[luvie]

MY REMEMBRANCE

I was walking through the house while getting ready for work, when I glanced at the TV, which I don't usually watch. There was a view of the WTC with smoke pouring out the upper floors, and the reporter on Fox News was saying that a plane of some kind had hit the building. There was no panic, just reporting the incident and wondering how it happened and what kind of plane it was. While I stood there, the 2nd plane hit the other tower. My heart nearly stopped and of course, like everyone else, I KNEW that was no accident.

I went on to work and everyone was scared and glued to the tiny TV we had in the back room of the store. I worked in the mall and we finally closed at 1 PM and went home, because it was pretty much empty. Not only did I work in Bush's hometown but his mother-in-law still lived there, and we all feared that Midland, Texas, would be a prime target for people who hated the president. We also found out that the Pentagon had been hit and flight 93 had gone down in PA.

For the rest of that day and the rest of the week, I, like the rest of the world, was glued to the set, my heart breaking.

...and my world, along with everyone else's, was never the same.

[JudgemAll]

Was doing something on the computer on a vacation discussing a new job when what is now my exwife was watching TV and called me up to check it out. I of course was knowledgeable in the socialist threat still existing and thought that the country’s reaction would reveal whether more full blown nuke attack would occur. We are inching there

[ExTexasRedhead]

My husband and I were spending our second day on Kauai and were driving to a breakfast at a hotel. A tour company was hosting a breakfast highlighting and selling Kauai tours. The news of the first plane hitting one of the Towers came on the car radio. We both didn’t believe the news at first until we realized it was real. We arrived at the hotel and went into the banquet room. A man got up and said that he knew we probably weren’t interested in tours after what had just happened.

A couple at a table next to us looked at my husband and said “what has happened?” My husband responded that a plane had hit the World Trade Center tower. The couple looked at us and responded, “we’re from New York and our friends are in those towers.” They got up and rushed out of the room visibly shaken. I will always remember that horribly tragic day.

[aomagrat]

I was in the Navy and stationed at Naval Strike and Warfare Center, Top Gun Ordnance, Fallon NV. I arrived at the AO shop at 0600 (6 am) and started getting the ordnance ready for the day’s training missions. One of the AO’s ran into the shop yelling that his wife called and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We had no TVs in the shop, so I got on my computer and went to Free Republic and started following the events there. Not much later we got word that all training flights were cancelled and I was told to get all of the live Sparrow missiles I could from Base Weapons and get them loaded on our F-18’s. We organized a loading team and met our planes at the loading area and loaded up, had pilots in the planes and set Alert Five.

[bonfire]

Kids off to school, FOX news in the background, chatting on phone with my sister. We witnessed the horror together although hundreds of miles apart. Called my husband at work in Dallas and told him to come home then retrieved all my kids from their various schools ASAP. Sat outside and listened to the dead silence. No planes overhead heading to DFW. Skies were empty yet it was a stunningly gorgeous day. Surreal.

[ConservativeStatement]

Hi Luv. The prior Friday, I went shopping for a TV because the aging set I owned has transmission issues. That Tuesday, I was all prepared to buy said set. I awaited a call from my brother. My dad, who was babysitting for him, then informed me of what was happening. All of a sudden, my frustration with a TV set was put in perspective. Not much else mattered.

[JoeFromSidney]

I was at home watching the horror on TV. A friend had called me and told me to turn on the TV.

[Sharin]

First time poster, long time lurker here.

I was at home with my babies, and my husband called on the phone and told me to turn on the tv, he had heard about a plane hitting in New York. It wasn’t long before I realized we were under attack.

Seeing those poor people jumping out the windows, moms like me, just trying to do their best that day.. they had gone to work with hopes and plans and now they were forced to jump to their death... will always be etched in my mind and my heart broke. Seeing the first tower go down, it seemed like it was just a plume of smoke coming up, it was too inconceivable that the tower had fallen.
Hearing about our President flying around on AF1 because he might be under attack was scary. Seeing no airplanes for the next few days was surreal.All of it was heartbreaking.

[virgil]

I was at work, heading to another building by shuttle bus for an 8 am meeting. Heard about it on the driver’s radio. I thought it was a potentially serious accident from just the report, and I would find out more in the evening. By the time I got out of the meeting, the world had changed.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

I got a phone call from my brother Robert..
He said “Turn on the TV, we’re being attacked!
When the TV came into focus, I saw the second plane hit the other tower.

We were on the phone together, horrified and crying as we saw people leaping off the buildings.
I kept saying “oh no no no no!”
‘Oh God, no!”

I have ALWAYS loved my country, but until that day, I never knew just how much!

[MoochPooch]

I had slept late, slept through it. I was on my way to vote, when I wondered what happened to the polling place. I asked a passing gentleman, and he said, “You didn’t hear? A couple of airplanes ran through the World Trade Center. I stayed glued to the TV, never went to work.

[TheWriterTX]

I was preparing for work when my mother called. Two of my brothers worked in Manhattan. I turned on the news and watched in horror. Every one of my friends and family members back in NY knew someone who died that day. I knew people who died that day. And I wept, for my toddler son, for my unborn daughter. I knew the world I had grown up in was not the one they would inherit.

[trebb]

I was at my desk developing training for secure networking and special apps used by DISA...a coworker was on FR (yep - some government employees do screw off on the job) and started saying "Oh my God" over and over.

That was the day I discovered FR though I only lurked for most of the first year.

We ended up[ in the squadron conference room with the dual big flat screens and watched the second plane hit.

Part of the day was being stunned and part was concern for a contractor who worked in our area - I was supposed to be at the Pentagon teaching when it happened but they needed me for the soon to be validated course I was developing so they spun Clarence up and sent him in my place....took a few hours before they gave us a shot that allowed me to determine the plane had hit opposite where the training was happening and the training was also 2 floors underground so the odds were he was OK.

We got a call from Clarence that afternoon and he said that it was 45 minutes before they realized anything had happened and were shocked, not only that it had happened and they didn't feel it but that they hadn't been notified - I imagine they had folks posted to stop access/entry to certain areas and were too busy to try to get out blanket notices before they truly realized what might or might not follow.

We watched America start to coalesce as "America" for a period of time an, oh, yeah...Clarence was stranded for a full week before they authorized him to drive back to the MS Gulf Coast (Keesler AFB) in a one-way rental...

[DoodleDawg]

I was at college just beginning my senior year. Didn’t get a lot done that day.

[GoreFreeTN]

I was in La Rochelle, France. I had just returned to my hotel and called my office in the USA. My secretary asked me “Have you called home?” An invisible fist hit me in the gut. I thought something had happened to my wife or one of the kids. I replied, no. What’s going on? She said the US is under attack! I heard her break down in tears.

Immediately I turned on the TV and found a French channel simulcasting the CNN feed and watched in horror as the second tower collapsed. Immediately I tried calling my wife but I couldn’t get a land line to the US. At the time, I didn’t have a cellphone that could call internationally.

Down in the lobby, my customers who hailed from France, Sweden and China were waiting for me to freshen up for dinner at a seaside cafe. I walked back down to the lobby and told them what had happened and to go on to dinner without me. I needed to call home and needed to watch the news.Our attention went to the TV in the lobby which was tuned to a French TV show. We asked the front desk to tune it to a news channel and we all sat and watched the coverage for another 4 hours. My Swedish customer/friend handed me his cellphone and said what number do you want me to call for you?

I talked to my wife and each of my three kids individually that night for over two hours on my friends cellphone. God only knows what that bill was but he didn’t mind, he knew I was in pain as was he and the other customers with me. They kept saying “if they can do that to America, what will they do to us?”

I spent the next 6-7 days in Europe, trying to conduct business but my mind was preoccupied. The international flight band was finally lifted and I got a flight out of Frankfurt. When I arrived at O’hare, I was never so happy and relieved to be home in the US. O’hare airport was a ghost town. As I walked the empty concourse to catch my connecting flight home I called my wife to let her know I was home. She broke down and cried uncontrollably as did I.

The American Airline’s gate attendant tried to cut thru the noticeable apprehension as she made the announcement for boarding. “We will begin boarding the 3 passengers on AA flight to ....” I got home and didn’t travel by air for nearly 2 months.

Proud to be an American!