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Old 09-10-2006, 08:33 PM   #1
maninthebox
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Where were you?

So, tomorrow marks the five year anniversary of the horrid event of September 11th. Was wondering where you were/what you were doing when you first heard about the tragedy.

I was at my college town in Nelsonville, Ohio when I heard about it. I didn't have TV at the time because I was a poor college kid. One of my buddies called and woke me up from bed and told me what happened and when the first plane hit. I really didn't think a whole lot about it at first, but I knew my buddy was kinda scared. I heard about the rest of it on the radio. I was pretty floored. Bless the innocent lives that passed that day.
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Old 09-10-2006, 09:08 PM   #2
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Sitting at my desk, with one shoe on, all day, watching TV.
I was putting on my shoes when the morning show said they had heard a plane had hit the WTC. Then they cut to a rooftop camera but it was too far away to see anything but a little smoke.
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Old 09-10-2006, 09:14 PM   #3
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I was living in DC in Dupont Circle, getting ready for work with the TV news on, when they started coverage after the first plane hit...my fiance and I were watching while the second one hit, then we walked to work.

Of course, nobody was getting any work done. Suddenly, one of the web guys yelled, "They bombed the Pentagon!!" Then, "Everybody stay inside!" I thought, screw that, if I'm going to die today, I want to be with my fiance. So, I walked a couple of blocks (very quickly) to the bar he worked at, and spent the rest of the morning watching the horror on TV, and taking turns trying to use the pay phone to tell my family that I was OK. Went back to work for a little while, then walked home through a deserted Dupont Circle when the state of emergency was called.

I found out later in the afternoon that my cousin had been in the second tower, but had gotten out alive, thank goodness.
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Old 09-10-2006, 09:31 PM   #4
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I was driving in to work and listening to the local NPR station, 93.9 WNYC. I heard them say that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and then suddenly, it went to static. Their link to the broadcast antenna on the North Tower had been severed.
I figured they were talking about a small plane, and didn't think too much of it, untill I got to work and saw the footage on TV.
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Old 09-10-2006, 10:16 PM   #5
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I worked at the Sheriff Office and across the hall from me was the television the Investigators used to view tapes and watch news reports. They turned on the TV and left it on for anyone/everyone to view.
I continued to do my work and kept an eye/ear on the TV. I saw everything that was shown on TV. I eventually had to close my door as listening/watching was interfering with my work.

My Uncle and his daughter worked near the Towers. They walked out of the city together. Other Uncle worked in DC. He was fine, too...but it was a long time before Mother and myself knew they were okay.
hh
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Old 09-10-2006, 10:44 PM   #6
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I was at work. As usual, I had the radio on, and heard the first reports of a plane crashing into the WTC. There were no details for a little while, but it slowly became apparent what had occurred. Then the second plane hit, and it was crystal clear that an act of terrorism had taken place.

We had no TV there, so one of our guys ran down to WalMart and bought one so we could follow it. That was the first day I ever had to take a nitro tablet because I was worried about the tension in my chest.
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Old 09-11-2006, 02:06 AM   #7
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in college. i woke up late that day, about 8:45, an hour later than usual. on the way to class i heard something about wtc ... then something about DC ... so i didn't think much of it until i passed through the PE center and saw the footage on TV. only then (around 10-10:30 am) were people on campus starting to gather around TVs.

i went to the newspaper office and checked on my brother and cousins who live/work in NYC (one cousin worked in one of the smaller WTC buildings). i spent the next three days at the newspaper.

someone criticized me for not immediately reacting when i first started hearing rumors ... yeah, maybe i should have made a phone call or stopped to see what was going on. but, you know, i had places to be, stuff to do. never imagined this would happen. now things are different - terrorism seems to be the first thing that comes to mind (think NYC blackout of 2003).

(sorry, edited to correct time elements)
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Last edited by breakingnews; 09-11-2006 at 02:30 AM.
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Old 09-11-2006, 03:39 AM   #8
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We'd fallen asleep with the TV on. I woke up in the small hours to see all our local channels had replaced the regular infomercials with live feeds from CNN and other news providers. I think it was not long after the first plane had hit. I can't be sure if we saw the second plane hit live-to-air or not. At first I didn't want to wake my partner up - Everything was genuinely fuzzy and didn't seem real. Later we saw the towers collapse.

I stayed home that day, (my sales rep job is such that I can do that sometimes) really just to watch the news. I did go out briefly to get the newspaper, and wound up having a shocked and amazed conversation with a complete stranger. We had about three days of straight CNN.

I know I'm on the other side of the world, and I didn't know anyone personally involved, but I was (and still am) genuinely shocked by the whole attack. I can't begin to comprehend how I'd have felt if it had happened in my city.
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Old 09-11-2006, 06:46 AM   #9
Griff
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We were doing a large parcel survey near New Milford, PA. The Real Estate guy drove up with his radio on and called us all over. We listened a while then went back to work not knowing what was going on. I remember feeling guilty later in the week when appreciating how beautiful the sky was without any contrails and how quiet the woods were with no air traffic.
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Old 09-11-2006, 07:31 AM   #10
Shawnee123
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I was between real jobs, and was working at the Country Club. Didn't have to be in until 11 and worked split shifts so I was sleeping late. My ex woke me up, turned on the TV in the bedroom and said "you're not going to f***ing believe this." It was after the 2nd plane hit and I remember just looking at him and asking "WHY?"

Still had to work, golfers gotta golf, lunchers gotta eat, rich gotta be rich. Most of the early golf birds didn't know until they came into the clubhouse. One old man kind of laughed and said "who did we piss off now?" I wanted to smack him. The lady golfers came in at the turn, though, and stayed glued to the TV.

What a horrible day.
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Old 09-11-2006, 07:37 AM   #11
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At my desk at work. The secretary came in and said, "A plane just flew into the world trade center tower." and I said "what?" She said, "You'd better come out here, we've got the TV on"---we watched tv alllllll day--no work was done. I worked in a clinic at the time and no patients came in that day, either. I remember that it was a beautiful sunny and clear morning.

PS I thought peter jennings was an ass. when the towers started to come down he acted like he didn't know what was happening. He seemed rather gleeful to me.
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Old 09-11-2006, 08:29 AM   #12
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Driving to work, also listening to WNYC, in Ridgewood NJ. They reported about the first plane and I called my wife at her office in midtown to tell her about it. While we were on the phone, the second impact was reported on the radio, and she told me "I've go to go." She didn't make it home that day for another twelve hours owing to the chaos in the city.

When, later on, they announced the impact on the Pentagon, I yelled aloud, thinking "war."
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Old 09-11-2006, 08:30 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Griff
I remember feeling guilty later in the week when appreciating how beautiful the sky was without any contrails and how quiet the woods were with no air traffic.
It was kind of nice while we had that, wasn't it?

I was at work, and heard about it by an office e-mail that went around. They set up a TV in the cafeteria, and the place was standing room only as we all watched the towers fall. There were lots of false rumors going around. A bomb at the State Department, one on Metro, Metro being shut down. It was all kind of confusing and pretty scary. A few people were crying. I went around trying to comfort some of the people in my department, and get them thinking clearly. Mostly folks were worried about their loved ones, who they couldn't reach because the phone circuits were overloaded. I think I helped to calm a few people down. Then my firm closed. Nobody was working anyway.

I left a voicemail for my wife at home, letting her know I was OK, and that I was going to walk home, I had heard a rumor that Metro was closed, and even if it wasn't I didn't want to be trapped in the Metro tunnel. I felt like I had options if I was above ground. When I got outside, the place was gridlocked. The intersections weren't moving, which was great if you are a pedestrian. You just walk around all the cars. I made it home much faster than if the traffic was actually moving and I had to wait for lights.

My walk home would have taken me within one block of the White House, but I went a few blocks out of my way to stay away from that potential target. I kept looking up at the sky for planes, and imagined what I might do if I saw one heading towards me, but the sky was empty. After awhile there were a few fighters flying around, but that was it. Lots of sirens all over the place on my walk home.

There was one point where I crossed over a bridge into Georgetown over Rock Creek Park, and I could see the huge cloud of smoke billowing out of the Pentagon. I stopped to watch it for a while and take the whole scene in. Fighter jets flying around overhead, sirens all over the place, oily black smoke filling the sky a mile or two away. It was bad.

Then as I got closer to home, things started to seem more normal. It was a drop dead gorgoeus fall day. I walked into my living room, hugged my family. We turned off the TV, and just enjoyed each other's company. We were happy to be alive and it really was a beautiful day outside. I think we went to the playground for a couple hours.
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Old 09-11-2006, 08:43 AM   #14
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I was at work in London and one of our van drivers came and and told us what he had heard on the radio. We were trying to access the BBC website but it was so slow because everyone had the same idea.

One of our Directors was out and our Team Manager crept into his office and watched the television, coming back to update us.

I was in a foul mood that day - probably a row with the Evil Ex who I was still semi detached from at that time -and I was snapping at everyone. I didn't really appreciate the impact until the next day. I had very little empathy at the time as for me it was just another terrorist attack and we'd seen enough in this country. I was annoyed with people suggesting we went home early as Canary Wharf (highest tower in London) might be next. And annoyed that on a very busy day we were one person down because of our Team Leader slacking off and everyone who called wanted to discuss it, slowing down our call rates.

I did change my initial opinion of course and felt regret that I had been so self absorbed by petty concerns as people were dying. When I got home and started watching it on the news it began to hit me - this could have been my office. Those were real human being deciding to jump.

And I had been there. I had Christmas dinner in The Windows on the World Resturant two years before.
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Old 09-11-2006, 08:47 AM   #15
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I was at work, in South Jersey. One of my coworkers got a call from her husband that a plane hit one of the twin towers. I pointed out that some idiot in a small plane must have really fucked up. Then tne husband brought in a tv. We watch between patients. Someone on the tv said 50,000 people could be in each tower at any given moment. When they collapsed I thought there go 20-25,000 people. I was amazed that so few died. And I agree that the plane-free sky was eerie and beautiful. When air traffic resumed, I caught myself looking up when a plane went overhead.
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