Where were you on 9/11?

[Huh]

Hey everyone, I've been reading the forums for a couple of months and I've finally decided to become part of the community.
So, my first question is, where were you on 9/11?
I searched but nothing came up, so I guess it hasn't been posted before.

[stache]

I had voted, then I realized I had time to walk to work so I headed up 8th Ave. Everybody was looking downtown when I got to 25th St, that's when I saw that the plane went through the first tower. Then I went home to look from my roof. I went to get my camera and call a friend when the other plane hit. I managed to get the C train to work. We were there for about an hour, saw the towers collapse on television and they sent everybody home. I walked a lady from work to her block, then I went to the bank for cash, bought candles and lots of tinned food etc. I didn't know what to expect next. Everyone was very well behaved. I went home and called loved ones. Later in the day I went to some friends' place. I'm hoping I never have to go through anything like that again.

[Clarknt67]

My clock radio awoke me to Howard Stern listening to a caller saying a plane had hit the WTC (this must have been just moments after the first plane hit). I turned on my tv and watched it burn for a while, showered, dressed and started to head to work, by then the second plane had hit. I decided to take a look from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which I live very near. The promenade was packed with gawkers. I watched it for a while and just as I was about to turn to go to work the first tower fell. It was then I began to comprehend how big this all was and how it probably was a bad idea to go to work.

The debris moved across the water, the entire island of Manhattan was engulfed and invisible from Brooklyn. I'll never forget how it stung on my face. It was that pain and the fact that I couldn't breath that finally kicked in my common sense and I realized I should get the hell out of there.

[Huh]

I was at school. It was at the top of a huge hill and facing Manhattan. I remember prepping for an ELA test with my class when another teacher came in and said in a stern voice "can I see you for a minute". Then my teacher walked out and walked back in with a shocked face. She told us the World Trade Center had been hit by terrorist planes. Now, I knew what the Twin Towers were, but I had no idea what she meant by WTC (I was in the 4th grade so, you know....). Then calls started coming in and kids started going home. I remember I was there about an hour and then the phone rang for me. My father and I walked to a convenience store and bought bread and milk and canned food, and then we went back to my house to watch the developments. I remember calling my mother who was stuck in Westchester for some reason, and crying over the phone. It was total chaos, because at that point most people thought New York was being blown up. I distinctly remember saying "Why would people in Boston do this?" since the dust hadnt cleared and being young I had no idea the kind of trouble the world was in. All I knew was that planes from Boston crashed into New York and I was so scared I couldn't comprehend it.

[milleniumcab]

There is a taxi stand for group rides to the Financial District at E79th Street and York Avenue on Upper East Side.. Before 9/11, I did that run twice, most mornings, and the second run would put me Downtown about 8:30 am.. Once there, my favorite spot to wait for a fare was the taxi stand at the WTC Marriott in the South Tower..

I still ask the Question to this day, what would have happened to me if I felt good enough to go to work that morning and did my usual two runs downtown and waited for a fare at WTC Marriott.. The time definitely would have been 8:46 am...That's the time first plane hit...

After 9/11 to this day, I have not made that morning run to Financial District from 79th Street again and I don't think I ever will...

[JCMAN320]

I remember that day extremely vividly. I was in class at my highschool and was a Sophmore. My highschool is on Montgomery St. in Jersey City on the Palisades near the old Medical Center looking over Downtown JC and straight at Manhattan. I was in Biology class at 8:40am and was sitting near the windows facing Manhattan with a huge unobstructed view. I was talking to my friend and the first plane caught our attention and we watched it fly right into the first tower All the students and our teacher rushed to the windows with us. At that point there we no announcements on the PA and people were already on cells calling family. Then as we watched the first tower burn the second one quickly came into view from our right seemed like it came from the southwest and then slam into the second tower.....then we watched the people begin to jump......

I was calling my father franticly because he works for PATH and had a meeting their that day, he was lucky because the meeting was not suppose to start till 9:30 and he hadn't gotten their yet but I didn't get a hold of hm till almost 11:00am cus everything was busy......we watched the first tower fall and we all were stunned and some started to cry as lower Manhattan was covered in a cloud of dust.....we got called to the lunchroom and then quickly told to go the gym and as were going down the stairs to gym, I ran out on the side exit on Mercer St. and looked down the street to see a mushroom cloud rising looking as if a bomb has gone off right down the street......I then remember saying to my firend Danny "their gone'...........in the gym we were told to stay at school if we had no one to picks us up or no place to go and for everyone else to go home.....I went outside and walked down Montgomery St. to the Medical Center and watched the smoke rise from the site......people in suits were walking up Montgomery St in suits some covered in dust and almost all on cell phones. Only buses, ambulences, police cruisers, and firefighters were allowed down Montgomery St.........went home in my next door neighbors car and at in my room where I had a view of the towers and use to look out at them everynight......I lost 3 friends that day........worst day of my life easily........I'll never forget the sound of the steel crushing and the smell of the smuldering ashes.

JC was the first city outside of NYC to respond to the attack and the Medical Center took the most victims than any other hospital in NJ because it was large enough to take all those who were injured.

[LeCom]

I was in school, sitting in the Boys Gym on the third floor. It was an old prewar school building that towered over the neighborhood, yet the windows in the gym were too high for us to see anything (but girls in the gym on the 5th floor above us could see everything). We were only told that there is a toxic cloud is coming for New York. I thought "eh whatever, some factory ****ed up, released too much crap into the atmosphere and now it's headed for us". The sky was dark like during a storm, even though in the morning it was blue. Parents started picking kids up from school; I thought those were the asthma kids or something. My mom came for me closer to the end of the day; she was like "do you know what happened?" and I said something along the lines of "yea, some stupid toxic cloud is moving onto New York". She said that it wasn;t just any cloud but these were the remains of the World Trade Center. She said that terrorists blew up the World Trade Center and both towers fell. I was an avid skyscraper nut by that time already, yet for some reason it did not really hit me at the moment. I was like "oh... okay... so THAT's why people have been leaving school... well that sucks". The day's events really hit me when I got home and they were showing the footage over and over again. I could not get it out of my mind for a minute for days. I wasn't scared, wasn't upset, wasn't excited, I was just blank and stunned. Like, the change was too sudden for me to comprehend and react to so soon. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I was suddenly against following the whole skyscraper thing anymore that I have just began to get into. Seems like I wasn't the only one, as Marshall Gerometta has shut down his WTB website.

I also had a dream a few months prior to that about the Twin Towers collapsing and I remember running north in that dream, in order to get away from the falling twers.

[Ninjahedge]

I was at work. We all heard about the first one hitting the tower, but we thought it was just a cessna or something. We all went over to the other side of the building (on Houston street) and watched the first one smoking wondering what was going on. Just then there was a firey burst on the second one. Some say they say something come int and hit it, but it was hard to tell.

We all watched the TV and the internet, most found it difficult to get anything done. We were at work until 3:30 when the HR department opened up the petty cash to help people get home.

I walked all the way up to 38th street with a few others to wiat on line for 2 hours to get across the Hudson back home. I later found out there were two lines, and the other would have gotten me in in 45, but whatever.

The hardest part was with people at work that had loved ones working at the WTC. One was late to work and was the only reason she was not in the building as it was hit.

Really surreal day. :(

[MartinVienna]

I was in a coffee shop in Ravenna, Italy. There was a TV set for guests. I was sitting behind that TV so could not see the screen from my table. Suddenly people started talking loudly and gesturing in an excited and worried manner. So I walked in front of the TV and saw what happened. I could not believe my eyes…. And today, 5 years or so later, I still can’t believe it…. I once took a helicopter flight around Manhattan and saw the top floors of the WTC from very close range. Unbelievable what happened…

[milleniumcab]

You know , for a long time, even to this day, my passengers still ask about that day...I picked up a lady from LaGuardia Airport about a year after that horrible day...We got to talking and 9/11 came up in the conversation.. she told me her story which was similar to mine..

She was to board one of the doomed planes that took off from Boston to go to California for a business meeting... Her boss called her 1/2 hour before boarding to let her know of changes in her schedule... She did not have to go California that morning, instead she jumped on another plane to go to Florida...

Some call it luck, I call it FAITH....Somebody must be deciding who leaves and who stays...

[Matte__86]

I just got home from school (14:50) and my sister screamed to me that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center in New York.
First I was like, "World Trade Center? I dont care." I didnt even know that those building were the WTC.
So I went up to my room to watch The Simpsons, when i zapped by the channels I noticed that all of them showed the same thing, an enormuos tower on fire. I just keept watching and I couldnt really understand what was going on.
Then, the second plane hit (15:03) I just couldnt believe what I was seeing.
I now realised how serious this was and I started to think of all the people who were traped inside the buildings. Horrible.
~40 minutes later it got even worse, the first tower fell to the ground.
Then 30 minutes or so, later the second tower collapsed.

I've never been to New York (yet) but that day I really felt like I was there.
Tho I cant imagine what it was like for those of you who really was there.

The next day in school everything was like normal, nobody seemed to care, it felt kinda wierd, so I had the tell my teacher that maybe we should talk about what happend the day before, and we did.


/Mattias

[shocka]

first off welcome and great first post.. i am sure no 1 can forget whatthey were doing that morning..

Well i woke up late for class (Stony Brook) since the radio waves were shot alarm was silent. one of my suitemates had the tv blasting with the news I remember coming out and yelling at him for leaving the tv on whole night (whoops). I ran to class econ and well no1 in class even cared (didnt help it was the begining of the semester) about the class then one kid in a room of 700 stood up and said WTC Fell down. No1 believed him. Next period I was to teach a Comp Sci Lab, I walked in checked yahoo and it was true what was mentioned in the class. I announced this to my class who were meeting me for the first time, they thought i was crazy. 2 minutes later I get an email saying all classes are cancelled. I let them know, now they think im the craziest TA they ever had.

Then i procedded to my room and to get in touch with my roommate who went to visit his g/f who worked at the duetch bank across WTC at the time.

[cathyx]

I was in germany when it happened; i was beginning with my job at a wine-selling shop per phone then on the afternoon i quitted to directly go to a supermarket as there was a room there for internet etc...
I arrived and saw a lot of ppl standing in front of the tv screens exhibited there and i saw on a tv the first tower on flame.
I didn't know it was a terrorist attack i thought it was a fire.
Then they showed the plane entering the top of the tower and later the second plane into the other tower.
I was so shocked like so many ppl around the world. The first thing I wanted to do was to go back immediately to my country in the w.i.
I even cried later that night b/c it was so strange.
It didn't look like that city to have sth so happened...

[Mix106]

I remember that day like it was today.

I was on my away to my mother´s store in a local mall. When I arrived the mall i just saw everybody standing in front of a big tv in a restaurant named "Amarelinha".
Everybody was like :eek: impressed about what they were watching on tv.

"How did this happen?"-->Everybody was asking...
"Was it an accident?"-->before the 2nd plane hit

These were the most-heard questions in the restaurant until the 2nd plane hit the towers.

When the 2nd plane hit the towers everybody said:"It was a terrorist attack!".

It was a sad, sad day for the USA and for all humankind.

[chepakoimette]

just saw this topic

I was in L.A on 9/11, vacancioning, my first trip to US. was still in bed, we went to bed at around 5/6 am. suddenly I heard screming, running in the hall. someone knocking at the door. I jumped out, went down to the restroom, there was a big screen TV and an uncredible pictures on it, it was on CNN. I, first, didn't understand what was going on (and my english doesn't help :o) but what I'm watching on the screen is pretty clear, than I could read "America under Attack". honnestly I was really scared. I came from Paris, we had some terrorists attack in Paris. and once I was in the metro going to work, there was a bomb in this metro, it was a matter of 2 minutes about me. I get out at my station, and the bomb explosed at the next station.

well to make it short, 9/11 brought out some bad memories. couldn't say a word the whole day, didn't get out either. I just was like " my god ! till here in US ?" I was scared, things were weird, I had mixed feelling. till the day after.

it was my first trip to US, second day. I was worying about earthquake in L.A but I've got the worst thing ever. I will never forget this day.

[kliq6]

at a meeting at the club resturant at 200 Park ave the Metlife building, looked out the window and saw the smoke and saw the towers burning

[MartinVienna]

Talking about terrorists: They killed that terrorist Al-Zarqawi! At least....

[milleniumcab]

Talking about terrorists: They killed that terrorist Al-Zarqawi! At least....

Yes we certainly did but how many did BUSH create to fill his spot.????????

[MartinVienna]

yes, terrorsim is a hydra.
preventing terorism is however extremely difficult and would require a fundamential change of politics....;)

[milleniumcab]

yes, terrorsim is a hydra.
preventing terorism is however extremely difficult and would require a fundamential change of politics....;)

You can say that again. But unfortunately, I don't see that happening with the current government..:(

[wtcsick]

I was at home...thinking it was the nicest day I had ever seen. I had just come back from taking my kids to the bus stop when I turned the news on while feeding the baby.

I dedicated a website to those who are becoming ill as a result of exposure from 9/11. I'm quite aware that police officers, firemen, ems, and volunteers weren't the only ones to become exposed on that day.

I apologize if it is inappropriate to post the site here. Feel free to delete it if I overstepped any boundaries.

www.wtcsick.com (http://www.wtcsick.com)

[MartinVienna]

You can say that again. But unfortunately, I don't see that happening with the current government..:(
I agree. But am a bit reserved as I don't live in America and am reluctant to critisize your politicians...:)

[ablarc]

I don't live in America and am reluctant to critisize your politicians...:)
Go right ahead; I doubt anyone will mind.

Anyway, you've got one of your own running California.

[milleniumcab]

With all due respect to everyone, including myself as I did post a comment other than the subject matter..

I believe this thread is one that should be kept pure to it's intent, finding out where people were on 9/11...Let's keep the politics where it belongs and leave this thread for the memories of the worst day in U.S. history...

[ablarc]

^ Right.

[Hof]

...on the phone with a friend in Venice,Florida.
The week before,I had flown back to Florida after spending seven days in The City,and I was describing the trip to him as I stood in the kitchen making coffee.
Not ten days earlier,I had been atop the Trade Center for the first time.My photography from the trip was still at the photo shop.We were talking about New York and The Trade Center AS the first plane hit,something I now regard as the first of several personal dark ironies associated with that Day.

In the middle of our conversation,he asked..."Do you have your TV on?Speaking of the Trade Center,it looks like a plane just now flew into one of the buildings."
Incredulous,I switched the TV on and began watching as the horror unfolded.Tom and I stayed on the phone,both glued to our TVs,until after the second plane hit.We both watched as it flew across the river and into the South Tower,creating the spine-tingling flame plume.
My cellphone began to ring as other people tried to call,and I carried on a lot of dual conversations as the morning passed.After Tom and I hung up,the first building fell.Then the second.

I stopped answering the phone for awhile.I wasn't talking very well.It was the first time I had wept since John Lennon died.Later,I put on a pair of pants,got my photography and got drunk...