9/11 Never forget! What were you doing.....

[ApexerER]

Its crazy to me that 9/11 was 20 years ago. I remember that day so vividly.....I had been in a motorcycle accident and was at home healing up when my buddy Steve dropped by and asked if i was watching TV.  I wasn't but turned it right on. I watched with horror, anger, sorrow and felt helpless. It was a beautiful day but the darkest day of my life. I worked for MetLife at the time and new several people that worked down there. Thankfully I didn't know anyone that perished but still feel sorrow and anger for those that did. My daughter is 16, she will never know the feelings of that day. Hopefully she never will. My friend Steve that stopped by that day had been out of the Army for a couple years. He said that morning he was going back in and did exactly that. Thank you to him and all like him. Later that day i went with another friend to pick up his new Chevy Blazer ZR2.  It seemed like the world was surreal. Everyone went out of their way to be extra friendly. If only we could get back to the unity we felt as a country that day and the months beyond. So much has changed......

Lets make sure we all take a minute to remember where you were, what you were doing and your feelings that day.  Remember those that were lost, the hero's of Flight 93 and all those that fought for our freedom....

NEVER FORGET!!

 

 

[farmer 52]

I was still working,in the yard dropping + hooking tractors.In a road tractor and on the radio they started talking about it.Could not believe it went into terminal and second plane it,was like getting punched in the gut.
Horrible feeling not knowing what was next, I will never forget that day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bionic]

I was in class in high school, I remember fellow students crying worried about loved ones.

NEVER FORGET

[Jeremy K]

Sleeping ,my dad called me to get up and turn on the news.

[SilentStalker]

In college at Oswego, living in a house off campus. Woke up to cancelled classes and a real concern about Nine Mile being a potential target. I lived with 2 guys who were from NYC and it while it was an awful day for all Americans, they were extremely devastated.  

[Eric J]

I worked down town.... luckily I took the earlier train that day... got to the office... logged on and a co worker was like.... Look at all this paper floating around outside the window!  It was like a tickertape parade.... then I noticed most of the paper was burnt around the edges... like you'd see in a movie.  Crazy...

After that we went outside to see the tower when the second plane hit.... THAT was when we knew it was terrorism. Never thought the towers would collapse.... so we stayed in our building... then the First one fell... and we were enshrouded with that black cloud of dust. After the second fell... after the air cleared up a bit we got out of there... ran over to South Street seaport... got a ride on a police boat over to NJ.

 

I'll tell you one thing.... I'll never forget that smell.... like burnt metal. It smelt like that for a week or two afterward.

[Splitear]

I was a Junior in High School, and was on my way to school when I heard it on the radio. I still remember the confusion of that day. Every class had it on the TV. I remember being worried because some of the kids were talking about going to war and being drafted. 

I'll never forget the feeling of unity that followed. It didn't matter where you were on the political spectrum, for a long while we were all Americans. I remember the big thing was to drive with your lights on in remembrance. The worst of days shined a light on the best qualities of what it means to be an American.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Splitear

[BizCT]

I was a senior in high school. they made an announcement over the loud speaker and locked the school down. My friends and I left anyway. The fat lady parking lot monitor wasn't stopping us. We drove to the closest friend's house and watched on TV.

I worked at Ames Dept Store at nights. I went to work that night and no shoppers came in. It was really eerie. 

[Cory]

My mom called and woke me up I was 19 at the time and told me to turn on the news. We were talking about it and I said another plane just crashed into it also. Then the pentagon. I remember all the different news agencies reporting who was behind the terrorist attacks as the Chinese the Russians then the real story came out. Not to long after that I was bar tending and we were watching the convoy of trucks and tanks rolling into the Middle East and I walked into my local recruit station the next day and signed up. That day turned so many lives !

[Nytracker]

I was just home from working overnight .. tying flies. Story broke through what ever I was watching live shot as second  jet crashed  into the second tower . No sleep that day...glued to the TV.  I won't ever forget it .

[The_Real_TCIII]

That was my second day with a new company and I had a flight to Logan that afternoon

[UWShunter]

What I remember most was the day before 9/11. I was driving down the west side highway, heading to Brooklyn.
That Monday, you couldn’t even see the towers. Covered in dark grey clouds - was very eerie.
Next day - beautiful weather, not a cloud in the sky & then the world would forever change.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hunter]

I was living in Staten Island and had just dropped my kids off at school and was taking my wife to a doctor appointment in NYC. My wife was driving our minivan and I noticed the crazy amount of police and even more fire dept vehicles heading towards the Verrazzano Bridge, so I turned the radio on to news. When I heard a jet had crashed into the WTC and they were talking like it was an accident and I told my wife no way with the radar we have now no experienced pilot could be flying that low at that location where there are so many sky scrapers. While on the bridge we saw the second jet hit the second tower and I told her when we got over the bridge to turn around and go back home. She was worried about missing her Dr appointment and I told her there was no way we were ever gonna get there with the WTC on fire. At this point the media realized it was terrorism so we picked our kids up from school and went home to pray together. My wife had just passed her RN license volunteered at ground zero for two weeks until they told her they didn't need her anymore. She was there when the third building fell. In the beginning she worked the line of rescuers passing debris away from the scene digging for survivors, they would say bucket when one was being passed because they held pieces of the victims and you didn't want to look in. After a few days when they realized there wouldn't be any more survivors she worked in a clinic for rescue workers who got hurt, some had heart attacks. Originally the clinic was in the school near the WTC later they opened one on the Staten Island side at the ferry terminal and she finished her volunteer time there.

[Robhuntandfish]

I was driving a bus filling in for staff and my phone was going nuts. Couldn't answer it of course esp since I was actually crossing RR tracks when the phone started ringing. But was almost back and knew something must be wrong.  

Got to the office and another director was back in my office watching the TV.  Then shortly after the second plane hit.  Knew it was an attack then.   

Something that stuck out to me other than the tragedy of course, was that after watching the news all day, went out with a beer about 11 on the deck.  Could see every star in the sky and it hit me not to see a single plane in the sky.  

My wife worked for Bank of NY in Oriskany and she was called into work as the NY main office was right next to the towers.  And part of one of the buildings ended up  falling on it.  

Edited September 10, 2021 by Robhuntandfish

[MPHunter]

I was working in the office and one of my coworkers said that a plane flew into the WTC. We figured it had to be a small plane or possibly a helicopter. When we heard a second plane hit we knew it had to be terrorism. Went to a conference room and turned on the news. Watched the towers fall on TV.  It was pretty surreal. Several of my coworkers were on the train down to NYC for a meeting with the Port Authority at the time the planes hit. Thankfully for them, it was an afternoon meeting.  

[BigVal]

I was in 2nd grade , still remember it clearly. 

[suburbanfarmer]

I was at work and saw it all happen in disbelief. 

[BowmanMike]

I was at work and had no clue. My parents were visiting from Germany at the time and we had a bus tour scheduled to the city for the next day.  When I got home they told me what happened and we turned on the news. 

Shocking.  

The worst thing was my wife was flying that day on her way to Washington state and her plane across the country left from Washington DC. Her plane was on the runway waiting for takeoff when every plane was grounded. She was not too many planes behind the one that left from DC headed for the pentagon. 

Luckily she managed to call our house and say she was OK before I got home.. She managed to get back 3 days later by teaming up with 2 fellow New Yorkers and they rented a car to drive back up.

One of the strangest days to say the least.

[46rkl]

I was teaching a chemistry class when another teacher stuck his head in the door and told me a plane had hit the WTC. I had a tv in my room and as soon as class ended I turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit. The feeling of numbness and anger is not something I’ll forget. Spending the rest of the day watching the news with students and trying to make some sense of what had happened. I knew for sure that some of my students would be enlisting in a few months. I never figured it would be a twenty year slog to get out of that hell hole. One teacher had a son working for DEC and they had offices in the WTC. It took most of the day before we got the news that he had answered a call (ECO) on his way to work and wasn’t in the office when the first plane hit, just a few blocks away. He saw the plane fly so low and out of sight before hearing the crash and seeing the debris floating down. He spent weeks working at ground zero. Now he is working in Region 8, and is a good friend.

The teacher who stuck his head in the room that morning was a second year teacher and newly married. He wanted to enlist but decided against it when he found out his wife was expecting. Instead, he joined the Secret Service and is still working there.

The day everything changed.

[mowin]

I worked as a archery tech in a small gun shop. We were watching on TV. All of us were in shock. Mixed emotions from anger, to patriotic unity, and fear were felt by all of us. 

By mid day, we were  sold out of AR's, not that we had many in stock. Lot of shotguns and 00 buck went out the door too. Sales that month were incredible. 

Sad so many have forgotten... 

Edited September 10, 2021 by mowin

[grampy]

I was working in a commercial shop as the chief pressman, when the building supervisor walked up and said to shut down the machine, and come to his office. I was thinking, what is this all about?? After getting there he said have a seat, look at this. He had a small TV on, and the 2nd plane had just hit the tower. We both just sat watching, not saying a word. Knowing that America, as we had known her, would never be the same again. After awhile, he said I'm going to tell everyone to go home to their families.

I got home and my phone was ringing. It was my mom, telling me her mom, my grandmother, had just passed away. Natural causes, not by anything to do with what was going on. It was one of the sadest days of my life. I sat there, as a tear rolled down my cheek. Drove over to mom's to comfort her.

[Nomad]

Got off a night shift , hit the YMCA around 8:00 . The weights were in the back and a short wall separated that area from the cardio ,which was where the TVs were . I see a high rise fire on one TV,then another and another , so I walked over to look , learned what it was , stopped doing weights and jumped on a treadmill .

Few hours later back to work in a state of shock . 
 

The two patches on the right were given to me by a FDNY LT, that was in my flips class a few years later .
 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Nomad

[cynthiafu]

I was at work pumping gas in New Jersey.  The people coming in were all on the way home  to be with their love ones to watch . It was to sad I could not watch the TV.  I also could not understand  how people could watch it over an over again . I still can  not watch it . Rip all who were loss

[GreeneHunter]

I was on Active Duty