September 11

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was an absolutely beautiful day in Northern Virginia, clear blue skies, low humidity, fall around the corner. The teacher had just turned off the TV for the school morning announcements and we were working on some activity when we heard and felt a really strong BOOM. Some kids went to the window to look out at the road in front of school because it was just so loud, but we didn't see anything and went back to our seats.

Then a teacher poked her head into the classroom and told our teacher to turn the TV back on, right now.

Lots of kids had parents who worked at the pentagon and in NYC. and we truly thought we might be next, because we absolutely didn't know.

Only a few kids had cellphones and they were allowed to go to their lockers and retrieve their phones. Back then kids had to lock up their phones during school hours.

Whenever we have clear blue sky, sunny, warm, but low humidity days, I think - ah, Sept 11

[Anonymous]

I was in my 8am class freshman year of college. Someone came in saying her father has just called her and an aircraft crashed into the WTC, but she didn’t seem alarmed, just more like she was telling a crazy story. We all assumed it was a small plane or helicopter. It wasn’t until later that we got out of class and found out. I remember waiting around campus for my noon class to start, only to be told to go home, classes were cancelled. That was when I finally saw it on TV. Oddly, it wasn’t broadcasting anywhere on campus.

[Anonymous]

I was walking into my office building 2 blocks from the White House and saw the news of the tower having been hit on the first floor cafe TV. We watched in horror as the second tower was hit, as the pentagon was hit, and as multiple reports of possible other attacks in DC came over the air. Then people started coming in from off the street with stories of other sites in DC being attacked. People were soon hitting the streets, leaving their offices to find a way home. Our office decided to close and I walked more than 3 miles home because that felt safer than the metro (which I’m sure was crowded). The next day, downtown streets were closed and there were national guard troops in tanks on every street corner. It definitely felt like the world had changed.

[Anonymous]

Out of town and desperately trying to get in touch with friends in NYC and DC.

[Anonymous]

We had been planning to go to a DH conference but it was cancelled. We were going to be on the plane that hit the Pentagon.
A former coworker died on that plane.
My thesis advisor was giving a speech at WTC.
RIP

[Anonymous]

Working at a local Maryland hospital. We assumed we would be flooded with overflow patients...and nothing.

I can still remember the sky when driving home on 495 by Tysons on that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was an absolutely beautiful day in Northern Virginia, clear blue skies, low humidity, fall around the corner. The teacher had just turned off the TV for the school morning announcements and we were working on some activity when we heard and felt a really strong BOOM. Some kids went to the window to look out at the road in front of school because it was just so loud, but we didn't see anything and went back to our seats.

Then a teacher poked her head into the classroom and told our teacher to turn the TV back on, right now.

Lots of kids had parents who worked at the pentagon and in NYC. and we truly thought we might be next, because we absolutely didn't know.

Only a few kids had cellphones and they were allowed to go to their lockers and retrieve their phones. Back then kids had to lock up their phones during school hours.

Whenever we have clear blue sky, sunny, warm, but low humidity days, I think - ah, Sept 11

Same! The morning of 9/11, as we were leaving for work, my husband looked up at the sky and said, "This is just a perfect day!" We have never said that again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here we are on this day.

I know. I really don’t need to be told to remember it. I lived it. And I find the treacle to be insensitive and abhorrent.

Some people find solace in community.

If you do not want to be reminded, then why click on this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school at a school in Vienna VA. All of the sudden, parents were coming to pick up their children and the teacher just put some movie on I believe. She told us a “terroist attack” happened but I was too young to know what that truly meant until I got home. We didn’t have school the next day

Well, you had a better teacher than the ones who put the whole horror story on TV, so kids had to watch it in real time, not knowing if their parents were dead or alive.

[Anonymous]

Working in a federal building in DC. Between the previous WTC bombing and the Murray building in OKC, I wasn't taking any chances and got in my car and headed home. Past the burning Pentagon and looking over at the stopped traffic heading north on I395.

And agree any beautiful blue sky with low humidity makes me think 9/11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to believe it’s been 23 years.

I was 23 when it happened. It’s hard to believe I’m twice as old now.

+1

I was 22 and just out of college and new to DC

[Anonymous]

My sister was due to return to school literally that afternoon and had to take a GreyHound bus across the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister who was scheduled to start maternity leave on 9-14-2001 got caught in lobby as doors they were near at lobby level to get out had bodies and debris coming down. She still recalls the horrible sound of bodies hitting payment.

The firefighters took and AX and busted through glass on a section of wall on ground floor they could safely exit from. She was actually in a business suit with heels and briefcase and pocketbook as she was doing a Insurance presentaton.

She was covered in soot and dust and started walking to midtown. Eventually she went into an Irish Bar that was giving out sodas and waters to the survivors and they arranged is she could walk to 59 street bridge they would find a way across. She made that walk in her barefeet and a guy volunteered to go with her and carry her briefcase and bag.

The police got in touch her husband who worked on Long Island told him to get as close as possible 59street bridge Queens side.

They took her across the closed bridge in an Ambulence. She gave birth a few days later.

She told me she knew 100 percent tower was coming down. She worked there during the 1993 WTC bombing. and they felt that blast. But this time the whole building moved with the crash. Was a violent impact that really shook whole building.

My uncle died in building and my sister got out.

Wow what a horrible day for your family.

[Anonymous]

The CEO of Akamai which has a location over in Reston was the First Person to die in 9/11.

Interesting and very heroic story if you have not heard it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was walking into my office building 2 blocks from the White House and saw the news of the tower having been hit on the first floor cafe TV. We watched in horror as the second tower was hit, as the pentagon was hit, and as multiple reports of possible other attacks in DC came over the air. Then people started coming in from off the street with stories of other sites in DC being attacked. People were soon hitting the streets, leaving their offices to find a way home. Our office decided to close and I walked more than 3 miles home because that felt safer than the metro (which I’m sure was crowded). The next day, downtown streets were closed and there were national guard troops in tanks on every street corner. It definitely felt like the world had changed.

That is the first thing I think about when I think about 9/11. I also worked right by the White House and watched the staffers evacuate with their hands on their heads from my office window. It was surreal. But that still didn't impact me in the same way that the National Guard did.