remember that day and the reports of the first plane hitting the tower like it was yesterday.
Hard to believe it's been 16 years
- Thread starter psuro
- Start date
Was at Disney's Animal Kingdom, when an Austrailian lady was on cell crying and saying "Oh my God"! Told my wife an kid someone must have died in her family. Went to Epcot to see Nations in the daytime, which we never had done. It was roped off because "of the bombing in New York". Told wife and son, "some ass blew himself up in New York", so we might as well eat until they open. Went to Innoventions upper deck restaurant. Saw many people flooding the pay phones outside, and heading toward front of park. Went downstairs, place was empty cleaning lady said we were locked in, only ones there. Security let us out, said park was closing. Emptied park in 20 minutes by buses. Didn't find out what happened until got back at room at Port Orleans.
Part I of story.
I remember turning on the TV at a job site to watch. Many memories.
My friend worked at the Deutsche Bank Building, on the 2nd floor. He heard the first plane hit the WTC and ran outside to see what had happened. Jumped on the subway and was on one of the last trains to leave Penn Station that day. Made it home.
Another friend lived near there ... could not get back to their apartment for some period of time. They had left a window cracked and returned to dust / ashes in their apt.
Terrible day for this country.
My friend worked at the Deutsche Bank Building, on the 2nd floor. He heard the first plane hit the WTC and ran outside to see what had happened. Jumped on the subway and was on one of the last trains to leave Penn Station that day. Made it home.
Another friend lived near there ... could not get back to their apartment for some period of time. They had left a window cracked and returned to dust / ashes in their apt.
Terrible day for this country.
I actually got a lot of updates throughout the day from this message board.
Lived in DC area. Had come back from San Francisco on Sunday, took Monday off and drove to work on that beautiful day just dreading having to go back because it was a perfect weather day.
Drove by the South and West side of the Pentagon out to my job in Vienna/Tyson's Corner, Va. Went by it about 40 min before it got hit; wife was underground on metro from Pentagon stop when it happened - emerged at Farragut West to chaos in her building as people were panicking everywhere. Her cousin worked in the same building and greeted her crying - knowing she would have been at the Pentagon Bus/Metro transit area (other side of where Pentagon got hit).
We talked after both planes hit and I told her to metro out to near me, and we'd drive home. She got on one of the last trains before they shut it down. We drove home on back roads which were still pretty clogged. Watched TV for about 10 hours straight to the sounds of jets flying overhead.
Drove by the South and West side of the Pentagon out to my job in Vienna/Tyson's Corner, Va. Went by it about 40 min before it got hit; wife was underground on metro from Pentagon stop when it happened - emerged at Farragut West to chaos in her building as people were panicking everywhere. Her cousin worked in the same building and greeted her crying - knowing she would have been at the Pentagon Bus/Metro transit area (other side of where Pentagon got hit).
We talked after both planes hit and I told her to metro out to near me, and we'd drive home. She got on one of the last trains before they shut it down. We drove home on back roads which were still pretty clogged. Watched TV for about 10 hours straight to the sounds of jets flying overhead.
i was on the way from CLE to Columbus that morning. I stopped into a gas station and heard about #1. I just jumped in my car when I heard a live reporter go bananas when #2 hit. At that point, people thought it was a mistake but when #2 hit, we all knew it was an attack. I watched for a half hour on TV with a bunch of truckers who were about to grab M-16s and head off to NYC. I continued onto Columbus but there are no radio stations except one: Howard Stern. So I listened to the play by play by Howard Stern and company. They did a great job and I've always had respect for Stern after that. But it is crazy getting your news from Howard Stern while the country is in crises.
I met with a couple of executives from IBM and a large bank at 11:30. We talked about it for five minutes and then the IBM exec said "we can't do anything about it but keep commerce going in the US until this gets sorted out. Let's get down to business." Great respect to him for keeping focus because, ultimately, he was right.
My company had a meeting in CA, I was supposed to be there but this meeting caused me to cancel. A friend who lives near me was also in CA. With the planes shut down, he bought a used car for $3,000 and drove it home. Sold it the next week.
I had a rental car because mine was in the shop. The plane stoppage caused them to not be able to get a part. So I kept my rental car for almost two weeks. If you'll recall, their used a lot of rental cars. I say this because two days after not returning my car, I got a call from the FBI.
I met with a couple of executives from IBM and a large bank at 11:30. We talked about it for five minutes and then the IBM exec said "we can't do anything about it but keep commerce going in the US until this gets sorted out. Let's get down to business." Great respect to him for keeping focus because, ultimately, he was right.
My company had a meeting in CA, I was supposed to be there but this meeting caused me to cancel. A friend who lives near me was also in CA. With the planes shut down, he bought a used car for $3,000 and drove it home. Sold it the next week.
I had a rental car because mine was in the shop. The plane stoppage caused them to not be able to get a part. So I kept my rental car for almost two weeks. If you'll recall, their used a lot of rental cars. I say this because two days after not returning my car, I got a call from the FBI.
This was the first day of a new job for me... it was a Tuesday, but it was my very first day there because I wanted to have off on Monday to do some more exploring of the area. I didn't know a single person at this place and I was in a cubicle outside of HR reading company policy manuals and other routine onboarding stuff. There were so many people roaming the halls and walking around chatting, that I started to question how this company could be effective/profitable. Gradually, I started hearing certain keywords repeated in these conversations as people walked by: towers, plane, NYC. Finally, someone from my department who I just met earlier that morning on a tour was walking by and asked whether anyone had told me what happened. He filled me in and we went to the lunch room where the news was showing on TV. They actually sent us all "home" before noon. I was stating at an efficiency type hotel room and felt very alone. I called back to talk to my mom for a while and I think that made us both feel a little better.
Looking back, I really with I had re-enlisted after that. I was still young enough and in decent physical condition. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to do what I did when I was 18-21 years old, but even serving in the National Guard or reserves would have been a noble thing to do at that point.
Looking back, I really with I had re-enlisted after that. I was still young enough and in decent physical condition. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to do what I did when I was 18-21 years old, but even serving in the National Guard or reserves would have been a noble thing to do at that point.
I was in the HUB, getting coffee and a bagel, when the first Plane hit. On my way to Spanish 2?? when I noticed a bunch of students staring at the big screen and talking about a fire in the tower. Stood there drinking and eating till we all watched the second plane go across the screen and into the second tower. Dropped coffee and bagel. Proceeded home to Patterson St where my roomies and I watched news for two days straight, all the while discussing how this was gonna lead to Bush invading Afghanistan, etc.
Yep.
And, for SIXTEEN YEARS, we STILL have American troops in a backwood country called Afghanistan. A Country that Mack Daddy and a platoon of Navy Seals could take over in one week. Possibly, even 5 days if I don't stop for pizza and beer.
7th Grade history class for me. After the first plane hit, my history teacher got a call and put it on the TV. A class of 25 12/13 year olds watched the second plane hit the towers.
I was at my office. My wife was in the midwest on business and was in the air when the first tower was hit. Her plane was put on the ground in Kansas City. After learning what happened, she and her travel companion rented a car and drove back to Philly. When they returned the car at the Philly airport and explained to the car rental agent that they drove it back from KC, the guy told them to park it between "that one from Atlanta and that one from Houston".
My brother-in-law is in the broadcast business and had a few antennas on top of the WTC. He was getting ready to take the Path into the city by from his place in NJ to do a check on the WTC equipment when the planes hit. Fortunately he is not a morning person and never schedules early appointments
My brother-in-law is in the broadcast business and had a few antennas on top of the WTC. He was getting ready to take the Path into the city by from his place in NJ to do a check on the WTC equipment when the planes hit. Fortunately he is not a morning person and never schedules early appointments
I passed through Pentagon station 30-60? minutes before the hit. We were all online watching news from L'Enfant area when somebody at a west-facing desk shouted "they just hit the Pentagon!" I thought was a sick joke until I looked out the window. I remember uttering "you don't hit the f'in Pentagon!" Was pretty nerve wracking for the next few hours as false alarms around town hit the airwaves.
I'll never forget the smell of the smoldering insulation burning when I passed through Pentagon City on the walk home that afternoon, and saw only emergency vehicles on the street.
Can't say I never thought about the wisdom of working in Sears/Willis Tower once I moved to Chicago.
Re: false alarms. Yeah, remember reports that the Customs Bldg on Constitution Avenue (?) was hit as well as other reports. Total news chaos
About 6 months later, I was driving west on rt 7 out of Fairlington when I see 4 middle eastern guys on the North access road looking closely at this nondescript office building. Well, as you know, some of the most sensitive entities in our vast military-industrial complex are housed in nondescript office buildings. I looked it up online and it was some quasi-governmental military agency I had never heard of. Anyway, I called into the terrorism line they had set up after 911 and gave a report - never heard back
I was on the PATH train headed to midtown where my office was at the time. All of a sudden the walking talkie that the conductor had started going off big time, but we couldn't hear what they were saying on it. Got to 33rd Street, left the station, walked north a few blocks to my office. At that point nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the second plane hadn't hit.
Got into my office and someone told me a plane had hit one of the towers. Assumed it was a small private aircraft, maybe pilot had a heart attach and flew off course. A little later someone told me it was an airliner. Turned on my radio and listened to what was going on. When the second plane hit, we knew it was an attack. I remember saying to some co-workers that I'd bet Bin Laden was behind this. Don't know why that popped into my head.
We didn't have any TV's, and then the rumors started flying around. We heard buildings were evacuated, we heard there was a bombing at NYU, etc. Most of the rumors turned out to be false. We didn't know if more attacks were planned, or what weapons would be used. We were about 5 blocks from the Empire State Building and were concerned about an attack there.
Our company, like many others, tried to reserve a block of hotel rooms for people who lived outside the city. All the trains and tunnels were shut down, so you couldn't leave Manhattan. We heard that the ferry system was shuttling people to NJ, so a group of us decided to try that rather than stay in Manhattan. So we walked over to the ferry terminal in midtown, from Broadway and 39th... a little hike. The line was outrageous. Took a couple of hours to get on a boat. Once we got on the boat, we could see the hole in the skyline and the smoke wafting up from the site. The ferries were only going back and forth to the Weehawken terminal, but at least we were out of Manhattan.
At the time I was living in downtown Jersey City, so with mass transit not running, I had to walk home. At the time the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway hadn't been finished. So I'm walking along streets towards Hoboken, and they had the entire area around the Lincoln Tunnel blocked off. So, for those of you that know the area, I had to go up on the palisades, walk around through Weehawken and Union City to Jersey City Heights, then take the bridge down into Hoboken. That was the only way around the tunnel. Then walk through Hoboken, over into Jersey City, and then through Jersey City until I got to my apartment. Can't remember how long it took or how many miles it ended up being, but it was a warm day and I was in a suit with dress shoes... not walking clothes. We had fighter planes zipping overhead, and I could see the skyline during a lot of the walk, mostly when I was up in the palisades. I remember people in Hoboken sitting my in outdoor cafes eating, which I thought was weird. Maybe they neeed a break from the TV coverage. But I made it home mid-afternoon, where I saw a TV for the first time that day, got more information and videos of what happened, and where I was more comfortable. It was emotionally draining.
Got into my office and someone told me a plane had hit one of the towers. Assumed it was a small private aircraft, maybe pilot had a heart attach and flew off course. A little later someone told me it was an airliner. Turned on my radio and listened to what was going on. When the second plane hit, we knew it was an attack. I remember saying to some co-workers that I'd bet Bin Laden was behind this. Don't know why that popped into my head.
We didn't have any TV's, and then the rumors started flying around. We heard buildings were evacuated, we heard there was a bombing at NYU, etc. Most of the rumors turned out to be false. We didn't know if more attacks were planned, or what weapons would be used. We were about 5 blocks from the Empire State Building and were concerned about an attack there.
Our company, like many others, tried to reserve a block of hotel rooms for people who lived outside the city. All the trains and tunnels were shut down, so you couldn't leave Manhattan. We heard that the ferry system was shuttling people to NJ, so a group of us decided to try that rather than stay in Manhattan. So we walked over to the ferry terminal in midtown, from Broadway and 39th... a little hike. The line was outrageous. Took a couple of hours to get on a boat. Once we got on the boat, we could see the hole in the skyline and the smoke wafting up from the site. The ferries were only going back and forth to the Weehawken terminal, but at least we were out of Manhattan.
At the time I was living in downtown Jersey City, so with mass transit not running, I had to walk home. At the time the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway hadn't been finished. So I'm walking along streets towards Hoboken, and they had the entire area around the Lincoln Tunnel blocked off. So, for those of you that know the area, I had to go up on the palisades, walk around through Weehawken and Union City to Jersey City Heights, then take the bridge down into Hoboken. That was the only way around the tunnel. Then walk through Hoboken, over into Jersey City, and then through Jersey City until I got to my apartment. Can't remember how long it took or how many miles it ended up being, but it was a warm day and I was in a suit with dress shoes... not walking clothes. We had fighter planes zipping overhead, and I could see the skyline during a lot of the walk, mostly when I was up in the palisades. I remember people in Hoboken sitting my in outdoor cafes eating, which I thought was weird. Maybe they neeed a break from the TV coverage. But I made it home mid-afternoon, where I saw a TV for the first time that day, got more information and videos of what happened, and where I was more comfortable. It was emotionally draining.
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