Where Were You?

[wadesworld]

Where were you 8 years ago when you heard the news about the terrorist attacks?  Just watched a show on it and it still seems so surreal.  It seems like it came straight from a movie, yet nearly 3,000 people died as a result of it.

Never forget

[NavinRJohnson]

In my car, on my way to work...I had just crossed Bluemound road, heading south on Barker...Truly like it was yesterday. It was just being reported, so as bad as it sounded, I didn't have full appreciation of what had happened, until I called my wife who was watching TV, a few minutes later.

[ChicosBailBonds]

My wife was in New York City the night before as she was attending the US Open and pregnant with our daughter. She landed in L.A. around midnight...the weather had delayed her flight.

The next morning, about 7 hours later, she woke me up with the news she had just heard.  It was unbelievable that she was right there just hours before hand.  We lived at the time just north of the furthest northern runway at LAX in the village of Westchester (home of Loyola Marymount).  We were used to planes landing and taking off about every 2 minutes.  When they suspended all air travel it was the most bizarre thing I had gone through....total silence for the next few days.  We had become so accustomed to the planes landing and taking off that we didn't notice them anymore until they actually stopped.

2 members of the Hughes family (they owned DIRECTV at the time) were on one of the flights and perished.

RIP

[rocky_warrior]

Camping in the Badlands in SD.  Planned on being totally disconnected from the world for a week.  An older guy (with an RV & TV) walked up to us and asked if we had heard the news sometime mid-morning, about 3 days into the trip.  We obviously hadn't heard anything, he tells us and we can't believe it. Carried on with our trip, listening to the radio as we drove from campground to trail-head and back for the rest of the week.  Didn't see videos of the attacks until about a week later, on our way home.  Couldn't believe what we saw, despite the fact that we had been hearing about it for a week.

Fortunately, felt completely safe in SD.  Nobody would attack the badlands.

[77ncaachamps]

My wife was in New York City the night before as she was attending the US Open and pregnant with our daughter. She landed in L.A. around midnight...the weather had delayed her flight.

Same thing happened to a buddy and me.

We had just wrapped up a weekend at a wedding and were heading home the night of 9/10.

It must've been 7ish. We were stranded on the tarmac behind other planes because a thunderstorm was passing through NYC at the time. The pilot said he was given the choice to stay here, wait it out and possibly leave...or return to the terminal and we may not be able to leave until the next day.

Luckily, he waited it out and we departed an hour or so later. We didn't get into San Jose until well past midnight.

The next morning, I decided to get a head start and leave early (~ 5:45 am) for my classroom (because I had a sub take my class while I was away). On my way, I was listening to the news about a plane hitting one of the twin towers. I thought it was a Cessna and found it a not-so-hard structure to avoid.

But on my way to my class, I heard more details and rushed to turn on the tv. Instead of setting up for my class, I was engrossed in the developments as they were "en vivo." My class and I watched for the first 30 minutes of the school day and discussed what was going on.

My students were additionally amazed from the postcards - which I sent from NY - they later received that week which featured the twin towers.

Like Chico...it was surreal to not see planes overhead for many days. That, I believe, helped add to the gravity of the situation.

[Jay Bee]

Groggy, waking up in my condo on Prospect and Brady getting ready for work.  Had gone to a show in Evanston, IL to see my guy JUICE perform the night before... after I caught wind of the first plane, I was memorized and obviously after the second glued... to the TV.  Our 'company' shut down shortly thereafter, instructing everyone to go home and be with their families. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Same thing happened to a buddy and me.

We had just wrapped up a weekend at a wedding and were heading home the night of 9/10.

It must've been 7ish. We were stranded on the tarmac behind other planes because a thunderstorm was passing through NYC at the time. The pilot said he was given the choice to stay here, wait it out and possibly leave...or return to the terminal and we may not be able to leave until the next day.

Luckily, he waited it out and we departed an hour or so later. We didn't get into San Jose until well past midnight.

The next morning, I decided to get a head start and leave early (~ 5:45 am) for my classroom (because I had a sub take my class while I was away). On my way, I was listening to the news about a plane hitting one of the twin towers. I thought it was a Cessna and found it a not-so-hard structure to avoid.

But on my way to my class, I heard more details and rushed to turn on the tv. Instead of setting up for my class, I was engrossed in the developments as they were "en vivo." My class and I watched for the first 30 minutes of the school day and discussed what was going on.

My students were additionally amazed from the postcards - which I sent from NY - they later received that week which featured the twin towers.

Like Chico...it was surreal to not see planes overhead for many days. That, I believe, helped add to the gravity of the situation.

Back then we didn't have a digital camera, I remember developing some of the pictures from my wife's camera about 2 weeks after 9-11....one of them with her and the towers in the background.  Absolutely surreal.

I've been watching the coverage tonight on the news with my 10 year old son.  I still can't believe it 8 years later. Totally surreal.

[pillardean]

I was in between classes Junior year in high school going to my U.S. History class--I remember it like yesterday--and my buddy Nick comes up to me shaking his head, "crashed into the WTC".  My first reaction was what the hell?  How did they miss the runway that much, then I went into my class and watched what had happened on the t.v. in the room.  

We watched the t.v. as the second plane hit.  I stayed in the same classroom after the bell.  The tv continued to show what was going on.  I remember the first tower falling and thinking this isn't real.  That was when it hit me.  I thought of my cousin (who I watched graduate from Georgetown two years earlier in D.C.) who was working in part of the Trade Center buildings (not of the ones that fell).

A few minutes later the second tower fell and I just sat on the teachers desk and watched.  He sat at his chair.  I remember my brother and my name's being called to the office.  My uncle was on the phone telling us my cousin Johann was safe.

I was relieved but I remember the rest of the day I was sick.

[pillardean]

I've been watching the coverage tonight on the news with my 10 year old son.  I still can't believe it 8 years later. Totally surreal.

Amen.

History channel "102 minutes".
I can't watch it when they show bodies falling.  I'm a man, but I get choked up seeing that.  It's as if it were this morning seeing the specific faces and the specific stories.

[tower912]

Golfing with three other firefighters.   Just before we teed off at 9, one of them came up to the first tee and said that a plane had just hit the WTC.   We assumed it was a small private plane that had made a mistake and went and played.   By the time we finished, all the buildings were down.    We went in to the clubhouse and had a beer (including one guy who has a beer about once a decade) and discussed what our lives were going to be like and what we were going to have to be looking for in our job.    I got home and my wife was in tears, telling me that a bunch of firefighters were reportedly in the towers when they came down and asking me what would happen if it something like that happened here.   I had to tell her that I would be in the building and if it collapsed then I would perish like the rest.   Oddly, this did not stop her crying.  

[muball]

In the office at Universal Studios early and working, lived only two blocks away and didnt have any radio or TV on.  When people started to arrive I heard what happened, my Son called my cell wondering where I was since I traveled the US. They basically closed the office since it was the tallest building in the area.  Was a sad feeling with all the uncertainty of what was going on.

[muwarrior87]

I was between first and second period my sophomore year of high school. My second period was history so when I walked into class, our teacher already had a tv on in front of the room. At this point the first tower had been hit but the second hadn't yet.  She sat down at her desk in the back of the classroom and our class that day consisted of watching the events unfold in front of us.  I was in complete shock the entire time we were watching and couldn't comprehend how this could have happened.

[MUfan12]

Amen.

History channel "102 minutes".
I can't watch it when they show bodies falling.  I'm a man, but I get choked up seeing that.  It's as if it were this morning seeing the specific faces and the specific stories.

The thought of having to make that choice, that things were that bad, is just too much for me as well.

[nyg]

Was at my desk when the first plane hit.  Being a supervisor with a federal law enforcement agency outside of Washington, DC, we gathered around the squad room watching the news and saw plane #2 hit the second tower. Realized at that point it was not an accident and then reports started coming in that the State Department got hit (was in fact the Pentagon) and another plane was headed for DC.  Additional information came through advising aircraft had indeed been hijacked and I recall the reports stated there were two still in the air.  The White House and Capital started evacuation procedures and then got word a plane went down by Pittsburgh.  There was not a second plane in the air. Later that day, we determined four of the subjects had stayed at a mosque in our territory in Laurel, Maryland, leaving all their belonging in suitcases.  For the next six weeks, it was 18 hour days, seven days a week tracking down leads.

Being originally from New York, my brother had worked at a stock firm named Cantor Fitzgerald.  He had left Cantor a month prior to the attacks to take a position at another Wall Street firm.  Cantor was located on the top four or five floors of one of the towers, above where the plane hit hit.  Many of those employees are the ones who jumped off to escape the intense heat of the fire.  My brother had just gotten married a year earlier and lost his best man and all his wedding party buddies.  Seven in all and he has not been the same since. But at least he is alive.  Not known to many is the fact 2,900 people lost their lives on that day, 685 of them were from Cantor Fitzgerald.     

[reinko]

First off, thanks for sharing everyone.  Truly a day that I will never forget.

I was a senior at MU, at Campus Town West 409, I remember getting a call from a friend about the first plane.  I proceeded to to wake up all my other roomies and we were glued to the TV for hours.  Just surreal.

I also remember being at the MU memorial held at Gesu, and seeing my dad cry for the first time in front of me.

[muarmy81]

I was a senior at MU when it happened...I was in my ROTC class when we were interrupted by one of the ladies up front.  Rest of the day's classes were cancelled and I too spent the rest of the day in Campus town glued to the TV.  The next dose of reality was learning that we had invaded Afghanistan about 1 month later...that meant my "new job" was about to be started in the Middle East.

[77ncaachamps]

I was a senior at MU when it happened...I was in my ROTC class when we were interrupted by one of the ladies up front.  Rest of the day's classes were cancelled and I too spent the rest of the day in Campus town glued to the TV.  The next dose of reality was learning that we had invaded Afghanistan about 1 month later...that meant my "new job" was about to be started in the Middle East.

Did you end up serving in Afghanistan?

[StillAWarrior]

I was just arriving at work.  As I walked to my office, my secretary told me that a plane just hit the WTC.  It was early enough that I actually got on cnn.com and saw the first report (cnn was swamped after that and couldn't get any information).

One odd thing about my experience that morning was that I got online and contacted my mom in Phoenix.  She was just very chatty and I asked her, "you don't have the television turned on, do you."  She said no and asked what was up.  I told her to go turn the tv on.  That's how she found out.

God bless everyone who perished that day.  God bless our soldiers.  God bless the USA.

[Skatastrophy]

I was a junior at MU and I was the first one waking in our Campus Town West apartment to get ready for class.  I was hopping out of the shower and the phone was ringing.  It was my dad calling... and I'll never forget his voice that day.  He was relieved to the point of tears that I was at MU (I had a bad habit of leaving the state without telling my parents) and he told me to turn on my TV.  The 2nd plane had just hit... so... not understanding the gravity of the situation I finished getting ready for class and headed off to my Digital Electronics class at Olin.

When I got to Olin my whole class was there (Computer/Electrical Engineering wasn't a huge program, so I'd spent the past 3 years with all these people) and everyone was in a daze.  Nobody really talked a whole bunch besides the, "Dude, did you see the news this morning." and, "Yeah, that was crazy."  Thankfully we had a professor that had a bit more perspective on the situation.  He came into the classroom a bit late and told us to go home and call our families to let them know we're okay and to stay out of downtown for the day.  (While it's funny looking back, all that we heard that day is that we needed to stay away from the US Bank tower because it's a terrorist target.  Definitely scary at the time).

I headed back to Campus Town and went to a buddy's place.  We made the mistake of watching Telemundo for a bit... they were showing, live, the people jumping out of the building and cratering on the sidewalks.  That still haunts me to this day, but I don't regret seeing it.  That really drove home how serious this situation was and how many people were stuck in those towers... and then the towers fell.

The buddy I was drinking with worked at Murphy's at the time, so we went over there and opened it up and spent the rest of the day somewhere social and familiar.  I didn't know what else to do besides go and drink a bunch of beers and watch the news and hash out what just happened with the rest of the people wandering into the bar.  I figure it was cheaper than therapy, and probably more effective too.

[muarmy81]

Did you end up serving in Afghanistan?

No,
2- tours in Iraq (03-04 then again from 05-06)

[sellit07]

I was a freshman in High School. I was in first hour Communications. My teacher was a big joker and so towards the end of class he turned on the radio (which I thought he just put in a cassette) and the way they were talking it sounded like an old tape of some fictional event. I did not really think he was telling the truth nor did the rest of the class. I went to my next class Biology and my teacher had the news on and that is when I believed my teacher. I saw the second plane hit and then watched the buildings collapse and the fear in people's eyes. Being a freshman in High School I was old enough to understand but young enough to be scared and confused for what was going to happen next.

The year before I went on a band trip with my sister and family. We tagged along with the band and the last meal I had before we left New York was on the top of the one of the World Trade Center buildings. I will never forget what I saw when I was up at the top of the building. It was such an amazing sight and is something I will cherish. Most people haven't and will never experience what it feels like to be at the top of one of those buildings.

I hope all that perished will rest in peace. God Bless America.

[StillAWarrior]

Being a freshman in High School I was old enough to understand but young enough to be scared and confused for what was going to happen next.

Even as a 32 year old husband and father of three, I felt pretty much the same way.

[Hards Alumni]

I can remember exactly where I was, and exactly where I was standing at 8:50am when I heard.  I was right between the science building and the nursing building.  I had just walked out of my Anatomy and Physiology lecture in the nursing building.  One of my classmates came running up to me and my friends and said, "We are under attack".  Everyone was just sort of surprised and we weren't exactly sure what was going on.  We then walked from our lecture to my A&P lab that followed.  If you have been in the room in the Health Science building lab you know there are TV's everywhere hanging from the ceiling... but oddly, none of them were on.  Our professor, (Dr. Cullinan) was nowhere to be found, and it was already 10 minutes past 9.  Eventually, he burst into the lab and told us that both of WTC buildings had been hit by airplanes and that one had collapsed.  The room went silent, and he told us that lab would be cancelled for the day, and that we should go home.

I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV, shocked like everyone else.

[TallTitan34]

I was a sophomore in high-school just finishing up second hour English when our prinicipal came on the PA and told us what had happened.  At that point the towers had fallen and there were unconfirmed reports of what exactly happened in DC.

While some teachers did have tv's on in their classrooms none of my teachers did so I didn't get a glimpse of what had happened until I got home that night.  I don't think I fully realized the magnatude until I saw the pictures and video that night. 

I still remember when Congress sang God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol. 

[Marquette08]

I was at Home watching Tv.  Just had back Surgery and i couldn't do anything for a whole year.