No one will forget where he or she was on September 11, 2001. Whether you live in Manhattan, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. or on the other side of the country, nearly 10 years later you retain the vivid memory of where you were when you learned of the devastating terrorism that took the lives of some 3,000 innocent people. Now, with Osama bin Laden no longer a threat, we're flashing back to that tragic day.
As a Manhattanite myself, I was merely blocks away from the Twin Towers. My daughter, 4 years old at the time, was already in school. Being more Pollyanna-minded than Oliver Stone, I didn't believe it was terrorism, despite the reports to the contrary.
"Air traffic error," I thought.
Even after the second plane hit, I was still not convinced. But my maternal instinct had me to jump into my car to get my child.
My neighborhood was covered in ash and soot for weeks. I remember seeing a cop out there, unaware that his fly was open. I decided not to tell him because he had bigger things to deal with, just as we all did.
While I did not know any of the departed souls, I mourned with their loved ones, with my city and with the world, praying for peace.
Now it's your turn. Tell us about your September 11th.
Comments
We had the radio on for
We had the radio on for background music in our office that morning. When the first announcement came of a plane hitting the North Tower, I dropped into a chair near the radio stunned. As music and then another announcement came through I sat shell-shocked. A year or so before, I had been to my brother’s cubicle at Deutsch Bank across the street from the South Tower. I worried about him with a wife and 4 small children at home in Long Island. As more news came through of the Pentagon, Shanksville, and then the grounding of all planes, the office worked in silence. I tried to reach my sister-in-law and my parents for word about Reed. No one knew anything. I told my parents to watch the news channels from their home in Erie, PA. My mother was too distressed by the first few minutes that she turned it off. Late in the day, Reed phoned them and me to say that he was safe and that he managed to escape. He recounted that when the first tower was hit they were told to get back to work in his area and that the fire dept. was taking care of the situation. Then when the second plane struck the South Tower, they ordered all employees to evacuate. He said the police and firemen were so helpful and brave in directing everyone to just run east to South Street Seaport. They weren’t to look up or to look around, just to run. That was because of so many bodies falling out of the windows from above. Reed and another worker made it to the Seaport and from there were told to run up FDR Drive. Reed said they set a good pace when they heard the buildings collapse and were engulfed in soot and dust. They crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and ended up taking one of the trains out to Long Island after their escape.
I'm a flight attendant at
I'm a flight attendant at then America West, now USAirways. 6am on 9/11 one of my adult twin daughters calls from Atlanta crying and saying "an airplane flew into her twin's building." Foggy from sleeping, I thought, "how could an aircraft be so far off the approach?" Turning on the TV watching the second plane hit I realized this was no mistake. My daughter at Lehman Bros. across from the Towers ran out after the first plane hit. That was the longest 3 hours, until she called, in our lives. My industry was never the same. We now have to assess and be suspicious because people died
I was sitting in my office
I was sitting in my office when my assistant ran it to tell me the news. My first reaction was to call my daughter who was in college in VT, hundreds of miles away. At that moment I desperately wanted my family to be home, together. Later that day, I returned home and hung my flag. I have flown it every day (with the exception of inclement weather) for the last 10 years.
My daughter even remembers it
My daughter even remembers it as the day mommy rushed into school to take her home early.
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