Do you remember where you were during 9/11?

Question

I was in fifth grade math class and was blown away by what happened.  I hope you all remember the significance of this day and take care of yourselves.

NYCQuestions1976 · Accepted Answer

I wrote and posted this on GaG on the 20th anniversary. I made a few tweaks from the original: On Monday, 9/10/2001, I was 25 years old, and living a pretty fun and decent life. I was seeing a pretty hot blonde girl, but it wasn't anything serious. Three months earlier, I had seen the Dave Matthews Band at Giants Stadium on Monday, 6/11/2001. It would eventually become known as "The Great Hail Storm Performance", as they closed the concert with a nearly 10 minute performance of "Two Step" during an utterly ridiculous lightning and hail storm. I had season tickets for the New York Yankees since 1998, and had been to every home playoff and World Series game the prior 3 seasons. I was looking forward to the 2001 Yankees postseason, as well as the New York Giants regular season. The Giants had been in the Super Bowl just 8 months prior. I was also enjoying my extended family and being a fun cousin, as my cousin and her husband had 5 little ones (8, almost 7, 4½, 3, and 10 months). I would take the older ones to regular season and playoff games from time-to-time. As for employment, I had been working full-time overnights for Lucent Technologies for about 18 months and was released with severance pay when they had their 25,000 personnel layoff a few weeks prior in July 2001. I had submitted an application for Union employment in New York City (the career I currently have) on behest of my cousin-in-law, who was already in this Union and working at the World Trade Center. In the meantime, I found temporary work at another overnight job, filling and occasionally driving a delivery truck at a centralized distribution center, while waiting on a response to my Union application. I was scheduled to work the overnight on Monday, 9/10/2001 at 11:30pm. The New York Yankees were scheduled to host the Boston Red Sox that evening, with the first pitch scheduled for just after 7pm. The pitching matchup was going to be Roger Clemens against Pedro Martinez. The game was going to be a sellout crowd of 56,000. Meanwhile, the New York Giants were starting the new NFL season as defending NFC Champions on Monday Night Football at Mile High Stadium against the Denver Broncos. My plan was to attend the Yankees game, leave early, switch between the Yankees and Giants in the car, as I drove to work. Well, I went to the Yankee game, and it was delayed and eventually postponed, because of heavy rain. I still remember legendary Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard's announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox has been postponed. Please leave the Stadium in an orderly fashion, and arrive home safely." Now that I had some time to kill, I went to Stan's Restaurant (bar) across the street to watch the start of the Monday night football game between the Giants and Broncos. Ed McCaffrey (yes, Christian McCaffrey's father), a wide receiver for the Broncos, broke his leg early in the 3rd quarter, and I left Stan's right after that. The Giants would eventually lose the game, 31-20. I remember speaking to my friend on my Motorola StarTac flip phone on my way to work, as he complained to me, "The players on my (fantasy) team always get hurt." Although I believe he also dropped quite a few F-bombs in that sentence. I barely got to work on time that night, and worked a rather unremarkable shift. I got off of work a little after 7:30am, drove home with the entire New York City/Manhattan skyline on the horizon as always, and was home by 8:15am. The heavy rain from the night before had completely passed, and it was bright, dry, calm, and sunny. It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001. At around 8:50am, my Father comes downstairs to check his e-mail on the house computer before going to work. He tells me to put the news on, because a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. I had been watching the Weather Channel to see the latest on Hurricane Erin, which was just off the eastern seaboard. I put on WNEW (it was one channel down from the Weather Channel at the time), and they're showing the North Tower smoking from their traffic helicopter. I'm thinking to myself, "Great. Some idiot who had no business flying lost control of his/her tiny plane, and just killed themselves and a lot of innocent people." Then at 9am my Father and I hear a loud plane fly overhead (we we're living in New Jersey, just south of New York City). I said to him, "Damn. They were low." We didn't think anything of it, because planes few pretty low over us from time-to-time where we are (near Earle Naval Station, and not far from McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix). As I'm watching this unfold, I started to say to my Father as he's looking at his e-mails, "Do we really need..." Suddenly, another plane flies onto the screen, and hits the South Tower. I yell, "Another plane just hit the other tower!" My Father turns immediately from the computer, "What?" We both watch say nothing for about a minute. I finally look at him and go, "That wasn't an accident. That was on fucking purpose!" My Father says nothing. We watch for a few more minutes in silence, and then my Father gets up and says to me, "I need to get to work. Turn off the computer for me." He pauses for a moment. "Make sure your mother and brother don't go anywhere today. Stay home." I did stay home, and watched as the Pentagon was attacked with another plane, the South Tower collapsed, another plane crashed in Pennsylvania, and the North Tower collapsed. Later on, after being hit with debris from the Twin Towers and burning uncontrollably for hours, 7 World Trade Center also collapsed. I watched. All day. In utter disbelief and anger. I even watched the President Of The United States hold back tears in one of his initial responses, before he formally addressed the nation later that night. My cousin called us to tell us that she was having a hard time getting in touch with her husband. He had told her that he was about to be evacuated from one of the basements of the South Tower (each building had 6 basements) after the North Tower was hit, but she wasn't able to get in contact with him after that. The only non-family member I spoke with outside my house during that afternoon was my friend in South Carolina. We were also having trouble getting in touch with three friends who were working in other areas of Manhattan that day. Land lines were working that day, but trying to call cell lines was a disaster. That evening, my family and I found out from my cousin that after her husband was evacuated from the South Tower, he was able to get far enough away before the South Tower was hit and both towers collapsed. He didn't wind up getting home until the next day, because all of the bridges, tunnels, and all other transportation in and out of Manhattan, had been shut down after the South Tower was hit (he wasn't aware that people were getting out by ferry). At the time, my cousin-in-law was the only person I knew who was in either tower (since then, I've met and worked with many others over the last 2 decades who were there and/or lost a loved one). Later that night, I found out from my friend in South Carolina that he was finally able to get in contact with our three friends who were stranded in Manhattan. They were finally able to get out of Manhattan by ferry. I went to pick them up in silence, and drove them all home while we all said and asked different variations of, "What the hell happened today?" to one another, in between long blocks of silent disbelief. After I got all my friends home, I called out of work that night, because most of the trucks at the distribution center where I worked were filled with deliveries that were going to or from the World Trade Center. After what happened, who knows what I could be potentially handling? The next day I quit.

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

Mine are personal. I was living in northern Virginia and working in Washington, DC, so I got an almost first hand view.

My boss came in an told me that a plane had hit one of the twin towers. We went into his office and watched television. We saw the other tower hit. Then we continued to watch when a reporter came on to say the Pentagon had been hit.

It was funny, we continued to watch the television - even though we were in a 7 story building with a view over to the Potomac and the Pentagon. Suddenly it hit me and I looked out the window and saw the flames pouring out of the Pentagon on the opposite side from our vantage point.

My boss said, "Oh my God!"

So we watched for a while and then they ordered us to evacuate the building. I opted to remain, figuring that the traffic would be awful. I waited till about 2 or 3 then went down to the garage and got my car.

The streets were empty and I was able to make the ride home in only 30 minutes, driving right past the Pentagon - on Rt 110 - on my way. (The damage was on the opposite side.)

It was a stunning day, but in a strange way I was not surprised. I had dealt with terrorism and unconventional warfare issues over the course of my career and knew such an attack was a theoretical possibility. So I found myself more impressed by the tactics and it only hit home later the lives that had been lost.

One of those lives, it turned out, was the husband of a friend of mine. That suddenly made it less surreal and more concrete.

katiesmuff · Accepted Answer

I was in my apartment 4 months pregnant and getting ready for work when my mom called telling me what had happened. I then went to work where that was the conversation all day long as we had all TV's on watching.

LadyBecks · Accepted Answer

I was in my twenties and at work and just shocked at what was happening.

GoodGuyBreakingBad · Answer

Yes, in my living-room with my sister, niece, mother. My niece was just born and one month and 9 days old.

hahahmm · Answer

Sure. Some of the people on the planes were co-workers of mine. But I wasn't close to them. And in the mid-late 90s I went to WTC as a tourist because I had family living near there. I had a very uncomfortable feeling about that place. A feeling that said being there was wrong/dangerous. Never wanted to go back. Of course people who never get any sensations like that won't believe it.

Dongie · Answer

I was at my mom and dad's house. Woke to the TV talking about the plane hitting the building and watched as a second one hit the other.

exitseven · Answer

Yes, I was working as a lab engineer for a high tech company. I had a TV on a cart that had a VCR that I used for training purposes. I set this up in my lab and made an antenna out of some wire and was able to get one of the local TV stations. About 20 or 30 people came to the lab to watch. It was just unbelievable.

OddBeMe · Answer

Freshman HS. and we all were distraught so much we gave bush unwarranted power to start to failed wars on the credit card that Clinton just balanced. And surplused.

Now we're seeing the same thing in Israel- which by population figures- was 10x worse than 9/11 go down the same neoconservative road

NathanDavis · Answer

I was sleeping, and got woken up to check the news on it...

Fireguy17 · Answer

yeppers, I had the news on when the first tower was hit, and I was in the drive through getting yet something else I shouldn't be eating for breakfast shortly after the second tower was hit.

worldscolide · Answer

I was walking into work, boss closed shop that day, and bought lunch and dinner for all of us.

llorando · Answer

I was in grade science class when I first heard about it.

Apple1996 · Answer

I was 5 so I don't even remember it

verified · Answer

I was a random swimmer in my dad's nutsack

Ms_Facesitter · Answer

School. Wanting to go home. It was a hot day.

Dargil · Answer

Sitting in 6th grade class.

Walksbehindtherows · Answer

I wasn't born yet

LaurenM1997 · Answer

I didn’t exist

Do you remember where you were during 9/11?

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Yes, in my living-room with my sister, niece, mother. My niece was just born and one month and 9 days old.

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Do you remember where you were during 9/11?

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Yes, in my living-room with my sister, niece, mother. My niece was just born and one month and 9 days old.

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