How did you find out about the 9/11/01 attacks?

[UrbScotty]

Poll question: How did you find out about the 9/11/01 attacks?

I was reading to a group of elementary school kids in Florida, when my Chief of Staff whispered it in my ear. LOL.

[goobergunch]

1. They announced it over the school loudspeaker

does that count as "word of mouth"?

[UrbScotty]

37. Yes, it does.

That's how I found out about the Oklahoma City Bombing.

[Mad_Eye]

90. 9-11

Same here. My principal announced after the second plane hit. That was my Sophomore year.


Now I am a Senior......


My political opinions changed a lot since September 11th. I dunno if it's for better or for worse....... but it feels right to me. It's odd how a disaster like that can make you just WAKE UP and think for the first time. I became an independant thinker. I suddenly grew my own opinions about things and stopped REPEATING what I heard everyone else say. I question my leaders now. Not for the little things tho. I am not a nitpicker. For instance, when the President chokes on a pretzel, I don't attack him for that. But when he wages a war and afterwords we don't get what we were looking for.... That is kind of..... F***ING STUPID!!!!!

And I have conservative friends (scary, huh? lol) who think the same why I do about that....


I just realized that I was ranting... sorry. Just.... ignore me, I haven't had time to post on the DU in over a month. Things are busy between school and work.

Well, I have to jet! Ciao!

[Breezy du Nord]

112. That's me too

Of course, i was only a 7th grader then. The one who announce it, the prinicipal, has the most ANNOYING voice that I normally can't stand. I can still remember how my stomach flopped, though. :(

[catzies]

2. "Someone called me on TV" ??

:shrug:

(Um, here on the West Coast I woke up to NPR at 7 AM, realized something was very wrong, turned on CNN and while I was watching my dad called from Miami.)

[UrbScotty]

39. Yeah, that was a mistake.

;-)

[Sal316]

3. I had just gotten out of bed.

The wacky morning guys were talking about a fire, and I thought it was downtown Phoenix. It was when I turned on the TV that I found out what was going on.

[Fenris]

4. Someone came and told my government class

We knew about it before most of the other students did. Everyone was ghost white.

[indigo32]

5. I was driving to work

heard one plane had crashed... thought "that sucks" then while driving through a McDonalds drive through...I heard a second plane had hit and I knew we were in deep shit. What an awful day.

[CO Liberal]

29. Same Here

I was on I-25 passing Pikes Peak Raceway when the 7AM news came on. They said that the first plane had hit. I was stopped at the light at Academy & Fountain in Colorado Springs when the morning team on KVOR said that a second plane had hit.

I spent most of the morning in a conference room at work with my co-workers. I was in my office when I got word that the first tower had come down - I went back into the conference room, and was there when the second tower collapsed.

[Birthmark]

6. I turned on the TV right after the first plane hit.

I knew immediately that it was a terrorist attack and that the hijackers had been flying the plane. Saw the second one hit live.

[nannygoat]

13. Me, too, Birthmark. That's why I can't believe that *

didn't do anything. I had just flown in from Chicago late the night before so I wasn't planning to go into work early that day. I turned on the TV, saw coverage of the first plane, and a little while later saw the second plane hit. Then I called my sister who worked in the Sears Tower (I thought I could catch her since Chicago is an hour behind) to warn her not to go into that building. I mean even I knew there was something seriously wrong and it involved tall buildings.

[BurtWorm]

7. I was on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan

and read about it on the Fox News zipper. Then I walked over to Fifth Avenue and saw it with my own eyes.

[leftist_rebel1569]

8. I was told in Science class

in 8th grade...

it was about 2:15 in the afternoon, too...the schools didn't tell the kids until the last hour of the day to "keep them orderly"...I vividly remember that moment. I never understood why or how people remember where they were so vividly before that...anyways, I can still remember what room and what seat I sat in and who was sitting next to me...this really annoying kid that kept saying they were gonna go after the schools next and he was panicking. (sigh) the only time in my life I ever stood behind Bush...

[JohnKleeb]

23. that late?

Well you stood behind Bush because you were apolitical then. I only said "ok" things about the bastard when I toned myself down because the nutheads were bashing Clinton. How I found out? I went to history about 9:00 and my first reaction and please folks I am not insensitive and I was pretty young wait I am still young :), ok I said to myself "drunk pilot"

[goobergunch]

43. I was in 2nd period...

which had just started (9:15 AM). The Dean of Students came on and told everybody that planes had crashed into the Twin Towers. He then activated the classroom TVs (CNN).

Naturally, my 2nd period teacher turned it off after a few minutes. :grr: :grr: I payed zero attention for the rest of the period and then ran down to the library at break where the TV was still on. By 3rd period everybody realized what a big deal this is and the TVs stayed on for the rest of the day.

The 2nd period snippet, curiously enough, was *'s speech in Florida.

The next day somebody asked me whether I would unite around the pResident like all the other Dems. I told him that I would be happy to unite around President Gore.

[JohnKleeb]

52. I was in third but I have block

[leftist_rebel1569]

57. yeah, it was that late

and I guess 9/11 helped get me into politics, too...maybe that's the reason I first took light to it. But, like I keep saying, I still give the credit where it's due for my politicalness (for lack of better word) - Rage Against The Machine

[JohnKleeb]

71. yawn just waking up ummm the selection kinda sparked it for me

Yeah you told me about rage you.

[VermontDem2004]

9. I was on the West Coast

so I just woke up, my grandma told me to look at the tv and I did. At the time I didn't think nothing of it, to me it just looked like another OKC. I really wasn't aware of the scale of the event till I got home from school when they went out for an entire week with constant footage of it.

[kcr]

10. My wife was sick

And I had driven into work to set up the VPN, so I could work form home and tke care of the kid and her. On the way back, I was listneing to ESPN radio, and Mike Greeneberg said "oh my god." and began to describe what he saw on the nTV in their studio. This was the first attack. I went cold, becasue I knew people who worked in that district and in the towers. Greenberg did a marvelous job of describing things and handling the situation. Better,frankly, then anyone on TV did.

I saw the second plane crash into the tower on CNN at home. I don't know if it was live or not. I just looked up in time to see it crash, at full speed, into the second tower.

[Robb]

11. I went to Bartcop.com

First thing in the morning, with that first cup of coffee, to get my comedy treehouse fix.

And the words (I'll never forget):

"We're at war, and we don't even know who with."

...

[Emboldened Chimp]

12. Got a call

I was getting ready for work, the girlfriend (now-ex) called to tell me what happened.

[radwriter0555]

14. I was sipping coffee, waking up, watching the news... so I literally

watched it unfold as it was playing out.

I called two friends and woke them up so they could see what was happening. After the second plane hit, I was on the phone with one friend, we were saying we wouldn't be shocked to see more targets hit, like washington, and boom, the Pentagon got hit.

As I was watching this all unfold, I felt like it was a movie script, in specific, "The Siege" with willis, washington and benning. I felt the timing of the planes was specifically like when the islamic terrorists were holding a busload of people hostage, and benning's character said, something like 'they aren't waiting for negotiating, they're waiting for the cameras to show up'...

Strangely, in the days following the event, the movie was pulled from Blockbuster video shelves, and when I asked why, no one knew. It's there now, again though.

[zekeson]

15. Gil, the postmaster told me

[FlashHarry]

16. Saw it on MSNBC.com

Breaking news about a plane hitting the WTC. My first thought was, 'Again? That's odd' (referring to the B-25 that hit the Empire State Building). Then somebody in the office yelled that it was happening again. We all crowded into our conference room and watched the whole ghastly thing happen live on TV. Worst day of my life.

[demnan]

17. I heard about New York at work

a friend got a phone call from her friend and then we were all trying to get on the Internet.

But since I live and work in Arlington, VA I actually heard the sirens when the Pentagon was attacked.

Later I went home and walked down and saw it burning. I posted this in a picture on Bartcop E! I think you can still find it in the archives of Bartcop E.

[soleft]

18. I was five blocks away

I didn't see the first plane hit, I must have been on the bus. I was riding the escalator up to the lobby of my building and I happened to look over my should and saw people looking up at the sky. Well, I had to know what they were looking at and I went back downstairs and the sky was filled with papers, like when they have a ticker tape parade. I took a few steps to my left and looked west and saw the smoke coming out of tower one.

The first thing I thought was that there must have been an explosion from within. The next thing I thought was I had to find out what floor my friend worked on. As it turns out she didn't go to work that day because she had worked late the night before. Her entire department, everyone who was there, is gone. And the thing is I had just the week before told her he she had to stop working so much overtime, that it was killing her.

[BurtWorm]

22. Wow, soleft.

How is she doing now? That's a horrible thing to have to carry around with you.

I suffered a little on 9-11 from the logistics of getting back to Manhattan from Queens (which I foolishly went to even knowing what had just happened downtown), and I suffered in the way everyone in New York suffered in the aftermath, worrying about friends and acquaintances who worked at the WTC or in the fire department and emergency services. And then worrying about more attacks and anthrax! But the people who were way downtown when it happened...I know one guy who watched the first plane go into the tower from across the street and felt his whole building shake with the collision, and he's still shaken by what he witnessed. It's still immediate in his mind.

[soleft]

28. She's better, thanks

What's wonderful is that she remained a staunch progressive, she didn't let her grief destroy her beliefs and principles. In fact her brother owns a great progressive site which is often linked on DU. But for a period of about six months she was going to a funeral a week. I guess one of the worse moments for me was when I walked into my apartment about a quarter after ten, I only live about a mile from the WTC, I looked out the window and saw the second tower fall, like a mountain crumbling into the sea.

Over the years I had taken so many photos of the WTC, on beautfil starry nights and pink sunsets and sunrises. I took a picture out my window later that day, I still haven't developed that film.

[BurtWorm]

34. My wife, daughter and I had taken a trip to Liberty Science Center

just two days before. We had walked around the base of the towers, and walked through the mostly deserted Winter Garden, when wee got back. My daughter, who was just about 6 at the time, was enraged when she found out what happened to her beloved towers. She still gets furious when she talks about them.

[noonwitch]

19. I was coming out of a staff meeting and some coworkers told me

So we all immediately went on line until the manager rustled up a tv to watch it on. We didn't have much work to do at the time, because we were closing out a program prior to being reassigned. We were all watching when the second plane hit.

[ulysses]

20. I was working at home

and my wife called me. I turned on the television just in time to see the second plane hit.

[rainydaywoman]

21. I was watching the Today Show

when they broke in about the first plane.
I just knew it wasn't an accident. I put a tape in the VCR. I have about 8 hours of the live coverage from that day, but we've never watched it, once was enough.
Then, when the plane went down in Pa (I live in western Pa) I wanted to go get my son from school. It was scary cuz you didn't know where the next plane was going to hit, even out here in the sticks!

[cmf]

26. Me too.

I was packing to leave for the airport after visiting my parents in Louisiana for the week, and the TV was on to keep me company. I live on the West Coast, so normally I would have slept through it. Even after the second plane hit, I was still planning on heading to the airport and flying home (WTF was I thinking?!!), until my dad came home from his morning swim and said, "You're not flying today." Not that it would have made any difference in the end.

[skypilot]

88. You have 8 hours of live coverage??

I wish I'd thought to tape the coverage because I would love to have the moment on tape when Ari Fleisher stood up and said that there had been NO warnings that an attack was coming. I knew the son of a bitch was lying. Just wish I'd taped it.

[elfwitch]

24. I was up feeding my 4 month old son...

I got up to feed my son. I turned on the TV to see if there was anything to amuse me while he fidgeted through a feeding.

As I was flipping channels (having no idea what channel I landed on) I saw the replay of the first plane hitting and then the anchor came on. The anchor was Pat Robertson. My first thought was that it was some kind of sick (yet somehow typical) 700 Club style apocalyptic fear-mongering propaganda trick.

Needless to say I was livid!!

I quickly changed the channel to find that it was really happening and not just a sick joke.

[MisterP]

38. greetings elfwitch!

I was recovering from the suicide of a not-too-near friend when I heard it on the radio in gym. After gym, I went to a teacher's room and saw the second plane hit. Later I heard that both towers were down. My dad saw them from New Jersey.

[dmr]

25. I was living in Florida at the time and at work

Boss came in and told us about the first plane hitting the WTC. When he came in and told us a second plane hit, I knew what was happening and muttered, "damn, Bush* did it". Here on DU at the time, we were all waiting for something bad to happen, but no one was prepared for 911. What struck me about my boss, was he didn't seem upset, but excited to make such horrific reports to us as he ran back and forth from his TV to us. He didn't even appear upset when the first tower collasped.

I was so sick at heart, I vomited a few minutes later, and left for home when my co-workers started to cold-heartedly joke - saying the New Yorkers are probably looting (south Florida mentality - which in their defense, I don't think they understood the enormity of it all).

I hated that job, and the pugs that ran it. I ended up moving to New York less than a month later.

[supernova]

27. CCTV at work

They switched over from the usual corporate feed (CEO meetings, training presentations, local want ads) to CNN.

I had been in the restroom and was walking back to my office when I noticed a gaggle of people gathered under the TV mounted high on the hall wall. I wondered what could attract such a crowd underneath the TV. Then I looked up. :scared:

We all were glued to the TV until the towers came down.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

30. I was in school

I heard murmers of it all morning and the teachers whispering about it,(school here starts at 8:05) but didn't hear it until I went down to gym (4th period I think)and our gym coaches told us to go up to the cafeteria. There was some TVs on and it was just horrible... oh fuck I can't finish this story.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. Living on the West Coast, I came to the news late

Normally, I would have flipped on NPR on my way into the kitchen to make coffee, but due to having installed a cable Internet connection the week before, I had rearranged the furniture, and the radio was no longer in a convenient location.

After breakfast, I took my second cup of coffee to the computer and started checking the e-mail that had come in overnight from Japan. After a string of routine messages on the translators' mailing list, there was a cryptic note from an American resident in Japan, date stamped midnight Japan time, saying just, "Oh my God, everyone, turn on your TV NOW!"

I thought maybe that there had been an earthquake or volcanic eruption in Japan, so I didn't turn on the TV.

It wasn't until I switched over to DU that I saw the headlines on the front page. They didn't make any sense. I started reading the threads, and they still didn't make any sense. I had visited the WTC, and I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of those massive buildings being destroyed--and the Pentagon hit, too?

That prompted me to turn on the radio, and NPR was saying the same thing. (This was about 9AM Pacific Time, so all the crashes had already occurred.) But I still couldn't fathom what had happened.

I decided that I needed pictures, so I turned on CNN.

Back in Minneapolis, my mother and stepfather, who are normally news junkies, happened to sleep late that morning and not turn on the TV. The first they heard was when they got a call from their broker telling them that the informational meeting for investors was cancelled (it was scheduled for one of the tallest buildings in the city) "because of the World Trade Center."

[TrogL]

32. Driving to work

the CBC was going on about a plane hitting something in New York so I phoned home to have Ahknaten turn on CNN. He gave me updates as I drove to work. I was just pulling in the driveway when one of the towers went down.

[Punkingal]

33. An American Airlines co-worker called me.....

so I got a double whammy, when she told me what happened, and then that it was one of OUR planes. I will never forget the shock I felt.

[RobinA]

66. I Feel For Ya

on this. I have relatives who work for several airlines, although not AA or United. It wasn't 'til afternoon that I heard that it was airliners (and which ones) that hit the WTC (I was on vacation and away from TV), but the first thing I felt after learning this was a jolt of horror, on top of everything else, for the airlines involved.

I've never seen this issue explored, in all the oceans of ink that have been spilled on the subject of 9/11.

[LuLu550]

94. my neighbor works for United

she knew three of the people who worked on the flights. She was a zombie for weeks.

[damnraddem]

35. NPR news bulletins, as I was driving from a doctor's office to work.

I walked into class that night, still in shock, and said 'this has been an extraordinary day.' One of the international students called for a moment of silence for the American people -- it was a beautiful act. Of course, such gestures have all been cheapened by Dubya's actions since.

[regnaD kciN]

36. Car radio...

My wife and I were driving to work at around 9:00 A.M. Pacific time. The first notion that something unusual was happening came as we passed the Maplewood Golf Course on route 169, and saw the parking lot was absolutely jammed with panel trucks (like the kind phone, cable, and plumbing services use). Having never seen something like that there, I commented to Dominique that some service worker union must be having a breakfast meeting at the Maplewood clubhouse. (Of course, it later became obvious that this was a staging area in case there was any local attack on our infrastructure.)

A few minutes later, we turned onto I-405, and found the northbound lanes much more jammed than usual. Traffic was simply not moving. It seemed likely that we were going to be too late to the South Bellevue Park & Ride for my wife to make her usual bus to Seattle. Almost as a reflex, I flipped on the radio and switched to KIRO-AM, which had traffic reports every ten minutes. I figured that the only possible cause for the slowdown would have been an accident further northbound, and wanted the information in case my wife needed it for a lateness excuse.

Instead, I caught the last sentence or so of a somber discussion about how "the World Trade Center had been a target in 1993, so this shouldn't have been too much of a surprise." Hmmm...another bombing attempt? Probably nothing too serious. Breaking off the discussion, the announcer informed us that, although there was nothing to suggest that Seattle was being targeted, the Space Needle had been closed and the Columbia Center Tower was being evacuated. Huh???? It was clear that this was not going to be a normal workday. Then we heard, "To recap: there have been attacks at the World Trade Center. The famous Twin Towers are gone..." My mouth must have dropped. That terrorists could stage attacks here was far from surprising. That they could hijack airplanes and carry out suicide missions was quite predictable. But that anything short of controlled demolition could cause quarter-mile-tall skyscrapers to collapse was just beyond all comprehension. My first assumption, having not seen the footage, was that the planes must have struck near the base of each tower, and the towers must have immediately toppled sideways, crushing many other buildings in south Manhattan, and that the death toll might even reach a million or more.

In any event, it became clear that Dominique was not going to be going to work that day (her job is in the Federal Building, which would be one of the most natural targets in Seattle). Instead, she came with me to my office, where work had pretty much halted as well. As we heard about the attack in D.C., we became quite worried about my father-in-law, who had told us that he worked near the Pentagon. So, the next few hours were spent trying to get in contact with him or anyone else who might be able to do so. Fortunately, we later found out that "near the Pentagon" meant "across the Potomac"...During the phone marathon, we checked with my parents, down in San Diego. As it turned out, they found out even later than we did, when they first turned on the television in the early afternoon. Having lived through Pearl Harbor, they were even more stunned-sounding than I was feeling. My mother was the first to state a thought that would become commonplace over the next few days, "Nothing is going to be the same from now on..."

[Aristus]

40. I started up my car, getting ready to go to work,

and there was screaming and frantic reportage coming from the radio. Freaked me out. Took me about five minutes of listening to figure out what had happened.

[jenm]

41. Walking

past the Colorado Ballet building in Denver, a scruffy
looking guy came up and asked me how to get to the welfare
office. I directed him, and then told me the WTC had been
"bombed."

[bbernardini]

42. Drudge!

Second week at my current teaching position. A kindergarten class was about to come in when the story about the first place came up. 30 minutes later when class was done, all hell had broken loose. The campus on which I teach (small private school) has no cable, so we were going by radio and what little we could get from the Internet. Which explains why, to this day, I'm interested in watching the TV coverage, because I never got to see it. Most of that archive doesn't seem to work.

[Booberdawg]

44. I was getting ready for work and saw the first report on MSNBC

before I left for work the second plane had hit the other tower - knew it was a terrorist hit then. I was within a few mile of SAC headquarters where chicken george hid out for a couple hours that day and I sure didn't feel safe with him around. Wanted him to get the fuck back to Washington.

In all seriousness, hearing about the collapse of the towers was devastating and just ... incomprehensible - but nothing could prepare me for actually seeing it when I got home that night and flipped on the TV. I just sat there and watched it over and over in stunned silence with tears in my eyes.

[MaineDem]

45. I was watching CNBC

I was getting ready to go to get my license renewed because my birthday was 2 days away. I was watching the stock channel while hubby was in the bathroom (I'll never forget where he was.) They mentioned a plane going into the WTC. I figured an accident, like most people.

I changed the channel to WNBC from New York (Directv feed.) Saw the second plane hit. TV never went off for days - you know how that is.

And over the next few days I heard of people I knew who had died. Two in Shanksville, PA and one in the WTC. I just cried and cried. For days.

I'm getting those same feelings right now just thinking about it all.

[regnaD kciN]

60. You and my mother have the same birthday...

I was getting ready to go to get my license renewed because my birthday was 2 days away.

Needless to say, it was pretty somber two years ago. Much like Thanksgiving Day in 1963, less than a week after JFK's murder.

I had already ordered a copy of Arianna Huffington's "How To Overthrow The Government" to arrive on her birthday. We both commented on how we hoped the authorities hadn't been searching packages just after the attacks...

[goobergunch]

46. Here's DU LBN for 9/11

3:37 AM to 11:43 AM

11:47 AM to 11:26 PM

11:36 PM to 3:53 PM 9/12

3:55 PM 9/12 to 2:32 AM 9/13

[Chovexani]

47. Thanks

For this bit of DU history.

[MaineDem]

53. Wow

Those are chilling to read.

Thank you for the links.

[Pastiche423]

70. What is also chilling

is that the 1st post was made by kef at 9:11 am.

[_NorCal_D_]

56. Wow, thanks for posting those!

It's interesting and sad to relive this history.


:(

[VolcanoJen]

85. Thank you, Goobergunch.

Dear God. I didn't have the strength or heart to log on that day.

[Wickerman]

48. A merchant in my small town told me

it was right as it broke - he thought it was a small private plane.

[geniph]

49. My husband stuck his head into the shower

and said, "Looks like Bush is gonna get his war - someone just crashed a plane into the World Trade Center" to which my reasoned response was, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

He'd seen a post on DU (he always looks at the computer first thing in the morning) and went to turn on the TV and see what was going on. I came running out of the shower just in time to see the second plane impact the second tower. The first building collapsed before I left for work. I heard the collapse of the second tower on the radio as I drove to work.

It's easy for me to remember how overdue I am for my GYN checkup, because I had to go to the doctor that afternoon, and I haven't been since!

Our neighborhood held a little candlelight vigil in the street that night, and several nights afterward, which was very comforting up until one of the raving fundies said it was because we "tolerate things we know are wrong." I quit going after that. :-(

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. I was watching television and talking on the phone with PassingFair who

also posts here. When the news first broke, we thought a small cessna type plane hit. When the live news coverage started and the second plane hit, we both were shell shocked. I hung up, called my brothers in LA, because who the heck knew what was going on and I was worried about them. Then I went over to PassingFair's house and we spent the rest of the day watching the news and wondering where the Hell the "president" was. All were saw were former aides, former generals, former Secretarys of Defense. It was all very worrisome. Also, it was kind of like watching the scene from "Independence Day" when New York City comes under attack. It was all so very surreal.

Laura

[Lisa]

51. "America is being attacked"

I was sleeping in late after having taught a class the previous evening ... and was startled awake by the phone ringing at 7:30. Ian had heard the news from a mutual friend of ours who was back in Ontario.

I couldn't understand what he was saying ... my first thought was that it was something in Seattle, maybe another person with a bomb had gotten through this time and not been stopped at the border. I said, "which channel?", thinking maybe it would be on one of the Seattle stations.

Ian said, "All of them."

Another thing about that morning -- when I went upstairs to tell the rest of the household, I found my landlady's 7-year-old daughter, sitting in the living room in her nightie. My landlady was ill, and I guess there was nobody to take her to school or even give her breakfast.

I spent the rest of the morning looking after her, until my landlady felt well enough to get up. (She was in bed when I told her what had happened in New York, and just groaned.)

It was unusual because I've never known her or her husband to leave the child unattended like that.

[VelmaD]

54. I stayed home that day...

from work. I woke up early from a bad dream I couldn't quite remember and with a pounding headache that wouldn't go away. I called in sick and then laid in bed staring at the ceiling and trying desperately to go back to sleep but couldn't.

My best friend also woke up "sick" that morning and didn't go in. She called me just before the first tower collapsed to tell me to get outta bed and turn on the tv. I did. And then the first tower collapsed.

It was awful.

Weird part wasI also stayed home sick teh day not too long after that that plane crashed near New York City. For a while the people in my office teased me hard about it.

Why can't I ever get a psychic vibe about the lottery or something like that. *sigh*

Darth Velma

[ronnykmarshall]

83. I tried to drive to work

but my cell phone kept ringing with my boyfriend calling with details. The first tower had collapsed and when I heard the north tower went down, I turned around and came home. I called my co-workers in SD to tell my boss I wasn't coming in. I stayed in front of the TV all day.

One of the strange things was that I didn't start crying until that night. When they told the story of Father Mike, I lost it.

[_NorCal_D_]

55. I was watching CNN,

at about 5:30 in the morning on the west coast and saw it LIVE. I'll never forger that day, it's probably the reason I got interested in politics and world affairs in the first place.

[Character Assassin]

58. BBC radio live feed

Woke up to it (in California) and went "Huh?", promptly going back to sleep for a bit, and then went downstairs to the TV.....

Oh, boy.

[MediumBrownDog]

59. I was in my car, on the way to the doctor's office

when I heard it on the radio. I immediately called my husband, and he turned on the TV -- to see the second plane hit the tower live. He's still not over that.

[jumptheshadow]

61. My business partner told me, he lives on Fulton Street

We were on the phone talking about our agenda for the day. His loftmate came running in shouting, "They bombed the World Trade Center." The shrill blare of sirens erupted on both his and my ends of the phone. The Squad 1 fire trucks passed in front of my window going up Sixth Avenue. I hung up the phone and turned on the TV...and watched as flames exploded in the second building.

I went across the hallway to see if I could pick up anything for the old lady there. She didn't realize what was going on and asked me to buy fabric softener. I hurried outdoors to get money, water and batteries. The towers crumbled while I was outside. The sky grew dark with smoke and dust and ash. Once in a while you would see a soft, large, delicate piece of ash floating gracefully though the air. I felt strangely disconnected from the WTC site but I knew that human remains were probably raining down on my neighborhood.

The 12 men from Squad 1 did not come back. My business partners gave refuge to passersby on Fulton Street until they were forced to evacuate. A friend lost her brother. Another friend avoided death that day because he couldn't find parking.

I love this city more than ever though it's not always easy to live here. I've been invited to a remembrance down near Ground Zero, but I don't think I can handle it yet.

[DoYouEverWonder]

62. I was listening to a local yocal radio station

when I pulled into the parking lot at work and they said that a small plane had hit the WTC. About a week before, some guy had parachuted onto the Statue of Liberty, so at first I thought it was someone yahoo pulling a stunt and had screwed up. Then they said they just got word that another plane had hit the second tower. I knew then that it was a terrorist attack.

I went into work and told everyone in my office what was going on. We tried to get on the internet but it was jammed, so we switched the radios to the news broadcasts. When they said that a plane had hit the Pentagon, I decided to go get my son from school. When I got there, the middle school and HS kids were all in the main room watching the TV. They had decided not to tell the elementary school kids until their parents picked them up. So I hung out with the older kids and watched the towers come down, thru the windows I could see my son in the school yard playing without a care in the world. It was very surreal.

When it was time for the kids to break for lunch, I went over to take him home and realized that I had to figure out a way to explain to him what had happened. It was one of the hardest moments of my life. That night he woke up having a nightmare, screaming that little airplanes were attacking his body.

[ProudGerman]

63. I was in Williamsburg Va

I had to get there early to recieve a package, I was half of the team that was wiring a brand new Suntrust branch. I spent the morning wondering why in the world I was the only one working, and fretting that my radio wasn't working. (I simply cannot work without music) I was busy bending conduit for telephone and data when the UPS guy showed up.

As I sign for the package, he remarks "I wouldn't want to be a fly in Afghanistan tomorrow". I asked him why, he said, "You haven't heard? Two planes have hit the World Trade Center, and one hit the Pentagon. There's still one missing."

I signed for the package, but I was speechless. I knew exactly what was going on, we were under direct attack. I also realized why all the other contractors weren't doing anything. I had to spend the rest of the day working, not to keep my mind off of it, but because my boss demanded it.

To this day, I wonder why no one bothered to tell me anything. They all saw me working. I wonder why my boss asked when he finally showed up if I was ready to pull some homeruns, and then asking me to hurry up and get ready. I didn't have to do too much work that day, he was too busy on the phone.

I'm proud to say that I hated Bush before 9/11, hated him through it, and still hate him today. One of my first thoughts that day after I recovered some faculties was "Oh my god, bush is gonna use this to prop himself up sky high". I had no idea of the carnage until I got home that night at 6:30, I never got access to a radio for more than a few minutes (radio in my car was broken at the time). Even though I was completely leveled by the situation, I still got pissed at CNN and the other news channels for the neverending replay of the second plane hitting. CNN was running it in a neverending loop behind two boxes of Larry King, and some street reporter.

[SPICYHOT]

64. i was in japan

watching news then suddenly start showing the whole thing!...

[flama]

65. I was at work

Shrub was a few miles away at one of the Booker schools talking to the kids.

Someone in the office got a phone call. Within ten minutes, the office and manufacturing plant knew almost what happened.

My SO was home - his day off - and the property appraisor showed up around 10 A.M. He asked if my SO was watching TV. Silly him had been watching a movie! My SO and the appraisor watched TV for about half an hour before the back room in my house became an enclosed porch and my appraisal dropped a few hundred dollars.

Ma

P.S. Nobody went far for lunch that day because many of the roads were closed to get shrub (or is it stump?) back to Air Force One. They closed more roads than they needed to for longer than necessary so no one would know where he was. Yeah, like the pilots who trained in Florida were going to smash an M80 into a black Suburban on DeSoto Road or try a mid-air collision.

[SOteric]

67. I was at home, getting ready for work

watching the early news on the television.

[Lindsey]

68. I was on my 2 month break from teaching

when I was on my way out the door to the gym. I almost always turn on the T.V. but for some reason that morning I didn't. All of a sudden my phone rang (it was pretty early here in L.A.) and it was my girlfriend (now ex) telling me that there had been a plane crash at the WTC. I turned on the T.V. thinking it was a regular crash. We were on the phone together when the second one hit. I guess that's when everone really got that this was not accident. We watched (on the phone with each other) the whole thing unfold. The people jumping, the towers collapsing, everything. Then other friends and family members started calling. Pretty much everyone was leaving work to go home because being in L.A. we thought we may be next. I even had a few friends who went up the coast because they felt safer being out of L.A. I pretty much stayed home most of the day and just watched CNN.

[maveric]

69. Was driving my son to school and turned on my truck's radio...

and the first thing I heard from the morning talk crew was "the WTC is engulfed in smoke and flames".

[Vernunft]

72. A friend in Canada AIM´d me after the first plane,

I saw the second live on german TV already.

[scarlet_owl]

73. I was at work

doing dishes and talking to a co-worker. One of the butchers (I used to work in a meat/seafood department), came in and told us.

[JanMichael]

74. I flew out of LaGuardia around 7am on 09-11-01.

I was flying back to Tampa from NYC, after visiting a friend for a B-Day.

We didn't get grounded in Atlanta and made it into TPA around 10am.

The pilot didn't inform us of the WTC problems so we landed without knowing what most of the rest of the World already knew.

As we deplaned people turned on their mobile phones and started getting the bizarre messages.

While walking to the ground transportation area/baggage pick-up, I heard someone say that two small planes had collided by the WTC so people were still fuzzy on what had occured.

I then made my way to the Alamo desk and there were around a dozen people standing in front of a TV and they were blocking the aisle. I pushed through and asked a woman what had happened. She just motioned up to the TV which was showing burning buildings (I think it was a repeat, the buildings may have already collapsed) and I looked and saw the man made disaster.

I had to be back at work around lunch so I pushed on through the crowd and got my car.

On the way, while I was driving south on I-75, the Pentagon took a hit too.

Went home changed and went to work.

When I got there everybody was watching the news reports.

They all knew I was flying that morning and were surprised to see me walk in....

[ProfessorGAC]

75. I Was At The Airport and. . .

. . .it was announced over the gate PA that no flights were boarding because of an FAA shutdown of all flights.

Then, someone said they heard on the TV in the little bookstore that a commercial plane had hit the WTC. They said the lady in the bookstore had the news on and they were showing the building on fire.

So, i went over there, and a few minutes later, the second plane hit.

At that moment, i said to myself "This is not an accident, and we aren't going anywhere today." So, i went back to my car and left the airport and listened to everything on the radio during the ride home.
The Professor

[Uzybone]

76. I saw it on TV

I saw the first tower on fire and wondered what movie this was. That was till I realized I was watching CNN.

[Mr. Jinx]

77. NYYFan called me

I had the day off, so I was sleeping in that morning.

[MountainLaurel]

78. Ongoing revelations

Around 9:15 a coworker came in, knowing that most of us spend our first hour at work catching up on the news, and asked if we had heard anything about the WTC getting hit by a plane, as they were reporting it on NPR. First clue that something was up: none of the major news sites were working.

Then we went to a TV in the building, saw the scene there, and just sat silent. I then remembered that a close friend who worked as a flight attendant was making a trip to JFK the day before. I managed to reach him by cell phone, to find that he had watched the second plane hit and that no one at the Newark airport had any idea what was going on. But he did tell me that the plane he saw strike the buildings was one of the larger commercial planes, and that there was no way it could have accidently hit such a large landmark on a clear day.

By that point, the reports said that something had crashed at the Pentagon, about 5 miles away. At first, the thought was that something had missed the heliport next to the building, but then when the smoke let up a little you could see that half the wall was missing. My coworkers and I stood on the roof and watched the smoke billow, while we discussed whether it would be better to leave or stay in place, the best routes home, and the chances that the Air Force would shoot down another plane, possibly to crash on us.

[LuLu550]

79. I was on the phone with a friend who works at a newspaper

he told me someone yelled "a plane hit the world trade center." I work in my own office in a school and I went to CNN on my computer where I saw the first photo, a black gash across the tower, small plum of smoke. I told him yeah, it looks bad, but it's pretty high up and people above the hit are probably not going to make it but people below should be OK.
I went into the faculty room and told everyone, and people started turning on TVs...then the second plane hit. The TVs and radios stayed on all day and it kept getting more awful by the minute.

[FlaGranny]

80. I was getting my morning fix of DU.

I turned on the TV in time to catch the second plane.

[MissMillie]

81. Had just dropped my son off at school.

He had an appointment w/ dental medicine's version of the terrorist: the orthodontist.

I dropped him off at school and was driving back home. I was working at home that day so that I could make that orthodontist appt and also catch my son's first football game.

I turned the radio to NPR, and heard them talking about a plane hitting the first tower.

Sometime between the time I turned my car engine off and the time I turned the TV on in the house (about 90 seconds) the second plane hit.

I watched both buildings fall.

[ronnykmarshall]

82. I was at the gym

Saw the North Tower on fire on TV. While I was on the treadmill, I saw the second plane hit. I ran home and frantically tried to call my best friend in NYC. I finally heard from him latter that day (I got ahold of his boss in SF who told me he was ok), he was staying at his other apt in NJ and he told me "Honey, you'll never hear a New Yorker say this but, thank God I was in New Jersey!"

[playahata1]

84. Saw it all on TV.

I was in grad school at Florida State University, wrapping up my Ph.D. I'd just begun my morning workout at FSU's fitness center; I'd just finished a set of pull-ups, and I happened to turn my head and see a bunch of people gathered around one of the TVs on the gym's main level. The north tower had just been hit, and I'm like, what the hell is this?

I join the crowd around the tube and begin asking questions and getting answers. Then the second plane hit the south tower, and I just turned, got my stuff, and got the hell out of there, because I knew what was coming.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

86. One of the women who worked for me then...

..was listening to NPR on a Walkman. (We were in a basement office which had no TV, and the computers were real slow and not equipped with sound cards.) I used to warn her about wearing headphones for fera csutomers would walk in and find her tuned into something else.

Once she told us what she'd heard, I started punching up Netscape and remember hitting the Washington Post site a dozen or more times. Then I called my wife (at home with our then 6-month old daughter) to turn on the TV, which she did just about the time they were showing shots of the second plane hitting the tower.

[HawkerHurricane]

87. "Other"

I was out to sea. Captain announced over the ship's announcing system.
Every TV was on CNN after that, as we absorbed every rumor that was put out; and losing the sattelite signal with every heavy roll...

[PittPoliSci]

89. 3rd period...at school.

it was the end of the class, another teacher came in and said "there are fires EVERYWHERE!" i guess he didn't know what was going on either. then, we turned on the tv and watched in horror as we saw the world trade center collapse before our eyes. i heard a student shout out "those things can hold 10,000 people each! they're all going to die! oh my god!!!" i felt sick.

later that day, the principle came on the PA system, crying, and informed the few that didn't know already. people's parents were pulling them outta school. it was chaos. a plane crashed about 40 miles from my house. we were all feeling vulnerable here in western pennsylvania.

[Rich Hunt]

91. Saw it on TV

I'm in Chicago.

I was on another board, reading about J.Lo's ass, and no one even said anything about it. I was finishing my coffee and getting ready to take my bike to work, so I switched the tv on to get the weather report.

I continued reading about J.Lo's ass when I noticed that the weather report had not come on, and that Diane Sawyer had been talking on the phone to the same person for the past ten minutes. Looked at the screen and saw the north tower on fire.

I watched the coverage until the Pentagon was on fire, and then, for some bizarre reason, I switched it off & went to work. I think I was trying not to panic...but I work downtown! Also, I decided that I'd rather be with my co-workers if something bad happened - it made me feel helpless otherwise. But half my workplace did not come in that day.

Got off the train, and everyone coming out of the subway turned and looked up at the Sears Tower...still there.

No work got done - there were tv's all over the building. Went online to get updates and people were saying that a plane was headed for Chicago...but the mayor told us not to panic.

After an hour or so, we got sent home. Many people walked the whole way, but I wanted to get out of downtown as fast as possible, so I risked the train ride.

[sham]

92. walking across campus...

I was running late that morning, so I didn't turn on the TV or get on the Internet. On my way to class, there were people standing everywhere, chattering on cellphones. I overheard one girl who was hysterical and crying.

I didn't understand what was happening, but this oppressive feeling of dread came over me, and I ran the rest of the way to the building where my morning class was. There was a TV in the lobby, and there were about 30 people gathered around it. I got there just in time to see the second plane hit. There was so much confusion... It was several minutes before I realized that the towers had been hit by two different planes.

At one point, my professor came out to the lobby and told us to come to class. No one did. We stayed there for hours. No one wanted to leave. I think it was a little comforting being around that many people. As a group, we were strong. Later, when I went home and I was alone, I just fell apart.

[donotpassgo]

93. Woke up after the fact...

I listen to NPR until I fall asleep and sometimes wake up with it still on. I heard something about WTC and planes and the Pentagon in my half awake mode and went back to sleep. A little while later, I hear the same buzzwords. I popped out of bed wondering "what the fuck", went to the TV and saw Dan Rather give a re-cap of the towers falling. I 'knew' that they fell, but I watched the replay praying that at least one would stay up. They didn't, and I watched the news until UPN thankfully played a Star Trek re-run to break the tension.

[donotpassgo]

95. Oh, yeah and frantically calling my FDNY dad.

Thank God he was retired, but he lost like 15 of his closest buddies. He was on the DART team and was on site an hour after the collapse of the first two buildings. His girlfriend and my cousin are NYPD and I had a cousin that worked down the block. I prayed so hard that day.

[neverforget]

96. Saw it happen on CNN Headline News. I was eating my breakfast

when I saw the live images of the 1st tower on fire saying that a plane had hit it. I thought it was a small plane at first. Then, about a minute after I turned the tv on, I saw the 2nd plane hit. I screamed out "holy shit! we're at war. Someone just flew 2 planes into the World Trade Center." My wife heard this and woke up thinking what? So I ran into the room and got her up and we watched for about 10 minutes before I had to go work.

When I got to work, I turned the radio on and found out that another plane had hit the Pentagon. What a day! I left work early because I couldn't concentrate.

[MIScott87]

97. I was at school

I was walking to my class when a teacher was talking to another teacher about how he heard that "a plane hit a building in New York" or something like that. I shrugged it off.

I went into class, where we were supposed to take a quiz. Instead, the TV was tuned to ABC. I saw the WTC look like smokestacks. (By that time, both towers were hit.) I thought, "This could be one of the top news stories of the year."

We turned the TV off, and took the quiz. While I took the quiz, my heart raced as I thought, "What is going on?"

When everybody was finished, we turned the TV back on, to see the Pentagon hit. We watched the towers come down, and I said, "Oh my God," which I rarely say, even if I'm shocked. At about the same time, Peter Jennings said the same thing.

This has to be the biggest news story of my life so far.

[markbark]

98. I was working at an online brokerage firm at the time

Our Brokerage Ops folks rang up us network geeks and asked "Why can't we talk to our market makers via the internet?

15 minutes later someone had CNNfn on in the lunchroom.


Ugly bit of business, that.


--MAB

[AntiCoup2K4]

99. Woke up to the whole thing, literally....

Clock radio goes off at 5:45 AM and first thing I remember hearing was that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. No further details given. Oh well, probably just some little plane with a shitty pilot went through a window, maybe a minor office fire, no big deal.

Absent-mindedly stumbled to the kitchen to make some coffee and then turned the TV on. Normally I would have turned on the computer while waking up, but I was house-sitting and didn't have the patience for dial-up. The minute I turned the TV on, the second plane hit. Still not fully awake, I thought this was a clip from a new "Die Hard" movie, or one of the Airport disaster flicks from the 70's.

Then I noticed it was both towers burning. And remembered what I had heard on the radio. Two towers. Two planes.

first thought: Oh fuck, this was no accident!

second thought: Those fucking assholes did this! (and we all know which assholes I mean)

[VOX]

100. On the West Coast, was sleeping in a bit...the clock radio goes off...

Folks on Pacifica Radio are saying something about casualties at the Pentagon...My first semi-conscious, half-asleep idea is that the military must have had some major training exercise, and that the "casualties" are of the "pretend" kind. The talk turns to the WTC, and as I begin to fully awaken, I know that something horrible has happened.

I snap on CNN, watch for, say, 20 seconds, and my boss calls me, giving me a recap and a heads-up to stay home.

My wife was in Hawaii, of all places, with her mom. They were heading to the airport to fly back to the mainland when it all happened. It was a great trip for them until they couldn't leave. When something of this magnitude occurs, you want to get home quickly, even if you're in paradise.

Until she could get a plane the following week, I was solo, with TV and phone. I'd had cancer surgury earlier that summer and was still feeling discomfort from that. 2001 was a horrible, horrible year all around.

[FuriousMNDem]

101. Funny... My Chief of staff did, too.

My wife is my "Chief of Staff," so to speak.

She called me at work, and told me that the WTC was on fire. I logged on to the internet, but I couldn't get on CNN.com. I went to the break room, turned on the TV, and there it was.

I went home a little while after the first tower collapsed.

[TheBlob]

102. I live at the top of a six floor walk-up on the Lower East Side.

Almost two years to the minute...

My alarm clock went off at 10:00am.
I looked out the window and saw people on rooftops everywhere looking south. I knew right away something was going on. I got out of bed, walked into the livingroom, turned on the TV, and as I waited for the blank screen to come on, the first image I saw was of ONE TOWER. BURNING.

The other one had already fallen. I was instantly in a panic. A panic like I've never experienced. I bolted out the door and ran up to the roof.

The roof was a place I would always go to look at the skyline. The Towers were always the most impressive things in the sky over here on the Lower East Side. I had fallen in love with them over the years. Sometimes people would say that the Towers were an eyesore. Not me. I knew how beautiful they looked at night. These were our pyramids. Our gift to the future. Our monoliths.

Now there was one of them. Burning. There were a few other people on the roof and I frantically asked them what had happened. Among my first words: "Was it Osama? Saddam?" No one knew at that point. I was quickly informed that the Pentagon had just been hit, and that it was believed that other planes were still in the sky and heading for other targets. I was trying to process all of this while still not being totally awake.

A half hour later I watched the other Tower fall to dust.

[ChimpyMcSmirk]

103. How I found out...

I woke up at around 9:30 am and just lounged in bed for a few minutes. I remember how sunny and beautiful it was that morning. I went to go listen to my voice mail and my niece had left me a really sad and shaky message but she didn't say what was wrong. I thought something was wrong with one of her kids or something. I called her back and the first words out of her mouth were, "We are under attack!" I was like WTF! I ran downstairs and turned my tv on and just started shaking. I don't think I realized at first it was the WTC since one of the towers had fallen. A few seconds later the second tower fell. Katie Couric was speaking but I can't remember what she was saying. I felt so numb and just shocked. I had no idea what was going on. My kids were 3 and 10 months at the time and I was so scared for them. I then went into the bathroom and threw up. That was the worst day *ever*.

And it was the day that changed my views on just about everything.

[skippysmom]

104. Heard it from a co-worker

I was living outside of Albany, NY at the time. I remember waiting for my bus at around 8:15 am and looking up at the sky and seeing what a beautiful day it was. When I found out later that one of the planes was being taken over and rerouted right over my head, I got a little freaked.

I had just started a new job in downtown Albany 2 weeks before, and was reading up on the new workplace and doing a few menial tasks, when my office mate came in and told me and my boss that the WTC had been hit by a plane. I immediately put on my radio and listened to one of the local AM stations simulcasting Peter Jennings. One of our co-workers on another floor had a TV and we went up to see what was going on. By that time both buildings had already collapsed.

My mother and my boyfriend (now my husband) both called to see what was going on. My boyfriend really wanted me to get out of downtown Albany -- who knew what would happen next -- but our director refused to close. She simply told us that anyone who wanted to leave could take the afternoon off. My officemate took her up on the offer when her husband, a state worker, was sent home, but being a new employee I couldn't really do that. So I spent the day entering data into MS Excel until my boss and I finally decided we'd had enough at around 4:00 pm.

I took the bus home and the city was eerily quiet with all of the state workers having gone home. When I finally got back to our apartment I stumbled into my boyfriend's arms. We were glued to the TV for the rest of the night.

We lived near the airport, and always liked to sit on our porch and watch the planes land. When a military plane did fly over on its approach, we jumped out of our skin.

I spent the next week connecting with far flung family and friends. As I am from CT and my now-husband is from upstate NY, we were pretty sure we would have known someone who perished that day, but we didn't.

By the weekend we were ready for a break, and guiltily hit the video store. The line to check out was practically out the door.

[masmdu]

105. I was Talking with Somebody in WTC Tower One

We were in a chat room online at the time (stocks) and he said, "Wow! Something just rocked the building, I think there was an explosion! I gotta go. Will report more later."

I turned on the TV then.

This was a man I knew only because we were both active members in the same stock chat room.

Others who knew him personally and also used the same stock chat room came back over the following days to report that he did not make it out.

[MaineDem]

109. Wow

I don't know what to say about your experience. "What a shame" seems so inadequate.

My niece is a broker with Schwab in San Francisco. She was talking with people in NY, too. That must be a horrible feeling and a memory you'll carry with you.

[UrbScotty]

111. Oh jeez... How terrible.

My condolences, indeed.

[LynneSin]

106. I slept through it and didn't realize what happened until I got on DU

seriously!

I was working night shift, so I would go to sleep at 6am til sometime until 2-3pm. I did have a bizarre dream that night that I was in a burning building and I could not get out. Then I realized the dream was a result of my clock radio coming on around 11am and instead of news playing, they switched to news to cover the event. (I had set my radio for 11am because of an appointment I had the previous day and I forgot to reset).

So it was DU where I first read about it and how I figured out my damn dream!

[Bolo Boffin]

107. My best friend called from work and woke me up...

...screaming about the second tower being hit. I turned on the TV and watched the coverage until the last tower fell. Then I got dressed and went into work two hours early.

[really-looney]

108. I was on the 14th Street Bridge

I was going into Washington DC on the 14th St Bridge listening to what was going on in New York on the radio when I saw the plume of black smoke rising up from the Pentagon. Needless to say I did not take my son (11 months old) to school in DC and I never made it to the office. I went to a friend’s house in DC to get off the roads because there was talk of car bombs at the State Department and on Capitol Hill. I tried to get my wife on the phone but kept getting all circuits are busy messages, she works in Arlington VA near the Pentagon. It was a scary day.

[Throckmorton]

110. I got locked down in the control room

and didn't get out for 6 hours. Good thing I had a twinkie with my coffee that day.