OT: 9/11 Experiences

[basketballjones]

Wife and I went to NYC last year in September for the US Open, visited all the 9/11 Memorial stuff. Just really brought it all into perspective for me. Something I will never forget. We got into a conversation with a couple waiting in line at a coffee shop, who asked us where we were from and what we were doing in NYC. At the time, we didn't even know they were from NYC, and we told them we had just got done seeing all of the 9/11 Memorials this morning. Like idiots we started in on talking about how powerful and sad it was to us... Thankfully they were very patient and gave us grace, and then gently informed us they were from NYC and lost relatives in the towers. Both started getting choked up about it, 11 years later. 

The thing that will never leave my mind that we saw at the 9/11 Memorial Museum was the perfectly preserved shop hat they have on display.  https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/nyregion/25chelsea.html . Truly surreal. 

Where was everybody else on 9/11? 

[Handy Johnson]

Just starting our morning out at Hennepin Tech & trying to explain to the Students our Nation was under attack. 

[Huskerpapa]

On a business trip and was notified.  I was driving and was worried about bridges and my family back home.  

Got to my destination and spent the day glued to TV.

[cornfed24-7]

In Warner Robins Georgia at my 1st duty station after technical school. In the 5th Combat Communications Group (the 5th Mob), specifically the 51st Combat Comm Squadron. Shit got real that day. 

[Bugeaters1]

I was working for the NDOT laying hotmix on hiway 74. It was erie to look up to the sky and not see any planes flying.

[49r]

At the time I was working at the software company in Boston.  It was just an absolutely perfect day, weather wise.  Other than that it was just another ordinary workday.  I remember when the first report of a plane hitting the twin towers came in and I almost thought it was a joke.  But quickly reality started to sink in what was really going on.  Our phones stopped ringing pretty much immediately and the whole office became eerily quiet.

 

They shut the office down mid-morning (like everywhere else in town) and it was weird to commute home at that time.  We were all in a daze and honestly it's a miracle there weren't a bunch of crashes on the highway.  The entire day was a complete fog, the whole country (heck, the world) was in shock and didn't know what was gonna happen next.  

 

I'm not sure exactly how long after it happened (I think it was more than a year after though) I remember driving down to NYC one weekend and went past the ground zero site to see it for myself and it was still a complete mess.  I was overcome with profound sadness and essentially just turned around and drove right back to Boston.  Shit like that attack on the WTC should never happen...to anyone.  But in a weird way I am glad I went to witness it in person.  It's hard to explain why, but it did have a greater impact than anything one would see on TV or in the movies, or even by visiting the memorial.  My respect for New Yorkers and their resilience was dramatically affected right then and there.

 

For me, it put in perspective all the other petty shit that people worry about, that's for sure.

Edited September 11 by 49r

[hugh42]

I lived in Kearney at the time and I was driving to work and was listening to the local morning radio show when they announced breaking news regarding a plane hitting one of the towers. By the time I got to work which took about 20 minutes, the narrative started to change from accidentally flying into the tower to deliberately targeting the towers with a plane. When I got in the office the TV was on and you could see the smoke rolling out of the building. We continued watching the live footage until the second plane hit the other tower and then shortly afterwords got word that the Pentagon had been hit as well. That's when my boss told us to go home.

[Fullbacksympathy]

High school.  Took a bathroom pass from math and saw a crowd gathered in the library around the television as the first plane had hit.  I stared at the television in shock the rest of the school day as the rest of the events unfolded.  I don't think I said a single word.  

 

Still haunts me a bit.  

[cipsucks]

Back then, I worked for a corporation out of Texas, selling expensive ass maintenance products.  A good friend had a lawn care business in Grand Island and we had a 7 am appointment.  When we got done, I went to my car and the news was breaking about a plane flying into the WTC.  We listened and both thought it was a small private plane.  Long story short, there has not been a year where we haven't called each other up on 9-11.  Talked earlier this afternoon.  It's a bond...