21 years ago today

[doomsdave]

We as a nation had a very rude awakening.

I realize that other stories of the day have gotten attention, but this is a story that keeps evolving.

A moment of silence for the dead and the survivors.

September 11 attacks - Wikipedia

 

[iPappy]

I can remember that day like it was yesterday. Rest in peace.

 

[neely]

I remember exactly where I was and what time of day it was when I heard the terrible news.

 

[doomsdave]

Queen Elizabeth II broke tradition and ordered that the Star Spangled Banner be played on 911

The world remembers when the Queen broke a 600-year-old tradition to honor 9/11

 

[doomsdave]

Joe Biden made a remembrance too.

Marking 9/11, Biden Remembers the ‘Precious Lives Stolen From Us’

 

[iPappy]

I remember exactly where I was and what time of day it was when I heard the terrible news.

Me too. I was newly graduated, 18 years old, and I was at work. I got a phone call from my Mom to turn on the TV. I did and the lady I was working with and myself stood there just watching this and wondering what would happen next. So many lost lives. I had a family member heading to Chicago the morning this was happening, and I was relieved when they turned around and headed for home.
I also remember watching the news that night, and remembering how somber the anchors were, and how raw some of the footage was. No lighthearted bantering between the anchors or the weatherman joking around, it was a different feel all together.

 

[furmonster mom]

My alarm clock went off, but instead of music there was a voice describing this horrible thing that had happened. Still groggy, I got up and walked the half dozen steps to my apartment living room where my hubby had the tv on, which was weird because he never did that before. I looked at the tv, and was instantly wide awake in shock.

Thing is, he was supposed to have flown out on a gig that day, but it had gotten pushed back.

 

[Margot Lane]

I was living in NYC when it happened, looking at all the ash on my windowsill. The city had never been so quiet. I remember everyone donated blood, in an effort to do something. I will say I think the memorial there now is fitting & moving. I think my local at the time lost all firefighters, save one.

 

[iPappy]

I was living in NYC when it happened, looking at all the ash on my windowsill. The city had never been so quiet. I remember everyone donated blood, in an effort to do something. I will say I think the memorial there now is fitting & moving. I think my local at the time lost all firefighters, save one.

I can't even imagine that experience.

 

[Mia6]

There is a good movie about the hijackers called The Hamburg Cell.

 

[denice]

Queen Elizabeth II broke tradition and ordered that the Star Spangled Banner be played on 911

The world remembers when the Queen broke a 600-year-old tradition to honor 9/11

The video of this is still on Youtube. There were a lot of people in the crowd crying.

 

[Jem]

There's the lovely documentary film about Gander, Newfoundland. The town of only 9000 that housed and fed over 6500 diverted air passengers when US air space was closed. There's also a musical about it too.
About the Film | You Are Here: A Come From Away Story
There is also a book called "The day the world came to town" and a documentary, that focuses more on the air traffic controllers/airport in Gander called "9/11: Cleared for Chaos".

I had just come home from my morning college class, about noon or so, when I turned on the TV to see what the radio alerts were talking about on my drive home. I just sat there, in complete disbelief, staring at the TV footage. Even now, when I see the footage I'm just shocked at the magnitude of it all.
There was a little bit of fear in our city at first as we are big in mining and there has always been speculation that we would be a target for terrorist activity due to our resources. But that was all just rumor type talk...anytime something big happens "war wise" people start questioning our city's safety. It was the same going back as far as the cold war...probably even earlier...but I wasn't born yet so IDK.

 

[doomsdave]

I was working at the law office I still work for, and it was one of those gorgeous blue and gold September mornings when hooky got really tempting.

Went to the office anyway, and it was obvious that things weren't right. NOTE: my car didn't have a radio in it, I didn't have a cell phone then, and I'm not one of those people who watches TV first thing in the morning. Traffic appeared to be reversed from usual! Odd as hell for a Tuesday morning. Got to downtown LA and it was deserted. Whoa! What the hell gives?

I drove by the LA County Courthouse on Hill Street, and the place looked like it was closed down! There was usually a line of people waiting to get through the metal detectors. (We had an appointment with a judge that morning.)

I get to the parking garage for the building the office was in, and the place was close to empty and the ticket-taker, a guy from Thailand, was kind of hysterical. Babbled something about buildings and planes, and hadn't I heard.

I get to the office building, and it was cordoned off! All the entrances blocked except one. I get in the elevator and a security dude with suit and ear-coil gets in and asks me what I was doing there and I said I work in Suite X and he let me upstairs. I sat at my desk and, for the first time, saw the pictures from the news of the twin towers aflame, both of which had collapsed by then.

I called the boss at his house and he told me that he'd left a message for me not to come down, since everything was being shut down for at least a day or two.

No planes in a pattern for LAX, about 10 miles to the south.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My stepbrother was a student at NYU at the time and witnessed the 2nd tower being struck. Normally he was jogging in that area at the time; but he slept in that day. I was also in college but I stayed local. My mom kept calling me during class; a building and structural engineering materials class where the professor was telling us why the buildings were designed to withstand bombings but I hadn't really heard what had happened. I think someone else mentioned it to him and thats why it was being discussed. Quite humbling. I didn't realize why my mom kept calling my cell phone when she knew I was in a class. Since I hadn't heard yet; my stepbrother being nearby was the furthest thing from my mind. But being the person he is; he just walked himself out of the city to a friend of his mother's where he could call and let everyone know he was safe.

I was friends with another woman who witnessed the plane hit the Pentagon on her commute. We frequently saw the helicopters involved in transporting victims that had been recovered. You don't forget that either.

 

[strider rose]

i was with husband 2 and i had just woke up to see the news showing the towers being attacked and i called my mom right away ! she was living in dallas texas back then and i was living in another city in texas

 

[doomsdave]

New York is a big legal center, and I knew an attorney who was in the North Tower when the first plane hit.

His office was on the 85th floor, and the building was mammoth, each floor an acre in size. It shook - violently - on impact. Unknown to him, the inferno started at that moment.

The PA system told everyone to stay where they were and await further instructions(!) My friend decided to leave immediately, and went down 85 flights of stairs to find the second tower in flames, and about to collapse.

When the second tower collapsed, he, and an army of other people ran "uptown" and he somehow got back home to New Jersey.

He remembered when he got him he'd left his laptop in the North Tower. Oh well . . . .

 

[strider rose]

truly a very sad day for us all ... it scared me to no end though

 

[Margot Lane]

I feel bad for the security guy in Boston who let them pass…he says he still wakes up at night from the guilt of it. That’s got to be one tough job. Hopefully technology has improved.

 

[doomsdave]

I feel bad for the security guy in Boston who let them pass…he says he still wakes up at night from the guilt of it. That’s got to be one tough job. Hopefully technology has improved.

I'd be bummed too, but, what can you do after the fact, except learn something?

Bear in mind that some say plenty of others have greater accountability, but, again, water under the bridge at this point.

 

[doomsdave]

Speaking of big legal centers . . . .

We had a case at the time of 9-11, and one group of opposing counsel was in NYC, with offices right next door to WTC. One of the attorneys, a lady, lived in Hoboken, NJ right across the river. The twin towers loomed over the entire city everywhere you went.

She was, fortunately, at home when the attacks occurred and they were traumatic to watch. People stood in the street and cried and wailed when the towers fell. Some people fainted where they stood.

Worse, much much worse, after that the fires kept burning and burning for literally WEEKS. They were not put out, she said, till almost the following Thanksgiving, about 10 weeks. At least they weren't downwind.

Add to that, subway service was cut off when the towers crushed the subway stop under them. To get to work, the lady had to take a ferry boat across the river.

Momentoes, and "have you seen?" posters were plastered everywhere.