DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum September 11, 2001: Where were you?

On this, the defining day in my generation's history, and perhaps one of the defining days in American history, I wanted to see what my fellow dawgs and dawgettes remember about that day.

I know I'll never forget it. I was a special education tutor and the other tutor came in and told me about the 2 planes hitting. She was very upset.

It was then that I realized that my good friend was in NYC in the World Trade Center for a training seminar. I ran out to my car, got my cell phone and called him, but there was no answer. I called my other good friend, and I said "Isn't Tag in the World Trade Center?" He said "oh my god, I completely forgot!" Needless to say, that set us both into a pretty worried mood.

I went upstairs to the lounge and a lot of people were crowded around a TV. I saw the reports about the Pentagon, the one crashing in PA, and the possibility of another one on the ground in Cleveland (later turned out to be false). I saw the towers crumble and thought to myself that I really hoped my friend had made it out of there.

About an hour later, I got an email from my girlfriend at the time telling me that she had heard from my friend's girlfriend that he was okay.

It ended up he was in the 2nd tower when the 1st tower was hit. They were evacuating when they were told that they could go back to their offices. He decided to keep going (his training seminar was on the 60th floor, or whereabouts.

He was on the 20th floor when the 2nd plane hit. He made it out, started making his way uptown when a girl said "Oh my god, the top of that building just fell off!" Needless to say, he said he got more wasted that night than he could remember.

I remember lying in bed that night, and all I could think of was: Anything is possible. If I had woken up the next day and heard that the Russians had nuked Los Angeles, I would not have been surprised.

But I think the things I remember most about the day (outside of the events and worrying about my friend) was how every single radio station and every single TV station was focused on the exact same thing. I remember watching Peter Jennings break down on camera. I remember getting an Extra newspaper.

And I remember people just genuinely being nice to each other. Driving home, people let other people get in front of them, there was no screaming, honking, road rage. Everyone was unified for that short time.

And I remember seeing hundreds of firemen at every stop light asking for money to send to NYC, and giving whatever I had.

I was about half a mile from the Pentagon.

I was just getting to work with the report of the first plane hitting. People were buzzing about that and then the second plane hit. There was real nervousness at that point. I called Michelle and then my mom and dad. They were describing what was on television and all the speculation. I couldn't believe it.

I had to do a lot of driving that day and stopping into different places. People were just driving and walking with stunned looks on their faces and I've never had a day like that where every complete stranger wanted to stop and talk to me.

I rememeber being at work on my job and having somebody come along and tell me a plane had hit the WTC. I was thinking it was a accident. A little bit later I get a break and walk into the break room and am looking at the TV and watch the second plane come in and hit tower #2. Everybody in the break room was just stunned and couldnt believe what we were watchinng on TV. The whole rest of that day was just surreal.


KING

I was walking into homeroom freshman year of high school and I saw the WTC was on fire. I didn't think much of it at first, until the second tower was attacked. That's when I got worried.

They are having a special report that does kind of a timeline on 700 WLW. As I remember it was pretty good. It's already started a few minutes ago. You can listen online here:


http://www.700wlw.com/main.html

I was at work.

Went and checked out a TV for about 20-30 minutes or so and saw the first tower fall... then I went back to work.

At the time I worked the midnight shift, I was in bed sleeping. My wife was getting ready to go to work when she came in the bedroom and woke me up in time to see the second plane. I literally thought I was dreaming for a few minutes . . . .

Side note. . . . I thought it was really odd to be out and about and not see a single plane in the sky, or no jet trails in the days following. . . .

Side note part 2 . . . I don't know about all of you . . . but I really don't want to commemorate or watch any of the 9/11 stuff on t.v. It just bothers me . . . I don't know why but I can't bring myself to watch it . . .

I was waiting on my daughter in the oral surgeons office. After her procedure was done, I went to the receptionist to see how much I owed for the visit....she didn't even seem remotely interested in collecting the fee.

My brother was actually there in NYC and witnessed the whole thing. He was in therapy for a while...

I was working on the 5th floor of the new dormatory off Door street at Toledo U. After the 2nd plane hit there was alot of talk about pulling us down, but that didn't happen. My wife called me after the 2nd plane and wanted to make sure i was going to be all right. I assured i was and for her not to worry, and that i would be home that night.

nordawg

I was supposed to be in class that day, but skipped for some reason. When I got up, I logged on to DawgTalk and saw Babe had posted a thread about a plane crash and went to turn on the TV. I sat on the couch all day staring in disbelief and horror over what I was seeing. Seeing the second plane hit the WTC in real time was something I'll never forget.

In my living room getting the kids to school, getting ready to go open my shop. When the second plane hit, I was pretty much in shock. It's amazing how clear those memories still are. At times I could see the plumes of smoke from my front window about 60 miles away. I remember all the fire companies decididing whether or not to go to the city. I also remember waiting for the next attack. My fire company is between a nuclear power facility and a massive aquaduct, we are also responsible for the runways at Stewart AFB.

I felt like a zombie that day. No direction, no focus. I doubt that a shred of actual work was done, other than the first responders work, on that day. Everywhere I went, TVs were on and people were just staring silently. That second plane played over and over.

I was listening to Howard Stern on my way to work at the Aero's Stadium in downtown Akron. They were talking about a plane hitting the WTC and were making a joke about what idiot couldn't see the World Trade Center. I thought it was a small plane and no big deal. Till I got up to the restaurant and saw it on TV. Not even 2 minutes later I watched the 2nd plane hit live and couldn't believe what I saw. I asked like 3 times "Holy %^&# was that a passenger plane?? Was that a plane,,holy $^^&*#!!!" Then events unfolded with the Pentagon, false alarms of car bombs going off in Washington, a plane at Hopkins that was involved, and one crashing in Pittsburgh
I hope I never have that same feeling again b/c it was one of pure hate against the ones who I know did this. As I watched the towers fall I got more and more upset and mad. I wanted revenge b/c as the days events unfolded I knew this was terrorism and I wanted blood. I couldn't believe they attacked us and that I saw it live. I went home and listened to an HF radio I have at all the radio traffic coming out of NY and listened to the NYPD/NYFD streams online. It was unreal.

Like 79 said this was the first time I got an Extra newspaper. I still have it in a box from The Akron Beacon Journal that said "Who Did This?" with a pic of one of the towers. Every radio station, every TV station (including MTV, Nickelodeon, every channel) was covering the days events. I assume it is my generations Pearl Harbor, JFK, it's a day I wish never happened that I will never forget.

I, too, was listening to the Howard Stern show at my desk at my old job. I remember thinking it was just a little Cesna or something. I remember someone joked on the Stern show, saying "can't they just drag a fire hose up there?" Then it was announced that a second plane hit. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Seconds later I found out they were passenger planes. Then the Pentagon. Then the towers fell. We were all sent home from work. I remember looking up at a plane making its way towards Port Columbus thinking, is everything OK up there? I didn't see any actual images of the destruction until I got home and turned on the TV. My wife, then fiance, got home soon after. That's when the tears finally came.

I know everybody remembers that day like it was yesterday. It's why it seems impossible that its been 7 years. It will feel like this every single year of my life.

I was listening to Howard too. It brought chills back to me two years ago when he replayed that show live and synced up to when the attacks were occuring.

I was Tri-C West in between English and Economics. My buddy caught me as I was switching classes and joked about a plane hitting a building...as I walked into Econ I believe the second hit plane. Pretty much about 50 people stood in the cramped lobby of the Crile Building watching TV. And none of us moved for about an hour and a half. It's a day I'm sure will be permanently etched in my brain from what I was wearing to the sandwich I ordered at Subway (and the Muslim owner closing up his business early out of fear).

On a sidenote, seeing Ground Zero about 5 years ago was, for lack of a better word, moving. It really changed my whole outlook on 9/11 and everything that happened on that day.

I worked second shift at the time, but I got up early to go to breakfast for my mom's 50th birthday that day. I turned on the tv like I always do, and it was just the first plane at that point. I normally don't watch stuff like that, but something just didn't feel right. I watched the second plane (live), and knew there was something bigger going on. I sat in disbelief as everything unfolded until I had to be at work at 2 (didnt go to breakfast).

Where I worked at the time was across the street from Dayton International Airport. All the planes were grounded and it was so eerie... the noise you normally drowned out was very noticably absent. I can't explain it. Later that night the silence was shattered by a sonic boom... they were sending out some fighter jet from somewhere. At the time, nobody knew that so it was scary! I'm fairly close to WPAFB as well, I thought something unspeakable happened there!

I went around the next morning and took a bunch of pictures of the flags, church signs, etc.

I was VERY on edge for a good three months or more, it slowly subsided after that... but I'll never be exactly the same. Everytime this anniversary rolls around, I'm reminded of everything.

I was at a bar, celebrating my birthday at 9AM and wham, some crazy camel jockeys take out a couple of buildings. I almost signed up for the marine corps that day.

79....I remember exactly where I was when the attacks began.

Some things are etched in our memories and never are forgotten...this would be one for me.

We were finishing getting dressed to attend a 9:30 am funeral for our brother in laws mother. The first reports on TV as we walked out the door were that a private plane had struck the building.

On the way to the funeral home, there was little or no information on the car radio but when we got the funeral home, it was shortly after 9:00am and our Pastor entered the room to updated all of us, that a second plane had hit the other tower.

I believe the entire room figured out, we were under attack at that moment of the Pastors announcement.

The funeral was one of the strangest events in my life, with the family and friends gathered to grieve for the loss of a loved one while knowing our country was under attack.

The funeral service was about a half hour long, give or take a few minutes. During the funeral, the Pastor asked that we all pray for those in New York. As the room emptied and we got our coats and walked to our cars for the 7 mile trip to the cemetery, word spread that the Pentagon had been hit after the two towers were hit.

By this time, the car radio did have sketchy information but obviously the media was confused and unsure, not wanting to say anything that might be wrong. I believe all of us were in a state of shock and disbelief by time we got to the graveyard still looking for an answer from someone, what was going on.

We laid our brother in laws mother to rest and went home to see if we could learn any more, constantly phoning each other with anything new we had heard.

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years...7 long years...but I still remember like it was yesterday.

Yeah it is weird that it has been 7 years ago. MSNBC has had NBC's coverage of that day running in sync with the time on 9-11-01 and it's crazy seeing it all over again. All the false reports and speculations, etc. The first tower just fell

I have a rather vivid memory on that morning.

I was in my office, sitting at my desk speaking to a colleague from another office on the phone.

We were chatting away about stuff that doesn't matter really. Then she put me on hold to take another call. Turned out it was her husband telling her about a small plane that crashed into one of the Towers..

She came back on the call and told me about it.. We didn't, at that point, think anything of it other than that's sad...

At the time, I was still a smoker so I finished the call, walked out of my office past the bullpen to go outside and have a smoke.

As I passed the bullpen, I told one of my fellow employees that a small plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers... I jokingly said, ahh, it's probably a terrorist attack.. I snickered and went out for a smoke.

5 minutes later, I came in and the person I mentioned it to said that it wasn't a small plane and they ARE calling it a terrorist attack..

Stunned is the word that described my thoughts at that moment.

We had a TV in the conference room, but it was strickly closed circuit.. no cable hook up or antenna..

I figured out how to unhook that closed circuit stuff and get the reception from AIR... but it was a pretty lousy picture.. one of my co workers ran to radio shack, bought a cheap $10 antenna and we hooked it up..

Over the next 3 hours we watched as things unfolded.. It was aweful, just as we hooked up the antenna, the second plane hit the second tower... We watched it live.. then replay after replay.

At about 1pm, we finally realized that the internet has slowed pretty much to a crawl.. and phones were useless since our customers were sending employees home.. I called my boss, told him I was shutting down, called the other offices in my charge, closed them also.. told them all to come in tomorrow at normal times unless I called and said otherwise.

It was an aweful day.. one that will never leave my mind.

I was a 8th grader at a school in Elyria Ohio. Our principal came over the PA and told us about one plane hit the WTC, and I remember thinking that it was a joke. Then he said a second plane had hit the WTC. We knew that it wasn't a joke, and something wrong happened.

I remember looking up at the sky all day, and instead of seeing jets all over, I saw nothing. I remember looking at the t.v, with horror and disbelief. I remember calling my brother as soon as I got out of school, because he was at Pittsburgh at the time, and remember being scared stiff when I heard a plane was headed that way.

I remember watching a shaken president that night too. It was surreal, it was a feeling that i'll never have again. This is the modern day Pearl Harbor, where a nation was shocked and thrust into a war. I still can't believe it. I went to NYC for my senior trip in high school. Looking at where the WTC was, looking at surrounding buildings, hearing the stories of the people. It was so, unreal. It was hard to believe that thousands of Americans died only a step away from me. You can still see the places where the falling metal had scraped against the nearby buildings.

This day is always a reminder that we need to find Bin Laden and make him pay for what he did. Not for us, and not for the image of watching such destruction, but for the people who were murdered for no other reason than being Americans. I hope nothing but the best to the people who lost brothers and sisters, friends or, god forbid, kids in this attack.

God Bless everyone here on this board and every American.

I was at work, just like I am now. We were glued to the TV all day. All work was put on hold.

Unless you were too young to remember, how could you forget where you were and what you were doing when the planes struck the WTC.? I was in my office at home working and had no idea what was happening. My wife called me (funny, I don't remember where she was calling me frrom) and told me "Dave, you have to go downstairs and turn on the TV. A plane just collided with the World Trade Center." I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit in real-time... I was speechless for a long time afterward as I just sat and watched the whole attack unfold from that point.

Sometimes it is still hard to believe it happened. What a terrible day indeed.

God bless the victims and their families.

I was working for Partners Health Plan a local HMO. Our building was located right next to RDU International Airport. I can vividly remember plane after plan flying overhead coming in for the mandatory grounding.

We had an account manager from NYC whose family still lived up there. She couldn't get a hold of her brother and father who were supposed to do some maintenance work on the Towers that day. She finally got a hold of them and everything worked out fine. But man, every person in the office was trying to keep her calm.

I was student teaching, and we were out for morning football practice with the freshman kids. Somebody came out and told us about the first plane, and about the time we got inside we saw the second plane. It was a wierd day, took my class to the library and watched coverage all morning. The school I was student teaching at is located in the town where the largest military base in Texas(I think anyway) is. Most of the kids at the school are from military families. There was a ton of emotion from those kids...Many mad, many scared. And a bunch just seem to know that this was teh start of a very bad time for them and thier families. I still think about those kids ans what that day started for them and thier families.

I was in bed sleeping. I worked steady afternoons then, and I didn't have children yet, so I would sleep till 11:00 daily.

My pager went off with my mom's work number in it. I called her and she's frantic. Telling me a plane just crashed into the WTC. I get out of bed, turn on the TV, and within a minute I watched that second plane hit.

That's something you'll never forget. What an awful day for America. So senseless. I'll never understand some people in this world.

Rest in peace to those who died that day, whether it was in the crashes, or in the fight to save their lives. And my condolences to their families and friends on this day.

I was working for an IT staffing agency (DirectfIT) in Independence at the time. I was listening to Bruce Drennan's show on the radio and at the end of his broadcacst, he read a news blurb about a plane hitting the WTC. I went to find the story to read more about it since they didn't say what kind of plane it was, and my agency also had people staffed in the WTC. Found a story on CNN, made a post on the board and kept tuned into the radio.

I was listening to the radio as the 2nd tower was hit, that's when I knew it wasn't just a cessna that lost it's way somehow. The guys that I worked with and I locked up our office and went to the building next door that had the cafeteria with the TVs. We watched, in horror, as the towers dropped. After that, we went back to our office and called Corp headquarters and were told to go home. As I was driving back to Akron, I called my Mother, who was at WalMart HQ in Arkansas.

They were fearful of an attack there because of WalMart being the world's largest retailer and of course, no one really knowing what was happening and why. I called my sister and told her to turn on the TV or come over to Mom's house and watch with me. (she stayed at her place).

Once I got home, I just watched CNN until 2am. I didn't really do much of anything else.

I was odd, once I got back to my office (before they told us to go home) looking out over downtown Cleveland and wondering if we were next. And the next day, not watching planes taking off and landing from Hopkins was erie.

After it was all said and done, my agency lost 8 people in the WTC (out of the 12 we had staffed there) and about a month later, they closed the Cleveland office. I still pray for them.

My Mom and I went to NYC in Feb. 2002. We, of course, visited Ground Zero and took some time for reflection. It was so moving and sad and heart warming all at the same time. Moving because of what it was, sad because I knew I was looking at a mass murder site. The heart warming part is from all the momentos and prayers written on the walls around the area. Also, people were talking to NYPD and NYFD officers and thanking them for their service.

My pics from my trip to WTC in Feb. 2002
Not all are of the WTC area

Thanks for sharing those pics, Babe.

I had been in the office a couple of hours when one of my colleagues came in to tell me to turn on the TV. Luckily that was a administrative day and not a hearing day and could devote my attention to the terrible news.

8am Sociology course in College. After the first plane hit the teacher sent us home. Watched the second plane hit live with one of my roomates who I woke up to let know what was going on. Was glued to the TV for days after that. I remember how weird it was... TV shows like Leno, Letterman, and Conan weren't about making people laugh. It was about grieving. Everyone was so nice to each other for a week or two and then it went back to the 'I don't have time' mode.

Freshman year of college, day 7, chemistry lab #2. Crazy day ...

i was in school at lakeland

our teacher kept leaving the classroom, and she wouldn't tell us what was going on, my next class was immediately after, and when i walked in, our teacher told us what had happened, that he didn't know any details, and that all classes were cancelled...

when i walked into the lobby area of the building, there were literally 200 people surrounding the big tv

i remember driving home from school, and just looking up in the sky wondering

it was really a weird feeling, of just not knowing what was going to happen, i think we all took our security for granted, living in america, where that stuff just doesn't happen

i also remember the idiots piling into the gas stations, thinking that for some reason, gas was going to dissapear...

I won't ever forget what was going on this day. I had just graduated HS ths spring before and was taking a year off while working at a Pizza Place.

I was up fairly early that morning watching Sportscenter, the Broncos had played Monday Night Football the night before, it was the game that Ed McCafery broke his leg. I remember they kept replaying the hit, one of the guys say "Play it again" and I believe the other one said, "I can't watch that again."

Not long after I started watching Sportscenter, my aunt called frantically. She called trying to find out where my dad was (he's a pilot), she actually thought I was him when she called. I reassured her that he was fine, actually not flying that day. After I got off the phone, I switched right over to ABCnews, both planes had hit by then. I then called my dad and let him know what happened.

I kept the news on all day until I had to go to work around 3 that afternoon. It was really weird at the pizza place, everybody was really quiet, even the people who came in to get food. Although that day and the next few days were pretty slow there. The Owner actually bought tshirts that said something about America and had the flag on them. He allowed us to where those as our uniforms for quite a while afterward.

I was working 1st shift in a factory at the time. I was in the breakroom for morning break when someone came in and said a cesna had hit one of the towers. I went back to work on my machine and found out there was another plane that hit the 2nd tower and that they were passenger planes. People who knew were frantic. Management was trying to keep the news quiet because they didn't want to lose production time. I asked the production manager what he thought about what was going on and he said (I will never forget this until the day I die), "I wish people would worry about their jobs and just do their work!" I made a promise to myself then that I was getting the hell out of there.

My sister sent me this... thought I would pass it on:
Nation Of Survivors

In the bright September morning without warning to us all
A few thousand lives were shattered and we watched two buildings fall
And a billion souls felt empty, and the flags at half-mast fly
In the memory of the innocent which didn't have to die

We've lost brothers, sisters, cousins. We've lost family and friends
But we've made the choice not to forget their lives and tragic ends
Though we've had our share of troubles we have put them all aside
As a nation grieves we find ourselves defending them with pride

We're a nation of survivors, with one heart we share a tear
But we live to serve the memory, not giving in to fear.
Though they try to take security with the things they've done and said
All their acts of inhumanity bring unity instead.
So we stand here as a family. One heart, one soul, one voice.
We are challenged by this moment, and united here by choice.

--Jack Foshee Jr., Sept 12, 2001.

I was sitting in 2nd period indusrial tech when the first plane hit. When I went to my next class, earth science, they had the television on. Still only one had been hit. As soon as I set back books on the desk, I sat down and looked up just as the 2nd plane was coming live. My teacher actually made a very loud gasp type cry when she saw it. It was weird because while this was happeneing people were still filing in for class, but you could hear the reactions running down the hall. Our teacher shut off the tv and went back in the room to compose herself.

I didn't find out unitl 2 periods later that both towers had in fact collapsed and the pentagon had been hit as well.

Geez, some of these responses are bringing back that rush of fear and anxiety I felt that day..

I remember that shortly after 9/11, there was a commercial, more of a Public Service Annuoncment I think... it showed a quiet suburban street in middle American somewhere..

The announcer said that since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, things have certainly changed in American.. Then they cut to the same street and suddenly, all the houses had an american flag out front. Man I get chills just thinking about it.

I hate to do this... but since most have already posted and have remembered that day. Would like to ask the question of why are we now on the 7th year... not 5th.. not 10th.. etc. being told to remember this day? Might it be because of the upcoming election?? It just goes to show how crappy politics is... A rep or dem was probably sitting in a room a year ago and said, next year we have to make sure we play up Sept 11th to make sure voters sway this way or that way. I officially hate politics.

We do a rememberance every year hear (IIRC). Nothing to do with it being an election year.