coming to ATS and seeing that the site was down as a moment of silence was a truly classy thing to do. Thank you to whomever was responsible.

On 9/11/2001 I was in Wichita Kansas and I worked as DJ. I was 28 years old. That whole week my body was drained. I was tired a lot. I found myself sleeping at odd times, which in turn had me awake at times I would normally be sleeping. That Tuesday morning I was up very early in the morning. I was following my usual routine of turning on my PC and reading the news, checking my horoscope, playing a video game for a few minutes. I also had this strange idea that came to me for a tattoo and I was goofing off with paint shop pro trying to get this idea out of my head and onto something I could show my tattoo artist. As per my usual routine once I was done reading the news, I turned on the TV just so I would have some background noise. Usually I would pick a random news station since someone was always talking. That day it was on CNN.

I can't recall what I was doing at the exact moment. I remember it was not too important. Breaking News on CNN and some live shots, a plane hit the WTC tower. Much like many others I assumed it was an accident of some kind. Having grew up in Philadelphia and traveling up to NYC often, having lived in Brooklyn for a short time, it was a very surreal sight to see. I really still was not listening to what the talking heads were saying, I just stopped what I was doing and stared at the TV. Watching the smoke pour into the skyline. I remember my thoughts drifting to a fire in Las Vegas. The MGM Grand, which had taken place when I was just a kid. I never forgot that fire because one thing always stayed with me, the jumpers. People were trapped in that hotel and several people who were trapped at the top jumped rather than burn up. I think that is why I was always a physical, sporty, fitness type of guy. I never wanted to be that jumper. I always wanted to be able, if I ever had to, hang from a window ledge for hours before I would let go and die.

As odd as it sounds that is where my thoughts were. It was not victims on the plane, that never crossed my mind. It was not people at the impact points, never a single thought. It was not my Mother or Brother who worked in the areas near the WTC complex. I just sat there staring at the TV, remembering the MGM Grand, wondering if people would be forced to jump from this huge building... on National TV. I remember the talking heads saying everything was under control and everyone should go back inside if they worked in the South Tower. I laughed to myself thinking, "Yeah right! I would be so far out of there so fast, you would be lucky to keep up! Why don't you people go into the South Tower and do your live newscast there if it so safe!"

Then the second plane hit the other tower. My jaw hit the ground. The rest is a bit of a blur for me. I didn't move. I began wondering if my Mother and Brother were ok. I sure hoped they had not gotten to work yet. Surely plane parts and debris should have fallen from the impact points and be scattered throughout the complex. I think that was the moment things became very real for me. I began thinking about the people in the buildings, the people on the street, the people on the planes. I remember listening to information coming out from the talking heads on TV and thinking to myself, "How do they know that so fast?". At this point in my life I was not what one would call a "conspiracy theorist". I believed there was more to the JFK story. I wondered about UFO's, Bigfoot, The Bermuda Triangle, The Money Pit... and just how did those rocks at Stonehenge get set up anyway? I really did not have an opinion on any of it. It did not matter to me.

It is reported that a plane has hit the Pentagon and oh my god, people are jumping. At this point that I knew a War was coming. I sat there staring at the TV. Listening closely. Every now and again I would pick up the phone and try calling my Brother and Mother. Sometimes it would ring and ring and ring. Other times I got nothing. No ring, just a dead line. I saw it reported that cell phones in the city did not seem to working, people were having trouble making calls. Now I was emotional.

::continued::

I was scared now. Especially if anything were to happen to my Mother and Brother, I would literally be lost. I am not what one would call close with my family, we get along much better with a lot of distance, but they are all I have. If anything ever happened to them, I would very literally be left alone on this planet. It was a thought that had never crossed my mind before. Now that it had, it was a very overwhelming thought.

Then I saw something I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever see. This huge, massive building that I grew up seeing. This symbol that was so ingrained into my memories suddenly crumbled to the ground into a pile of dust and smoke. I am NOT trying to move this post into conspiracy, I am just trying to be as honest as I can be, I literally jumped off my chair and screamed "BS! No way that building just fell straight down!" and just as the last word came out of my mouth, this feeling hit me like a brick in the face, "Oh my God -all those people". I thought of the people in the street, the people still making their way out of the building after being told to go back in, the fireman, the cops.

Still no answer on the phone. I am calling over and over again. Now I am getting angry. I'm angry the phone is not working, I am mad no one is answering, I am mad at the TV cause something just does not seem right to me and I had no idea what it was. I was glued to my TV, hanging on every word that came out of the mouths of the talking heads. I was going from one news station to another. I was listening to them all and yet I kept asking myself, "How do they know that?". That is one thing I remember so so vividly was the speed at which detailed information was coming out. Here I was just dumbfounded at what I was seeing, I was not completely able to wrap my mind around it. I had no yet put it together and even understood what it all meant yet. I was in a panic mode, I as angry. All I knew is I could not reach my family, some one crashed planes into buildings, and we were going to bomb some country into the Stone Age and turn the land into a freakin parking lot, and I wanted to be the first to sign up to do it.

Then the South Tower collapsed. It looked just like the other as it went down. "Oh my God- how many more people? And why the [snip] has no one answered the [snip] [snip] [snip] phone yet!!". At this point I was in full blown panic mode. I was very emotional. I was crying. As I was still reeling from watching the South Tower crumble, these massive iconic buildings that I have seen all my life. Thinking of all those good little workers going through their daily grind, like I should have been doing but I chose a different path, like my Family was doing at this very moment. Dialing the phone over and over again with no answer, it felt like my whole world was now out of my control and literally crumbling around me like the two towers I just saw.

It is now reported that a 4th plane has crashed in a field in PA. "How many more are there?". I don't remember much after that. I think on some level I disconnected a bit. I sat glued to my TV watching everything. Listening to every word. Carving it into the back of mind. For the first time in my life I felt completely helpless, still unable to reach my Family..I felt completely alone and no one would be able to understand. I sat there until I had 10 minutes to get as shower and go to work. I was late. I am going to end here... as I said I have no intention of talking conspiracy, but I will say I had an "awakening" in those moments. My mind was trying to process so many things.. I also managed to get my tattoo idea out of my head and onto paper. I knew what it was going to be, the idea came to me a week prior. It was 3 simple letters, I just needed to figure out the design of it. Those letter were D.T.A. which means "Don't Trust Anybody" and I had it placed on my throat that same night, then went out and got drunk and got tossed in jail for the night. Drunk, angry and emotional, as I still had been unable to reach my family.

10 years ago today was a huge emotional rollercoaster for me... and I am not an emotional guy. As I sat watching the memorial today, I became emotional again. As family members began reading names. I just could not help it. The talking heads did their jobs, and they would always cut back to Ground Zero, and they were still reading names. A few hours had passed, a ceremony in Washington, another in Pennsylvania, they periodically cut back to Ground Zero, and they are still reading names. So many names. It is hard not to shed a tear as you hear each name. There are so many names.

Not being much of a TV watcher for some reason I turned on the TV that morning just in time to see the plane hit the second tower and I panicked as I couldn't remember if my daughter flew to New York City on the 10th of September for business or was it on the 11th. I started dialing her number and finally got her, she was suppose to fly in on this horrible day, her flight from Detroit to New York was to be at 4:00 PM.. Her offices were one block from the Trade Center. Thank goodness no one was hurt at her Company in N.Y.

I didn't know anyone personally who died that day but my other daughters former Law partner had just moved to N.Y. two months before 911, his wife and twin two year old daughters had not moved to N.Y. yet as he hadn't found a suitable place for them. He died that day in Tower 1.

I have not forgotten that day and never will.

I remember i was in my first hour computer class in HS and i remember all the students was writing out their stuff and i saw a teacher walking into the class room whispering into another teachers ear about something. I looked over and i saw the teacher of my class then went to turn on the TV and we saw the first tower was hit and everyone was kinda confused like what was going on. So then after about 20mins later class was over and i remember walking out into the hallway and the hallways wasn't as loud as usual. It seems like all of the students was kinda kinda awe that moment and pretty much everyone was talking about what has happen. It was weird because usually i would hear allot of hollaring and locker slamming and people talking all loud but not that day. It was kinda just settled as everyone was trying to figure out what has happen. But yeah i still remember where i was at and what i was doing.

I was 23 and was home alone, in Barcelona (Spain). I had just prepared my meal and was sitting on the couch. There was a sudden breaking news in the form of a news flash. The TV anchor said a plane had just crashed into one of the Twin Towers, a terrible accident. He was deepening in that when we saw live the second plane crashing.

It felt as if a gigantic wave of -- incredulity -- had muted the World at once. A sort of main grinding halt, general suspension. I dont know. I remember that precisely, that feeling, hard to describe or to subscribe to just one word. I know it took me some minutes to call mom (Her Soul is with God today, ILYM) and we both watched TV together, while on the phone, sharing a widening hole that was opening inside as images were being fed. I did it then and again today: my true deep condolences to all Americans and USA. Love to you all.

I was 23 and was home alone, in Barcelona (Spain). I had just prepared my meal and was sitting on the couch. There was a sudden breaking news in the form of a news flash. The TV anchor said a plane had just crashed into one of the Twin Towers, a terrible accident. He was deepening in that when we saw live the second plane crashing.

It felt as if a gigantic wave of -- incredulity -- had muted the World at once. A sort of main grinding halt, general suspension. I dont know. I remember that precisely, that feeling, hard to describe or to subscribe to just one word. I know it took me some minutes to call mom (Her Soul is with God today, ILYM) and we both watched TV together, while on the phone, sharing a widening hole that was opening inside as images were being fed. I did it then and again today: my true deep condolences to all Americans and USA. Love to you all.

I guess I have to do this... I had a peculiar experience on that damned day 10 years ago... ten times around the sun ago... my friend from New York called me early... I was awake but didn't have the TV going yet... at that time I monitored C-band satellites... I had watched the live news feeds for many events in our Nation's last couple decades... before they got edited and played on the news... or not... Waco, Oklahoma, Columbine, Bosnia... anyway, he told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center... I turned on the TV and satellite and was shocked... like everyone...

I'm quivering as I write at remembering this... I was soon skating through the satellites and watching live feeds from the helicopters circling the buildings... I saw people jumping... I saw the second plane hit... and as I watched and talked to my friend, we watched as WTC 2 and then 1 completely collapsed... exploded... vaporized... before our eyes... I immediately got sick to my stomach and fell over in my couch clutching my gut... in my meanderings through the stations, it was amazing that all the satellites were unlocked... I was getting stations that I could never get without a subscription... all of them... I saw Palestinians dancing in the streets and buring a flag... no explanation, just the feed... later, I found out this was footage from another event and somewhat suspicious in that the Palestinians were waving rifles... M16-A1s fully outfitted with infrared spots and scopes...

Anyway, it has since become aware to me that the satellites were unlocked for a reason... so that everyone... everywhere... could watch it happen live... and everyone everywhere did watch it live... as it happened...

I'm a Cspan junkie and in my patriotic fervor, I immediately started calling into the Cspan Washington Journal morning show... to report the satellite feed... I did get through which was a bit ironic also because I could hardly ever get through... I reported it... later, I found out that I had been played for a fool... on national television... between that and other dramatic things in my life, (a ongoing 7 year labor dispute), I had a nervous breakdown soon afterwards... I knew that in some strange way, I had played a part in what happened... and what was happening... I spent the next 4 years repenting, (even in sack cloth and ashes)... and protesting the wars, (writing war songs for the peace movement)... doing all that I could do to stop the wars from happening... I got spit on and called a traitor on several occasions... ohh my God... that damned day. :~(

Peace and Love