td7603 Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 i forget how i woke up that day. i think the phone rang right before 9am. forget who it was. my mom i think. I tried to call my GF (Erica) at the time. don't know if i got thru. I know i was moving into the new house in a few days, and my buddy who lived in the city Ollie P called or I called him. we watched as plane two hit, and than WTC2 fell. we actually said no words. just had each other on the phone. He than said, I know lots of people who work there. j we silently hung up once the 1st tower collapsed. I got a phone call from the military verifying my whereabouts. I walked to my friends house (billy). there was none driving in the roads. we watched on his TV as more people started coming over. we all talked about driving into the city with a friend of ours brother who was an EMT at the time. (matt zukoski). I had to go to work at the video store. i called the boss and told him im closing as its crazy to stay open. 5 hours later without knowing what happened I walked back to billys house. no words. billy joel helped soothe the pain... we will never forget ***locations*** home - southampton NY (about 65 miles out) mom - southampton, NY (about 65miles out) sister - central manhattan a few blocks north. she had to walk back to brooklyn. took her and millions of others over 8 hours to walk uptown from downtown and across the bridge and back south into Brooklyn from queens. She picked up papers from the site in her yard for weeks that were blown there from the impact or the collapse. dad - Danbury, CY about an hour and change, but worked in the city from time to time. Later found out he missed his train to go in that morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootch Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 The lord was with your dad that day. I was on my way out to Delano CA from Bakersfield, Had taken over a remodel / addition job at the North Kern Nursing Facility. Was hearing this on the radio, got to the jobsite and there were a lot of glum faces. None of us stayed very long, Didn't know what else might be coming or where, I went back to town, scooped my kids up from school, the wife met me at the house, we prepared ourselves for the worst. What a catastrophe. Makes me wonder how so many Americans can turn their backs to this. I won't forget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plastic Fury Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 I was sound asleep as I had been out very late with friends. I am a big Washington Redskins fan and they were playing the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football the night before iirc. I did not have to work until 4pm that day so I was just going to enjoy sleeping in. I remember getting the phone call from a good friend who just simply said "turn on the television". Half asleep I asked why? He just replied "get up and turn on the television" and hung up. I turned on the t.v. just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. I remember the feeling of disbelief, I know many who saw the first plane were thinking it was an accident, I was hearing that when I first tuned in but only seconds before the second plane. I can recall it all so vividly and I do remember thinking to myself how odd the towers were going to look with scaffolding and cranes around them while they are being repaired. I really never thought they would go down. When the first tower did, I was in total disbelief. I have some family that live and work in NYC and thankfully they all survived that day. As Scootch said, I too wonder how so many American's can just seem to forget all about it. I wear a metal bracelet that I pick up shortly after that day, the proceeds went to the WTC foundation. It bears the name of NYPD Sgt. Rodney Gillis, a man I did not know who never came home that day, who was just doing his job and trying to help others. (I also still wear a bracelet for a Lt. Col. shot down in Vietnam) When people ask me what it is or why I wear it, I always respond with the same answer; because American's have a short memory but I don't. I will never forget that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skutch Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I was asleep as well during the actual event but awoke to a million sirens buzzing down the street. I looked out my Brooklyn window to see nothing but smoke coming from downtown. A frightening day. When the wind would shift, the smoke would come in our window and we would could smell the death coming from that place for days at a time. Truly haunting and I'll never forget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomgiver Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I was at my office that day. Suddenly, my Boss run to me and screamed "look at the TV". I followed him to his office and see it all on TV. At this moment, the second plane crashed in the other tower. First I thought, it was a science fiction movie, I couldn´t believe it - then and now! Osama bin Laden - may god judge you. But let me be a juror! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 ...was at work in the customer service area watching our flat screen going WTF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty D Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Was my 1st day of basic training with the army... yeap .... sucked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmann Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I was at One Penn Plaza right next to Madison Square Garden. I was teaching a Cisco Networking class with a few students that actually worked in the World Trade Center. I remember it was a perfect morning - clear blue skies, cool weather, and I had a delicious fast food breakfast from Burger King. We were going to get the class started when someone noticed the first tower had smoke rolling out of it. No one saw the plane go in, but we saw the huge gaping hole with smoke billowing out. One of the students wondered how his data center was doing. Someone reported the building was hit by a plane - what kind of plane? A little Cessna? How could that be possible, it's a clear day? As the smoke got worse, everyone in the office was looking out the windows. There were a few helicopters hovering near the buildings, then I saw a two engine airliner approach the building. For an instant, I thought "that's strange, why would they send in a jet to have a closer look at the fire?" Then it smashed through the second tower. As the fireball erupted, one of the students yelled "they're attacking the towers!" Of course, after the first plane hit, they've got our attention. Now everybody is watching and the emergency crews are on the scene. Then they make a second strike. We continued to watch the scene unfold, and our building announced that we were not under evacuation at this time. I looked to the street below, and saw an open top tour bus going by - oblivious. My Sprint cell phone wasn't working, so I sent an e-mail to my wife telling her I was ok. The south tower fell and I started becoming concerned that we need to gather provisions - water, sandwiches, small snacks - who knows how long we'll be trapped in the city? Once the second tower fell, we decided to get the **** out of our building (it's 57 stories), and go back to our hotel rooms. When we got to the street, there were people streaming out of the subway stations. The sidewalks were jam packed with people with dust masks. Occasionally a Police car would go screaming down the street covered with dust and the windows blown out. There buses full of people being rushed to the hospitals. Many people were just in a daze, sitting on the curb. Others were gathered around cars listening to the radio reports. Even though we were 20 blocks north, there was dust floating in the air, irritating your throat. We stopped in a cafe for lunch and listened to the reports on TV - The Pentagon had been hit - A plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania - All air traffic has been grounded in the US - All bridges and trains have been stopped in Manhattan - Police are looking for truck bombs We went to Times Square and I was interviewed on channel 8. "Aren't you afraid this might be a potential target?" I replied, "What are you going to do? Live your life in fear? We're going to carry on and live our lives." On the way to the hotel, we bought water, snacks, and other provisions. One of the students had a BlackBerry (they were brand new at the time) and it was still able to send and receive messages. He was commuting from New Jersey but wasn't sure if he would be able to make it home, so I registered him in my room - this also made a record of where he was for his family. We dropped off our supplies in the room and just watched the TV reports come in. Later, we went walking towards downtown. The streets were fairly empty now. There were still emergency vehicles going down the roads, but otherwise, there was almost no traffic. We had dinner at a bar and talked to some local folks. We then went up to Times Square to see what was going on. Many people were grateful they happened to be late for work that day. The students in our class are alive because they were in training instead of at their jobs. Some folks were angry at having lost their co-workers and friends. My company was on the brink of going out of business. I never got my September paycheck. My wife and I got married in October, and while on vacation I got a call with good news and bad news - I was still employed, but half the company is not. By the end of October, the company shut it's doors and there was no hope of getting paid. Boy, talk about jumping right into that whole "for poorer" thing! Fortunately, we persevered and managed to survive. The best people from the old company got together and created a new, smaller, leaner company, without all of that management overhead. I was assigned to a contract that I have been working on the last 8 years, and it's rewarding work that I feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Just like I said during that TV interview, we can't live our lives in fear. We must go on and show those bastards they can not shut us down! And on that note, I offer this video: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1920944 Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Short TRooper Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Was just finishing up watching Good Morning America and they had just started to go in to the intro for Oprah when GMA came back on and while Charlie Gibson was telling us what we were seeing was Tower 1 burning from an accident the second plane hit, and then those in the back ground were yelling "Öh my God!" and they said now they know we aren't in an accident this is an attack... Me and my two girls were scared then my parents called to tell us to stay home and watch the TV for information....we were scared some one was going to hit the Nuclear power plants by us (10 miles from where we live)...I was talking with my mom on the phone when the first tower collapsed and we cried...My kids were upset as I taught them at school at home and they knew what was going on. I will never forget those things as long as I or my kids live...my flag flies 24/7 and I have a yellow ribbon on my front door year round...I even still have the newspapers that came out from the first few days of the attack.... People who forget and don't remember what we went through and how it still affects us today are either hard hearted or they just don't care about thier country any more.... God Bless America...Let Freedom Ring!!!! ShortTRooper (Diana) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD-1535 Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 takin a break from workin the taxi (at the time ) at 1am standing in a cafe watching in stunned disbelief still can not remember anyhthing after that until i woke up the next day,,,,including the 30km drive home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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