Article

2021-09-11

What were you doing that Tuesday morning on 9-11?

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Posted by NN2N1 2021-09-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top
File under: al-Qaeda

#1 Sitting on the couch in Houston, drinking coffee, reading the paper before work. TV playing in the background. A story in the Chronicle about the Tutsis and the Hutus going at it. I was thinking that it would serve 'em all right if undead zombie Jesus and Mohamed came back and kicked their asses from one end of Africa to the other when the regular news was interrupted by a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Seemed strange that a plane would crash into a downtown building...

Posted by SteveS 2021-09-11 00:51|| 2021-09-11 00:51|| Front Page Top

#2 At the time,
I was living a highly classified life so,
this will have to do:

Posted by Chaling Slolet3123 2021-09-11 02:48|| 2021-09-11 02:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Taking my honey to the bus stop for her commute to downtown Denver. Heard on the radio someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center. We both laughed about her getting a day off as she worked in the Denver World Trade Center.

Posted by Skidmark 2021-09-11 05:52|| 2021-09-11 05:52|| Front Page Top

#4 opened the office before 6AM PST, went to the deli in our high-rise building's basement to get a sandwich just after the first hit on the TV. Waited around until the second hit and realized *oh shit!* this wasn't just an accident...

Posted by Frank G 2021-09-11 07:08|| 2021-09-11 07:08|| Front Page Top

#5 Opening the office of the enterprise which employed me in the Mercantile Building, in San Antonio, just south of the airport. I was calling the scheduled appointments for the day, reminding them of the time and place, and the first one that I talked to that day was practically hysterical - that an airplane had crashed into the WTC, the place was on fire, and people were jumping ... I had the classical radio station on, not the news, but I switched over to the news at once.
It was a very odd, and quiet day at that office. The business itself closed two years later, in the economic reversal which followed after 9-11.

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2021-09-11 07:40|| www.celiahayes.com 2021-09-11 07:40|| Front Page Top

#6 Was at a Project Meeting in a rural community. Someone had mentioned before the meeting that a plane hit a building in New York (as that's all the local radio station had reported at the time). We all thought that was a tragic accident, until one of the meeting attendant's cellphone rang and his office filled him in on the second plane and what the target was. We found a radio and turned it on.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2021-09-11 08:19|| 2021-09-11 08:19|| Front Page Top

#7 Sitting in my recliner. I had submitted my paperwork for retirement, as I had reached mandatory removal date (MRD) 'old age' as defined by the Army. I went upstairs, pulled on BDU's and boots and raced up I-85 to Fort Mac and my duty station. The Interstate was packed with emergency vehicles and LE streaming into Atlanta. No one knew what would happen next. Figuring WWIII was a poor time to retire, I submitted a request to remain on active duty. I was thanked for my service and told I was no longer needed. I spent the next 12 years or so assisting the GWOT via alternate venues in a variety of locations. No regrets.

A crisp hand salute to all those who served, waited at home, or paid the ultimate price for freedom.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-09-11 09:36|| 2021-09-11 09:36|| Front Page Top

#8 Driving to work w/2 co-workers, radio down low. DJ said something about a plane hitting a ny building. Had recently finished reading ‘The Sky is Falling,’ true story of the B-25 that hit the Empire State Building. Made comment along the lines of ‘it happened again must be foggy there,’ thinking it was a light bug smasher that got lost in fog. When we got to work we saw the second hit.. everybody was zombie-like, total disbelief and shock. Only activity was the near-constant ringing of the phone on our Spares desk, with our airline customers cancelling orders by the score. Scores Manager emerged after a couple hours a complete mess, crying uncontrollably about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of sales she lost .
There was no work done that day. Or the next.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2021-09-11 10:18|| 2021-09-11 10:18|| Front Page Top

#9 I was attending a class at Sun Microsystems in Arlington, VA. The center manager came in and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I too thought it was like when the B-25 hit the Empire State Building. Then she said another plane had hit the Pentagon. We were close enough that we could see the smoke from the Pentagon.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2021-09-11 10:31|| 2021-09-11 10:31|| Front Page Top

#10 As a stockbroker down South I was in my office getting ready for the market to open.

Posted by Croque Fliting8030 2021-09-11 10:34|| 2021-09-11 10:34|| Front Page Top

#11 Was on the annual family fishing trip at the Sardine Lakes, CA. Having had a decent morning of it, I was packing up my gear and heading back to he cabin. A woman passes by and mentions a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. Once back I put on the radio to get some news and soon heard of second crash. Everyone was in shock, glued to the radios. I drove into nearest town - Graegle, as the tavern there had a TV. All of us gathered there sat silently watching news. I couldn't stay too long so returned to family and told em what I'd seen. My sister in law spent the rest of the day and the next trying to get through to her brother at the Mini Pentagon (he was Airforce Colonel at the time). They finally connected very briefly, his parting words were "don't worry, we are going to take care of this".

Posted by Rex Mundi 2021-09-11 10:42|| 2021-09-11 10:42|| Front Page Top

#12 I was driving to John Wayne airport to catch a flight to SFO

Got to airport and was told all flights were canceled and then I looked up at CNN and realized this was a big”oh crap” moment

Every year since then I hold my breath that some group will try to commemorate that even by making a city disappear

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2021-09-11 11:59|| 2021-09-11 11:59|| Front Page Top

#13 Mrs. Uluque always has the TV on while she's getting ready to go in the morning. I was eating my breakfast downstairs without the TV (can't stand the morning talk/news shows). Mrs. Uluque started screaming. When I saw the first pictures I thought some kook had accidentally flown a private plane into the tower. When the second plane hit the second tower I knew better.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2021-09-11 12:53|| 2021-09-11 12:53|| Front Page Top

#14 I was busy at home, packing my van to take a long road trip to see my brother in Boston. I planned to drive across northern PA to the Tappan Zee bridge, and cross CT to eastern MA. I was not in the habit of checking the morning news. None called me.
To take a break from packing, I sat back in my living room recliner about 1045 EDT and turned on the TV. I was transfixed and very quickly saw the clip of the 2nd airliner hitting the WTC.
I called my brother and told him I was delaying my departure until the situation became clearer. I told him I was concerned there might have been dirty nuclear materials in one or more of the crashes & advised him to get out of Boston if the smoke plumes ran in his direction.
I called a few others, turned on my laptop and starting surfing the net intensively for news, pictures and particularly domestic and world reactions to the tragedy. I learned a lot I didn't expect to learn. I only wish I had captured every screen image and text item, but there were so many for so many days. I found my way to Rantburg that day also.
I did arrive in Boston by the Saturday after 9/11. I attended Mass at St. Paul's in Cambridge that Sunday. There was something like a funeral guest book on a stand in the lobby listing the names of the St. Paul's parishioners who had died on the planes or at the impact points. There were about a dozen, mostly airline workers.

Posted by Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 2021-09-11 14:01|| 2021-09-11 14:01|| Front Page Top

#15 Was on a conference call with an IT higher-up at Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and our my VP of Sales. We were discussing the IT Security Briefing we had given them back in Fed. 2001, outlining their IT Data Centers, Continuity of Operations Plan problems (COOP).

We all hung up and started calling staff.
As I was told later, all were accounted for except 1 employee.
We found him several days later, hunkered down in a hotel room, vegetating in the dark.

One of my IT Security Team who already had a rented a car. Ride-shared it with other IT consultants fleeing south down I-95.

Posted by 2021-09-11 17:07|| 2021-09-11 17:07|| Front Page Top

#16 I spent the morning finding out what had happened, and the afternoon wondering why our missiles were still in their silos.

Posted by Matt 2021-09-11 17:24|| 2021-09-11 17:24|| Front Page Top

#17 One of the most memorable things I remember occured a few days later in a Dale Carnegie public speaking class of about 100 people in Dallas, Texas.

A Muslim man got up, faced the class, looked down, wrapped his arms around himself and started weeping. Then he proceeded telling us about his young brother who just came to the US to start his new job at the World Trade Center the morning of the attack and never made it out of the towers...

Posted by Blackbeard Barnsmell6454 2021-09-11 17:39|| 2021-09-11 17:39|| Front Page Top

#18 #17. Wow.

Posted by Croque Fliting8030 2021-09-11 21:52|| 2021-09-11 21:52|| Front Page Top

22:26 Silentbrick
22:22 Skidmark
21:52 Croque Fliting8030
21:19 CrazyFool
20:09 Nomad
19:48 DooDahMan
19:34 Frank G
18:17 Gluter Mussolini5141
18:03 Glenmore
17:58 Glenmore
17:54 Glenmore
17:39 Blackbeard Barnsmell6454
17:24 Matt
17:07
16:59 M. Murcek
16:51 Rambler in Virginia
16:47 Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843
16:25 trailing wife
16:14 Too Old To Work
16:09 Too Old To Work
16:07 Skidmark
16:03 Matt
16:02 Too Old To Work
15:57 Too Old To Work