Where were You on 9/11/01???

patrick66

Old Man with a Hat
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Looks like the previous thread I started on this got 96'd during the week of server problems.

It's been 20 years. Everyone old enough to remember the day knows what they were doing and where they were on 9/11.

This is asking where you were and what happened around you. This is NOT conspiracy theory time. Don't want to hear them. Start your own thread if you want to go there.

I was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on contract with about a dozen or so others, training the Saudi AWACS aircrew on the upgraded systems on their jets. Riyadh is +8 hours from US EDT, so the attack had just started when we got home from work. Our normal routine was to start dinner and turn on the TV to Sky News. As it came on, we saw the North Tower on fire, and a cartoonish-looking impression of a large airplane. On a perfect, cloudless day. How does one hit a building on a clear day like that? It was moments later when we saw the second airplane hit the South Tower! We all gasped and yelled at the TV! I distinctly heard myself say "Fu**ing Saudis!" Our phone rang. One of the guys in our villa (4 per villa) answered, his wife had called, asking "are you seeing this?" We stared at the TV and just couldn't believe our own eyes...

This was a Tuesday, so we had to work the next day and were considering options. We're at war, right? Then we got word of the hit on the Pentagon. The U.S. cleared the skies of all airplanes. Then Shanksville, PA. Holy ****! We all called our wives and let them know nothing was going on where we were.

The rest of the day turned into a flurry of calls back and forth to the US, trying to sort out what we were going to do, going forward. We were all in a stunned trance. I don't remember if we ever got dinner cooking or not. The next day at work was a real turning point in my life. I'll leave that for another time.

How about you?
 
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I was at work we heard about it on the radio. Once we heard about the second plane we knew it wasn't just an accident. Listened to the radio for of the day. My wife called me at lunchtime to talk about it. Then went home after work and watched it on TV.
 
I was at work, at my bench, repairing something-I don't recall what. One of our drivers came in, quite excited, and said, "We're at WAR!!". That was when our Canadian airports got very busy! This is a great example of how so many people, in so many places are affected by a tragic event. So many were able to help in so many ways. Some were true heroes and others did smaller things which benefited others.
I could continue, but I would be sliding into the political and the politically incorrect, so.........
I will extend my continuing sympathy to all who lost so much. God Bless you all. Lindsay
 
I was at work as a Miltary Contractor conducting testing on a miltary base near D.C.

We all seen the first plane hit the WTC and thought it was a terrible accident. When the 2nd plane hit the WTC we all knew we were being attacked. We immediately suspended testing and went into defense mode. There is a lot of air traffic near D.C. and all of that stopped. We seen pairs of F15 Strike Eagles screaming across the sky at a very low altitude. That was comforting...
None of our cell phones were working. My family lives in Wisconsin and they knew I was working near D.C. and were very worried that they couldn't reach me by cell phone. What a terrible day!!!

BTW, we provided training support to Seal Team 6 at the Army Test Center on Aberdeen Proving Ground a decade later leading up to the Bin Laden raid. We provided everything and anything that they needed. I wish I could say more but a lot is still classified.

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I was in 2nd Grade. They waited til the end of the day to tell us. It came over the intercom, I didnt know what the Twin Towers were so I rushed home to ask my dad. I remember walking into his room and he was planted in front of the TV. I remember watching somebody falling, that still has stuck with me after 20 years. From what I read after the first day or 2, they stopped showing the real graphic images.
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This one was Taken from a Passenger Plane right before the Air space got shut down.
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I was at Al Jabber AFB Kuwait. Walked into the tent from night shift and saw the news, thought it was a movie at first. Second plane hit and all hell broke loose, sirens etc., weapons were issued. That never happen is the USAF. Really sucked for the wife, she was in NY and could see the smoke from the towers. I was backfilling for Cali on the pave hawks with the 129th RQW and was supposed to leave back the next day. Could not even call home for four days total communication and flying transports blackout. Two weeks later after getting home went back again two days later with my unit 106 RQW, I should have just stayed there.. That is burned into my mind forever. Have to give it to the wife she held it together with the kids.
 
Streetsboro Ohio delivering beer. I couldnt get over what a pretty day it was. My helpers wife called him to tell him. Went to the next stop and seen it on tv. Heartbreaking.
 
I was in school cycling through classes like a normal Tuesday. Some of the teachers liked to let the news play early in the morning so I saw the coverage from the beginning. I remember changing class throughout the day and each classroom had a little tv playing, so we saw what was happening even though they had been told to turn them off. I'm gad they didn't as I got to see everything unfold in real time, like the second plane hitting. For some reason I remember my dad talking about it on the ride home and one of the things he said was "they've grounded all planes, look up into the sky, you'll probably never see such a clear sky again". I remember doing that for probably 10 minutes when I got home. It was a beautiful clear day, not a plane in sight, he was right.

20 years later and I don't know what to say...
 
I was at a customer's place in Binghamton, NY. I had spent a lot of time there, so I knew everyone. The room I was in was usually empty except for me and the guy that I worked with there.

When the first place hit, someone came down and told us what was going on and before I knew it, there was a few guys gathered around the computer trying to figure out what had happened. A couple guys saying something about it being terrorists, but most of us thought it must have been an accident. I even mentioned the B-25 hitting the Empire State Building in the 40's.

Then the second plane hit and we knew it wasn't an accident. We were all dumbfounded by it.
 
I was driving to work when the first plane it and at first they thought it was an accident. When I got to work they had a TV on and at that time they determined that it was a terrorist attack. It was very horrifying as you did not know what would come next. I was in Connecticut at that time and feared more attacks would happen and that the Groton CT sub base or the Pratt & Whitney engine plants might be a target.
 
Was at Spangdahle AB, Germany, working out when the gym got eerily quiet. Went to a TV where everyone was gathered. Watched and thought hmm, Hollywood. Watched again when we all realized it was real. Went directly to the commanders office where many senior members were gathering. Let my commander know "I don't know exactly where we're going or what exactly we're doing, but I'm in" A day later we were on our way. Never Forget!
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At work in a business meeting, planning a trip to see Toyota later the same day (canceled of course with the ground stop). Didnt see any media coverage until 7pm that night .. though office chatter revealed enough of the devastating human details up until that point.

i knew those buildings from several visits to NYC. Had grad school classmates in them. Knew people who lost lost people in all three places.

We will never forget .. because we are unable to.

All the best after the past and all the years to come to all affected, especially to the families and friends of everybody so senselessly lost that day:

source: Full list of the 2,977 victims who died during 9/11

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Sitting in my office in Auburn Hills. I just happened to be online when it happened. First thing I thought of was the Clancy book where a 747 is flown into the Capital building. By the time the second plane hit, the internet was overwhelmed with traffic. Many of us spent the day watching it on the huge tv in the front lobby. By noon the silence outside was eerie. A single fighter jet in the sky flying a loop from Auburn Hills to Detroit.
I was a kid during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination but this day was probably my seminal moment. I get sucked in every time I see a 911 documentary on tv.
 
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I was in the Navy stationed in Norfolk Virginia. I was in a leader ship class and was on break when the instructor came in and told us that a plane just hit the towers, we all went to the break room and watched the second plane hit on TV, they immediately dismissed the school and instructed everybody to report back to their command, my ship happen to be in drydock at the time. Typically when there’s an emergency like this they will sortie all ships they can get underway out to see as it is safer for them at sea then gather import tied to a pier.
Never thought in 1 million years that I would ever be living in New York, let alone now working right across the street from the trade center now for 11 years.
 
I was just starting the second week of my second year of auto body courses. We had just finished our daily classroom studies and headed to the shop for the hands on instruction. The instructor had us take an early morning break. Sitting in front of the huge tv in the Commons like we always did at 9:15am but instead of Mtv (they still played videos then) or Jenny Jones we watched the towers fall one then the other. The Cosmology girls who sat with us couldn't believe it either. Returning to the shop and started buffing my Monte Carlo out. Our instructors told us just got home a be with your families because the college was officially closed.

A weird side memory: one of the first year students made a comment that was funny at the time and somehow stuck. And I quote "Someday I'll be asked by my children and grandchildren where were you on 9/11 and I'll answer checking out this chicks hot pink thong"
 
Flew in to Memphis and then drove 90 miles to the CAT Reman center in Corinth Miss. We got to the conference room just in time to see the second plane driven into the Tower. I had to explain that this wasn’t the first time it was attacked, the other big try they used trucks. Anyways everyone was screwed and stranded. My idiot boss eventually gave up on us flying back and we cannonballed our crown Vic back to Phoenix. Only saw one cop the whole trip. All we ever saw was message boards that said speed strictly enforced. It was very hard to find fuel and no planes to see for the entire trip. We were doing about 130 or so on 40 almost into New Mexico. I waved to the Texas State trooper and he waved back. Guess he figured we were going somewhere official. I told my buddy to wear a dress shirt and with the dark gray crown Vic we must’ve looked the part... Funny thing is because of being stranded and traveling we missed most of the tv news. I always felt like we missed the whole thing because we didn’t get to really see any of it on the news. Never forget how quiet it was at Sky Harbor when we dumped the rental. It was as quiet as the open desert because no planes were running.

Craziest story I know of was my uncle tommy having a divorce type fight with my aunt Chris on the way to the airport. She made him super late and he ended up missing flight 93. He said he really got to like the taste of crow after that fight.

RIP to all the good folks who never made it home that day.
 
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