9-11 Memories

[lafountain]

I was working the night shift on base at the time, but had an appointment in the afternoon so was sent home early. I was home sleeping and my supervisor called me and all I heard was "terrorists...crash...don't go anywhere" then I went back to sleep. Around 11AM I woke up to get ready for my appointment, turned on the tv and saw everything that was going on. Went to the base and found out my appointment was cancelled, one month later was out of the country.

 

[pjd1234]

Very tragic indeed i was 20 i think i work at torrance airport just grduated from aviation school working at helicopter assembly we heard it in the news the first airline that hit the building we were like that is stupid and continued working 1 hour later the second one hit then it got serious they shut down the whole airport and stated a state of emergency due to terrorist attack i remember all of us went home. The next they called all the minoroties for backrounds check as i have 2 friends one from pakistan and from iran. I was cracking up for that as we were joking about it but the seriousness of that incident takes its toll on the aviation world 3 months later 300 plus of us got laid of from work. I never went to pursue my aviation career and went to healthcare. Its a very good thing they killed that basterd after a long years still they got em he got what he deserves.

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

I was there.

 

[Brett28]

I was in middle school. No one would tell us what happened and our parents were told to pick us up. My aunt worked in the second tower, she took that day off to wait for her new couch to be delivered.. she never, I mean never, takes off of work. New York was a completely different place for a long time after that day.

 

[digi7alph0enix]

I've got different memories of it than most of you probably have, because September 11th also happens to be my birthday. I was in high school the year our country was attacked, and in the blink of an eye went from laughing and talking about a potential party to celebrate to hearing an announcement over the school's PA system. I'll never forget that announcement and I can still hear it clearly in my head- "Attention all students and faculty. Please return to the nearest classroom and turn your TVs to CNN. A plane has struck one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York. Teachers, please begin taking attendance for all students in your classrooms." Something about that wasn't right. We all knew immediately that something wasn't normal. What we didn't know at that time was how much more was going to happen.

When the announcement was made, the first plane had just struck the WTC and we had no idea there was a second, third, fourth, etc. The reason my school went into such a serious mode so quickly is that the town I lived in then, Alpena MI, is home to one of the air bases that had scrambled jets when the word came down that other planes weren't responding to calls from the ground. Something else I learned during the course of the day was that our small town was one of the air bases on the list for Air Force One to land at in case of emergency and someone from the base had contacted the school and let them know it could be something serious. So as we sat in class watching TV we watched the 2nd plane hit live. We were all in disbelief and after a few seconds of silence the "oh my god" and "did that just happen" started to fill the room. A few minutes later we heard another announcement, this time from an obviously shaken staff member "Attention all students and staff members. It is believed that our country is under attack. All students are to remain in your classrooms for the remainder of the day."

And with that a collective feeling of dread filled the room. Even the kids who were screwing around after the first announcement now had the color drained from their faces. No one knew what to do. We looked at the teacher who looked just as clueless as we were. We spent the remainder of the day in that computer lab glued to the TV and internet, trying to make sense of it all just as the hosts on TV were. A plane had crashed in PA, the White House had an explosion of some kind occur. Thankfully for me I was supposed to be a student aid for the class that we got stuck in, so I had full time access to the internet and the school's resources. I spent my time printing and filling a binder with everything I could find about the attacks as soon as they happened. My teacher asked me what I was doing with all the documents and my reply was "Someday I'm going to have kids, and I want them to be able to look at this stuff and feel what we all feel right now. Someday I'm going to have to try to explain this to someone who wasn't here for it and I want them to know how serious it is."

To this day I've kept that binder, and over the weeks that followed I added news papers, magazines, and other items printed from the internet to it as more information came out. I keep it for a couple reasons, one so that I can pass it on to the next generation who will only read about it in history books, and also so that I don't allow myself to forget or become complacent. Even writing this reply I'm jolted back to that day, how scared, angry, and confused I was. The fact that September 11th is also my birthday has given me another opportunity to make sure others don't forget either. Almost every time I buy alcohol or something else that requires ID I get the same look and the same line- "Oh WOW, that's a bad birthday to have." So I spend a minute explaining to them how it prevents me from forgetting that day, and reminds the people around me of it as well.

 

[kronin323]

Thanks everybody who shared. I enjoyed reading them.

 

[The Game]

My dad came into my room and I'll never forget what he said "Wake up! It's like something out of a movie!" By then both planes had hit the towers but had not come down yet. I got ready for work and the gravity of the situation didn't really hit me. Got to work and it was all every one was talking about. Then around 1 pm the GM of the theme park I worked at announced that we were closing for the day. As I was walking out there was a Swedish or German couple walking by and asked what happened. I explained what I could and since I hadn't had lunch yet I went to the nearest Chinese restaurant and ordered General Tso chicken to go. Got home and my mom was on the phone with my uncle who was a police officer in NYC. Fortunately he was not near the towers that day and I spent the rest of my day playing video games.

 

[QLR1]

I was at a college bookstore because I got my financial aid money. I ate breakfast and went to the store since I had no food. I was just happy that class was cancelled and I had no idea why.

But that day will never be forgotten.

 

[LostinOhio]

My childhood dog died on 9-11 at around 4 in the morning. We took him to the animal hospital to get cremated and I was laying on the couch half asleep when I heard the news.

 

[Dyeraudio]

I was working in a high-rise at State & Monroe in the Chicago Loop. I was taking break with a coworker when it happened. At 9:00 am in the Chicago Loop it looked like it was like 5 pm..... The streets were mobbed with people leaving.....train stations were packed and people were close to fist fighting for cabs. Everyone was panicked. Our superintendent wouldn't let us leave so when we left at 3 pm the streets looked like a ghost town.... Nobody anywhere. So eerie.....downtown Chicago was empty of people. Strangest thing about it is that just about a month before in early August I was still in the same building and when I was taking break with the same coworker the airplanes were practicing for the Chicago Air & Water show. The Blue Angels & A6 Prowlers were buzzing all the high rises all week and I had mentioned to my coworker "could you imagine if one of these planes hit a high rise?" I remember that exact moment like it was yesterday.