9/11: Where were you?

[yankee]

Coming downstairs to eat breakfast before school. Phone rang as I entered the kitchen, my dad was calling to say the WTC had been hit. I watched live as the second plane hit with my mom. Stunning and shocking to say the least.

I was pulled out of school a little early that day...and the only words that my mom said was "The towers fell." I remember sitting out in the backyard that evening, as it was so darn quiet. We can see and hear the planes as they approach one of the runways from my house, and obviously there were no flights that day.

A very vivid day/week for me. Something I'll never forget.

[the-rover]

Driving on my way to Newkirk, OK. for jury duty. Not sure which station I was listening to on the radio, but they broke in with a breaking news report.

The reporter was not being real clear on anything which was understandable given the circumstances....until he screams "Oh, my God! Another plane has hit the other tower! I nearly drove off the road listening in disbelief.

I get to the county courthouse, expecting them to postpone the days jury selections, but they don't. I spend all day in that dang courthouse with people I don't know, all of us wondering what the heck is going on. An unforgettable day.

Ironically, here it is 10 years later, and I'm on jury duty again.

Don't know anyone personally who died in the attacks, but we all lost something that day.

[olevetonahill]

Nursing a Hangover.
Got a Call watched the 2nd

[OutlandTrophy]

getting ready to go to class and was watching the news/Today show. I saw the second plane hit but left for the Lloyd Noble bus stop before they fell. Someone on the bus said they fell.

[Flagstaffsooner]

At work, got a call from Phoenix to turn the TV on.

[AlbqSooner]

Super Wal-Mart in New Port Richey, FL.

Woke up, started the coffee, fed the cat and hit the shower. Once out of the shower and dressed I found that the coffee pot had died. Drove quickly to Wal-Mart. As I was picking a replacement coffee maker I noticed a crowd gathering in the TV section. I wandered over to see what was on sale. 1st plane had just hit. I booked it home as fast as possible and drank coffee while watching the second plane hit.

[OUHOMER]

I was at work, and a driver came in and said turn on the TV now. looks like an airplane hit a building in NYC. We turned it on and saw plane #2 hit. I work at the airport, so it wasnt long before aircraft after aircraft starting landing. They were stacked up on the tarmac for a long while, until 1 by 1 they would head to a gate.

Its weird, i have worked at the airport for years and I dont give a thought to the sight or sound of airplanes taking off or landing. But by late afternoon it was way too quiet. It was strange for the next few days.

It was hard to get anything done that day, we were glued to the TV trying to make sense to it all. Looking for answers that never came.

10 years later, working at the airport, you remeber every day because of all of the security controls now in place.

I WILL NEVER FORGET

[JLEW1818]

at school, 8th grade. teacher ran in saying what happened.

[GottaHavePride]

My first senior year of undergrad (took me 5 years - was working on two degrees). Woke up that morning, grabbed my bowl of cheerios and sat down in front of the TV as usual. Saw a pic of the WTC with smoke coming out of one tower and said "WTF? Did it catch on fire?" then the second plane hit.

[C&CDean]

I found out about it on 9/15. My brother and I were elk hunting up in Colorado by the Wyoming border. No phone/radio/etc. I killed a bull elk on 9/15 and we hauled it down to Walden, CO that morning. The whole town had ribbons everywhere, flags at half-mast, etc. I remember saying "I guess some famous local yokel kicked the bucket or something." We go to a little hotel that offers $5 showers, went into the room and I turned on the tube while my brother got in the shower. A plane hits the WTC, and I thought "I wonder what movie this is?" I flip the channel, and I see all the famous news heads going on and on about the WTC being gone, the Pentagon being gone, and thousands dead. I go "wtf?" I guess a plane hit one of the towers, but they ain't gone. About that time they start showing video footage of the deal, and I sat on the foot of the bed completely in shock. My brother comes out and we both sat there for over an hour staring at the TV.

It was really weird though because the day before I shot the elk my brother (who is a pilot) commented about "how blue the sky is and I don't see a single contrail - which is really weird because this area is a major east/west flyway." About that time the earth starts shaking, and a flight of USAF F-15's goes screaming overhead at about 600 knots. We were at 11,000 feet, and they couldn't have been more than 5,000 feet overhead. My brother goes "dang, that's really effing weird."

So, I don't remember 9/11. However, I remember 9/15 like a sumbitch.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Memorial and Hefner Pkwy, waiting to turn west onto Memorial, a coworker called and told me about the first plane. I automatically thought about the B-29 that hit the Empire State building many years ago. I got to the office and went in the break room for some coffee. Just as I looked at the tv everyone was gathered around, the second plane hit. One of the admins father was on a flight out of Boston that morning, and she was hysterical. After the towers collapsed, corporate emailed me to have everyone on a conference call within 10 minutes. I remember the CEO telling me to lock up the office, and for all of us to fill up our tanks and go home to our loved ones...

[BudSooner]

I had overslept that morning, and got up in a rush to get the kids up and ready for school, the wife was getting up.
Normally I never watch the Today Show, but that morning the tv was still on it from the previous night....blue sky, beautiful except for this horrifying sight, thought it was probably a small commuter plane that hit the building.
Just got my coffee and nearly dropped it when the 2nd plane struck the tower, I think I stood there until Pam came in and asked what was wrong and saw what happened.
We tried to keep the tv off to keep the kids from seeing what happened, thinking that sending them to school was best and I drove them to school , when teh kids got out.....I hugged the both of them for what seemed like an eterntiy not wanting to let them go.

[Ike]

I was walking to my morning class at OU when some random guy said "you hear about the world trade center?" "No" I said. "Some yahoo flew a plane into it". I got to my office to prepare my things for class, took a quick look at the web to see if what I heard was true. Just before class, the second plane hit.

[King Crimson]

i was in grad school, living at 765 20th St. in Boulder, CO. i was was giving a presentation that morning on Max Weber. i left the crib to get some coffee and get things going...but my neighbor was blaring her radio in the hallway of the small art-deco 6 unit building. i remember being annoyed by that. wtf is she thinking? i get to the "hill", CU's campus corner, to buy a coffee....and i hear the radio out of a stopped delivery truck talking about planes flying into the WTC. stand there and listen for a while. go to CU's student Rec Center where there is a TV. a little stunned that US Military officials are talking right away about how civil liberties need to be scaled back.....

[Soonrboy]

Like the song says, Standing in a room full of innocent children...trying to decide to break the news to the 5th graders I was teaching that year.

[Soonerfan88]

I had the day off so the usual alarm/radio routine didn't happen. I didn't know a thing until I got in my car to run errands. By then both towers had been hit but not fallen yet. I did finish my errands then went home and stayed glued to the tv the rest of the day.

[8timechamps]

Was in the concourse of my building in downtown Denver. I was waiting in line to pay for my coffee and could hear the radio. I heard something about a plane hitting the first WTC tower, and I asked the guy next to me in line about it. He said "I think a little plane hit the tower"...so I'm thinking a little two seater hit the building. When I walked into the lobby of my office, the TV is on CNBC and it becomes instantly clear that it's not a little plane.

I remember thinking that things were out of control after the plane hit the Pentagon. I left work, took my oldest son out of school and went home. Horrible day.

[OklaPony]

I was working in South Carolina but was home for the weekend and was scheduled to fly out that afternoon. Got up, headed to Carl's Jr. to get breakfast and heard about the first one on the radio in the rental-mobile. Got home and turned on the TV a few minutes before the 2nd one hit. Ordinarily I would've booked a morning flight out but as luck would have it my regular connections weren't available on that particular day. I think I figured that we would've been forced down somewhere over Louisiana or Arkansas had I made my regular connections. I then spent nearly all of the next 2 days glued to the TV before I was able get flights out again to get back to SC.

[SoonerStud615]

I was in middle school, and had a dentist appointment that morning, so I didn't go into school as early as usual. I was sitting in the living room watching the Today Show while my mom got ready to take me to my appointment. They cut in saying a plane hit the WTC. I ran in my parent's room and told them that some dummy flew his plane into a building. My dad immediately said something about a terrorist attack. He came and watched with me in the living room as the second plane hit. I then went to my dentist appointment and was watching the TV in the waiting room when the plane hit the Pentagon.

When I finally did go to school, I was shocked to find out that no students knew about it. They decided to not tell the kids. I began telling my good friends, and by the end of the day, most people knew. I remember a bunch of our moms were late to pick us up because the lines at the gas stations were blocking the roads.

[SicEmBaylor]

I was just starting my fish year at Baylor. I would typically turn the news on in the morning as I got ready for class, but I was running late and never flipped the TV on. My first class was at 9-something which would be 10 EST. There wasn't anything unusual that I can remember on my way to class that day that would have tipped me off that something was going on.

I get to class and my professor says, "Obviously we're not going to have a normal lecture period because of today's events." After that a free-for-all discussion started and I learned of the attack in bits and pieces. At that point, a lot of people were saying the State Department and White House had both been bombed.

Nearly every school in the country released classes that day except for ours. My next class was in the mass comm. room with a huge wall sized TV so I figured I'd go to class and just watch the news.

A lot of people say they were scared on 9/11, but I would never describe myself as "scared." The best description of my emotion that day was being astounded. Astounded at the audacity of the attack, and I had a pretty clear realization that this was going to change our country for a very long time.

Concern for my friends who had joined the military straight out of school was my next concern. I figured most, if not all, of them would be sent to Afghanistan when the invasion began. I really wanted them to remain safe.

But yeah...I was simply astonished that day. Absolutely astonished.

[SicEmBaylor]

When I finally did go to school, I was shocked to find out that no students knew about it. They decided to not tell the kids. I began telling my good friends, and by the end of the day, most people knew. I remember a bunch of our moms were late to pick us up because the lines at the gas stations were blocking the roads.

That's kind of surprising. I was in middle school during the OKC bombing, and they immediately told us over the intercom and we spent the rest of the day watching news coverage.

[bluedogok]

At home in OKC getting ready to head to work when a friend called and told me about it. She knew that I spent a year working nights putting the entire WTC complex on CAD for the Port Authority of NY&NJ, so I knew the buildings well.

[C&CDean]

That's kind of surprising. I was in middle school during the OKC bombing, and they immediately told us over the intercom and we spent the rest of the day watching news coverage.

That's cause the threat was about 20 miles up the road in OKC (or however far it is from the nether regions of OK you hail from).

Sometimes you are sooooooo Baylor.

[SCOUT]

I was working from home and my wife called to tell me to turn on the tv. I did and saw a report that a plane had hit the WTC. I was telling my wife that it is tragic but accidents happen. I was assuming it was some small plane or something. After watching for a little bit, I thought they were showing video of the plane flying into the building. Nope, it was the second plane. It probably took me a full minute to wrap my brain about what was actually happening. My first thought was about some friends and family that were in NYC at the time and then about the 80% of our company that travel and were spread across the country and flying.

Today has been harder than I thought it would be. I have found myself getting choked up watching the tributes. Heck, even that State Farm commercial with the kids singing to the FDNY got to me.

[Widescreen]

I was with my wife in Paris, France. We got in and took a nap. When we woke up, we turned on the TV and they were showing maps of Pennsylvania and the smoking World Trade Center. It was in French so I couldn't understand it but my wife recommended turning over to CNN (english). Duh. It was a very weird experience being in Europe when that happened. Everyone was very sympathetic. I have a letter from the mayor of Rome expressing his condolences. There were signs all over Italy saying things like "we are all Americans". That part was nice in a horrible situation. Here's a video I took out the window of our Paris hotel as we were listening to the TV broadcast. It still gives me chills as I think about looking at the Paris statue of liberty with the terrorism talk going on in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhAykGHLFQw

[SicEmBaylor]

That's cause the threat was about 20 miles up the road in OKC (or however far it is from the nether regions of OK you hail from).

Sometimes you are sooooooo Baylor.

That would be Green Country...or God's country whichever you'd prefer. ;)

[picasso]

Got a phone call. Watched the 2nd tower fall.
Went golfing that afternoon.

[OhU1]

Was in an all morning meeting in Norman. Someone mentioned that the WTC got hit by a plane. I thought of the Empire State small plane incident and figured it was no big deal. My overbearing boss allowed us to take 5 and turn on the news.

Immediately I saw 2 smoking buildings that looked like 2 giant smoldering cigarettes and then saw one of them drop. WTF? I thought my eyes were playing tricks because you could still see the smoke where the building had stood and I kept asking "where is the tower?" I could not fathom that the towers could fall.

The overbearing boss having no sense of perspective of history and events recalled us back to continue this trivial meeting. Five minutes later a hysterical female employee tells us the Pentagon has been hit and "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK"! Boss adjourns the meeting and soon every woman at work who knows anyone who lives east of the Mississippi is acting hysterical (it's clear to me that in a dire emergency 50 - 75% of people will die as a result of panic if quick clear headed thinking is needed.)

I had just got back from New York a few days before 9-11 so the whole scene was surreal to me.

[TUSooner]

I was at work. Somebody said a plane hit the WTC. We thought it was an accident.
In our old place, the offices opened out onto a large room with permanent secretarial cubicles with walls about chest high. I remember leaning on a cubicle, completeley stunned and silent, to watch the burning first tower and most of what followed, on a fuzzy old 19-inch TV in one of the cubicles. It took me awhile to believe that it really was a deliberate act.

I'd never even noticed that TV before, but it must have always been there.

[DCSooner]

I was stationed at Coast Guard HQ in DC. Buzzards Point to be exact. We heard that a plane hit the first tower and went out to the lobby to watch the news. It is crazy how insignificant it seemed at first. The reports were a "small plane" was the culprit. Then, as we watched live, the other plane hit. I remember someone saying "that must be another camera angle" but then at once it seemed everyone realized it was a second plane. We watched in horror as the reports were coming in, and they finally confirmed it was two big planes. The lobby was getting packed and everyone was watching when another breaking news story came across the screen....the Pentagon has been hit. This is when the **** hit the fan. If you Google Buzzards Boint in DC you will see how close it is to the Pentagon. Me and a couple of guys ran out to the parking gargage facing South. There was already smoke engulfing our building from the Pentagon. We ran back to our office to call our loved ones and the phonelines were jammed. There were reports of another plane hovering over DC. They put us all on lockdown and wouldn't allow anyone to leave. We stayed on lock down for several hours. When we were finally able to leave the sun was going down. The thing that is burned in my memory the most is crossing the 14th street bridge to go home. The inbound lanes were blocked to traffic, but since no one could leave the Pentagon in their cars, or metro, they had to walk to the DC side to get on the metro. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen, hundreds of people walking across a bridge, which normally is bumper to bumper traffic.

[sooner59]

When I first heard, I was in my pickup driving to school during my junior year in high school in Davis. Believe I was listening to the KATT and they reported it when the first plane hit and it sounded like an accident. They made it sound like a 1-man personal prop plane as well. I went in to my first class still thinking, "What kind of idiot flies his plane into a skyscraper?"

After my first class, I went to my second class, which was "U.S. History" where my football coach was the teacher. He just told us we were going to the library and when we got there, they had TVs set up with the news on. We watched live as the towers fell. It sunk in quickly. It was surreal. I was floored. I didn't know why it happened or who caused it yet, but I remembered the glaring thought going through my head..."We are going to war. This is really happening." And I was going to turn 18 in less than a week. **** got real in a hurry.

[TUSooner]

***I went to my second class, which was "U.S. History" where my football coach was the teacher. He just told us we were going to the library and when we got there, they had TVs set up with the news on....

Sorry, I know this is lame, but I couldn't help thinking, "That's your typical high-school coach-teacher: Any excuse to watch TV instead of teaching a class."

[sooner59]

We were watching history unfold. By that time everyone new. Not like anyone was going to be able to focus on the 1700's at that moment. And for the record, he was actually the best teacher I had in high school. I learned more in his class than any other. I was Valedictorian, FWIW. He wasn't the normal coach/teacher. He actually cared.

[Howzit]

I was in Houston on business and working evenings. I had the TV on ESPN all morning and they didn't say anything about what was going on. When I walked down to get breakfast, I saw the coverage.

I ended up having to drive the rental car back because no flights were allowed.


Its weird, i have worked at the airport for years and I dont give a thought to the sight or sound of airplanes taking off or landing. But by late afternoon it was way too quiet. It was strange for the next few days.



Yep, I lived near DFW at the time and was so accustomed to flights landing that I didn't really notice them until they weren't there. You're right, the next few days were really eerie.

[Sooner24]

I found out about it on 9/15. My brother and I were elk hunting up in Colorado by the Wyoming border. No phone/radio/etc. I killed a bull elk on 9/15 and we hauled it down to Walden, CO that morning. The whole town had ribbons everywhere, flags at half-mast, etc. I remember saying "I guess some famous local yokel kicked the bucket or something." We go to a little hotel that offers $5 showers, went into the room and I turned on the tube while my brother got in the shower. A plane hits the WTC, and I thought "I wonder what movie this is?" I flip the channel, and I see all the famous news heads going on and on about the WTC being gone, the Pentagon being gone, and thousands dead. I go "wtf?" I guess a plane hit one of the towers, but they ain't gone. About that time they start showing video footage of the deal, and I sat on the foot of the bed completely in shock. My brother comes out and we both sat there for over an hour staring at the TV.

It was really weird though because the day before I shot the elk my brother (who is a pilot) commented about "how blue the sky is and I don't see a single contrail - which is really weird because this area is a major east/west flyway." About that time the earth starts shaking, and a flight of USAF F-15's goes screaming overhead at about 600 knots. We were at 11,000 feet, and they couldn't have been more than 5,000 feet overhead. My brother goes "dang, that's really effing weird."

So, I don't remember 9/11. However, I remember 9/15 like a sumbitch.

I remember talking to you at the Air Force tailgate and you were talking about leaving Colorado Springs after the game to go elk hunting. Talked to you at the next home tailgate and you telling about not finding out until 4 days later.

[TUSooner]

We were watching history unfold. By that time everyone new. Not like anyone was going to be able to focus on the 1700's at that moment. And for the record, he was actually the best teacher I had in high school. I learned more in his class than any other. I was Valedictorian, FWIW. He wasn't the normal coach/teacher. He actually cared.

Well, I did say it was lame! But I had a coach-teacher who was not as good as yours, so that's what came to my tiny squirming mind.

[TUSooner]

bughhhhh!!!! Why did that appear twice?

[Sooner24]

I found out about it on 9/15. My brother and I were elk hunting up in Colorado by the Wyoming border. No phone/radio/etc. I killed a bull elk on 9/15 and we hauled it down to Walden, CO that morning. The whole town had ribbons everywhere, flags at half-mast, etc. I remember saying "I guess some famous local yokel kicked the bucket or something." We go to a little hotel that offers $5 showers, went into the room and I turned on the tube while my brother got in the shower. A plane hits the WTC, and I thought "I wonder what movie this is?" I flip the channel, and I see all the famous news heads going on and on about the WTC being gone, the Pentagon being gone, and thousands dead. I go "wtf?" I guess a plane hit one of the towers, but they ain't gone. About that time they start showing video footage of the deal, and I sat on the foot of the bed completely in shock. My brother comes out and we both sat there for over an hour staring at the TV.

It was really weird though because the day before I shot the elk my brother (who is a pilot) commented about "how blue the sky is and I don't see a single contrail - which is really weird because this area is a major east/west flyway." About that time the earth starts shaking, and a flight of USAF F-15's goes screaming overhead at about 600 knots. We were at 11,000 feet, and they couldn't have been more than 5,000 feet overhead. My brother goes "dang, that's really effing weird."

So, I don't remember 9/11. However, I remember 9/15 like a sumbitch.

I remember talking to you at the Air Force tailgate and you were talking about leaving Colorado Springs after the game to go elk hunting. Talked to you at the next home tailgate and you telling about not finding out until 4 days later.

[MsProudSooner]

I was at work in Tulsa. Unlike the workplace of a previous poster, there was no panic, just the knowledge that we might be called on for extra support from our primary customer, American Airlines.

In the summer of 2008, I was in New York with family members. Every time we passed a firehouse, I looked at their trucks to see if on of them had the truck that the citizens of Oklahoma had purchased and donated after 9/11. I had just commented to my sister that I wondered which firehouse had that truck, when we heard the sounds of sirens behind us. I glanced back in time to see this truck heading east on 42nd street.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4510195726_b22fb47fdc.jpg

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-05-11/news/18194245_1_big-rig-new-yorkers-oklahoma-city

[KantoSooner]

In a hotel room in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
One funny thing was that, when I got back home to Tokyo, the hordes of unemployed Iranian dudes who used to hang around in front of the train station and who loved to snarl at me? Well, the Japanese cops had taken advantage of the chance and rounded those poor guys up and shipped them...well no one ever really found out where they'd been shipped.

[SicEmBaylor]

I was at work in Tulsa. Unlike the workplace of a previous poster, there was no panic, just the knowledge that we might be called on for extra support from our primary customer, American Airlines.

In the summer of 2008, I was in New York with family members. Every time we passed a firehouse, I looked at their trucks to see if on of them had the truck that the citizens of Oklahoma had purchased and donated after 9/11. I had just commented to my sister that I wondered which firehouse had that truck, when we heard the sounds of sirens behind us. I glanced back in time to see this truck heading east on 42nd street.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4510195726_b22fb47fdc.jpg

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-05-11/news/18194245_1_big-rig-new-yorkers-oklahoma-city

I did not know about this. Even cooler, a group of 4th Graders from my hometown represented the state. Cool.

[AggieTool]

On board USS Robin conducting a training mission.

About an hour before getting underway, the first plane hit.

When the second hit, we got the word that the fleet was going to sortie, and we would
be along for the ride unless we debarked immediately.