re: Where were you- 9/11 25 years ago

I had just left 11th grade US history class when my friend stopped me as I was putting my books into my locker and told me.

“TDSNGUMBO!!!! Did you hear what happened in New York!?”

I said no.

He goes, “two planes crashed into the World Trade Center”

I stared at him for a second. I didn’t know wtf the World Trade Center was at that time. I simply said, “ON PURPOSE!!?” And he said “yea! It was terrorists”.

My mind couldn’t comprehend two planes crashing into the same building. He then told me how he just left gym class and they were watching it on tv. Told me they were separate towers. His words as we went to our next class were, “we are at war”.

I got to the next class, which was ironically taught by my aunt, and asked her about it and if it was true. She couldn’t speak and just nodded yes. I got on the computer in her class and saw the towers and immediately recognized it now. I knew what those towers were, I just didn’t know it was the World Trade Center. School dismissed early that day and I got home to watch everything else unfold.

I lived in Donaldsonville then and had to pass by CF on the way home. The thing that hit home to me that day that made it real was passing CF and seeing cops and state troopers at every entrance of CF. I thought CF was going to be hit next.

My friend who told me about 9/11 is now gone, 20 years without him and I miss him very much. The 9/11 anniversary reminds me of him every year.

Do yall remember the fear and general feeling of “aw frick here we go again” when that plane crashed into the neighborhood in November of that year as well? I think it might’ve been in New York also. I remember my US history teacher in 11th grade telling us “I have an announcement to make: another plane has crashed and we don’t know what’s happening yet. Could’ve been an accident but we’re not sure yet. Just wanted you all to know what’s happening”.

Everyone was on pins and needles for so long after 9/11.

I was living in California. I had class at 8 am but was not awake yet. My mom called me - which was odd cuz of how early it was. All she said was put on the tv now. I thought Bush had gotten assassinated. The second i out the news on was when the second plane hit. I didn't move from watching the tv the whole day.

First hour senior year of high school.

Senior year at Denham Springs High School.

I posted this on 9/11/08. I still feel the same:


re: In rememberance... (Posted on 9/11/08 at 5:34 pm to dukke v)

September 10, 2001 was my 50th birthday. I spent the evening with friends and we were discussing the fact that we were thrilled that our kids did not have to grow up as we did, worrying about the USSR and a possible nuclear threat; remembering the Cuban Missile Crisis; watching people being shot trying to escape from East Germany by trying to scale the Berlin Wall, etc. The Cold War was over and we had won it. Life seemed good.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I received a telephone call from my secretary at about 7:00 am. She said that she thought that she screwed up and that I had two mediations in the District of Columbia Superior Court that morning. I asked her if this was a bad “day after 50th birthday” joke. I said that I was pretty sure that the mediations were on the 12th. She said that she would check and call me back. I hopped into the shower and when I got out she called and told me that I was correct and that they were on the 12th. I told her that I was going to wait out rush hour traffic and that I’d leave for the office around 10:00 am.

I was at the computer answering some emails (this was before I ever knew about Tiger Droppings). While at the computer, I heard on the Fox Morning Show that a plane had just hit one of the World Trade Center towers in NYC. The New Yorker in me did not even look up at the TV, I just thought, “Who is the idiot in the small plane that got too close to the WTC?” Shortly thereafter, I heard that the second tower was hit. At that point, like everyone else, I sat in horror watching the TV. Certainly, this was no accident.

About a half hour later, I heard a “BOOM”. At the time I lived a couple of miles or so from The Pentagon, as the crow flies. I went outside and saw the black smoke billowing from the direction of The Pentagon. It was so strange because it was a beautiful day. All I could hear were sirens (I had not heard so many sirens in D.C. since the Air Florida crash) and the sound of fighter jets overheard.

I tried to make some calls on my cell phone, but could not. I tried on a land line and it was still no use. I drove over to a 7-11 and used a pay phone to call some folks. I heard from my Mom that one of my sisters was supposed to have a matter in the Supreme Court in Manhattan that morning and was going to visit a friend at the WTC before her court appearance. We were both very frightened for my sister and wondered if she was OK.

I went into the 7-11 after making my calls and the rumors were running rampant. Some people were saying that the White House and Washington Monument had been hit. Some were saying that The Capitol had been blown up. I did not know whether or not any of what was being said was true.

I-395 was closed down and so I could not get into the office. I went over to Army-Navy Country Club to visit some friends. I was told that the American Airlines Flight 77 flew over the Club’s driving range at an altitude of about 250 feet on its way to The Pentagon.

At about 6:00 pm I decided that I needed to go to the office to get the files for the next day’s mediations. As I approached the 14th Street Bridge, I saw The Pentagon live for the first time that day. The smoke was still rising from the building and it was a horrible sight to see. All I could think was, “If this is what it is like here, what must it be like in Manhattan?”

As I crossed the 14th Street Bridge it was eerie not to see air traffic going up and down the Potomac. It was almost as eerie as when I saw the first jet landing at Reagan National after a few weeks of no air traffic.

When I got into D.C., I saw Humvees at each corner with manned .50 caliber machine guns. There were also armed soldiers on the streets.

After getting my files, I drove back to Alexandria and smoke was still rising from The Pentagon.

Prior to 9/11/01, the only building that I ever turned to look at in D.C. was The White House. Since 9/11, the only building that I turn to look at every time I pass it is The Pentagon. It saddens me every time I pass it and see the area that was struck.

Having grown up on Staten Island, I remember the NYC skyline before there was a WTC, and while the Towers were going up. I will never forget the day that they came down. I knew people who were killed in the Towers and the obituaries ran in the Staten Island Advance for months. A complete company of Staten Island Firefighters were killed in the collapse.

I had only been in the WTC once, for a dinner dance at the restaurant, Windows on the World (the top floor of the North Tower). Being afraid of heights, I did not like going to the windows (that went from ceiling to floor) and looking down. I cannot imagine what it took for some of those poor people to bring themselves to jump. I suppose in their minds it was better than burning to death. Nice choice.

Every time I go back to NY to visit family I tear up a bit when I see the Tower-less skyline.

Since that date, I have never prouder to be an American and a native New Yorker. I am saddened by the fact that it seems that a lot of people seem to have forgotten that there are people out there who mean us harm. We should all do anything that we can do to never forget that fact and the events of 9/11/01.

We owe a debt of gratitude that we can never repay to the men and women in our Armed Forces who are out fighting the good fight to keep us safe and to arrange a meeting with the Maker for all those who mean us harm. We also owe a debt to gratitude that we can never repay to those nameless people in our Intelligence Community who have dedicated their lives to thwarting subsequent attacks. It is not be coincidence that there has not been an attack on American shores has since 9/11/01.

9/11/01 -- Never Forget!

Working at Ferrara Fire Apparatus.

Senior in highschool. Walked in to first period AP Government and the teacher told everyone to sit down and shut up and we listened to it all go down on the radio.

The school put some big projection screens with the news on up in the concourse. They ended up canceling classes and said you could stay at school or go home.

I went home. A group of us all worked in a friend’s dad’s warehouse after school. When he found out school was closed, he called us all in to work at about noon.

.

I was in first grade when it happened. I didn’t actually find out about it until after school that day. My mom would pick me up from elementary school and then pick my sister up from the high school. The first I heard about it was when my sister got in the car and my mom asked her if she knew about what had happened. I remember us watching news coverage all that evening. Obviously I was too young to really understand what had happened other than some bad people flew airplanes into buildings and killed a lot of people.

I also remember the first anniversary being a really big deal. I remember we had a being remembrance program at school. By then I did have a bit more understanding of what had happened.

Now there are adults who weren’t even born when it happened, which is crazy to think. That makes it all the more important to have these ceremonies each year and for the documentaries to continue to air. 9/11/2001 is one of the most important days in the history of the United States, and every American needs to hear the stories of that day.

I was in an age of American innocence.