September 11, 2001: Personal Stories 10-Years Later

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I was in Sarasota, FLA.

Anyhow I was working at Orkin, I remember september 11th, 2001 like Yesturday, we were in the meeting room where we always start our day it was around 8 or so, maybe a lil later, I remember one of my co-workers looking at his pager and then dragging in the tv, one like we had in high school, with the stand that had the wheels, and back in 2001, we still had vhf, so he turned the tv on and adjusted the rabbit ears, and tuned into good morning America, I remember seeing smoke billowing up outta the first tower that got struck and we were all standing around looking at the tv, talking about how this coulda happened.... Then we saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower... At that moment The feeling I had was mixed, I realized we were under attack.. I began to get concerned concidering we were about 2 miles AWAY from the President who was at Booker elementary..





So I go outside and see the President's motorcade drive by, it was eerie, I remember being under the flag post kinda waving/saluting, I will never forget seeing the SUV's in front and behind the President's Limo, with secret service hanging out the windows with rifles...

Then about an hour later we watched Air force one fly over head and I was relived to see he was leaving the city I was living in..

As far as work, it was like everything was on standstill for days every place I would go, people would just be watching tv, impossible to discuss business or anything... I also noticed allot of unmarked government cars and suv's after the attack for days, zooming around town...

I woke up, went to school, came home, had dinner, done my homework and went to bed. Didn't care then, and I still don't care now.

My story:

I had been away at college in Miramichi New Brunswick taking advanced 3d animation and multimedia design courses specializing in electronic learning. I met my future wife while I was there and we graduated in 2001. Opting to move to Fredericton instead of the city we were both from as we had been in contact with various IT companies and had various interviews lined up. It was a fast and dirty move and we took 1 of the 3 apartments available (late in the season, university town) and were still living somewhat out of boxes.

At that time my mother was living in New Jersey with my stepfather who worked in Manhattan as a chemical analyst for some pharmaceutical patent company, I'm not exactly sure of the nature as he's a dick and I never felt like getting to know him. Anyways, I won't tell you the exact area in New Jersey, but it was one of the townships that, in the evening after the attack, many, many, children came home to empty houses.

Anyways, on that morning my girlfriend waves me up out of a deep sleep telling me a plane had crashed in New York. I jump out of bed and go into the living room where the tv is, watching on old rabbit ears, I believe it was CTV but don't quote me, whoever it was kept running bits from ABC. I believe just as she was waking me up the second plane impacted, I didn't see it exactly live but they immediately ran the images again.

Now my girlfriend is filling me in, saying they think it was a small airplane that hit the WTC, but as they rerun the second impact I sat stunned, my gut sank, it was a commercial passenger jet. It didn't accidentally crash, you can see it turn and angle at the last second to ensure a direct strike.

My brain flew into overdrive and I got on the phone, calling my mom, calling my step dad, calling his parents, nothing, all the circuits were tied up I was met with nothing but beeps like a busy signal then a dead connection.

We sat there transfixed to the tv, like most people, and my mind was racing. It was a commercial jet, it had to be hijacked, the first plane must have been the same, where is the air force? where are the f16s? Then I believe they reported something on capitol hill, at first they said an explosion or smoke, but I believe it was merely an evacuation.

Once the pentagon was hit I assumed that every major city was a target. I honestly sat there all day waiting for more reports of hijacked planes. I honestly can't recall when I heard about the plane that crashed in Shanksville.

At some point we went down to our neighbors apartment to watch cnn as they had cable. It's a little blurry as there was a lot of anxiety and discussion as to what was happening. Eventually we watched the towers collapse and I believe I said something along the lines of "kiss the world you knew goodbye" not those words but that sentiment. I knew right there, no matter how bad this attack was, life for us was never going to be the same.

i'll admit right now that for weeks after that, even though I had doubts as to why the air-force didn't intercept those jets, i was fully on board, telling everyone that would listen that the time had come to just carpet bomb the entire middle east and be done with it. Eventually my stance changed, but that is not the point of this thread.

I haven't finished reading all of the stories in here but so far it's actually very enlightening. 911, regardless of your views and beliefs, IS the defining moment for an entire generation. WW1, WW2, Vietnam, Woodstock, generations before us had their defining moments, moments that changed the shape of history from that point on, quite possibly shifting our entire civilization.

911 is that for a lot of people around my age. Maybe now, almost 10 years on to the day, we can finally come to grips with it. Even just typing out what I did, leaving a lot out mind you, my heart is racing, I can feel the same anxiety, but much lower levels, as I did back then. I'm not sure if I will ever shake the feelings those events bring up inside me, but talking about it without all the baggage is surely a good step.

Thank you for sharing, thank you for listening, and most importantly, thank you for keeping this ON TOPIC

I was working as an IT Director at the time near RDU airport. I remember my boss, the CFO telling me in passing in the hallway that a plane had hit the WTC. My first thought was a Cessna had hit it. I went to CNN.com, but was having a hard time getting to the site. Our building had a shared conference room on the second floor. As I went outside to grab a smoke, someone said there was a TV in the conference room. A few of us went in to see what the deal was, and we all just kinda gasped as we realized this was not a Cessna, but a big jet that had hit the tower.

We watched this tiny TV screen as the events unfolded. I remember seeing the second plane, but didn't think much of it until it slammed into the second tower. You could hear a pin drop in the room. We stayed glued to the TV. I remember seeing bodies falling, the terror in peoples eyes who were fleeing on the ground. We watched as news of flight 93 and the pentagon began coming in. We couldn't help but feel that a new war had landed on our shores. We kept anticipating more attacks.

In the days that followed, it was eerie going outside to smoke. We were used to the airport traffic, and with the planes being grounded the air was quiet. No jets flying around, no airport traffic. Near our building was a small mall. I always ate at the food court. Most of the restaurants were owned by foreigners, and only the ones with Americans in them were getting any business. No one wanted to patronize the foreign owned businesses. It was definitely a strange time that I will never forget. The worst was that I had to drive to DC one week later for a conference. It was a little nerve wracking not knowing what to expect.

I remember it well because it was right about the time I was diagnosed with depression/anxiety disorder. I looked like an Aussie digger after leaving a concentration camp because of what it did to me. Skin and bones.

I was 17.

My Mum woke me up around 9 in the morning, and told me what happened. I'm pretty sure my initial reaction was something akin to "You're f@#kin' with me, right?"

But sure enough, there it was on the telly. And I remember this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
And a strong feeling of rage. Even though I'm not American, I felt the overwhelming desire for revenge.

As they replayed the plane crashing into the building, I just kept imagining the fear that the passengers would have been experiencing. And the horror of seeing people left with the option of burning to death, or plummeting to the ground. People jumping.

And I remember Bush getting something whispered to him from the secret serviceman, and he just stayed there, in that classroom.

That was the moment I felt that something was very wrong. But I didn't know what I know now, so I still wanted bloody retribution on Bin Laden and his cronies.

My father was into conspiracies, and showed me a video tape on certain ones years earlier,
but this was the event that began my descent into tin foil hat-ism.

My husband woke me up after the first tower was struck. The second tower was hit, and then, my phone rang. It was my son, fresh out of the Air Force. He asked :"mom, are you watching the tv?" "Yes, I am".....my son: "our country is under attack mom. I've just been put on high alert. I have to be ready to go at any moment, so I can't be on the phone, just to call you is all." My heart sunk and I felt physically ill. Seeing the horror on the tv and now my son may have to go to protect our country. But, after a few moments, the pride I felt toward him settled in, and I prepared myself that he may have to go.

Fortunately, he didn't have to go. But I will never forget the array of feelings and emotions of that day. My thoughts go out to all families who lost loved ones on that horrible day, and to those heroes who responded to this attack.

I remember sitting in Art Class my senior year, all of us going about our normal morning duties. We were getting our stuff ready to start a new project when the vice principle speaking through the intercom told us what had happened, and that it was going to change the way we live our lives. It still resonates with me, and every time I think about his speech, it brings back all the terrible memories of seeing the planes hit, and watching the towers fall. I remember trying to do anything I could from Ohio, because we couldn't leave school to head up there. I remember it was the first time I donated blood, it was set up to help the people who had survived.

My vice principle was right, nothing has ever been the same since, we still live our lives, but there is always the shadowy reminder that something bad could happen at any time.... Never once did I believe that the government set it up, nor will I ever.... Doing so is a complete dis-service to all of those who died, and also those who have lost loved ones.

I was off work that day because it was my twins 12th Birthday. I had gone to an early morning appointment and was on my way back home when the radio announcer said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center building. I was almost home. I got home and turned on the television to see the news and watched the second plane hit. Stunned, I called my husband who was at work in Alexandria ( very close to the Pentagon) and told home what had happened and the I was going to collect the children from school. He agreed that we should get them. On the way to the school I had to pass the main FAA building for the east cost. There were tanks and soldiers already securing the facility. This was very unsettling. When I arrived at the school, I said I want to take my children home. (I was the only parent in the office at the time) They office said to be calm and not make a scene. I told them to call my three children to the office for pickup or I would go get them! By the time the kids got to the office there were many parents arriving to collect their children. Many had family that worked at the FAA. They were saying that at plane was heading toward DC and another was heading our direction toward the FAA. We headed back home and heard that a plane had hit the Pentagon. My husband was now on his way home and everyone was scared and confused. I called my Mother as my Father would go to the Pentagon regularly. Thankfully, he was not there that day. We were thinking the 4th plane was targeting the FAA just a few miles from our home. That plane was the one that crashed in Shanksville, PA because of the brave souls aboard. We spent the day glued to the television in utter sadness. We found out later that two of my children's classmates lost their Father's in the plane that left from Dulles airport. The twins Birthday way was forever changed. Even years later it is hard to have any type of celebration on September 11th.

Bill, thanks for this thread. I remember that Tuesday very well.

I've been living in Prague (Czech Republic) for quite a few years. On that day I was in a cafe in Prague's downtown, meeting with a group of friends. They were all Czechs or of Czech origin but some of them had lived and worked in the US and were US citizens; in fact a married couple were from NYC and were just back in Prague on vacation. The lady got a call on her mobile phone and after a few moments the call ended and she told us that a passenger plane had hit one of the towers on the WTC and the building was on fire. A friend (in New York!) had called her to let her know.

I recall saying something like, "My God... There are thousands of people in those towers..."

We just sat there for a few moments and looked at each other. This was before the second plane hit and we all assumed it was nothing more than a tragic accident, but all the same we felt terrible.

There was no TV in the cafe, but we found out about the second plane shortly after it happened when the same lady got another phone call, from the same friend in NYC. This time, she went deathly pale and relayed the news to us while her friend was still on the line.

That was when we all realized that it was an attack. We were stunned. Not just because of the fact of it, but the nature of it.

Some of my other Czech friends there began calling people they knew in the US and when we got the news that one of the towers had collapsed, that's when the tears really started.

Now I'll jump forward a couple of days. In those days I was doing regular gigs as lead singer with a rock and blues band in Prague and that Thursday we had a show at a place called the Blues Sklep (Blues Cellar). There were quite a few tourists in the audience and some were Americans. You could see in their faces that even though most of them were probably here in Old Prague on vacation, their hearts were elsewhere. For some reason I decided to end the first set with T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday", a classic blues song that opens with the lines:

They call it Stormy Monday,
but Tuesday's just as bad;
Yeah they call it Stormy Monday,
but Tuesday's just as bad...
And Wednesday's worse
and Thursday's also sad...

Man, some people started crying and I nearly lost it myself right there and then. It suddenly hit me: especially for those in the audience who whose hearts and souls were back there in the US, every day away was worse... and also sad.

In the break I went and sat at a table and chatted with some of the people there. I often did; it was just my way, to talk to the audience.

I shared a lot of hugs that night.

And yeah, some tears, too.

Mike

To be honest what I remember most about that day was the lack of planes in the sky. How that made me feel. I remember the broadcasts, but right away there were inconsistencies. I remember everyone being so confused and afraid. I was afraid people were so easy to scare in mass. I remember talking to people to get their feelings about it.

I was working on delivery with a truck full of meat in up state NY , when I heard the girl on the radio saying some smoke is coming out of the tower , then some min. later she said a ‘’small airplane’’ hit the other tower , then little more ahead I heard ‘’ the tower is coming down ‘’ , I thought it was a joke , I tried other radios and they were saying the same . I told the guys of the diner - were I was working - and they did’t believe me .

I remember that day like it was yesterday. Nothing out of the normal. Had a good nights sleep, a good breakfast and a good before school spiff with some friends of mine. First block had just ended and second block bell rang in five minutes. I like always failed to do my homework the night before and scrammbled to write the poem I should have written the night before. I scrammbled to the computer and wrote one. I was in the process of printing it out, when out of no where, the intercom blares for no apparent reason. My immediate reaction was oh #. Somethin done happened for the principle to get on the intercom. Little did I know at the time that this single moment in time, that one second that those four planes that just this one day would dominate the history books, start an unwinnable war, and leave a country and the world in shock and gripped by fear. Those planes hitting the world trade centers "and pentagon" lol and the "flight 93 crash" resignated in my mind like nothing before it. In the years after that fatefull day of 9/11, I have learnt things about the world that you cant learn with history books, a college degree or a high IQ or GPA. I learned that the world is not what I grew up believing it was. That there are sinister people in the world and they will do anything to get their way or make a point.

I am a 9/11 thruther. But not bcause of the inconsistancys of the events, but of the governments countless contradictions and lies about the day. I just want to know the truth. But getting the truth is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. It aint gonna happen.

(From Australia) I was around seventeen at the time and a chronic wagger (school skipper) when I awoke on the 12th the attacks were aired on every TV channel, I decided that it was a good excuse for a ‘sickie’. So naturally I stayed home watching TV. I have to admit it was pretty affecting; watching people fall from the buildings and seeing the buildings plume down like they did. At the end of the day I believed everything the TV said, the terrorists were responsible and all Muslims should die.

The next day I went to school and there was students crying, the teachers had set up counseling services and allowed students leave class if they felt distressed.

It was not until later when I looked more into 9/11, that I started to feel that I had been duped and my views towards Muslims became more sympathetic. I was one in the number that voted that 9/11 introduced them to conspiracy theory in the survey.

I was driving a big rig in West Virginia on my way back from Baltimore when someone on the CB said to turn on the radio and listen to the news. The first tower had just been hit. As I drove I listened to the announcers trying to make sense of it, was it an accident, or something more. Then came the deadpan announcements that the second tower was hit by another plane as the announcers were stunned and weren't sure what emotion was appropriate. By the time that the pentagon was hit they were now sure that it a terror attack.

I couldn't wait to get to a truck stop I knew was ahead to see this on tv for myself. I pulled in and sure enough both tvs had the news on. A group of men below the large screen were arguing back and forth so loud about what had happened that I couldn't hear the broadcast. I watched a small tv by the counter where it was quieter. I was struck with how the waitresses continued about their business in the midst of everything; serving coffees; delivering plates of breakfast.

I got back on the road and tried desperately to keep up with the news, but coverage was spotty. I was absolutely amazed and aggravated over the fact that for large chunks of the rest of the day I couldn't get any news at all as stations played their pre-programmed material, country music blaring station after station. I couldn't believe that while the world was collapsing around us, the MSM was unable, or unwilling to report on it.

In the weeks that followed it was almost unbearable to listen to the radio while traveling the back roads of New York state or Pennsylvania as on talk show after another caller after caller had nothing to say other than "nuke them all" "f the rag-heads" and on and on.

The world had changed. The "terrorists" had won. They had destroyed the American spirit and unleashed a horrible evil unto the world. By terrorists, I don't mean Bin Laden, but I will leave it at that.

On 9/11/2001 I was 27 years old and my son was 2 going on three. I was supposed to be starting some college courses that evening. I was watching PBS with my son and about to go make breakfast when my mom called and told me a plane had crashed into one of the towers so I changed the channel to ABC and said wow and that I'd call her back after breakfast, we hung up. All I heard was the anchor (I don't even remember who it was) saying they didn't know how this happened when the second plane hit. I thought it was on replay til I realized smoke was coming from the other tower as well. I don't think I coherently heard anything that was being said at that point.

That to me was the first moment of terror. I picked my boy up and just held him and called my mom back, I remember explaining that it was two planes and both towers. Then I started listening again but it's all a bit jumbled, so I don't remember the order of information. I remember hearing Logan Airport being mentioned, living in boston I totally panicked thinking something would happen in Boston. I remember them cutting to DC but I didn't hear why but I was seeing smoke. I remember feeling the most frightened when they said it was the Pentagon and there were still planes unnacounted for. I think at that point I was complete jelly, I was expecting planes to be crashing all over the place, I raced around getting me and my son dressed, I tried to call my brother who was working downtown and couldn't get through. I didn't want to be in my second floor apartment. I was on my way to my moms when the last plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

I didn't lose a loved one that day, I pray still for those that did, I pray for the innocent killed to this day because of what happened that day and to this day remembering it can make me cry. The whole world changed that day, I remember the outpouring from so many other countries. I remember watching people jump from heights they couldn't survive. I remember watching the towers fall. I remember my heart breaking from the personal stories and I remember the silent skies. I remember that at least for a while strangers looked eachother in the eye and smiled and how sad it was that it took such a tragedy and how quickly we lost that again.

I just keep thinking about all the documentaries and TV shows that are going to be showing footage of that day. I always watch them... Not sure why. They make me cry.

That is a day in which I will never fully heal...

The best I can do is go about my everyday life and not give into fear, like they want ( Who ever they are)