Posted on 09/21/2001 4:49:42 PM PDT by Burkeman1
Where were you when you first learned of the attack on our Country?
My Father and Mother remember where they were for the JFK assissination, the moon walk, and the Simpson Verdict.
I share the last. I will always remember where I was during the Simpson verdict. But I also remember the Challenger explosion- I was in the library of my high school. But the events of 9/11 will always be on my mind.
My company lost a man in the first tower and my brother had flown out the day before on 9/10 to LA and I wasn't sure until his call. That day was horrible.
The personal death toll for me is one co- worker and two from my home town- of Wellesely MASS- but I can't say if there are more yet.
Recount where you were when you first heard of this evil crime.
Student reactions varied from "Oh My God!" to "that's a movie" to total disregard/oblivion to what was happening. Those students who were tuned into the reality of the moment, agreed that it was not an accident, but an attack on the United States.
The bell rang and another group of students came into the class. This group older than the last. They had already either viewed all or part of the attack or had heard about it in the halls. As a group, the majority clamored to watch the TV while a few chose to ignore the news. Silence..and then the questions started rapid fire:
by the next day, the questions were more sophisticated, but that's beyond the scope of this strand.
Then I went back to my desk. A short while later I got up to go to the restroom, and someone else told me a second plane had crashed into the other tower. I wondered out loud what was going on, and people began talking about how two planes could not be a fluke; it could only be terrorists.
Then they said somthing about a live statement from the President. I recorded it. Went to FNC and recorded stuff for two days.
While I was watching and recording, I was reading at FR.
I took the portable radio and we heard about the pentagon crash and the first and second collapse at the office. By then I was logged in to FR and was passing out the word on the fourth hijacking. The rest of the day, everyone at work was in a state of shock as things were happening rumors were getting reported.
I "mentor" a young Chinese engineer at work. He came to me about mid morning wanting to know "What does all this mean?"
I told him it means that we are at war and that every thing will be changing. Everyone around us stopped and stared at me a second or two like they were suddenly realizing what it meant...and nobody disagreed.
He and I have had several talks the last several days. One of the things I have told him is that the terrorists and their supporters had attacked America and made a serious mistake. I told him that, when roused, Americans don't fight to defeat an enemy we fight to destroy an enemy. I told him about the civil war, about Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On the following Sunday, his parents flew back (preplanned) to mainland China. Monday morning, He said they called him from Biejing because there were fears there that the US was going to attack China.
At 8am I switched to Austins news station, KLBJ-AM. The announcer was talking excitedly. "A plane has hit the world trade center!"
I am a private pilot. Only a few days before I had flown into Houston. I noticed very tall antennas very close to Hobby Airport, their tops in the clouds. I formed a mental picture of the WTC towers projecting into low clouds. I thought "I hope it wasn't a Cessna or Piper". When the announcer discribed a large fire I thought that most likely a commuter airliner had somehow gone off course. When you are flying in solid clouds its not hard to go off course. I thought about the American Airlines B757 that hit a mountain in Cali a few years ago.
Minutes latter the radio said "another airplane has struck the other tower!". My mind groped for an explanation. One airplane I could handle. One airplane was a tragic accident, but not outside the realm of experience. I couldn't account for two. About 8:10 I got to the office. We have one TV in a conference room near the entrance. I looked over the shoulders of the crowd and saw a picture of the twin towers burning against a perfectly clear blue sky. That's when I realized for certain that we had been attacked.
My employer is very hard nosed about working during working hours, so most people were at least sitting at their desks, but a lot of radios were on.
I went to my cube and was trying to work, but I put on headphones and continued to listen to Klbj. I recall writing this single line of code:
BOOL bVswrLimit = TRUE;
Then the third plane hit the pentagon. I have friends there. At that point I just started web surfing for information. I exchanged email with a number of friends, sharing rumors. I began to get physically ill. I was monitoring FAA web sites and was shocked yet again when they ordered all aircraft to land. I recall getting frustrated that President Bush did not go straight back to D.C. About 11am I told my supervisor that I was useless, and I was going home. We briefly discussed my trip to Korea, I told them I'd still go (the trip was canceled the next day). I almost started crying during this conversation.
I went home and just sat in front my TV and computer, trying and failing to soak it all in. I finally fell asleep around 2am.
I turned it on to find out that both towers had been hit, talked to my husband for a few minutes, got on FR asap to see what you all were saying, heard Judy Woodruff (I think it was her) on CNN say that the Pentagon was just hit as well, tried to call my mother but all circuits were busy, finally got through to her and we were on the phone both watching when the newscaster (this one on local NBC out of NYC - we live 30 mi west of the city) said "Is this a live picture...oh my God, the second tower has just collapsed!"
I tried frantically for hours to get through to my husband on the phone but with him working just outside Manhattan, phone lines were down and what remained were jammed - I wanted him to start home early because it was chaos locally - major roads in and around the city were totally backed up, his route takes him past Newark Apt so I knew he would have a horrible time getting here. Throughout the day I must have gotten a half dozen phone calls from people who wanted to know if my husband still worked in the city - until recently he worked in the Woolworth Bldg and took the Path into the WTC.
The day was a haze of unreality. Hugged my kids a lot. My husband finally left work at 430, got home almost 3 hours later and watched stunned in front of the tv as he had not seen any footage of what had happened - they only had internet and radio in his office.
The next morning we could smell the smoke this far west - a damp, post-fire smolder that hung in the air. Last Saturday we took a drive up the turnpike to look at the skyline - huge cloud of smoke and the towers are simply not there. Very hard to believe. I think it is finally sinking in though because I broke down crying during the Mets intro tonight - 7000 people didn't come home last week. I can't imagine what the rescue workers must be dealing with emotionally as they go through the rubble. They are very much in my prayers.
At home in Westchester County, I was sitting at the breakfast table when the live pictures flashed on the Today Show. After watching with my wife for a few minutes, I knew I had to go to work immediately (I work for a NYC newspaper and I normally don't go in 'til 1:00pm). Unshowered and unshaven, I was running out the door to catch the next train to Manhattan, when my wife yelled out "Another plane just crashed into it!" What...? I watched in disbelief for a minute and ran to the train.
The people on the train were buzzing, talking on cellphones, relaying updates to everyone. Where the train passes over the Harlem River into Manhattan, everybody crowded to the left side windows to see the lower Manhattan skyline come into view, and everyone gasped at the sight.
Everybody was saying "terrorism" at this point, and while we were going through the long tunnel stretch into Grand Central, the engineer came over the P.A. and said, "I'm sorry to say, but the Pentagon has been attacked as well". So scary and sobering.
Us passengers agreed that we probably shouldn't hang around Grand Central Terminal too long. When the train pulled in, everyone ran to the streets (It turned out that I made it in on the last train allowed into NYC). In Midtown, it was sort of subdued panic, some people running, gathered around car radios, standing in groups- very many buildings were evacuated, there were a lot of people on the streets.
At 43rd and Madison you got a clear view of the Towers and the surreal scene so high up. It was so scary. I only watched for a minute, and on the next block, I saw everyone gathered at TV monitors in a big record store, horrified, and someone told me that one of the towers just collapsed. I still can't fathom it. At my office, security was extremely tight, and only essential people were allowed in. Once inside, work started immediately, and I barely watched on the monitors when the second tower fell. What horror was to come next? Numb with shock. Somebody said another plane crashed near Pittsburgh...
Much of our staff couldn't make it into Manhattan that day, we put out an afternoon extra, and we've been working non-stop since.
My poor wife and child were so worried that day, and they stayed at her mother's the next 2 nights. She really, truly wants to move from here now.
Personally, my family, friends and I were blessed in that we escaped the terrible heartbreak of so many families right now- no one close to us perished. We know many who survived, including a buddy who was in Tower 2. But my little hometown lost at least three, and every community in the NY area has tragic, tragic tales.
I then logged on to Free Republic, continuing to watch Fox. Jon Scott was nearly speechless. We saw the replay of the plane hitting Tower 1. My husband said 'they should evacuate Tower 2 - all the buildings in that area may be unstable. About that time the second plane hit Tower 2.
I was worried about GWB, and my elderly parents were driving home from a trip to Northern OH. Multi-tasking, I was praying with one part of my mind and phoning my clients with another. Most had been alerted by relatives who were at home.
In our very large apartment complex, people came home and STAYED home. No joggers, lots of pizza deliveries that night. Watched TV until maybe 3:00 a.m. Knew that things would never again be the same in our country.
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