In a world of 24 hour news cycles, and continual blather about inane topics, I find this day a quiet place, solemn and serious. On this day in 2001 the USA was attacked by Islamic Crazies in a failed attempt to topple our civilization and subjugate Christianity.
Over the years, on Hannity, we have shared our experiences of this dark day. If you want to share or remember, I offer this as a place.
May God bless you and yours, and give you comfort this day.
I was just turning onto Highway 6 off of the loop in Waco when the first plane struck. I was talking to a buddy behind me and said,k “I don’t know who with but we’re at war”. He swore up and down it had to just be an accident.
As we were rolling into the next town the second plane hit and he said, “Damn, you’re right”.
I started trying to reenlist making calls all the way to Houston and for the first time in my life felt really old.
They could waive my disability or age but not both.
I still managed to get a contract job at Benning Training Rangers for a year as they were ramping up.
Thanks WR.
Few of us understood that the first strike was terrorism. Airliners don’t crash into buildings by accident.
That day changed our country for the worst.
All the terrorists had to do was hit the buildings.
We’ve been doing the rest ever since.
I was working in a back office and someone came in and said a “plane” had just hit one of the towers. It wasn’t known yet that it was an airliner. A few minutes later it was said that a second plane had gone into the towers and I said out loud…it’s a terrorist attack. I’ll never believe we dealt with Saudi Arabia correctly and still don’t.
It was a Tuesday. I was supposed to travel from the east coast to the west coast on Sunday Sept 9, weather delayed me and I was stuck overnight in Detroit and had to finish the trip on Mon Sept 10. I was asleep when my wife called to wake me and tell me the first plane hit. I was watching when the the second plane hit. The next weekend I attended an airshow with no airplanes. There were firemen collecting money for relief efforts. A week later I was scheduled to travel home. by then the air traffic had resumed. When i flew out to the west coast i had a Leatherman tool in my pocket. When i returned i FedEx-ed every thing i had with me back home and traveled with just my ID.
My wife came in the room and turned on the TV. The news was showing the first tower with smoke billowing out. The anchors were trying to figure out what happened…speculating about a small plane crashing…an accident, when a passenger jet flies into the shot and crashes into the other tower. I told my wife We were under attack. She said who. I told her Bin Laden. There had been a lot of talk about Al Qaeda lately…i just had a gut feeling. I was off that day and spent the morning watching and praying and talking to my parents.
I was in the library at school. I was only in sixth grade but I remember exactly what we were doing. They rolled in a TV shortly after the first tower hit. Being middle schoolers we really didn’t understand the gravity of the situation at first but some of us realized that the world had actually changed overnight over the following years. It wasn’t long after that some of the kid’s parents were getting deployed to Afghanistan.
I may be one of the few that missed the whole thing (me and about 20 colleagues). I was in a meeting that went from 8-11 that morning. By the time I got out, I had a dozen messages and about 50 emails from friends in NYC.
To this day I can’t believe no one came in to tell us what was going on. I was living in Connecticut…every one of us in that room lost friends…and family…that day.
My other memory was driving up to NYC to pick up a UK friend who had been meeting in the Towers. He had gone outside to have a quick smoke when it all went down…hid under a fire truck when the first tower collapsed.
Everything he had on him…suitcase, money, the works…he had left behind when he went to get the smoke. Except, luckily, his passport (he kept that on him at all times).
I picked him up, drove him up to Canada where we talked our way into the country so I could deposit him with friends. I stayed there with them until the border reopened.
I was in 10th grade chemistry when the two planes hit. No one in class was aware of the events. Saw both buildings engulfed in flames on the television in the corner of the classroom as soon as I entered world history. At first I thought it was an accident, but why would both buildings be on fire? We were glued to the television the whole class. Couldn’t believe it when the South Tower collapsed. I remember thinking I might get drafted at that very moment.
I remember the day that ushered in the patriot act very well.
Sad day indeed because of the twisted some of a religion that wanted to terrorize the USA…for a brief moment we were one nation, we were all Americans…
I was in High School - don’t remember the exact grade. But I remember the morning very well.
We were on the West Coast. Dad was watching Fox News as usual before work, when the first news came in and reported that a plane hit the tower. At first, I wasn’t terrible concerned, because I read about an incedent similar where a small single person plane hit a tower, likely by accident.
When the second plane hit, that’s when things got real.
Dad worked at a Government installation so we started getting concerned about whether he should go to work or not. I remember getting into the shower to get ready for school, wondering very clearly just how many more planes would hit.
My brother, 7 at the time, woke up and we shoed him out of the family room since we didn’t want to traumatize him. I think that’s when the first tower fell - no one knew what was happening, and I remember pointing through a hole in the thick smoke and saying “It’s not there! It’s gone!”
About that time Mom woke up. We tried to gently tell her what was going on - she figured it out instantly and immediately began sobbing. So much for keeping my brother in the dark.
Dad eventually decided to go to work despite fears (I think he came home very early that day), and eventually me and my brother got to school. The rest of the day was kind of a daze.
The only other thing I really remember from the day (besides watching them begin to comb the wreckage) is something my mother told me later. Once or twice during the day, she heard planes in the sky - and freaked out because everything was supposed to be grounded. She later realized they were from the nearby military base. But every time she heard one that day, she was filled with fear.
Rest in peace ye brave heroes and victims. That day was seared into the American consciousness, a scar that may never fully heal.
A powerful story, read at your own emotional peril:
Interesting that some people cannot resist the impulse to politicize this thread.
ETA, No, I’m not talking about the post immediately before this one.
My office is right on Pennsylvania Ave, closer to the White House than the Capitol. I watching in disbelief as the smoke billowed from the Pentagon in the distance as cars streamed out of the garage to the Reagan International Trade Building as it evacuated. I sat in the office watching the news for a few hours, then walked the 30 minutes to my home on Cap Hill because Metro was shutdown. I’ll never remember walking down an empty Penn Ave with the exception of a police office standing every 100ft or so.
Very unpopular opinions to have.
I will never forget that day. The horror of it all.
Now I will never forget that day as well now for the horror of how America squandered a worldwide unity that had come out of that day. Nor can I forget now the horrors we placed upon ourselves with the patriot act and other legislations born of fear or opportunistic politicking.
I was working in VA. In fact I drove past the pentagon earlier that morning on my way to my office. When the first plane hit, my intern called me and said an airplane just crashed into the WTC. So I left my office and went to the lounge on the 2nd floor where folks have gathered around the TV. We stood, watched and talked for a while then all of a sudden the next plane hit. That’s when we knew what was up. A few at my office were high ranking DIA contractors and they were called in immediately, which included my direct supervisor. Then we started getting calls about other planes, unfortunately the phones stop working. It was a fiasco. Then we found out about an explosion at the pentagon. At first folks thought it was a missile, but found out it was a another plane. Heard later on that a plane that was heading to DC crashed somewhere in PA. The day was a mess. I was new to the company(my first job out of college) so at that time I was non-essential personnel. We non-essentials were sent home. I had to figure out a way to get home because my two routes I-395 and I-66(in Arlington) was shut down due to its close proximity to the pentagon. Ended up having to go the ultra long way (top side of the beltway) to get home. I heard from my fiance one time during this ordeal which was right before she was heading down into the metro (McPherson Square, which was a block or 2 away from the White House). Her office was 2 blocks away from the White House so folks in that area evacuated rather quickly.
That Tuesday night me and my fiance did what we normally do on Tuesdays and went to Bible Study, we ended up having a prayer service with another church.
That was the first time I saw our country put aside their politics, party, racism, religion for America. We were all brothers and sisters, no rich or poor, no black or white, no libs or cons, no dems and repubs, just Americans. Unfortunately…that feeling didn’t last that long.
Our “leaders” politicized the hell out of that day. If some of us remember the day for the horror that it was and now for the horror of how pols manipulated that day, well I apologize, but I will not keep silent.
As I sit here in Northwest Indiana, 45 minutes from Chicago by car…I took note of the serene blue cloudless sky this morning. This is exactly the way the sky was on September 11, 2001. My daughter who was just a few months past three had no clue what was going on. She just wanted to play. I sat watching the TV trying to get in touch with my parents who were in Northern Wisconsin at the time. I couldn’t get through to them. I was on the phone with my sister when the first tower came down. We were blown away, both in tears. After the second tower came down, and 93 crashed in Shanksville…I couldn’t bear to watch. 10,000 feared dead in the towers…I took my daughter outside to play. Finally on my cell phone I was able to talk to my parents. They were unaware as they were out fishing…LOL Land line circuits were totally dead. The strangest part of that day was by 11 am local, there were no planes in the air anymore. I live an hour from O’Hare and a bit less from Midway. NO PLANES…that is very strange. It was that way for what a week? prettiest blue skies I every remember seeing.
