Where were you on 9/11?

[JayhawkCO]

Somewhat coincidentally, I was a sophomore in college on my way to Arabic class. I was taking Arabic because I wanted to do some anti-terrorism stuff with the State Department as a potential career.

[Dough4872]

I was in 6th grade in middle school. Went through the full school day with them showing the terrorist attacks on TV in one of my classes.

[zzcarp]

I was living in Ohio at the time and working as an EIT in Norwalk. Our receptionist came to the back and asked if I had my radio on and that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I then listened to it all on AM radio at work; the second crash during a live report, then that the Pentagon was hit, and then the collapse of each of the towers. And the dreading fear of what was next. Some of my dad's coworkers at the FAA were air traffic controllers working Flight 93. Just a harrowing day, even if it was nearly half a lifetime ago.

[kphoger]

I knew a guy online who was hitchhiking across the country to visit family.  He had no access to news media at the time, so he had no idea why all the drivers looked at him like he was crazy for hitching with a "NYC" sign.

[GaryV]

I was at work at Chrysler HQ. They changed the TV's in the concourses to CNN or something. I saw one of the towers collapse.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I was attending the Pennsylvania State Data Conference in Grantsville, PA, just east of Harrisburg....and 2+ hours east of Shanksville, PA. I watched events unfold on several TV screens in the hotel bar, and couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. Needless to say, as events unfolded, no one was focused much on the conference but instead thought about all of our friends/family/coworkers who lived or worked in DC/NYC. I tried calling my father who was supposed to fly that day to DC from Logan but couldn't get though.  He was OK. I remember driving home in a daze, and not really emerging from it for a long time.

[kkt]

Baby was just a few months old.  It was a working day.  When we heard the news on the radio, we turned on the TV and saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC.  Went to work - both my wife and I had jobs where we need to be open as scheduled.  Kept looking at the internet as the day unfolded.  Checked in with friend who lived in Boston.

[NE2]

On 9/11/1973? I wasn't born yet.

(Fuck Pinochet)

[ET21]

4th grade classroom, didn't know what was going on until I got home

[JoePCool14]

I was less than a year old, so I was likely at home, and just a toddler.

[Henry]

Since Seattle is three hours behind New York, I was just getting up when I heard my wife scream in horror at the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center, and she did it again when the other plane hit the second tower, and also when the Pentagon was struck and the towers fell. My bewildered 7-year old daughter could only look around and wonder what was going on, because she was too young for things like that. So because of that, I told her to get dressed and forget the terrifying events that were unleashed on the nation, and she obliged. Then the principal of her school called and told me that school was cancelled for the day, so she ended up watching a bunch of cartoons on videotapes. My wife and I were also told to stay home from work, and we needed some time to explain exactly what had happened. When we finally told our daughter the truth, we expected her to get upset, but then she told us that she knew the meaning of the phrase "nothing lasts forever." While she admitted that her mother's screams startled her, at least she was willing to put on a brave face and be the strong one in our family for once.

[michravera]

As today is September 11 - 22 years since the attacks - I figured I would create this post. (I can't believe no one else seems to have made such a thread!)

Anyway, on September 11, 2001, here's where I was. I was 8 years old, a student at Fairview Elementary School in Columbia, MO, and I had started second grade a couple weeks prior. As it was a Tuesday, I was in class at the time the planes hit the Twin Towers, and from what I remember, the day went on for me and my class just like any other normal school day - at the time, the school had several classrooms in trailers as the number of students enrolled far exceeded the capacity of the building (in fact, a new school would open on that side of town the next school year, 2002-03, to accommodate the overflow), and my class was in one of the trailers. There was no TV in the trailer, and I wasn't sure if there was one in the main building either; regardless, classes that day went on as normal, and I didn't know about the attacks until my parents told me when I got home, several hours later (this would have been around 5:00 PM in New York, or 4:00 PM in Missouri, as my school let out at 3:45).

That was where I was on 9/11 - where were you when you first heard that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center?

Two Sticks and a Swirl by Michael Angelo Ravera

Partner and I came from Reno
Cousin's wedding Saturday past.
Came home. Left her with family
For her birthday, night before last.
Worked pretty late the night before
Phone rang. Clock still starts with an "O".
It was her, my partner in life,
"Hon, get your shit ready to go!"
"We've been attacked! Turn on TV"
"Who was with you? Are you OK?!"
She said, "I'm fine at the moment"
It's not me but the USA!"

I, of course, wanted the details.
Had the Russians all lost their mind?
Was Miami burned by the Cubans?
Have the Canadians gone snow blind?
Had Madman from the peninsula
Launched a preemptive first strike?
Would I have to join signal corps
Fight like grandpa did the Third Reich?
No, Some planes had crashed back east
In New York, DC, and PA
It put a kink in all our lives
On that fine warm summer Tuesday

Two Sticks and a Swirl!
That's the day they were told
Two Sticks and a Swirl!
That's the day you'll be bold
Two Sticks and a Swirl
The day that we were reminded
They've wanted us all to quit
Ever since they could tell
Our ships from the Brits'!

Thought Dad was scheduled to give
Classes at the tower today?
Hope he's alright. Call grandma
"Have you heard from your son today?"
At work we had a couple switches
Replacements ready to roll
Beep WTC buddies
Where I had once worked in Seoul
Finally at fifteen fifteen
Grandma called me on my mobile
"Your dad's just fine. He talked to Bro,
But getting home will be trouble."

I later learned the guys who did it
Who, in the name of God, destroyed
Temples, religious artifacts,
From days pre-Mohamed deployed.
Almost the same ones who started
On the shores around Tripoli
To jack our ships just after
We had been a British colony
They don't care for our way of life
Two hundred years hated our guts!
Why did it take three thousand dead
To get us all off of our butts?

Two Sticks and a Swirl!

[ErmineNotyours]

I was also on a swing shift job, but I am a fan of Seattle morning radio host Pat Cashman on KOMO Radio, and I wanted to record the shows I would miss while asleep.  At the time, the best technology was to wake up and manually start recording the show to my computer's hard drive.  After three hours I would have to wake up again and start another session, but it needed a few minutes between sessions to create a wave form.  I used the Paul Harvey Report time to do this, but when I woke up at 8:00 they were just doing a continuous news report.  Then I turned on the TV when I was still half asleep, and it was a lot to take in.

I did save the recording, and a few years later Gary Hoffman asked for copies of the recording.  He was the morning news anchor for KOMO Radio, and he had since moved to KFI Los Angeles.  He asked if KOMO had any copies of the show and they directed him to me.  Pat himself got the copy too, and posted it on his podcast: https://www.peculiarpodcast.com/2020/09/10/september-11-2001/

The swing shift job?  Scanning paper documents at a Boeing office.  I had it as a temp job for two months.  It was great because I finally had an easy walking commute to a place a few blocks away.  Nearby were the offices for engineers responsible for interiors of 737s and 757s.  Such things as lavatories, galleys and cockpit doors.  Outside was a small airport where the completed airplanes take off.  I ate my meal outside, and it was strangely quiet with no air traffic for a week.

[ErmineNotyours]

Also, a few work days before, I got let off work early to see the fireworks for Renton, Washington's 100th Anniversary celebration.  Some fireworks outfit was more than happy to have work outside of July 4th, so they ran a typical show of fireworks not particularly synchronized to patriotic songs.  There I was introduced to Lee Greenwood's "Proud To Be an American" in a non-patriotic setting, which was strange to hear.  I would hear that song again so many times in the next months.

[Billy F 1988]

I was off to junior high school classes in Frenchtown, MT. While waking up, the first plane struck. While waiting to board my bus route to school, the second one hit. By the time I head in for class, the third plane hits the Pentagon. I was a bit lost in what was happening as I'm sure the majority of my class was at the time. I even had an eerie nightmare one night. In my dream, it felt like I was already at Ground Zero. I can't describe what I saw in that nightmare because it's stuck with me and it's been stuck with me since. One day while running errands in 2015, the Frenchtown Rural Fire Dept. draped an American flag over the overpass of Interstate 90, giving me yet another reminder of that nightmare I saw in my sleep, and what I saw on television the day it happened.

[Hobart]

I wasn't born yet on 9/11... my mother was 5 months pregnant with me though, and getting an ultrasound at the doctor's office to determine my gender.

Apparently she watched the towers collapse in the waiting room of the doctor's office on the TV they had. The doctor was rather distraught because his daughter lived a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.

[dvferyance]

I had just gotten up around 8:15 which would have been 9:15 New York time so both towers had already been hit. My sisters clock radio was on in her room and I heard what happened and I was like is this really happening? So I turned on the TV and sure enough it was true 2 airplanes had hit the World Trade Center. I was in college than and my first class was at 9:30 but before I had to leave at 9 is when the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon. Then I found out on the radio on the way to class that one of the towers had come down. The other tower collapsed right around the time my first class started so I didn't find out about it until later that day.

[Henry]

Here's a thought-provoking video describing in full detail what would've happened to the Twin Towers if they had survived the plane crashes.

I agree that they would've been permanently closed, and some sort of controlled demolition had taken place. And the Freedom Tower (the replacement for the North Tower, I believe) probably wouldn't have been built either.

[elsmere241]

I remember this well in part because the previous Friday was the beginning of the end for the job I had at the time.  (I'd be laid off the next February.)  Don Imus was wrapping up his show when he said that Warner Wolf had called in to say a plane had hit one of the towers.  Pretty quickly, all of us at work were scrambling to try to figure out what was up.  The internet connections were jammed, but we had a TV in the break room.  While we weren't glued to that TV, we were still trying to work for the most part, I do remember seeing at least one tower collapse on it.  Once both towers collapsed, the CEO called from Indianapolis and said we could go home.

Work at the time was on Harrison Avenue in Cary, NC, just below I-40.  I got on I-40 east and there was a lot of traffic on it and Wade Avenue.  My apartment was just east of where Wade (US 70/NC 50 at that point) meets Capital Boulevard (US 401) in Raleigh but the street grid was such that I got off Capital at Peace Avenue, turned left and went around the block a bit.  I turned on the TV - the ticker was saying "Give blood here" etc. and I was able to find out eventually all that had happened.

My quasi-girlfriend had emailed me about something else, and I can recall the latent anger in my response.  I called my grandmother in Salt Lake City.  I caught up with my mother, who was driving home from her work in Glassboro, NJ (Rowan University) to Newark, DE - she said this would give her some time to work on my sister's wedding dress.

Like I said, I lost my job in February (and that grandmother had died at age 74 in mid-January, fortunately not when the Olympics were in town).  After a couple of months, I moved in with my parents in Newark and took what work was there - on-and-off-temp work at the big local credit card bank.  Over time there, I could see something had changed there - security was checking bags, the elevator music in the bathrooms was patriotic-themed (including "God Bless the USA") and everyone's desktop background was "America" with the flag, etc.  That came to an apex on the first anniversary; in the days leading up to it, some employees were afraid that terrorists were going to storm the bank's offices, etc.  That day, security was heightened and at 8:53 for a "moment of silence" we held hands and listed to "God Bless the USA" - it left half the group in tears.  (I finally got a decent job, the job I still have, in November.)

There are still a few flags hanging on highway overpasses around here, I had to explain to my Washington state wife what they were for when she joined me in 2004.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I was in 5th grade in White Bear Lake, MN, the only year I spent in that school district. I got dropped off at school probably around when the WTC attacks were beginning, about an hour before school began. So I didn't know anything had happened until about 9:10 Central time, when I went into class for the morning and my teacher had his TV on. This wasn't unusual for him to have his TV on, but the headline on CNN was an alarming "EXPLOSION ON CAPITOL HILL." The sound wasn't on that I recall, or at least not very high, so I only learned from the pictures and headlines what exactly was happening. I don't recall seeing WTC 1 collapse live, but I do remember the images of it standing by itself.

School I think futilely tried to have it a normal day for a couple hours, then gave up, though we didn't go home early.

[vegas1962]

Then as now, I live in metro Detroit, same time zone as NYC. I arrived at my then-workplace around 8:15 am. At that time, I was working for a Japanese-owned auto parts supplier. Our building had a cafe that served breakfast and lunch, and most days my co-workers and I would meet there for a quick breakfast before getting into our day.  The cafe had a large projection TV that most mornings was tuned to (what was known then as) CNN Headline News. I recall getting my breakfast and sitting down at a table to eat, and seeing the bulletin pop up on the TV about the first plane impacting the WTC.  Then we saw the second plane hit just after 9:00 am and immediately realized these were not accidents.

The cafe soon began filling up with other employees who must have been hearing news from other sources and came down to see the TV images. Most of us sat there mesmerized until the first tower fell. I went back to my desk but was unable to focus on work. Eventually, after the second tower fell, our bosses sent everyone home because schools were closing and anyone with kids had to leave to pick them up.  I recall a small number of people freaking out (irrationally, it turned out) because they thought our building might be a target since we were foreign-owned.

[tmoore952]

I was in my mid 30s, was working in Tysons Corner VA, about 10 miles west of the Pentagon.

At the times that the two planes hit the WTC towers, I was commuting on a (Washington DC) Metro train, and then I took a bus to my office. I remember the traffic was very bad as I approached the office, but I had no idea why. When I went in to my building at 9:30 AM, everyone was running around and acting strange. I asked the security guard what was going on, and he told me.

I also remember hearing that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and another had crashed in Pennsylvania, but since (see next line) I was working, it didn't really click for some time that all of this was related.

I had to work a full day that day, had a deadline.

The following will only make sense if I first say that I did not see any video of what happened until 10 PM.
That afternoon, I remember seeing on my computer --- notices that "towers collapse". I thought "well where did they go? Did they fall into the river?". It wasn't until I saw the video that I realized they had pancaked onto themselves when they collapsed,

The other thing I remember was going out just before sunset to catch my bus (and eventually my train) home, and noticing how quiet it was. No planes, very few cars. Eerily silent.

[brad.jons]

Me, I was about to meet my friends to go to the cinema, and while preparing to go, we just got paralyzed and we decided to cancel... such a terrific day, hope never happens anything similar again

[kphoger]

terrific

Forgive me if this isn't true, but it seems your first language might not be English.  The correct word here would be "terrible".  Both words used to mean terror-inspiring, but for the last hundred years or so "terrific" has meant "really good".

[tmoore952]

terrific

Forgive me if this isn't true, but it seems your first language might not be English.  The correct word here would be "terrible".  Both words used to mean terror-inspiring, but for the last hundred years or so "terrific" has meant "really good".

I'll give brad.jons the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe the post got "autocorrected". (however, after saying that, I realize I don't recognize the poster's location)

I will also say, that those of us who live in the vicinity of where the planes crashed, and who remember that day, will all say it was a "terrific" day weatherwise. Not a cloud in the sky. I often wonder if that actually was a factor in the planning, since the hijackers were (relatively) inexperienced and a clear day like that would make it very easy to see your intended target.