QUESTION OF THE DAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

neely

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This Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I don't think anyone will ever forget that date. Several years ago when we were spending Thanksgiving with our daughter who was living in NYC for graduate school we visited the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. It was nighttime so it's a bit difficult to see the Memorial in my pic but across from it is the Oculus.
IMG_0266.jpeg IMG_0267.jpeg

I'll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. I had an early morning dental appointment. When I left the dentist's office the streets were empty driving home. I was in shock to learn what happened and when I got home I walked with our dog to one of the neighbors who left a message on our answering machine. I stood in her yard and we watched our dogs play together but we were both speechless.


I'm sure everyone remembers this date whether you live in the U.S. or not. For those members who may have been too young to remember perhaps your parent(s) have talked about it with you.

So the QUESTION OF THE DAY is: DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE WERE YOU ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001?
 
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Katie M

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We were living in Belgium at the time, and I was in eighth grade. The attacks started around the time school was letting out, so we hadn't heard anything before we left. Mom usually watched the Today show on AFN, but that day hadn't touched the TV at all-if she had, she would've been the first of my family to know.

A little after 5 our time (so 11 on the east coast), I was doing my math homework in the living room while everyone else was upstairs. I looked at the clock and realized it was time for Jeopardy on AFN. I wasn't supposed to have the TV on while doing homework, but everyone seemed to be in such a good mood that I figured it wouldn't hurt, so I turned it on.

What I first saw was a massive cloud of dust covering Manhattan. I was completely confused-and to make matters worse, I had tuned in at a moment when they weren't actually saying what was going on. Dad came downstairs and told me to turn the TV off, but I remember saying, "Something happened in New York."

He sat down with me, and they still weren't outright stating what had happened. Suddenly, the camera feed cut to a different angle-one that made it all too obvious what happened-and my most vivid memory of that day is of Dad jumping out of his chair and yelling, "THEY'RE GONE!"

The last thing I really remember of that day was Mom coming downstairs because we had gotten a strange email from Grandma asking if we were safe.
 

UnoMama

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I am Indian. Literally half a world away from where this happened.

I was 16, and was at boarding school in a small, remote Indian town. It would've been dinner time or later at night, when the attacks happened.

Some context - Indian boarding schools don't allow unregulated access to Televisions and things, and this was well before internet and mobile phones became accessible to anyone in India. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was surreal that we went about our day and did not hear about the attacks till ... about 12-14 hours later, when we got the next day's newspaper. We read the headlines and of course it was a topic of discussion. But it was so far away from our reality, that surreal is the only word I've ever had to describe it.
I remember passing by some classmates huddling over the newspaper outside our classroom, and stopping to listen in on the discussion. And then bell rang for class and we were forced back to mathematics, or economics or something equally mundane.

I've thought back many times since, about the day and why we weren't more shocked or upset. Perhaps we couldn't be? Perhaps we were caught up in our own world in the manner of teenage girls with school and exams and the like? Perhaps we were a little more benumbed to terror attacks on home soil (India has its own issues with domestic and international terrorism) ... 'terror attacks' was a term we grew up with ... it was just happening somewhere else rather than Delhi or Mumbai for once.
 

gilmargl

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It was a hot, summer day and I was working in my office in Germany - no doubt trying to catch a deadline for some report or other - when the woman in the next office, who spent quite a lot of work's time on the Internet, started screaming. I didn't (or didn't want to) believe what she was shouting about. As UnoMama UnoMama wrote, it was surreal. These things may happen elsewhere, but not in the USA!

Only later, at home, watching news coverage, did the reality come home to me.
 

klunick

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At work in Alexandria, VA which is right outside of Washington DC. Heard about the first plane hitting the WTC and thought it was just a pilot who wasn't paying attention. Heard about the second one hitting and took off for home where it was safer and I figured they'd be going to DC next. Traffic was horrible as people were panicking to get as far away from the DC area as they could. Got on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge which connects MD and VA and it was a stand-still. Worried the bridge would be a good target as there were so many people just sitting ducks. Picked up my oldest who was almost 8 months at the time from the sitter's. Came home and watched what unfolded on TV.
 

misty8723

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I was at work. A coworker walking past said that a plane had hit the WTC. I thought it must have been a small, private plane, but I couldn't get on any of the news sites. Then someone said a second plane had hit and it became obvious it was a terrorist attack.I called my husband, who was at work, and he hadn't heard about it.

We all gathered in a conference room to watch coverage, and it was horrifying, with first one tower going down, then the other one. Our receptionist at the time was terrified a plane was going to hit our building because we were near the airport. Tried to calm her down and reason with her. One of the guys I worked with was supposed to have gone to a meeting there on that day, and it had been cancelled. He would have been there when it all happened. Some of the people in the NY office died that day.

When I heard a plane went down in PA, I got a little bit frantic because I have family in PA. I was running around saying "Where in PA?! Where in PA?!. I called my family to make sure they were okay. They live about 150 miles from where it went down, but hadn't heard about any of it yet.

At some point, I left to get my husband so he could go home and see coverage (they didn't have TV where he worked). I had to drive past one of the telecommunications buildings (MCI I think) and they had police blocking off the enterance.

As someone said, it was completely surreal, how could this be happening feeling. One of the saddest things I remember is watching people frantically building makeshift stretchers, only to have no need of them.

It's crazy to realize there are people alive now who weren't born yet who only know what happened through the TV coverage. I hope they always continue airing the show and the personal accounts of what happened so it is never forgotten.
 

Winchester

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Rick and I were in Myrtle Beach, SC. I didn't know anything had happened. Rick was in a meeting, so I drove to a Christmas store. When I walked in, the woman was sobbing. I asked, "Ma'am, are you OK?" And she said, "Don't you know?" and pointed to the tv. I turned around, left the store, drove back to our hotel room. Rick came up to me and we just stood there in each other's arms.

Later that day, I sat on our balcony. I could see the "ghosts" of huge ships patrolling our part of the coast, way, way out in the distance. The beach was quiet with nobody there. It was eerie.

One thing I remember on the tv was video of an old Muslim woman singing and clapping as she danced. She was dancing in joy. And I remember hating that woman with every fiber of my soul. I still think of that woman.
 

MonaLyssa33

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I first heard of it happening in my 10th grade Spanish class. The principal got on the loud speaker to announce that it was happening and that if any student needed to contact someone, they could go to the front office. I think my next class was band and the teachers had the TV on. We watched as the towers collapsed. I think the TVs were on in almost every classroom for the entire day. I remember coming home in kind of a daze because I didn't really understand the magnitude of everything.
 

Willowy

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I was 22 and still living at home. I didn't have to go to work until 1 pm so I was still sleeping. My mom had been working as a casual at the Post Office sorting parcels in the early mornings, and for some reason they didn't have their radio on that morning, even though they usually did. When she left, her radio came on in the car when she turned it on. She couldn't make any sense of what they were talking about, and thought it could be a "War of the Worlds" type dramatization situation.

So she got home and turned the TV on and realized what was going on. She came and poked me and said "there's something on TV I think you should see" and I whined because I didn't like to get up before 10 am and she had a habit of making me come "look at something on TV" when it was just a cute story about dogs or some nonsense like that. She said "no really, it's important" and left so I dragged myself out to see what it was, just in time for the second plane to hit. I was asking her questions about what was happening and she was like "I don't know either, I just got home from work!"

My youngest brother (he was 14) had a friend who spent the night, who was a rather dramatic kind of kid, and he had woken up and was just standing there freaking out going "oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness" and then my other brother (who was 19 and not living at home) called in a full-blown panic attack and so my mom had to talk him down while I had to try to manage my youngest brother's friend. I don't even remember what happened but I think I found a cell phone so he could call his mom. And then my youngest brother wandered out in all the chaos, just in time for the first tower to fall, and he asked "is that real?" and I just said "yes, and now you know as much as I do". After everything calmed down we just stared at the TV in shock for the rest of the morning.

I now realize I have no idea where my dad was that day and have no memory of his reaction, weird.

At 1pm I went to work (Gateway Computers call center) and they told us we could go home if we wanted, but I decided to stay. There were maybe 10 of us who stayed and we were allowed to keep the TVs on with no sound, we just kept our eyes on them numbly. NOBODY called for my entire 6-hour shift.
 
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Tik cat's mum

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I was at home I live in the UK. My eldest son wasn't feeling well so he was at home from school with me and my youngest at the time. His sister was still at school. I had gone into the kitchen to start sorting tea, then my son came into the kitchen and said a plane had crashed. I remember thinking how awful as I walked back into the living room the second plane was being shown. That's when it hit me these were passenger plane's and something big was happening. I remember thinking the one's above the planes won't get out. I never expected the towers to fall. I watched the aftermath in shock still find it hard to believe now.
 

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I was 19 and had just enlisted in the army for active duty that February. I was at my permanent duty station on a field problem and we had come back that morning. I didn’t know anything had happened until listening to the radio in the motor pool. The post went into immediate lockdown and standby and I called my mom. I never saw the footage until two years later since I didn’t have tv/cable. My enlistment became real that day.
 

susanm9006

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Can never forget. I had started a job as head of Human Resources earlier that year at a what was at that time the largest charter airline in the US, Champion Air. We had 17 planes, 1500 employees and four bases. So when the news of 911 began to trickle in it was immediately a question of where are our planes and where are our employees? Fortunately it was a light flying day, with most of our planes on the ground or out of the country . A couple terrifying hours though to account for all pilots and flight attendants that were flying on commercial flights to be positioned for their next flight.

Because of the air traffic shut down we had nearly four hundred passengers stranded in Mexico and many hundreds more in the US. Many had checked out of hotel rooms and had no place to go. They and sometimes their families, all called us,and so for the next five days every office employee, including me, became a customer service rep, answering the telephones, providing the little information we could give them, and then finally the good news that they could go to the airport and go home.

Post 911 was probably one of the most challenging times of my career. Within weeks of 911 the FAA gave airlines a number of directives with a two week deadline for completion. One was to reverify the identity of every pilot, flight attendant, mechanic and ground crew and to upgrade badges if they weren’t tamperproof. It was my job to create the plan and get this done. I had to rent hotel space in dozens of cities, send out staff with cameras to take new photos for new id’s, review each employee identification, and then send the days work back to corporate every night where I led the team to prepare print and distribute new badges. It was insane. We finished just inside the two week deadline- and then the FAA extended the deadline because many airlines just couldn’t meet it. A couple months later they required us to do a fingerprint check of this entire group as well and they greatly stepped up auditing the pre employment screening process for pilots which my team was also responsible for. A process for error could result in not only a pilot being pulled but the airline being shut down as well.

Even though it was crazy and stressful, I really loved this job. Airline people are some of the most dedicated employees I have ever worked with.
 
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CaliFosterMom

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I had been in the US Navy for 2 years, stationed aboard an aircraft carrier located in Norfolk, VA. We were out to sea when it all happened, right off the coast because we were scheduled to pull in the next day.

I learned about the attack on the US from a tv screen. I had just finished working night shift and was in ship's laundry and walked from the back of the ship to the front where my berthing (sleeping quarters) was. Normally the ship would be full of people eating breakfast or walking to different places. The ship was erily deserted, all the crew dispersed to tvs, the p-ways (hallways) completely empty of any other people and full food trays left on tables. When I arrived to my berthing it was full of women all staring at the screen. Hands over mouths, one crying, two hugging. The worry and fear so obvious on their faces. I saw the first tower fall and immediately felt sick. After the 2nd tower fell my ship was informed we were being called up to the coast of New York.

I reported for the walking blood bank (donated blood to be sent to New York) and then down the magazine to build and break out bombs & missiles (which was my job the Navy). I stayed up most of the day and finally got to sleep that night, but not very well.

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Less than 24 hours later we were in the harbor outside of New York. We loaded up our jets to do fly overs. September 12, 2001 I stood on the flight deck of my ship (that is my ship in the photo) and New York was still smoking. I stood there feeling sick about all the lives lost the day before. I WILL NEVER FORGET!
 

game misconduct

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I was 19 and had just enlisted in the army for active duty that February. I was at my permanent duty station on a field problem and we had come back that morning. I didn’t know anything had happened until listening to the radio in the motor pool. The post went into immediate lockdown and standby and I called my mom. I never saw the footage until two years later since I didn’t have tv/cable. My enlistment became real that day.
thanks for serving our country i am grateful to you and all of you who served our country in times of peace and war
 

NY cat man

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I was at work, without access to a tv or radio. One of the crane operators called on the 2-way that a plane had hit the first tower, and that was all. Then, he called out again when the second plane hit. When he said that the first tower fell, nobody believed him, as we didn't know how big the planes were. It was only after he used the 2-way to relay the news broadcasts that we knew what had happened. It wasn't until I got home later that I saw for myself the damage done.
One of my nieces actually worked only a few blocks from the towers, but on that day she had gone to Philadelphia for a business meeting; it was some time before my sister told us that Jen was safe
 

DreamerRose

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It was a beautiful, clear fall day. I went out to the car to go to work, and when I turned it on, the radio said a plane had hit the tower. I thought it was a private plane, and went back in the house to get something I had forgotten. Halfway to work, the second tower had been hit, and I instantly realized it was deliberate. The rest of the day was traumatizing.
 

MoochNNoodles

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I was in a Building Materials and Structures class listening to my instructor explain why the Twin Towers would never fall... I hadn't actually heard what had happened yet; but I don't think anyone really knew at that point. My phone kept vibrating in my purse and I was a little annoyed my mother kept trying to call when she knew I had a class. My stepbrother was a student at NYU at the time and witnessed the 2nd plane hit. He normally would have been on his morning jog around the towers when the first plane hit but he slept in that day. He had to walk out of the city to his mother's friend's house before anyone was able to hear from him.
 

klunick

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I was in a Building Materials and Structures class listening to my instructor explain why the Twin Towers would never fall... I hadn't actually heard what had happened yet; but I don't think anyone really knew at that point. My phone kept vibrating in my purse and I was a little annoyed my mother kept trying to call when she knew I had a class. My stepbrother was a student at NYU at the time and witnessed the 2nd plane hit. He normally would have been on his morning jog around the towers when the first plane hit but he slept in that day. He had to walk out of the city to his mother's friend's house before anyone was able to hear from him.
I love hearing stories of how "fate" saved someone's life. I bet he was never happier to have overslept than that day.
 
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