where were you

[Leadeye]

Working in the lab, first I heard was when one of the office girls asked me how a plane could hit the WTC. When you fly, you get flying questions. Asked her if it was a small plane and then said it had happened in the past in bad fog when a B-25 hit the Empire State building, but with modern ATC that seemed small chance. Later she came back and said it was a big jet, by then someone had a TV running and the rest was history.

 

[Denny347]

I was off work that day (I was an officer at IUPUI Police) and the wife and I just woke up, sitting in bed watching Today. We saw them talking about the first plane hit and when we saw the smoke coming from the 1st tower, we thought they were replaying the WTC bombing of 1993 (we remember watching that as we just started dating). We were watching the live feed and saw the second plane hit the other tower. It was a surreal feeling, so foreign to us all.

 

[1911ly]

I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed for work. I remember walking in the living room and seeing the news talking about how a plane hit the first tower. They had not yet figured it was a a terrorist act. I had gotten in the car and was heading to work when the second plane hit. I was listening to the radio. I had just drove up to the intersection not far from my house when the radio announced the second plane. My wife was just driving home from work and she was at that intersection to.

There was a lady in a car across the intersection from me. I can remember the look on the lady and my wife's face. I know my wife was listening to the radio. The lady's jaw just dropped. I know she must have just heard the news to. It was a moment I won't forget. I turned around and talked to my wife for a moment. We were in a daze. I left and headed to work.

While at work my wife's boss announce on the PA the next plane had crashed. The day was pretty much shot by then. We watched and listen to the news. Ended the day early and went home and listened to the news.

 

[RustyHornet]

My mother was dropping me off at school, 3rd grade, when the first plane hit listened on the radio. After school started it was on the TV the whole day. I was 9 years old, I had no idea what was really going on, but knew it wasn't good. I remember getting off the bus that day and getting on my bicycle, I rode around for hours to get away as I had watched the coverage for hours....

 

[Brandon]

Senior in HS, in the PAC watching videos/listening to people who had drank and drive and the mess it caused. Principal came in and told someone to turn the tv on -that was as big as the stage... That is when plane number 2 came into the scene.

 

[longbow]

On 37 near Martinsville when I called my wife to ask what the TV was showing. I had an appointment with a funeral company that day and we had the TV on while I did my thing for work. I remember all the people rushing gas stations on my way home that evening.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I was at work in Bloomington unloading a 40' shipping container. One of the office guys came back and told us that a plane had hit one of the WTC towers. He said that they thought it was a small plane, but something was weird. Then he came back a little while later all shook up and told us that another plane hit another WTC tower and that something ****ed was going on...maybe we were being attacked...maybe the opening shots of WWIII.

I called my parents to check on my sister. She travels east a lot for work. They lied to me and told me she was in New Mexico (turns out she flew out of DC that morning and her flight was diverted to Pennsylvania). When the first tower came down I was in the front office at work watching TV. My clearest memory of the day was getting the call that my sister was safe on the ground and heading home in a rental. My second clearest memory is how angry and petulent my employer was that no one was working and instead watching the towers fall on television.

The worst part for me was that evening watching it again and again and thinking that there had obviously been prep work done to the buildings ( a sentiment shared by everyone on television at the time). I was scared that it was China making it's move.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I was standing on the dock at work when the first plane hit. I was in my truck headed to the job site when the second plane hit. One of the other guys stopped and picked up his portable tv on the way. We stood around staring at the 2.5" screen most of the morning. Watching the first tower fall really shook some the guys. We made quick work of the rest of the job and went on through the rest of the day.

The the next day or so, we had a job by the airport. The silence was deafening. No planes, no traffic going to and from the airport. There wasn't a free inch of tarmac anywhere, planes crowded together as far as one could see.

 

[devious169]

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were building a bridge, forming a abutment and my boss ( canadian) pulled up radio blaring .... ( a plane just hit the wtc) we listened for what seemed to be 10 seconds and then the other one. I said were going to war! Then my pompous jackass of a employer, then said "oh great, now the us will want Canada to back em up" I kindly told him that Canada would supply a couple canoes and a bi plane . Then told him to get the **** OUT OF MY COUNTRY! W e then packed it up and went back to the hotel and watched the coverage.

 

[SSGSAD]

I was "Drivin down some cold interstate"..... I heard it on the radio, called my wife, she was watching tv, and I went to my brothers house, and watched the 2nd plane fly into the other tower .....

 

[MrsGungho]

was off work, had just dropped the daughter off at school and was settling in for a nice cozy morning on the sofa. Didn't turn out so nice and it wasn't so cozy. Saw news of the first plane hit on the local fox news so I switched over to a major network and watched it all unfold. I ended up waking the hubby up after the second plane hit. Sat glued to the tv all day with him

 

[amboy49]

I was flying out of caribou camp in northern Quebec heading for Kujjarapik and then on to Radisson to pick up our truck for the 1,300 mile drive home. Since we didn't speak French Canadian we only got bits and pieces of what was going on. We were told by the pilot of the second plane we were in that Canadian airspace had been closed as we were enroute to Radisson.

When we reached Windsor across the river from Detroit we had to pass through customs. We were asked if we had anything to declare and after driving 30 straight hours we were so tired and not thinking we nonchalantly replied "we had rifles in the truck." I had barely finished the last word in the sentence before the customs officer pulled us out of line and over to the side. The ensuing review of our whereabouts, U.S. citizenship, purpose for entering the U.S. and related issues took, let's say, longer than we anticipated. Not until we actually reached home on September 12 did we really get the full outline of the events from the day before and began to comprehend the possibilities of what had happened.

 

[Bennettjh]

Remember like it was yesterday. 5th grade history class. Such a strange feeling.

 

[bhunt31]

I was 2 days home from getting out of the Army. Sitting in my grandma's house watching TV when the broadcast came on.

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

I was teaching a 7th grade math class. I was just 3 weeks into my teaching career. I was talking to my classes about that today.

 

[KellyinAvon]

I was TDY at Langley AFB, Va with my boss and my boss's boss. We thought it was an accident, then we realized what really happened.
Nothing was flying, so we drove a rental car 18 hours back to Eglin AFB (Ft Walton each, FL) the next day. I pulled up to the east gate at Eglin (Niceville side of the base) maybe 2300. There were light carts with lights aiming out into incoming traffic, a Peacekeeper (armored Dodge Ramcharger) with an M60 on top. I remember seeing the ammo belt hanging from the M60 and thinking the life I'd known was gone forever.

 

[ghitch75]

was working on a job and was told to go home and be with my family......

 

[17 squirrel]

I landed at BWI airport at 8:35 am and on my way to luggage I turned on the phone, as it found itself I saw that my wife was blowing up my phone trying to reach me. That was unusual for her to do that so I called and after a few min I got through, I noticed everyone was watching the TVs that were available and my wife proceeds to tell me what was happening in NY. As we were talking she was telling me about the people she could see on TV jumping off the building the second plane hit.. I went to work in DC instead of a few planned days off.
I didn't see her or my son for a few days.. What she watched that morning she has never gotten over. They should play a tape of the people jumping off those towers every morning to Congress and the Senate. Maybe they would think differently who we should be friends with.

 

[whiteoak]

Uniformed officer working 2nd shift for my PD, My father called and woke me up telling me to watch the TV. Just caught the second plane hitting live on the air. I remember how quiet that afternoon shift was and the attitude everyone had towards police officers. Every car you passed waved at you.

 

[smittygj]

In the Navy stationed on a ship out of Norfolk. Was home with my wife watching the today show and watched them report on the first one,
and then was watching it live when the second one hit.