Where were you eleven years ago today?

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    • 19067 posts
    September 11, 2012 12:14 AM PDT
    Woke up to a phone call from eldest daughter saying that youngest daughter (who was living in NYC) was OK and not near the World Trade Center. To which I replied so? Why you telling me this?


    • 544 posts
    September 11, 2012 12:47 AM PDT
    I was at work but we all were glued to the TV. I went home early to be with my family. Never forget!
    • 2685 posts
    September 11, 2012 1:17 AM PDT
    I live on the east coast but was actually in Cali for of all things an emergency responder conference. Yep, me a paramedic at the time 3000 miles away with about 400 medics, firefighters and cops from all over the country and Canada now all grounded and unable to get home or help.

    I had a friend of the family who was very near ground zero and ended up wrecking her respiratory system due to the incident, sadly she just passed away last week after 11 years of fighting.

    Please remember all the people who were effected in a long term way as well as the thousands who died at the site.
  • September 11, 2012 1:24 AM PDT
    I lived in NY (not in the city) but about 25 minutes north of Manhattan, I was at work, when we heard a report that a plane had hit one of the twin towers. (we all thought, OMG a terrible accident), then we saw the reports about the Pentagon, the other plane and then the 2nd. plane hitting the other tower and the towers collapsing. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. like this cann't be happening. Phones, neither cell or land lines worked. For months after I could see smoke from the towers billowing above the city. We must remember all those killed, their families and those who helped- May God bless them all, we will never forget! Monica
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    September 11, 2012 2:15 AM PDT
    I was at home getting ready for work like any morning. I don't watch TV or listen to the radio at home in the morning so the first I heard anything is when I was half way to work when I turned the radio on in the car. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, however I really didn't comprehend the magnitude until after I got to work and saw the pictures on TV for the first time.
  • September 11, 2012 2:55 AM PDT
    I was at my Technical School for the Air Force. I remember they gathered us all up and explained to us what was going on. The security on Base was crazy tight and they kept us on lockdown for some time. We will always remember!
  • September 11, 2012 3:09 AM PDT
    Abilene, Texas. All grounded flights ended up at our little regional airport, what a sight Huge passenger jets on the tarmac and it stayed that way for some time.
    The first time we heard our military planes fly again, it kinda made your heart stop for a moment.
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    September 11, 2012 4:23 AM PDT
    I was enjoying another birthday until a friend called and said turn on your TV, some crazy crap is going down in NY.
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    September 11, 2012 4:30 AM PDT
    One of those things you never forget. The memory is so vivid I even find it hard to believe it was 11 years ago. I was laying in bed and Laura was in the shower. That morning I was a little lazy having a hard time getting my butt out of bed so I flipped on the TV (which I don't normally do in the morning) and saw the first tower burning and smoking. Just as I was trying to get focused and turn up the volume I saw the second plane hit the other tower... I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I yelled for Laura with such terror she came flying into the room thinking I was having a heart attack or something. We both watched in horror. I went and got my oldest son (he was 19 at the time) and as soon as he realized the magnitude he just started crying.

    Then the phone started ringing. Friends calling with no hello, just immediately saying "can you believe this shit" or"are you watching this".

    I watched for about 30 more minutes and then jumped on the bike to get to the office to call all of our employees to tell them we were closed so don't come in. Half of them hadn't turned on any news yet and couldn't believe what I was telling them. Then I called all of my relatives in NJ to make sure everyone was okay since I knew a few of my cousins worked in NYC. Because of poor communication out of the city no one knew for sure and it was not until almost midnight when I heard that all of my relatives were safe and accounted for.

    Spent the rest of the day glued to the TV watching with almost every single emotion coming out at some point... astonishment, fear, horror, anger and even joy as I saw survivors being pulled from the scene.

    Yep. It was the one day in my life that I can remember EVERY single minute of and always will.
  • September 11, 2012 5:07 AM PDT
    Red Dog Mine, Alaska. With the time zone difference, we were all just waking up as it was happening. We were staying in a man camp. Our crew all got on the bus and went in to the mine site, but nobody could concentrate on anything. We were all sneaking off to find phones to call home. Finally we said fugg it, and commandeered a bus back to the man camp. One of the superintendents and a general foreman came in and tried to make us all go back to work. They threatened to fire us. I stood up and told 'em to fugg off. Our country was under attack, and we were going to stay there and find out what was going on. Fire us all and see who will complete the revamp on your mine. Needless to say, none of us went back to work that day. (Kept our jobs, too.)
  • September 11, 2012 5:33 AM PDT
    long haul trucking in Richfield Wa., sitting in a diner having breakfast... heard next table talking about it, and thought they were talking about some movie I hadn't seen... then went out to truck and turned on the radio... WTF
    • 3006 posts
    September 11, 2012 5:34 AM PDT
    My daughter woke me up very early that morning,shouting abt whats on TV.I stumbled outta bed & watched as the news people were discussing what happened,like maybe it was an accident.Then another newscaster broke in sayin another plane was approaching, my daughter ran out of the room saying she didnt want to see it hit.Sure enough it did.

    I worked for the Port Authority in Oakland,and called in to see if we were to come to work. My boss said yes,so I jumped on my motorcycle and rode in,in spite of my fears, we were the counterpart of the New Jersey Port Authority which worked out of the 76th floor in NYC. Part of my dutys at work was to correspond with my fellow port authority workers in NYC on a weekly basis,there was one lady in particular I was on a friendly basis with in NYC & we shared quite a few laughs, ovr the years, I worked in Oakland doing risk management work that facilitated projects we worked on jointly. Later I found out that she never made it out,along with a number of other people in her dept. They let us go home about 2 pm that day.We would have been sitting ducks if attacked by airplane since our building sat rite on the waterfront facing the bay.

    We held a very moving tribute ceremony in their honor a few weeks after the attack,never understood why people liked bagpipes till tht day when I heard them play in their honor,still brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear them now,its like the sound of those pipes echoed the feelings of complete despair so many of us were feeling over this terrible attack on our country, and the loss of co workers in NYC.

    I for one will never forget that terrible time and only hope the pain has lessened for those who lost loved ones!
    • 846 posts
    September 11, 2012 6:25 AM PDT
    I was in a training class for some updates on the software we sold at the time. We were all in the Manchester NH office. The instructor was from New Jersey office and kept getting phone calls. It seems the New Jersey office across the river from the World Trade Center was trying to account for all of the employees out of the building. Then we all got the news and moved down stairs to the lobby where there was a TV. Needless to say training was over and we all when home to spend it with loved ones. At that point only one tower had been hit.

    On the way home I couldn’t contact home as the cell service was tied up in the Northeast. I got home and seen the second tower hit and the eventual collapse of both towers. Something I will never forget. As most folk we were in shock for a few days at what we had had just seen.

    I now work in that office and every time I past that training center I remember what happen 11 years ago today.
  • September 11, 2012 7:38 AM PDT
    Getting ready to head out the door,when I caught a glimpse of the second plane rounding the second tower...all I could do is scream, "We are under attack." I quickly got everybody out of showers,started making phone calls to reach my son who was in his first year of college.He didn't know anything except they had been told to go home and turn on the tv,no more class for the day.I'm sure it didn't help that his campus had the airstrip next door for Air Force One where they usually landed for The Western Whitehouse.Seems like just yesterday.
  • September 11, 2012 9:54 AM PDT
    We had just started working for the day when my office manager ran out of the office screaming about one of the twin towers being hit by a plane. We went inside and I remember thinking damn wtf was that pilot thinking. We kept watching CNN and then were all shocked when the other plane flew into the other tower. RIP to all the victims and thoughts and prayers for all the first responders who are suffering from the effects of all the toxic debris.
    • 40 posts
    September 13, 2012 2:17 AM PDT
    I was in my classroom when an announcement was made over the PA system for all teachers to turn on their tvs in class. I as well as my students were in complete shock watching the second plane hit the towers. all of us thought it was a pilot's error or some freakish occurrance with the plane. How do you explain to 6th through 8th graders what they are watching? How do you explain the changes our nation will go through because of this action? for the first in my teaching career I couldn't or didn't have an answer for them.
    • 58 posts
    September 13, 2012 2:36 AM PDT
    I had jury duty that day. Left the house right after the first plane hit and it was all over the radio. dropped my daughter off at work and heard about the second plane at the courthouse. NYC was the only topic of conversation. A few minutes later we were all called in to the courtroom and they dismissed us for the day. Funny thing, though, it was another 30 minutes before anyone left. We had a huge prayer session right there in the courtroom.
    • 580 posts
    September 13, 2012 2:43 AM PDT
    I don't think anyone of us will ever forget where we were when we heard about this. I had just come home from the funeral of a friend's little girl (she was killed by a car when she ran out into the road and was only 7 - not the drivers fault). Feeling as though I needed some distractionwhen I got home, I put on the TV and saw the first tower smoking - so watched to find out why. I was still watching when the second tower got struck and effectively stayed glued to the TV most of the day - ringing friends and family who were mostly at work. My own two daughters were in Majorca at the time and - though it was as much to do with April's funeral as the atrocity that unfolded on my TV - I just had to ring them to hear their voices and know they were safe. They were watching on the TV's in the local bar and said that nobody spoke other than the occasional OMG. RIP to April and all the victims and thoughts still with all the families who have to live with those losses. Hugs x