On the highway in front of the Pentagon, just past the helipad. Plane went in behind me. Saw the explosion in my rear view mirror.

Teacher here. I had morning planning period and a bunch of meetings. My coworker had her TV on but muted. As I walked by her room, I saw the coverage and ran to my room to watch. There were a lot of instant messages (remember those?) dinging on my computer from my husband. He had stayed home sick that day from his job in Crystal City, but turned on the news after I left for work. He never laid down to take a nap and sat glued to the TV all day.

My school cut the TV feeds so we were not able to watch anymore live updates. However, the confusion, tension, and uncertainty was palpable. Students picked up on it and were so well behaved that day, even though they didn’t know what was going on. This was before everyone had cell phones and kids did not have computers.

We are located 10 miles from the Pentagon; the day was so clear and bright that we could see columns of smoke in the air. My classroom faces the front of the building and I watched the steady stream of cars coming and going—parents picking up their kids. I didn’t blame them. I wanted to go get my babies and squeeze them close. By the last period, I had only a handful of kids left in my class.

I managed to make it to the end of the day. TV feeds were turned on. I cried with my colleagues as we watched the footage and caught up on the news.

We were stationed in North Carolina at the time and living in base housing. My neighbor came over and told me and I changed the channel from Disney to CNN. Later in the day I kept trying to call DH but got no answer. Finally, around 7:30 he called and said the Squadron CO had ordered all flight crews to remain at the air field for any call. At about midnight, I finally turned off my tv, went and got my oldest from her bed, my newborn from her crib, put them in my bed, and sat up all night saying the rosary next to them. Our section of base housing were all junior officers and their wives and children. I remember looking out the window before I turned off the tv everyone’s lights were still on. Everything changed that day.

Anonymous wrote:Dropped my child off at first grade in Fairfax. Was cleaning and watching the Today show and saw the first plane hit the WTC. The window was open and I heard the plane hit the Pentagon.

Whoa you could hear it from Fairfax?

Anonymous wrote:There wasn’t a cloud in the sky that day. I remember how crystal clear and perfect the day began. Those sorts of days freak me out to this day.

Same here. I had left my home to take Metro before the first plane hit. When I arrived in DC, I walked down 18th street just thinking about what a beautiful day it was.

Took the elevator up, and when the doors opened, I saw through the conference room across the hall, a giant cloud of black smoke rising from the direction of the Pentagon. A coworker ran down the hall in front of me screaming that we were under attack.

Sophomore at NYU. Felt and heard the first plane fly about 1000 feet over my head near Union Square. Then watch it hit the South Tower as I walked to class.

My friend sitting next to me was discreetly listening to a radio in class. He told me it was an attack. I interrupted a 200 person lecture to tell our professor that a 2nd plane hit the other Tower. Professor didn't believe me and started yelling at me! This was pre wifi, but then a bunch of kids start getting cell phone calls from their parents. It was nuts.

Watched both Towers collapse in-person, about 2 miles away. Had two friends sleeping on the floor of my dorm for a week, because their dorm was at Water Street only a few blocks from the disaster site. One kid left his window cracked open and entire room was covered in dust and debris.

The one thing you never forget about 9/11: that acrid smell. I've never smelled anything like that again in my life.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm French, and my boyfriend had just moved to the States to work at NIH. I was in a car in Paris, and saw people congregating in front of TVs in shop windows, and wondered what was so riveting on the screens.

Then I came home, listened to the news on the radio and tried to call my boyfriend. For 24 hours, we could not reach him, there were so many people trying to call.

My aunt working near the twin towers in NYC was late for work that day, and she saw the catastrophe while she was walking towards it in the street. She turned around and walked back to her apartment.

I was in Cannes, and the French were so kind to all the Americans there. I heard about it in a bakery from an older French woman in tears. I'll never forget her face.

My niece was born the last weekend in August. We were up in NYC Labor Day weekend to visit family to celebrate her birth and I'll never forget driving home along the Belt past those towers not realizing it would be the last time we'd ever see them.

I was working in an office building in Rockville that day. All I remember was the brilliant blue sky that morning. It was unlike any sky I'd ever seen before--never have I stopped to gaze up at a brilliant blue sky like I did that AM before walking into work.

I didn't watch any of the attacks unfold live on tv because we didn't have any tvs (believe it or not) in our immediate office to watch. My colleague came running into our office shouting a plane had hit the WTC and we all crowded around a radio and listened live to ABC news. I tried pulling up the Washington Post webpage and all it showed was this grainy photo of one tower w/smoke billowing out. the Internet was so primitive in those days. I'll never forget when Peter Jennings announced we lost the 2nd tower. It was inconceivable what that actually meant until we saw the footage later. We left work early and I came home to my apartment in Bethesda. We were glued to the tv all night and pretty much the rest of that week. That night we heard the constant drone of military craft circling the area.

My boyfriend (now husband) and I drove out to the Pentagon a few days later to see it in person. I took photos on my digital camera but never got them printed and have since lost the camera. I just remember standing on the shoulder of the road staring at that gaping black hole. It was unreal.

Anonymous wrote:What I appreciate about posts like this is that even though we all have different experiences from that day, we all went through something that day. Instead of arguing about who had it worse or dictating whether someone is or isn't allowed to feel a certain way looking back 22 years later, many (most?) Americans can recall precisely where they were, what they were doing, and how it felt. And afterward our country came together in a way that almost feels surreal considering where we are now.

So if we want to come together again, even if only on this anonymous message board, to share something about that day and find some collective solace, why not?

+1 is was a very traumatic and defining thing that I actually don't think we talk about enough as a country.

What I appreciate about posts like this is that even though we all have different experiences from that day, we all went through something that day. Instead of arguing about who had it worse or dictating whether someone is or isn't allowed to feel a certain way looking back 22 years later, many (most?) Americans can recall precisely where they were, what they were doing, and how it felt. And afterward our country came together in a way that almost feels surreal considering where we are now.

So if we want to come together again, even if only on this anonymous message board, to share something about that day and find some collective solace, why not?

I grew up in NYC, but was a junior in college (not in NYC) at the time. I was woken up by my roommates blaring the TV & calling my name and was confused about why they were watching some action movie & wanting me to watch before 9 am. I took me forever to reach my family that day. I knew rationally they would be unlikely to be at/near the tower, but several members rode the subway down to Wall St. for work. While my immediate family & friends were safe, quite a few people from our neighborhood died, including lots of our local firemen; it felt weird being so far away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]In Vegas Baby!![/b] I was working down there. Was in WTC the Friday before but has a Vegas conference planned that week.

Lots of people thought I died that day.

This a somber day and this is how you respond?

Hey I worked in WTC was there a few days before and a close relative died and sister was trapped in building. But I was in Vegas Baby!!! Saved my life.

Weirdly since NYC shuts down 3 hours early and done with making sure brother and sister got out and pretty sure my relative dead at 10 pm Vegas time I went clubbing. Just got drunk. I got home 4 days later from Vegas as flights canceled. We had 250 employees employees doing consulting work in WTC and all of us in VEgas Baby!

I did have to go back and finish up work at 9/11 companies. Pretty ugly.

I have a lump in my throat all day today. Where I am today, the sky is just as blue and bright, without a cloud in sight just like 9/11/01.

I was in my 7th grade home-ec classroom on Long Island. The teachers started running back and forth into each others classrooms and were whispering and quietly panicking, trying not to disturb us. My teacher was crying and hysterical trying to reach her son who worked at the world trade center. He called her and she started sobbing. When she hung up she said something terrible had happened but her son was OK.

My good friend was picked up by her mom shortly after. Her father lost his life, but left them a voicemail saying goodbye. Many other kids at my school lost their parents. It was awful. Life altering.

In Boston, working at my law firm. First plane hit right before I left for work. When I got to work, people were huddled around the tv in lobby, as second harbor. My personal office had a panoramic view of the harbor, including Logan. News quickly spread that two planes were “missing” that had taken off from Logan earlier that day.

TV’s on stands were placed in the hallways. One of the secretaries outside my office had a husband stationed at the Pentagon. She justifiably became hysterical when the pentagon was hit, but her husband turned out to be ok. Sometime after the first tower fell, the office was closed.

I’m from NJ and people I went to high school with died in the towers, also lost some college classmates. My younger brother, still in high school, had six classmates who lost a parent.

I was in Turkey at the time. It was about 6pm and I was out at a sports bar/cafe. The guy at the next table started banging on the table with his fist and screaming in Turkish “turn on the tv, the white house was just bombed” and next thing I know everyone suddenly glued themselves to the tv