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9/11 Where Were You?

Gator9329

Gator9329

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I hear all the time how you will never forget where you were when 9/11 happened. In other generations it was JFK or Peal Harbor.
I was at work in downtown Boston. I went to get on the elevator in the boa tower. The security guard stopped me and told me the building was being shut down. I had no idea what was happening. Lots of confusion in the lobby. People were scrambling to get info. No one had the technology we have now to instantly know what's up.
We all gathered around a TV in the coffee shop and watched the first tower fall. The feed was unedited like a lot of it is now. Heartbroken we fled the building to get home. I met with several freinds at a local restaurant and watched the day unfold.
Lost my H.S. gym teacher on one of the flight s but other than that we were lucky.
Good bless everyone that was affected.
 
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I had the day off and was sleeping late when one of my friends called to tell me to put the TV on. I lost a friend on the flight out of Boston and more hours than I can count watching the news reports in the following weeks.

A buddy and I spent hours and hours and hours staring at Final Cut making a video from news clips and some short scenes we filmed. It was set to the song Cruel Sun by Rusted Root. When we were finished what we created was so ****ing depressing that we ended up deleting it. Now I kinda wish I still had a copy of it.
 
I was having breakfast.

Saw the TV was on but nobody cared.

They said a plane hit and I saw smoke.

I had no idea at the time it was a large plane.

I got home and heard chaos on the radio.

I put the TV on and watched the rest unfold in all it's horror live.

After watching both towers fall live on TV I was surprised that "only" 3000 people died in hind site.

The TV said their were thousands more in the towers and I was so glad that most of them survived.

I was in a safe location and preparing for a nuclear strike.

I thought the attacks were a precursor for a nuke attack.

Bush and the govt were also planning for a nuke attack that thankfully never happened.

Some internet site say that today there could be a dirty nuke attack today.

I hope that when I wake up later this morning that nothing happened.

It is too big of a date for the terrorists to do nothing today.

I think that ISIS might cut off more heads today in reaction to Obama's speech.
 
I was driving to work when it happened. One of the few times I was actually listening to the radio. Honestly, I thought it was a Stern prank. After a few minutes of listening, I turned off the radio. Earlier that year I had been to NYC. That was my first, and only, time there.
 
Rt-24N about 600 meters from exit 16A heading home and they were talking on the radio how some plane had hit the first tower, driving thinking to myself how the hell does one fly into a building. Nobody was saying it was an commercial airliner so I figured it was some guy in a Cessna or something similar again. When I got home I turned on the TV and saw all the smoke from the first tower burning and thought to myself that's a lot of damage for a small plane(still no one was saying the first was a commercial jet), about thirty seconds later the second plane hit.
 
I was nailing the ridge vent on the top of my roof, listening to the radio when the program was interrupted stating that a plane had hit one of the towers. I thought that maybe it was a small private plane. I got off the roof to turn on the television and minutes later, the second impact.
 
Christian said:
Rt-24N about 600 meters from exit 16A heading home and they were talking on the radio how some plane had hit the first tower, driving thinking to myself how the hell does one fly into a building. Nobody was saying it was an commercial airliner so I figured it was some guy in a Cessna or something similar again. When I got home I turned on the TV and saw all the smoke from the first tower burning and thought to myself that's a lot of damage for a small plane(still no one was saying the first was a commercial jet), about thirty seconds later the second plane hit.
Click to expand...

I remember watching that.

I was watching the smoke coming out of the tower and saw the other plane. I remember saying "what the hell is that!" then boom!

Thats when my heart dropped and realized it wasn't a mistake. I never felt that way before.
 
Looking out my office window at the gas tanks in Dorchester and wondering what a BLEVVY that size would do to the city.
Senior manager for the site came around to bitch people back to work when the radio announced the second plane strike... He promptly STFU and wandered off.
 
At work, in the lab. Didn't initially understand why everyone was in the cafeteria watching the TV so early in the morning. I will never forget where I was when the news broke. Same when the Challenger blew up.
 
I was in Las Vegas at a convention, as always I get up early. We were at the MGM Grand and headed downstairs to the Starbucks mini store in the lobby, I think it was around 6 -6:30ish and the guy at the counter said a plane had crashed into tower 1. As I stood there ready to grab my cup of rocket fuel I watched the second plane crash into tower 2.

The feeling of dread washed over me as I realized that this was no accident.

We then proceeded to be stuck in Las Vegas for a week. We were supposed to stay 3 days.

RIP to the almost 3k people that day.
 
Working as a recruiter, I was in a meeting when we heard something about a plane hitting a tower. I don't know why, but everyone kept acting like it was a Cessna or something small like that. I don't remember exactly when, but shortly after that, I heard a woman in my office crying hysterically - the second plane had struck, her sister was in the building - found out later she had called in sick that day.

THe news in that day wasn't instantaneous. We had shitty AOL dial-up in the office, so when everyone at once logged on to stream video, the IT department lost its shit, called the boss, who still hadn't known what happened, he was demanding to know why the phones weren't being dialed (think high volume call center). My supervisor, this tiny, mouse looking chick said to him in the loudest voice : because we're under attack you ****.

My now ex wife was in the John Hancock that day working. I called and called and called and no answer on her cell. Which she left in our bedroom that morning. When I did reach her, she said she had to go to an emergency meeting then was going to leave. I screamed at her and told her to leave. She did.

I called my mom. My mom worked for the FBI as a secretary. I never really heard her scared before that day: when she picked up, I could hear the automated CODE RED alert over the PA system. "Chris, this is very important, don't come to Boston. Stay out of the city. Tell Marie (the ex) to get the **** out of the city as soon as she can. I have to go, they're grabbing guns out of the armory. I have to go."

Nothing was getting done at the office. Nobody worked. Nobody dialed customers. Nobody did anything except stare at their mind numbingly slow computers in shock. My boss, the paragon of compassion himself, sent out a nasty email to get back to work, that everyone universally ignored. Approximately a week later, 13 people were cut in anticipation of lost business.

That night I went home to find my girlfriend on the couch. She had CNN on - it was probably the first time I ever really watched network news. I hadn't seen the videos all day and when I did, I probably sat in front of the TV for the rest of the night, bawling like a baby.

I feel like shit now.
 
In Aruba on my honeymoon. We had 2 good days before 9/11. Luckily we were able to come back when we were scheduled to because it was a charter flight.
Logan looked like a totally different place when we landed.
 
I was on one of my job sites talking to the roofer. I remember telling him that "some idiot flew his plane into the tower. How the **** can you not see a huge tower?" thinking it was a small plane.
 
I think when it was announced during my meeting,(the first corporate meeting I ever led, being a young buck college grad I may add) I said something to the effect of "don't they have lights on that ****ing thing?" thinking there was fog in NY that day.

falcon123 said:
I was on one of my job sites talking to the roofer. I remember telling him that "some idiot flew his plane into the tower. How the **** can you not see a huge tower?" thinking it was a small plane.
Click to expand...
 
I was at my job at Westover ARB. I recall that it was a bright, sunny September day. A guy from the next office came in and told us that an airplane had hit one of the towers in NYC. They had a TV so we all went down to his office to watch the news. We heard all of the early rumors and speculation about some other planes. Then the second plane hit. I turned to everyone else in the room and said "We are at war." I then spent the rest of the day and all that night on duty, waiting for someone to tell us what to prepare for.
 
Was in my third grade classroom. No one had told us anything I just remember about 75% of kids got taken out of school early that day. The school or teachers didn't say a word about it until the next day. I remember very vividly getting picked up and my mother telling me what happened and I really didn't understand how big of a deal that was at the time. I can still actually remember the street and spot we were driving when she told me. Can't believe it was that long ago.
 
Was in NY in college about 20 miles outside Manhattan...was just about to leave for class when I heard a rumbling outside. I looked out but didn't see anything, and honestly didn't think much of it. On my walk to class I heard someone talking about how a plane had crashed, like many people I thought of a small plane had crashed and wondered how that could have happened? While walking I heard the same rumbling sound, and thought what the heck is that sound? It sounded just like the one back in my dorm.

Got to class and was still pretty clueless when the professor walked in all frantic before class started and without saying anything else just said "leave, just leave and get out of here"...I'll never forget him saying it or being like wth?

walked back to my dorm and my 3 other roommates were glued to the tv and by the time I put my bag down I watched the first tower go down. Cell service was very spotty that day but was able to call home later on. Weirdest thing was the absolute quiet when all flights were banned. All day long we had planes flying overhead due to being so close to the 2 NY airports, that was one of the spookiest things...it actually being quiet outside. We went to the top floor of the library which had a view of the skyline on clear days. The smoke was pretty chilling to see. Still remember all this clear as day 13 years later.
 
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indeed on the planes. I remember being freaked out when I heard one that evening - followed by many - all military.

shiva916 said:
Was in NY in college about 20 miles outside Manhattan...was just about to leave for class when I heard a rumbling outside. I looked out but didn't see anything, and honestly didn't think much of it. On my walk to class I heard someone talking about how a plane had crashed, like many people I thought of a small plane had crashed and wondered how that could have happened? While walking I heard the same rumbling sound, and thought what the heck is that sound? It sounded just like the one back in my dorm.

Got to class and was still pretty clueless when the professor walked in all frantic before class started and without saying anything else just said "leave, just leave and get out of here"...I'll never forget him saying it or being like wth?

walked back to my dorm and my 3 other roommates were glued to the tv and by the time I put my bag down I watched the first tower go down. Cell service was very spotty that day but was able to call home later on. Weirdest thing was the absolute quiet when all flights were banned. All day long we had planes flying overhead due to being so close to the 2 NY airports, that was one of the spookiest things...it actually being quiet outside. We went to the top floor of the library which had a view of the skyline on clear days. The smoke was pretty chilling to see. Still remember all this clear as day 14 years later.
Click to expand...
 
I was at work, replacing the left cab corner on a Ford Aeromax. I walked to the office to grab another cutoff wheel when it came over hjy that a plane had hit one of the towers. I shrugged it off as almost nothing. Before they finished that break on the radio they said they had reports of a second plane hitting the other. I made a crack about everyone at air traffic control getting fired that day. In the next sentence they said that it was confirmed they were commercial planes and that there was an explosion at the Pentagon.
I remember them rattling off details, unconfirmed crashes, possible bombs, hijacked planes......
I remember them saying all planes were being grounded and went outside to see jets doing u-turns overhead.
I called some friends to make sure they knew what was going on.
No one could work, we closed early and had sporadic hours over the next couple days.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
 
Heading to unmass Amherst to visit a customer in the chemistry department. Had to pull to the side of the road in disbelief and sat there listening to the radio hoping that they would change the news from jetliner to small plane to a close call accident. But then, the news of the second plane came. I felt like the floor under me was removed. Was in a sort of limbo for a while.
 
I was on paternity leave from a small science-based start-up and was driving my first child to cape cod for a beach day. I was called in to the office for an IT emergency (I was the sole IT person in the company). When I arrived my colleagues asked me if I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I went inside the office. They had tuned one of the conference room monitors into cable news. We watched live as a second plane hit the other tower. Holy shit. This is intentional! This is an attack!

In some weird state of shock I resolved whatever the IT issue was and continued to take my son to the beach on cape code, because he was three and all he understood was I had promised to take him to the beach. All very surreal.

I later found out a friend of mine, whose wife-at-the-time was a flight attendant for American, the previous evening had been begging her co-workers to switch with her so she could get on American flight 11 because she needed the hours. Her friends all said no. They all ended up dying.

One of my brother's college friends had become a senior VP at Cantor Fitzgerald. He had pulled in a lot of their mutual friends. Many died that day.
 
I was working at Logan as a contractor during the "Logan 2000" expansion project. We were erecting flat suring for a concrete job. We had a tv in the trailor. The news started reporting the crashes at the Towers. Then they said the Pentagon was "bombed". The airport went into lockdown & was evacuated. SWAT, MSP & FBI were swarming with rifles in full display.
I headed to my mother in laws, who was watching my newborn son. When I got there she was crying. I just looked a at her and said, "This is big. Somebody's gonna pay for this".
The only planes in the sky for some time were jet fighters. We watched them from the roof of my house. It was a very earrie experience.
We later found out my wife's cousin had lost his aunt & uncle on one of the planes that went into the Towers. They were only able to identify him from the class ring found on one finger, which was the only part of him they found. They never recovered any of the aunts remains.
 
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