Where were you Sept. 11th, 10 years ago? archived

Glad you made it home that day BobK...I can't imagine.

I was still home in Maplewood. Recently back from maternity leave, I was pumping breast milk for my son before heading into the city for a meeting; I turned on the news to check weather etc and they were reporting that a small plane had hit one of the towers...there was some smoke, but they said it was likely a private plane, an accident. Maybe because my dad flew small planes when I was a kid, I though, "you would have to be an idiot to accidentally hit a skyscraper, maybe the person had a heart attack or something - great...I bet there will be delays and the city will be a nightmare today"...I feel so bad that that was my reaction...so selfish.
Then, of course, the TV showed the second plane hit and for a crazy second I thought, "wow - what a horrible coincidence...is there a problem with air traffic control??"...
I ran and told my husband (he would normally be at work downtown, but the kids had a pediatrician appointment and I'd asked him to go in late so I could make my meeting; he couldn't get back into his office for quite a bit after) to turn on the TV. Then I called my parents, an hour earlier there, and told them to turn on the TV, that we were ok and I remember my mom saying, "oh, God...we're going to war over this". She was right, of course.

Because denial was part of the equation, I called my boss to ask if the meeting was still on (!) and she was freaking out...colleagues (not people I worked with closely) had been on one of the planes and people in our office (a high floor of a building adjacent to Grand Central, so that was a concern too) had kids at a church preschool down by the towers (the kids were ok) and they couldn't get through, of course, and for some reason there was no way for them to get TV or radio and I remember putting on WNYC and they listened over speaker phone for a long time.

Later, after the towers fell, we went and got our oldest from preschool. I regret that the TV was on for a long time before we realized our son was seeing the horrible images on a loop. We were sort of hypnotized watching... At some point, I ran into Maplewood village and went to Kings...I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I bought emergency supplies, like for a blizzard. I ran into a friend who had made it back from downtown. She was so shaken but was buying food for all the strangers who had followed her home...people who didn't even live in NJ but ended up here just to get out. While I was in the store people were either kind of zoned out or panicky and were exclaiming, "they just bombed the Sears Tower" and other rumors that were circulating. I ran to the bank and withdrew cash then went and got gas...for what? Where would we go?
I couldn't sit still at home, so we all packed up and went to donate blood, sure that we would help save lives. If only.

I feel guilty for feeling so sad when nothing actually happened to me. Sure, I know people who lost someone, preschool parents were lost, but we were ok. And I changed my life partly because if that day and quit the law...

walking to work..... on the corner of liberty and church..... heard bang looked up..... saw what looked like confetti..... had just voted... it was election day.... thought it was a stunt. I quickly walked to office next to the stock exchange, saw people scrambling in the office get hard hats, equipment together, id's in preparation of heading over to the towers to meet Frank DeMartini, the head of construction for the PA, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tlcs-911-heroes-88th-floor-229331, ready to assess the damage to the buildings after the fires were put out as they did after the 1993 bombing. I was instructed to stay in the office and gather the necessary drawings and documents of the buildings and provide support as need. The group made it to Trinity Church before the 2nd plane hit and everybody started running away from the towers and had to come back to the office. Not knowing anything at this point, desperately trying to reach our PA contacts, many who did not survive, we watched in horror as the building collapse, the dust clouds envelope our building....listening to radio reports of many hijacked airplanes, we stayed in our office not sure if we were a target as our office was next and part of the stock exchange..... hearing fighter jets zoom by.... we finally evacuated our office around noon.... and entered a surreal scene with paper and inches thick cement on the street. Then it became the most intense months of our lives, as we provided engineering support along with hundreds of engineers from all over the city during the recovery efforts.... the memories afterwards that I have will always be the smell, which didn't go away downtown until the last truck load of debris left the site 9 months later. The night shifts.... how around 4am the site became quiet..... the scramble to erect the 6 month memorial in battery park city.... the momentous efforts of the firefighters looking through all the debris..... and the removal of the last column.....even that required engineering and a sketch.

i was home in Maplewood that day (in between jobs) my two kids (5 and 3 at the time) at their schools, That morning was absolutely beautiful and warm-- I went jogging in the reservation at the time the first plane hit the tower . The fire and smoke visible from the reservation and people had gathered to watch-- not knowing it was the result of a terrorism attack.

when I got home and turned on the tv to see what the fire was about I watched in horror as the events unfolded the rest of the day is a blur.

Previously I had worked in the wall street area for many years and had worked in WTC2 on the 102nd floor I remember how vulnerable I felt going up the high speed elevators and working in that building...

I was at work on 43rd and 12th. Outdoors on the fifth floor roof having a direct view of the WTC. Unreal. Tons of people afterward trying to get on the Ferry. Lines miles long.

I was in my office, four long blocks NE of the WTC when the planes hit. I was standing away from my window which looked out on the twin towers, talking with a co-worker, when the two of us heard a loud noise. My co-worker said that it sounded just like a plane crash but neither of us believed that was the cause until we rushed to the window behind my desk and saw that a jigsaw puzzle piece shaped hole was all that remained of a portion of one of the twin towers. Then we heard the first of a great many helicopters we would hear that day as first the media and then law enforcement/security tried to learn what had happened. Then the second plane hit the other tower and completely obliterated the top third or so of that structure. All that remained was an outline of embers. These are images I will never forget.

Far more than the images I remember the sounds of that day and following days/weeks/ months. To this day the sounds of helicopters overhead, sirens in the near distance, bag pipe renditions of Danny Boy, are what I think of first when I remember 9/11/2001.

I continue to mourn for the thousands who died at the WTC that day but I also celebrate the fact that so many tens of thousands of persons survived thanks to good engineering of the towers themselves and the incredible response of our uniformed forces who rushed to the scene in great numbers and did rescue so many before dying themselves in the towers' collapse.

On a the first Continental flight of the day at Newark Airport to San Fran. On the tarmac at the same time as the flight that went down in PA. Was grounded in Grand Rapids and rented a car and drove home with a man I just met, 11 hours straight. If I hadn't been on the flight, I would have been coming into the towers on the PATH train at the same time they were hit for my job downtown. Definitely thankful the terrorist didn't board my flight and I have been blessed with another 10 years here, which allowed me the opportunity to have two beautiful and loving children.

I was at University Hospital in Newark, which is a regional trauma center, expecting our pediatric HIV patients and their families to come in. We called our families to tell them not to come in. The entire hospital then went into Community Disaster mode (Code Yellow) and we all began preparing for the influx of injured we expected from NYC. Decontamination tents were set up outside the hospital along with triage stations. We waited for injured people to begin to arrive via PATH. We donated blood. And we waited. We watched over and over and over on the television in the patient waiting room as the planes hit and the towers fell repeatedly. As we waited we began to speculate about why no patients were arriving. We came to the sad and helpless realization that there were relatively few injuries, but rather there were a lot of deaths. In the afternoon I went home to be with my 5 year old, who had just begun kindergarten and had no way to understand what happened and why her parents were so sad

I was driving to a plumbing job in Short Hills. When I heard Howard Stern talking about what had just happened and trying to figure out if it was a little plane, accident or what.
I rang the customer's doorbell, pushed past their housekeeper when she opened the door and turned on the widescreen in the media room. I was out of my mind because my nephew was in the 2nd tower to be hit.
I bolted out of there and drove straight to Washington Rock where about 10 people had already gathered with cameras etc.
I remember one guy was standing on a bench like he was giving a speech, loudly blaming the Palistinians and another guy was saying like, "f--- you maybe it was a domestic terrorist like McVeigh" etc.
This was before we started Right One so I called my boss on the Nextel and told him what was going on and where I was, he said "keep your position, you are witnessing Pearl Harbor!"
I remember fighter jets screaming over our heads toward the city, women who had been jogging stopping to find out what was going on and a minute later on their cell phones crying.
Anyway, I watched both towers fall from there. For weeks afterward, at every customer's house someone had a story of how they were impacted or had lost someone.
My nephew, by the way, didn't heed the "Go back to your desk" announcement thank God and hit the stairs helping an older couple get to safety along the way, got out safely to find out a few days later that his wife was pregnant with their first child. Almost their entire wedding party had been killed.

I remember it was a beautiful day. I had stayed home from work that day because Jac from JC painting was going to strip the paint from my fireplace that day. I also had people working on my "Maplewood" room as well as Slomin's at the house to put in a new wireless alarm. I had just sat down at the kitchen table, unplugged my phone from the wall so I could use my computer - ah the days before cable modems and wireless networks. Apparently my brother, who was in Philly at the time, was trying to call me to ask if my wife was ok, that he had been trying to call her for the last 20 mins or so and when he couldn't do that he sent me an email. It was at that time that the slomin's guy said that one of his co-workers called and said that a plane had crashed into the WTC. So we (Jac, me and the slomin's guy) all went to watch TV and there we sat watching. I remember trying to call my wife to see if she was ok, but all the circuits were busy. Both Jac and the slomin's kid offered their phones and I actually got through but was disconnected after a few seconds. She was safe - in Midtown. My immediate thought was to get my then almost three year old from pre-school. So in a daze I went to get him.

I remember walking into the pre-school and all the teachers had this look on their faces and I remember seeing my son for the first time and almost crying that I could hug him but also remember thinking how I was going to protet him from what was going on. I don't know if I was tearing up out of happiness in seeing him or because we were all scared, maybe both. I do recall that we had just dropped off my older son in Philly to start Art school and that we had planned a trip that following weekend to bring more of his stuff to his dorm. We were staying at the Sheraton University City on one of the upper floors and my younger son sat there looking out the window and saw a plane fly by and asked if it was going to "crash into the city." I was amazed he even knew what was going on as he was not yet three years old.

Every time I open my control panel for the alarm I read the inscription written by the slomin's guy - it says 9/11/2001 - the day terrorists crashed planes into the WTC.

I knew one person who died that day and I'm thankful that it was only one, but I mourn both the people who died and those they left behind.

I think the thing that I remember in the days afterwards was that feeling of everyone coming together and think of where we are today - so divided at times. Its amazing what we can do as a society when everyone works together. Just a shame that we often lose sight of that.

someone in the office said there was something on the internet about a small plane crashing into the tower.

we all kinda ignored it, until the news grew worse. went outside and walked over a block to where there was a clear view of the towers, now burning. i could only think of the movie "Towering Inferno" -- and how that building didn't fall, so this would be ok.

the crowds grew -- both from people walking up from the twin towers area and those of us just blocks north who were watching.

a couple of buddies and I were standing near a subway stop -- a young woman had come from midtown, she could get no further south since the subways were shut by then. she looked up and started wailing "my sister works on the 100th floor" (I don't remember the exact number, it might have been higher). she fell to the ground sobbing and a couple of us went over to comfort her.

that's when i knew it was real

was working at an ad agency that had as clients Amex & New York Times. we were working on projects with both -- this Amex group had offices in the WTC. that's when I realized that the night before I had told a guy who worked for me -- he could choose to go to a 9 am meeting at Amex or a 9:30 meeting at The Times -- he should find out more and choose. at that moment I had no idea which meeting he'd gone to and was literally shaking. hours later back at the office he walked in the door, he'd gone to the meeting at The Times and was safe.

what emotions.

I'm crying alot reading this accounts. I didn't realize how emotional this still is for me.

On a slightly lighter note, my grandmother who had a little dementia, asked my mom at the end of the day, "Why are there so many planes hitting so many buildings lately?" (she was watching the many loops of the event).

Sportsnut - AMEN

I was still at home and my husband in the city called me and said, "I don't know what happened - I guess a pilot lost his way". We thought it was a small plane. My sister was staying with us and I went and woke her up, "you're not going to believe this - some dummy flew into the WTC!". We were watching the TV when the second plane hit and we both stood there for many seconds, trying to comprehend what was really going on. Our brother works in the Pentagon, and when we heard about that plane, well, I don't know. I think I went a little bat*****. It was many hours before we heard he was ok, and all the time I was watching the devastation in NYC and I can't even fathom the pain of the families whose loved ones didn't make it home that day.

Our Lady of Sorrows Church seems to be ringing bells at the times the planes hit.

I noticed that, too, C_q.

As an aside, this is the most beautiful, poignant thread. Time may pass, but the pain doesn't disappear.

I was on maternity leave - I worked in the World Financial Center. The only thing separating us from the WTC was 6 lanes of the west side highway. My office window view was the WTC.

Hubby was going in late - he worked all the way downtown. I am eternally gratefully to his boss who had switched his hours for Tues.

I remember passing thru the kitchen and hearing something on the radio about a plane flying into the WTC. Thought the same thing as all the others - a guy in a Cessna had a heart attack. I went into the Maplewood room to turn on the TV.

I remember yelling up to my husband that he wasn't going to work that day.

I remember calling my parents and just saying 'turn on the TV'' and my mom asking what channel. I replied 'it doesn't matter.'

I remember seeing the second plane hit.

I called my colleagues and friends at work - got a hold my manager - asked him what happened. He said they couldn't see anything - but knew something very bad had happened. Some of my colleagues watched the second plane come around. They could read the word United on the side of the plane. They then got the order to evacuate. Some did - but ended up on the West side highway - they ran back in and somehow managed to climb into the stairway that opened onto the river side.

I remember calling everyone and everyone calling us - some calls would only go through on the cell, others on the landline.

I remember needing to do something - anything to help - I called a vendor in PA to set up a 3 camera live switch in Plainsboro for 9/12 - I told him I couldn't reach anyone - and just to be there. My department was the video network of Merrill Lynch. I called my satellite co-ord - same thing - get ready to do a live feed - no idea when. Having something to do while the baby slept kept me sane.

It two days for me to track down everyone except one that we knew in the towers.

The night after my husband told me that his high school friend, ran into the towers to help - he was a NYFD FF on his day off - and became one of the 343.

I will always remember the beautiful clear blue sky on the way to work that day. Even now, whenever we have a day like that, I think of that morning. I was at work at a preschool on the upper east side. The first sign that something was wrong was that one of the staff came in upset. she was frantic because her sister had been in the first wtc bombing and still worked there. I thought she was over reacting and would scare the children because she was crying. I asked her to go into the hall. Then my cell phone rang and it was friend from Boston who wanted to know if I was ok. She told me what had happened. Then parents started streaming in and picking up their children. One of them had come in a cab. She had it waiting out front. After all the children had gone home, the cab drove me back downtown, where I lived. The radio was on and we listened as the next plane hit. As we drove down fifth avenue, I watched the blank faces of the people as they walked home. There were so many people walking uptown. As the cab got closer to where I lived in Chelsea, there were less people. Everyone was trying to flag the cab down. When I got into my apartment, I watched the tower fall on tv. Later that night, I went to the local bar with my roommate. The air was so smelly and it stung my eyes. I kept rubbing them but it just made it worse. Someone I never met tipped my head back and put drops in them even though I was telling her not to do it. It made my eyes much better. I remember the hundreds of ambulances from all over the country lined up on 11th avenue, with no patients to help.

And I remember coming into the office in December. They allowed us 2 hours to go in and collect whatever we could.

I remember walking into my office and the light was all wrong. There was light. Streaming in. There shouldn't have been. The towers had blocked most of it.

I remember when they carted out the last bean of steel from the pit. They draped it with an American flag.
I remember the one year anniversary. I was working - the news crews were on our building's 10th floor setback and ML had a ceremony there. The company lost 3 people.

I remember looking out the window at any given time to see FF working on the pile.
I remember seeing them stop and form a line and knowing what it meant.

I remember our fax machine at work going non stop that first week or two. Faxes from our clients and colleagues from all over the world expressing their shock and sorrow at what had happened. Our secretaries hung them up in the mailroom - it was amazing. They covered the walls.

I remember how windy it was on the first anniversary.

It was such a gorgeous morning- both my husband and I were off , dropped the kids off at school and decided to go to the beach for one last day of sun...we stopped at Dunkin Donuts first and when I came out my husband told me he didn't think we should go, that some kind of plane had hit the WTC- as we were sitting in the car, the second plane hit. We went back home, and being an ER nurse, called into work to see if they needed me....Hubby took the kids out of school and I went to the hospital. We were so ready....mobilized for anything they might bring us....but as the day wore on, we realized they wouldn't be bringing anyone. The hardest part of that day was answering the phones and having to tell frantic family members that , no, their loved one was not there....

sportsnut said:

We were staying at the Sheraton University City on one of the upper floors and my younger son sat there looking out the window and saw a plane fly by and asked if it was going to "crash into the city." I was amazed he even knew what was going on as he was not yet three years old.
.

On a flight more than a year later, my oldest, not quite 4 when the events took place, asked if we were going to fly into a building; around the same time he freaked out in the car going through the Holland...there were loud motorcycles and he thought they were planes flying into the tunnel...I kick myself for having the TV on where he could see it for a while.

Joy...what you wrote reminds me. I mostly worked in Newark in the tall complex...we were permitted to keep working from home and we didn't have to go in for awhile because there were great views of the planes from Newark Airport through the huge windows and they knew it would make people feel afraid. And also the FBI was in one of the buildings I worked in and there was so much security and I feel like I remember bomb threats and just so much anxiety. Increased security was new. Seeing officers and soldiers with guns...I had only seen that in Greece once when there was an increased threat. Those early days when the threat level warnings were something people seemed to internalize more than now...

ess said:

this is the most beautiful, poignant thread. Time may pass, but the pain doesn't disappear.

Amen to that. And thanks to all for contributing but I feel compelled to note the following posters who made me smile/cry/feel even more:

crazy quilter, ess, sarahzm, debby, nan, conandrob, lilly’s dad, doulamomma, terminator, rgaspich, plungy, sportsnut (and a special thanks to CQ for starting this thread)

I hope that all who were effected by it in any way, have a peaceful day.
Love Wendy

wendy said:

ess said:

this is the most beautiful, poignant thread. Time may pass, but the pain doesn't disappear.

Ditto.
Thank you all for sharing.
I remember the day and the weeks that followed so vividly.

I find I can't read the stories, or tell my own... today. Maybe later.

I was at the Annex, in charge of setup for the PTA Book Fair, wondering why the Barnes & Noble team was late delivering the books. We heard a plane had hit Tower 1, and watched on a small tv in the school library. I remember holding a hysterical parent whose brother worked there; he was one of the lucky ones who got out.

My SIL arrived at my house: my brother was on a plane scheduled to leave EWR, and we didn't initially know if they had taken off or if he was safe. His plane never left the tarmac. They were brought back to the terminal, let out of the plane and all fled the airport. We talked afterwards of how other terrorists could have been on those planes, but were just allowed to randomly leave. He got to my house and we watched the coverage together all day.

We remember those lost, and honor those whose bravery, heroism, strength and resolve continue to strengthen us all.

Looking back, this makes 10 years just seem like a minute.
There are things that can bring me back to the horror I felt in just a snap. Unfortunately, one of the one things that brings me back is the feel of a quiet, crisp late Summer morning.

I'll never forget the things I saw that day, and there are times I wish I could.

I have dreams to this day, of being on the PATH train back from Christopher street and the lights going out. And the feeling that I am going to die.
I have dreams of seeing heavy debris falling from the buildings and then realizing they are people jumping.

One thing I try to concentrate on is the feeling of humanity, connection and the strong feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood in the days and weeks after the attacks.
I have never experienced anything like that. People would just go out of their way to be thankful for life. Lots of hugs.
I specifically remember this message board as I place I would come to and try to feel somewhat normal.

A happy memory I keep tucked in my back pocket: I was in Chumley's Bar the Monday after the attacks.
A group of firemen dressed in their work clothes and covered with dust came up to the bar.
The place just broke out in to applause.
The firemen broke out in to the biggest smile and did a kind of jig and a bow.
I said, "I'd like to buy you guys a drink"
one of them responded to me and said, "I'll let you buy me two".
I stayed for about 12. That was the first happy time I had after all of that.

Like everyone else, I know people that died that day and I've been trying to live a life worthy of life itself, as a tribute to those who died.
Not to live in fear.
Not to waste a day.
And to never forget.

Beautiful, Buzzsaw.

I was listening to the radio pulling into the parking lot of my office when Z100's Elvis Duran broke in to say a plane hit the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that he was making a bad joke and wondering why he would say something like that.

When the second plane hit I tried calling my brother that worked at 40 Wall St. and took the Path to WTC everyday. It was nearly impossible to get a line out and when I was able to make a call all I only got voicemail. A little over 2 hours later my husband called to say my brother was ok.

Later that evening I when I was able to see my brother I found out two things. 1) Just as I suspected he tried to go to the towers to help but was turned away. 2) He was invited by Risk Waters to the breakfast at Windows on The World but had decided not to go.