Any 9/11 Stories or Recollections

Loading our rental car up at a hotel in Nashville. Coming in, I saw what I thought was a video of a fire at some big building. Our plans had been to find a Krispy Kreme then visit a Civil War battlefield before flying home that evening. While having breakfast, I left for the bathroom. By the time I got back, Judy had witnessed the second tower get hit. The plans changed to finding a road atlas and plotting a course home avoiding the NYC area. The ride took us through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and the northeast corner of Pennsylvania before stopping for the night in Buffalo. Regular radio was fear mongering, spreading rumors and generally inciting panic. Gas stations suddenly raised their prices dramatically. As we got further north, we saw much heavy military construction equipment on the road.

Living in San Diego at the time and retired from the Navy some five years earlier, so I was simply among those huddled masses yearning to kick some ass.

I was in my shop working on a model.  I was listening to music on my local classical music station.  They interrupted with word that there was a fire in the WTC, and it may have been a plane crash.  I went upstairs and turned on the TV.  Shortly afterward the TV showed a large aircraft at low altitude. too low for the NY area TCA, and not on the glide path for any large airport I was aware of in that area.  Sure enough, I saw the second aircraft fly into a tower.  We were at war!

I still remember that morning like it was yesterday.  I was a freshman in Whitewater, WI, and given the wake up times of most college aged individuals I was asleep during the attacks.  As I was heading back from brushing my teeth, someone asked me what I thought about those plane crashes in NY.  I had no idea what she was talking about so she told me to go turn the TV on.  Flipped it on and was watching when the news of the Pentagon being hit broke, the crash of Flight 93, and of couse saw the tower collapse.  

After that, most things are a blur, but I do know that most classes were still on and I had to go to one later that afternoon.  We all just basically shared our thoughts on the events of the day, but the only memorable speech was by John the New Zealand exhange student. He asserted that America will make it through these attacks, and his nation and the rest of the world will back us up whenever we decided to bring justice to the terrorist groups. 

Going back to the dorm was just a surreal experience, the campus was so quiet and the skies so clear.   

Whenever I see footage or hear stories of the survivors it still brings tears to my eyes, and I don't even know anybody who was directly or secondarily affected.

I was in a heavy off-site meeting following a presentation the day before of some futurist work we had done for the senior leadership. We presented what we called our Armageddon scenario which was an emergent pathogen that turned life upside down (little did we know how accurate we were until 20 years later). Anyway, leaderships respomse was basically, "Thankyou very much, but this is so unlikely it isn't relevant." The next day changed all that

We noticed during the meeting that the staff had all disappeared and everything got very quiet. A couple of us went to investigate and found them watching a TV. Then my wife called that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. At the time I thought of the B-25 that had hit the Empire State. Shortly after, the boss told us all to go home. By the time I got home the second tower had been hit and the first tower had fallen.

The son of a good friend watched people jumping from both towers and both towers fall. My cousin's apartment looked out on the Pentagon and she heard the explosion as she was getting ready for work. Most of my team was in the air on the way to a meeting in Florida and found themselves on the ground in Charlotte instead. They rented a car to drive home.

   Pulling a B-train loaded with shingles for Salt Lake. I was waking up near Twin Falls Id., had a wierd feeling that something was....off... Had coffee and got rolling shortly after. A few miles East I reliezed that the normal CB chatter was very low from the norm. Overheard someone say that New York was under attack, I hit the next exit and pulled into the fuel island of a Flying J. Hustled inside to find a bunch of drivers gathered around an overhead TV where the brodcast was showing the first tower on fire.....lots of chatter....I missed the second hit but watched as the second tower blossomed in fire and smoke.

    My mind was going a hundred miles an hour, who, why, how.... Then the first tower fell.....I am to this day ashamed of my first thought, "wow those demolishen crews sure worked fast".

    It only accurred to me months later how bad it was as well as how bad it might have been had the attack taken place later in the morning. I still wrestle with my initial thought as well as anger, hatred, fear, and an overwhelming sense of duty to protect my country from all threats foreign and domestic. I do not consider myself now a war monger, nor do I really hate anybody, however I am very skeptical and watch closely the actions of certian groups of people.

Hi;

         I was just finishing up working on a diesel on, my boat and come out for air. My neighbor worked for U.P.S.and he was running down the pier yelling for me to turn on the T.V.! I saw the first tower aflame and the second tower get hit. My friend called from his store and asked if I could drive his daughters home, Some folks had gathered outside his store throwing rocks and eggs( he Was Sihk and as you know they wear Turbans.)They were shouting rants about " Go Home Raghead and Murders Etc." I showed up at the same time as the Sheriff arrived. I called them before I left the Marina.

        I watched the T.V. most of the night until the Towers came down. I had a feeling that the trouble behind the incident was Osama-Bin -Laden. His rants got the results he hoped for. I pray every night for those in the buildings and the planes that were lost that day. Some were definitely Muslim Too! We need to be careful, but not go off half cocked at someone who we think is whatever. Check first and channel your anger where it belongs-That what the U.S.M.C. taught me!

I was in Albany NY for a one week training. Sad part was the folks giving the training knew people/family in the WTC.  I got stuck in NY for 4 days. 

i remember when the first tower got hit 

i remembered the pictures from when a B-25 smashed into the Empire State building.

After all aircraft were grounded, the dead silence from O.I.A. and the other airports in the area was just like the morning after our base in S.E.A. had been attacked and all still operational aircraft except our rescue H-43s, had been evacuated to safer bases out of the country.  After hearing raids launch every hour non stop, there was no noise except for our armored vehicles and a few pieces of maintenance equipment on the flight line.  This was the first time I understood a phrase I heard in high school a year or so ago,  when a teacher asked who could explain "The silence was deffening".  I'll never forget that.

I was in the credit union on Hanscom AFB outside of Boston, Mass. The air base went into immediate lockdown and all buildings locked. No one in or out. They had a TV in the wating area.

My brother worked in the WTC and as the buildings fell on TV, I assumed he was dead. We didn't have a cellphone yet, and had just moved into guest housing awaiting new quarters. I had no way of contacting my family on base or our family at their homes.

Later in the evening, my mom had been able to contact my unit who in turn contacted base housing and they informed me that my brother was alive.

He was scheduled to go into work late and was just fine. The lines of communication were overwhelmed and it took him a while to let our mom know he was okay. 

His company lost over 250 employees, about half of them he knew personally.

I was on my second day of a week-long break from work, so I was enjoying being able to sleep in a little bit.  My phone started ringing around 8:20AM, but I let the answering machine (wow...we actually had answering machines back then) get it.  When it started recording, I heard my mom's voice saying "Hope you're having a good vacation.  If you're home, turn on the news...something terrible is happening."  I got up and turned on the TV, and watched in disbelief as I saw the smoke billowing from the two towers.  As I was watching, WTC 1 came down.

My mom's building on the old Lowry AFB was evacuated shortly thereafter and she came to my apartment so we could be together and watch the news to try to figure out what was going on.  When the Pentagon got hit, that really horrified both of us...we had 5 friends who were co-workers of her's who had left the previous evening on a TDY assignment to the Pentagon.  Luckily, since their flight got into DC so late on Monday night, they were all allowed to report late.  They were walking toward the building when the plane hit it, so none of them were hurt.

10 years later, my mom retired as the only civilian to have ever served in the position she held with the Air Force, after almost 38 years of service.  Just a couple of days before her retirement ceremony, Osama Bin Laden was found and killed.  During the ceremony, we all sort of joked about how that was her retirement present from the SeAL team.  She had spent that 10 years mobilizing Air Force Reserve personnel as part of the GWOT, so it was the icing on the cake.  My brother, who was a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force Reserve that day, was one of two Airmen who conducted the flag ceremony.  Before moving into the Air Force Reserve, he had been a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps, and had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  Everybody in the family was together, at home, and safe.  

We were getting ready to leave for a scheduled Dr's appointment. The TV was on as we were hurrying up to get ready. Heard the news and went into the kitchen to see what happened. Saw #2 get hit and we all know the rest. Those scenes are permanently burned into my memory. We didn't make it to the  appointment.

Went out to the crash site at a later date with our fire police on the way to Pa. fire police school. They were having a flag ceremony with a very large flag that was to go on display at the site. We were asked to be among those holding the flag for photos. After the photos were taken, we left our caps there to be put with the flag. The various members of other fire police groups also left caps, badges and other items  from their squads. 

We have been there twice since then and are planning to go again in the near future.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

I was teaching fourth grade that day and the school's secretary phoned each classroom and told the teachers to come to the office when they weren't with students.  That year we had a  classroom next to the office that wasn't being used and they had set up a TV cart in that room so that we could watch the news broadcasts.  After watching the news I called my wife who was at home.  The teachers were instructed not to tell our students, because of their young age, so that their parents could talk to them about it after school.  The rest of that day and the next were so somber and quiet.

TJS

I was at work and my job was located inside an R&D tech area located on an Air Force base. A coworker poked his head in my office and said I should come down to a conference room where they had a TV turned on. Not long after that the second plane hit. Initially the base was locked down and then they announced that all civilian personnel needed to evacuate the base in shifts based on the first letter of your last name. It was not until mid afternoon that traffic cleared to the point that I even attempted the drive off base. A neighbor of ours was an F-16 pilot in the Air National Guard and he later told me the most surreal time of his life was being called in to fly CAP over his home town on that day. Although I did not know him at the time my future son-in-law was attending college on a scholarship but was down at the Marine Corps recruiting office on the 12th to enlist. He served multiple combat deployments including the second battle of Fallujah and almost did not survive his last deployment. There are many people and many things that I appreciate in much deeper ways since that day.

By the time we got up that morning, it was about 2 - 2 1/2 hours into the storyline.  Watched as much as possible before I had to leave for work.  When I got there, the boss invited the painter and I into the house to keep up on things as they were announced.  (The body shop was next to his home).  After the towers came down, we all went out and got started on work.... needless to say, not much got done, our hearts weren't in it, and there wasn't any of the usual banter going back and forth.  Two of us were ex military, and were looking forward to the eagle spreading it's wings and giving someone a very bad day as soon as they knew who was responsible.

I was way down near Homestead AFB on US 1 and vividly remember the F4 gate guardian when my wife called me and told me whst was going on. I rushed to a daycare business and ran into the office and yelled at the lady there to turn on the news. We both stood there with jaws dropped. Very sad specially with this failure of a sorry description of a withdrawal.