View Full Version : where were you on 9/11?
pahillbillybear
06-04-2009, 18:50
I just finished reading Rhyming Worms book for the second time. A very good read. In it he writes of how close the trail comes to NY City? Where were you on 9/11? Was anyone on the trail when the planes hit? They say folks can remember where they were when they heard about JFK being shot. I can remember where I was when I found out about the shuttle explosion. I was at the mall with my grandmother, aunt, and wife. I also remember where I was when I found out about 9/11. I believe the clock in the car said 8:58 EST. We were just leaving the parking lot at the apartment complex where we lived. I remember reading that we had a space shuttle that was in orbit at the time. The astronauts were about to see the smoke. How about you? Where were you?
notorius tic
06-04-2009, 19:30
I was going to Bearings Marketing in Sarasota Florida, And I live a quarter mile from the airport perimeter Google 325 Whifield ave. Sarasota Fl 34243. Plus it my Moms B day. Watch the hole loading AirForce one Dibalcle Fom the back section of the airport on Old 301. Got stuck in traffic trying to get back to work, got to the Gaurd Gate an it was on TV. Boss sent me an everyone else home. A Appache attack Helicopter flew within 80 feet above my house. An the scrambled jets from Mc Dill AFB. Where there in 5 mins. I could of hit that plane with a rock. Huge loud an fast.
I was headed to a meeting in College Station, TX with the principal and other department heads from the junior high school in which I taught at the time. The principal got a call from his wife after the first plane and we turned the radio on to hear the news. When we got to the meeting (a large meeting of Texas junior high teachers) the second plane had hit. The meeting was soon cancelled and we were told to go back to our schools to help kids deal with it.
I remember reading journals about folks on the trail finding out about it. Most heard right away, but some didn't know for several days.
wrongway_08
06-04-2009, 19:46
Was at work then.
9/11/08 was on summit of big K, along with other Whiteblazers!
Moon away Notorius tic, moon away!
Phoenixdadeadhead
06-04-2009, 19:55
I was in West Reading Fighting with an Arab. Irony for ya
mister krabs
06-04-2009, 19:57
I was at work, in the breakroom getting a coke when the news started coming through CNN. Not much work got done that day.
take-a-knee
06-04-2009, 20:39
I was loading M16 magazines at 20th SF's Urban Combat Course, we all shot with a purpose for the next three weeks.
I am a historian with a specialty in US foreign policy,and I teach US History in a high school. My students and I watched tv together all day. Usually I have about 30 kids, but on that day there were about 60 kids with me, and several teachers came in also.
Pokey2006
06-04-2009, 21:07
I was in the newsroom, on deadline. Scoffing at the TV commentators, who were wondering if the first plane was an accident, when clearly it was an act of terrorism...then, watching live as the second plane hit, and knowing that I was in for a long, long, long day on the job.
I remember everything about the day of the shuttle explosion, too, even though I was only in the eighth grade. Some things younever forget.
I was at a job site, and the company's systems went down. The main office, along with the e-mail server, was in the first tower.
i was in high school. my first period teacher didn't say anything about it. i found out from my second period teacher. it still bothers me that my teacher didn't tell us about it.
:( My 50th birthday......:mad::mad::mad:
I was in my Motel room in Sacramento when a co worker in the same Motel called me and told me the NY Trade Towers had been hit. At first, I thought he was pulling my leg and I told him so. The rest of the day was a blur.
Not a fun day, by any means.
I remember I did keep my pants on through the day and gave quite a bit of thought to the folks in those two buildings.:(
buff_jeff
06-04-2009, 21:33
I was in eighth grade language arts class.
Hoop Time
06-04-2009, 21:38
I heard it first on Howard Stern while doing some work in my garden. Went for a job interview a short time later and was pulling into the parking lot of the place when it all started to become clear what had happened ... the second plane into the towers, the Pentagon, Flight 93. Went inside and the person I was to interview with and I both said let's reschedule this for another time.
Plodderman
06-04-2009, 21:43
Was home getting ready to leave for work?
I was also in high school. First day of senior year. The school ignored it so i ditched to go up to the mountains to see New York ( my parents live 10 minutes from the watchung mountains over looking NYC). On the 13th I went and loaded boxes on boats to take supplies to ground zero from Hoboken NJ for about 8 hours. It was the start of my need to volunteer, although I havent been on a fire truck in about 2 and a half years. Gotta get back into Volly FF'ing.
9/11/2001 - 40th and Park, NYC
9/13/2001 - Started my first 50-mile section hike in Salisbury, CT as planned
I was at home watching the morning news following the story only to respond to work well before my afternoon shift with my police department in NJ. I was detailed to NYC in charge of a contingent of officers from my department, joining with 150 other NJ officers and sent via ferry from Staten Island to Manhatten.
Heading across the river was the beginning of several surreal observations,
the dark city except for the fire at ground zero
the smell of concrete dust and dust everywhere
once there the darkness, abandoned buses, cabs and cars every where, yet people were out walking their dogs
way to many more to go into
As walked from the ferry terminal we were given a ride to a staging area by a cop driving a commandeered MTA bus, where we were assigned an NYPD van to patrol in a group, no radio communication. Covered an area around Broadway.
the facade of the Towers lying in rubble, the crushed and burnt fire equipment, the American Flag all pictures forever burned in my mind.
As the sun rose people came out everywhere, the city was alive, it was remarkable.
Now after a 30 year career, retiring in 3 weeks, this is an experience I'll always carry.
"Heroes live forever"
warraghiyagey
06-04-2009, 22:08
I had just returned from 2 years o Oahu starting up a business. . . . I had been back 1 month. . . was working in the finger lakes. . . . listening to Howard Stern. . . . when it became obvious what the situation was I called friends and business associates in Hawaii at around 4 am their time and all I could manage when they heard my voice was 'you better turn on the tv to a news channel' . . . .
warraghiyagey
06-04-2009, 22:15
Now after a 30 year career, retiring in 3 weeks, this is an experience I'll always carry.
"Heroes live forever"
Wow. . . . thanks for sharing Scrapes. . . I've always loved Manhattan, having been raised by wolves metaphorically in the woods. . . and spents many weeks in Manhattan in the 80's and 90's. . . it was remarkable the change in the city folk in the months and years after Sept 11.
Folks looked up, into peoples eyes, were helpful, smiled even at folks they would have robotically ignored before. . . that's what I noticed. . .
flemdawg1
06-04-2009, 22:30
In the OH-58 Cockpit Procedures Trainer Lab on Redstone Arsenal.
Landscaping. I drove up to a customer's house and she told me about the plane crashing into the first tower - said Bush was responsible............liberals! :p
This was a little over a week after my father had died. I can't forget.......still trying to forgive.
i was in high school. my first period teacher didn't say anything about it. i found out from my second period teacher. it still bothers me that my teacher didn't tell us about it.
Don't be too hard on your 1st Hour teacher, he/she may not have had a choice. Many schools were instructed not to discuss it. In the district where I teach, our School Board issued a directive that no tvs were to be turned on and we were to continue with lessons as usual so as "not to stress the students." A few teachers at my high school, including me, figured we had enough clout and reputation to defy orders and allow our kids to experience history as it happened. None of us were fired or reprimanded, but it was still a risk that we took. Younger teachers or teachers without a lot pull may not have been in a position to deal with the career risk.
Your teacher also may not have felt prepared to handle the emotional fallout from a group of 20 students. It's pretty tough sometimes to handle powerful group emotions in a school room.
It is touching, though, that this is one of the memories that stands out for you about that day.
I just arrived on campus at STU... My fav prof grabbed me by my arm and hurried me to his car while muttering, "no time, no time for school today, no sir, no time at all..." He was talking so frantically that it wasn't until we arrived at his home and turned on the news that I grasped what was unfolding...
Truely a sad day for humanity...
Alligator
06-04-2009, 23:21
This has been moved to Straight Forward in the interest of keeping the thread on track.
hikingshoes
06-05-2009, 00:36
i was sitting at my print table on a job site in AL. and my brother came up to me and said there was 2planes hit the WTC and i told him he was crazy,about 15mins later he called me on the radio and told me to let all the workers go home.not long after that my unit got called up and i was packing my gear.
atlanta fire station 2 working on the ambulance, it got real quiet when they shut hartsfield apt down.
geckobunny
06-05-2009, 00:58
I was sitting in my living room with a very broken leg. It was odd because I had broken it just a few days earlier while I was attempting a thru-hike. I broke my leg in NJ, and probably would have been in NYC on 9-11. But providence was looking out for me and stopped me dead in my tracks with the broken leg. It's pretty scary to think where I could have been.
The Will
06-05-2009, 03:33
I was in western Canada on a cross-country cycling trip. I was going south on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway in northern British Columbia, stopped at a pull-out to take a break and a man driving an RV told me a plane had hit the World Trade Center and other planes had been hijacked and they suspected one was headed for the White House. I think it was later that same day --but could have been anywhere from that day to three days later, don't recall--that I got around a TV and so understood the magnitude of what had happened. When the RVer told what he knew it just seemed so abstract, so unreal, I couldn't really wrap my mind around the situation--the TV images brought it home. But there was still a tremendous distance between myself and the situation in terms of information, emotional proximity, etc. I finished my trip 4 weeks later and it wasn't until then that I really learned the full context of events.
Incidentally (actually, not so incidentally), when I returned to the states, I brought a Canadian friend with me to join our family for American Thanksgiving. He is East Indian and they would not let him across despite proper ID, etc. One border patrol officer went so far as to say, "the United States is a great country. I think you're just going to take him across the border and let him go."
What got him across? When I called home and reported our troubles my mom asked which border crossing it was and she placed a call there. Through her phone conversation she convinced an officer of the legitimacy of everything...I'd been a student in Canada, my friends father was a professor at the university, he was just coming to join our family for the holidays, etc. We had to go through that same crossing during the time that particular officer was on shift and I had to meet him in the crossing building/facility. Once we met he relieved the officer working at the pull-thru. Despite our previous contact he still asked me the standard questions, let us thru and then returned to his duties inside the building.
This is just a story and nothing resembling a rant or even an opinion. I hope it doesn't change the course of this thread.
Ridge Rat
06-05-2009, 06:40
I was on 395 south just outside of DC. Saw the explosion of the pentagon but didnt realize that a plane hit it also. Everyone was pulled over on the side of the road watching the smoke coming off the pentagon thinking it had been bombed. Crazy day. Then spent the next 6 hours driving back to Fayetteville NC as the USAF had a manditory recall of all personell and I was currently stationed at pope afb.
callook66
06-05-2009, 06:44
I was sitting in alg. 2 class... the magnitude didn't even hit me until i got home from school and saw it on tv.
thunderson
06-05-2009, 07:08
My wife and I run a daycare and after school program in a suburb of Washington, DC. My mother-in-law called and gave us the news about the first tower and we really thought at the time that it was just a freak accident. As events unfolded and the second tower and the Pentagon were hit, our day really became a blur. Several of the parents of our kids worked for various government agencies and went into immediate lockdown,and those who didn't had trouble getting out of the city. The older kids came to the center having heard about the situation in school, and we found ourselves having to calm them and at the same time protect the younger ones from hearing due to the fact that they would be worried about their parents.
We had to make arrangements to keep the kids later and prepare to keep them overnight. Fortunately most of the parents were able to get out of the city and we only had one family that picked up really late due to the fact that they were locked down until 9pm that evening.
I was on the Docklands Light Railway in London. At Canary Wharf a woman got on and shouted to the whole carriage 'Planes are attacking New York. I think a war has started.' For a moment she was ignored because everyone thought she was a crazy person talking nonsense and then phones started to go off as people were ringing each other to say what had happened.
People flooded off the train and crammed into the first bar with a TV where we all stood in silence watching the news, total strangers united by our sense of horror at the unfolding tragedy.
There was a real sense of fear that day in the city as freshly scrambled fighter jets flew overhead and all the usual commercial air-traffic was absent from the sky. We were all wondering if London was going to be hit next.
At work like most Americans, watch the footage of the first plane when the second hit, then the Pentagon then the crash in the field, it's right up there with where were you when JFK, and MLK died.
I had flipped on my thru-hike and spent the night of Sept 10 in the ski patrol bilding on top of Stratton Mountain, Vermont. The morning of 9-11 was overcast with light rain. I left the hut with two section hikers and walked down to the trailhead where they had left a car.
I continued on my way alone. I decided to listen to a small radio that I was carrying. I normaly didn't use it while I was walking but for some reason I decided to that day. I was half paying attention to what was being broadcast, looking for a music station. I quite don't remember what was said but the thought that I got was that New York city had been bombed. I listened further. The commintator went through what had happened. For a moment I was shocked, woundering what I should do next. I still had had 400 miles to hike to finish my thru.
My first thought was to get to a town, phone home and get some additional information. I headed for Manchester.
While hiking down the trail I was approached by four day hikers. I said to them, "did you hear what happened in NY?" They had not, so I told them what I had heard on my radio. Their reply was, "What the hell have you been smokeing." They laughed and I continued on my way.
I reached Manchester, called home, checked into a motel and watched the news on TV.
After spending the night thinking about was happening in the world i decided to continue and try to complete my thru. Spending most of the next few weeks hiking alone, I had much to think about.
I finished my 2001 thru-hike at the Doyle hotel on Oct 13, 2001.
Furlough
06-05-2009, 09:40
I was in the PENTAGON. Watching the situation develop in NYC on CNN when we were hit. I spent the next 14 hours helping with extraction, evacuation and sadly remains recovery. A day and night that remains with me to this day in vivid detail.
Furlough
Jayboflavin04
06-05-2009, 13:22
I woke up made a pot of coffee. I sat down to enjoy my first cup, and turned on the TV just after the first plane hit. Watched the whole thing. Craziness! My cousin works at the Pentagon. He broke his arm or wrist during the clean up.
Chaco Taco
06-05-2009, 13:24
I was in the PENTAGON. Watching the situation develop in NYC on CNN when we were hit. I spent the next 14 hours helping with extraction, evacuation and sadly remains recovery. A day and night that remains with me to this day in vivid detail.
Furlough
Thank you for sharing and glad you were there to help and lend a hand with such a traumatic situation.
I had just returned home in Chapel Hill, NC from 3rd shift. Turned on the news to get the headlines for the day before i went to sleep. Two friends were at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 82nd floor of Tower 1, if memory serves me correct. Woke up roomates and watched all day and night to hear from our friends, they were lost. My step brother was in DC around teh Pentagon and his wife was at the Pentagon reporting for the Washington Post. Both were able to make it out safely!
Much love and respect to the brave souls that rushed into the buildings to save the thousands that may have perished
NYPD FDNY NYPA- We will never forget your sacrifice!!!!
I was working for the Army National Guard at Otis AFB. I remember the jets took off earlier than usual with full afterburner. I was in my office when I herd about the attack on the radio. Went to the break room where every one was. We saw the second plane hit. We then got the call to get all of our flyable Blackhawks ready to go to NY. We never did go but we manned the hanger 24 hour a day for a week.
Saint Alfonzo
06-05-2009, 13:47
I was at work, in the maintenance hangar at Bangor Air National Guard Base, Bangor Maine. Within days we were on Active Duty Orders for a year...
maybeFritz
06-05-2009, 14:00
Sitting in a chem lab. No one had a clue till we finished and wandered into a very empty campus. Spent the next 8 hours in the NROTC lounge with the instuctors and a large screen TV. We actually were ordered not to wear our uniforms for the next few weeks to avoid everything from other attacks to undue media attention.
On the evening of 9/10/01 the Mid State Trail Association voted at their meeting to go ahead with the long-contemplated but never acted upon linkage with the Finger Lakes Trail - part of what's now known as Great Eastern Trail (http://www.greateasterntrail.net/). So I had quite a lot to contemplate that morning driving over I-80 to Meadville, PA to meet with the regional sewer regulators.
We got kicked out of our conference room in late morning because that was the room with the TV.
My colleague I was riding with who grew up in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, got progressively more nervous as the day wore on and the news bulletins about the "fourth plane" got more geographically specific: first "near Pittsburgh," then "Somerset County," then "near Shanksville," finally "Stonycreek Township near Indian Lake."
In the afternoon we met to settle a million dollar construction dispute. We agreed on everything. Of course everyone forgot that and it went to court for two years.
I was hanging tobacco up in a barn in eastern ky.
cowboy nichols
06-05-2009, 14:20
I was in Al. on my way up to hike Land between the Lakes, at a friends house. I was watching the news and spent the rest of the day worrying about my son who is Navy. I hope people never forget but lately have wondered. I also remember Pearl Harbor and the day my brother walked in and told our Mother he had "Done IT' meaning he inlisted in the Navy 3 days after Pearl.
Nicksaari
06-05-2009, 16:46
i was smoking pot in a dorm room. it was nine in the morning, and routine then...
humunuku
06-05-2009, 18:03
I was on a 4hr bike ride, I came home turn on the CD player and made some food...I didn't know what happened until a few hours later when a friend yell thru my window that we were going to war
I was a stay-at-home mom then, and had just gotten my kids off to school and settled in for my "break" after the morning rush. Had a cup of coffee and joined a bunch of other stay-at-home moms in a chat room... sort of an online club. One of them typed in all caps "OMG GO TURN ON TVS!!!" I had no idea what that meant, and just ignored it. But within seconds, everyone else was typing furiously in all CAPS. I walked into our t.v. room and turned on the t.v., and saw the one tower smoking. I thought it was an accident. I had turned on GMA, and Charlie Gibson was talking, not knowing what had happened. It seemed like an accident. But just then, during the live picture, the second plane hit. I knew in an instant this was an attack. Charlie Gibson seemed confused and not sure what had happened. I remember hearing someone say "secondary explosion". But I knew it was a second plane. When the replayed that bit of video, it was clear.
I live in Philly, and there are two things I won't ever forget about that day. One is the spectacular weather. All the summer humidity had broken, and the skies were absolutely crystal. When I walked my kids to school that morning, all the parents were talking about the beautiful weather. To this day, beautiful mornings like that bring me right back to the memory of 9/11.
The other thing that struck me was the silence once all the air traffic was brought down. I really had never noticed the sound of jets flying overhead, but there is plenty of air traffic here. The sound of jets and the line of vapor trails in the sky is just part of the landscape and generally goes unnoticed. We also have a joint reserve air station in our area, and there were some military flights coming and going occasionally during that time. Every time a plane passed, I nearly jumped out of my skin for a while.
Airborne3325
06-10-2009, 21:40
Doing building entry drills at Ft Mac near Aniston, AL. Listened to the broadcast over a car loudspeaker as the second building fell. My wife flew to TX the day before and was scheduled to fly home on the 12th. Her family is from NYC and we were not able to account for all of them until a couple of days later. Scary days....
medicjimr
06-10-2009, 22:58
I just fell asleep working midnight shift that week, Wife called and told me loaded my gear and headed to work thinking we might get deployed to NYC.
Heard about the first plane on the radio on my way to work. Brought up CNN on the web to follow the story. Called my wife and made sure my son was ok, but stayed at work because I thought there might be some way to help. I work in a public safety related industry. Nothing I could do to help, and I didn't get much done, just kind of in a stupor, couldn't believe what was happening.
What I remember most was the days following the attack, we had beautiful blue sky's... except they were completely empty of aircraft and contrails. I live near Ohare Intl, and that was very unnatural.
superman
06-10-2009, 23:26
Pat was hiking with a friend. I was just walking into a barber shop in Gardner, ME. The barber had a small TV in his shop. The plane had just hit the first tower and all the channels had put the picture of the burning tower on. As I watched I saw the second plane approach and then crash into the second tower. The news man said something like what are the chances of having two planes accidentally hit two buildings on the same day. Pat called me latter that evening and I told her that we were at war.
Pokey2006
06-11-2009, 00:32
Heard about the first plane on the radio on my way to work. Brought up CNN on the web to follow the story. Called my wife and made sure my son was ok, but stayed at work because I thought there might be some way to help. I work in a public safety related industry. Nothing I could do to help, and I didn't get much done, just kind of in a stupor, couldn't believe what was happening.
What I remember most was the days following the attack, we had beautiful blue sky's... except they were completely empty of aircraft and contrails. I live near Ohare Intl, and that was very unnatural.
I recall the clear, blue skies, too, in New England. On Sept. 11 and the days that followed. And the quiet without the planes. I lived a mile from O'Hare as a child -- I can't even imagine how loud that silence must have been there, without those planes overhead. Unbelievable, wasn't it?
DuctTape
06-11-2009, 00:59
Manchester Center
World-Wide
06-11-2009, 04:45
Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. In Middle East one can expect the unexpected. Bet the poor guy in the elevator eating a bagle on his way up the 30th floor didn't expect what was to happen!!
JokerJersey
06-11-2009, 07:48
I was heading in to work @ Camp Pendleton, CA when I was with 9th Comm Bn, I MEF. We got up, got dressed for morning PT, started to head out the door, and all of a sudden we realized there was a line of cars wrapped around the block heading into the Naval Weapon Station. We went back inside, grabbed our cammies, grabbed some gear, and headed in. We didn't find out what was going on until we got to the gate and the gate guards were doing searches of all the cars. When we got into work, me and a few other guys rigged up a giant antennea on the roof so we could get TV reception. We watched the second plane hit and everyone in the shop went from shock, to disbelief, to raging anger in the span of a few moments.
For the rest of the day, the entire platoon sat in our shop watching what was going on. That night, the base was locked down and we all slept on the floors, talking and wondering when we were going to deploy. We didn't know when or where it was going to be, but we knew without a doubt that we WOULD be going somewhere, to kick some serious @$$. It got rough for awhile as a lot of guys wanted to run down to the armory and pull thier M16's out right then and go hunting. Had to pull a couple of them aside and help calm them down. In the weeks following, we had to keep a tight leash on our Marines in order to stop them from going after innocent civilians who happened to be the wrong nationality.
I will remember that day always, as it was the first step in the long line of events that led to one of the most horrifying experiences of my life...seeing war first-hand, without the filter of a movie lens.
I was in NYC. I slept through the whole thing, worked night shift, waking up about 7pm.
Just to add to my account previously, I was in high school at the time, about 20-25 minutes from the city, and i think it was the 13th and the winds shifted and blew all the smoke and debris right over my town. We had to close all the windows and outside activities (sports, etc) were cancelled.
It was a really sickening feeling to know that remains of people were drifting over out school and houses. I will alway remember that day, and the days following.
Another observation that should be mentioned, iron workers! Those guys were on scene before sun up. Their trucks, cranes and supplies were lined up on a street leading to the "pile", it was incredible. You could see cutting torches here and there stories above the ground.
Everyone knows of the police and firemen on scene, but the iron workers they too gave it their all and were in the middle of it and as a cop I was impressed by their effort.
When I was on the pier in Hoboken, a steel worker was brought over by boat (the bridges were still closed outbound) that had messed up his leg some how.
I was getting ready to leave for my annual September birthday hike that year from Sams Gap to Erwin and I was asleep on the couch as we were leaving that afternoon and the phone rung and one of my friends who was also going told me about it and of course I thought it was a joke until I turned on the tv. Then the decision had to be made to go or cancel the trip. We decided no terrorists actions were going to ruin our hiking trip so we left that day and were gone for 4 and a half days. I remember wondering the whole time what was going on and what could possibly happen and of course thinking of those lives that were lost and the loved ones that would endure so much pain and loss. That night laying near Big Bald staring up at the stars not seeing a single aircraft other than an occasional military jet was very weird and un-nerving. We had made plans before leaving that if anything serious ocurred that our friends and family would find us on the trail at certain points along the route but luckily that was not needed.
RAT
A good friend of mine was standing at the base of one of the towers drinking coffee when the first plane hit. He was early for a meeting on the 80something floor and waited downstairs for a few minutes. He couldn't make out what was happening until glass and junk started raining down, around him and on him. That is when he started running. He took refuge in a nearby building, waiting to see what was happening. When the first tower fell, it blew out the windows where he was and he was covered in dust, head to toe. He ran and ran, choking, hardly able to breath. His family, at home in NJ, were besides themselves and he could not call them. Eventually, he made it home, one of the lucky ones.
A friend at work was inconsolable knowing her sister worked in one of the nearby buildings and not getting word for some time that she did make it. Several colleagues at work described the hell that friends of theirs went through losing a loved one. One of my friends went to four funerals of close friends. I witnessed cars in train commuter lots, whose owners never returned. In my town, we lost a firefighter and a plaque was put up in his memory. A local trail, was renamed in another fire-fighter's name and at the trail-head there is a small shrine that people still place flowers around some toy firetrucks.
Two days after 9/11, I went on my first planned section hike. I met another section hiker who ran his own air charter business. He was grounded 15 minutes before take-off on 9/11. His passengers were going on a golf excursion - they had taken the day off from working at the world trade center. I ran into a sobo thru-hiker who said he turned down an offer to work in the world trade center to go hike.
Personally, I spent 9/11 helping with communication and evacuation of the employees in my office. I was one of the last to leave. It didn't really hit me, until I saw my boys waiting for me at the door at home. I will never forget that day and how it touched so many of us living and working in Manhattan and the suburbs.
NorthCountryWoods
06-12-2009, 09:16
I was on 395 south just outside of DC. Saw the explosion of the pentagon but didnt realize that a plane hit it also. Everyone was pulled over on the side of the road watching the smoke coming off the pentagon thinking it had been bombed. Crazy day.
Same as my parents. I knew my father drove my mother past the Pentagon into DC every morning and called to tell them what was happening. They saw the smoke, but had no idea what was going on until I told them and they saw panicked people running out of buildings in DC.
My wife and I had just bought a house and were waiting for the closing later in the week (which was delayed). We were off from work and planning a nice relaxing overnight hike on Mt Adams. Unfortunately, we woke up late and never made it out from in front of the TV for the next 2 days.
Also remember being a teem in boarding school when the shuttle Challenger exploded. We used to watch TV in a buddies room on lunch and the launch was the only thing on. I was at work when Columbia broke up.
I was in the ExxonMobil datacenter here in Dallas. Went upstairs to the command center and watched TV with most everyone else that could get into the room. Phone lines were all doing fast busy, so couldn't call wife. Decided not to watch after the second collapse and went down stairs and outside for a walk. Dallas was about asleep. No air traffic at Love field or DFW international, even the freeways were half empty. Then the phones cleared up. Around 2 or 3, we were told to head home. I drove past DFW airport and there were all the jets lined up and parked.
When JFK was assasinated, I was in first grade. They let us out early. I walked home (not far). Dad was USAF fighter pilot and he'd flown all night. So he was sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee having slept only a few hours. My parents asked me why I was home and I said the president got shot in Dallas. They snapped on the TV. Dad went and called in and was told to report ASAP. He grabbed a shower, fresh bullets and headed out to the plane.
We can also talk about the Cuban Missle crisis. We were in Alaska (first line). We saw dad once in 10 days, and then only for 30 minutes. The squadron had "vanished" to the Soviets. They flew 500 Meters off the tundra, to the outpost and fully armed nuclear.... That's when I figured out that not EVERYONE's dad went to work, with a gun, a 20 percent chance of NOT returning...
vamelungeon
06-12-2009, 09:51
I was at work, and my boss called and told me to turn on the TV that is in our office. She said a small plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I turned it on MSNBC before the second plane hit.
canoehead
06-12-2009, 09:54
I was kayaking on Upper Goose Pond having lunch with the caretaker and an older couple from England they were enjoying thier stay in the Berkshires.
double d
06-12-2009, 14:56
I was sitting in traffic in downtown Chicago when over the radio they began to discuss the attack on the towers in N.Y. I looked up and saw the Sears Tower almost directly in front of me as the Chicago PD were beginning to directing traffic away from downtown Chicago (they closed down some of the major streets near the Sears Tower for the next day or so). What a terriable day.
I was at my desk at work. When I saw the pictures on my computer I almost went into shock. A week later I was talking to a recruiter trying to reinlist in the Army. I had been out of the service since 1967. He told me I was too "old".
I was getting ready to go to work at the mulchyard. After the second plane hit, I left for work. At work we watched the towers fall. Afterwards I went out to split some firewood. I worked about ten minutes from Columbus Intl Airport. I could not believe how silent the city was after I shut down the log splitter.
Three days later, I was splitting wood again and I saw a single plane flying really high and fast. It was the only plane in the sky. It was the loudest noise I had heard in three days.
I was getting ready to leave for my annual September birthday hike that year from Sams Gap to Erwin and I was asleep on the couch as we were leaving that afternoon and the phone rung and one of my friends who was also going told me about it and of course I thought it was a joke until I turned on the tv. Then the decision had to be made to go or cancel the trip. We decided no terrorists actions were going to ruin our hiking trip so we left that day and were gone for 4 and a half days. I remember wondering the whole time what was going on and what could possibly happen and of course thinking of those lives that were lost and the loved ones that would endure so much pain and loss. That night laying near Big Bald staring up at the stars not seeing a single aircraft other than an occasional military jet was very weird and un-nerving. We had made plans before leaving that if anything serious ocurred that our friends and family would find us on the trail at certain points along the route but luckily that was not needed.
RAT
I found myself in a similar situation. We had a trip planned to the high country in NC and we decided to go. The sky was noticeably absent of aircraft. After a couple of hours it dawned on us that these conditions hadn't happened in our lifetime and hopefully wouldn't happen again, even if the empty sky was nice. There were NO planes at all.
MomNtheWoods
06-13-2009, 23:13
In my home office in Bhm, AL waiting for several out of state employees driving in to travel with me for the week. The only flying thing we saw in the air all week was a hawk.
greenmtnboy
06-14-2009, 03:23
I was hiking at Pound Ridge Reservation in NY, not on the AT.
A week before on Monday I was on Katahdin, where I was the first up to the top that day. I met Griffin who was summiting after completing his thru hike. Later I gave him a ride back to SW Connecticut, where he took a train to the plane the next day, and flew to New Zealend. He said he did the entire hike with only a few hundred dollars, as he took all the cast away food, etc. he could get. I was impressed by his frugality.
There were 5 of us opening a new office on the south side of Columbus(OH.) One guy rolls in late and tells us about what happened. We were 15 minutes from the airport, and after they grounded all flights we noticed how quiet it was.
Patrickjd9
06-14-2009, 20:50
I was at the National Institutes of Health Hospital in Bethesda, MD on the last visit of a medical treatment study. A crowd was gathered around a TV in the lobby as I went about my business; blood tests, photos, and exams. I was getting fragments of the story.
Finally I had a break shortly and began watching TV. I had one more appointment, and after that we got the evacuation order. Being that there was a plane unaccounted for and we were in a 15 story Government building, the order was probably an hour later than it should have been. Everybody got stuck in traffic right next to the building, and 20/20 hindsight said that I should have left on foot and returned later for the car.
My cell phone rang again and again as I was in the traffic jam. Once free of the traffic, we got our daughter from kindergarten.
I was in Harpers Ferry. I had hiked into there on Sept. 9th. In fact I was hanging out with Laura at Harpers ferry Outfitters. She had gone upstairs to get us a cup of coffee and all once she yelled down and said I should come up and see what was on TV, we both sat there in shock and watched.
We knew right from the bat that we had been attacked. Within a short time the train service to HF shut completely down. I do not remember but I think it was a Monday and service did not resume until Thursday if my memory serves me right. I had a job lined up in DC but was told that there were no bags allowed on the train including backpacks.
So I went for a hike to the first shelter south on Friday, there were about seven other guys there and all but one was there to ponder on what had just taken place, the other was a late north bounder and he learned from us what had happened.
I knew if it came down to it I would stand up for my country and everyone of us in that group were ready to go sign up to fight.
I was teaching. It was second period and I had a class full of 8th graders. A guidance counselor came and told me what happened. I didn't know whether I should turn on the TV in front of the kids or not. I turned it on. I can still remember the faces of the kids as we watched it. I still think it was better to let them see it than to hide it from them.
leeki pole
06-17-2009, 16:06
Please, I don't care if you're a liberal, moderate or conservative, Democrat Independent or Republican, we can never let our children and grandchildren forget this day. Tell them where you were and what you felt. We owe it to them.