It seems there was an attempt to start one of these in the Red Room and it got derailed, Probably not the best place to show respect for the dead on 9/11. Although I am British and people assume I should be more concerned with 7/7 than 9/11 as they tend to forget that I lost a cousin in the WTC. As a result every September 11th since has been a solemn day for me. Following that fateful day 7 years ago so I got to see, in the time that followed, the anquish and impact it had on other people first hand. The period of uncertainty, the bizarrness of attending a funeral service with no body that actually isn't quite a funeral service, the impact on a young family whose father is gone. I think when we remember 9/11 concepts such as revenge, patriotism and delcartions of liberty and freedom really aren't as important as what that day really showed us. In the space of just a few hours we witnessed both the level of evil humanity is capable of and the triumph of individual collective spirit. I am a great believer that there are many evils in this world and that one has to protect and guard against them and defy them when they interfere with our lives and those of our fellow man. However, I am also a great believer in the good in humanity and I truly believe that there is no greater example this century of the good that people are capable of than we saw on that day. From the work of the NY emergency services to the civilian volunteers from around the globe, from the aid offered by the international community to the memorial services held throughout the world, people did their bit in any way they could. We must not forget the dead, but we must not forget that 9/11 is also a testament to the everyman, you and I, who will do what we can when we are called upon to do so. And now for my little tribute gallery....
I watched from the front lawn here at work, which is about 9 miles away in NJ. The towers were gray shapes just over the trees to the east. I saw the explosion that I later learned was the 2nd plane hitting. A lot of us went home, so we could see the news, or just to get the hell home before the roads clogged with traffic leaving NYC. We didn't know yet they were going to seal off the city. My friend Frank was working a freelance video job in the Empire State building, instead of his normal NJ location. He watched from a window high in the building. When the first tower collapsed and he saw the dust cloud rolling uptown, he and a buddy got in a car and drove north, off Manhattan, across the Tappan Zee bridge, and back down to their homes in NJ. A 2-hour circle to end up about 10 miles from where they started. My friend Tony had a closer seat, working in Secaucus. Instead of even trying to go home to Staten Island that evening, he sacked out on a local friend's couch. Tony's sister, who works in Manhattan, evacuated on the Staten Island Ferry, and was engulfed in the dust cloud when the first tower fell as they pulled away from the dock. My friend Kevin had a job interview on the 52nd floor of the WTC North Tower at 8AM. When he arrived, they told him his meeting was postponed till 10. So he decided to hang out downtown, get some coffee, browse some shops. Consequently he was NOT in the building when the planes hit! I didn't find this out for a few days, 'cause it didn't even occur to me that he'd be in the city.
There are only 3 days I remember distinctly in my short lifespan. 9/11 was one of them. I was in grade 8 that year(go ahead, laugh)....and I remember coming to school and some of the kids talking about planes 'crashing' in New York somewhere. Went to Social Studies, where the teacher took us across the hall to the art room, where we watched everything on TV for about 15 min. I was shocked, depressed, mad, angry, hateful, sad, and eventually crying by the time I understood what had happened. Nobody said much all day. Most were probably too shocked to talk about it, plus, given that none of us really remembered any prior terrorist attacks, it was all very much 'new' to us. That night, I remember sitting in the living room with my dad, when Bush addressed the nation, and crying again, after hearing what he had to say.
I remember watching the second plane hit on grainy internet coverage, and being convinced, at first, that it must have been a small aircraft whose pilot was distracted by what was going on... Then there was the horror of realising that some colleagues were in one of the towers, and a friend was in the Pentagon. It was three days before we learned that everyone was safe, but I've never forgotten the efforts management made to track everyone down, and let everyone else know...
It was my day off, I was at my parents for the summer, but working part time. My mother woke me after the towers fell, and said 'Terrorists crashed planes into the pentagon and WTC'. Now, given she said this in a moderate tone of voice, I replied 'Are you trying to get me up early on my day off?' I spent the whole day with the TV on burning up the net. Had to keep track of everyone and everything, I don't think I slept until September 14th or 15th. September 12 is my birthday, I don't think anyone even mentioned it. The world just... stopped for a few days. Then everything changed. Like the moments at the top of a rollercoaster before it plunges down.
I had just woke up, all safe and sound here in Ohio, and my family was watching the news coverage on television. I saw the smoke billowing out from the first building, and wondered what the hell was going on. The initial reports were that a small plane had crashed into the building. The first building collapsed and I was just in shock. I kept hearing reports of how many people could be in tower 1 and tower 2, and when the first tower collapsed I was just mortified at the thought of 5,000 lives being snuffed out in an instant, and here I was, watching it happen live. And then the second building came tumbling down. It was shortly thereafter that we learned what had really happened, and while the number wasn't 10,000 like we all feared, it was still far, far, too many. One life was one too many, and I just bowed my head and sat down, crying. I learned later that one of my friends was in New York and had been visiting a couple of days earlier. We contacted him a few days later, safe in sound at home. To this day I can't hear "Proud to be an American" without crying, because they played it the next morning on the radio as I drove to work, and it made me think of all the lives lost, even as they continued digging through the rubble. J.
Parliament Hill. Ottawa, Canada. September 14, 2001. The Canadian government declares it an official day of mourning and 100,000 Canadians and Americans join together for three minutes of silence to remember the victims of 9/11.
I think the scary part was the NOT KNOWING. All we knew was that 'something' had attacked and blown a hole in America's largest city, and then had tried to take out our military leadership. Would there be more? Would buildings be falling all over the US? We just didn't know.
Remember been called down stairs to see the news of a light plane that had hit the first tower, Had a friend of the family who had an office there. Saw the second plane hit the tower live when i came back in the room from posting on trekbbs. Will post this again as the last thread was gayed up. [yt=The Day after]m24KmSCBbxM[/yt]
I was on my way in to work that morning, running a bit late. I was listening to Howard Stern on the radio when he announced that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Like probably everyone else who didn't actually see what had happened, my first thought was "idiot in Cesna wandered off course." I got to work and went to ask if anyone else had heard about it, getting to where our office television was just about in time to see the second plane hit the other tower. We knew right then that it wasn't an accident. We knew that America was under attack. Then we got word that the Pentagon had been hit. I went up to the top floor of my building and could see the smoke . . . thick, black, smoke . . . coming up from that direction (my agency was about ten miles from the Pentagon, going in a straight line). One of my co-workers started talking about "they're hitting every thirty minutes!" The most incredible feeling of absolute rage came over me. Someone was attacking my country!! We were ordered to evacuate. It was madness. Traffic was absolutely jammed. I sat in my Jeep in the parking garage listening to the radio. Rumors of car or truck bombs on Capitol Hill and at the State Department. Rumors of another plane coming in. Chaos. I finally got home about six hours later and was immediately on the phone and web. Had to reassure my mom that I was all right. Somehow, when I said I'd seen the smoke from the Pentagon, she thought there had been smoke in my building. It wasn't until the next day that I found out that a friend of mine was missing and presumed killed at the Pentagon. Jerry worked in the part of the building right where the plane had hit. He was later confirmed to have been killed. Two other people I knew were also killed. For the next month and a half, I didn't have a day off. I worked ten, twelve, fourteen hours per day as the military ramped up to deal with the thing. Went home long enough to shower, sleep a couple hours and change clothes. They were playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic on the radio, on pop stations. I knew that meant that someone was going to get one hell of an ass-whoopin'. Jerry Moran. LCDR Vince Tolbert. Angela Houtz. Co-workers, Jerry a friend, gone. I'll never forget.
My wife and I were in the doctor's office as our 4th child was due in a few days. My wife's parents were down from Nova Scotia for the birth. While waiting for the doctor in the examination room, the nurses started whispering about something. They radio over the PA was down low but I made out that a plane had crashed into the WTC. After the examination, we went out to my father-in-law's van where my in-laws had our other 3 kids, waiting for us. He had the radio on when the second plane hit. I had to go to work afterwards but we didn't get any work done. We were all around our radios. Delaware declared a State of Emergency around 11 AM and all state offices closed. We closed at 11:30. That drive home was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had. I listed to WCBS on the radio on the drive home to get news straight from New York. The rest of that night we spent in front of the TV, still trying to make sense of it all. Being near Dover AFB made us jittery, thinking that a strike against a major military instillation was also coming, but thankfully, that never took place. I have a friend who worked in lower Manhattan, but thankfully, we was not hurt.
Said it before, I had some business on the other side of the base, so I had an excuse to sleep in a bit (this was when I was in Southern California). Got out, fired up the car and was perplexed that Howard Stern wasn't on--news instead. Then the news guy starts going on about how this was the worst terrorist attack since the USS Cole so I'm thinking "Fuck. They must've bombed another embassy or ship or something. " Then they started talking about the planes that were flown into the World Trade Center and it isn't registering--obviously they're talking about a couple turboprops or Cessnas or something, and they don't mean the World Trade Center, do they? Somewhere along the way, they're mentioning a plane that has hit the Pentagon as well and at least one, possibly two more unaccounted for planes. At this point I turned the car around and headed for work. Around this time the first tower fell. The feeling going through my head at the time was that feeling you get when you're walking past a dark alley and some punk throws a beer bottle at you--you're ready to beat the piss out of someone, but you don't know who to hit. At the time, I happened to be working for the largest warfighting command in the Marine Corps, so there was less of a feeling (initially) of powerlessness and more one of a terrible, terrible resolve, like it was time to bring the full might of the military of the United States of America to bear on some dirty bastards. Then I realized we had no idea who to bring this might to bear on. So I drove in, made sure everything was ready in my section, and stood by. From time to time, I found an excuse to stop into the command center and check the classified networks. And (more usefully) CNN and Fox on cable. To Howard Stern's credit, he went on the air and did a show later--from New York. And it kicked ass. I'm actually tearing up a little bit, thinking back on it. He said he'd found out that Courtney Love had went down to a recruiters and tried to enlist in the military on the spot. :bittersweet: It was a helluva show--not cowed or terrified; you could tell they were scared, but they were proud and strong. I remember a few weeks later, after we tracked it back to bin Ladin and the Afghan Taliban refused to give him up. I was in a waiting area at admin and CNN was on and they were showing bombs being dropped on target. One of my fellow officers went apeshit with glee: "See how that laser designator is so steady!? It isn't moving at all. Someone's on the GROUND, marking that target!" For a couple years now, whenever possible, I've made it a point to be on a commercial airplane on September 11. Fuck you dirty towlies. Hide in your caves. We're coming for you.
My son's room-mate in NJ is a volunteer fireman. He said the spooky part was driving across the bridge to their staging area in Staten Island, and NOBODY but emergency/official vehicles on the bridge! I remember the day clearly. I was in Germany preparing camoflage netting for our trip to Poland for an annual exercise. A guy ran up saying his wife just called and told him she saw the news on TV about the Towers coming down. Everyone rolled their eyes figuring him or his wife were embellishing or were completely wrong all together. This was just about quitting time, so once I got home I turned on the TVand couldn't believe my eyes. At the same time my son and his friends were trying to leave the Army Post to go to the candy store. The guards sealed the gates and nobody could leave. The next day at work the impact of what had just happened really sunk in.
Does any of the londoners remember hearing fighters overhead that day? Swear i heard them when i was looking out of the window watching all the planes circling as they waited to land at gatwick and heathrow.
I remember two things about that day - 1) driving home and listening to a religious program, then the announcer asking everyone to say prayers for the folks in New York and that a plane had crashed into the World Trade center. I was nearly home so as soon as I had the car parked I was running into the house and turning the TV to CNN just in time to see plane two crash and me saying "That was no accident." The second thing I remember was the utter silence in the sky - no planes in or out of the airports.
Oh that was so strange here! At work, we're right under the traffic patterns for both Newark International Airport, and local Teterboro Airport. There are bizjets taking off right over our building constantly, and jumbos on approach to Newark. There's often a network traffic copter buzzing the highway too, and maybe even a blimp over Giants Stadium. There can be a dozen planes in sight here at once. That day, and the next few - dead quiet. Spooky!!
You know, I'm surprised that the Americans here who seem less, how should I put it, interested in remembering the dead on 9/11 seems to be growing.
No, I remember, it is just something I don't like talking about. For someone who is used to being in total control at all times, the feeling of helplessness was overwhelming. It was further magnified by having literally nothing to do. Our local PJ encompassed approximately 60,000 people. From 0705 until my shift ended at 1800, not a single call came into the dispatchers, even on the non-emergency numbers. Every place of business except for the Hospital and us first responders closed by 1130. By 1200 there wasn't a single car or truck on the road.
I watched United 93 last year on 9/11, and it was hard. Very hard. Every single emotion that I had on the fateful day 7 years ago came flooding back.
I had to force myself to watch. Otherwise, I haven't had time to watch all the videos I have saved over the years. Here is one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqUORIFV4I
