Where were you on 9/11/01

DE OPPRESSO LIBER

DE OPPRESSO LIBER

Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Messages
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Shall we never forget that day that still rings soo clear in my mind. I was standing on top of the EPA building in Washington,DC watching the Pentagon burning people screaming running out of the buildings and the F16s flying overhead.
 
I was getting ready to go to work when the wife called me into the bed room. I made it in just in time to watch the second plane hit the other tower on FOX news. I went to work, but business was slow that day. All the gas stations around here jacked their prices way up and everyone was filling their tanks, I think that is a natural reaction around here. Bad stuff happens and everyone heads for the gas station to top off and fill a few jerry cans.
 
Wife was dropping me off at work when the first plane hit.

I worked at the time right next to Chicago's O'hare airport. Was so weird watching all the planes coming in when they shut down all air traffic...

Was hearing coverage over the net on one of the CNN robot sites. Was sitting in my office in awe when the towers fell.

My friend gave me a ride home when they shut the office down.

My wife had gone to a ladies "Take a Break" at what was to become our church. She became a Christian that day and is right now speaking at the "take a break" 25th year event....
 
I was working for the USDA in Ma. A co worker came in and asked if I heard about a plain hitting the WTC which I had. As I was trying to find some mention of it on the web someone came in and had everyone to come to the meeting room. By the time I got there the second plain had it. After sitting there dumbfounded for a hour or two I went out and dropped the flag to half mast and went fishing. It was real quite except one plane taking off from one private (exclusive) boarding school.
 
I was on the phone with a friend of mine and was telling him how they were reporting that a helicopter had accidentally hit the first tower. . . Nobody at that time had any idea what was going on. . . .

For the next 2 nights, Jennifer and I parked our convertible out on the back 40 with the roof down, and for the first, and hopefully only time in our lives, stared at a sky that had no air traffic.

May we never forget,

Jerry


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I was on my way to my friend in Germany. I was traveling by bus. Around US Embassy in Berlin there were thousands of candles alight. Everyone in the bus was confused and scarred :(
 
I was at work and my husband called and told me to turn on the tv. I watched the 2nd tower get hit and then my boss at the time sent everyone home. I also remember how everyone was filling up there gas tanks bc all the prices were being jacked up. It was definetly a day that I will never forget!
 
As the resident union elevator mechanic at the EPA building i to saw the second building being struck live on tv then the big explosion of the pentagon being hit, i remember being filled with anger:mad: and disbelief that this could happen here. Went to my truck got a camrera and began taking pictures from the roof top.
 
Waking up to go to work in Redondo Beach. Turned on the TV and saw one tower on fire then the second plane come into the second tower. Never got such a chill in my life. I knew it was a passenger plane when I saw it. Watched the towers fall, my heart sank when the news were talking about all the emergency personnel in there. Immediately called by brother and found out he was on vacation in Vermont he was in tears driving back towards new York to be with his brothers. I took the day off and sat on the beach in a daze watching the waves come in until sunset.
 
I work at home so that's where I was, however, the work stopped immediately and I was in shock. Had I been 40 years younger, so help me God, I would have been at the enlistment office the same day.
 
A friend called me at home - Stunned. Later that day a Chief Deputy (now Sheriff) asked me to go
with him to a repeater site on Lookout Mountain (in the Cascades), it was surreal looking out over
the mountain wilderness with NO aircraft in view...

Never, never forget.
 
I was woken up by a call from my GF, who was back east and already up. She told me to turn on the TV, right about the time Flt 77 went into the Pentagon. Got to watch the second plane go into the tower.

Grabbed my BOB and scrambled to work, the IBM plant on the way was locked down, my employer was closed for the day, security had the building secure (we had ~ 1000 employees). I went out front and helped facilities lower the flag to half staff, it was a beautiful day, not a plane in the sky.

Went home and put up my flag, which flew for the next 3 months. (It's flying today).

Called the Army recruiter about a re-up, 2 old and out too long.

We had an ABATE meeting scheduled for that evening (just like tonight), we all showed up (nobody knew what else to do), we didn't have a meeting though, it turned into a prayer session.
 
I was in an office with several structural engineers. I had heard about the first on the truck radio thinking it was a strange accident. When the second hit, the cause was obvious.

For the conspiracy types, part of our discussion was how long it would be before they pancaked down. It was clear the impact knocked the fire coating off of the steel, destroyed the sprinklers, and the fuel load would soften the steel. The position of impact was where there was enough weight to cause structural failure. It occurred somewhat sooner than expected, but not by much. ss.
 
I was in Long Range Rifle Instructor school in Grandfield, Oklahoma. We stopped the school so we could send everyone home to their family. before noon the gas was $5 per gallon because of the panic. I will never forget how I felt.
 
On my way to work and I turned on the radio. The morning talk shows were discussing a plane hitting the twin towers. I was thinking, "No way, what kind of joke is this?!"

Sadly it wasn't a joke and my workplace halted that day as we all watched the TV, transfixed at the horrific sights as the world had changed forever.

God bless America.
 
I had taken a half day off from work and was watching the news and they were explaining about the first plane...checking the news again when the 2nd plane hit..I just remember standing there and just thinking to myself "This cant be happening we live in America" then my phone started ringing off the hook...friends, family members worried about loved ones. I was glued to the TV for days but the thing that really stands out is all the Flags that people had everywhere and how everyone banded together.

GOD BLESS AMERICA
 
I was working with my Dad's mason crew at the time. He was calling in an order to the local concrete plant and the dispatcher told him that a plane had hit the WTC. We had no idea what was going on. Thought it was just a freak accident. I think I learned of the first plane by listening to Howard Stern on the radio in my truck. Whether you like him or not, I feel his local, first hand accounts of the events were amazing. After hearing about the second plane I immediately knew we were going to war. Then my thoughts shifted to my sister who lives in Brooklyn. Being out in the field we didn't have her phone number to call. Fortunately she was fine, but clearly devastated by those tragic events. I can't imagine being anywhere near there. Being so close to NYC (I'm in NJ) it really affected me and still does to this day. My wedding was a month later (10/6) and my best man almost broke down during his speech. A good friend of his family was killed on Flight 93 over Central PA.

Like Jerry, I thought one of the eeriest things about the 9/11-12 was the lack of airtraffic. I lived about 40 miles from Philly International Airport then, so we were right in the flight path. Fort Dix, Lakehurst, Pomona and MacGuire AFB are all within 50 miles of the house. If I recall correctly there were some mil planes in the air, which normally doesn't even register, but it did for those two days, in a big way.

I still have an American flag sticker on the rear window of my truck. It will never come off as long as I own it.

NEVER FORGET, PERIOD!
 
I was asleep in bed (I was a night operations manager at a Home Depot at the time), when my wife woke me up and said "they hit us". I flew out of bed and turned on the news to see the plane fly into the second tower. Watched the news for another hour. Went back to bed, and got a call fifteen minutes later from the store manager "just letting you know that you still need to be in to work tonight". Half my crew called off that night, and not much work got done. My wife worked for the govt. at the time, and she didn't work for a few days. Still kind of surreal thinking about it. One day every last one of those responsible will pay for it.........
 
Jeep was being repaired that week... Had a rental that week... Jeeps w/ mud tires are loud rides so I decided to drive to work for the first time in 4 years in complete silence. No tire lugs flapping against asphalt, no aftermarket performance exhaust tones, no stereo trying to drown out the other noises... Totally oblivious...

Got to work, heard about the first tower... Then someone noticed smoke to the East (Pentagon). quickly found out about the second tower and the Pentagon. The whole office was in the downstairs restaurant watching the bar TVs and drinking by 11:00 AM, all in complete shock. I was one of many people trying to reach friends and family in the NY area in the restaurant. Took 2 hours, but got through to a very close friend of mine, audibly shaken. He decided to take the day off, but his wife worked in the financial district. He didn't hear that she was safe until 8:00 PM that night.

My wife and 5 month old daughter were on the Delaware shore that week. I was alone the rest of the week and couldn't sleep a wink all week. A buddy of mine working in Rosslyn, Va. heard a plane from an odd direction, looked out his office window and watched the plane flying low over Arlington Cemetery on it's way in. He said he even heard it start to accelerate...

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