9/11 - where were you on the day that changed history?

[SinceThe70s]

I was at work when a co-worker got a call from his friend who worked downtown telling him people were jumping from the building. I honestly can't remember if the caller knew what had happened yet, but I don't think so. Sadly my sister-in-law lost her father that day. He was working security and was last seen evacuating kids from a day care center.

[EasternOHBillsFan]

11 hours ago, LeviF said:

 

 

Those were my words 10 years ago... and so much has changed. I'm just glad the wars are now finally over with.

 

Still waiting to play Nate again... I'll take Harvard, you take Florida State.

 

Someday.

[Guffalo]

7 hours ago, Just Jack said:

 

 

 

That was @Guffalo.  If you follow the link @LeviF posted early in the thread, you'll find it there. He may post it again.  

 

 

I lived by the Syracuse airport.  The only planes I heard for days was the Air National Guard taking off.  

 

 

I had been at the TBD tailgate on Sunday before 9/11, flew into NYC Sunday night and flew past the towers. Stayed in Manhattan Sunday night and then went to NJ for a golf tournament, went home Monday night. The next morning was 9/11 and this is what I wrote on the board the next morning (9/12) more as a way to spit it out rather than say it verbally to those around me that night.

 

Until yesterday, I worked at the WTC

 

I almost feel ashamed looking at this board, since football is far from my
mind right now, but my home page is TBD...

When I was on my way to work yesterday, I was on the #1 express from Penn
down to WTC, at 14th a couple got on and said they saw a plane hit the trade
center, I figured it was a light plane, and continued on. There was an
announcement by the conductor that said "Due to a fire at WTC there will be
no service to Cortland ave (in the wtc), I got out at chambers street and
started walking..as I turned around to face the north tower I saw people
just string up in awe..there was a hole in the tower with smoke and flames,
I asked some guy what happened and he said, he saw the plane go in.. and
then he said 15 minutes later the other tower exploded.. (we were on the
north side so he didn't see the 2nd plane , only the impact)

I tried my cell phone (no good) so I tried to find a pay phone , I thought
of my wife wondering if I was in there, and just the worry that the rest of
the family would have when they heard..I was able to get through to her
voice mail, and then I called our office on 36th st ( I am a consultant
assigned to 4 WTC since last September). The office wanted me to try to
locate another employee, and we started using my cell phone with the two way
radio feature.

I started looping around to the east of the buildings, trying to find my
co-worker, as I walked near the post office, I saw debris and broken
concrete, small puddles of blood, shoes ,lots of shoes and I picked up a
warm hunk of metal ( I have no idea why) it was almost hot and it was heavy
and it was oily or greasy... I dropped it when I saw a wheel or turbine that
was 20 feet away, high density aluminum about 6 feet wide....

Using my radio to my boss, I kept chatter back and forth and kept moving
towards where I figured Marcia would be (we went through the bombing in 93
and had always said, head for the water by the Seaport).

Police were busy on Church so I moved to Broadway by J&R Music and continued
the radio chatter with my boss, he said Marcia had not checked in yet, keep
looking, he also told me he saw video of the 2nd plane as it went in, he
said it had been hijacked as well as the first one, he also told be about
the Pentagon being hit.

I had worked my way to Nassau street, a pedestrian mall about 3 blocks east
of the towers. My radio was quirky, sometimes the frequency was jammed,
sometimes you could get through, so I told my boss I was going to keep it on
once I get a signal. As I was walking up Nassau I left the center of the
street and stayed along the storefronts, I was talking to Doug and he heard
me say "Oh @#$%^! something's happening, oh my God something went off", and
he could hear the rumbling as the first tower went down, I felt a shock wave
and wind rush as I ducked into a doorway (from the narrow street you could
not see the tower) I knew that one of them had fallen and I assumed it had
toppled over like a domino, not the gentle slide that I saw later.

The dust and debris cloud came next as I peered out of the doorway the cloud
came east towards the Nassau area, I started sprinting north and got one
block, as I looked over my left shoulder I saw a huge cloud of debris/dust
coming our way, as we ran I saw a woman fall, someone slowed down to help
and they were trampled ( I know I should have stopped, but I was thinking
about wife, kids etc, and she went down pretty hard) As I rounded the corner
near Beekman Hospital emergency personnel were waving us away I zigged
through the waiting stretchers, and headed to the Seaport, I slowed down to
catch my breath....
The smoke/debris cloud was covering us with something that was making me
choke and burning my eyes, it looked like snow... I started towards the
Brooklyn Bridge, but I was afraid that if the other tower went it may drop
towards us, so I started to go towards Chinatown. As I was walking I
remembered my radio.. the (last transmission I sent was Oh my God and the
rumbling in the background) when I finally got through my boss was excited,
he thought I was a goner.

A woman stopped be and asked to borrow the phone, I told her there were no
calls in or out, she then started wandering back towards the site and I
stopped her and asked what she was doing, "I have to get my pocketbook" I
said that would not be a great idea, and I asked her where she lives, we
were going the same way and started walking together, we saw a cab (empty)
so we got in and the driver said "I'm only going north" (well hello....that
was an understatement, who the hell wants to go back there!!!)

In the cab, Doug (boss) confirmed that the tower had fallen, we looked back
and saw the new skyline with just one tower standing up. A short time later
Doug asked where we were, I told him in a cab, and he told us the second
tower just went down, we looked out the back window of the cab as the debris
and smoke filled the air in the distance.

We were up to the village, and I saw the Empire State building looming in
the distance.. I told the driver to stop and let me out, the girl (Valerie)
said why get out now??? I pointed to the building/target and said"what would
be the next landmark to get hit??

I got out and gave the girl some money for the cab , she insisted on paying
me back and made me give her my card ( amazing at a time like this the
etiquette thing still remains in some people).

I started west to avoid the Empire State Building and went around it to get
to our office located 2 blocks north of the ESB. I got upstairs and changed,
called the wife ( she heard my voice cracking on the messages and she cried
every time she heard news of my progress)

We watched the news as others straggled in (Marcia had gotten up there too).
Once they opened the Long Island Rail Road, I left and got on and headed
home..

I never figured out whose shoes those were..

I am home now, and I suggest the following:
Don't complain about doing your kids homework.
Say I love you whenever possible
Try to keep in touch with your loved ones,
Whatever you think is very important today, may seem like a pimple on the
ass of an elephant tomorrow.

God Bless us all

Guff

Edited September 3, 2021 by Guffalo

[ChevyVanMiller]

As I’ve shared in a similar thread here before my son was about to be born and I was a featured columnist for the NIagara Falls Reporter. I penned this column that went viral and many people wrote me that it helped them put into perspective that horrible day, I am forever proud to have been some small help in that dark hour.

 

https://niagarafallsreporter.com/croisdale26.html

 

 

[WhoTom]

I had just dropped my son off at Kindergarten and was headed to campus to teach my morning class. Listening to NPR, I heard that a plane crashed into the WTC.  I figured it was a small private plane. When I got to campus, the lab tech and my dean were in the tech's office watching the news. One tower had fallen and the other was on fire. By then, everyone knew it was a terrorist attack. My dean said, "Tom, the world will never be the same again."

 

My first thought was my sister-in-law (wife's sister), who worked near the WTC. I called her, but all the lines were tied up. I went to my first class, we held a moment of silence for the victims, and I said, "If any of your loved ones are in that area, I hope they're safe." I asked if anyone wanted to talk about it, but the students just wanted to have class to take their minds off of it for a while. That was the most difficult lecture I ever gave.

 

My wife was taking classes at another college; she was on her way there when she heard the news and, of course, also thought of her sister. That night, SIL called to let us know that she was okay. Turned out that she was running late that morning. She got off the subway near the WTC, heard screaming, and saw the first building on fire. She knew something was seriously wrong and decided that walking (or running) home was her best option; just as she turned, the second plane hit. She got home a couple of hours later.

 

I just remember being in a funk for several days after. I couldn't, and still can't, fathom the amount of hatred that would cause someone to commit such an atrocity.

 

 

[Patrick Duffy]

No disrespect intended by any means, but everytime I see the 1st few words of thread title, that episode of South Park keeps popping in my head, "where were you, when they built the ladder to heaven" 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Sheneneh Jenkins

[thenorthremembers]

I was on my way to the recording studio with the band I was in at the time.  We were listening to Stern and even though you wanted to think it was a sick joke, you could tell by the tone of Howard's voice that it was real life.   The first thing I said to the guys was "I bet it's Bin Laden."  No one else really had a clue who he was at that point.

 

We spent the rest of the day recording but taking breaks to watch the events unfold on this small antenna television.   It felt like the end of the world.

[BuffaloBud]

19 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

SideBar: Is Square D manufacturing still made in the US 🇺🇸?

Square D was purchased by Schneider Electric some time ago.  I know that there are plants in Columbia and Seneca SC.  The plant in Raleigh and Asheville NC closed.  There are plants in MO, IA, and NE. 

[Ned Flanders]

We were living in Arlington, VA at the time about a mile from the Pentagon.  I was down in the basement shortly after 9:30am when a tremendous roar went over the house...sounded like a freight train about 100 feet up.  It was the plane headed for the Pentagon which flew right over our house, seconds from impact.  The terrorists used Columbia Pike, which we were about a block from, as a guide, as it lead directly to the Pentagon. 

 

I'll never forget that sound.

 

That night, I talked to my father, who was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  He said this day was worse than Dec. 7th.  Stirring words. 

 

Columbia Pike was closed until Saturday.  I walked down to the see the Pentagon on Sunday...the make-shift memorials...the charred building.  An emotional sight I'll also never forget.

 

God bless the souls we lost that day.

 

 

[Doc]

Had a post-call day off and was at home, perusing TSW as a matter of fact!  Someone post that one of the towers got hit, and then when the second one got hit I told my wife to turn on the TV and we watched the rest of the day, in horror.

[sherpa]

31 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

  The terrorists used Columbia Pike, which we were about a block from, as a guide, as it lead directly to the Pentagon. 

 

 

The Pentagon is an incredibly easy building to identify, and it is not possible to use a road as guidance when you're travelling at 200 knots, let alone 500.

What they did is use the flight guidance system to get to the DC area.

They spotted the Pentagon and did a 330 degree right turn and slammed into it.

Actually the plane hit short and short hopped into the wall.

The reason they used a right turn was that the Captain's body was in the left seat and wasn't moved, probably because his throat was slashed and it was too messy, thus eliminating the left side window views.

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, sherpa said:

 

The Pentagon is an incredibly easy building to identify, and it is not possible to use a road as guidance when you're travelling at 200 knots, let alone 500.

What they did is use the flight guidance system to get to the DC area.

They spotted the Pentagon and did a 330 degree right turn and slammed into it.

Actually the plane hit short and short hopped into the wall.

The reason they used a right turn was that the Captain's body was in the left seat and wasn't moved, probably because his throat was slashed and it was too messy, thus eliminating the left side window views.

From what I understand, they originally used I-395 as a guide but that did not lead directly to the Pentagon, did the turn and used Columbia Pike instead.

[sherpa]

2 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

From what I understand, they originally used I-395 as a guide but that did not lead directly to the Pentagon, did the turn and used Columbia Pike instead.

 

I don't want to quibble about it, but people in cockpits don't use roads for guidance.

At the end of this turn, all on the ground except the target, which is easy to spot, would have been a blur.

The Pentagon is extremely easy to see. The Capitol even easier. The White House is not, until you know where to look.

They didn't use roads. It would not be possible to do so.

The airplane was essentially out of control when it hit the ground just prior to and bounced into the Pentagon.

[Mark80]

Senior at Cornell.  Woke up, housemate told me about the first plane crash and watched on the news for a few minutes before heading to class.  Got to class and saw a second plane had crashed on the lobby tv.  After class saw that the first building had collapsed on that same TV and then watched the second building collapse at my house. By that time classes had been cancelled.  Obviously a lot of NYC relationships for the folks living in Ithaca.  I can clearly remember numerous people on campus crying trying to call loved ones but unable to get through to anyone.  It was a very surreal experience for sure.

[Not at the table Karlos]

I was in High School. Couple students had cell phones at the time and texts started coming in fast which at the time was rare due to cost. Couple mins later the principal made an announcement that the world trade center has been hit by two planes and the school was on lockdown.

 

We had a substitute that day and they decided to keep teaching. I walked to the back of the room wheeled the tv to the front plugged it in and turned on the news. Sub stopped yelling at me mid sentence when we all saw the images of the towers in smoke. 

 

My demolition expert father was having surgery that morning so I left school early to go visit him. Was very interesting listening to a bunch of construction/demolition experts talk about the collapse. 

[Wacka]

Had a HS classmate that was an audiologist at the Pentagon.  She got a commendation for helping people on 9/11.

[May Day 10]

I have kind of buried the whole thing a bit... but recently watched the first episodes of the Netflix doc and the Nat Geo doc.  

 

It is pretty insane to think about all this and everything that happened in and around these attacks.  I still remember a lot from that day.

 

I find it pretty amazing and fortunate that the death toll was 'only' 2,977 or whatever it was.  I mean, what a horrible, staggering number and so many lives altered at that impetus... but with how many people are were in and around the WTC, along with the brutality of the attack, it is fortunate there were so many survivors.  

[Just Jack]

 

[Doc Brown]

On 9/2/2021 at 1:22 PM, sherpa said:

I was a 767 check captain. In that position you train new captains and first officers and certify them on regular passenger flights before they start actually flying schedules. I left New York the afternoon prior and was in San Francisco. We left San Francisco on the return leg at 6am.

 

I had just finished the mandatory “seat belt” announcement when you reach cruise altitude, and were just east of Fallon Nevada. I saw the printer start printing a message. The company communicates in flight through a data link system that prints their messages. The message said: “Numerous cockpit incursions. Do not allow the door to be opened.” Pretty strange message, so I read it and put it away without saying anything to the new co-pilot I was with.

A few minutes later, I got another message that said: “Numerous cockpit incursions. Defend the cockpit at all cost. Suggest divert.”

 

I had been based in San Francisco my years as a first officer, and one of my old friends was going to NY so I told him to come up when we hit cruise so I could check up on old friends. He had just arrived and was sitting in the jumpseat. I told him something is going on, and asked him to listen to an AM station. The airplane has the ability to hear the am freq range. He told me that they were saying there had been multiple hijackings and suicide hits on the World Trade Center, and  they thought there were more to come. 767’s and 757’s, the two planes I was a check captain on.

There is a way to get all the flight attendants on the phone at the same time, so I  did that and explained the situation and had them block the cockpit door with service carts and two males guard the area, jumpseater behind me with the crash axe and fire extinguisher to get anyone trying to get in.

 

Told air traffic that we needed to divert to San Francisco, turned the thing around and started back. Fortunately, I was a west coast Navy pilot while in the military, so I knew all the bases and airports available in case something happened. Pushed the airplane up to max speed, .85 mach and started back.

Absolutely nothing from air traffic control. In fact the only other airplane I heard was a TWA who was heading back to Sacramento.

 

There was an undercast that day, so when we got under it I made an announcement to the passengers, who clearly knew something was up that we were over the Sacrament Valley returning to SFO, there was nothing wrong with the airplane and an agent would explain once we landed.

 

During this twenty five mins or so, I received a bunch of messages from the company verifying it was actually me flying the airplane, including one where they asked for a password I had no idea they had knowledge of. I finally sent them a message saying I was too busy to respond anymore. There is a lot of stuff involved in a wide body diversion. Lots of flight guidance inputs to change routes and destination. With a co-pilot on his first flight in the 767, I was basically solo.

 

Anyway, got to San Francisco approach control and they cleared me for the usual noise abatement approach, an arrival longer than necessary as it avoids high population, noise sensitive communities in the East Bay. I told them I wasn’t flying that arrival, that I was going to point the thing directly at the end of runway 28L and land. I also added that if anybody comes through our door I was going to put it in the Bay. They said “OK.”

 

Came over the San Mateo Bridge and noticed what looked like 30 emergency/police vehicles on the parallel taxiway. I landed, they all chased me to the gate and a bunch of them with weapons drawn were below us on the ramp.

Got to the hotel and found out that along with the other three crashes, American 77, Dulles to LA, a trip that I had flown for two years just prior to taking the check airman position had hit the Pentagon. Knew all of them.

Got a call from the FBI in the early afternoon asking me if I saw any unusual passengers as they de-planed. I told them I wasn’t watching.

A true horror story.

Excellent post and fascinating.  Beats my story of me waiting for my instant oatmeal to cook in the faculty lounge when the second plane hit.

[JMF2006]

I was at work on the line at my factory when a guy came in and said a plane flew into the WTC that was all he said.

 

I thought one of those stupid sight seeing Cessna's F'D up.

 

I got out of work at 3pm and the radio said 2 Jumbo Jets and I was like WTF?

 

I got home and watched in horror an attack worse than Pearl Harbor on civilians by mentally disturbed fundamentalists.

 

I was 42 at the time and felt like joining the military to hunt down those bastards behind this.

 

My girlfriend talked some sanity into me saying it was a job for much younger men and the US had Special OP's guys already trained and ready to deploy. 

 

She said they would get them before I finished boot camp.

 

My heart and prayers go out every year to all the families who were effected by these mad men over the last 2 decades

 

The original victims and all the brave service men and women that gave their lives fighting these crazy jihadists.

 

Long Live the USA

 

Long Live Freedom