(2001 Thread) Plane just crashed into the world trade center

[babyharley]

I remember like it was yesterday too.

I remember sitting in our Wold History class when it happened, we turned on the TV and watched it in class, all day - in every class. I went home after school and watched it there with my family. I remember the lines at the gas stations were huge, people running like crazy to fill up with gas, as they were saying there was going to be a huge shortage.

I can't believe its been 5 years, seems like yesterday.

 

[solaritybengals]

It was my freshman year in college. I was just getting up for class (a little late) and got on my computer. My friend IM'd me to tell me we were going to war. I thought she was overreacting over something and I turned the TV on. I got my roommate up telling her something was going on at which point we saw the second plane hit the tower. We were in shock....

I tried to call my mom. She doesn't stay up on the news very well. It was impossible to get through. All the lines were busy.

It almost seems surreal to think back to that day.

 

[goosehazel]

I did the same thing when I saw the thread was back. My heart started racing until realization set in for me too. I was coming home from Brent's house and heard it on the radio. I turned on the tv and woke up my sister as soon as I got home. We missed seeing the planes hit the buildings but we did watch them fall. Outside everything was so quiet, no planes, no people wandering around. I remember the gas stations being packed. I called Brent and he was watching it at work. Thankfully I didn't know anyone there, but I sobbed for those who did and for those lost. I sat in front of the t.v. for 10 hours till Brent finally said I'd had all I could take and he made me leave. It was right before bed that I couldn't take anymore and just broke down and he held me. It was awful.

 

[luckygirl]

I can remember wathcing the news after the 1st tower got hit.... and seeing the plane hit the 2nd tower live. I called my husband, to let him know what was happening, and tried to call my dad several times. I was crying as I was watching the news... I grew up in NY, and lived there during the last bomb scare they had in the parking garage of the WTC, that was very scary for a little girl. I couldn't reach my dad...and was terrified by it. I had to go to work, so I drove there crying with the news radio on, constantly re-dialing on my cell phone to get my daddy.... home #, office #, cell #... and nothing. When finally he called back. And had no idea about the towers, he didn't have the news on... and I was sobbing to him, please don't go, don't go over there daddy, please. I was terrified that my dad had already been re-activated into the military. He was a recently retired Lt. Cl. in the Nat'l Guard, with 2 purple hearts, and tons of medals. He's served in Vietnam, the Gulf war, and in operation IFOR in Kosovo in 96', the year I graduated from HS.... he almost didn't make it back in time for my prom or graduation. We went without him for a year.... and I couldn't imagine having to go through that again. My dad consoled me, and comforted me over the phone.... positive that they wouldn't re-activate a retired Lt. Cl. who has had both knees replaced at Walter Reid Military Hospital.

My dad is the best, and always knows the right things to say....

 

[bella713]

Originally Posted by LuckyGirl

I can remember wathcing the news after the 1st tower got hit.... and seeing the plane hit the 2nd tower live. I called my husband, to let him know what was happening, and tried to call my dad several times. I was crying as I was watching the news... I grew up in NY, and lived there during the last bomb scare they had in the parking garage of the WTC, that was very scary for a little girl. I couldn't reach my dad...and was terrified by it. I had to go to work, so I drove there crying with the news radio on, constantly re-dialing on my cell phone to get my daddy.... home #, office #, cell #... and nothing. When finally he called back. And had no idea about the towers, he didn't have the news on... and I was sobbing to him, please don't go, don't go over there daddy, please. I was terrified that my dad had already been re-activated into the military. He was a recently retired Lt. Cl. in the Nat'l Guard, with 2 purple hearts, and tons of medals. He's served in Vietnam, the Gulf war, and in operation IFOR in Kosovo in 96', the year I graduated from HS.... he almost didn't make it back in time for my prom or graduation. We went without him for a year.... and I couldn't imagine having to go through that again. My dad consoled me, and comforted me over the phone.... positive that they wouldn't re-activate a retired Lt. Cl. who has had both knees replaced at Walter Reid Military Hospital.

My dad is the best, and always knows the right things to say....

Oh Gosh Heather this made me cry. I am a daddy's girl and can't imagine not being able to get a hold of him in that sort of situation!!
My family is in NY but it's upstate and when they came out with the map of where the plane went it went right over them. I have never gotten past this tragedy, everytime I see the towers burning it brings it all up, probably true for every American. Can only imagine the people that were directly affected by this have gone through...Breaks my heart. Bella and I didn't leave the TV for a week straight!

 

[annasmom]

I think it is really good timing that someone brought this thread back. We are getting so close to the 5 year anniversary and people are starting to forget. After yesterday's events, it makes you think even more about it...

I was a junior in college, sleeping in my dorm room before my first class. My ex in Seattle called and woke me up to tell me what ahd happened, but at that point only the first tower was hit. I watched the 2nd tower go down, and then went to class (it was early in the semester, I made it everyday). I remember the feeling walking across campus that I could be hit at any moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The sky was dark and I virtually ran to the building, not wanting to be in the open air. Of course, our professor cancelled class, and I got back in time to see the towers fall. I lived in the international/honors dorm, so we had a lot of Middle Eastern students, and the U of A was really good at getting them counseling and help throughout the aftermath. That afternoon, a friend and I went to give blood, but the blook bank was so busy, that we ended up waiting a week or so to donate. It was all so frightening...

 

[lorie d.]

I also remember that day. I was working at the nursing home where I'm still employed. There was a TV in the lobby, and suddenly there was a special news bulletin. Many of the staff, including me, walked to the lobby is find out what was happening. They showed a picture of one of the towers right after the first plane hit. The news broadcasters were confused about what was happening and thought it was a small light plane at first, and then they realized it was a passenger jet...then the other jet hit the other tower.

And then the pentagon was hit too!

It was sooooo horrible to see it all happening!!!!!

Soon every TV in the nursing home was turned on and I kept listening to get all the updates I could at work, and then I went home and turned on the TV for more information. What a horrible day that was, and I'm glad the attack that was being planned now didn't actually happen.

 

[beccory]

Oh, I remember. I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and our school was under construction that was running 3 weeks late, so we still weren't back at school yet. I was home alone, on AIM, and a friend of mine told me to turn on the news... it didn't hit me for a while, because I live in MN and have no connection at all with NY, but I still cried. That was a strange fall for me... in November our apartment burned down, we lost everything. That fall completely changed my worldview.

 

[phenomsmom]

It really gives me chills reading everyones accounts of where they were that day and what they were doing. Why is it that we always remember what we were doing when tragedy strikes but can barely remember what we did last weekend? I owuld rather remember last weekend then the heartache that 9/11/01 caused this nation.

 

[callista]

I'd rather remember 9/11... too many people died then to be forgotten; not to mention all the people who died in the war that followed.

(I know what you mean though. It isn't pleasant to remember.)

 

[dicknleah]

We were starting our second day of vacationing in Hawaii. It was 3:00am and we had the radio on when the planes first struck. Needless to say the rest of our holiday wasn't real pleasant and the trip home was very humbling.

 

[rockcat]

Originally Posted by Satai

I'll be honest, I went cold when I saw this in the Lounge.

I was like, my god, this can't be happening again - it really took a second to realise 'of course it can't be happening again - they're gone.'

Only for a second, but still...

 

[zissou'smom]

I was in my Junior AP American Lit class, and the principal came over the loudspeaker and announced it, and all the tv's turned on to the news. And we sat there and watched it for awhile. And then my teacher turned it off, looked at us and said "Let me explain to you about Osama bin Laden".
I went to a friends' house for lunch and left my shoes there. I came back to school barefoot, and nobody even noticed.

I don't think there is a person in America... well or most of the world... who was not affected by it. Obviously if you were there, or you lost someone, you were affected more... but nearly every aspect of our lives has changed.

I remember how weird it was with no planes in the sky. My house was under the flight path for Wright-Patt AFB, and an international airport... and there wasn't a thing in the sky except Air Force One.

Has everyone heard Jack Johnson's "Traffic in the Sky" ? It is about his experience in New York on 9/11 when he saw the shadow of the plane across the pavement.

 

[satai]

A little of the cold is gone.

I was working practically my first job ever - I was part of the shipping dept of a local Limerick plant - so an office job in a warehouse. I'd just walked through the factory floor, and got back into my office when the guy I shared the office with said 'A plane's just hit the World Trade Center'.

I was just so mad. I said, 'I don't like jokes like that.' (Meaning, I thought saying something like that was in poor taste).

He was shocked 'No, didn't you hear it on the radio?' (the radio blares all day long on a factory floor if you've never been on one, but I can't hear very well, and definately not over the machines).

I logged on to the web, but a lot of sites were down from too much traffic - I called my BF, he just new it wasn't an accident. It didn't really hit me til then that it might not be - then the second tower was hit (remember it was afternoon in Ireland - nobody woke up to this, we were all near a radio or our computer or a tv, and we could all call each other even if we couldn't reach anybody in the states).

My boss let me try to call my family from work, but I couldn't reach anybody. I have a lot of family in New York, aunts and cousins at the time, and my younger sister was going to school in D.C., and I had no idea where anybody was, and I couldn't reach them - not my aunts, not my sister, not my mom. When I got home (about 2 hours later) BF and I - we never watch tv - just sat mesmerised. I don't think we even ate that night. I remember the towers coming down so vividly - just this perfect picture in my head - like Challenger blowing up.

And I regretted then, perhaps more than ever, that I had not been able to stay in the States. Since I had been a kid, I had wanted to join the military, had made plans - and if everything had gone according to them, in Sept. 2001 I would have been starting my final year at West Point. It seemed very wrong, and somehow surreal, to be in my living room in Limerick instead.

 

[rang_27]

Reading about this again gives me the chills, especially in light of the recent happenings in England. I don't think about 9/11 that often, but when I do it all come flooding back. It's still so hard to believe it actually happend, but right now I have that knot in the bottom of my stomache as though it was just yesterday. The lives of everyone in our country & many people around the world changed that day.

 

[renovia]

gosh I'm glad to hear about everyone's accounts. I remember that there were no planes over head for a couple days, and I live right next to the airport here. Then we heard about Atta at the Portland Jetport and it was just surreal.

For me, in the workplace it was pretty scary, but I can't imagine those of you who were still in school, especially college......I think it would have affected me even more.

 

[april31]

It was my daughters 6th birthday i remember like it was yesterday.
She was at school and came home crying.

Her kindergarten teacher took it upon herself to tell a class of kindergartners what happened. Anyway i picked her up and she just started crying. I asked what was wrong she simply stated everyone died on my b-day!

I tried to explain that yes some people died but good has came out of it also people are banning together helping each other.

To this day she wont listen to the tv on her b-day and gets upset anytime its mentioned. Yes we still celebrated her b-day that day. I want her to know that even bad people cant stop life and cant stop happiness.

 

[theimp98]

seems like a life time ago......

Oh yea, i remember very well, I had been flying some aussie folks around indo(it was a part time job and i got paid to fly some). i saw it on the BBC in the airport, i dont remember thinking much, accept i was sure the US govt would nothing about it(i was wrong on that account)

anyway, i stopped to pick up some food for dinner and durian for the wife,
and there was some people making jokes about dead americans and it how great it was that god would kill them( i would assumed they thought i did not speak indo),
hmm never mind i wont say what happen next.

 

[scamperfarms]

Wow...seeing this thread pop up made me shiver. The fear of that day came back the other morning when I was watching my TV..and now this thread. You know, I like some try not to think about it much. But when I do....I get panicy, and shake. Its horrible.

Because I was supposed to be in New york that day.

That summer I was 18 and had worked my first full summer as a camp conselour at a girl scout camp i had been going to since i was a kid. It was a fun summer, and as a treat, since i had nothing to be responsible to go back to i decided to go somewhere i had always wanted to go. New york city! Took a bus out there (cheaper than flying) and stayed with a friend, who lived there and worked in the WTC towers.

Every morning I would head in with her to work, we had breakfast and i would set about my day around NYC. She teased me that three days into my trip I was just as at home as any new yorker. and that iw ent to sites *I* wanted to see not what i "should" see. I spent alot of time in Strawberry fields near the dakota. But..i get away from myself.

I was supposed to stay in New York til sept 12th.

About a week before I started feeling horribly homesick. I couldnt explain why. but I was. and Panicy. like i just HAD to be home WITH my dad. I HAD TO! so i booked a bus home early.

Woke up the morning of Sept 11th and knew why I had to be with my dad.

I would have been there that morning. So would my friend..when I went home, she made a docors appointment, and Had sept 11th off work.

 

[maddensmom]

I too panicked for a moment when I first saw this thread in the lounge.

I was a Junior in highschool and in my 1st period Lit class when I first heard the news. Our teacher had sent a student to the office at the begining of class to turn in Attendance. When he came back into the room he blurted out "The twin towers were bombed!!!!" We immediately turned on the TV and sure enough, the first plane had just hit. We watched the second one hit a bit later and were all glued to the television for the rest of the day, in every class. I was terrified.
At the end of the school day, I went to my BF's (now husbands) house. I wanted to go home, but I lived 20 miles out of town and the traffic was so bad you couldn't go anywhere. People were lined up for miles at the gas stations and the grocery stores were wiped out. Everyone was in a complete panic. I stayed at my boyfriends and cried while we watched the footage over and over again. I was horrified by the images of those poor poor people jumping from the buildings. My heart still bleeds for all of those who's family members and friends were lost.
The arrests recently brought back all those feelings of panic and fear. It was and still is very very surreal.