OT: A remembrance - where were you?

I was a freshman at City High School in Grand Rapids.  We were in a history class with a teacher whose name I won't use here.  Somebody came in to our room and told us that something wild was happening in New York.  Our teacher - who was well-intentioned - told us that we couldn't watch the news on the classroom TV because the media would "play this over and over" to "make money" over the next few weeks, and we'd learn about it then.

I still have dreams where I scream at him to turn the TV on.

I was in our office in midtown 57th and Lex... Luckily I wasn't in our other office in the south tower, 82th floor.

Bowling Green (OH) High School, junior year Spanish class. Our teacher ran in late (this never happened) all panicky saying she'd heard of something happening in NYC. We plugged in the TV cart and sat in silence for the next hour or so watching the events unfold.

No one said hardly a word in the halls at the next period change. We were told to stay in class, but a lot of people left or were picked up by their parents.

It was such an scary, heartbreaking, shocking feeling ill never forget.

Thoughts and prayers still go out to those who lost loved ones in this tragedy.

asked me if I was alright. Had to say no. Not at all. Still Cuts Like a Knife today.

i was playing golf and just made the turn. i watched it on TV and felt like throwing up. will never in my life forget this day. every terrorist killed is still not enough for me.

we had just moved to socal and i clicked the TV on to see a live feed of the one building on fire (no sound) and i was thinking, 'wow, that is one hellacious fire'.  then the second plane hit.  drove into work in a daze.  it was my second day at work in this law enforcement agency and i'm telling my new boss, 'you've got to let all the non-essential people go home.  they can't be here.  families need to be together'.   they sent them home about an hour later.  

we had played NYPD and FDNY in football for years.  some great games and great commaraderie.  when we played them again after 9/11 we would have a memorial and play amazing grace on the bag pipes as the names of the former players and all the other cops/firemen were read over the stadium sound system.  not a dry eye in the house.   having trouble keeping eyes dry right now.  God bless America, may we humble ourselves and go forward, may we learn, and may we be wise for His Glory.  

I was in the first grade. One by one, students were getting calls from the office that their parents were here to pick them up. The teachers were instructed to not mention anything about it so were all really confused as to what was happening; as naive and inncoent 6 year olds, we were excited and happy that we were all going home early...little did we know. I got called by the office and when I reached my mom's car parked outside the school, she just hugged me tigher than ever and began crying. That's when I knew there was something very wrong going on

Senior year at U-M.  I had no early classes on that day of the week (Tuesday) and just happened to turn on the TV as I was eating breakfast and . . . whoa.

 

First day of classes at U-M as a freshman. I was in Ulrich's buying books when the second plane hit. I actually thought it was a joke because from my distance away it looked more like the spoof flying scene from Wayne's World 2. Got back to East Quad and watched the rest unfold on TV. There was a vigil that night on the diag and it was very somber. My future fiancé drove over from Kalamazoo to spend the next couple of days in Ann Arbor.

Never forget.

Somebody from the trading desk called and said to come down and watch the TV. sat there for an hour then told to go home as Atlanra was a target. Sat and watched TV all day with my wife and young daughters. Life has definitely changed since then.

I was going to Eastland Mall to exchange some pants. I caught part of the story on the radio, while changing stations, I thought they were talking about the truck bombing in '93. I got home and when I cut on the tv the 2nd plane was hitting...it looked like a movie.

My husband and I were getting ready for work. We were watching the Today Show, and they were showing the video of the first plane hitting the tower, but at that point, no one knew it was a commercial jet. We thought nothing of it, and rode our bikes as we always did to the Aon Building in Chicago, which, if you haven't seen it, looks uncannily like the World Trade Center buildings. But when we got there, huge crowds of people were outside. They had closed the building and weren't letting anyone in. No word on why. When we got home, our babysitter was watching the second plane hit, and soon after the towers came down. She was around 65 and from Poland and had lived through World War II. Soon after, she told me she was going back to Poland after having been here for 25 years, fearing another World War. For months after, whenever I saw a jet in the sky, it appeared black to me and ominous. All of these memories are as clear now as if it happened a week ago. 

I was on Jones Island Beach (NY) overseeing production on a commercial shoot.

I distinctly remember crossing the Whitestone Bridge early that morning, looking at the NYC skyline including the Twin Towers as we passed by heading on to Long Island. Hours later we heard news of the first crash, thinking it was an unfortunate accident by a small prop plane. We soon started seeing smoke arise from the horizon and realized it was a much bigger deal than initially reported.

Following the second crash and subsequent destruction of the Towers, most communication was lost or very difficult to come by, so we were unaware of many details. We held a vote and decided to finish the shoot. Hours later we exited Long Island and made what turned out to be a very long and somber drive back to CT, at which point we became fully aware of the situation. Turns out I lost a childhood friend that day who was working for Cantor Fitzgerald.

On the El train on the way to work at the Chicago Stock Exchange.  Everything was normal when I left.  I had no idea anything had happened until I walked in the door and saw the DOW futures down 700 pts. 

I remember how gorgeous of a day it was.  Clear sky, perfect temperature.  I walked home and it was surreal how everything seemed normal, kids playing at school, workers finishing a roof...

 

I was there and saw it. I've largely tried to forget it, but can't.

I took the world trade path that day to get from Manhattan to JC at about the time the 1st plane hit. When I got out of the path, I saw the 1st building on fire. Nobody knew what was happening and I didn't get cell service (thanks 2001 Sprint!) so I went to work and told my coworkers what happened. They all thought it was a joke until I made them go to the "exec" conference room (with a view of NYC). It was then that somebody put CNN on the TV and we saw the rest happen. Our floor shook and you all know the rest.

I know horrible things happen daily, but damn man.

my own eyes as it happened.  Will never forget.  The posters for the missing that people posted in Union Square in subsequent days were also unforgetable.

I was working a construction job in Allen Park and we had the radio on and I hear JJ say a plane had flown in to the WTC. It was close to break time so we headed to a coffee shop near by and were sitting there and watched the second plane hit. That was is for me nothing was going to keep me from watching. I clocked out and headed to the nearest watering hole. A co-worker came with me and I remember him saying that they were going to come down. We both had worked at fire proofing steel beams and rafters before and knew the coating we put on would not withstand that impact along with the fuel. When the first one fell we switched from beer to whiskey. 

I was in 5th grade. My friend and I had an argument at the bus stop about how big a 747 was that morning. They didn't tell us at school, but did announce all after school activities were cancelled (I was pumped football practice was cancelled). Came home to both of my parents watching the news and we all watched it together the rest of the day.

I don't drink alcohol so I was not there for the liquor. It was at night (roughly 12 hour time difference). On the TV was the World Trade Center with smoke coming out of it. There are so many scams in Cambodia that I immediately dismissed it as some sort of come-on. I focused my attention elsewhere. The next morning I got the news. Sickened by it.

It was the first day of high school for me in Massachusetts. My family lives in new york city (it was a boarding school) and my dad worked about a block from the trade center at the time. Luckily he was fine, but it took him hours to get home and none of us could contact our families and friends in new york for hours because there was no phone service working. Luckily everyone in my family was alright, but we had neighbors who lost family members. It was terrifying.

2nd week of my freshman year... economics class. We finished the class after an announcement from the professor, then found out what had really happened when we went back to South Quad.

I was a senior in high school, exchange student in the country for no more than a month. We were in math class when the teacher turned the tv on. The first plane had already hit and the room was quiet and somber. We all left school and a couple of buddies and I went to someone's house where we watched the majority of the events unfold. Horrific scenes of desperate people caught in the buildings before the second plane hit and the towers came down.

I will never forget those images and my mother's voice when I was finally able to call home from the Gym's pay phone.

was how silent and peaceful the skies above were from that day and until flights resumed again. It was a surreal feeling like something out of an apocalyptic movie where planes were no longer around.

I was at work when it happened but the sky aspect is my most enduring memory

Living on the west coast the first plane hit the towers at about the time I was waking up for school my sophomore year of high school.  I remember walking through the living room and my younger brother said that a plane crashed into the tower.  I figured he meant a small Cessna type plane and it wasn’t until I went into my parent’s bedroom and saw the TV that I realized something big was happening, but still didn’t understand what.

 

There was a small TV in one of my classes in the back that we turned on to watch coverage and some students were upset that school was not cancelled.  At the end of the day sports were cancelled and my family had to take a cab to pick up our car from the shop.  The driver was talking about terrorism and how we were attacked.

That Tuesday Morning I left the West Coast of Denmark in my rental car at 5AM. I drove south and East and caught a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Rostock Germany. I was heading towards a Wind Turbine Construction site just east of Rostock. I arrived at the site around 1pm. About 215PM someone came over and said a plane had just crashed into the WTC, then he said a 2nd one. The suggestion was made to go to my Hotel which I did. I checked into the hotel, the replays were on all TVs, the desk personnel were so kind making sure I had everything I needed. I said did you have Internet (yes they did in the business center), did they have a restaurant and wine, yes on both parts. I promptly called my family in Los Angeles and found out what was going on. Dinner was comped fro me that night by the restaurant staff. My company lost me for 3 days ( they forgot where i was during all the chaos). I stayed in Rostock until Friday driving back to Copenhagen. I got out on a flight to Toronto on Saturday, stayed the night, flew to Calgary and got the first flight landing into a reopened LAX on a plane full of 5 people. It was a surreal experience being in Europe at that time watching the events checking online. That experience burns in my mind as where I was closely to being in 1st grade Nov 23, 1963 and the teachers telling us President Kennedy was dead.

When I got into the car I heard a quick news break that an aircraft had hit the world trade center. I'm an instrument and multiengine rated private pilot and I knew that it was severe clear over NYC that day so I couldn't imagine how that possibly could have happened. I changed to one of the network radio affiliates to try to get more news. It was an ABC affiliate and one of their stringers lived in an apartment that had a view of the twin towers. He'd called in and they'd put him on the air live describing the scene as his wife when around opening windows because they were worried about shock waves if there were further explosions. 

As I continued on to work he decribed the second airliner appearing. Diverting toward the undamaged tower and diving into to it. I'll never forget that narration. Not ever. "There's another airplane. Oh my God it's heading toward the other tower..." At the moment of the second impact I knew that war had come to America and that our lives were forever changed. 

When I arrived at work they had put the news on the projection screen in the largest training/conference room. There were 200-300 people sitting and standing watching the smoking towers. People were in shock. People cursing. People crying. People shaking on the edge of losing physical control. Others trying to calm or console the people near them. I watched the towers come down. 

One of my closest friends was supposed to be on the United flight. When the plane was identified I knew he was dead. Then a little after noon my phone rings. "Hi. It's me. I'm not dead. I have a lot of people to call. I won't be able to fly back for a few days. We'll grab dinner before then. Got to go." He'd partied to hard the previous night and missed his flight and was sitting on the runway on a later one when the FAA closed the airspace. Just crazy luck.

There was a tech conference in the word trade center and a whole bunch of attendees from all over the nation and the world were at breakfast on the top floor. None of them got out. Most of the people in my area of specialization knew at least one person who died. The guy in the office next to me knew and worked closely with one of the passengers who led the charge to stop the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I've always wondered what Osama thought about the fact that a random bunch of regular Americans over powered his carefully trained group of terrorists. I wondered if he realized what he'd set in motion. 

I remember watching a reporter try to sand bag a NYFD Captain whose command was pretty much wiped out when the towers came down. She asked him something like "Why did they go into the building when it was so badly damaged?" He looked at her and visibly struggled for a second for control and said with utter calm "FIremen run into burning buildings when everyone else is running away". Then turned on his heel and walked away. 

So much heroism from so many. God bless them all and God bless our nation and especially those who risk their lives in its and our defense. 

Found out sometime in the afternoon. Dylan's "Love and Theft" came out that day, and I bought it first thing, brought it home and listened to it for about 6 hours before a buddy called to see what I thought about all of it. Like an idiot, I responded "it's awesome!" Turns out he wasn't asking about the Dylan record.

Same age as OP. I had the day off and was sleeping in when my older brother shook me awake. I found it almost dreamlike due to the absurdity of him telling me "you should see this shit, man.....a plane hit one of the WTC buildings in New York". He looked more concerned than it seemed he should be given that i imagined a prop plane or something. I slowly lurch to the TV and see how big it is and I'm confused as no single engine plane could cause that. I'd seen those buildings and "massive" is an understatement. I then thought of and mentioned the garage bombing years before. As we were discussing that we see the 2ns hit live. For a split second I think it's a shot of the first but then my sleep haze wears off and I just belted out "Ohhh shiit!" a bunch. I then stated "we're at war, dude, we're at war this is war....whoever it is isn't done... oh shit we're at war". It sounds crazy but I wasn't fully awake yet so I'm imagining a nation state doing this, not a terrorist organization despite mentioning the previous garage bombing. I finally woke up fully and realized a nation state wouldn't hijack planes, etc. It was an odd relief because I knew this would turn into WW3 if it were a nation of any power or allied to any powers. I then watched for a few hours with all the new news of happenings coming like everyone else. Finally, my brother, a few friends and I decided to go golfing (?!). I felt really awkward doing it but it was how we coped, I guess. One of our party later joined the military. Such a bizarre, atrocious day for a billion reasons.

USAF SF, was at Offutt AFB, NE. Was there when Bush arrived and went down a few floors into STRATCOM from an outside vault door. I knew what happened but didn't get to see the news until the next day.

living in TX at the time. I was listening to a rock station and the announcer said a small plain had crashed into the WTC. I got home and turned on the TV, it was on ABC since the night before I was watching MNF. I still remember Peter Jennings reporting on the 1st jet that had crashed and on air while watching a second jet crashed into the 2nd Tower. Then Peter Jennings said "This is no accident".  I spent the next 6 hour changing to all the different news channel watch the entire awful event. I went to sleep around 3PM but only slept 3 hours. I remember gong to the gas station that evening and there were long lines of people trying to get gas, man I thought WTF, it almost like the end of world is coming!

is around 30, since most everyone posting here said they were in High School. Thanks for making me feel old!

Was at Michigan. Went and got gas because I thought the price would jump. Remember it was about 1.49. In the years to follow I learned more about 9/11. Very disappointing.

1st tower I was in my living room about to leave for school. I was in math class when the second tower hit and they both fell. My teacher spent the first half hour talking about exactly where he was when JFK was shot. He talked about that morning being one we always remember exactly where we were. He was absolutely right. It still feels like it was yesterday to me.