I have this pic on my desktop....
If I don't remember that terrible day and all the Americans who perished, on my own, this reminds me to think of them.
Where were you?
Special ping to the Smackdown crew.
Good morning, Star.
I was in the car driving to work in KCMO with NPR on the radio when they reported that a plane had hit the WTC. I had been thinking to myself what a beautiful day it was with an incredibly clear blue sky. I thought to myself what a terrible accident. What an awful thing to happen.
I got to the office and people were already clustered around a tv, the second plane had hit and the sky in New York was just as clear and beautiful as in the midwest, but there was nothing but horror. I knew we were at war and I was glad George Bush was the president.
I have this pic on my desktop....
If I don't remember that terrible day and all the Americans who perished, on my own, this reminds me to think of them.
Here in Ohio, the weather today is essentially exactly like it was 7 years ago. Interestingly, there aren’t even contrails in the sky this morning.
I work right next to Orlando airport. I remember pulling into the parking lot right as the news reported the first plane hit. Thinking the news was (once again) getting it wrong over plane type and size, I went inside thinking it was a private plane such as a Cessna that had done it. Listening to the radio inside I kept thinking this until the 2d-plane hit. Immediately I knew it was a terrorist attack.
The thing that sticks out to me of that day and the days following were no aircraft coming in or out of OIA. It was almost eerie.
Right here on FR. I posted twice that morning saying a prayer for the nation. I was running back and forth between the tv set and the computer.
Spent most of the time on FR reading the live threads. We were all family that day.
sw
I remember on that day I had just gotten into work after leaving earlier to get a number of letters that both my mother and I had to mail out. I had phoned home to tell her I had mailed the letters when she told me that there was a plane crash in the first WTC building. I had thought it was an accident at first. But when I had heard another plane had hit the second WTC building, I KNEW it was not accident and I was in COMPLETE SHOCK that day. I worked at a local community college. Everyone either had watched or listened to the news report. Plus also everyone was sent home from work or class.
I dropped off my son at preschool and Neil Boortz said that a plane had hit the WTC. He was musing on what kind of plane and how a pilot could have done that. When I got back into the car, they were just reporting that a second plane had hit. We all knew then that this was done on purpose.
Needless to say, the whole tone of the conference changed. We spent the rest of the morning discussing radical Islam and praying. My pastor had been in his office watching TV, letting the invited speakers handle the group. He came into the sanctuary to tell us all that both towers had fallen, were gone. Since we didn't see it happen on TV, it took a few minutes for that to sink in, to understand what he was saying. I must have made some type of a noise because he turned and looked right at me.
At home, we didn't turn off the TV until 3 am and then turned it back on a 6.
I was sitting at a desk checking Free Republic for my morning fix when I saw the thread about an airplane hitting the WTC.
I told the office staff to turn on their television because a plane had hit the WTC.
We saw the second plane hit the other tower, then heard about the Pentagon and Flight 93.
One vendor personnel started spouting off about this was done by the palestinians and they were just "getting back" at the USA and blah, blah, blah.
I immediately told him that there was no such country as "palestine" and that if this WAS a terrorist attack, he might want to hold his tongue or HE might pay part of the price for such an attack.
The vendor staff, all of middle east origin, decided to drive back to Chicago that day.
I knew that there was no way I was going to get any installation work done that day so I went back to the hotel room and started praying.
I opened my bible at random and was looking at Psalms 108. An entirely appropriate verse fot that day.
Psa 108:1 [[A Song [or] Psalm of David.]] O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
Psa 108:2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I [myself] will awake early.
Psa 108:3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
Psa 108:4 For thy mercy [is] great above the heavens: and thy truth [reacheth] unto the clouds.
Psa 108:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
Psa 108:6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save [with] thy right hand, and answer me.
Psa 108:7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
Psa 108:8 Gilead [is] mine; Manasseh [is] mine; Ephraim also [is] the strength of mine head; Judah [is] my lawgiver;
Psa 108:9 Moab [is] my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
Psa 108:10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
Psa 108:11 [Wilt] not [thou], O God, [who] hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?
Psa 108:12 Give us help from trouble: for vain [is] the help of man.
Psa 108:13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he [it is that] shall tread down our enemies.
I will NEVER forget.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I was at home as well, homeschooling the kids. A friend called and told us about it. We turned on the TV a little before the second plane hit. I was suspicious about the first one but when the second one flew so deliberately into the other tower, I knew it was hijakers and terrorism.
It had to have been the worst day of my life, watching all that carnage, and that having buried both my parents at a relatively young age.
I was at work in downtown Washington, DC. We heard the news, watched the second aircraft plow into the building. Heard about the attack on the Pentagon. I watched the smoke rise from the Pentagon across the Potomac.
I will never forget, I was not fearful, I was outraged. I still am.
I was here
I was working in my home office, on the phone with one of the company’s sales reps who lived in the NY/NJ area. He had two phones going at once and told me there was some sort of plane crash at the WTC and to go to a room where there was a television. The second plane hit about 30 seconds after I turned it on.
I cried each time I heard the Star Spangled Banner for more than a year after that. God Bless those who were lost and injured and those who gave assistance. Never forget.
I was at work, as a driver for an airport shuttle company. I had a news radio station on in the van with two couples who were headed to the Caribbean for a vacation. We all heard the breaking news of the first crash, and we all thought it was a terrible ‘accident’. Then, about 10 minutes from the airport, we heard about the 2nd airplane. One of the gentlemen in the back said “This isn’t an accident...this is deliberate.”
I dropped them off and was starting out to my next pickups when the news that all airports were being closed came over my company radio. We were told to continue as normal until told differently. On the way North, I heard about the Pentagon...and I literaly screamed in my van.
We were all finally told to take any airport-bound guests home and to report to the airport to take stranded people home or to hotels. I remember on my way back to the airport thinking about the beautiful blue sky and the Seattle skyline...and wondering in fear if a plane was going to try to take out the Space Needle, or if in the next second it was all going to disappear in a bright flash and a mushroom cloud.
I finally got home and sat with my wife and (then only) child and watched the replays of what I’d only heard about.
Our company held on by the skin of their teeth...many other shuttle companies around the nation weren’t as lucky.
I, too, will never forget.
My daughter was still in High School and her b/f was visiting from England. On the evening of the 10th, she had asked me if she could take the day off school to take him to the WTC observation deck and I had agreed.
When I was leaving the room, I overheard her telling him that she was glad to be getting out of her math test, which made me reverse my decision and insist on her attendence at school. God peaked my maternal hearing, I am sure.
On the morning of the 11th, my father called me to tell me that a plane hit the tower. At that point, we thought it was an accident. I went into the spare bedroom to wake up her b/f and we were watching, in shock, when the second plane hit.
by 11:00AM, I was pounding on her school doorbell, insisting to be allowed to take her home. They finally relented and we sat home watching to news.
Being only a few miles from NYC, we smelled it for days after the event.
It is something that will stay with me forever. And my now son-in-law was changed by the event as well.
I was in N.C. working a contract for 12 hr nightshift. I did not watch the tv when I got home that AM. After sleeping the day away, I did turn on the news when I awoke. Shock and disbelief immediatly set in. The newsmen were in disbelief too for it seemed to take forever for them to mention what had happened. At first I got the impression that a small plane had hit the WTC. Later, the news bothered me to the point of distraction. I ended my contract early and went home. I needed to be near my family.
If you are wondering why I have not been doing any “smackdown” efforts, I had to take a break because my computer has been down over the last month. Will be picking it up tomorrow and will by the weekend will start up again to do the smackdown efforts. Take care.