What's your 9/11 story?

[QOTFU]

I was sitting at my computer doing paperwork when my sister called and asked if I saw on the news that a plane had hit one of the twin towers. I replied that I hadn't. Actually, when she said it I was thinking she meant something like a single prop Cessna. A few minutes later she called my again. I could hear the distress in her voice so I reached over and turned the TV on. I was watching before the 2nd jet hit. I ran over to my next door neighbor's. She answered smiling (so I know she didn't know) and her little daughter was watching Tele-tubbies. I told her to put the news on...she said "what channel"...I said "any channel" ... moments later the 2nd tower was hit. We stood there in disbelief. Roger had just landed in Korea. I couldn't get an international line to call him. I was sending him on text and email after another. It was paralyzing.......... I've never felt so alone.

[Jack]

I was  a couple blocks from work heading in when I heard the news on the radio.  I got to work and told my co-workers who had not heard.  We listened to the news all day with updates from a guy who was off work and watching tv.  Hardly anything was done at work that day.

[Cliff]

I was in there, (had been there a week on work assignment) up close and personal that morning watched as the planes hit.. The sights and smells of that day will NEVER be forgotten. I was giving live reports to WZID (hometown radio station) via cell phone when asked to volunteer to assist with the search for survivors,  ... a day I can never forget even if I wanted to. Finally came back home to NH on 9/13/01 after 2 days which seemed like weeks.  Didn't sleep well for months.

[fudgie]

Was working construction doing a whole house remodel and the owner had the TV on. We didn't get much work done that day. I just so happened to need gas on my way home and the pumps were full! Took like a 1/2 hour to get any.

[RedValk]

was on the base at work. We got locked down....security out the wazoo....rumors of being a target...etc. For weeks afterward, it took up to two hours to get thru the gate EVERY morning to get to work...with the heightened security that followed.

half of our office deployed to various locations to work comm issues the weeks that followed the attack. i remember hearing someone say that morning at work, hey....looks like a plane hit the World Trade Center. On the base, we all immediately thought "Terrorist attack...no accident.....".  We were watching CNN (like just about everyone else!)....when the second plane hit. we weren't that surprised....it just confirmed what we had already suspected. And we knew our workload was about to go thru the ceiling........  We saw it as an attack....we were at WAR!

i also remember all the rumors...rumors of other planes...other targets...rumors of planes being shot down...etc. The stuff that happens often "in the haze and confusion of War"............

What really irks me NOW..........is these programs i see with the so called "Truth Movement"...claiming the whole thing was OUR GOVERNMENT ....deliberately doing it......etc. At first i just have to shake my head with disbelief at the stupidity of their claims. Then, after i get past the disbelief of their stupidity ........then the anger sets in...at the audacity that MORONS like that can make such ridiculous....and painful....claims. But then, MORONS think we didn't go to the Moon, that Pearl Harbor was our Govenment/ an inside job, etc. What's scary..............is..................those people, walk amongst us............

Sorry...............9/11....may we NEVER forget.

[TX Wolfman]

I was at work when an employee that was off that day called and said the tower had been hit and we didn't believe him until we turned on the news and saw the smoke and then the second tower got hit. We just stood in awe at how long the towers stood with smoke boiling out of them before they finally came down. We didn't work on many cars that day everyone stood around in disbelief.

[Bob E.]

I was at work...like most any other day.  For some reason, my usual radio station wasn't coming in.  So I had changed over to another and was listening to Howard Stern broadcasting from NYC just down the street from the Twin Towers.  And it was crazy just how serious his show turned, especially after the 2nd plane hit.  Like many others, we just didn't get much done after that.

[franco6]

that morning i got up and turned the tv on in the den.just glancing briefly at the picts going on to get a cup of joe. the sound was not the usual ,it sounded live .I thought ,crap another disaster movie on tv.moments later i looked again to see a plane flying at a strange angle next to a sky scraper ,desapearing ,and a ball of fire coming through the building .
at that instant i realised our lives would never be the same again . that  morning , :evil:shook our world.

[Cliff]

that morning i got up and turned the tv on in the den.just glancing briefly at the picts going on to get a cup of joe. the sound was not the usual ,it sounded live .I thought ,crap another disaster movie on tv.moments later i looked again to see a plane flying at a strange angle next to a sky scraper ,desapearing ,and a ball of fire coming through the building .
at that instant i realised our lives would never be the same again . that  morning , :evil:shook our world.

I'd love to reach out and choke that evil till it's gone, but I 'd like to win the lottery also and neither seems within my grasp.

[JimL]

This is an event that I suspect everyone on this board remembers.  You know what you were doing before the news, what you were doing while you realized what happened, and the thoughts and concern for family over the next couple of days.  I was still with IBM at the time (like many IBM'ers I had flown out of a couple of the airports the terrorists used that day), but luckily I was working from home that week (I had been commuting back and forth to San Francisco during this time).  I had just dialed into a conference call to have a meeting with some other IBM folks and our client.  I was on my cordless phone looking out at my backyard and dreading having to spread the dirt and re-sod my backyard (which I was going to start after the call).  Below is a photo taken 3 days later on 9-14-2001 when a Tropical Storm came through with 50 mph winds, as you can see I did not get around to doing the re-sodding.



Anyway, a few of us started getting aggravated that we were having to wait on others to join the call.  Finally one of the folks on the call said something about an airplane hitting one of the twin towers.  We waited a few more minutes for everyone to join the call, and during that time someone got a phone call explaining what was going on.  The call was cancelled and I sat glued to CNN/Fox for the remainder of the day and the next couple of days.  Funny how quickly many forgot what happened that day and who the enemy really is....

Here is the infamous moment captured on video for those who need a reminder

WTC World Trade Center Crash	powered by Aeva

[MAD6Gun]

Like most people I was at work when the boss came out and told us a plane at hit one of the towers. We proceded to turn on a TV one if the guys had in work area. We were wondering how can a plane hit such a big building when the second plane hit. We all realized that this was deliberate. We went back to work going back to the TV when we got another car done to see what was happening. One of the guys yelled across the shop when the first building fell. We watched in disbeleve as the towers fell. when I got home I watched TV the rest of the night.......

[bsnicely]

I was working, doing a DOT escort of a super load out thru the countryside, I was listening to the radio when it all broke loose. I listened to the entire thing but had to wait hours to return and see the video.

[valkmc]

I was at Hostage negotiator school for the Fl dept of Corrections. We were doing mock drills on hostage situations. It was a month long school so the instructors stopped class and we watched news coverage for part of the day. Along with everyone else it made us sick.

[Serk]

I was riding my Valk to work... Had an AM radio clipped to my tank bib to listed to a local news radio station to get traffic reports, when the reports started coming in...

Stuck in stop and go traffic listening to what was happening...

I started yelling at the people next to me to put their radio's on a NEWS station we were UNDER ATTACK...

At first they thought I was some crazy biker guy, but they started turning their radios on, and I watched the color drain from one driver's face after another...

And like most others, not much work was done that day... We were all just stunned, trying to get any news we could from news sites, huddled together in conference rooms watching TV news, trying to sort truth from rumor...

[LandElephant]

I was at work in Bakerfield California at a large construction site.  I had noticed the most awesome sunrise coming over the east and decided to take some pictures with my digital camera.  About three hours later one of my co-workers told me about the incident and the first thing I said was "You got to be S__TTing me".  I then remembered the photos and although I can't show them, they depicted a firey sunny shining behind the mountains.  I view them often to continue to remind me of how fragile our security is.

Charlie
Land Elephant

[ChromeDome]

I was at work when one of the consultants came up and said that his wife called and a plane just hit The World Trade Center. I asked if it was a private plane he responded that his wife didn't say and he would check. In the meantime I brought up the CNN web site and saw that it was a commercial jet ... and just knew something wasn't right .... that this wasn't an accident. When the second jet hit I knew we were under attack. I imediately called my gf, she worked for Goldman Sachs at the time here in Chicago and her office was in the Sears Tower, but there was no answer. Tried her cell phone and no sooner had I asked if she heard then she said she had and that they evacuated the tower. Here at the office they had a main feed to CNN so everyone was watching and when the 1st tower went down we were all stunned. I will never get the image of people jumping from the building out of my head. Later that night as we watched the news, my gf  was trying to contact her friends and associates in NY. She once lived near the WTC and one of her friends worked out of an office in the WTC (they were finally able to connect). Another friend had an apartment near ground zero and when they were allowed back in, some 6 months later, they just packed everything up and moved.

[BigMac NJ]

I was on a high speed ferry coming in from New Jersey to downtown Manhattan when the captain came on the speakers and told
everyone to be careful as there was a heck of a fire going on somewhere downtown..I thought it odd that I was seeing papers float
into the river..lots  of office papers! The boat continued on up the east river and passed the Brooklyn Bridge..Next stop was the 34 St.
Up until this point I resisted looking at was going on..The remaining people on the boat were crying and sobbing..I finally got up and proceeded
to the left(port) side of the boat to see what was going on....What I saw will stay with me always....I realized that I was seeing what looked like
sacks of mail being thrown out of the upper floors were actually people jumping...I didn't want to see anymore of that so I just sat down.

I had sat down just moments before the second plane hit..we pulled into 34st street and that's when I realized we were under attack.I should
have just stayed on the boat and returned to New Jersey..I got to work (consultant for Verizon) and watched the towers fall.

I left for home around 1P.M. to get in line and try and get out of Manhattan. The ferries now had 2 policemen and an EMT on everyboat.
Reached the Highlands N.J. and had to show ID getting off the boat..I had had to get a lower half hose down by the Highlands Fire Department.
 
All this was a flash back to February 26, 1993 when I was working for a communication equipment company and found myself
on the 104th floor of The North tower of the World Trade Center..We had felt the blast that high up !... the building did shake..Fire Alarms
went off,we smelled smoke.. and the next 2 1/2 hours were spent trying to get out of the building...Lots of smoke in the stairwells
and then a loss of power plunged us into darkness somewhere on the 66 floor.Thankfully cell phones were starting to catch on . The screens
then gave us enough light and calmed the more anxious ones amongst us..Most of us weren't sure if we'd get out because of the smoke..
upon reaching the 35th floor cheering and applause went up from below ....... 3 firemen were walking up..fully loaded with gear.. I knew then
if they could do that I certainly could walk down 35 flights... I did have my first of 3 knee operations 10 days later 


 
   

[Joe Hummer]

I was in Montreal during the week of 9/11.  They interrupted the class to tell us about the plane crashes and then set up a TV for us to watch the footage.  That day was pretty much a waste (as far as the training goes).  Come Friday when we were supposed to fly home, our flight was grounded with no hope of leaving anytime soon.  So, we (there were 4 of us) got a small rental car and drove half the day and night until we got to Cincinnati (around midnight), where we were able to get a flight out the next morning (the red eye).  The border crossing was pretty interesting...they searched the car and luggage and asked TONS of questions...before finally letting us go through. 

I was never so happy to sit on a plane in my life!!! 

Bless every last person that either lost their lives or had their lives impacted by this tragic event.  I am wearing an American Flag lapel pin today to remember. 

Joe

[sugarbee]

reading everyone's story makes me realize that we all shared that day and often don't realize it, everybody that day, stood there, shocked, unable to move, unable to think of anything else, images of the towers on fire, the people trapped, the one's who leaped,,,it will be in my mind forever

I was at work, no internet, no tv, no radio, Beekeeper would call me with updates, we were all stunned, nobody was able to do any work that day.

[Rowdy]

  Me and Jan where on one of our motorcycle rides down in West Va that week. We where watching the weather station in the morning to see what the day had to offer, when they broke in with the news. Showing the 1 tower on fire and to our disblief a second plane hit the other tower    We could not believe what we where seeing    - then we where glued to the TV - then they collapsed - unbelievable 

We finally continued with our ride, however our heart was not in it  , every place we stoped for food or fuel the locals would keep us updated on current events - we finally stopped for the day - did not make many miles.  Next day we stoped at a Wal-Mart and I purchased a flag for the bike, been flying ever since.

Just got back today from escorting a piece of the tower that is being placed in a park in Westerville, Ohio.   

[thumper]

I was on a scuba diving trip on a live aboard boat some 30+ hours off the coast of Costa Rica at Cocos Island.  We had just done our first morning dive and had sat down for lunch when the ship's captain told us that the World Trade Towers had been hit by airplanes and both buildings had come down.  We were isolated out in the middle of nowhere so I was skepticle of the quality of his information.  Later that afternoon I got up with another diver who had a satellite phone who told me what had happened.

There was no TV, newspapers, or available radio where we were.  We went on with the diving but events at home were on everyone's mind.  Thursday night the captain invited us up into the wheelhouse to listen to the BBC and Voice of America broadcasts.  It reminded me of film I had seen of British people huddled in the subways listening to the BBC during the bombing of London.

It wasn't until I got back on land and found some tourists that had a Newsweek that I saw pictures and could fully take in the magnitude of what had happened.

I will never forget!

[solo1]

I was a councilman in New Haven, In. and was in the police dispatcher's communication center.  Two big TVs had the live pictures.  All of us watched the second plane hit and knew it was an attack on us.  We watched the towers collapse.  I was so numbed I don't remember if the incoming calls to the center increased or not. All I can remember is the complete quiet in a normally busy place.

[Stanley Steamer]

I had just dumped a load of mulch from one of our dumptrucks when I heard about it on the radio...all three of the Buildings crews were mulching all the newly planted beds at our HR office.....I told the other guys what was happening, but didn't get to watch tv coverage of it until I got home....we continued working that day, but our minds were on what was happening in NY and Wash......shortly thereafter, US Flags were put up at a lot of homes that had not had them before....and our County had a patriotic flag banner designed that I and a coworker installed on 3 of our Main streets in town...those banners stayed up for 3 years before we had to pull them down due to the weather fading them out too badly.....it was a sad day in Athens....those events seemed to bring all different types of folks "together" after those attacks...

[Oss]

I was picking up my 750 from its 1st service at Hudson Valley MC shop Bonnie had driven me and told me something bad was going on in NYC at the Towers

We got home turned on the tv when the 2nd one got hit. As I drove to work in the Bronx I was passed by many vehicles, mostly volunteer firemen and ems doing triple digits trying to get the 50 miles to the site.  I am relieved  to know that most could not get there due to the distance before the towers collapsed and would have killed them as it doomed their brother firemen police and emt's

One of our friends ran all the way from 7WTC to the George Washington Bridge and he was a grey white. I mean clothes and everything when he got home.   Lost a nice young client in the Tower  that day who had just bought her coop and moved in she was 29 and everyone around here seems to know either family or friend who died that day.

My whole family had been at the restaurant a few weeks earlier on the top floor and I had several cases against NYS which were tried on the 86th floor.  That was a really amazing set of towers, they would sway in the wind. Smokinjoe you wouldnt have like it it felt kinda like flying when you were above the cloud line.

The sticker on my windshield many of you have noticed came from the 1st ground zero ride for the families of those who responded, the firemen and police who died running INTO those towers when so many tried to escape.  

I have great anger against those responsible and some against the port authority who told people not to leave the 2 towers before the 2nd plane hit.  Now I dont hold em responsible for the towers going down but especially after 1993,  If that 2nd tower was evacuated right away half of the dead would be alive today.   If you are ever somewhere and an alarm goes off LEAVE   JUST LEAVE   GET YOUR FAMILY and LEAVE


BIGMACNJ sorry you saw what you did. Those images of people jumping to escape the thousand degree heat will be with me the rest of my life also.

As I light Sabbath candles with my wife tonight we pray for those who lost  their lives and for the lives of our servicemen and women
who are trying to protect All of us from those who would do us harm.   We are one family USA, maybe disfunctional but still one family and I would have no other

YMMV

OSS

[Karen]

I was getting ready for work, it came on the news, and I thought it was a terrible accident until the second plane hit and I knew it was an attack. I sat and watched the coverage in disbelief and finally rode into work sometime in the afternoon. No one was working. I found out that afternoon that one of the executives I knew was on one of the planes that hit the towers. Two days later I was stunned to hear that an engineer was also on the plane. I remember thinking, as I used an ATM, "Yes they hit us, yes they hurt us, but we're not going to come to an end just yet". There was no reason for this attack other than people wanting to kill us because we don't believe what they do. MacArthur had it right in the (I believe) Philippines or Indonesia when he had Muslims buried with pig blood. Seems like this has been going on for centuries. I can only imagine how much those who lost their loved ones on 9-11 miss them every day. I  have the honor and privilege of playing Taps for both the 9-11 and Veteran's Day ceremonies at work, something I've been doing since the '60's when I  played funeral details in northern Alabama and Mississippi for the ones who didn't come back alive from  Viet Nam, and am saddened by how our returning service men & women were treated back then, and heartened by the way this generation of troops has been supported. I'm still angry over the senseless loss of so many. The radical Islam culture won't stop until they wipe us off the face of the earth, there is no reasoning with that mindset, and no amount of making nice will change their opinion of us. I fear our troops are spread too thin, and our government is unrealistic on this issue. I pray another attack does not come.

[Hoser]

This is hard.  I was in my office at the fire station doing paperwork when the Engine company Captain came in and told me.  I went to the dayroom where the other firefighters were gathered, and we sat around discussing how the NYPD was probably making thier fire attack, attempting rescues, how many companies were there, generally trying to relate to the massive problem they had to deal with.  Discussing how many would be saved as they made entrys, how many and how long it would take to extinguish the massive fire.

And then the buildings came down.  Dead silence in the dayroom.  Shock, some of the men sat down, some left the room.  I went outside.  It was hard to comprehend what had just happened in far away NYC. We all knew at the moment the buildings came down, they  were all lost, whatever number of police, fire, or civillians  still in the buildings were all dead.  As the day drug on and the terrible truth became known, we realized that the toll in firefighters lost were larger than the whole department total in our city.

We finished the shift, doing what we do, and what I had done for thirty three years.  But firefighters really do consider other firefighters as brothers and sisters, and the losses will always haunt us  until it fades away when we meet our final reward.  Hoser

[f6gal]

I was working nights back then, so I was sleeping.  I had barely fallen asleep when Psycho woke me up saying, "All hell's breaking loose."
To which I replied, "Why the F*%# are you waking me up?"  I'm not a very good sleeper, so sleep is precious... especially when I work nights.
Obviously, sleep was out for the rest of the day, so we sat and watched as horrific event after horrific event unfolded.  It was all so surreal.

At work that night (yeah, I still had to go, sans sleep), ppl couldn't stay away from the TVs, watching the relentless replays in stunned disbelief.

However, in the following days, I remember the pride of being American as an amazing display of patriotism swept the country.  

[HayHauler]

My mother-in-law passed away on 9/10/2001.  On 9/11/2001, we were getting dressed to go to the funeral home to finalize the funeral arrangements when I heard on the radio in the bathroom that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York City.  We rushed into the living room, turned on the television, and witnessed the second plane hitting the second tower.  Like many of you, I will not forget seeing those people jumping out of windows to escape the burning building.  I will also not forget watching those 2 buildings fall, almost straight down, and land in a huge pile of rubble.  The dust cloud could be seen for miles! 

From that day forward, I have worn a flag pin of some sort every day of my life.  It is the very least I can do to show my support for this great country.  Several years ago, I lost the flag pin in the waters of Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, TX.  The next day, I bought another flag pin, this time in the shape of a cross with the Stars and Stripes embossed on the top.  If I wear a shirt with a collar, it goes on the left lapel, if no colar, I wear it on my ball cap, but I wear it every day.

This war hit close to home on September 14, 2006.  This man was a friend of my son and lived around the corner from us for many years, they are the same age.  We watched him grow up and ultimately give his life for what he believed in. 

"All Gave Some, Some Gave All"

http://www.iraqwarheroes.org/millerra.htm

The PGR did us proud on Saturday, September 23, 2006.
http://www.patriotguard.org/ALLForums/tabid/61/forumid/29/tpage/1/view/Topic/postid/225852/Default.aspx

09/11/2001  We Will NEVER Forget!

Hay
Jimmyt

[sheets]

Was on the road headed to work.  The 6:00 A.M. (Pacific time) news on the radio indicated A "small" plane had hit one of the towers. About ten minutes later, I was at the office when a coworker on a slightly different shift called to tell me a plane had hit the tower.  I told him I had heard about one already.  He told me this was a second one.  My heart sank.  I walked into the crew room and told them what had happened. Someone dug out an old 12 inch B/W TV that had been picked up along the road (we are a road crew).  We plugged it in, tuned into the late breaking news.  Watched for an hour or so, then  told them to hit the road (go to work).  About an hour later got a call from HQ stating that the (State) Governor recalled all workers to return to their base . . . thinking it was war.
A radio call to the troops had them return to the yard.  We hovered around the yard all day waiting for further direction . . . watching the little 12 inch B/W TV in the shop, or listening to a battery powered AM radio for the minute-by-minute description of what was happening.  Was not a joyous time.  Four days later wifeunit and I departed for a 10 day road trip on the bike.  I contemplated canceling the trip because my heart wasn't in it.  I stated my feelings on the VRCC site at the time.  A consensus from the VRCC at the time said go on the trip.  If we stayed home, the terrorist had won.  I took that to heart.  We left on the 15th for a ten day ride . . . with our flag proudly flying from the driveway at hour house.  Took lots of photos with American flags everywhere.  I proudly flew our flag from the bike for the duration.  We got lots of waves and horn honking during our travels.   We will never forget.   sheets.    

[hubcapsc]

:'( Me and Jan where on one of our motorcycle rides down in West Va that week. We where watching the weather station in the morning to see what the day had to offer, when they broke in with the news. Showing the 1 tower on fire and to our disblief a second plane hit the other tower    We could not believe what we where seeing    - then we where glued to the TV - then they collapsed - unbelievable 

We finally continued with our ride, however our heart was not in it  , every place we stoped for food or fuel the locals would keep us updated on current events - we finally stopped for the day - did not make many miles.  Next day we stoped at a Wal-Mart and I purchased a flag for the bike, been flying ever since.

Just got back today from escorting a piece of the tower that is being placed in a park in Westerville, Ohio.   

9/11 is my Birthday. I was at work, got wind of what was going on, went and turned on a tv
next to one of the conference rooms, was watching when the second plane hit. Was numb for
several days... Changed my home page on my web site to God Bless America and the flag... added
the British flag a few years later when they were hit (the subways)... it has been that way ever since.
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~hubcap

[Grumpy]

While sleeping, was working nights my wife called and told me to turn on the tv, watched the second crash as it happened. Could not believe what was happening.
What was really strange, I work at Tampa International Airport, went to work that afternoon, and will remember it as long as I live, it was like going into a ghost town,
planes parked every where, even on 1 runway. Nothing moving, really strange to witness it. I consider my self to be a tough old guy, but shed quite a few tears that day.

[HayHauler]

:'( Me and Jan where on one of our motorcycle rides down in West Va that week. We where watching the weather station in the morning to see what the day had to offer, when they broke in with the news. Showing the 1 tower on fire and to our disblief a second plane hit the other tower    We could not believe what we where seeing    - then we where glued to the TV - then they collapsed - unbelievable 

We finally continued with our ride, however our heart was not in it  , every place we stoped for food or fuel the locals would keep us updated on current events - we finally stopped for the day - did not make many miles.  Next day we stoped at a Wal-Mart and I purchased a flag for the bike, been flying ever since.

Just got back today from escorting a piece of the tower that is being placed in a park in Westerville, Ohio.   

9/11 is my Birthday. I was at work, got wind of what was going on, went and turned on a tv
next to one of the conference rooms, was watching when the second plane hit. Was numb for
several days... Changed my home page on my web site to God Bless America and the flag... added
the British flag a few years later when they were hit (the subways)... it has been that way ever since.
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~hubcap

Happy Birthday hubcapsc!  We shall overcome!

I hope you had a good one.  Truely sorry this happened on your birthday. 
Hay 
Jimmyt

[Duct Tape]

I had been in Seoul Korea for several hours.  Flew out of Houston the morning of 9/10/01.  Arrived at my hotel in Seoul about 18 hours later. Grabbed some dinner and settled in to relax for the evening (9/11/01 evening Korea time).  Maris had been trying to reach me, but the phone systems were overloaded. I finally checked my email and she had asked me if I had heard about NYC. I assumed it was something about a fire in Newark Airport that I had seen on the news when I routed through San Francisco. We finally connected via AOL chat, and she told me what was going on.  Immediately after telling me a plane hit WTC, I said it has to be a terrorist, no pilot would let it hit the building.  He'd ditch in the river.  I turned on the hotel TV to the armed forces network. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. We watched and chatted when the second plane hit the other tower.  Seemed like a bad movie. A code delta alert was going out to all military personnel in Korea across the bottom of the TV screen.  I was sitting 30 minutes from the DMZ and it seemed all hell was breaking loose.  We chat...ted and watched the TV coverage most of the night. We watched the towers fall.  All US air travel was stopped. My boss was leaving Houston and got grounded in Denver.  Maris and I began making plans as to how I would get home...fly to Mexico City and find someway to the border, where she would drive down and get me. My company was trying to reach me to confirm my status. We had several people in the NYC/New Jersey area refineries.  I could see the rest of the world watching intently and with amazement. I scanned the many international networks on the hotel TV and all were focused on it. All were shocked, but for the most part business as usual continued.  Chaos everywhere, but my work continued the next day. We chatted most of the night unitl I had to head to the airport that next morning. I had to fly in Korea from Kimpo to Ulsan.  The airports were tense. I completed my trip -- ten days in Korea and Taiwan. Air travel in the US opened before I had to return. Increased security was implemented at Inchon airport by the time I was departing Korea. Every bag inspected by hand, anything potentially sharp confiscated. But, past security in the duty free shops one could buy all the Swiss Army knives one wanted -- surreal.   Several days later leaving Taipei for home it was much the same -- still big holes in the security, and  so much focus on meaningless little things. I was alert and suspicous of everyone else on the flight. Especially those that didn't seem to fit traveling from Taiwan to the US.  Don't forget 9/11.

[Duct Tape]

...but for the most part business as usual continued.  Chaos everywhere, but my work continued the next day. We chatted most of the night unitl I had to head to the airport that next morning. I had to fly in Korea from Kimpo to Ulsan...

When I got to my hotel in Ulsan after work that evening I got a line through to Maris.  She told me that Alex had come home from Kindergarten with a note about "trauma counselors" scheduled to be at the school for the next several days.  He had brought home a picture he drew (as "art therapy") that day.  It was a picture of our house with a plane crashing into it.  He asked Maris if he could have my cool stuff.  Puzzled she asked why...he said "because dad is dead.  He was in a plane and the planes crashed."  We decided the kids didn't need to go to school for the next few days.  She took them to the zoo.  But, I thought it was neat that Alex thought I had "cool stuff."

[badger1002]

As I told you in another thread, I was/am a Customs Officer, then assigned to Boston/Logan Airport that morning. I was conducting cargo inspections with a young National Guardsman when we heard on the radio that a plane had gone into one of the towers, no further information available.  I turned to the Guardsman and told him that if it was a small plane, it was an accident. If it was a large plane, it was Bin Laden.  He he asked me how could I say that with so little information?  I said there had been several small planes that have flown into sky scrapers in the past, most have been accidents. I said Bin Laden is the only person with the wherwithal to have done it on purpose with a big passenger plane.  That afternoon I was standing on the runway, not a vehicle moving on the flightline, listening to the vehicles on Rt 1A half a mile away. My boss was shaking so much she couldn't light a cigarette! The thing that rattled us was that two of the flights took off from Logan and we knew some of the flight crew.  Within 4 hours we had identified 95% of the hijackers and how they had entered the US, before the FBI or any of the other alphabet agencies! My job has changed DRAMATICALLY since then, to say the least. Now anti-terrorism is out prime job, drugs are a very distant second interest.

[SlowRoad]

  I am a little late to the game here, but I remember it well. 9/11 is also my birthday. I had just worked off a 7 night 15 hr per night shift that morning. I was working 7 on and 7 off at the time and at the end of the 7 on I was exhausted. I was sound asleep when my wife came in and woke me to say that a plane had hit the WTC. I was so sound asleep that I barely remember her coming in. All I could think is that is terrible, I am going back to sleep. She turned on the tv in the bedroom and continued to watch as I drifted back to sleep. Not sure I ever completely woke up. Just as I had faded back out, she grabbed my shoulder and said "wake up!! another plane just hit the other tower!!"  I woke up, still groggy from deep sleep and started watching the news. I will never forget that birthday. We had plans for later in the day after I slept, but sleep was over for the day. It was almost like a bad dream for a couple hours till I finally was awake enough for it to all sink in. Of course the birthday plans changed drastically as we went to our Church that evening for a prayer vigil for our country's leadership to have the wisdom as to how to handle the situation as well as comfort for the families of those who had died and those who had been injured in the attack.  

  We should never forget what happened that day. It changed the way I felt about our country forever. I have always loved this country, but my level of Patriotism increased greatly after that day. I still don't do as much as I should in support, but I try to take every chance that I can to show support for our Troops who are still doing their job to try and prevent this from ever happening again.

[houstone]

Mine's a little different, but mostly the same.  Confusion, slow realization of the truth, anger, sadness, grief, more confusion, LOTS more anger....
Just to make sure I don't lose track, I wear red, white and blue (usually flags now) every Tuesday, 'cause that's what day it was.  I try to tell people that it was Tuesday every week, so they don't forget, either.

http://www.gunstuff.com/america-attacked.html

Those evil people proved that their lives aren't important to them, and that makes them different than Americans, who declared the first of their unalienable RIGHTS was LIFE!  To have people who don't hold that view rob our citizens of theirs is an act of war, in my opinion.
Wars are won by utterly defeating the enemy, whoever and wherever they may be, preferably not here.

That day the rules changed.  When the brave Americans on Hero Flight 93 realized that, they took action, and made all the difference.  They weren't military, they were just regular folks who said OK, this is what we have to do.  They gave their ordinary lives for their ordinary countrymen.  Now we've asked our volunteer military to do what they signed up for, and they are quietly, bravely doing it.  We owe them every mile we ride.

Don't get me started....
Jeff

[RP#62]

Same here - late to the game.  I remember it well.  I was in our morning meeting.  This is where we go over the previous days maintenance delays and cancellations make sure that each station is set up for the scheduled work for the coming day.  Just as the meeting was ending, the Ops Control Center broke in and reported that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center.  They were thinking it must have been a small plane.  All of ours were accounted for and everyone's thinking there's no way an airliner could accidently run into a building in the city.  As I got back to my office, my wife called  and as she was telling me what was all over the TV, the second plane hit.  
I had a window office at the time and our building was just off center of the approach path to one of the active runways.  When the wind was right, I would see airplanes on approach for landing, one after the other all day long (we were about 3 miles from the airport).    I remember seeing planes landing all day that day and none taking off.  While I was staring out the window, I remember seeing a 757 flying just north of the field and thinking that was odd as it was flying opposite all the other traffic.  I found out later that that was flight 93 and I was seeing it about 10 minutes before it went down.  
-RP

[QOTFU]

Another 9/11 has come and gone..... We all have a 9/11 story. I hope we NEVER forget.