Where Were You?

Young Gun Conservative ^

[YoungGunConservativeRadio]

Today is September 11th. It’s been 8 years since that dreadful day in 2001. It began as such a beautiful day in the USA. Weather from coast to coast was lovely and everything seemed to be going right for a change. But then – our world came crashing down.

It is good to remember exactly where you were on pivotal days in history. It reminds us of what happened. Those moments are forever suspended in our memories never to be forgotten. That is unless we ignore them.

I was working 3rd shift at the time..

[Daveinyork]

This is what I wrote about 9-11-2001. Obviously a lot has happened since then:

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, A DAY OF INFAMY AND HEROISM

The much abused cliche, “I’ll never forget this as long as I live,” certainly applies to September 11, 2001. I had overslept. Monday night I was in Baltimore at a meeting of the Chesapeake Pipe Club. Diane, my girlfriend, was also there meeting some of my friends. Then, as Diane was leaving, she surprised me with a spectacularly framed copy of the York Daily Record story on pipe smoking that featured a large picture of me. I went back inside the meeting place and showed it to the guys. They were all impressed - with the gift, and with Diane.

As I didn’t get home until about midnight, I slept until about 7:30 AM. I showered, shaved, dressed, ate breakfast, read the Wall Street Journal, and started to watch Fox and Friends on the Fox News channel. I have been watching CNBC during the day to get business and financial news while I’m in my office, and they do a marvelous job of reporting, and entertaining. Since I got DirectTV, I now can alternate between Bloomberg and CNBC. But, as it was after 7:00, I turned on Fox. The first thing I saw was a question about one of the girlfriends of the philandering Congressman Gary Condit. I immediately switched to CNBC.

After finishing breakfast, I came down the nineteen steps to the first floor of my building, where my accounting office is located. I logged onto the internet to check for email and to check the Drudge Report for news. I also turned on CNBC.

As they had been doing while I ate breakfast, CNBC anchors and reporters were talking about the state of the economy, the markets, and that the futures were well above fair value, indicating that the US stock exchanges would open higher than they had closed the day before. It was not to be. As I had found two pipes on my desk with half-smoked bowls of tobacco, I lit one, finished it, then the other.

At 9:00 AM Mark Haynes reported that there was a fire in one of the towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhatten. The TV scene switched to a camera trained on the twin towers, a symbol of American enterprise, and maybe, of human hubris, that had been bombed by Islamic terrorists in 1993, but had been fully repaired and was back in operation. This building held perhaps 50,000 people. I saw flames coming from the upper floors of one of the towers.

Maria Bartiromo is one of the best financial reporters on TV. Smart, knowledgeable, and beautiful, she adds a touch of class to any stock market or business report. Normally, in the morning, she reports from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This particular morning, As we watched the burning tower, she called in on a cell phone describing the scene as she saw it from the street. She said that there had been reports of a plane crashing into the tower. Oh well, an accident, I thought.

“OH MY G-D!” said somebody. As we watched, there was an explosion close to the middle of the other tower, and reports that another plane had crashed into it. It was now obvious that it was no accident. As I watched, stunned, transfixed, the tower began to crumble. Then the other tower collapsed. The World Trade Center, the tallest building in America, was no more,
it just simply ceased to exist.

In the midst of this, another report came in, that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and another one crashed in Western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Another report, one that proved to be erroneous, came in that a car bomb had exploded outside the U.S. State Department building.

We soon learned that four passenger planes - two from United Airlines, and two from American Airlines, had been hijacked. Two of them were deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center, destroying the building, killing possibly tens of thousands of people. One had crashed into the Pentagon, causing a lot of damage, killing hundreds. A fourth had crashed near Pittsburgh, PA, killing all onboard.

America had been attacked. I called my mother. I told her that I had some idea how she might have felt upon hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This attack had been well planned, well co-ordinated. It was an attack on the two symbols of American power - one, the symbol of American economic power, the other the symbol of our military might. It was evident that the fourth plane was supposed to be crashed into some other target - the White House and Camp David have been named as possibilities.

The attacks had also been well-timed. Every major news organization had their video cameras trained on the World Trade Center to cover the fire in the one tower, which, itself, was a big enough news item. At that point, the second plane crashed into the other tower, which transfixed the world. With everyone glued to their TV’s and radios, the third plane hit the Pentagon, and the fourth was to have hit its intended target.

The phone rang. It was Diane. She had heard that there were terrorist attacks, and that she was listening to a radio. I told her what I had just seen on TV. She reminded me that she had been on a plane in 1970 that was hijacked by the notorious Palestinian terrorist Leila Khalid. The events of Tuesday were bringing back disturbing memories. She has been engaging in quite a bit of business travel late this summer, and is scheduled for quite a bit more throughout this fall. She had just returned from California on Saturday, and is scheduled to fly to Orlando next Tuesday. She is hoping to get out of her next trip. I kidded her that if she had been scheduled to fly home on Tuesday the eleventh, she would have been stranded amongst all those blond, muscular, California beach boys.

* * *

One year later:

I have closed my office in honor of the heroes, and in memory of the victims, of the terror attacks. In the past year, I have been to New York twice, with Diane, once was to visit the site of the World trade Center, forever to be known as ‘Ground Zero.” Diane is now my fiancee. (my wife as of June 22, 2003)

Those who have attacked us have underestimated us, as our attackers often do. They have mistaken our freedom for corruption, our tolerance for stupidity, and our love of peace for weakness. That has proved to be a costly mistake. The inherent strength of America showed itself immediately when one part of the attack was thwarted by passengers on flight 93, who, knowing that their lives were already forfeit, and could have just accepted their fate, and that of hundreds of others in the intended target of the plane.

[stuartcr]

At work, like today, except I’ll be over the Atlantic in a few hours.

[Born Conservative]

I was at work, and I remember everyone gathering around the TV’s in our waiting room watching the coverage. The internet was at a crawl, our Medical Center Helicopter crew and other professionals were set to go to NYC to help with the casualties that never were, and we didn’t know what would happen next. Very scary time (I’m about 3-4 hours west of NYC)

[mountainlion]

I was working for the FAA the morning of 911 and went upstairs for a cup of coffee and saw the first tower was on fire. I was standing watching when the second plane hit. The rest of the day was quite busy. I was also on duty the day of the bombing of the Murra building in OKC. I was in a bunker in Cu Chi for tet 1968 also. I don't get too excited at hings now but John the traitor Kerry makes me mad still.

[Vendome]

I as at home getting ready for work and watching the news in the background. I thought to myself it was strange a plane would fly into the first tower on a such a bright clear day and thought someone did this on purpose.

Maybe a despondent person certainly a moron.

When the second plane came across the screen I knew immediately that this was not an accident and we were under attack.

At first, I didn't realize that second plane had done this. But Immediately knew what was going and sat there stunned.

Having been to the World Trade Center Many times, I wondered how many people were in the building at the time.

Just an amazingly horrible day I will never forget.

God Bless and provide comfort the families and friends who suffered on that that terrible day.

[ravingnutter]

I called in sick to work as I was still mourning the death of my beloved father two weeks earlier when hubby called me and told me to turn on the TV and I saw the second plane hit. I remember crying and thinking how it would have broken my Daddy’s heart if he were there to see it.

[VOA]

“Where Were You?”

(My apologies to FR folks that have already seen my account of
“Where were you?”)

West Los Angeles, about 2 miles west of UCLA.

I went to bed minutes before midnight, turning off my TV and saying
to myself “I’ve got to stop watching so much TV”.

I awoke early as usual and turned on the radio to listen to Hugh Hewitt
on AM870.
He said that there were reports of a small commuter plane that had
crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.

Well, that was “red meat” for me, as I recalled the B-25 Mitchell
Bomber that crashed into The Empire State Building after WWII.

I turn on the TV. To this day, I don’t know if I saw a live shot or
a rerun of video...but I watch a BIG plane flying along, looking to
my naive eyes like it would pass behing the two WTC towers.
Only problem: a fire ball explodes where there should have been the
plane flying past the towers.
I guess I’d been in LA/Hollywood too long because my initial thought
was “Wow...that’s some incredible special effects”.
(Yes, I do castigate myself for having such an uncaring thought
while hundreds of people died in an instant.)

Although I was freaked out, I did make it in to do lab work that day,
but couldn’t help stopping by the lab storeroom where some good soul
had set up a TV to follow events.

It’s still a surreal day to me. And probably will be until I breath my last.

[Thermalseeker]

After watching the towers get hit, along with the Pentagon on the news, along with what details were available that morning regarding Flight 93, I headed south from my home just north of Chattanooga to Athens, GA, for a meeting. I will never forget the stream of traffic heading out of Atlanta on I-75 that day as I approached the junction of I-75 and the I-285 perimeter highway around Atlanta. There was almost no one heading into Atlanta. Everyone was leaving, like 5:00PM traffic on a Friday before the 4th of July. It reminded me of the scene in that movie The Day After about the aftermath of a major nuclear exchange between the Soviets and the USA when everyone was trying to flee the city. All the cars seemed to be going one way, opposite of the way I was going. I constantly questioned whether or not I was doing the right thing. Erie doesn't begin to describe it.....

[paltz]

I was in NYC and posted on to this FR thread after sitting at my desk at work: LInk

To: wattsmag2

It is insanity all over this city! People were screaming from the subway staions when it happened. All public transportaion to get home is unavailable. People are walking 50-100 blocks to get home. The city is not allowing anybody in or out of the city. It's like a mass exodus all over the sidewalks. The looks on peoples faces is that of disbelief and you know what everybody is whispering about. I have never seen so many cell phones out at once. People are emerging from the streets in dust. Ambulances, G-Men, and cops are all over the place. Lines are already forming outside of the supermarkets. Whoever did this is going to pay dearly.

8 posted on September 11, 2001 1:21:22 PM EDT by paltz [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]

[Jo Nuvark]

When the towers collapsed in on themselves, it was
“as if” God Himself restrained those buildings from
falling over. No wonder “Truthers” are so rabbid.
Conspiracy theories cannot explain a miracle that
prevented thousands more deaths that awful day.

Thank you for your post!

[Wonderama Mama]

I was a stay at home mom and I had just gotten my older two off to school. My youngest was having breakfast. My husband and I were having coffee. My mom called me hysterical saying to ‘turn on the TV! They’re attacking us! It’s war!!” I thought she was being overly dramatic but turned on the TV only to see the first tower burning. I couldn’t wrap my brain around this image. (actually I still can’t).
We sat and watched as the second plane came crashing and then cried our eyes out as the towers fell one by one. I still weep at the thought. I kept my youngest home from school that day as he was only 6. I kept him close. I knew his world was not going to be anywhere near what my had been growing up. Life had changed forever.
Thank-you for letting me share.

[GOP Poet]

I was in Los Angeles sleeping when the first plane hit. My husband awoke me, "You have to see this," he said," a plane's hit the World Trade Center." I groaned at my husband's early morning inclusiveness when I was at the height of REM, but sensed the combination of his excitement and anxiety and sat up in bed as he turned on the bedroom TV. I saw the of black smoke pouring from the windows and hopped out of bed. We moved into the the living room to watch the broadcast on a larger television.

Not even settled into the living room with a cup of coffee the second plane struck. I heard the piercing voice of an agitated broadcaster. I realized we were under attack and I believe I thought first of our president George Bush. I realized we were under attack. "You aren't going to work." I said to my husband. "It isn't safe." Then followed the commotion of shock, fear, pragmatic figuring out of how to deal with our jobs for that day. It turns out my place of business remained closed and my husband had to drive down past LAX to work which caused me great anger and anxiety as we were unsure of what was about to unfold and his job was a analyst job that could have either been put off a day or done from home.

After he was gone and I stood paralyzed in the same place I had first observed the second plane. By now I'd learned of the plane bursting through the walls of the Pentagon. I realized all the souls that were departing into heaven. I thought of the people on the planes, the office workers, the firefighters. How they'd all died and were dying violently--some quickly, others slowly, others flinging their bodies, their lives out the windows in one last attempt at momentary freedom before death. And a visual appeared to me--groups of spirits rushing up toward God in heaven. I felt the momentary sense of their souls in chaos and with some a flash of confusion even there at the heavenly gates with so many freshly perished souls pressing together, so quickly removed from earth. I saw many with one or more angelic escorts and I wept uncontrollably and prayed for each one. God bless the families and friends who lost a loved one September 11, 2001.

[BlueNgold]

I actually first learned of the attacks here on FR.
I went downstairs to a cafe in the lobby of my office building to catch the TV news.
Within minutes the entire lobby was packed with people staring in disbelief at the television.
I packed up, went home early, and called Memphis (NAVPERS).
I prayed a lot, cried some, and threw a few things.