DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... 9/11/2001

I lived and worked near Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT.

My job was a “split-shift” - 11 am - 8 pm, M-F.

My typical routine was to sleep from 1 am- 9 am.

I woke-up ~ 9 am on 9/11 and as was my usual pre-work custom got the morning newspaper from my porch, made a coffee, sat on the couch and read the sports section.

It was a beautiful mid-September morning.

I turned the TV on - I think ESPN - and was barely watching it when I noticed a scroll along the bottom of the TV screen.

“All flights out of Bradley airport are cancelled.”

First thought. “That’s weird”. I had a big picture window that looked out into the backyard. I walked over to the window and looked out expecting to see storm clouds.

It was crystal blue out.

I sat back down and changed the channel and then saw what was happening.

There was a desperate call for blood. Windsor Locks is only ~ 100 miles from Manhattan. I was a periodic blood donor and had not given in nearly a year. I called my boss told him I’d be an hour late. I went to the nearest blood donation center gave a pint and went off to work.

Of course everyone at work was in a haze. It was surreal.

My main job task at work was printing, boxing and shipping a huge 3,000 page daily report to a branch office in the North Twin Tower. A job that took ~ 3 hours.

I did it that day like usual even though by then there was no North Twin Tower. I wonder what happened to that box. Probably still in a warehouse somewhere.

After that day, I sat and twiddled my thumbs everyday at work no longer having my main task.

I was laid-off a month later.

I will never forget 9/11. It was a Tuesday, because I was off work. I was lazy, and slept in. I went online, and flipped on the TV. I saw the 1st tower burning and thought, "That's weird".

Then the 2nd plane flew into the 2nd tower, and I knew it wasn't some kind of accident.

I sold cars at that time, and the lot was dead quiet for about 2 weeks after the attack. I worked in Kent, and there were always jets flying overhead, coming and going to and from Akron and Cleveland. There was nothing but beautiful blue skies. It was horribly eerie.

I remember how everyone pulled together after the attacks ..... for about a month anyway. It's funny how many people went to church for a week or 3 .... but then returned to "normal life", and stopped. I was one of them, as I recall.

As a side note, I joined the original board on that day. It was extremely therapeutic.

freshman year of high school, 14 years old. every parent pulled their kids out of school in cleveland, and i know my mom was crying her eyes out. she was raised in NYC and we have so much family there, so she was especially horrified and depressed for a while.

i remember my dad wondering if retiring was a good idea, saying he wished he would've stayed in, he retired in 2000.

Same. It was the first week of school. I had a zero period class that started at 7AM, so I woke up to my mom telling that a plane had crashed into the first tower (my dad's whole family is from New York and I was just at the WTC a month before the attack, my aunt worked in one of the towers but was not in the office that day). I watched live as the second tower was hit. I was walking out the door to leave for school as the Pentagon was hit. We watched the towers fall in my zero period Spanish class. Being at school that day was really weird.

I've been the the site of the attack three times now. Once in 2005 when it was just an open pit in the ground and twice since the new building has been open. The museum is a crazy place to visit.

Never Forget!

I was working on the 5th floor of the new dorms at UT on Door st. As a foreman i had my phone on me. I get a call from my wife and she asked were i was at. She said they're crashing planes into buildings. I assured her there were bigger targets than a construction site.

What i did notice was the only planes in the air were fighter jets. I watched everything when i got home it was a surreal experience.

I remember the sick sinking feeling I had in the pit of my stomach that wouldn't go away, and my friend who lost her life that day

quote above by Y:



So from September 15th-to-mid-October when I got laid-off, I sat at my cubicle and surfed the internet with nothing to do for the first 4 hours of my work shift.

I'm not 100% sure, but it's very likely that's when I started spending time on the Browns fan board.

Two months later I flew down to party with Dunedindawg and the Dunedin Browns Backers for a Browns game around Christmas time 2001.



From Hooper's game. Dunedindawg is one of those long lost DawgTalkers.

PS. It's pronounced "Duh-need-in" (not "dune-din")

damn you went already?

man i just couldn't bring myself to it yet. i dunno why.

RIP bro sorry you lost somebody that day.

I was a sophomore in HS. I was in my science class when we heard about the attack, and the science teacher we had just happened to have had the TV in the room that day as we were supposed to watch a movie.

Our school announced that the students would stay in our current class until further notice. We stayed in for about 2 hours, until we resumed regular schedule.

I remember instantly (and selfishly) only thinking about my brother, who was at the time in 29 Palms CA stationed there. I knew he was safe, its not like he was in NY or anything. But just the thought that we would more than likely eventually be going to war just scared the jaheebas out of me.

Dang Swish i didn't think you were that much of a pup. I was 49.

I was out of the Country when it happened, in Canada, with my 12 year old daughter. Canadians all around us knew we were Americans and offered us gas, food, lodging, anything we needed as the Border was closed.

Wonderful people those Canadians!

lol yea man. i dunno why people are caught off guard when i tell them my age lol

just so you know i agree with alot of your post in the politiacl thread but i will not be drug into a debate with a closed mind. Keep up the fight bud.

Thanks bro.

I would recommend to everyone that they should go if they have the chance. It was really impactful. I don't think I could go a second time though.

I was painting an entry way in Westerville, Ohio. Homeowners were Howard Stern fans, had him on the radio, 'How could two planes hit the World Trade Center?', he asked.

I looked over my shoulder at the room the radio was in.

People were calling in for the rest of his show giving eye witness accounts of what they were seeing.

I can still remember the voice of the caller shouting as the first tower to collapse was coming down.

My wife and I went to New York for our 15th Anniversary, that was 2010 or so, couldn't see anything of the site as it was fenced off for construction, still went by though.

I still paint for those people, one of the reasons is that I was there that day.

by Ted above (MrTed to you):

I don't know who that is, but it certainly is something that makes you stop and think about those moments in life isn't it?

Thanks rocky!

The sad thing is that you can ask a young adult (16/ maybe 25) about the significance of 9/11 ..... and many have no clue what happened.

It's the only world they've known. I don't know about you, but the thought of nuclear annihilation became something that was always in the back of my mind but didn't affect anything because the threat (or governmentally induced perception of a threat) was always there.

These kids grew up with the war on terror and don't know a world without one.

The final satisfaction of the 9/11 attacks didn’t happen for 10 years. When time finally ran out on Bin Laden.

And Navy Seals, in coordination with the CIA, finally got him. (2011)



I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Bin Laden was 6’4” and the reward for information leading to his capture was immense.

There’s no way he could hide for ever. There were too many people who knew who he was.

And wanted to be millionaires. (U.S. Dollars)

My daughter is 14 and she has a clue what happened because I've sat and watched specials on it with her. My wife recorded and watched another special with her last night.

All we have to remember much of history is the written word, works of art, maybe some photos or old grainy video clips, and old memorials... we now live in an age where almost everything that will be "history" is being recorded... and many don't take the time to watch it..

If you have kids too young (or if you were too young yourself) I highly recommend you watch as many documentaries as you can on it.. just not the conspiracy theory ones.

Your post for some reason made me think of the movie "The Fifth Element", when the character is learning about history via the web, and all the destruction and violence, and she overloads emotionally. It really does resonate with what you said, as the character was a weapon to save the world, but she had the emotions of a child.

So... there's now a mixed adult beverage called 'the Bin Laden'


2 shots... and a splash.


[rim shot]



I'm not insensitive to the importance of this day, but thought there could still be room for a touch of levity.

He is here all week, try the Veal!

Don't forget to tip your wait staff!