Jan III Sobieski
Posted on 09/10/2007 6:41:30 PM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy
Might be a good time to revisit how we all heard about the the attack on 9/11 and how we reacted to the darkest day in American history.
What emotions were strongest for you on that day?
How did you find out? Did you stay at work? Did you go Home? Who did you call?
I was watching the coverage when the second plane went in. I knew it was an attack at that point. I decided to drive into work, and heard about the south tower coming down on the radio. Once at work, I spent the day here.
I think a lot of us stayed sane that day because of FR.
Bless Mrs. Suhks. I have no doubt that United flight #93 was headed to DC, and it could have very well crash-landed near or around her law office building. Those passengers on that flight were brave Americans. They acted and reacted in order to save thousands of lives.
I was at work. Someone heard a news report of the first airplane hitting WTC and we turned on the news in time to see the second plane hit. I took the rest of the day off and went home to be with my family. We watched the news till our kids got home from school. At one point we went outside because a 747 painted line Air Force 1 took off from Wright-Pat and met several of our neighbors in the street. Not long after that we heard a sonic boom (probably an F-16 from the guard base in Springfield). I told my neighbors that “was the sound of freedom.” We were glued to the TV the rest of the day.
The next day at the office, one of our marketing guys was playing his voice mails, and he had a message from another marketing guy who happened to be driving to the Pentagon for a meeting on 9/11. The message was a normal message until the guy said, “Holy sh**, the Pentagon just blew up.” It was kind of eerie.
I was scheduled for a Disaster Recovery refresher course at the Red Cross in Dallas. I was downstairs playing with my first cup of coffee when my pager and cell went off. I had been called up to man the worlwide phone bank in hopes of it being a recovery effort. I stayed in the office for 3 weeks and recovered one person from The Pentagon and two from The World Trade Center. Today is a very humbling day for me.
Are you a fan of Salvador Allende?
I woke up early that morning... I had trouble sleeping that night. I was in college at the time but I didn’t have classes that day. I was living in Greenwich, Connecticut at the time, and every so often I enjoyed taking the train into the city. The previous time I was in the city I had visited the Twin Towers for the first time, so I thought it would be fun to head into the city later that day to go see them again.
I wasn’t in any hurry that morning, though... I was still debating whether I wanted to go in or not. Eventually I decided to go in, so I went to the bathroom to take a shower and bumped into my step dad, whom mentioned that a plane crashed into one of the towers. At first I sort of waved it off, figuring it was a tragic commuter plane accident, but I decided to turn the news on anyway to see what the hubbub was all about. I was just in time to see the second plane go crashing through the second tower and it dawned on me that something truly awful was happening.
I ended up spending most of that day watching the news and reading the reactions here on FR. I don’t think I would have made it down to the towers had I left when I woke up, but I still found it disconcerting that it was on my mind even before that atrocity occurred...
Jan III Sobieski
My office overlooked the Iwo Jima Memorial with a direct view of the Pentagon. My best friend worked on the helopad side of the Pentagon. We had seen the news of the two towers being hit. We had spoken via IM. I started looking out the window looking at Rt. 110 and eerily saw a plane coming towards me but a little off in the distance. Almost surreal in retrospect. It is was so low to the ground and having seen flight patterns, I knew it was in the wrong place. Then suddenly it turned right and a huge explosion occurred. I was in shock and fled from my building and jumped a curb to make a u-turn to go on I-66. I went to a close friend’s house out of town and watched the coverage and made frantic calls to locate my best friend. She eventually called me and she had had to flee the Pentagon and run and seek refuge in the grass when another plane was said to be targetting them. It was a horrowing experience for both of us, but our friendship remains strong to this day.
I completely understand. For several years I rode the PATH train into WTC to work. Last time I worked in Manhattan was mid-80s. Still have not been to Ground Zero, I know I cannot handle it. Just refuse to cry in public.
I mentioned earlier that I got together with some friends in New York over the weekend. At one point we started telling some stories about 9/11 and one of the friends (another non-New Yorker) retold hers (one of my favorites): She was at work when it happened, and after a few hours, like most companies, her employer shut down and sent everyone home. One of her colleagues was frantically trying to get word about her uncle — he was employed by a company in one of the towers. My friend stayed behind and tried to help her colleague get through to someone, anyone...but obviously, it was impossible. This colleague told my friend and others trying to help to go on home and reluctantly, my friend left her worried friend behind.
On a train home, my friend was squashed up against some woman yapping on her cell phone to someone...no one on the train could avoid hearing this idiot complaining that she had investments with Lehman Brothers, that she couldn’t get anyone from Lehman on the phone, and what was going to happen to her money? When this stupid woman was done, my friend (never one to mince words) told her in no uncertain terms what a selfish POS she was. There were people worried about loved ones and this woman was more worried about her money. The stupid broad eventually got off at her stop well before my friend, whereupon others on the train burst into applause.
I was home (Wife and I work from home) and my wife, knowing I grew up in NYC, woke me up right after the first plane hit telling me “Something is wrong with the towers”.
Knowing how huge those towers are and how many of my family worked there over the years (I had been all over those things and seen them built when I was a kid) I knew the level of disaster this was going to be.
I woke up, made some coffee and breakfast and turned on the TV in our home office. I could not get on ANY news web site, so I managed to get live updates from CNN’s then very popular IRC chat room. It was amazing to watch the live updates.. the false alarms (Anyone remember the “bombs at the state dept?” rumors and such) and the other things that went down. I still have the chat room log from that day.
Then the second plane hit..
I knew what was up, figured this was “it” and started to load a shotgun in case things got WAY out of control. I was so mad.. wanted to do something.. but we lived far far away from NYC and nothing I could do.
Local ham radio ops from our ARES group, all got on the air and we held an informal info net.. just trading info back and forth. I was able to give lots of info thanks to that old CNN chat room.
I think it was about 3 PM Pacific time before I thought “OH CRUD, My cousin works in tower 2”
I called and called got all circuits are busy now for a while and FINALLY got through.. My cousin had left after the first plane hit.. even though security was telling him not to leave.. told them “Arrest me or let me leave”
He got out got the last ferry back to Staten Island and was safe. His wife told me some of his friends made it out in time, but went back up to help others.. and never made it out.
That day changed my life.. and I will never forget it.. ever.
It really hit home, because I remember as a young child, seeing those towers go up little by little from my apartment building in NYC.
On 10 Sept, my wife and I checked into a great lodge on the NW Oregon coast. We were on vacation for 2+ weeks and celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary during the vacation.
On the 11th, I woke up first and turned on the tv to get the local weather at the half hour with the tv on mute.
It was obvious something had happened to one of the WTC buildings, and some of the evening news faces were on.
I turned on the volume just before the second plane hit. My wife woke up asked “Why are you watching this movie in the morning.”
I told her that it wasn’t a movie, and she said it had to be. We just looked at each other in tears. Pearl Harbor was one of our earliest memories, and I said this was a new Pearl Harbor.
As we watched in horror the buildings started to fall down and word came in that the Pentagon was hit. At the same time we said “We have to cancel our vacation and get home to our family in N California.”
My wife called the front desk to tell that we were checking out early. They said there would be no extra charges and several people would be checking out. I took our car out of the compound to get gas. My timing was perfect, while my tank was being filled up over a dozen car/suvs/pickups got into line. She was not able to get an outside line to call our son in Portland and Son and Dil in N California that we were coming home.
Later as I was loading our baggage into our vehicle, I discussed it with others who were leaving. We were all in shock, with the exception of one young couple. They said that they were staying and had no friends or relatives in NYC. I was stunned and didn’t say anything.
As I was checking out, most people were stunned. However there was group of clip hair bull dyke lesbian librarians holding a meeting, and one of the bull dykes said we deserved it. Several of us told her shut her ****ing mouth and to get out of that area. One of her peers apologized and got her out of danger.
On the way out of town, we stopped at an art store where my wife had made a purchase the day before to pickup the purchase. The liberal clerk sounded similiar to the hostile Canadian lesbian and told us another plane had crashed in PA, and she was sure that it was all an accident. That was flight 83, and our DIL and grand kids had been on that flight the week before. I told the clerk to stop smoking whatever she was smoking and to wake up.
The drive down the Oregon coast to Brookings, Oregon on the Ca/Or stateline was surreal. There was basically no traffic for the first few hours. You can’t get good radio reception and cell phones don’t work well. So we were in an electronic news blackout.
We stopped for lunch in Coos Bay at a popular seafood place. This place was so popular, you had to normally wait in line for 15-30 minutes. I sent my wife in to get us a table while I had our vehicle refilled with gas. When I walked in there was no line, and the waitress at the front desk was in tears and told us to sit anywhere. So we took a table in the bar to watch the news which was worse than when we started down the coast.
Then we drove to Jots in Gold Beach, again with no radio reception to cancel our stay we had planned there. I knew the lady at the front desk, and she asked how far we planned to drive. I said Brookings and told her where we planned to stay. She called down and made reservations for us for the night which was a good thing. The motel was totally full that night as Oregonians other NW people on vaction drove back north and people like us driving south to get home.
We arrived at the Brookings/Harbor area and gas stations were being over run. I pulled into the last one before our motel. As our tank was being filled up. I heard a commotion and turned around to see the manager with a Glock in the air telling an A$$hole to get back into line with his vehicle, boat and several empty gas containers, and that they were not filling portable gas tanks. About that time a local LEO came up and there was discussion, until he gave the driver 20 seconds to get off the property, he did.
We went to our favorite motel on the beach in Harbor and checked in. While we were checking in two black Surbanians loaded with guys and gals dressed in black and packing drove up.
They were checking in for the night. They had driven from the San Franciso Bay area and were told to head north and too await orders. Their leader and I had a discussion about us going home. His suggestion was to make arrangements to stay for awhile in case we had too. If things were okay in the morning, then head south to where we lived in California. He and his crew looked tired, shocked and determined.
The only news on the tv was CNN with all of the pos Clintoon cabinet members. I took about 3 minutes of that and asked my wife if she wanted to go out for dinner. We went to our favorite/local pizza place. Normally it was loaded with people, and there were only a few families celebrating preplanned birthday parties for young children.
We ordered our pizza and an extra one for the trip home incase we couldn’t get food.
We got through phonewise and got our DIL. She had been trying to get hold of us all day. When she got through to the lodge where we stayed, she was told that we had checked out and were driving home. Our son was driving home as his local return California flight had been cancelled. She could not get through to his cell phone as the circuits were overloaded. The airline sent an email to her, noting that he was driving home with some other people in the area. They got there late at night.
The next morning was very scary. The Portland tv stations were talking about the Portland Airport being closed and the Air National Guard being called in to possibly shoot down planes from Canada not authorized to fly into the area. Our younger son lived in Portland at that time and close to the airport, and my wife couldn’t get through.
As I walked to the front desk to get more info a flight of Air Force fighters went streaking up north on the Coast very low and very fast.
As I walked into the office, one of the black suburbians was pulling out. The head guy was in the office checking out and on his satellite phone. He paused and suggested that we drive home that day. I agreed, and he asked if I needed to contact anyone, and I said our son in Portland and our Son and Dil in N California. I had the clerk call our room, I told my wife we would be checking out and to give the phone numbers to the man I would be putting on the phone. She did, and he got his people to contact our son in Portland and Son and DIL in N California.
I checked out, and we left quickly as we had taken in only an overnight bag with what was needed for that evening and the morning. The clerk gave us rolls and coffee, and the pizza lasted us until we got home.
The trip home was uneventful, again most of the way with no radio or cell phones workin. We noticed flags on cars, trucks and bikes and figured out why they were flying. We got home safely, and my wife told me to get on FREE Republic to find out what had happened and was happening. She called our DIL and told her that we were home. Our son in Portland called the next day as he couldn’t get through. He said it was fairly scary around and over the Portland Airport with no commercial planes and Air National Guard Planes blasting in and out of the airport.
I was sorting throught papers to be associated with files when I heard some of my co-workers talking about something happening on the radio. They were sounding worried and upset and I asked what it was.
When they told me a plane had flown into the first Tower and into the Pentagon, I was in disbelief which turned into fear as I was in a federal building wich seamed to be a preferred target at the time.
I left early and got home and turned on my TV in time to watch as the second plane hit the second tower.
I felt angry and afraid all at the same time.
I was standing in line at LAX with my boarding pass in hand when they announced a 1 hour delay. I returned in 45 minutes and the announced “We are evacuating the airport.” I returned to Santa Barbara where I had just spent 5 days at my dad’s funeral. My 8 month’s pregnant wife was in a panic that I wouldn’t make it back in time for the birth, but I did, with 28 days to spare.
I had an early AM flight out of O’Hare. Deplaned, my wife was unreachable, called my boss and my mother-in-law. Shared a compact rental car with five strangers for a ten hour drive. That was the day I discovered AM and talk radio.
OMGosh, imagine being on that plane and subjected to that. wow.
I was clerking for a judge in, of all places, Camden, NJ. As I sat working on my motion calendar for the forthcoming Friday, the clerk sitting the next to me received a phone call, stood up, and exclaimed “two planes just crashed into the World Trade Center!”
We turned on the radio to the local news station and heard the rest of the events unfold, as the courthouse locked down around us and judges and staff began racing around contacting loved ones living in Manhattan. Soon after, I got a telephone from my then fiancee who, at the time, was living in Delaware, asking me to come down and see her.
The eeriest feeling was driving down the I-95 corridor past the Philadelphia Airport without a single plane in the sky. At any time, day or night, planes are typically circling, landing and taking off one after the other above and around that stretch of road. It’s almost as eerie as sitting here today in a skyscraper looking out over Philadelphia and pondering the terror and uncertainty those poor people in the burning towers experienced. I really do think of them often.
bfl
We were living in Atlanta at the time. I had just walked into the office when the receptionist told me my husband had called to say a plane had hit the WTC. Like everybody, I thought it must be a small plane. I got some coffee and turned on my computer to look for news before calling my husband back. Yahoo had a paragraph with no real info yet. Hubby called again and said another plane had hit WTC, the planes were commercial jets and that it was Islamic terrorists. He was so angry. He placed his phone up to the radio and I heard reports of people jumping out of windows. Got off the phone and told my boss whose mother was supposed to be at the WTC that day (she was o.k., hadn’t gone there yet that morning). Throughout the day we all watched the news reports on the tv in the conference room. Upon hearing the towers had fallen, I was shocked. When I heard the Pentagon had been hit, I was scared, really scared. My initial thoughts were that they were going to get the president and members of Congress and our country would be in chaos. When was it going to end? We all have the haunting memories of the souls who fell, but I remember as we were watching CBS/Dan Rather (it was the only station we could really pick up), I’ll never forget a live shot of a man falling — he was curled up in a fetal position, spinning through the air; you could see his tie flapping and I could tell he was wearing Docker-type pants and a blue shirt. He disappeared upon going past a building. That image still haunts me.
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