Just a tribute to a time that was both devastating and unifying in my USA. I was in my senior year in highschool. Joined the military a year later. You may not be from the USA but where/what were you doing on 9/11/2001?
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
I was being a lazy bum on 9/11. I was never a lazy bum after that day. Couldn’t join the military (medical), but turned my life in a different direction.
I didn’t wake up until 2 pm and got it all at once. My voice mail was LOADED with messages, most of them wondering if I was okay. I live in Pittsburgh and the news was very vague about how far away the plane crashed. That day will always be burned into my memory. I was 19.
I was in Biochem lab in university when I was changing career paths. Someone had told us that the trade centre was hit and we assumed it was a local trade centre in our city and I envisioned a Sesna plan or something. Off to next class, the prof told us our world was about to change and be ready for world war 3 my boyfriend at the time was navy, and he was not allowed off the ship. I remember we were supposed to go to supper that night floor our anniversary or something. I’m in Canada. I remember Newfoundland took in many of the stranded planes. I can’t believe it was so long ago. Seems like yesterday.
I was on lower 5th Avenue for the entire morning looking to the South.
I won’t post some of the more potentially trauma causing photos, but I looked at this photo this morning. Every NYer was your brother or sister in those dark days. We are together, what no one can be separately.
I could never 4get. I was there
I remember it vividly. I was in my local town centre (in the UK) when my brother phoned to tell me. I then watched it all unfold on TV through the window of an electrical store. There were a group of strangers all watching together like something from a movie.
That’s exactly what I thought on my way to school when my sister called me. We have a big Trade Center market in my home town. I drove by it and totally called my sister a liar lol. But reality hit pretty quick after that.
Bittersweet picture. Thanks for sharing.
God Bless you.
I was 12, and I was in math class. We did nothing in school that day but watch the TVs. I cant remember if we got sent home early, but I don’t think we did.
My grandfather was a Boston firefighter for his whole life after his time in the Navy during WWII. He was actually Boston fire chief for about 10 years of that. He died in 1989 when I was almost 1, coincidentally 9/11/1989. He was actually on the tv show “60 minutes” once, and there is a plaque on the wall in his honor in one of the Boston firehouses.
One thing I was told that he used to always say, was that skyscrapers were death traps. Used to say that if anything major ever happened, fire or otherwise, it would be catastrophic because people wouldn’t be able to get out, and it would be so much more difficult for firefighters to get in there and save people in time. I heard about that a lot from my Mom on that day.
As I am an adult now, but am old enough to clearly be able to remember the world before and after that day – it really did change everything. Thats not just cliché. There was a sense of optimism and hope for the future as the 90s went on and came to a close, and this atrocity shattered that illusion – resulting in our cultural drift towards paranoia, pessimism, distrust, and general mass anxiety. It was not only a tragic and unimaginable loss of life, but also a major loss of any remaining innocence we may have had as a society.
I had just gotten out of the shower when the morning TV news began reporting the first WTC impact. Was standing there holding a towel, watching the live report, speculation as to whether or not it was an accident, and saw the 2nd plane go in. For a second I thought it was a replay, until I noticed that the other building was burning, realizing it was intentional. Not soon after, reporting switched to the Pentagon attack.
I had been preparing to head into DC for a customer meeting, which I knew wasn’t going to happen, because this was clearly an act of terror. For you see, I had joined the Marines the day after the 1983 Beruit truck bombing that had killed 220 Marines, plus 18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers attached to them, one of which was a Highschool friend.
What makes this day even sadder for me is the fact that my country went from being united against a common foe, to being so divided today. From October 23, 1983, to September 11, 2001, and all the various attacks in between, Americans were regularly shown that those who hate us will go to great lengths to hurt us, not caring one bit about who we vote for, who we worship, who we choose to love, how much money we earn, what profession we’ve chosen, or what level of melanin we have in our skin. They will try to kill us for being Americans…and if given the opportunity, they will try again.
I was in the class Humanities at school at the time. We got sent home I think…
I was on duty in the Navy. Every second of that day and the next 2 weeks are burned into my memory
Thank you for our Navy and your service.
I get a lump in my throat thinking of all of it; that morning I was in my office at the sheriff’s department. A guy who was kind of a jokester most of the time came running in all animated and said a plane just hit a building in NY… I kind of smiled because I thought he was kidding. He said I’m not kidding! I felt awful and still cringe thinking of that moment.
I think of how brave so many people were that day.
You were better off NOT posting at all. Even if now your ways or thinking have changed. You’re not required to reply to every post. Have some respect next time.
i was getting ready for work. My girlfriend was watching Good Morning America. I saw the look of bewilderment on her face, so I looked at the TV.
My boss called and cancelled work. Same guy im working with today. We watched the news all morning.
I lived close to the airport which was eerily silent for days.
We were buried with work, and everything cancelled.
I had alot of time off, and was a closet computer nerd. Most of my internet friends started sharing things that didnt add up. It was terrifying!
I can remember waking up to get ready for school, freshman year, my dad called me and told me to come watch the news with him. I went to school and went straight to shop class and just sat there the rest of the school day watching it. I’ll never forget watching that day. Thanks for serving the country also
Thanks for not forgetting brother.
Yeah bro. I was scared too. 18 yr old kid without a care in the world, then bam. GROW UP.