9-11, I remember

[Tom Kent]

As do most people, I vividly remember this day, 20 years ago. I was a sergeant with our sheriff's department. I was attending a daily meeting with a police department that wanted to become a part of the sheriff's department. Guys started getting news pages on their pagers about a plane crashing into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. We turned on the wide screen tv in the conference room. The news media was speculating that a plane had gotten off course from one of the airports and crashed into one of the WTC buildings. We had a number of former New Yorkers in the meeting and they all said that was not possible, aircraft did not fly over that part of the city.

We all saw live coverage of the second plane hitting the second tower. At that point the meeting was cancelled and we returned to our assignments. We all worked at least 12-18 hours that day, mostly planning and getting extra equipment ready.

I got home, got a little sleep and then got back up to go in again. As I walked out into my driveway to get in my car, I heard aircraft in the air. Since all aircraft were grounded I looked up to see who was in violation. Two F-16s were flying in stacked formation overhead. They were flying fairly low and I could see that they had missiles on their wingtips and apparently more up near the fuselage. I realized that they were flying a combat air patrol over MY house in MY city.

I knew then that our world had changed and we would never be the same again. God bless those pilots and God Bless our country.

 

[twodog max]

I remember it vividly too. I was working and away from and TV so radio was how I got the news. When the second plane hit I knew then we were under attack. Like you I recall seeing fighters flying combat patrols as I live near a nuclear power plant. There was an F16 NG fighter unit stationed about 60 miles away at Ft. Smith. You could hear them coming down the Arkansas River Valley hauling the mail. No other planes in the sky.
I knew a guy that was in British Columbia on a sheep hunt. He and the guide had talked about how for days they had seen no aircraft. When they got back to civilization and heard the news they knew why. The hunter was stranded in BC because of no flying. After several days of trying all kinds of ways to get home he , having money, went and bought a small economy car and drove back to Arkansas.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I posted this a few days back:

I was getting ready to leave the house to go open the shop when my mom called weeping and said "turn on the telly". I was stunned.

I drove in listening to the radio heartbroken and furious. After opening the shop and turning the TV on I sat and watched as employees and customers trickled in.

After an hour I closed the shop and we all went up the street to a neighborhood pub/cafe. I called Ruthie and she came with the kids. It seemed that the community had the same idea as folks just wanted to be with friends and neighbors. More folks trickled in and the place was overflowing. No one wanted to leave as we all needed each other. We stayed late talking, hugging, sobbing, supporting....

In that place, in that time we all were united as patriots.

Unforgettable.

 

[Harrison]

I was at work, one of the lawyers had a small TV on in his office. Suddenly, he started calling nearby people into his offices, saying "you got to come in and see this, it's unbelievable". It was the first plane flying into one of the towers, shortly followed by the second plane into the other tower. I will never forget those scenes.

 

[MRB1]

That day will forever be etched in my memory. Twenty years seems like yesterday. Sadly, we'll let our guard down, and they'll hit us again. It's important to remember, and NEVER EVER forget who did it, their motives, and their desire to do it again. Forgiveness I'll leave to a higher authority - I'll never forgive.

 

[shamuscull]

I was a Police Officer with NYPD. We were transporting prisoners to court in Brooklyn across from the WTC when the planes hit the tower. One of the prisoners in our van said it was terrorists, still don’t know how some street guy that probably didn’t finish school was so certain and correct. We dropped off our prisoners and spent the next few hours driving FDNY Fire Fighters from Brooklyn into lower Manhattan. The FDNY members were walking with their gear because their trucks had already responded and these guys showed up and wanted to help save lives. Spent the next six months at Ground Zero, the bereavement center taking DNA and the Morgue. As horrible as it was I am glad I was there. RIP NEVER FORGET.

 

[quikdraw67]

I was at my desk in the warehouse office. The owner cam in and said that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. I really didn't think to much of it. I thought maybe one of the planes that give tours around Manhattan had crashed. Shortly thereafter he came in and said that a 2nd plane had hit the other Tower. So now we knew something was going on.

We didn't have TV there, but I went to a Chevy Astro van we had and turned on the radio to WCBS 880 AM in NYC. It had a good radio and it picked up the signal. Honesdale is about 130 miles from the city.

I remember looking up a thinking was a beautiful blue sky.

We heard the Towers fall live on the radio.

I went home at lunch, and every channel had it on.

I remember being very angry, and yet sad at the same time.

Work was quiet the rest of the day. Phones stopped ringing. I remember one guy had tickets to the Yankees game that night. He wondered if the game would be canceled. Duh.

And that night. not seeing the planes flying over like they always did.

Today is just like 09/11/2001 weather wise. A perfect early fall day in my neck of Penn's Woods.

And so it goes.

 

[woodsltc]

I remember sitting with my wife at our kitchen table drinking coffee when the scenes of the first tower burning began showing on the television .............. I still get furious when I think of the poor souls leaping from the windows to their deaths.......deciding that was a better way to die than be burned by the fires behind them.

Don

 

[Kanewpadle]

I was getting ready for work when the phone rang. It was my wife telling me about the first plane. I turned on the news and watched the second plane hit. I and millions of other people knew right then and there that we were under attack.

To say I was mad is an understatement. I cried as I watched. And I vowed that somehow our country was going to get even with these %#@!&* people.

It was emotional and yet impressive to see people come together to do what had to be done.

I hope never again but the “woke” people today have already forgotten.

 

[DRYHEAT]

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Never forget! Only the same was said of Pearl Harbor. Dec. 7th passes
now without much of a mention.

 

[jimmyj]

I was on patrol while the rest of the shift was at the county seat for traffic court and/or depos.
Comm center advised what had happened in NYC. A few minutes later I was dispatched to the local airport in reference to two middle east indiviuals checking out parked aircraft. "Negative backup available" advised comm center. "60-08 back to comm, for future reference, 60-08 carrys his backup on his right hip". On arrival the airport personnel advised the two suspects had just left in a rental white ford. I caught up to the car and did a felony stop. In the hurry to exit my vehicle I forgot to turn on my portable radio. Department SOP is that on a traffic stop after five minutes, comm center gives a "10-4 Check" on the officer. My potable was not on so I did not hear the 10-4 check. After several miinutes I heard sirens coming from everywhere. I turned on my portable and dicovered my dispatcher had put out an all channel alert for a possible "Officer Down" call. Every agency in the area was responding "Code 3". The two indiviuals turned out to be two vacationing police officers from Italy who were also aircraft hoppyist and had no idea what was taking place in NYC. (also never had seen a S&W Model 29 from the muzzle end.

 

[crstrode]

At about 7:00 AM today the power went out.

Today is September 11. You can only imagine what my first thoughts were.

Well - maybe you cannot imagine what my first thoughts were.

It was so obvious to me that a lot of my countrymen have indeed forgotten what happened long long ago and far far away on this day.

Walking around the neighborhood with my dog early this morning revealed that the one and only house flying the American Flag was mine. It is a sad and disappointing truth that many of my lackadaisical neighbors either have forgotten, or don't give a rat's ***, about Patriot Day.

Hell - I doubt that more than a small percentage even know today is Patriot Day. If they were asked point blank what Patriot Day commemorates, most would just shrug and resume gazing into their own navels.

Badger Lake Observer: They Forgot - A Lot of Them

 

[Old_Cop]

My secretary came into my office and said that a plane had hit the WTC. I thought that it could just be an accident and turned on my TV. The second plane confirmed it was an attack. It felt like a punch in the gut.

 

[tripledipper]

One son was a NYPD Det. taking a class in the FBI building very close to the WTC and helped to get people out of the lobby of the the first tower until it came down and his brother, a NYPD Highway PO, came a little later. They both spent a couple of months down there and at the SI landfill looking for body parts. Both retired and in good health so far.

 

[Squarebutt]

One of our sons worked for a contractor in NYC doing high-dollar makeovers in restaurants and bars. They had done projects in the WTC previously, and that was on our minds as we tried to to reach his cell phone over and over with no answer. All the circuits were completely overloaded.
My mother got through to him around 2 p.m., but never told us, assuming we had already done so. We finally connected around 4. He had seen the planes hit from blocks away.
His younger brother was visiting friends in Seattle and had an extended vacation until he was able to fly home to California.
The planes that hit the WTC took off from Boston, and there were many casualties from MA, and many near-misses. My brother's next-door neighbor was a flight attendant with American and usually worked that Boston- Los Angeles flight. It was her day off, and she fell apart when she heard the news. The young woman who took her place was from western MA, and her funeral was in the church where my niece was married.
As we watched the ceremonies in NY this morning I recognized the names of people who had grown up here and gone to work in NY.
Sad, sad day. Prayers for the families who still mourn.

 

[31FordA]

As I walked into my office on 9/11 I remember looking up at the incredibly blue sky and thinking what a great day it was.

I was at my desk going through my mail when one of the secretaries asked if I knew how to get the TV in the conference room to work. I asked why, and she said a plane hit the World Trade Center. By the time I got the TV working both buildings were on fire. Several of us were discussing how one plane could do that much damage when they replayed the footage of the second plane hitting. By the time the Pentagon was hit just about the whole office was in the conference room, and the staff who were in Harrisburg at a conference were calling in. Shortly after the report of the plane going down in western PA the county closed and ordered everyone to go home.

As I walked to my car that day I remember looking up at that same blue sky and thinking how quickly my great day had gone bad. I will never forget how incredibly blue that sky was.

 

[Sistema1927]

I had taken a comp day that Tuesday, and sat down with a bowl of cereal and turned on Fox News while the wife was getting ready to go to work. They were showing the fire in the 1st tower, and were speculating on what type of airplane had impacted the building on such a clear day.

I called out to the wife to come see the fact that some idiot had flown into that building on a severe clear day. At that point, I assumed it was a small GA aircraft.

Just as she came into the room, we saw the 2nd plane impact the other tower. Right then I knew we were under attack. She went to work, and I sat there watching the events of the day unfold.

Strange thing, I went to the gun safe, and pulled out my M1 Garand and cleaning gear. Don't know why I selected that rife, but there was something comforting about cleaning the old war horse while watching the terror of that day.

We have been watching the specials on National Geographic channel today. Just the events of that day, as witnessed by the participants on the scene. A flood of conflicting emotions as we are watching.

 

[ejr10mm]

I was walking to chemistry class from English class when the news broke out. Yes I'm a youngin'. Many of my buddies went overseas because of 9/11. I did the police thing instead.

 

[jaguargolf]

I was the Captain of an FDNY Engine Company in mid-town Manhattan. I was home. I had been relieved from duty the night before by one of my Lieutenants. He and I had gone to the '93 bombing together when I was an Lt and he was a FF. Everyone working in my firehouse that day was killed. Most were not recovered. Everyone working in the other firehouses in our battalion were killed. 3 of the 5 battalions in our division were wiped out. When we got back to the firehouse about 3 am 9/12 my senior Lt. handed me the tentative list of FDNY missing. I stopped looking at it around name # 80 because I knew just about every one of them.
I recovered our MPO October 5th. He and I had been proby's together 22 years previously. He didn't have his bunker gear on, but he had his SCBA on, was carrying our trauma kit, and was found with a Captain of a mid-town ladder company who was also a proby with us many years previously. It appeared they were carrying a woman and were all killed in the second collapse. I recovered my proby, who had not yet graduated from the Fire Academy on New Years Day about 3am. He was with a firefighter from the next ladder company north of us, I had known that FF for 20 years, and he was my cousin's best friend. They were just outside a staircase that led up to the lobby of Tower 2 from a corridor connecting with WTC 4. My company was captured on video about 7 minutes before the collapse of Tower 2 entering WTC 4 to avoid getting hit by victims jumping from the upper floors. We had already lost a few FF's from getting hit by jumpers.
We recovered the Lieutenant who relieved me 9/10 and 2 of my FF's March 20th 2002. The staircase they were in was so compacted and stable that the engineers used it as the base for a roadway to get heavy equipment in and out of the site. We could see the individual floors and count the corrugated steel decking. There were some straps and gear that were visible and we got a few serial numbers of equipment to identify who was where and figure when we would get to recover them. When I was finished processing my guys I had the father and brothers of my Lt carry him out(all FD). I had family members either carry or accompany all the members my company we recovered to the medical examiners.
In Nov of 2001 2 Naval Officers in Dress Whites appeared at the Housewatch of my firehouse and presented us with the Battle Flag of the USS Kitty Hawk from the first night of operations into Afghanistan. "... "With the compliments of..." They wouldn't even stay for a cup of coffee.
Yesterday I flew the Battle Flag from the firehouse again. I had it raised by an FDNY Lieutenant who was an Iraqi Veteran. I had it lowered by an Afghanistan Veteran who did 2 tours as a USMC gunship pilot. His father is an FDNY Captain who was killed 9/11 when the future Marine was 14. I had an Arizona Deputy Sheriff who was former US Navy fold the flag. Her husband had served on the USS Kitty Hawk and through him I will return the Battle Flag to the USS Kitty Hawk Association.