I was on one of the first planes out of dsm. we were on the way to Atlanta and got interviewed by kcci with cyclone bball player Jake Sullivan. I was so young I was mocking my sister on tv haha. the Atlanta airport was eriely quiet
9/11 - Where were you?
- Thread starter HuddleUp
- Start date
I had just flown into Iowa for the Iowa/Iowa State game. After it had all gone down and knowing my flight had a stop over in Chicago which could result in long delays, I decided to rent a car and drive back home. I ended up having a heart to heart with my son (who had just joined the Marines) about the obvious possibility that he would be headed to the Middle East at some point.
I was at work, in my office in Woonsocket, RI. First I heard was just like most folks, that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers and we thought it was a horrible accident. A few of us jumped on the web to find an update, and of course it was all preliminary at that point. Then the second plane hit and that set the entire office off. Internet connection slowed to a crawl and then crashed. Phone service wasn't working to well, either.
Nobody was getting anything done at this point.
Then the Pentagon go hit and after that, we all headed to our homes.
What a crappy day.
Nobody was getting anything done at this point.
Then the Pentagon go hit and after that, we all headed to our homes.
What a crappy day.
I was going to DMACC at the time. Had an 8am class and heard something about WTC on the radio before going into class but thought it was a mistake or hoax. Got out of class and walked into commons area and saw the TV coverage.
I spent my freshman year of college (2001-2002) at Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, before transferring to ISU. Anyways, I think it was the 2nd week of classes. I woke up to go to my history course (Western Civilization).
I walked through my dorm's cafeteria on the way to class, noticing that everyone was crowded around the TVs. Also, instead of the usual crappy music playing on the stereo, there was a news report saying a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. I figured it was some little plane like the Cessna that crashed at the White House back in the 90s. After getting to class, a couple of people explained what was really happening to those of us that had managed to avoid the news so far that morning. That turned out to be only about half of the truth along with a bunch of horrific things that fortunately turned out not to be true.
The professor went on with class for an hour and a half like nothing was happening, so I didn't actually know the full details of what had happened until I got back to my dorm room about 11:00 AM where my roommate and the guys from across the hall were watching the news.
I walked through my dorm's cafeteria on the way to class, noticing that everyone was crowded around the TVs. Also, instead of the usual crappy music playing on the stereo, there was a news report saying a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. I figured it was some little plane like the Cessna that crashed at the White House back in the 90s. After getting to class, a couple of people explained what was really happening to those of us that had managed to avoid the news so far that morning. That turned out to be only about half of the truth along with a bunch of horrific things that fortunately turned out not to be true.
The professor went on with class for an hour and a half like nothing was happening, so I didn't actually know the full details of what had happened until I got back to my dorm room about 11:00 AM where my roommate and the guys from across the hall were watching the news.
I was in Chicago, working a disaster recovery test for a client. They came in and told us of the first plane and that if one of their clients had to do a real disaster recovery we would need to quit. When the second plane hit we knew it wasn't an accident.
Fortunately for us we had driven to Chicago from Omaha instead of flying like we normally did so we didn't have to scramble to find a rental car.
Woodale is about 3-4 miles straight west of O'Hare and there is normally 3 distinct lines of planes coming in at all times. The silence was eerie due to all air traffic being suspended.
Fortunately for us we had driven to Chicago from Omaha instead of flying like we normally did so we didn't have to scramble to find a rental car.
Woodale is about 3-4 miles straight west of O'Hare and there is normally 3 distinct lines of planes coming in at all times. The silence was eerie due to all air traffic being suspended.
soph at isu. only had a 3 o'clock lab that day, so I slept in. turned on my tv which had been on ESPN when I shut it off, and I thought it was odd that news was on instead of sportscenter. took me a while to figure out what happened because by then both towers had already fallen. my roommate was a poli sci minor, and when he woke up a half hour later he started flipping out about what this was going to mean for not just us, but the world. weird day, didnt move from my couch all day.
I was in Kindergarten at the time and all I remember is sitting on the rainbow carpet looking up at the TV watching planes hit a building over and over again. Of course I had no idea what was going on at the time. I also remember coming home after school and my brothers were all home instead of at football practice for some reason
I remember a plane going over downtown Chicago that broke the eerie silence. Everyone just watched it to see if it was going to hit something!
I remember the challanger launch- we had an assembly to watch it in the caf. I was six and will always remember the teachers crying. My parents remember kennedy getting shot and nixon resigning. We have this 911 thread every year, so I will add that I had night classes and slept through it all. I crawled out of bead at 10 and had to have it explained to me.
I had a Technical Writing class that morning. Went to class, went back to my apartment. Flipped the TV on as I walked by, and heard something about planes attacking the towers. Went and was watching when the second one hit. Can't describe the feeling.
I worked 2nd shift at Mercy Hospital in desmoines. I usually sleep in but my brother who was in highschool called me and said i think were in world war 3 brother. I remember saying what the hell are you talking about and him replying just turn on the tv. I turned on the tv to see the 1st tower on fire. It was only a few minutes latter when i saw live the 2nd plane hit. I was glued to the tv until i had to go to work. I remember calling my boss and she said we were still working today and be prepaired to show your badge and id beause the hospital was on lockdown and red alert. Lockdown means no unauthorized persons in critical areas which i was in one. And red alert means be prepaired to recieve mass injuries and casualties. It was certanially a scary day, and i didnt even work directly with patients, i just prepaired x-rays and charts. But they started gathering up carts of supplies from storage areas and laying them out to be sorted into critical areas. I had to gather that stuff on top of getting oxygen from storage areas and helping move non critical patients into other accomidations. I think the bottom line is, no one knew what was going on that day but we are all trying to be prepaired for what could happen.
My dad is a doctor, and he was at the hospital on call that morning. He says he'll always remember crowding around the TVs with other physicians, nurses, hospital staff and patient families to watch. People were in shock, others were angry, some were calling friends, family and colleagues on the East Coast. Once it was apparent that it was a terrorist attack, the hospitals in the area went into the same lockdown/red alert status.
Only time I've ever experienced something like the lockdown/red alert myself, is when the I-35W bridge collapsed. I was working at the VA hospital in Minneapolis, and was waiting for my dad at the U of MN campus. Suddenly the alarms start going off and they're declaring an orange alert. Minutes later, people were running to the window, from where you could see the smoke and dust rising from where the bridge used to be. We used to cross that bridge every day from work, and had been delayed a little bit from leaving that day...
Only time I've ever experienced something like the lockdown/red alert myself, is when the I-35W bridge collapsed. I was working at the VA hospital in Minneapolis, and was waiting for my dad at the U of MN campus. Suddenly the alarms start going off and they're declaring an orange alert. Minutes later, people were running to the window, from where you could see the smoke and dust rising from where the bridge used to be. We used to cross that bridge every day from work, and had been delayed a little bit from leaving that day...
I took the day off to spend with my oldest daughter who was 2 then. I remember us planning out our whole day. She wanted to watch some TV so we turned it on about 30 seconds before the 2nd plane flew into the towers. Needless to say that day was shot from there. Still tried to play with my daughter some but can still remember the panic I was feeling that day. Called my work and told them to tune in to the TV and also called the wife who was working. They just got informed about it.
I then remember the reports saying you'd better fill up with gas today because the next day it was going up to $5/gal so like an idiot we went and waited in line for an hour to fill up the vehicles. We went to a special prayer service at church that night to pray and I don't think I will ever feel that overwhelmed as I did that day/night worrying about our future and especially the future of my children.
I then remember the reports saying you'd better fill up with gas today because the next day it was going up to $5/gal so like an idiot we went and waited in line for an hour to fill up the vehicles. We went to a special prayer service at church that night to pray and I don't think I will ever feel that overwhelmed as I did that day/night worrying about our future and especially the future of my children.
Freshman in highschool. I remember it was during a break between classes and my best friend came up to me in the hallway and said a plane had been flown into the WTC. At first I thought it was going to be a Cessna or something small flown by an amateur pilot.
I lived in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio which is where Wright-Patterson AFB is. Later that afternoon I remember hearing a sonic boom from fighter jets presumably going to escort the president or someone important. I will never forget that.
I lived in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio which is where Wright-Patterson AFB is. Later that afternoon I remember hearing a sonic boom from fighter jets presumably going to escort the president or someone important. I will never forget that.
I was in keyboarding class as a freshman in high school. A girl who was a senior barged in to tell our teacher (retired military) that a plane had flown into the WTC. We turned on the TV in the room in time to see the second plane hit and we all knew it was not an accident at that point. We continued to watch as the first and second towers fell. I remember watching news in most classes the rest of the day. We had an assembly later that day in the auditorium where my keyboarding class teacher talked about what this day would mean for our country. I also remember my classmate playing taps at the end.
We had a freshman football game that evening, which was not canceled. I remember that we won that game and on the bus ride home, everyone was talking about filling up their vehicles with gas because gas would hit $5/gallon.
Hard to believe it was 10 years ago.
We had a freshman football game that evening, which was not canceled. I remember that we won that game and on the bus ride home, everyone was talking about filling up their vehicles with gas because gas would hit $5/gallon.
Hard to believe it was 10 years ago.
Pretty boring story - had the day off and sluffed on the couch for TV viewing on what I thought would be a boring day. By 8:30 the news had broke - by 9:30 it was an attack on America.
It was wildl when they shut down all air traffic. We are NW of the longest runway at DSM and all sorts of planes landed within in an hour or so.
After that - there was no air traffic - no contrails, no take offs, no nothing. It was was eerily quiet .
Then there was the plane headed east - F16's on the left (north side) and a F15 or something on the right (South side). That was our president heading back to D.C.
The rest of the day was just weird - people arriving home to run in to watch TV News.
It was wildl when they shut down all air traffic. We are NW of the longest runway at DSM and all sorts of planes landed within in an hour or so.
After that - there was no air traffic - no contrails, no take offs, no nothing. It was was eerily quiet .
Then there was the plane headed east - F16's on the left (north side) and a F15 or something on the right (South side). That was our president heading back to D.C.
The rest of the day was just weird - people arriving home to run in to watch TV News.
I just came back from History in Curtiss Hall. My buddy was still at our dorm in Helser. Freaking crazy watching it on TV. We didn't know what was going on. That man is none other than THEE PabloDiablo of CF.
On another note I found out later my girlfriend (now wife) had a relative on Flight 93. Her mom's cousin was one of the guys that stormed the cabin to take it down. Unbelievable stuff.