9/11 Five Years Later

[durnadupa]

It's been five years since that day, and seeing the images and video clips of the towers still make my bones shiver. That day has become the defining moment of our lives like it or not, much like Pearl Harbor was for previous generations. You all remember where you were when you heard the news, and most of you probably spent the rest of the day or even the upcoming days glued to the tv watching repeats of the towers falling.

I remember where I was, Freshmen year of highschool. First week of class, new to the environment and running late to my History class. I get in and the TV is on, the teacher told us that a plane hit the WTC. Someone says "That's even stupider than the guy who hit the statue of liberty while parachuting." (which happened only a week earlier). The teacher was too engrossed in the news to start a lesson, and since there was nothing better to do the whole class watched the news.

We were confused young kids, we all assumed it was a small plane. But I kept thinking why is there such a large whole from a small private plane like the news was saying? Then it happened, on live news we saw the second plane come in from the left of the screen and smash into the other tower. In that moment all of our lives changed, we saw in front of our own eyes the definition of evil. The images of people jumping from the top floors of the towers to plummet to their death left the entire room in silence.

The silence was broken, when over the PA system the principle of the school ordered all the children to the auditorium to talk to us. The auditorium, though filled with over 1,000 students was deathly silent. The principle then told us what we all knew already, that we were under attack. Then she broke the news to us, in her own words "A target in Washington D.C. was just hit." She told us all to call our families and to go back to our homerooms, they would be calling the buses to bring us home. In the homerooms, all of us were just glued to the TV. We saw the Pentagon in flames, two gaping wholes in the twin towers. It was impossible to deal with for some, and they broke down into tears.

To tell you the truth, when the towers fell I don't remember what was going through my head. I was already so numb from all the events in the morning that I was left completely dumbfounded. I was standing in that very same history class where the news was first broken to us, watching one tower come down in a plume of smoke and debris and then the other soon following. Noone knew what to say to one another, noone spoke. It was the eeriest situation I have ever been in. The once noisy hallways filled with rambunctious kids were completely empty, everyone packed into the few rooms with a live news feed watching the replay of the attacks.

The country we live in and take for granted sometimes, was ruthlessly attacked on that day and we have never been the same since.

Share your stories about 9/11 if you wish, sometimes it helps to tell your story.

[1996 328ti]

I can't watch the videos.
Driving to work that morning I heard that it was a commuter plane that hit the WTC. I figured, no way. I knew it was clear that day. Found out when I got to work.

My wife worked in DC. They were hearing booms all over the place. They thought they were explosions. She's not far from the White House. Later we found it they were the sonic booms from the F/A15s. I told her to get on the train now. Her boss told her she couldn't leave. F THAT! GET HOME HOME. F THE JOB. I kept in constant touch throughout her trip. I watched the tower come down while she was on the phone.

Being an ex-New Yorker, it was very hard. Sure it's terrible for everyone, but when it's your home town, it's worse. A couple days later I had to pass the Pentagon. it took me years until I finally was able to go to NJ. I did not want to see the skyline. A few years ago we visited the BMW processing center across from lower Manhattan. They had a birds-eye view of the whole thing.
Last year we visited the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville. I will never be able to visit Ground Zero.

Thanks. Now you got me totally depressed.
<sigh>

[SDKmann]

I remeber sitting in school and hearing the principal saying that a plane hit the WTC and my first thought was that some idiot pilot fell asleep. After he said that a second one hit it became clear that my first thought was wrong but since terrorist wasnt part of my vocabulary at the time I didnt quite know what was going on. I still get teary when I see a commercial for the 9/11 memorial fund or for a 9/11 TV show or movie. I dont think Ill ever be able to visit Ground Zero either.

[HuGo]

it was like the second week of 9th grade when this happen (for me at the time).

1.) Our Government Did It.
2.) They need to leave it alone already. Im not saying get over it and forget it. Im saying, they need to let these people RIP already and move on. (also, i dont mean to the families, move on they dead, thats not how i feel) What i mean by move on is stop with the commercials and making movies about the tragic day. Its like making money off dead people. Movies like United 93, World Trade Center, etc.
3.) My heart and love to them all. It sucks that they had to die just cuz our govt. wanted to go to war. Thank god that he held those towers up as much as possible and let only 3,000 people die instead of like 15,000+ people.

[1996 328ti]

Well, 8:46 AM eastern time came and went proving life goes on.
I still sit here in disbelief. I can still see the autograph on the wall of the guy who walked from one tower to the other on a tight rope on the top floor. I can still hear the wind of the WTC elevators going up to the 110th floor.
I remember walking from 52nd St to the WTC and thinking it was so much closer than it was. What a massive structure reaching into the clouds. Years later we find out how fragile she really was.

[Severian]

Thank you for your stories. Poignant.

[HuGo]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Well, 8:46 AM eastern time came and went proving life goes on.
I still sit here in disbelief. I can still see the autograph on the wall of the guy who walked from one tower to the other on a tight rope on the top floor. I can still hear the wind of the WTC elevators going up to the 110th floor.
I remember walking from 52nd St to the WTC and thinking it was so much closer than it was. What a massive structure reaching into the clouds. Years later we find out how fragile she really was.

well if you mean by being blown up with over 1000 bombs then yes it was fragile.

[ChItalian1027]

i remember when it happened i was just entering my school goin to my sixth grade homeroom when someone said "did u hear about the plane crash in the tower"? i asked what happened as i was askin our princible came on the air and said get to the nearest tv. i got to my lunch room and watch it happen in horry at that point my princible comes on the pa and says ur all goin home and we want u to stay there till ur parents get home!! when i got out of skool my mom was pickin my sis and i up because she works in this really big mall called woodfield and so she picked us up and when we got home i ran inside and turned on the tv! my mom comes in and sits with me and tells me what happened and how my life may never be the same!! up until this day when were in iraq and these stupid people r ploting against us i'm tellin myself to not give up and i'm always tellin my parents that i'm goin to join the military and fight for my country to keep her safe from these people!! when i got to 6th period today my teacher was talkin to us and telling us that we can share our stories and telling us that our lives may be very different for now on!! 7th same thing happened but this time my princible comes on the pa and tells us to give a moment of scilence for those who passed away!! i will never forget this day for the rest of my life!!

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by kickass95318ti

i have a question since this happened when i was in the sixth grade and i remember what period i was in does anyone else remember where u were @ the time this tragedy happened?

I was driving to work.

[DustenT]

I just walked into a Mass Communications class at University of Wisconsin-Platteville. The teacher walked in, explained what had happened, and said "this is bigger than Pearl Harbor". Our home work assignment was to go home and put a tape in the VCR and start recording the news as we watched it. I still have the tape, but I don't think I'll ever be able to watch it.

I worked at a Quick Stop gas station just outside of town. I sold out of gas at 11pm with a line of people a 1/4 mile down the road.

[HuGo]

Originally Posted by kickass95318ti

i remember when it happened i was just entering my school goin to my sixth grade homeroom when someone said "did u hear about the plane crash in the tower"? i asked what happened as i was askin our princible came on the air and said get to the nearest tv. i got to my lunch room and watch it happen in horry at that point my princible comes on the pa and says ur all goin home and we want u to stay there till ur parents get home!! when i got out of skool my mom was pickin my sis and i up because she works in this really big mall called woodfield and so she picked us up and when we got home i ran inside and turned on the tv! my mom comes in and sits with me and tells me what happened and how my life may never be the same!! up until this day when were in iraq and these stupid people r ploting against us i'm tellin myself to not give up and i'm always tellin my parents that i'm goin to join the military and fight for my country to keep her safe from these people!! when i got to 6th period today my teacher was talkin to us and telling us that we can share our stories and telling us that our lives may be very different for now on!! 7th same thing happened but this time my princible comes on the pa and tells us to give a moment of scilence for those who passed away!! i will never forget this day for the rest of my life!!

Continue going to school, you need to work on your spelling. But what do you mean by these people you want to save your mom from? Cuz it wasnt no terrorist that caused the towers to fall. If by these people you mean bush and his people, then the US military isnt the best choice.

[pnosker]

3rd day of 7th grade for me... Mom was on a flight home from Hawaii ready to land in Newark Intl. Dad was waiting outside to pick her up and watched towers 1+2 fall. They wouldn't let us know what was happening until around noon when the Superintendant told us what was going on. I didn't even believe it seriously for the first three days. When I saw videos of rioting Palistinians I knew it was real. Scary scary time. Parents lost a friend on the 79th (I think) floor of one of the towers. As my school said today during it's video-presentation of 9/11, the only good thing to come out of it is the closeness of post-9/11 America, though I have to say it seems like it's drifting apart. We, American's at least, will never forget 9/11. There's nothing that can sum it up. If only left and right-wing activists wouldn't play it as an opportunity for advancement of their careers, or economic standpoint, we could all take the time to appreciate the devistating nature of what happened that day.



Edit: remove political stuff... Things such as politically oriented videos annoy me. Sorry Admin.

[1996 328ti]

Please, we must keep politics out of this.

[drkblu318ti]

I remember the day well... I was in 7th grade english class when we first heard about it. My teacher was trying to find out more about what was going on, but all the news online was overly trafficed and we could find anything out. A few minutes later the principal came on telling us about a plane hitting the tower, and said that if anyones parents worked in the towers they may come to the office right away( as we lived an hour away from NY). 5 minutes after that bulletin the secretary called the room and asked that i was dismissed for the day. I met my mom at the door, confused and thinking how i didnt have a doctors appointment today? She pulls me down the stairs toward the car. She exclaims were being attacked, they are flying planes in to the trade center. We drove to the high school and picked up my sister. I sat at home in awww watching the news, still unsure of what had really happened. I can still see the video replaying when i think about it. I was watching the news from 10 till late into the evening that day.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by drkblu318ti

I sat at home in awww watching the news, still unsure of what had really happened.

I don't think any of us knew what was going on.

I remember a customer calling where I work. We repair musical instruments.
He asked if something was ready. I think I told him I wasn't sure when I'd get to it. He started yelling. I told him, I really can't work on anything right now. He didn't care. Needles to say, I cared even less about him. My wife left DC and I was waiting for her at work. Then we went home. Work was the furtherest thing from my mind. Who knew if there would be a tomorrow.

I work just outside the Capital Beltway of DC. All day fighters were circling.
Andrews AFB is nearby. Since DC expanded their no fly zone for general aviation, every once in awhile I'd hear fighters intercepting a stray plane at night. We are pretty much in between the White House and Camp David. Marines 1 fly over our house all the time.

I remember hearing a commerical plane for the first time overhead.
What a welcomed sight.