9-11-01: What were you doing?

[316what]

I was at work in charge of security on an Italian Air Force Base....and proceeded to work for the next 36 hours.

 

[LOTRFan]

Just getting out of bed, work was cancelled for the day and my wife and I just stared at the TV (while still in bed) for hours in shock.

 

[ro926]

I was working security at Chase bank's Chicago headquarters. They did a voluntary evacuation of downtown that morning. The whole place looked like a scene out of 28 Days Later by 10am that day. It was a ghost town.

 

[rabidwolverine21]

i was walking to art class in the 6th grade only to be checked out by my mom and not understanding at all what was going on until my parents had explained it to me. i remember not being able to comprehend it and why it happened and just seeing everyone around me with so much fear over the unknown

 

[ScorpionDeadman]

I think i was drinking milk at 'milk time' as my teacher read to the class in primary school.

 

[Skiman]

I was getting ready to go to a class at Junior College. I flipped on the TV while I was getting ready and thought a movie was on, didn't really pay attention. I remember still heading off to class and seeing cars pulled over on the freeway listening to the radio and how classes were canceled but people were huddled around TVs. When I went into work that day there was a sign on the mall main doors that said "Terrorist Attack, Mall Closed." It was a weird day how everything seemed to just stand still for 24 hours.

In college like Mike about to go to class while flipping on the TV.

 

[barryo]

at work, the wife called and told me about the first plane hitting & how it was being reported as an accident..........then she relayed the second one hit. we had no tv or internet access at work then & the only radio channel i could pick up was our crappy local station. what information that did come in was shoddy at best. i remember the frustration of wanting to get home to get to the news channels to see this myself. surreal indeed.

 

[ChrisCJ99]

Working. Didnt see/hear anything on my way to work. Got to work and they were watching it in the break room. Only the first plane had hit and the few guys who were watching didnt make to much of it. We were watching live as the second plane hit. Shock followed and the realization that it was not an accident.

Same here..... I was sitting on the couch with my ex-girlfriend. Her roommate told her about the first plane hitting, so we turned on the TV. We all thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit, and we all knew what was happening. We were freaked out! It was nerve racking going anywere after that!

 

[Shropt]

I was getting ready for school when my buddy called me and told me the towers were being attacked. I told him that I have no time for jokes and almost hung up on him. He forced me to turn on the TV and I saw the madness. I drove to my college class that day crying and punching the steering wheel.

When I got to class the school was empty. I sat with 2 other people in the classroom that had no idea what was going on. I explained to them what I had seen and drew pictures of the towers with smoke coming out. A few minutes later a worker at the school told us to go home and classes were cancelled.

I sat on the couch for the next two weeks watching MSNBC and not moving just waiting for the next target to be attacked.

 

[plasmid303]

I was on my way to school (high school at the time), heard it on the radio. School was cancelled, for the most part.

Being September, it was the beginning of the school year. What a way to start, huh?

 

[devlinboy]

i was just waking up for class at pace university right next to the towers..little house on the prairie was on tv from the night before..i was about to wake my roomate up when the whole building shook....i thought it was a gas line exploding and then i looked out the window..it is still to this day one of the worst things i have ever seen...after the second plane hit i snuck past security and got out of the building figuring i could help...then i looked around and realized how helpless i was along with everyone else..it felt like being in a post-apocalyptic movie. everyone was just running and wandering..people were screaming..it really was chilling.. the only thing i could do was try to help people get indoors..as this was going on the buildings collapsed and we were all knocked over by the force of the collapse...i got into a bodega and was sealed in there with about 20 people..after 3 hours they got us out. i was never more angry and disgusted at the human race then at that moment. about two weeks later i dropped out of school and enlisted.

 

[Crimsonbob]

I was doing a course at college. When i heard it on the college speakers i felt like it was the end of the world. I stood up and told them im going home to see what the hell is going on, alot of people left with me.

 

[Darthrazz]

A co-worker of mine was actually on a flight that morning that had left from Newark, NJ to California. She said that during the flight the Captain announced that they had to land, nothing was wrong with the plane, but all flights were being told to land. He also said if they had cell phones to call their families and let them know they were OK. She didn't know what had happened until they were on the ground , I believe she landed in Ohio.......The President of my companies son was stuck in LA and couldn't find a way home to New Jersey, so he wired his son money and he BOUGHT a car and drove home!

 

[scubasteve]

A co-worker of mine was actually on a flight that morning that had left from Newark, NJ to California. She said that during the flight the Captain announced that they had to land, nothing was wrong with the plane, but all flights were being told to land. He also said if they had cell phones to call their families and let them know they were OK. She didn't know what had happened until they were on the ground , I believe she landed in Ohio.......The President of my companies son was stuck in LA and couldn't find a way home to New Jersey, so he wired his son money and he BOUGHT a car and drove home!

That's so gangsta'.

Would his dad be willing to adopt me?

 

[Batty]

Working. Didnt see/hear anything on my way to work. Got to work and they were watching it in the break room. Only the first plane had hit and the few guys who were watching didnt make to much of it. We were watching live as the second plane hit. Shock followed and the realization that it was not an accident.

Same here. When one of my coworkers told me about the first plane, I didn't realize the enormity of it. Then watching the second plane hit live was completely surreal. None of us got any work done that day.

 

[agen_kolar]

I was in the 8th grade at Lake City Middle School. I had gone in early to the library like I often did to help out before school. The librarian had the news on, as she often did, and just before the bell rang to go to class I saw a burning hole in the side of the World Trade Center. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was at the time.

I went to class, thinking very little of it. My science teacher called roll and sent me and my three lab partners to the library to begin our group project. We went back into the library and sat our belongings down at the table. I looked up at the TV and watched the live news, and within a minute or two saw the second plane fly into the other tower. That was one of the most mind-boggling things I've seen in my life.

We began working on our project but continuously watched the TV for more planes. We didn't know if there would be more. A particular camera shot showed two people simulaneously falling from the tower, and at that point I realized how crazy it must be there. Pretty soon the Pentagon and Pennsylvania crashes were shown, and I remember thinking that maybe this is going to continue all day.

The entire day was just nothing but us sitting in our classes, watching the scenes play over and over again on the news. By that evening, everyone had ran out and bought flags and put them in their yard, on their cars, on their shirts. That day really seemed as if the world had stopped turning.

 

[lightwave000]

Watched live as people were jumping out of the building and saw the 2nd plane hit. I couldn't believe my eyes. Went to school and my first class my first semester of college was history. The teacher walked in all somber and said "History is being made right now, go home and be with the ones you love"- Well I couldn't because I had another class about 3 hours later.

I piddled around campus and got to that class only to find out it too was cancelled. Its like the world stopped that day.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

I was in my Anatomy and Physiology class and had no idea what was going on at the time. I never listen to the radio in my car so I had a CD in while I drove home. I got home, flipped on the TV and found out. I then realized my best friend's dad was in NY for work so I drove over to their house to make sure everyone was ok, which he was.

Afterwards I called my National Guard platoon leader and asked what to do which he then told me they were taking volunteers for port security. After that, I was no longer in "reserve" status, but active duty.

 

[Darthrazz]

That's so gangsta'.

Would his dad be willing to adopt me?

This dude was SUPER RICH. It was gangsta'

 

[UTtoyfan]

I was a junior at the University of Texas at Austin and heading to Biochemistry class. Passing a guard booth, I heard the words "Twin Towers" but thought nothing of it. Going into class, the professor came into the room and told us the World Trade Center had just been hit, and that a second plane crashed into the other tower. He was in tears and told us we had no more World Trade Center. Class ended right at that time as he couldn't go on. I went back to my apartment to watch everything unfold.