My father's generation could ask each other "Where were you when you heard JFK had been shot?". We get to ask each other "Where were you when you heard the second plane had hit the WTC?"
I was right here:
Driving to work, listening to BBC World News. It was about 9:10AM, or so, when they reported it. They didn't know the size of the planes. But when the second one hit, there was no doubt that it wasn't an accident.
As was the Kennedy assasination; landing on the moon; Princess Diana’s death (depending on where you come from possibly) – 9/11 will also stand out as a “where were you” moment….
I was visiting family back home in Melbourne, Australia at the time of the loss of the WTC’s. Due to the difference in time, I had just gone to bed, when the first plane hit…. As I slept, I had no idea of the hell that had decended upon NYC. It wasn’t until I got up early the next morning, that I saw all at once, the full tragic and horrific events play through in fast forward motion… I was absolutely gobsmacked; totally blown away by all the events of that day… I could not believe that someone could carry out such acts, and how could those buildings have just FALLEN DOWN!!!! I spent many many hours that day, trying to reconcille it all in reality; just what had happened to innocence that day; a day that would change the world…
Although we in Australia are geographically a very long way away from the U.S., the tremor from this event strongly resonated throughout our communities for a long time. My daughter worked in the tallest skyscrapper in the heart of the financial district in Melbourne: she was terrified of the thought of going to work that day, and for many days after – a feeling that would persist for 100’s of thousands of people the country over, for weeks! Literally, people stopped going out unless it was absolutely necessary… Banks, shopping malls, restaurants, movie theatres, anywhere where people usually went about their day to day business – felt the huge impact of this event. Normally, where the hubbub of life resulted in throngs of people – suddenly there was hardly anyone, anywhere…. Even calls to the Bank where my daughter worked were down to 20% of normal capacity…
Stange and difficult times indeed. It was as if the dark pall of smoke from the twin towers had decended over the city itself – and everyone felt fearful and scared. What would come next – who might be the next target.
When I finally left Australia, bound for Vancouver Canada, via LAX, the tightened security was 100% obvious – and completely unnerving. In LAX, Marines holding machine guns were everywhere, throughout the airport. Baggage checks were carried out before I even entered the international gates at Melbourne Airport; and were checked again twice at LAX. Needless to say, I was very releaved to arrive safely back home in Canada.
A major shift occured that day – the ramifications of which we are still feeling to this day. Will we ever know the full truth about what happened that day?
My heart goes out to all those who were lost, and lost loved ones that day – the empty voids left by the loss of so many totally innocent victims, is mirrored by the empty spaces left at ground zero…. My thoughts are with you all today.
Driving to work, beautiful warm sunny fall day. Listening to Imus and his crew of vulgar smart asses, a diversion I’ve since given up.
Wolf Blitzer, I think, is on the phone and says that somebody has just flown a plane into the WTC.
Imus says “What?!?!?!”
Went to work where we all watched the whole thing go to hell on the TV. Called my wife, there wasn’t much to say except “holy shit” and “what the fuck is going on?”.
My in-laws called my wife. Father in law spent WWII tramping through the Phillipines. Mother in law spent WWII building Corsair fighter planes in Akron. They said, “We’re praying that we don’t go to war over this”.
About a week later, drove from MA to Florida to watch my father die and then bury him. Drove way out of the way because none of us (me, sister, wife) wanted to see the smoke from the Jersey side. Spent the next two weeks in hospital and hotel rooms watching news people freak out like hysterical squirrels while the mother burned to the ground.
Two or three folks, I forget which, from my town died in one or the other of the New York jets. One guy was a doctor, heading to a conference. His widow donated his medical books to a hospital in Afghanistan. She hooked it up through the “Three Cups Of Tea” guy. She wanted something good, and constructive, and peaceful, to come out of her husband’s death. Lovely woman.
Spent the next month waiting for the next shoe to drop. Everyone I know was walking around with a weird sense of dread and anxiety.
New Years Eve 01-02 I got mildly drunk and expected to wake up to a picture of a big hole where Times Square used to be. One thing I will say for New Yorkers, to a person they have stones the size of bowling balls.
That was my 9/11.
Thanks –
I was at work. My wife worked for Sony UK at the time, in an office surrounded by plasmas, most of which were tuned to BBC News 24. She phoned me when they started to report that the first plane had hit. I then tried to access news sites on the Internet, but even at this early stage this was next to impossible. She then phoned with news of the second plane which removed all doubt of an accident. I eventually got a connection to Sky News which said that both towers had collapsed, which I just couldn’t believe. Rumours were abound of other attacks, and of a dozen or so aircraft still accounted for. ‘Martial law by Christmas’ someone said. No-one argued with that prediction.
I left work early and my wife and I wept while we watched the BBC News coverage at home. We both knew the world would never be the same again.
I was in law school on the West Coast so was asleep at the time of the actual crashes/tower collapse. Woke up about 7:30 or 8pm PST or so, showered and was waiting for my fiance to finish showering so we could head to class (we met in law school) and just happened to flip on the TV, which I didn’t normally do because she didn’t have cable.
Didn’t realize what was going on because all I saw for the 20 seconds or so I had the TV on was a helicopter shot from a long distance away of what looked to be a big warehouse fire somewhere. My two thoughts were (i) why is the network covering a warehouse fire live; and (ii) why is the helicopter so far away.
Didn’t hear what actually happened until I turned on the radio in the car and heard Dan Rather intone “the Twin Towers in New York City have collapsed, they’re gone” or words to that effect. To which I thought “What? WHAT?!!?” Spent the next two days in front of the TV.
I was at a temp job in an office building on 24th street with a view downtown. We watched the towers burn and collapse.
I don’t mean that as morbid oneupsmanship. It’s just a memory of being very scared and confused. People were crying around me and I just didn’t get it yet. It wasn’t real to me yet. I couldn’t absorb it. I kept trying to work and update friends via email that I was okay.
It’s just a memory of being very scared and confused.
wow. no doubt.
I was wanking.