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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 2:31:19 AM | This morning is bright and sunny .... just like the one on that day.
It brings back the memories of that day. My daughter and her partner had just told me I was to become a grand mother.
I left them at home watching video's as I left to take my afternoon class (2 till 4pm GMT) at the Manhattan club, (North Yorkshire, England).
After class, I got into my car and drove the half hour journey to be with my mum who had suffered a massive stroke and was in hospital.
I arrived at the lobby which was unusually filled with people watching the tv screen... there was something in the air which made me stop and look at what they were so intensely watching. At first it seemed like some movie.... then it dawned on me that these were live pictures from America.... and very real!
I can't begin to describe the feeling that engulfed me. I was so aware of the loudest silence there amongst so many other shocked and horrified people in that lobby.
All the stories I'd hear of WW2 as I grew up came welling up and I really believed I was witnessing the beginning of WW3.
I made my way up to the hospital chapel where I needed some time before going to my mothers bedside.
I could see the fear in her eyes as she had to witness yet again the horror of war.
It seemed unthinkable that the States could be the target of such an attack.
My day had started out so beautifully happy and filled with the joy of a new life to come but now I was wondering would even the next moment arrive, let alone the birth of my grandchild.
It took the next three years to recover somewhat from the feeling of dread. Though today is different.... today I am going again to the Manhattan club to teach my class and stand on that stage which has a graphic life size poster of a window overlooking New York from one of the towers. I can't help feeling a bit sick and sad. My thoughts will be with everyone who experienced loss and also those who survived but still hold memories of that dreadful day. In God we trust | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 4:08:56 AM | I was on "lock down" in a correctional facility. I worked for Corrections Canada.
They locked us in as is mandatory emergency procedure when there is an emergency. They had 4 city buses pull up to the side of the building in case we needed to evacuate the inmates. The inmates safety comes first.
I remember sitting there. All the tv's on in the building. When the second plane hit the World Trade Centre I was so scared I wanted to run like hell to get my son out of daycare. We had to stay the whole work day and be on stand by in case things got worse. We couldn't leave until our shift relief showed up. I wanted to be anywhere else in the world but there. I felt like a trapped animal. Like an inmate myself. Locked up and very vulnerable. I was sick about my son being on his own if anything happened. My maternal instincts were so great to get to him my whole being ached.
I'll never forget that day or that feeling of fear of impending doom. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 5:29:47 AM | I was installing a 36 inch TV screen in a church in Woodbury, a suburb of the TwinCities in Minnesota. My boss's girlfriend called him to tell him of the first plane hitting the tower. I quickly improvised an antenna out of some wire just in time to watch the second plane hit. As we stood there in shock, trying to go back to work ,as we were on the job, many people started to come into the church to pray. The boss called off work. He could have sent us back to the shop to work, giving the the church goers their solitude, but realized we probably couldn't consentrate on work any longer.
Having become used to being in the flight path of the metro airport, the silence was eerie to say the least. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 5:45:28 AM | Some great posts here, exactly as I had in mind when proposing it. It seems it is one common thing we all shared, from various perspectives, around the world.
Thanks to all who shared their world with their fellow forum members here for a few minutes. It makes for some great, if sometimes emotionally difficult, reading.
To all those who lost their friends or loved ones, or had it directly affect them...... 
People come from all over and visit Ground Zero, and I can't fathom how anyone sees that as a place to visit. One night, I was driving in the city and pulled up to a red light. I looked to my right and realized I was there. Ground Zero. Bright lights eerily illuminating the area; the area just being nothing but a hole in the ground and a fence surrounding it; a tomb of innocents killed by extremists.
I see your point, in one way. I also believe that it's very much the same way as a battleground (like Gettysburg) is hallowed ground. Not for the death and destruction that occurred there, but more for the heroism of all those who gave everything on that day to help their fellow man. That sacrifice, and that bravery, should never be forgotten by any of us.
Ordinary people, on just another beautiful sunny September day, that proved to all of us how extraordinary "ordinary" people can be in such difficult times. 
I trust all of us will devote a few minutes today to honour their memory in some way, privately, or publicly. They deserve no less. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 9:33:10 AM | I live about 7 miles from the Pentagon and am originally from New York City, so I had many dear to me in both locations that day. My deceased husband was a retired colonel, and was still working for the Pentagon in military intelligence as a civilian at the time. Fortunately, he did not work IN the Pentagon. My mother had just retired from a position in the NYC Mayor's office, which is right across the street from the WTC.
Although I normally get up early, I slept through everything that happened on 9/11, because at the time I had two busted rotator cuffs and was still getting therapy for them. Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night.
Around 10:45 am my husband called me from the Metro station and told me that his building had been evacuated. I asked him if there was a bomb threat, and he said to me, "Don't you know what happened?" He then told me about the WTC and the Pentagon. He said he'd be home as soon as he could, but he didn't know when that would be. All cell phone service was disabled to keep possible terrorists from getting in touch with each other, and it was almost impossible to get through on a landline. He'd stood on a line at the Metro station for 15 minutes just to contact me from a pay phone.
I was terrified that something might still happen to my husband. We didn't have any idea on that day if there were going to be more attacks, and the DC Metro (what we call our subway) seemed to be a perfect target. However, there wasn't much I could do, so I sat tight at "command central" waiting to hear from my step-daughter, brother and mother (who still lives on the Upper East Side in NYC). My brother called first, asking me if I'd heard from our mother, but knowing that she was miles away from Wall Street we weren't that concerned. He didn't realize that my husband didn't work in the Pentagon, and I told him that all was safe.
My brother couldn't grasp the enormity of what had happened, and insisted that the WTC towers could be fixed. He hadn't seen the later newscasts on the collapse. Rather than try to convince him of what I knew he would learn later anyway, I ignored his comments. I told him that I would also try to get in touch with our mother -- and said whoever got in touch first should call the other. My brother found her first. Turns out that as soon as my mom discovered what happened, she left her co-op and went to a nearby American Red Cross facility to help with blood donations (she's a cancer survivor and could not donate herself). She wasn't able to get through to my brother until that evening because the lines were so tied up.
Meanwhile my step-daughter called from California worried about her dad. I told her he was fine, on his way home, and that he would call her first thing when he walked through the door.
Three knuckle-biting hours later, my husband arrived at home. I was never so glad to see anyone in my life. Later that day we headed out to dinner in Old Town Alexandria, where we live, and sat there in disbelief in front of TVs with some of our friends looking at the news.
9/11 just happened to be 2 1/2 months before my 30th high school reunion, and I had started an e-mail list for everyone to stay in touch. That list wound up being command central to account for everyone in our class. At least 100 of the class lived in NYC, and a dozen or more worked in the WTC. Fortunately, all who worked there either got out or weren't at work when the planes hit. We didn't lose any classmates to 9/11, but many of them lost relatives. One woman in my class who's brother worked for Cantor Peabody was on his first vacation in 10 years, and so was in England when the planes arrived rather than at work. Otherwise he would have perished too.
9/11 hit my husband particularly hard because he worked with a lot of people in the Pentagon. The plane came in exactly where the controller's office once was, and almost everyone in that office died. My husband worked with all of them. One of my friends who worked in the Pentagon was about as close as you could have gotten to the scene without perishing. She got out alive, but her office went up in the blaze. The memories haunted her, and a once strong woman was paralyzed with fear for months afterwards. One of her coworkers, and also a friend of mine, was not so lucky. She was down the hall at the copier machine. They never found her body. I lost another friend on Flight 77, along with a few acquaintances.
One friend of ours, an Army colonel, who made it out alive went back a few weeks later to retrieve what ever possessions were left from the charred remains of his office. Workers were very thorough and bagged everything they found. He identified a part of his coffee mug which had his name on it, and then suddenly his eyes widened as he read the identification tag on the bag. It said "deceased". Horror struck him as he said, "I'm not dead, I'm right here."
The DC metro area was an eerie place for months after 9/11. Although flights resumed 5 days later, Washington National Airport was closed until early November. People walking along the Potomac used to hearing planes take off and land, were now greeted with a strange silence only broken by the occasional helicopter or the roar of an F-16 flying over the city.
For the one poster who had a question about whether there is video footage of the plane crashing into the Pentagon, the answer is: "I don't know". But I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Flight 77 did hit the Pentagon. Friends of mine were on the highway and saw the plane hit, friends were in the Pentagon and saw it up close, and finally a couple of my friends bodies were found in the wreckage from Flight 77. It would be a pretty far stretch to say that Flight 77 didn't hit the Pentagon, but that it somehow disappeared and later the bodies of those on board and the plane wreckage was found in the Pentagon.
9/11 was a horrible time for everyone here. Personally, my emotions were mixed. I was sad to lose friends, but grateful the people I cared for most were safe. For weeks, even months people were a little nice, a little more courteous -- before things got back to normal.
To those of you in this thread who lost people you love that day, my condolences. I'll be thinking about them, as well as the friends I lost today.
And to our 9/11 firefighter (and my sometime POF nemesis) in this thread, I say "Thank You" for the lives you saved and the people you helped that day and in the weeks that followed.
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 10:37:20 AM |
And to our 9/11 firefighter (and my sometime POF nemesis) in this thread, I say "Thank You" for the lives you saved and the people you helped that day and in the weeks that followed.
Thanks for that gentle reminder that although we may disagree, there are things more important than our own opinions - like family and friends. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 11:21:44 AM | I was in High School in Art Class- goofing off, as usual in art class, when the Principal came up on the speaker at about 15 minutes before lunch(around 11am), and told us some building called the "World Trade Center" had been hit by a plane.
I'll admit- I chuckled along with a couple other students- I had never heard of the World Trade Center, and assumed it was some kinda more global Wall street exchange centre like place- couple of stories high and all. I spefically remember saying "Damn American's" and the like.
Luckly, although it was a crap one, we were one of the few classes to have a TV in the room- so the teacher told us that, whatever, class was basically over, just clean up and chill, and he'd put on the news.
Actually seeing it really put it in perspective. I honestly don't remember much after that, other than feeling like a total ass for my remarks, and being terrorized to what the events would mean....I....I still get goosebumps from the images of them falling.
I remember the next day waking up to the radio playing the Beatles "Yesterday", with clips of people screaming and President Bush telling the world that it wouldn't stand for it....that song, with or without the voice clips, still scares the shit outta me and makes my eyes swell with tears......Just and awful loss of life..... | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 11:30:46 AM |
Meer Kat,
You sound like a very devoute muslim who speaks for their religion....Although it seems that a lot of your fellow parishoners are blowing themselves up in the name of islam. I think they may be misinterpreting the karan. Meer Kat, I think you had better get busy and preach the true meaning of the koran and what muhumid wants them to do becasue a lot of them are commiting suicide and praising each other for it.
Nope, not Muslim. I'm not speaking for or against any religion. Just an opinion (maybe an educated one) nevertheless, just opinon.
Kat  | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 2:49:05 PM | Meer Kat,
It sure is an opinion and it looks like you got your education at a liberal left college that preaches that muslims are a people of peace.
If you truely study Islam and history of its people you will find that they are a hostile and confrontational people. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/11/2007 4:30:26 PM | I was taking a class at the community college when one of the students came in saying that the World trade center had been attacked by terrorist who flew a jet into it. At the time I thought it was some kind of a joke the younger students were playing. Seconds later they announced that the college was being evacuated and that we should all go home. I hopped on my bike and headed home wondering just what was going on.
When I got near my home I began talking to some neighbors who told me that a jet had flown over and they pointed in the direction of my home. I live in the mountains and am semi-secluded back in these woods with a half mile right-of-way leading to my home from a country back road. Six miles to the west is an airport but there are no flight paths over the valley where my house is. This is probably why the neighbors noticed the jet because we never get any jets in this area. They come close but never right over.
I got home and turned on the television. I saw the tapes of the two jets flying into the twin towers. It was like seeing something so unbelievable that it was surreal yet there wasn't that FX look to it at all. I watched again and again and all the while these images were being shown they were talking about the third jet hitting the Pentagon and another that had been assumed to been hijacked but disappeared from the radar screen. Not too long after, in what seemed like minutes but was really hours, I found to my horror that a mere 15 miles away (as the crow flies) to the south east of my home in a field I've passed many times lay a freshly made crater made by a jet that hit the ground at supersonic speed. According to the reports, there were few large pieces left to determine what kind of jet it was. They at that time were speculating that it was the fourth jet hijacked by terrorists. There's no need to say any more about this jet, I think you all know which one I'm talking about.
Every day when I leave my front door I'm looking in the direction that jet flew. Had Todd Beamer and the rest of the heroes on that flight made their move just a few seconds sooner, that jet could have crashed in my front yard. Thankfully, I would have been miles away at that time but others wouldn't have been, those living near my home. The horror of what spawned that incident would have been even closer to my home than 15 miles.
If ever anyone says to me that I don't have to worry about terrorism ever hitting near home all I have to do is say "15 miles". Because so far, that's how close to home it hit. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/12/2007 6:31:34 AM | Kat and Ihaveaname,
I'm curious about what experience of Islamic culture either of you has. I have good friends who are Sikhs and Hindus. I have lived in areas of various ethnic groups (including Muslims). In my experience people who take the 'educated' view about this often don't have much first hand experience.
I can't see why people would accept a culture that is so obviously out of step with our own. Sexism, violence, repression all seem to come with the Muslim faith. And yet I might be labeled as intolerant, even racist, for not accepting these things.
I was going to message either of you off the forums, but I'm blocked. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/12/2007 10:45:40 AM | it was just another day. i had turned on the nbc morning program to see what's up, and check the weather. i saw the first tape of the first plane hitting the north tower. i was thinking, "what a horrible accident". i got dressed and walked the dog. came back in, and was getting ready to leave, when the second plane hit the south tower. now, i'm thinking, "that's no accident." and then, since nobody on the news said "don't come into the city", i went to catch the train.
while on the train, a gentleman gets a call on his cell, and remarks to those near him, they just hit the pentagon. now, it's truly getting unreal. this is not a normal day.
the train rolls into 125 th street, and they announce, "everyone other than police, firemen, and emergency personnel must exit the train. there will be a northbound train arriving on the opposite platform in a few minutes. it is the last train heading north out of the city." so we all get out. standing there on the platform, looking downtown, there's a big (and i mean BIG) cloud of smoke. and i'm around ten miles away. and we could smell the acridity of the smoke. everyone was looking. some standing quietly. others talking to a stranger, or on their phones.
so the northbound train finally pulls in, around 10:25 or 10:30...everybody piles on. it's the most crowded train i have ever seen. every seat taken, people packed into the aisles, crushed against one another in the vestibules (but no one minded). i was standing next to a fellow covered in soot. he was in shock. late to work that day, arrived and got caught in the aftermath....the only survivor (he thought) of his entire office. he ran/walked from wtc up to grand central. i will never forget this man's tear-streaked sooty face.
around this time, it becomes known about flight 93. the crowd is murmuring, confused, in shock, worried about loved ones they can't reach. people are crying, moaning, rocking back and forth. there was no such thing as personal space on that train. strangers shared their worries and their sympathy. their tears and their hugs. it was a miraculous sight.
so, i returned home and, like most of the world, watched the news all day, trying to make sense of something that made no sense (still trying). | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/12/2007 3:28:25 PM | "If you truly study Islam and history of its people you will find that they are a hostile and confrontational people"
According to who and what authority on the subject?.....Right wing fanatics like the Christian Coalition and fundamentalist universities like Liberty University?...Ive attended church services with several fine Muslim people and they were nothing like what you describe...I think attitudes like yours are the reason why people start needless wars over stereotypes, ignorance, and greed...It looks more like you are making false assumptions about a group of people who probably have more in common with you as a human being than you can even fathom...Sad | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/12/2007 5:53:18 PM | How about everyone who doesn't have a 9/11 story to share take their Muslim good versus bad discussion ELSEWHERE.
Sheesh. This is supposed to be about remembering those lost, or your memories of that day.
Take it out on the street folks.
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/13/2007 8:07:54 AM | We had just gotten to work at the BP refinery and were having our daily safety meeting and had just adjourned it, we had the TV on and viewed the first plane going into the first tower. We all thought it was a crazy super bowl commercial or something. No way this could be happening in the USA! Then when reallity set in, I started reviewing in my head where all my family was for the day, hoping and praying they were not in harms way. About that time, the boss at that time, tells me to go to work, nothing we can do. Everyone thought he was crazy! How could we concentrate on anything safely at times like these. We worked in maintenance and he had us doing preventitive things! Needless to say, we found another TV and watched the second tower be hit. At this time we knew the planes had been hijacked. I started thinking about security and what was next to be hit. Then we heard the Pentagon and of another plane in the air that was off of flight plan. Flight 153, I believe! These folks knew what America and what she stands for. They gave the ultimate for their fellow americans, not knowing where the pilot was heading or his intentions. They crashed the plane and all perished, but the terrorrist plans was not followed through, THE ULTIMATE. ALL HERO'S, even the little babies! We were numb all day at work, we never did any work. We talked alot to others! Trying to make since of all this! It was a very SAD day. I have all ways though my boss was a jerk for the way he said go back to work. There were many other ways to say it, than trying to order us like we were three yrs old.
I hope my story is often read and others can relate with it. I do however hope we do not have to go through this ever again. May God Grant Peace TO ALL Who Do Not Know Him.  | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/13/2007 8:48:02 AM | | On sept 10 I was just flying in from leave with the Military. Flew into Newark liberty airport. And i was redirected out on Sept. 11 to the nearest naval base to be taken to Fort dix. I was so Upset when I actually so the the television about the wtc. I group of 5 of us where sent a unknown location for further instruction > Spent 4 yrs between Iraq and Afang. and still to this day i pray for all that is lost. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/13/2007 9:00:27 PM | | well I'll never forget it ...it was the day my exhusband moved out of the home and the day listed as our separation...best thing that ever happened, but very difficult while it happened, so I will definately always remember 9/11.....when we used to go to court and the judges would look at the separation date...they would always make a comment | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 9/18/2007 11:56:58 AM | | i remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. at the time i was only 15 years old. the day started as usual got up took a shower got dressed and ready for school. and ate breakfast bus came then got in school to meet with my friends and go to class. no sooner did i get in i hear a announcement on the loud speaker saying that we all will be going home early and to turn on the tv. so we all sat down turned the tv on and watched in horror as we saw the towers going down people jumping out of the buildings. it was terrible and all the firemen trying to get everything under control. all the people in new york running for their lives. it was terrible we all just felt so helpless and scared. and all i kept saying was i want my parents i want to go home. finally about 12pm we all boarded the buses and got home. and even at home we continued to watch. i even thought they said on the news something about the white house. i don't think i slept for a week after 9/11. because i would have nightmares every night. to this day i still get scared and pray that we dont have another 9/11. its just so scary. because every year we get threats from the terrorists. and you just never know what their going to do. | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 10/3/2007 4:21:51 AM |
Montreal_Guy in Msg 1: No politics, no conspiracies..... just a personal account of that day.
Greetings to spacemanspiffter, ~Juggernaut~, and all others who want to know more.
Some people even doubt the official account of the assassination of JFK.
Everything I write is my opinion, unless I quote or cite sources.
It's difficult to refer to the incidents of that day (9-11-2001) without also mentioning politics and conspiracy theories. Even the official version publicized by the U.S. government is, by definition, a conspiracy theory. The purpose of the incident was political, according to virtually all theories.
Some posters have already mentioned aspects of the U.S. government's official conspiracy theory, and accept that theory as fact in their comments (in spite of the OP's request). Some have mentioned the subsequent changes in American foreign policy ("politics") supposedly justified by the same official conspiracy theory.
My account, omitting politics & theories as much as possible, makes it brief and bland:
My mother phoned me to let me know of the televised counter-attacks (against the U.S.A.) that morning. She thought I'd be interested because (Can't say more without mentioning politics...)
So, I turned on the TV, watched a bit, and told her (Can't say more without mentioning politics...)
I phoned my mother back later that day and explained that Mohamed Atta was the Lee Harvey Oswald of the whole operation, and (Can't say more without mentioning politics or "unofficial" conspiracy theory...)
* My Point :
About the loss of life and injuries? I'm a pacifist. I'm pro-peace.
I adhere to the Peace Declaration at http://perdana4peace.org/declaration.html
Killing is wrong. Evil. No exceptions.
Deepest sympathy to the injured victims and condolences to the survivors of the deceased victims on all sides. (Can't say more without mentioning politics...)
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it (personal stories)
Posted: 10/3/2007 6:48:35 AM | 8:50(ish) AM ... I recieved 1st call making me aware of a plane having hit the 1st tower. By 9:15 I had recieved 8 or 10 more - and - had made 8 or 10 myself to various family members. Half of my ENTIRE extended family lives in the area and/or works in Manhatten.
My brother was on his way to a meeting at one of the WTC towers - but luckily was running late. He lost friends and business associates.
My cousins / aunts and uncles all work downtown. EVERY single one of them lost someone they knew *personally* ... many 'several' ...
The weeks passed ...
Heart-wrenching GUT-TWISTING 'memorial services' ...
Nothing to bury in most cases.
Tragic !
My friend - Lt "Bobby R" - Ladder Company 18 ... was working.
He responded.
I mourn his loss.
'1' of the '343'
He was a "good guy".
Living close to Boston - and - '2' of the flights originating out of 'Logan' - there were dozens-and-dozens of local tragedies as well.
Incredibly sad !
... and VERY close to home.
I *HONOR* the heroes of 'Flight 93' ... (the 1st to FIGHT BACK!)
...
... and I believe those of you who profess there was NO PLANE that hit the Pentagon that morning - well ... (never mind - what's the point in talking to you?) ...
It pains me to write this ...
MM | |
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| 9/11 and how you experienced it ( personal stories)
Posted: 11/26/2007 2:58:47 AM | I realize this is WAY late, but...
I was at work, near Toronto Airport. The guy I was working with had a radio, and was listening to Howard Stern. When he started talking about it, my first thought was that it was an *extremely* tasteless joke - even for him.
It wasn't until Noon, when we saw it on the TV news in the cafeteria, that I realized that it was really happening. | |
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