Remembering 9/11 - 20 years later - your story

[kydsid]

I cannot believe we are approaching 20 years since 9/11. Everywhere stories are being shared. Why not share them here? I'll go first.



That morning I was on a riding lawnmower clearing grass on abandoned lots for my boss. I had a walkman, old even then, listening to the only rock radio station in my little college town of San Angelo. They stopped the music for the news, which in the 4 years I listened to that station was the only time they did that and told us of the attack. This was a few minutes before the first tower fell. As it turns out I was actually the first in the shop to know it happened because the office staff didn't have a radio or tv on. I went into the office just as the first tower fell and told everyone. We turned on a tv and watched the replay over and over of the first tower going down. I have no idea how much time went by, if it was before or after the second tower fell but at some point I went back to work listening on my walkman. What I do distinctly remember is that after a little bit the rock station went back to music. The song that came on first? Drowning Pool's Bodies, which has the refrain "let the bodies hit the floor", it played for a bit before it was turned off and the live DJ came on apologizing and said the order was automated and he did not choose that song, which of course was very ill timed at that point in the day.


Now how 9/11 effected the rest of my life, well some here know. That'll just be left to herfs.

[AdamJoshua]

I was working in boston for a software company, really weird day from the get go. First of all I wore an adult tigger costume to work, yes I used to like to have fun, rode in on the T wearing it and people were amused to say the least.

Got to work and had some laughs, took off the costume and was working on a project for Philip Morris at the time, we had the client coming into the office that day to talk about the project, the PM thought it would be funny for me to put the costume back on and sit in the meeting room working, he was going to tell the client that I was a little eccentric but a great designer so no one said anything and told them not to mention the costume. So I put it on and im working in a conference room and these two suits come in and look at me and just keep looking and I finally looked up and greeted them, we shook hands, the "I'm a tigger" recording thankfully was triggered by the left paw not the right, anyway they kept a straight face and never mentioned the costume at all, it was actually funny.

About an hour later someone came in saying there was an explosion or something in NY so I, like the rest of the company went down to the cafeteria and watched it all unfold live on the news. It was only a couple hours after that they they were telling everyone to leave the city, I actually worked in Cambridge so had to take the T to commuter train to get home, I never saw crowds like that in my life, there had to be 100,000 people all around the train station trying to get home, ended up taking 4 hours to finally get on a train.

What a **** day. I used to work for a mutual fund company in boston and 4 of the people I worked with left and worked for a company in one of the towers, they were all killed that day. But you know, get over it right ... some people did something.

[elderboy02]

I was in High School. The principal only ever came over the loud speaker when we were in trouble. He told all of the teachers to turn their TV's to the news channels.

I remember the rest of the day nothing was taught during classes. We just watched the devastation

[Porch Dweller]

I was deployed to the CAOC (Combined Air Operations Center) at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. I was working in the JCCC (Joint Communications Control Center) on some frequency interference issues. We had a TV on the wall always tuned to the news, but usually with the volume down. Someone cranked it up really loud just in time for me to hear some knucklehead on CNN say something along the lines of "...plane must have been following a malfunctioning navigation beacon." I'd spent 10 years as an air traffic control radar maintenance technician so I knew that the knucklehead was talking out his a$$. I turned to see what was happening just as the second plane hit. My OIC was in a meeting so I went and let him know what happened.

Most of us spent the rest of the day watching. When I went back to our barracks, we spent hours following the events on the tv in our dayroom. The weird part was when some Airman on night shift who had that evening off would stroll in fresh out of bed and ask what was going on. That happened three times, I think. One guy refused to believe it and thought we were playing some elaborate prank.

The next day we started working on the comm plan for what would eventually be Operation Enduring Freedom. So yeah, I'm just thrilled with how that ended up these past weeks...

[Brian D.]

My parents called me that morning and insisted I turn on the TV. No explanation, but it was soon obvious why. It was a few minutes before the second tower was hit.

After the second tower fell, the commenters started just replaying everything. Needed to get on with my day. Cased up an AR 15 and stowed it in my vehicle. Fueled up the ride because I expected some level of price gouging soon. (That did occur for a day or so.)

[mosesbotbol]

I was at my desk at 8 AM and heard on the radio that plane hit the Tower. Put on the TV and it did not look like a big deal at first. Maybe a Cesna or something. Kept it on the TV and more and more staff came into the room until maybe a 5-7 people are there and we all saw the tower collapsed. We were frantic and scared. A coworker took a bus to our office in downtown Boston and was scared to take public transportation home (60 miles away) so I lent him my Alfa Romeo to drive home. Got the car back a week later.

Life was great before that date. Hot girlfriend, good job, fun car, care free... Took a while to get back to that and I just cannot watch videos of that day. I do not think I know anyone who died, but a part of all of us did.

20 years later and we are in a more perilous state. Who would think?

[The Poet]

As I was living only 25 miles from Ground Zero, I could relate 9/11 stories all day long. But for now I shall limit myself to the SECOND most shocking thing I witnessed that day.

Once I got home from work I turned on my TV to get the news updates, yet as I had only broadcast signals at that time I had no TV - the network antennas went down with the Towers. So, feeling lost, I went outside and stood on the sidewalk outside my apartment building, located within 100 yards of the commuter railroad station in town, as I wanted to witness people returning safely home. However there were few trains and as few people to see. But as I waited I saw a big fancy car drive up and park, and a well-dressed older man and three women of various ages got out. As they walked past me in a group, presumably on their way to dinner somewhere in town, I heard the man say words to the effect that "Well, on the bright side, tomorrow will be a good day to buy stocks." I was, as you can imagine, slack-jawed speechless.

It takes a special type of scumbag to see tragedy as an opportunity to benefit themselves.

[icehog3]

9/11 was the first day of school at a new alternative school where all the kids who were expelled from the other high schools in the district were sent. I signed up to be there for security on overtime that first day.

I was listening to Howard Stern on the way to work.
He was talking about a plane that it hit the World Trade Center as I navigated traffic. When he said a second plane had hit the second Tower, I thought “bullshit” and turned on news radio. Unfortunately, it was not bullshit.

The principal immediately sent all the kids home. He asked if the secretary and I could both stay the full day anyway. He went out to Best Buy and bought a TV for the school. He was back and set up in time for us to watch both Towers collapse.

One of the eeriest things for me was driving to work the next afternoon. My route takes me through several landing routes for O’Hare Airport. Not a cloud in the sky.. and not a plane in the sky. I think I wondered if anything would ever be the same.
As I got out of my truck to walk into the police station, a military jet blasted by and caused a sonic boom. I was impressed that I didn’t crap my pants.

I will never, ever forget.

[shark]

I was out of work at the time so I spent way too much time watching the news. A couple of nights after the attack I was outside to clear my head and I heard a plane way up there so I looked up scanning the sky and saw a couple of fighters patrolling. I felt better after that for some reason.

[hudd]

Was on the way to Columbus OH for a food show. Stopped in Dayton to pick up tickets l won at a radio station. Heard of the first tower being hit while in the lobby. Got in the car and the wife and l listened to the news. Never dreamed it was intentional. The second one was hit and we knew something was up. The food show tried to continue but was eerie. Tried to call our baby sitter and phones were jammed and couldnt get through. Some vendors had tvs on and l watched in horror as the towers fell. Decided it was time to leave amd get our kids. The drive home was very strange. Stopped to get gas and the price had went nuts. Luckily l got by with just a few gallons. Around Springfield 70 east and west come to a stop. This lasted close to an hour. Saw fighter jets overhead and figured they headed to Wright Patterson. After a few more minutes we saw Airforce One take off. This was at an airport near Springfield. Traffic finally started moving and we went and got our kids. Really strange/scary day. Found out later Columbus was a possible target.

[NCRadioMan]

Woke up like any other day. Didn't have to be in the station (worked in radio at the time) till the afternoon as I had a Dr's. appointment. Went to the garage where I did partake in the consumption of the Devil's Lettuce as was my routine. Turned on the local sports radio station and they were doing a charity bowling event live. They then mentioned something about a tower had come down and the other wasn't looking good and then started to explain what was going on. I then went to turn on the tv and just as I sat down, the second tower fell. I just sat still for a long time. Don't even know how long.

I had to get to the station because it was on automation playing oldies music and I knew I had to get that off the air. I made it to the station and made the announcement that I was joining the local news station that we had permission to broadcast their signal on our frequency. Stayed with that until sign-off that night.

[Wharf Rat]

I was in a hotel, taking a class about a scientific instrument at the exact time of the attack. Ended up watching the scene on a TV in the lobby bar.

The most graphic thing I remember was a couple of days later when I was back home in New Bern, NC. I was at work and went outside to eat lunch. It was a perfect blue sky. I looked up and, relatively low, there was a 747 going overhead. Off each wing, there was a fighter aircraft in formation. I never found out who or what was in the 747.

[Bax]

I worked across the street from the Pentagon at the Pentagon City Costco. I happened to call out sick that day for a Doctors appointment. I was sitting in the waiting room and saw it on the TV. I would have been there when the plane hit the Pentagon. The strangest part was the drive into work the next morning across the 14th St. bridge and seeing what looked like a cake with a giant slice taken out of it. They moved Patriot missile batteries to almost every open roof parking garage.
I got to work and it still stunk of burning chemicals. I listened to all my coworkers stories of helping clear the rubble. Our forklift drivers ran pallets of bottled water and work gloves across Army Navy drive to give out to rescue workers. i got to see some of the cell phone pictures that were taken. They we not letting anyone take pictures but a few people snuck them out. Just a sobering experience. I was happy I wasn't there but felt guilty because I should have been there. I like to think I would have been brave enough to run over an help.