Remember Sept 11 2001

[CRX1]

What were you doing and where were you at when you hear?????  My heart goes out to all on that day..  I was in a small town in up state New York called Forest Port with my 9 month old daughter visiting my Mother and Father.

[JOACH1M]

I was in first grade...


We went into lock down, then went home.

[Oldman731]

What were you doing and where were you at when you hear????? 

I was in the office, which, at the time, overlooked Independence Hall.  By 11:00 I decided to send everyone home.  I stuck around for a bit longer.  At the time, of course, there was a sense of a general attack on all symbolic US structures, and there was Independence Hall half a block away on the other side of a glass wall.  I remember watching as the unfortunate park rangers tried to form some sort of protective cordon around the square, armed only with their pathetic 9mms.  I was very glad not to be one of them.  Talk about Godzilla v Bambi.

I don't know if the emotions of the time will ever subside.  I still get choked up looking at the pictures.  It happened to me today. 

We have people in AH who were in Manhattan, and one or two who were actually at the scene.  My story pales in comparison.

- oldman

[ink]

 

[BaldEagl]

I was at an RV sow in PA with a dealership I hadn't started working for yet.  It was manufacturer/dealership opening day (of two) prior to the show opening to the general public.  I was walking through the show with the dealership owner when a manufacturer rep opened the door of an RV we were walking past and proclaimed that the world trade center had been hit by an airplane.  We dashed into the RV to se the results of the first hit on TV.

We continued to watch as the second plane hit and I remember turning to the owner and saying this wasn't going to be all.  The plane in PA went down about 60-70 miles from where we were.

The rest of the day we went about business meeting with Reps in RV's and watching continuous coverage through the day.

It truly was a tragedy that you couldn't take your eyes from as it happened live on TV and the images of that day are etched, in great detail, on my mind forever.

[Plazus]

7th grade in Shop class. We were working on building electric motors when one of the teachers stepped into the classroom and turned on the TV. The first tower was on fire. At the time, I thought it was merely an accident... Shortly thereafter, the 2nd plane hit the other tower and I realized that this was no accident...

After lunch, I went home that day and spent the remainder of the day watching the news. From that day on, the world would never be the same.

[mbailey]

Right down the street from Oldman at 20th and JFK Blvd in Philadelphia on the 12th floor of the Denholtz Bldg in the U.S. Dept of Energy office. One of the assistants to the Sec. Of Energy came In to the meeting I was in  and told us  to head to the lunch room.....we sat and watched the 2nd plane hit......and the towers fall. I left when every phone in the office started ringing off the hook. Called the wife, had her pick up our newborn twins and come home...just sat there the rest of the day with my family close.  It's funny, to this day me and the wife still talk about how eerie it was sitting by the pool that night looking up and not seeing a plane in the sky.

I'm fortunate enough to be close personal friends with a few of the capts of fishing boats that ply the Raritain Bay. They were involved in one of the largest ever evacuation of people by water in history.....larger than the evac of Dunkirk....more people evacuated in less time. I've sat with them around a table sipping bourbon......and them talking about that day.....odd seeing these rough old salts eyes tear up when they talk about it.  True heroes for sure. Someone did a short vid/movie about them it's on you tube...google it quite a story. Makes you swell with pride seeing how our countrymen of all professions stepped up to help.  There was no "me" and "I" that day and the days that followed.....it was "us"  talk about backfiring.....they brought the entire country together if only for a little while.

[Citabria]

See Rule #14

[Nwbie]

On a treadmill in the cardiac unit at the local Hospital taking a stress test...not too stressful ....

NwBie

[Changeup]

I was going through security at Terminal C at DFW to fly to Pittsburgh.  That's when they let anyone through security so families and friends were all watching the terminal TV's.  Our corporate travel system blasted an email to every address in our company to stay put wherever you are and call or email the offices for travel directives the moment you could.  It took me about 40 minutes to get someone to answer our phones...we have 2300 people at our Dallas World HQ.

I was easy.  "Come back to the office.  All travel canceled until Oct 1".

We had 122 employees, world wide, on flights during the time of the attacks and the FAA shutdown.  The whole company held its collective breath for 2 hours...the last of 122 souls reported in safe around 10AM CDT.

And those people rented cars around the U.S. for about 60 people to drive home...DFW to LA was diverted to Vegas.  One of my buddies had to drive to Dallas from Vegas.  He was happy to do so.

[Changeup]

See Rule #14

[Citabria]

See Rule #14

[Changeup]

See Rule #14

[Citabria]

See Rule #14

[Changeup]

See Rule #14