Where were you on 9/11?

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

On 9/11 as I was leaving the hairdresser's a lady was walking in saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - I thought it was some kind of accident but when I turned on the radio I heard that we, America, was being attacked.  I felt like the air had disappeared - I could barely breath, my hands started to shake.  I had been heading into my real estate office but I turned around and drove a few miles away to the nearest T.V. - at my dad's house.  By the time I walked in the second plane had already crashed into the other tower.  The scenes on the TV were horrific - I was scared for our country and I was angry at those that could do such a thing.  Shocking to watch as they played the videos over and over.  People jumping from the towers was the worst part - I fell to my knees sobbing.  The Pentagon, the airplane over PA - it just kept getting worse.  As the first building collapsed - I could only pray to God.  All those people, their families - unimaginable.  As the days went by there were hero's emerging from the tragedy, some goodness in the face of all that evil.  10 years later the thing I mourn the most is the loss of innocence, the loss of trust in people, the lost of a sense of security that I will never have again in my lifetime.  I travel frequently and I'm reminded every time I go through the airport.   I stood last week at the World Trade Center site - along with machine gun toting police. 

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I do believe that 9/11 was a wake up call for all us to some degree too.  It made you so grateful for your loved ones.  Very moving Ronna.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thank you, Joe.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Wow Joe - how brave, I bet you have stories to tell. 

[Joe R.]

Jane, Thank you for starting this discussion. It's funny but myself and most of the guys I was there with look at it as we were only doing our job. This is the most I've talked about it in a long time. Your right I could tell some stories. Not many I would tell here though. Unfortunately, today I had a individual get upset with me at the Amarican Legion Post I belong to. I politely declined one of his 9-11 rememberance bumper stickers. I tried to explain to him I didn't need a bumper sticker to remember. I think of it everyday, just don't talk about it. There are a few of us in my department that think that way.

[Lori]

God Bless you and all the responders....you are all heros. Thank you for all you do, YOU make America a great place.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Yes, Joe thank you.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We have the habit of turning on the television in our bedroom and listening/watching the news as we get ready for work.  I saw the first pictures and report of the first plane (remember  it was thought to be an accident)  and then watched in horror as the second plane crashed into the tower.  Physically the day was so beautiful, the planes so monstrous, the smoke so choking.  It just didn't seem real. It was a sad, sad day for America. However, the way Americans and their international friends stepped up is  something we should be proud of.  I remember the horrible prediction of how many had perished; the hope we all had that more people had survived needing only to be rescued. Our town immediately sent a fire unit across the country to help out and we were so proud to donate to their trip; still thinking they would find survivors....  One of those firemen was a close friend who gave us first hand reports of the devastating situation and with them, we got a reality check that those of you who live in the area already had....

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

I was in class at Duke when the first plane hit.  Class was stopped and the School of Nursing was put into lock down...something about it not being safe to be on the highways.   We all were in classrooms watching the television as the second plane hit the second tower.  I too, was horrified watching people jumping out the windows.  I remember worrying about how I was going to get away from school and home to my doodle.  Eventually, they let us leave, after we had watching the towers collapse and the coverage of the Pentagon attack.  I don't remember getting home, I just remember watching the news coverage for days and days.  It is still hard to wrap my brain around the fact that such evil was able to do such damage in the United States.  I think we thought we were invincible before 911.  It was a rude awakening.

[cheryl & oliver]

I was at home talking to my aunt and watching tv, the Today Show to be exact.  I remember Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and Al Roker made the announcement that the WTC had been hit by an airplane.  They and we all assumed it was just a small plane, but suddenly Tom Brokaw came on, and all hell broke loose.  I remember calling DH at work to turn on the tv, and the being glued to the tv for days.  I know I am one of the lucky mothers out there, my son worked on the 104th floor of Build. # 1, he did not like his job and two months previous, he came back to Florida to live....He lost many friends that day...We are originally from the Ny-NJ area, I had several friends that lost husbands, sons, and a daughter that day.  I think I was too numb to move, I thought it was a movie, or a hoax they were showing at first, then the reality set in.  My nephew and my niece both worked in build. # 2, my nephew was home sick, and my niece was late that morning, she had car trouble and missed her train!!!!....Till I could get thru to family I was half out of my mind, it took hours, but we were one of the lucky families, both of them were ok...So much pain, so many lives changed forever.  America lost her innocence that day, and all of us will never be the same...It may be 10 yrs, but when they show all the pictures, it seems like yesterday. We were in New York one month after 9-11, and we were at ground zero, the pictures were nothing compared to what we saw, It sickened me. It was still smoking and hot, and it looked like nothing I had ever seen or ever want to see again...

[Bonnie and Kona]

Cheryl, Yes, America lost her innocence that day, well put. We have become a nation of fear instead of trust. It is heartbreaking that this could be so.

[Susan and Sasha]

Cheryl...

My day started out much the same...

Home...watching the Today Show...and getting ready for the day.

Then...It All Happened!!

Living in New Jersey...it was Very Personal...

Our church got involved...and we went into the city to help...only hoping and praying that we could do More!

We lost people that we knew on that day...

Our daughter...lost a friend that she knew since elementary school...

Oh...How Did This Happen??

I sat there...watching the television screen..feeling in a trance...not believing that this was happing...

The plane...The buildings...hitting...once...then twice...smoke...then crashing down!!

I think the very worst picture that I have in my mind is the sight of the debris...flooding down the streets of the city...looking like smoke...a deadly smoke...and people running...running for safety!!

Why...Oh Why Did This Happen??

Helping with the "clean up"...and having the opportunity to counsel people in the months to follow...was very healing.

People banded together...to help...and to heal...and I Am So Very Proud To Be Called An American!

 

 

[Gail+Kathleen,(Sydney+Olivia:)]

IN THE BUILDING RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE TOWERS.  I went to the office early that day (7:30 am), walked through the WTC as I did every work day after getting off the Path from NJ.  A meeting for that morning was cancelled so I decided to go back into the WTC to buy 3 sympathy cards for friends who passed.  As I was walking out the door, one of the Members of our Governance Committee who I was supposed to meet with stopped me.  He wanted to vent about Operation issues which I was responsible for.  He ranted for quite awhile (Thank God, otherwise I would have been in the lower level of the Towers at my favorite card shop) and as I sat across from him and looked out the window, I saw the first Tower go into flames.  I called our CEO (who was in our HQ's in CT).  He gave me some orders as to how to proceed with our 200 employees.  At that time, no one knew what kind of plane hit the Tower.  I then went over to another Dept and as a grou of us stood looking out the window, that second plane flew between our building and the WTC and flew right into the second Tower.  As I write this, I feel as though it was just yesterday.  I remember every single detail that happened that day.  And I shake just like I did that whole day and the three days following 9/11.  I did get all of our employees out of our building that morning.  Some are still going for therapy.  We saw  bodies hitting the ground after jumping from the Towers.  After everyone was out of our building, I stayed with a disabled employee until I got him to transportation 8 hours after leaving our building.  We walked east and north of the WTC along with the rest of the sad faces all covered with ashes and soot from the WTC and surrounding buildings.  It looked like the "Night of the L:iving Dead".  The days following (for months), I watched Ground Zero smoldering from my window overlooking the pit  9/11 changed me forever just as it has for many others.