5 year Anniversary of 9/11

#61
To anyone affected by the terrible tragedy, my thoughts are with you.

Here in Singapore five years ago, I was, as usual, reading posts on a Liverpool football forum when suddenly, a poster living in the US posted that a plane had just crashed into the WTC. Truly a horrendous moment.
 
#62
I came home from school and the TV was on. I think I instantly realised something was wrong. I looked at it (I saw the towers, it was before the other plane had crashed, I just thought it was a movie) and said Hi to my mom. She was staring at the tv and said: "horrible" and told me what had happened. I then started watching it on tv and then the other plane came. I was so young at the time I wasn't able to understand fully what had happened.
 
#63
I was at work, at the phone company in NE Wisconsin. We served Wisconsin and Indiana customers, and a woman from Gary came on the line, I verified her # and she said to me "what do you think about the WTC" Now before I continue I want to say I have a very strong NY accent and I was always getting comments from customers, coworkers and strangers having to do with NY and I had been at my desk taking calls since 6am with no break (this was about 7:45CDT) so my ignorant response to her ? was "They are 2 incredibly large buildings" and my immediate thought was thank goodness I dont have a screamer on the line which was normal at that job. She said "no a plane crashed into it" and I froze and told her to hold on and I ran to the breakroom and saw it on the news. I ran back to my desk grabbed my purse told my mgr what was going on, she took over my call and I left. As I was driving the 3.2 miles home the second plane hit. My husband who was a 3rd shift worker was up, his father who is still in NY was on the phone with him and all we did was watch with horror and attempt to contact friends in the city which was impossible (FIL is in Yonkers there was no problem calling 914) . My Aunt Diana worked in Tower 2 but by the grace of God she called in sick that day or was going to...we lost a good friend...also my BIL another telco employee was a linesman based out of WTC but he was out in his truck so we were very very fortunate in that sense but in my heart and soul every single American who lost their life that day may as well been a friend or a relative because I have cried a million tears.
 
#64
It amazes me: The night before, my son was doing a paper on monumental events in the 1970's and needed one thing more. So I helped him look up info. and said "Oh, here's one- the World Trade Center was finished then-" and we looked up the history of the World Trade Center. The next morning I was making breakfast and turned on the news to see the first building burning and the next one coming down... My son and I couldn't believe it.
 
#65
I was sitting on the end of my bed watching the morning news. When over the shoulder of the reporter I witnessed the first plane hit the tower. Even the reporter thought it was an accident. Then as they were talking about it the second plane hit. The look on his face still haunts me to this day.

I had school that morning in downtown Chicago so I listened to the news on the way there. That is when I heard about the Pentagon being hit. No one talked about it in class - there was a test scheduled. By the time class was over they were evacuating the Sears Tower. I had to take the L home and it was jam packed. The situation was surreal.
 
#66
proudtobeanaussie, what an unbelievable loss for you and your family. I will say a prayer for you and your family today. Thank you for sharing your story with us. I have tears in my eyes and my heart breaks...

They played the Star Spangled Banner on the radio while I was driving to work. I just lost it.
 
#67
I was on the computer. My mom called to tell me about the first plane. Like so many I thought it was an accident.

The TV was on and I saw the second plane hit. My husband called, telling me that something is going on, that the country is being attacked.

DH is a civil servant and worked in DC at the time, he was on his was to a meeting in VA. I called him when the Pentagon was hit. He was in a meeting with people from various agencies, including people from the Pentagon.

At this point I started to cry, and continued to all day.

I wanted to get my 2 kids from school, but one was in HS the other was in Middle school. So I just waited until they came home.

The odd thing is I had no problem with the phone. All my calls got through. I have a friend in IL who husband flies for United. That day he was off.

I think I stayed glued to the TV for 48 hours.

proudtobeanaussie I am so sorry for your loss. Yours and so many others, senseless loss of loved ones.

A friend sent me this site, it is a 9/11 tribute. It made me cry.

America Attacked 9 1 1
 
#68
I was in-between jobs at the time. My Mom was overseas and she called me early in the morning and told me to turn on the TV. When I did, I was in absolute shock. I still couldn't believe it to this day. I remembered the TV being on all day that day as I struggled to come to terms with what happened. I have a lot of family living in New York but thankfully they were okay ...

My sister was still in university when 9/11 happened. She found out about 9/11 because she was looking at the stock market when suddenly everything shut down. Knowing that something was not right, she quickly checked the news and found out what happened.

My heart goes out to all the families whose lives are affected by such a tragedy. I know I still feel depressed and pained to this day whenever I thought of 9/11, I cannot even imagine what these family must be feeling ...
 
#69
proud2beanaussi said:
6th grade as well.. Its such a hard day for so many americans.. and living overseas at the time didnt help! since i felt so helpless.. we woke up at about 2 in the morning (my mom, and my 3 brothers) and watched it on the couch, all huddling and crying in fear of my dad.
My dad was on the plane that crashed into the world trade centers (the 2nd one). it was the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me. Since we were also a 19 hour flight away, i only wish he had gone a day earlier, and maybe i would still have had one more day with my best friend. he left us a message on the machine. it was heart wrenching, and hopeless.
Click to expand...

OMG ... I'm so sorry to hear what happened ... :crybaby: You and your family had been brave in the face of such loss. Thank you for sharing your story.
 
#70
I was in my fourth week of basic training. I enlisted in the air force june 26 2001. I left for basic Aug 12.
We were on the drill pad marching when they sounded the alarm and told everyone to get off the drill pad and go back to our dormitories and that we were now in FPCon Delta. My TI (Drill Sargent) took us to the day room and turned on the television. I knew something was wrong because we were not allowed to ever watch TV. We watched the second plane hit the world trade center and then they showed the pentagon. I started crying so had some of my other flight mates.
My husbands brother worked at American Express in the WTC. In my mind he was dead. He had been saying he was going to quit that job the whole time I knew him. I asked the TI if I could call home because my family lives in new york. My mom and daughter and of course I wanted to find out about my soon to be bro in law. Well I didn't wind up calling home. That next week when we went away to Warrior Week and do the obsticle courses and war training I got a letter from my brother -in-law. Said he was alive and well and he had quit the previous week out of nowhere. He said he was worried about ME because he thought they were shipping me out. (Not yet, I'm only in basic) I still have that letter to this day. Back to that day, the TI took an easy on us that day and let us relax, he gave us extra time to eat and he said we could go to bed or write letters or whatever. But the next day he was back to screaming and yelling and said OK time to stop the effing crying and get back to business because this is what we signed on the dotted line for like it or not. Gosh it feels like it was yesterday.

PS. PRoudtobeanaussie I am deeply sorry for your loss, I can't imagine your pain on that day. I appreciate you sharing your story. Your father will never be forgotten.
 
#71
I was at DirecTV corporate offices in El Segundo, CA. It is one of the tallest buildings by Los Angeles Intl Airport. Oddly we had a very early meeting about an employee when someone came and told us. We, meaning people from security, legal and the top execs went to what was called the "war room" and watched the TV. The security director told the CEO to let all non essential employees leave. My dad was at the Pentagon, over in the air force area..at some meeting. I could not reach him on the cell for 4 hours but thank God he was OK.

What is really still hard is I am angry as hell and do not know what to do with those feelings.
Never forget.
 
#73
I remember being at work early that day (Pittsburgh - east coast time), and one of my co-workers walked in the room and said he heard about the first plane hitting via a radio broadcast.

We all stopped working to look online, or go to the area of our office where we receive our clients (which has a tv). Not long after we heard about the second one....and then some of my co-workers began to go home for the day, in fear of what would happen next.

Our managers were "meeting" to decide whether we should be allowed to go home, as I looked out the windows and saw the city basically being evacuated.

Finally, we were told to go home, and everyone was torn between shock and sadness and anger for all those poor souls, and also fear for ourselves, because we didn't know what else would happen that day.

We later found out that many people working in downtown Pittsburgh, and in the suburbs (including the town I live in) , actually saw Flight 93 flying low over Pittsburgh, when we had believed that all planes had been grounded. It ended up being the one that crashed in Shanksville, not far away from Pittsburgh.
 
#74
The one other thing that stands out in my mind about that day was that my husband told me later that ALL the news websites were timing out that day due to just being flooded with hits. That NEVER happens.
 
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