9/11 25th Anniversary

[Herb G.]

I know this might stir up some bad memories and I apologize if it does. It is not meant to do so.
Do you remember where you were when 9/11 happened?


I remember I was at work about 35 miles from home. A guy on the job had one of those new phones that got text messages.
Right after break time at 9 AM, he tells me a plane hit the world trade center in NYC.
I grabbed my tools hit the door & jumped in my car.
The rest is pretty much a blur.

 

[JonathanH]

I was off that day, had just dropped the kids off at school. For some reason I turned the TV on for the news when I got home, something I never do, perhaps there had been an announcement on the radio that I heard in the car. I turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit. I was in total shock. I watched the news coverage all day in total disbelief.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I was at my part time job cutting grass. We stopped for lunch and I was sitting in my car eating Kentucky fried chicken for lunch. Turned the radio on for some tunes and heard the dj say oh wow was that a plane that hit the building?

 

[Eric Rorabaugh]

Was at work at a rock quarry. Heard it on the the radio. The boss had a TV in his office that just had rabbit ears. The channel wasn't very clear but we stayed in his office for quite a while watching it on TV.

 

[SENC]

Sure do, was on my way to an out of town office and listening to the radio when the news broke in about a possible plane crashing into one of the towers. I was saddened, and thought on that a bit while driving. Then the news broke in on #2. Devastated. Called my wife and told her to get home from wherever she was. I got to the office, found a TV, and glued in for a while (unfortunately in time to see the towers crumble). A truly heart-breaking day.

 

[Nature Man]

I was awakened by a phone call from my wife who was visiting our sons in Northern California. We lived in Hawaii where I was on active duty in the Air Force. Turned on the TV and was glued to it for awhile until I had to go into work. Security on the base was the highest I had ever seen before or since. Air travel to/from Hawaii ceased for about 3 days, and my wife was on the first flight back that was permitted to fly into Honolulu. Truly unforgettable! Chuck

 

[daniscool]

I missed the event. We were camping and purposefully disconnected ourselves from society. It was very relaxing but that all went away when we got back and my neighbour told me: “Oh and the WTC in New York got hit by two planes. Big international crisis and all.” He said it unbelievably calmly like it was nothing but everyone felt that pain.

 

[Mike1950]

Supplier called me at work. Told me to turn on TV. I do not have tv. He told me. Called Kathie, she turned on TV an saw second plane. A while later she called me and said there was threat to Naval Academy. On lock down. Son was a Plebe. Made for rocky few days. May the victims Rest in Peace and perps rot in hell....

 

[Wildthings]

I was driving to my friend's taxidermy shop on my day off. It came over the car radio. The tv was on it at the shop and we didn't get much done that day.

I just spent last week in NYC and visited the memorial. Like @Mike1950 said, "May the victims Rest in Peace and perps rot in hell...."

 

[Gdurfey]

Was at Peterson AFB here in Colorado Springs at work when the news started filtering through the building. Then heard about plane hitting Pentagon and I really panicked. My wife at the time was working in Northern VA close to the Pentagon but i didn’t know if she could have been at the metro station or what. Turns out she had been driving to work and got caught in the traffic jam after the plane hit. It might have even flown right over her. The pictures are still vivid in my memory.

 

[JD1137]

I was at work and happened to walk through our break room where the TV was on. I saw the first building on fire and called my wife, who was at home, and told her to turn the TV on because something unbelievable was happening in NY. Other employees were filing in the room because word was getting around about the tragedy unfolding. Shortly, thereafter the second building got hit, and we know the rest of the story. Total disbelief and anguish.

I went with a few buddies to my hometown 911 service this morning at one of the fire stations. Many moons ago, I was a paid on call fireman in my hometown. They had a nice service with some speeches and music. Only lasted about 1/2 hour, but was nice to attend. Clear blue skies here today, and beautiful weather. Exactly the same way it was on 9/11/2001.

Fireman and flag at half-staff



Firefighters Challenge coin gift

 

[Mike1950]

Some across the country have forgotten. Most no matter what side of aisle you are on have not. Local blacksmith was asked to make a Damascus fireman axe to travel around the country. Wanted curly maple. I donated a couple 2x6 pieces. Brought it to me when done. I was invited to first firestation showing here. It travel for a year now resides in New York. He did a beautiful job.
Spell check insists on are instead of axe . We are doomed....

 

[daniscool]

Some across the country have forgotten. Most no matter what side of aisle you are on have not. Local blacksmith was asked to make a Damascus fireman axe to travel around the country. Wanted curly maple. I donated a couple 2x6 pieces. Brought it to me when done. I was invited to first firestation showing here. It travel for a year now resides in New York. He did a beautiful job.
Spell check insists on are instead of axe . We are doomed....

View attachment 293171 View attachment 293172 View attachment 293173

My autocorrect likes axe. I like the axe.

 

[DLJeffs]

I was in Houston teaching a root cause analysis / incident investigation class. Someone saw it on the TV in the break room and the class lost all interest. I thought "Well, there's nothing we can do about that from here so might as well keep doing our job" but it was hopeless. I was stuck in Houston for 4 days because all the commercial flights were grounded nationwide. I finally caught a ride back home on the corporate jet that was coming in to drop off one of our VP's and had an empty seat flying back to Oakland.

I read in the paper this morning that there are many school that don't even teach 9/11 in the classroom these days. Don't know if that's true or not but it was certainly a singular event that changed the way the world operated from that day forward.

 

[trc65]

I was at home that morning instead of the office as I was gathering supplies and getting my talk ready for an Ag Tour event we had later that day. We were putting it on in coordination with the regional business council. Purpose was to bring in employees from just about any business in the area that had even a tangential relationship with the Ag industry.

As soon as I saw it on tv, I knew it was bad even though they kept saying it was a small plane. Called the office and told them to close the door and head to the break room with the tv. Had to go into the office as I knew the phone would be blowing up as although I had a cell phone, didn't readily give out the number.

Noon meal and my introduction was going to be at the Wisconsin Public Service (electric and gas provider)regional office, and by mid morning WPS was nervous as by that time the talk was to lock down offices from concern over possible electric grid attacks. They finally agreed to let it go forward as they were able to lock offices separately from their events room. Everyone needed an ID to enter that corresponded to pre printed name tags.

Plan was to have lunch, talks and then board busses for tours of farms and some Ag Businesses. About 75 people, and the majority of us drove our own vehicles in a big convoy as we all wanted to listen to radio and get what news we could. Nobody admitted it, but most of us were nervous about getting in a vehicle that we had no control over. Tour went over without any problems, but I'm not sure anybody learned anything.

The following day was a meeting of the County Emergency Management Team trying to figure out what if anything to do for protection of buildings and employees. For a day or two we had Sherriff deputies standing around entrances trying not to look bored. We also had Farm Services Agency and NRCS office across the hall and as they were federal, were under a different set of rules. If I recall correctly, they kept their door locked and wouldn't allow anyone in without an appointment. That ended quickly as when farmers came in and found the doors locked, they would come over to our office to use the phone.

Shortly after that spent many long days in County Emergency Management Team meetings trying to role play scenarios.

 

[Gdurfey]

The Fallen Firefighters Memorial is here in Colorado Springs and as tribute to 9/11, a bunch of firefighters do the Manitou Incline, of course, in gear, to honor those. This is a Facebook Link, hope it works

Manitou Incline Hike Group | A few photos from this morning’s 9/11 Memorial Climb on the Manitou Incline with the Manitou Springs Fire Department | Facebook

A few photos from this morning’s 9/11 Memorial Climb on the Manitou Incline with the Manitou Springs Fire Department. We started at 6:46 AM and paused throughout the climb for moments of silence...

www.facebook.com

 

[Tom Smart]

I retired from the Army out of the Pentagon in 1997. By 2001 I was working in Crystal City and could see the Pentagon, several blocks away, from my window. After the plane hit, I walked those several blocks with another guy, we had lots of employees in the Pentagon. Luckily, all were finally accounted for. When the wall collapsed we were standing on RT 27, the road that ran along that side of the building. We could hear the police radios warning of another inbound plane. That plane was flight 93. Four years earlier I had a desk on the first floor of the outer ring where the aircraft impacted.