Where were you on 9/11/01

I was on the New York City Subway...just one stop from the Twin Towers.

The train was being "held" due to "police activity" at the next station.

It was a packed, rush hour train, people were getting fidgety about being late for work due to the delay.
 
I was still working for Blade Tech Ind in WA.

One of the guys came running up to my work area and told me we were "under attack"...He planned to go home an load up his AK...

I took this with a grain of salt....for about 5 minutes when my radio told me what was up..

More interesting still, is the location of the current BTI shop. About every 2 hours a couple of F-16s would fly over the building....Other than that, it was quiet except for the noise of our tooling...

Needless to say, we worked a bit faster and a bit more carefully for several weeks after that...
 
I was on my way to my Modern American History class at UMD. As was usual, I was running a few minutes late so I was in my car on my way to campus within five minutes or so of getting out of bed when I heard Dan Rather's voice on the news radio station. He said something to the effect of "We have just recieved word that a fourth plane has gone down. This one believed to be a Boeing 757. There are reports that the second World Trade Center tower HAS collapsed." Needless to say I could hardly believe my ears. About 25 minutes later when I got to class, there was just 300 or so students in the lecture hall watching the projection screens in silence. I did the same, then went on to my next class which was a discussion group for the same MAH class. They sent us home as soon as it was announced that campus would be shut down for the remainder of that day and the next. I spent the next few days glued to the TV coverage of the events as they unfolded. One other thing I remember very clearly about those next few days was that I had taken one of those small fabric US flags out of one of my mother's flower beds (it was about 12"x16" or so) and I had stuck it between the head rest and the top of the passenger seat in my car. A few days later as I was driving to school with OLD GLORY riding shotgun I was stopped at a red light when a big old black man stopped next to me was waving frantically for me to roll the window down. When I did he asked me if I would sell him that flag for $100 ( it probably cost somewhere around $1.99) I told him I couldn't because I wanted to keep it. Then he doubled his offer. Bear in mind that I was a flat a$$ broke college student but the thought of selling that flag never once crossed my mind for a second. I told him that if I had had another one he would be welcome to it for the asking but that I did not and the one I did have was NOT FOR SALE! We both shared a chuckle and smiled at each other understandingly and then drove off feeling like proud Americans. I WILL NEVER forget! God bless this country and all who risk or have given their lives for her. -Daniel Thompson
 
Started off with a break with thatmguy. Went home and mowed the lawn and reflected on the day. Looked up and saw AF1 going over head at heading to WPAFB - Went for a walk downtown and was like a ghostown - day still brings tears to my eyes. Hell, seeing WTC falling will be a sight I will never forget. God bless those soles and those who still fly our flag proudly. MD
 
NEVER FORGET and Our Colors Don't run

I will never forget 9/11 and it's aftermath.
 
I was dropping my ladies off at daycare and listening to KFAN sports radio with Dan Cole.
Well Dan starts going into some type of fit about a plane hitting the WTC, at first I figured he was yanking the listeners chain and then he says another plane has hit the WTC. This is about the time I had reached my daycare provider, brought the kids in, and watched a bit of the coverage with a tough as nails crying Korean war vet. Went to work, parked the car in the shop and did nothing except listen to the radio all day.

Helle
 
I was about 50 miles up the Togiak River in AK fly fishing for silvers.

I was going to fly home Sept 12th, but of course I ended up staying on the river for an extra five days until there were flights again. Another fishing camp with satellite TV would send up video tape of the news and I’d watch them in the evening. Guys that had fly-ins for hunting and fishing were stuck out there and had no idea why their pilots had not come out to pick them up. Some wandered into our camp, some made down river to the town and some ended up at the Togiak Reservation.

What a mess.:grumpy: Grounding the bush pilots in AK was the stupidest thing done. It was just luck that guys didn’t get lost out there and end up dead.
 
I was working at the support warehouse for the Army National Guard in my state and heard the first hit announced on the radio. We stopped inventorying equipment to gather around the computer terminal and the radio.

When the second plane went in I turned to my friends and said that we were going to war against somebody, a feeling that we all agreed on when we heard about the strike on the Pentagon.

We took turn ins and issued gear to units thoughout the day, and all talk centered around speculating who might have been responsible.

I drove 115 miles that evening to see my kids.

Watching the video of the hits on the towers, my young son (who probably didn't realize it wasn't something out of a movie) laughed and said "That was cool..."

I quietly told him that he had just watched a couple of thousand people in those buildings die, and that they were regular folks just like his Mom and Dad with families of their own. My daughter already knew this...but watching it hit him was painful.

My kids asked about what we would do to the people who attacked us, and we talked way into the night, far past my regular visitation times, but my ex-wife understood and sat in with us. They were worried about me being in the military and had lots of questions and fears.

I lost friends in both cities. I have lost friends since then overseas. I might forget that day once I'm dead, but I doubt it.
 
I worked for a large chemical distribution company that also had an environmental (hazardous waste) division I managed a site for.

My lead warehouseman came stomping through the door, down the hall to the conference room. He came back a few minutes later with a nervous laugh said, '' John, Man, huh, Somebody just flew a plane into the World Trade Center..."...

I said, "Like, a Cessna?" He said, "No, a big commuter 757 or something!"

We walked to the conference room... and watched the live footage as the second plane flew into the other Tower...

I said, "Chris, lock the gate, we're under attack!" I also had them pull a tractor trailer in front of the gate and we checked in with corporate security, did a quick walk-around/inventory and waited... Seemed like a little over the top, but made me feel a 'little' better... No one knew what was next, and we were somewhat of a 'flashy' target... :)

I called a co-worker in UT (former US Army Ranger), and we talked a few minutes about security, bid each other well, and hung up. We all checked in with family, and I sent almost everyone home early that day...

I thank everyone who has served, or is serving today, for Six Years of being able to go about my life as an American, and being able to put my daughter in school, or to bed, and have a reasonable expectation that she is secure for that time. Thank you for taking the fight to the enemy.

THANK YOU!​

I won't forget.

Semper Fi -

John
Infidel in more ways than one...
 
I was a freshman in high school on my way to early marching band practice. My mom turned on the radio to listen to some music when we heard the news that the first tower had been hit. Something in my gut told me that it wasnt an accident. Practice was cancelled so we all went to our seperate class rooms an hour early. No one did anything that day, we all just watched tv and comforted crying friends and teachers. I went home and didnt talk to anyone in great length for several days. I will never forget.
 
I was getting ready for work with the T.V. news channel on in the background. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Live no less. And all day at school it was strange. The students were hyper and agitated, worried about a terrorist attack in Los Angeles.

I sure won't forget.
 
I was watching the tower video on a pocket TV from my job in Arlington, VA on the 11th floor of a high rise. Then I saw the smoke rising from the Pentagon. Even before the second tower and the Pentagon were hit I was calling it a terrorist act. I will never forget. A month and a half after that, I left the corporate world and joined the federal work force at the Department of State. I left State almost 3 years ago for a position at the Department of Homeland Security. I have to say, I fight more battles with the internal politics and idiots there than with the terrorist organizations but I will never forget 9/11/01, those who died that day, the ones that gave their lives after, nor those that will give their lives fighting for our freedom and security.
 
I was driving to work when my boss called me on my cell phone. He said there was an accident in NYC. I got to work and EVERYONE was in front of a small color tv watching the news.

I got to work just as the second plane hit the WTC. I knew at that point, it was no accident.

Best,
Brett
 
I was at work at the Lab in Pittsburgh. I had been listening to ESPN radio and heard a mention of the first crash. Later, Tony Kornheiser announced that they were evacuating the ESPN studios in DC. That made me wonder, so I went to our EOC, where the big screen TVs were. As I entered, the first tower fell. The status of United Flight 93 (which was in our airspace) spurred the decision to man up the EOC and go on full alert. I spent the rest of the day there, standing watch.

I took the next day off to spend with my family and try to find out if any friends had been killed. It turned out that one of my classmates from OCS and Nuke School had been in the Pentagon and died when it was hit.
 
I was in a Microsoft SQL class in Addison. someone was suffing and caught CNN newsbrief stating that a plane hit one of the towers........we ran dowm to the breakroom to see the seeing damage of the second plane hitting the other tower. We looked out the window to see what seened like 50 black suv's drive up and men start jumping out running into the building. That was more than a little unnerving until we were told that there was an office that housed some Isreali officials on the 7th floor that was off limits to everyone else. When whoever they were came out, their security detail has wepons drawn and that motorcade was out of sight within minutes.

I will never forget that, nor the events of that day. Ever since then my screen background has been the "warpaint" eagle. It's a great reminder for me.

Many of us here donated in the knives for soldiers here and it was well received by the forces. I need to go see what out of my plethra of knives I can send off to the guys keeping me safe at night.


Cerberus
 
That morning I flew from LaGuardia to Washington National, rented a car and drove to VA driving past the Pentagon one hour before it was hit.

My wife and family were back in Brooklyn watching this all unfold in horror and we smelled the stench of the burning rubble for weeks blowing over to Brooklyn.

I was only able to return to Brooklyn via rental car after they opened the bridges back up. That's also when I knew it really sucked having my family stuck on an island with no routes back to it except maybe by boat.

Oh yeah....I'll never forget that day. It is also my wedding anniversary.
 
I just walked through the front door from work. The phone rang and it was my buddy telling me to turn on the tv......."any channel dude, it don't matter, just turn on the tv." is what he said. " There is some heavy shit going down in NY" The rest, as they say, we all know about. John
 
I was laying in bed when the phone rang, my wife answered it saying it was Megan my sister-in-law and that my father-in-law was on flight 11. Fortunately my father in law had changed flights the night before to the next one out of Logan. Little miracles in our life.That day is etched in my mind forever.
 
I was visiting my parents (1200 miles away from my wife), just on my way out to the gun range. At first I thougth it was a movie...took a few seconds to register. I still remember hitting the couch when it clicked.

I served 8 years, but still feel I owe our toops more than I can ever pay.
(I know one who went over pack'en a Muddy AD, but I still feel he deserves more)

I'll never forget, and I'll do my best to make sure they know it.
 
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