Where Were You at 911/2001? (19 Years Today) Remembering the Ones Who Perished.

[X-Roughneck]

I was at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim Germany, USA Military Facility near Heidelburg.  I was in the military at the time. 

I was standing in the check out line with a one gal jug of water in my hand at a little convenience store. 

There was TV mounted on a wall near the ceiling in the corner of the Store main area.  I heard a Lady I think Katie Couric? on the TV say, someone flew a small plane into the WTC in NYC. 

I walked back to our facility a couple minutes away, and there were 2 civilians and my Boss in their office area down stairs. 

They had a TV in their area playing that same USA morning show, we are (+7 hrs) USA east coast, where the 2nd Plane on Live TV came into view.

I remember how bizarre the images my mind was processing seemed.  Only words that my lips could utter was "Bin Laden".

It is a crazy world. 

To the Fallen, and to the Relentless Global Pursuit and eXtermination of Evil,..

I say, Cheers! 

JD

...Crazy how some events and how some images get burned into your mind and they never go away.

 

[Rene T]

I was working at the Portsmouth Naval shipyard in N.H in the engineering department. One of the engineers came running through our office saying a plane hit one of the towers. We went to the conference room which had a TV just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. Its a picture I will never forget. RIP all you innocent souls and all the 1st responders.

 

[John From Detroit]

In my case I was at home in Detroit.  I worked the 3-11 pm shift so The first plane hit while I was sleeping.  The 2nd just after I turned on the TV... 

9-11-2001 was a dark day indeed.
But on 9-12-2001 this country came together like never in modern history.. We were ONE. Men, women, young old, black white.  Catholic protestant, jewish, other (many others) none of that mattered  WE WERE AMERICANS.

I'd like to get back to that.. but not that way.

 

[Ex-Calif]

What a terrible day.  At the office staring at CNN thinking it was a tragic accident until the second plane went in and the sinking feeling as we realized we were under attack...

I had a good friend in building 5. He got out, thank God...

 

[Becks]

I was at home recovering from a heart attack watching it live on TV.

 

[SeilerBird]

I don't remember where I was yesterday much less ten years ago. :

 

[Tom]

I recall very clearly being on my morning walk, listening to radio news on my Walkman. I was so shocked when that first plane hit that I stopped another walker to tell him. When I got home, we watched the whole thing in horror on TV.

My FIL was visiting from the UK. He was uneasy about flying before 9/11 and, when we took him to the airport several weeks later for his return flight to the UK, he was paranoid. Some stupid guy in the check-in line pointed to his bags on the floor and said "that's the one with the bomb in it". It was about all we could do to get FIL on the plane.

 

[Dragginourbedaround]

I owned a printing business in No. VA just outside of DC, and was listening to it on a radio with one of my pressmen. At first we thought it was an accident from the way it was described. After the second building was hit I sent everyone home. I was scheduled to go into DC that day and my normal route would have taken me past the side of the pentagon that got hit at approximately the same time. So glad I decided to take the remaining day off and go home and watch it all unfold on TV. Tragic day for America and the world. Many countries lost citizens.

 

[Larry N.]

We were right here at home. DW was watching TV, and I walked in to the living room to wish her a happy 35th anniversary, when she told me about the first airplane (and I saw it on the tube), so I sat down and watched the rest -- horrible day, and some rather bad times that followed. The aftermath for aviation made me glad that I'd just sold my share of the Cub, too.

 

[Old_Crow]

I don't remember where I was yesterday much less ten years ago. :

Ordinarily, I'm right there with you, but I had my first colonoscopy on 9/11.  Laid on the couch and watched the coverage all afternoon after I got home.

 

[X-Roughneck]

Ordinarily, I'm right there with you, but I had my first colonoscopy on 9/11.  Laid on the couch and watched the coverage all afternoon after I got home.

Wally,

You just don't forget two earth shattering events like that.  Your mind, as well as other parts, had been internally, I mean eternally, branded after that day for sure.

Trying to keep the solemnness of the day as well as have some fun at the same time. 

JD

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Work-Camping at Daggett Lake Campsites IN upstate NY.  Campground manager yelled to us us to come watch her satellite tv.

 

[Oldgator73]

We were in Gainesville, Fl. I had retired from the AF two years earlier and was now a student at the University of Florida. I skipped class that morning for some reason and Mt wife and I watched as events unfolded. We were living in our 5th wheel. A friend that we were stationed in Japan with, he was Navy, retired to Florida and his son was also a student at UF. The son called and asked if he and a few of his friends could come over; he said they were scared a war was coming. They stayed all day and watched coverage with us. They ate all our snacks.

 

[BernieD]

We were at home in Goodyear when I saw the first TV reporting. Headed over to a local campground where Forum friends of ours were staying, we were meeting up for a trip to Pasadena to attend an RV convention. Watched much of the TV reporting on their RV TV. Difficult time.

 

[whiteva]

Was in my plane with friends flying home (old PFN) Panama City Florida from Tampa when Center broadcast emergency message for "all aircraft to immediately land at the nearest available airport..Do not enter into MOA (Military operations area). This was repeated 3 times.

Well,,, we were in the middle of Tyndall AFB MOA looking at fighter aircraft taking off.  After calling Tyndall several times & getting no answer, I switched to 121.5 (emergency channel) and contacted the tower to let them know we were inside the MOA. Tyndall acknowledged we were on radar and cleared to proceed direct to PFN without delay. Shortly a fighter made a slow pass off to our left just to check us out and quickly departed with a wing wave.

Several other aircraft contacted center requesting to fly past Panama City. They received quick reply that by not landing at PFN they would be considered hostile aircraft and shot down. Things got very quiet over the radio.

After landing at PFN, local sky cops met my aircraft and determined we were not a threat and told us what was happening..

MY first thought was loan me a loaded BUFF for a little payback... All I could do was say prayers for victims.

 

[LarsMac]

Sitting with my Dad in waiting room for follow-up Dr visit after cancer surgery. Started getting calls from relatives asking if I'd heard from my wife, who was with two of her sisters and a grandson. They had been in New York, but had gone to DC, and currently were on a tour boat on the way to Mt Vernon. Called her and she said all was good, there. Told everybody the sisters were fine,
The receptionist put the TV on the news.
Suddenly, the word of the Pentagon came out, and I started getting calls, all over again. 
Spent the next day on the phone with co-workers on Northern Virginia working up a plan to extract wife, sisters, and grandson from DC.

[aside] One sister was taking pictures as they were going down the river. She got a pic of what we are pretty sure was AA flt 77 just before the hit.

 

[Tom and Margi]

We were traveling to the Galena, IL courthouse to do some genealogy research with music playing on CDs, no radio on.  Stopped at a store in Galena and asked why the flags were at half mast all over town.  Clerk said, "Oh my God, you don't know" and gave us the shocking news.

 

[Memtb]

I was at work, sitting at the  operations control board for a sour gas processing plant. My wife called and was telling me about the plane hitting the tower, while talking....the second tower was hit! First disbelief then anger! When the towers collapsed....disbelief combined with extreme sorrow for those lost!  memtb

 

[Joezeppy]

At work. A coworker who could be quite a drama queen was rambling on about one of the twin towers being hit but most of us ignored him until we started to hear other reports come in. My company had a small office across the street but all employees got out safely.

 

[Roy M]

I was on my way to work at a retail store when I heard about the first one, thought how in hedoublehockeysticks could an airliner hit a building in broad daylight. Felt numb and scared when the others went down. Spent the rest of the day with coworkers in the boss' office watching on tv between customers, there weren't many.