September 11th

I know that for a certain generation of Americans the day Kennedy was killed is etched into their conscience and the question is always "Where were you when Kennedy was killed?". Is September 11th of similar import to us?

I remember exactly where I was when it was happening and I remember watching it unfold with credulity. It just didn't seem real but there was a very real sense of "Where next?", as if it was only the first domino.
«1

Comments

  • I remember.

    I was coming back from a job interview (for the job I have now).

    Only got back at about 2pm, put teh telly on, took no notice as I pottered round room, then suddenly "Whoah!".

    I watched the clip of the 'plane going in over and over and I still can't believe it now.
  • Yes

    i was at work we were remerchandising at the store. And one of our managers mentioned it. Couldn't believe it had actually happened.
    When i got home and actually saw it on the news, and was in total shock, just thinking of all those people in the planes and in the towers they didn't stand a chance
  • I had been out shopping with my mum.

    BD(husband) was driving from Warwick to York and although it was totally illogical I was really glad to hear his voice saying that he had arrived safetly.

    Ma's hubby was in Germany, getting home was a nightmare for him because of the security clamp down.


    The thing that I remember that I found most distressing was the poeple making calls on their mobiles saying goodbye to their loved ones and knowing that they were going to die.

    We had to turn the television off in the end and try and get back to some kind of normality for the children.
  • I was at work, the drawing office in Van der Giessen de Noord near Rotterdam when a colleague listening to the radio told us of the horrors unfolding. I was compelled to go home to my digs to see for myself on the news. Today I'm flying the Stars and Stripes half mast from the flag pole as a tribute to the people of America.
  • I had just got home from an early shift at work when I saw it on the television.
  • Yes, was in Lanzarote, just got back from a bike ride and was in shock when I switched on TV. Thought it was only a fire, then the second plane crashed into the other tower.

    2002/3 I ran New York City marathon and about mile 8 you can look over from Brooklyn to Manhattan and see that something is missing. Gives me everytime goose bumps and everytime I pass there I have to think about the people and fire men.
  • I was at work (same as today), and the missus rang to say a plane had hit the towers, but we both assumed it was a small 8-seater or similar. I then spent the rest of the shift trying to get updates over the internet and watching it unfold with increasing horror.

    3 days later we flew out to Tenerife on holiday, and got caught up in all the increased security precautions. Probably the most worried I've ever been, and ever will be before and during a flight.
  • I had been interviewing a woman who claimed to be a victim of police brutality. I dictated some letters and took the tape round to my secretary's house. She had a small TV on in the kitchen, and we both watched in horror as it dawned on us what was happening.
  • I was off sick with glandular fever, was in bed feeling dreadful, when ex rang me and told me to turn tv on
  • I was working installing extra security perimeter lighting in Acklington prison when our JCB driver called us over to tell us about the first plane hitting the tower. As we stood discussing this tragic 'accident' it came over the radio about the second plane. While listening in silence to the unfolding report of the two aircraft we realised that it wasn't an accident but someone declaring war on America.
    The two young electricians that were working for me didn't realise the seriousness of what was happening until we explained to them that by declaring war on America they had also declared war on America's allies, namely us.
    The digger driver, prison warder and myself were too old to be called up but these two young lads were of the right age if war had escalated to have been called up to go into the Armed services.

    A couple of months later I was working in Dublin and the local fire service had set up in the main shopping street to make a collection for the relatives of those lost by the NY Fire Department. I found it very moving to see people queing to put money into the collection buckets.
    I too joined the queue.
  • I was at home with two small kids (one 3, one 5 months). littlest had just gone for his afternoon nap, and I was sat down with a cup of tea while #1 son was quietly doing jigsaws or similar. This was 'mummy's quiet half hour' when I watched crap tv, and tried to relax a little. News 24 took over the sheduled progs, and I just sat there glued to it as it all unfolded.
  • yes - happened to have the tv on and noticed the first news alert about the first plane -and thought it was a small light plane not a passenger jet in some sort of accident - then the second plane

    when the news that there were 'more planes' hijacked came over it all became very obvious that this was something terrible and incredibly out of control - tho strangely unreal -like watching some remake of the 'War of the Worlds'

    sat transfixed watching footage of the the towers crumble and the Pentagon crash

    it does seem a long time ago but i can remember having some sense that the world was never going to be the same again afterwards
  • It was the end of the school day (I'm a teacher) and a parent popped her head around the door and told us to turn the tv on. The children who were left in school couldn't really grasp what was going on. I'll never forget their response in the following days. Many drew pictures of what they saw, and some parents mentioned that their children had suffered nightmares and worries that the same thing was going to happen to them.
  • I was at work and a friend texted me after the first plane hit the tower. I too thought it was some kind of accident.
    Then she texted about the 2nd plane and I knew something was going on.

    One worry was my brother who is intermittently based in New York.

    Rang him and 'fortunately' he was in Albany but was somewhat oblivious to the events.

    He then had to ring round his mates who were in NY.

    Another worry was an aunt, uncle and cousins who work/study in NY. Found out later in the day they were OK.
  • I was in Italy having been to see if I wanted to transfer with my current employer, the visit was over. That night I flew from Trieste to Stansted, having watched events unfold on TV in a language I couldn't understand then fly a few hours later was a bit unsettling.
    The wife seemed glad to see me when I returned which was nice!!!
  • In a clinic



    after that had finished we were informed of what was happening
  • i was on a test track with my colleague, our only contact with the outside world was the radio to track control.

    we knew nothing till we left in the afternoon, didn't beleive the security guy on the gate until we heard it on the radio. someone back at work had managed to rig up a tele in the lab.

    more distinctly i remember the minute (or 2)'s silence we had later on.
    we were back at the track (an old airfield right under the birmingham flight path).
    we all parked the cars up in a row, put the radios on and stood back.
    it was a very bleak moment as all the radios went quiet, the wind swept across the track and through the trees and large white clouds traversed the blue sky.
  • I was at home.

    I had just left my job working 4 floors from the top of the Canary Wharf tower.

    I remember calling my old colleagues to see what was going on.

    No-one was in the office. They had all gone home, scared to stay in the office.
  • I was talking to a friend on msn when I got a text telling me to turn on the tv, just sat and watched with shock and disbelief for hours......we had just come back from the states 3 weeks before.....seeing the footage today on tv really got to me again.....
  • I'd just come back from lunch at work when one fo the girls I used to work with told me that a plane had crashed in to one of the twin towers. I assumed that it was some kind of freak accident.

    Then the other tower was hit.
  • I was living in LA at the time, and got woken up by the phone ringing with my mum in London screaming about in down the phone. Once we realised the scale of what was happening, everyone in our team went to the office in LA almost in thier pjs to phone our local ofices on the east coast to get them to close up shop and just go home. At one time we were told a plane was headed for LA too...such confusion.

    I had to go visit our main NY stores a few weeks later, people were still in the streets crying over photos. Just awful. I quit my life in LA a few months later (i was unhappy there) to come back to London I'm sure in part due to the 'lifes too short' mentality that was everywhere at the time.
  • I was just at home on the sofa looking after my son. I saw the first plane on the news, then saw the second plane hit.

    Even when I see footage of it now my eyes well up.
  • I was on the train, returning home from work. Some one got on and told us, but she was a bit strange and we did not really believe her until someone else said it at the next station.
    I got back to my car and just sat in the car park listening to the radio and not being able to believe it.
  • I was in Hanover Exhibition Cente helping to set up my company's stand. Got rumours of something happening translated from what german colleagues had heard on the radio. Didn't actually see anything till i got back to my hotel and then it was all over CNN ( the only english language news channel that I could get). Was a bit worried as I was flying back the following day but ther weren't any problems.
  • My wife works for an American company who had offices in the tower. One of the planes went into the floor above theirs so they were the highest in that building to get out.

    Everyone in her London office spent an anxious couple of hours waiting to find out what had happened the people they knew in New York until someone in the States heard one of the staff on the radio being interviewed and saying everyone in their office got out.

    I still can't believe the film when I see it.
  • Was living in Calgary and having breakfast at the time, Ex called me to the tv saying a plane had crashed into the tower - like most others I thought it was an accident with a small aircraft. Then we saw the second.

    My now b/f was in San Fran at the time. Like Tinks he moved home not long after - the whole US attitude and being on tenterhooks kind of got to him after a while. Not surprised really.

    Brother is a pilot for BA - have to say i called home pretty quick to check he wasn't in the US.

    Loads of planes were reruited to Canada.
  • I came home from work to turn on the TV to Sky news and thought it was some sort of reconstruction. As I watched and realised it wasn't the second plane hit the other tower. The collapse then followed and the reporters jumped into a cafe off the street to avoid the dust which came down the avenue like a huge wave.

    I was on ICQ to a friend during this time and tried to relate to him the enormity of it all. He was relaying messages to his work colleagues. You could tell they just didn't believe me until they managed to get access to a TV in the office themselves.

    Our neighbours arrived home that afternoon. They had flown from Orlando to Gatwick, past New York, on the 10th. One of their daughters, who was 8 at the time, arrived home, saw the footage and has never been able to fly since.
  • I had just finished a client meeting and was driving back to another site. My firm lost 5 people on the planes.
  • I had just arrived at my mother in laws, to pick her up to come to babysit for me to go to work, and she had the TV on.
    On the first anniversary a good friend of mine died too.
  • Anyone remember where they were when the Americans wiped out a cafe full of innocent people in Iraq?

    Thought not.

    Don't remember having multiple 2 mins silences for the victims of the liberation of Afghanistan either.


    Oh yeah, I was at school and our head came in the staff room and said `This is amazing, there's been a plane fly into the World Trade Centre'.
Sign In or Register to comment.