9/11 Remembrance Thread

[Clonefan32]

I was living in Brooklyn at the time. Our neighborhood was basically straight across from lower manhattan and inland a little ways. Woke up to my phone ringing. It was my mom and I remember thinking why is she calling me so early, I am trying to sleep. I ignored the call the first time but answered the second because I figured something was up.
She told about the plan hitting and just as I got off the phone and woke my roommate up, the second plane had hit. We lived on the third story of a three story brownstone and could get to the roof using the fire escape. We climbed up to the roof and just stared at awe and in shock of what we were seeing. The smoke just pouring out of the towers.
There were fighter jets that started to fly over the city and I remember asking each other, "how do we know those are ours?" We talked about what the hell we should do. Is the city under attack? Talking about it now still makes my heart race. I had friends that lived near the world trade center. I remember trying all day to get through to them but you couldn't get through. Luckily i heard from them later that day and they were ok.
We saw the first tower come down and I can't even describe what it was like seeing that. We went back inside thinking we better watch the news to see if we need to try and get out of the city and figure out what to do.
I remember later walking outside and all these people in the streets and the look of disbelief and sadness. I remember seeing all these people on the front steps of a church crying. They shut down everything in the city. Banks, ATMs, transportation etc. I remember the ATM thing because I was trying to take money out to buy some food because all we had in our apartment was a can of corn.
There was military stationed in the city. Guys stationed near the subway and trains and any attractions. Two days later we took an amtrack to my roommates aunt's in New Jersey. I remember the flood of calls I got from friends and family relieved to finally get through to me and know I was ok.
I remember the candle light vigils in the parks and I remember going into manhattan before we left and Times Square was a ghost town. It was one of the most eerie sights I have ever seen. A space with millions of people walking daily was now empty.
I also remember the sense of community and kindness that was in the city afterward. People wanting to connect with strangers.

I also remember the overwhelming grief of going down to ground zero and seeing the pictures of all the missing on the fences.

Somewhat relevant to this, I remember being very glad I lived in Iowa. I remember thinking how scary it must be to live in NYC or DC, or really any big city that would be the likely target of an attack, not knowing if this was isolated or part of some larger attack.

 

[oldman]

I was at work. I heard about the first plane on the radio and thought it was some dumbass in a piper cub or something. Then the second one hit. My three daughters were all under 10 yo. I wondered what kind of world they were going to grow up in.

 

[CascadeClone]

I teach taekwondo. Last night at class, NONE of the kids were alive when it happened. Most were aware of it, but didn't really share the same level of severity.

The memory won't last as long as Pearl Harbor. The world moves faster now. Pearl Harbor was still a big deal 50 years later, but after that not so much. So that's 2 generations. I'd guess 9/11 lasts about 1 generation. Maybe another 10 years or so and it will be just a memorial in NYC and some video that's hard to believe.

 

[DeereClone]

I was in 5th or 6th grade and when we saw the news at school I can vividly remember being naive and young enough to think of how odd it was that 2 major plane crashes would happen in the same day in the same city. Within a matter of minutes after that I grew out of my naivety and saw how terrible evil people can be.

 

[CycloneNorth]

I was in 6th grade homeroom when it came on the TV. Pretty much all we did the first half of the day was watch the coverage.

 

[aeroclone]

I was a Freshman at ISU. When I left my dorm and headed off to class in the morning they were still thinking the first plane was an accident. I remember coming out of class hearing that a second plane had hit and the reality of the situation hit. When I got back to my dorm, walking down the hall every room had their tv turned to news coverage.

 

[VeloClone]

I was at work and called my IT guy from my office. He told me a plane hit the WTC. I imagined a small plane. I went up to our conference room and saw the replayed footage of the airliner hitting. Was very suspicious that this wasn't an accident. As soon as the second hit we all knew. Watched coverage all morning and then tried to get work done in the afternoon. Wasn't very successful.

I had a security related job before the one I had at the time so I had been aware of the possibility and knew it was a just a matter of time before our sense of security was smashed. I had seen over the years the troubles in countries all over the world. There was no way it wasn't eventually coming here. I went to state sponsored security training after the Murrah building was blown up in OKC. We knew that there was only so much we could do. Many people were shocked because they thought it would never happen here. I knew it would some day, but I was still shocked at the scale of it. Unbelievable.

I was scheduled to fly for work about a month after it happened and we were watching to see if flights would be resumed. When they resumed flying it seemed the rules were changing every day.

My brother flies a lot for work so I used to go and meet him at the airport when he had a layover for a few hours. Now I don't because he would have to leave the airport and then go back through security. I used to see several of my friends this way when they were passing through. I also remember when the only place you ever saw a walk through metal detector was at an airport. Now I have even purchased them.

 

[SCyclone]

I was in high school when Vietnam ended. I can remember vividly discussing with friends what we would do if we got drafted. But the war seemed a million miles away.

9-11 brought war to us, right in our front yard. The U.S. had never been attacked on such a wide, destructive front before, and it was both confusing and frightening. I was at work, and there was a TV on in the office next to mine. I heard snippets of conversation and began to grasp what was going on....so I walked in the office in time to see the second plane.

I was dumbfounded. I absolutely could not believe this was happening in New York, in America. What the hell? We don't get attacked - we do the attacking.

The rest of the day was like hearing that one of your parents or siblings had been killed. My mind simply did not want to wrap around the facts of what had occurred. Like @ImJustKCClone, I did a lot of praying and crying that night.

And unlike many of you, I don't think Americans will ever forget 9/11. It was the first time our country had sampled what it was like to have war waged against us in our house. I mean, that **** simply did not happen.

 

[brett108]

I would think when most people who were alive when it happened have died, it will start to fade like Pearl Harbor. And by “alive” I mean somebody who was probably at least 13-14 years old at the time it happened. People who were old enough to comprehend what was happening. And you bring up a couple good points in that 9/11 will probably stick around longer than Pearl Harbor because of the date and all of the video and pictures from ground zero.

The Boston Marathon Bombing is another event that will be remembered, but obviously not to the scale of 9/11.

Don’t agree on Boston. Does anyone remember the OKC federal building attack? Far deadlier but most in OKC couldn’t tell you where the building used to stand.

 

[cyclonedave25]

Don’t agree on Boston. Does anyone remember the OKC federal building attack? Far deadlier but most in OKC couldn’t tell you where the building used to stand.

The reason I think the Boston Marathon Bombing will be remembered is because its an annual event thats one of the biggest of its kind and always nationally televised.

Had it just been a random bombing in the middle of Boston during some random day, it would have been forgotten by now.

 

[CtownCyclone]

The reason I think the Boston Marathon Bombing will be remembered is because its an annual event thats one of the biggest of its kind and always nationally televised.

Had it just been a random bombing in the middle of Boston during some random day, it would have been forgotten by now.

Plus there was the ensuing chase and shootout that accompanied it. That sticks in my mind, since my wife was living in Boston at the time, lived along the route, and had talked about going to the finish line to watch. Was pretty nervous for a while, since she didn't answer her cell phone for a long time. Turns out she skipped the finish line and took a nap instead.

The chase, I'll remember, because it was happening as we were getting our engagement photos taken in Houston. Just before we were ready to roll out the door, they broke in with that news.

That being said, 9/11 still stirs quite a bit of emotion in me. When I see the photo of the Falling Man...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man