Never Forget!

Jova114Jova114
in General

If this turns into too touchy of a subject I will take this down.
I am just curious, where were you on 9/11/2001?
What do you remember about that day?

For me: At the time i lived on Long Island and it was the year I was home schooled (had chest surgery the summer before). I remember waking up around 9ish and I went downstairs.
My grandma was watching the news (which she never watches, usually it was Matlock or Colombo)
And as I sat down the first plane hit. I didn't understand what I was seeing at first. We spent the rest of the day glued to the TV watching it happen in real time.
I remember having a doctor appointment that day too and on the way we saw helicopters fly towards the city and any fire station we passed was completely empty.

Comments

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles
    edited September 2023

    I was fourteen. My mom woke me up and told me a plane had hit the Pentagon. We watched everything else unfold on TV. This, as well as the Columbine massacre, were definitely big events in my early years.

    In 2018, I was visiting New York in September and got to see the lights where the towers used to stand, on the 11th. Very impressive, but also sad, as thousands of migrating birds get disoriented in the huge beams of light and can die, every year. Volunteers count the number of birds "caught" in the beams until it reaches a certain number, and then the memorial turns the beams off for a short time, so the birds can reorient and fly away.

    Not my photo.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • Jova114Jova114

    @SunsetSnuggles
    Yes Columbine had a huge impact on me as well.

    I have yet to go to the 9/11 Memorial in NY.
    I did not know the beams had such an impact on birds. That's crazy

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    I grew up in Colorado, so that hit especially hard.

    I added a Google image of the birds, above.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • Jova114Jova114

    @SunsetSnuggles Oh wow!
    I remember when Columbine happened I read ever news article about it and it didn't really hit.
    But then later in life I watched the security cameras of the massacre and it scarred me for life.
    Seeing innocent kids lose their life really messed me up.

  • [Deleted User]MrAdmirer (deleted user)

    well, I won't comment much since I am really close to 9/11. I'll just say I used to work at Logan Airport in Boston and walk on Flight 11 a couple times a week as part of my job, and a very close friend of mine is the one who shut the door to Flight 11 on that fateful day. Her life has never been the same.

    I will only say that I am very disappointed in America, because based on how angry and divided we are as a country, I would say that we have most certainly 'forgotten'. Let's not turn this into an argument and derail the sentiment of the original post. It is just my personal opinion and further debating it here won't serve any purpose other than backing up my point.

    I finally got around to visiting the memorial for the first time just a couple months ago, and it was very emotional. I had a hard time keeping my composure in front of the kids. All those memories came flooding back, and hearing the audio and seeing the pictures of the people I knew from that flight in the memorial section was tough.

  • PrettyLuvPrettyLuv

    I was in junior high, sitting in my class. I could see the twin towers from my window. At the time the teacher was talking to us and then he looked off to the window and saw the huge plumes of smoke bellowing out the first tower and he got completely silent and just stared at it as if stunned. I didn’t know any better and figured it was just a side of a building on fire that would probably be put out soon, but his response made my classmates and I take a longer look at it ourselves. And then somebody spoke up and asked something and he responded “that’s the Twin Towers” in this astonished voice like he was seeing a ghost. That’s when it started sinking in that something was very wrong with this particular situation. And that’s when the alarms and announcements started pouring out that everyone in class is dismissed. We were all let out early. And pretty much for the remainder of the day it was just watching the news. Every station was completely on it. I remember some of the stations were down because their signals were connected to the towers so I think 2 or 3 were the only ones available to really document what was happening.

    I remember the dozens of sirens in my neighborhood all rushing to the towers. So many sirens going off & this nervousness in the air, like what’s going to happen next. And everyone just huddled together.

    For me, it really didn’t register much the sheer magnitude until the documentary came out and I witnessed first hand accounts of the survivors testimony and the devastation. That’s when I grasped the scary overwhelming magnitude of what happened that day. In my head I started thinking what could have saved lives or what would be a safety measure if I ever worked in a building on the 180th floor like that. And immediately the first thing to pop in my mind was fire resistant parachutes and clothing. Everyone equipped with that and training on how to use it in the event of a last minute resort catastrophe.

    Now when I visit the locations of where the twin towers once were. The two massive square holes with the water pouring down into it and the ledge surrounding the perimeter of it with the names of all those who perished there - it looks - hard to describe. It’s almost like going to a funeral or cemetery in the middle of the city. Even though it’s been renovated and built with a new building & other new structures at the Fulton area - it still carries this ominous feeling in the air there to this day.

  • Jova114Jova114

    @MrAdmirer
    Oh wow. I am very sorry to hear that!
    🤗

  • Jova114Jova114

    @PrettyLuv
    Wow. What an experience. I think that was most of us not realizing the magnitude of the situation.
    Once I heard someone say it was an 'act of war' I started having nightmares that my neighborhood would be overnight with tanks and military like the scenes from Saving Private Ryan

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    I was asleep at my parents when my brother calls me to wake me up “they got us! They got us!” “Who, what?” “Turn on the tv, those bastards got us!” None of the channels worked save for channel 2 which had its antennae on the Empire State Building.
    For the next few hours we heard that there were still a few planes in the air . I saw people with dirt and soot all over them walking from the direction of where the Twin Towers once stood and all there was, was smoke. This was in Chinatown and the next few days to weeks only those who lived in Chinatown and below were allowed to enter the neighborhood.
    The smell from the WTC didn’t go away for months. Our phones didn’t work for two months as they had to rebuild all the phone lines. I’ll never forget that day or wekks and months that followed.
    So when people forget or in schools when they don’t really teach about who attacked us and why it really gets my blood boiling. Too many have forgotten and those born after haven’t been really taught properly, much like Pearl Harbor the only other time our country has been attacked.

  • Jova114Jova114

    @Ironman294
    I could only imagine living that close.
    One of my teacher's son was in the NYPD and he would tell me and my family some of what his son was going through as an officer during that time.
    If I remember correctly, the son was asked to go into a squad car that was under rubble to get equipment or something. He did but then was told someone perished under the squad car hiding from falling rubble. The son was shaken for quite some time

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    I was about to drive to the Indianapolis Airport to fly to LAX on a business trip when the first plane hit. Initially it was just verbal reports because the news cameras were not set up for the first plane.

    I was having second thoughts about my trip (in those first few minutes there was confusion about whether it was an accident or an attack) but I kept getting ready to go. When the second plane hit I immediately decided to cancel my trip and within a couple minutes the FAA shut down all air travel.

    I went into the office at our headquarters and everyone was listening to radios and reading news websites as reports were coming in about the other hijackings and the news was reporting on people jumping out of windows.

    I will never forget my boss’s boss walking by and complaining out loud that “productivity was the real victim” that day because not enough work was getting done.

  • Jova114Jova114

    @JohnR1972 "productivity was the real victim"
    Wow!
    I mean I get it, as a boss you still be concerned about your business but...just wow!

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @JohnR1972 At the time I owned a local chain of health food stores and I closed for the day. Some bosses are dicks.

  • Mr_Cuddle_BearMr_Cuddle_Bear

    I was about 6 blocks away. That's all I want to say about it.

  • Jova114Jova114

    @Mr_Cuddle_Bear wow
    That must of been horrendous

  • CSnMUS87CSnMUS87

    I was 14, going to my freshman history/social studies class and noticed a TV was on in the classroom. At first I thought this was some sort of educational movie, until I realized it was the news and I couldn't believe what happened.

  • Chris_CuddlezChris_Cuddlez

    8th grade algebra class. We were taking notes, and the gym teacher came in the room and told our teacher to turn on the TV. I don’t think we fully grasped the idea that it could be a terror attack. Like everyone probably, we just assumed a plane lost control. But when the second one hit, right in front of our eyes, I think we all knew it wasn’t an accident. When the Pentagon got hit, and when another crashed in Pennsylvania, it was obvious what was happening. The TV was on in every class for the rest of the day.

    I was 15 years old. A moment of time stamped into my memory, that I can remember exactly what I was doing that day, at that moment. I’ll never forget that day.

  • SuperManCuddlesSuperManCuddles

    I was 15, in 10 grade JROTC class and able to watch the news. Never Forget 9/11!

  • PixiePassionsPixiePassions
    edited September 2023

    Freshman year of high school... I committed my first of two major faux pas during a horrible national tragedy - I snuck into history class, grateful that no one noticed I was late. I saw that everyone was transfixed on the TV and I was like "Oh, are we watching a demolition?" 🤐 I had no idea what was going on. 🙃🔫

    My first thought was worrying about my uncle. He was a doctor at Mount Sinai. I knew he'd be helping with the injured, or maybe him and my aunt were in the city that day just running errands. When he reported back... He said there weren't many injured to treat. 😓

    @Mr_Cuddle_Bear - Oh no 🥺😓

  • AllAboutSoulAllAboutSoul

    I worked from home on Tuesdays and was chatting with my boss on AOL IM when the first plane hit. We were both shocked, then terrified when the 2nd tower was hit. My boss was in a wheelchair and lived with her parents, so I kept her chatting and calm until her dad got home, then immediately went into survival mode. Loaded up my dog, drove to my daughter's school and took her out (her school was literally next to an international train line.) I filled up all the gas and diesel containers we had while listening to the radio report the towers collapsed (it was still like $1.89/gal, but price gouging started a few hours later with $4.99/gal.) I ran to Kroger and picked up more non perishables, tp and huge packs of batteries. Loaded everything into our new camper we picked up the day before. Gave daughter some tasks to keep her away from the TV and horror.

    My ex got home and we finished packing HIS supplies. (Just in case. Did I mention he's a hard core hunter?) It was eerily quiet at our house with the railroads shut down (we lived across the street from a major line) and no planes overhead.

    I remember not wanting to sit down or sleep because the magnitude of the situation unfolding was overwhelming. I cried for hours that night into my Samoyed's puffy soft fur... long after my daughter and ex went to sleep. Simba just lay there and licked away my tears. We adopted him less than a month before (believing he was 5 YO, he was 13.), he was amazing.

    Years later, my daughter and I were recounting that day and she said, "mom, you totally went Red Dawn that day." Yup, that's what my generation grew up fearing: Cold War surprise invasions. She didn't laugh, that day had brought her generation to the same table.

  • BearBear

    I was at work and I remember seeing a lot of people walking away from downtown, they were released from work.

    In 2015 I saw the memorial. I picked up on a lot of energetic anger.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @Jova114 @BoomerSpooner
    Yeah, that was about the coldest thing I could imagine anyone saying on a day that claimed thousands of innocent lives and a day filled with so much uncertainty about “what next”?

    It really spoke volumes about his character (or lack thereof). Absolutely heartless.

  • CuddleBarista1CuddleBarista1

    I was in the 4th grade in elementary school at the time. Someone yelled "look out the window!" And we saw a huge smoke. Then someone walked in the classroom and asked if we could donate blood to the red cross.

  • Connecticut1977Connecticut1977

    I was a contractor in Greensboro NC!!! I had the day off and it is one day I will.never forget.

  • Spud424Spud424

    22 years ago today I was in Palm Desert, California at KESQ Newschannel 3/KDFX Fox 11/KUNA Telemundo 15. I had just started my second day after my job promotion to program director. I came in to work about 530am because I knew I was going to have a busy day settling in to my new job responsibilities in addition to my existing ones as traffic manager. I was downstairs in our master control area organizing tapes when the ABC "Net Alert" started beeping and sent an urgent message "SPECIAL REPORT AIRING NOW" and simultaneously the FOX "Fox Box" voice alert system squawked on and an intense voice from The FOX Network Operations Center came on and said "ATTENTION ALL STATIONS - STAND BY FOR A LEVEL 1 SPECIAL REPORT". Both of our stations switched to their respective networks (and I signed on our Telemundo Station which wasn't supposed to go on until 6am) and stayed with continuous network news coverage. Saw the plane hit the second tower on dozens of monitors simultaneously. I was at the station until about 8pm that night. Maintained my composure until I was driving home from work. A huge crane was placed on the side of a major road (Fred Waring Dr.) and someone had hung from 100 feet up the biggest American Flag I had ever seen - with two huge spotlights lighting it up in the nighttime desert sky. I lost it right then and there. I was lucky if I got 2 hours sleep that night.

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery
    edited September 2023

    The phrase "never forget" in relation to a tragedy always strikes me oddly. Some treat it as not forgetting the individual lives lost. Others, as not forgetting the day their world changed. Still others will not forget the anger and blame. And some choose to not forget the mistakes made by all before, during, and after so that we can attempt to keep history from repeating. It always seems like most fall into those first few categories, forgetting that there was a whole chain of events, a whole historical context that led to the tragedy. And just as we said "never forget the Holocaust" and yet see many of those historical mistakes circling back around as humans are wont to do, I fear that holding on to the anger and the idea of 9/11 will drive us back around the merry-go-round.

    On that day, I was getting ready to head to school, it was early morning in California. I remember being excited - it was one of my best friend's sweet 16th birthday and the other's 15th. I briefly saw the news flash by and my mom watching it, her stunned and me not comprehending. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was, hadn't seen their sky line. Couldn't comprehend that number of people - twice as many people as the student body of my high school. Most of classes for the day ended up being a waste, they had extended assemblies to discuss what was happening, offer support and vigils. A lot of our local first responders had already left to go aid where they could, either all the way across the country or in Sacramento or San Francisco. There was talk and fear that attacks at one of those ports would be next. Most of it went over my head as I was completely sheltered and naive still....but the oppressive feeling of everyone's confusion and anxiety was inescapable.

    I visited the memorial twice, both times long before it was completed. In 2005 I chaperoned the High School Symphony to Carnegie as an alumni - we played Dvorak's New World Symphony in honor of the City still picking up the pieces. While the rubble had been cleared from the streets, it reminded me of Berlin or Dresden with shrapnel-like pocking in the buildings that survived, impromptu memorials scattered everywhere made of torn bricks, pipe, and flowers. And so many, many photos of people still missing posted on every surface of the chain link. Almost 4 years had passed.

    I performed again in NYC in 2010 and they'd started building the memorial. The city looked less haunted. Many of the flowers were gone - most of the photos were still there. I sometimes imagine if they're still posted somewhere, that hope against all odds, those faces of loved ones not yet forgotten nor given up on.

    Nine years ago I saw this piece, restaged in memoriam, and it spoke so deeply to what I felt in those torn up streets, the memorial growing out of the depths of the ashes, the faded faces smiling from flyers tattered but not forgotten.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    At that time I worked in downtown Dallas for an international company. But the big 2-building complex was/is named Plaza of the Americas. I was home sick and asleep all morning, knew nothing about anything till noon when it all hit me at once when a co-worker called to check on me and told me there were bomb threats everywhere , especially our building, everything was closing. I was completely confused and didn’t really understand wth was happening in our country. It felt like Armageddon. I was getting crazy phone calls and secondhand information from shocked friends and it was so exaggerated. Eventually I was able to turn on the TV..
    Both of my kids were in high school so I had to go try to find them because school had been closed. I know I found my daughter by a fence in the hs field because all the doors had been locked. They just pushed the kids out of school. It was total panic everywhere! I think my son just walked out of school and then home on his own. There was no school staff in charge of students. Back then no coordinated plan for this kind of emergency.
    It seemed that day the schools were chaos. Panicked, jumped in their cars and left the kids to figure out how to get home on their own. I will never forget that part because the parents were pretty upset about that.
    A lot of what happened that day was a complete blur to me probably like everybody else, and made no sense until the week progressed.
    To those of you who lived in New York at that time, I can’t even imagine how that must’ve felt, and seeing your city, and what happened there. My heart goes out to you. 🤗

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    @carrieanne Oh my God I can't believe they just left the kids locked outside. That is insane. 😤

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

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