where were you when you first heard about 9/11?

[emily]

I was in the sitting room reading the tv guide.

it came on and I stopped reading to watch it

 

[Kale]

I felt like it was school and then an announcement came over the PA system. We all went outside in front of the flag iirc.

 

[KenDaGamer]

At my apartment just a few days before I moved. I lost my voice all week when those two towers collapsed.

 

[passenger]

In the kitchen getting breakfast fixed before my husband left for work listening to the radio.

 

[PGen98]

Getting ready for school that day, very awkward silence at school all day, no one knew what to say.

 

[Kyng]

At home... I'd just come back from school to watch CITV, and instead, I got those horrible pictures on my TV screen .

 

[Cory]

My dad was picking me up from middle school and told me about it on the way home.

 

[Megan]

I was in high school, I think in some art class. I remember us watching it on the tv.

 

[MrDawn]

I was in the 7th grade. I remember we were all sitting in Algebra class when they flipped on the tv. Everyone was kind of freaking out about it. We ended up getting out of school early.

 

[toetapping]

In a caravan park.

 

[MamaFrankie]

At work.

 

[ElegantAura]

I was at home, watching a movie on TV, and it suddenly switched to news about 9/11.

 

[Web Diva]

I was at home doing a workout and my husband called me and said to turn on the news. A tragic day in my memory and the days that followed.

 

[Crys]

I was in school at the time.

 

[Dee]

On the freeway listening to Howard Stern. Thought it was a joke at first, then changed to a different station and found out it was not.

 

[freakofnature]

I was living in Kentucky at the time, and working nights when it happened. I got off work at 6am, went home, had a snack, and watched Good Morning America for a bit before going to bed. I think I must have turned the TV off just before the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I got up that afternoon none the wiser, It wasn't until I was driving to work (I started at 6pm) that I heard about it on the radio. I turned on the TV when I got to work and there was nothing on but coverage of the attack. It was surreal.

 

[Daltonio]

I was in school at the time, 2nd Grade and seven years old. So I don't remember specifics.

Don't think I really comprehended it seriously until I got home.

 

[Black Angel]

I actually remember both of the attacks on the WTC..

But as for 9/11, I was asleep with my boyfriend (now husband) when my great-grandmother called me and told me to turn on the TV.. we were hanging out in Chelsea the night before and didn't get in until about 4 AM and we basically crashed as soon as we got in and ended up oversleeping.. it is a good thing we did because we were actually supposed to go visit the Twin Towers that day..

My boyfriend told me that he had never been and I told him that I had been there numerous times as a kid and that we should go the next day, since he was off and it would be way less crowded and since it was a weekday, we could probably get in and it would be cheaper because it wasn't the weekend.

Our plan was to get there just after they opened.. this way we'd have time to walk around and have lunch at Top of The World restaurant, but that didn't happen.

When my great grandmother called me, it had been just after the plane hit the first tower, and I had turned the tv on just in time to see a replay of everything that happened. It took me a while to realize that I was watching what happened live, and was not part of a movie or something.

That day was chaotic as hell, and when I saw the footage, I immediately remembered the first attack back in 1992 or so, and I remembered how much I hated the fact that the only thing that was on TV was the Wizard of OZ in black and white, that they played CONSTANTLY on repeat because all the tv networks were out and the only thing that could be broadcast was CBS, (which broadcasted from the Empire State Building) PBS and the other tv stations we got from NJ.

I remember being really annoyed with the news coverage at the time, because they went into detail about how the buildings were built, and why the bomb in the basement would have failed, and I remembered thinking at the time, that someone was going to try again, and the coverage at the time seemed cocky.. but I was hoping that because the tv still had all the channels on air, that maybe the damage wasn't as bad.

Then I remembered, that after that happened, that many of the affected stations moved to the Empire State Building which was how we were able to see everything. I was hoping that this attack would end up not being as bad like the previous one, but that was the exact moment that the first tower fell, and my heart sank with it.

After that, our eyes were glued to the TV and our phones couldn't call out because all the lines and networks were busy and there was no way he was able to get home because the trains and buses were all stopped, and the buses were headed to Lower Manhattan to help move people away from the area.

We had to use my great-grandmother's landline phone, to call our parents and let them know that we were ok, and to check up on our friends and relatives to see how they were as well. My stepfather, who had just retired from the NYPD months earlier, went down to Ground Zero every day that he was able to, to help with the search and recovery of the injured and deceased and was among the many first responders who got sick from it. I am extremely grateful that he is still alive and has recovered and is well, even though many of his NYPD and FDNY colleagues did not survive.

I don't think I can forget that day (not that I should) anymore than I can forget the smell of burning plane fuel from my apartment.. that lasted for about a week or so.. but I do think it is disgusting that there are some people who say that this never happened or was a hoax, but then again, it is likely the same racist people who said that the Holocaust never happened and are now trying to ban history, books and now dictionaries, because it is too "woke."

I am surprised that many of the ideas they came up with since then in response to this seemed to be all but forgotten by now. I mean I remember them saying about how they would have armed air marshals on the flights, stewards trained in self-defense, that they would make disruptive behavior like ignoring the directions of the flight crew an automatic felony, and a locking door for the cockpit, and to keep this from happening again, but it seems like the first 3 never happened, as I have heard way too many stories of people doing stupid shit on the airplanes since then, and esp. since covid.

 

[Phillip]

I was in fifth grade, so I'm thinking maybe eleven or twelve...at the time...school all went silent for awhile that day.

 

[Eden]

I was in a classroom and our teacher turned on the TV and it was disturbing.