911

[Bobber]

Remember exactly what I was doing the day this happened. Ate breakfast at Perkins in Marshalltown with a client. Right before I walked in they said a plane had hit the World Trade Center, but weren't sure how serious it was. Came out a few hours later and the whole world had changed.

Drove home on a beautiful sunny day not much different then today with my ears glued to the radio. What a lousy day that was. I think I'll remember the events of that day till the day I leave this earth.

 

[brianhos]

First plane, I was driving into the office listening to Cotlar.

Second plane, I was on a conf call with our NY office who could see it from their window since they were on the 36th floor of a building over by the empire st.

 

[Clonebydesign]

At my desk and the radio was on. We pulled out the tv and sat all day and watched.

 

[Bader]

Freshman year of high school. Ran into a buddy who was saying "Someone is trying to blow up the pentagon!"

Walked into second period just in time to watch one of the towers fall.

I never understood how my parents could still remember what they were doing when JKF was shot, but after that day I got it all too well.

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

I took the day off to spend the day with my then 2 yr old daughter. She was watching some kids show and I just happened to turn the TV to a news channel right as the second plane hit the tower. I then remember hearing that gas was going up t $5/gallon that next day so I went out and spent an hour in line to fill my truck up with fuel. I can remember it all like it was yesterday. And especially the feeling I felt as the towers collapsed...

 

[CYdTracked]

I was in college. I had just got out of the shower and was getting ready for my first class of the day. I was checking the StrangeTalk message board and first thread I saw was about a plane hitting the WTC. Turned the TV on and decided to skip my morning class and watch what was going on.

 

[ISUonthemove]

Woke up my freshman year at UNI at 7:15am, getting ready for Spanish class. Had heard a plane was hijacked while I was leaving. Got to spanish class and was dismissed early. Ran back to the room after everything had happened.

 

[CRCy17]

My freshman year of high school walked into my second hour language arts class, a class in which we watched a number of videos, and the tv was on. first thing I asked was "what movie is this" I couldn't even make it out to be real

 

[CycoCyclone]

I was in Hamilton hall, when another professor ran into the room and shouted "a plane just hit the World Trade Center".

When we realized he was serious, we ran to the media room and watched the second plane hit the other tower. Class dismissed.

 

[alarson]

I was outside at marching band rehearsal (hs)... and then apparently they made an announcement during the class i had after band, but that was in the auditorium, so i didnt hear the announcement from there. During our 'breakfast' break we had after that first block, i heard something about it (all rumors, but nobody really knew what was going on... if it was an accident or what), but for the first hour of the next class, our teacher wouldnt turn on the tv..... after that, watching that was all we did the rest of the day...

 

[cstrunk]

Wow. I've made it to 1:30 PM before I even realized what day it was. Haven't heard anything about it until now. That's sad. :-(

I was a freshman in high school in my first hour class, keyboarding. One of the senior girls came in to our classroom and told us that a plane had hit one of the WTC towers. We turned on the TV and a short time later we watched the other plane hit the 2nd tower, and as they eventually collapsed. I'll never forget it.

 

[bigcyfan82]

I was in 6th Grade...I remember being out at recess and coming back in and our teacher told us what had happened. Really didn't know what those 2 buildings were at the time.

 

[dustinal]

I slept in until about 10:00 AM that day--skipping another class. Turned on the TV while still half asleep and saw a bunch of people running around on a city street and heard someone say the F-bomb. I didn't have any premium channels so I wasn't sure how I could have heard that on daytime television. I forced myself to wake up and slowly had to put the pieces of what had happened together. I felt like I'd slept through armageddon.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I was in Chicago working on a disaster revcovery exercise for one of our clients. Within the first few minutes, our contact with Sunguard came in and told us about the first plane and if there was a client that needed the floor space for a real recovery we would have to quit. Shortly afterward the second plane hit and everyone realized it was not an accident.
While I couldn't remember his name, Bin Laden's face appeared in my mind and I had no doubt that he was behind it.
Our hotel was about 5 miles due west of O'Hare. Normally there are 3 distinct airline traffic patterns that go over that hotel. You get so used to the noise from all those planes and it was one of those eerie silences when all air traffic was grounded.

 

[IcSyU]

8th grader. First tower was hit right before dad took me to school. Second we watched hit during second period in social studies. I'll never forget it.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I stepped outside at the office, and when I went back in, literally everyone had disappeared. I found them in the conference room watching tv, and walked in just before the second plane hit the trade centers. I think it was obvious to everyone that we were under attack at that moment. The hardest part of that day was explaining what happened to my son's sister. Thankfully, my son was too young to be aware of it.

 

[MB4CY]

So many surreal things happened that day. The major news web sites basically shut down from the high traffic volume, so you couldn't get the most timely news that way. So many wrong bits of info were being spread around, and even the news media saw fit to report rumors that proved to be completely wrong.

At work, we had network TV pulled up on the auditorium screen all day. I remember watching the towers fall and seeing the huge cloud of dust and debris rising over Manhatten and just thinking, "Wow, now what happens?".

I remember driving home after work and see a quarter-mile long line to fill up on gas at the nearby corner station. I didn't know what was going on, but I figured I'd better get in line since I was under a quarter tank. I listened to the radio while I waited, and just before my turn to fill up, I heard the governor come on saying that there was plenty of gasoline and there was absolutely no need for rationing or price gouging. If it wasn't such a numbing day, I would have been a lot more ****** than I was.

 

[DaddyMac]

Had just got out of the shower and heard Cotlar talking about reports of a plane crashing into the WTC. First thought it was some sort of commuter or private cessna or something.

Turned the tv on and within a minute saw the second plane hit. Was on the phone with my girlfriend at the time and wasn't really listening to the broadcast, so I thought it was a replay of the first plane. That shot of the black sillouetted plane coming from the back of the tower, disappearing then the fireball.

First thought was - that's a big plane (and it didn't look real).

Then after a quick second I noticed the smoke already coming from the first tower and realized it was another crash. I remember just going kind of blank or numb.

Probably watched 20 hours of tv a day for the next week.

Also remember the dread after the first tower went down - just knowing it was a matter of time before the second one did.

Biggest fear was all the reports of Flt 93 (bevore they knew anything for sure) when it was around Pittsburgh. My brother lived in Chicago and worked at the Sears Tower at the time, and was doing a job in Pittsburgh. Our corp hq was in Chicago and we had heard that the Sears Tower was being evacuated - but weren't sure why. Didn't know if he was there, in Pitt at some potential target, or even on a plane.

 

[AmesCloneFan]

Was a freshman at ISU living in Towers. Was sleeping off a hangover when my wife (girlfriend at the time) called my phone. I was half asleep and all I heard was "the towers are under attack!" After hitting my head on the ceiling trying to get out of my loft, I realized she wasn't talking about the towers that I was in.

I turned on the tv about 3 minutes before the 2nd plane hit. I remember poking my head out of my dorm room to tell some people, and there were already probably 30 tv's on my floor, all turned on, watching it happen. I'll always remember that sound- several TV's, different channels, but all talking about the same thing- echoing down the hallways.

 

[wright4cy]

Came downstairs to livingroom to find husband and kids glued to tv...I thought it was a movie or not real at first ..That was the most quiet our house has ever been! We sat in disbelief at first,then went to our church to meet with everyone and discuss what was happening and pray! This event forever changed america.