I don’t know when I’ve ever been so captivated reading your comments about where you were on 911. If you haven’t read these personal accounts of that tragic day, you should. The stories all have that common denominator – we didn’t see the first plane hit but 90% of us saw the second.
I remember trying to carry on with camp but there was a pall over the group – not knowing what was happening since there was no tv in the barn. We could have had a radio – why didn’t we? We also had only flip phones – no internet, no pictures, no news.
I know we went to the house to watch tv several times but it wasn’t as if we could really follow the news. I wonder where we went to eat those nights – somewhere in Garner, I suppose. Does anybody remember? Can any camper put their hands on any photos from those days in the barn?
Please continue to tell me in the comments where you were on 911 – I wish I could compile all of them for history.
I was at work that day in a city about 30 miles from NYC. I got a call from my husband about the first plane hitting, we turned to news on our computers to find out what happened. Unfortunately, my initial reaction was terrorists which was confirmed as the second plane hit. My daughter was a freshman at University about 2.5 hours away. I was hysterical to be with her but that did not happen. I knew people who worked in the Towers and for the first time in my life I truly felt hate that someone could do this to so many innocent people. That hate frightened me and I was also scared of what next. I have never been able to watch the planes hit the towers, even with all the coverage yesterday.
I had taken the day off work and was meeting my daughter. She was having a one-year birthday portrait done of my granddaughter. We got to the mall right before they closed for the day. I remember sitting outside afterwards; the sky was so blue, the weather was beautiful, and the silence – no planes flying into or out of O’Hare. Her husband is a police officer and they were calling everyone in. He was camping in the Boundary Waters and they had no cell service, so he had no idea what had happened.
I just wanted to say that no one saw the first hit because there wasn’t a camera aimed there. I was watching the Today Show at home because I had just had surgery. A woman called in and stated that a plane flew into the tower. Matt Lauer was quite skeptical.
I believe a camera from the Empire State Building was aimed there afterwards. I too witnessed the second tower being hit in real time.
I spent the next few days glued to the tv balling my eyes out. We must never forget.🇺🇸
Rita – you’re right about us not seeing the first plane hit until last night when I watched the special.
One of my most vivid memories of that day. I lived in the country on a lake with no street lights. I took my dogs out before bedtime and they did there thing and I would be looking at the sky. It always looked so alive and busy. That night it was very dark with no airplane sounds. After a bit I heard the sound of an airplane and could see lights it scared me. Then I remembered the Duluth Air Guards were patrolling the skies over Lake Superior. I will never forget the fear I felt.
I was working in Indiana at the US Census Bureau in the geography department, updating maps from the 2020 census. We were allowed to listen to the radio or music if we had headphones. One of the ladies in our section was listening to the radio and stood up and told us a plane hit the World Trade Center. We all started talking…was it an accident? How could it be an accident? Was there bad weather? Was there a problem with the plane’s radar? We were so innocent and I marvel now at how our first thoughts were not of terrorism…because why would they be? Our boss had us get back to work. When my coworker stood up and said there was a second plane that hit, we all started to realize what was happening. We were supposed to keep working but not much work was done. When the pentagon was hit, my boss said they were thinking of sending us home. When the hero passengers took down the plane in Pennsylvania, the final word was given that they wanted everyone out of the building bc they didn’t know if any other governmental facilities would be targeted. I remember calling my Dad who worked in a federal building skyscraper in Chicago and begging him to leave early in case it would become a target and he finally did.
Instead of going home and watching tv I went home and slept. I couldn’t sleep at all the night before because I was anxious but couldn’t put a pin in why. When I woke up later that day, I turned on the TV and watched through the night. We didn’t go back to work for several days…I wish I could remember now how many.
Never Forget.
I live in NYC so 9/11 is especially charged for me.
I was sitting at my computer when the phone rang and my friend said “put on your tv right now”
I did but I didn’t think much of it at the time because there had been other accidents at the WTC like when a small plane had flown into it. Then as the second plane hit, everyone realized it was something more.
The thing most New Yorkers will remember was how beautiful a day it was that morning. The clearest, most beautiful blue sky you could imagine. Years later, the 9-11 Museum would include a wall totally covered with rectangles of thousands of different clear blue shades, in memory of that morning. I remember seeing a memorial where people wrote their feelings and someone wrote, “I will never look at the sky the same way again.”
It was a crazy jumbled day. I think we all thought the world was going to end. I went down to the local hospital to try and give blood, we sat around for an hour and then they sent us all away. I remember wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood trying to figure out what to do next. The bars and restaurants were all packed with people staring at the tv.
I walked into a church where a prayer service was going on. I couldn’t stay anywhere too long. Finally I went back home.
The next few days were spent watching the news. It was horrible but you couldn’t look away. When I finally went back to work at the quilt store, everyone was just so relieved to have someplace to go. Just seeing other people was so important. The first thing everyone would say was “Are you ok?” A customer called to ask if we were open and when I said yes, she said “Oh good, I need to surround myself with color and light.”
There are so many bits and pieces of memories of those days, it’s hard to put down just a few. I’m not sure how we all got through it, but we did. New Yorkers are very tough, resilient people and we proved that in 2001. We were united and we all took care of each other.
Very nice blog post. Sure brings back memories of that time. To not hear any planes in the air from the airport was very scary and nothing taking off and landing as we could see the airport from our house in the hills. But there is an Army Base right in the city and Air Force Base 15 miles away.
Mary, I am doing ok after my little scare. Headache has lessened and another symptom too. I have a little vertigo. Did not make it to the sewing room today again.
Fran – oh, I’m sorry to hear that you are still having issues!!! The sewing room will wait – take care of yourself!
On 9-11-2001, a Tuesday and a workday for me at the Hatch Nuclear Power plant. In my mind, I can see the whole thing play over again. Play it over and over. We had a tv in the break room and nobody could believe it was happening otherwise. Terror attacks became a deadly reality to all of us that day. We had to tighten up security big time after that, even where it was already tight. Security is a big thing in a nuclear industry. It was a very surreal time….one I will never forget. Everyone was absolutely afraid and depressed. Many of my grandchildren weren’t even born yet, so they have no real concept of the horror. I compare it to WW2, which is incomprehensible to many today…especially our youth. God have mercy on those who suffered so much.
I was the business manager of a school district so I was at work. We had 1 tv on the top floor of the old high school building to be used only for instruction videos. Our Social Studies teacher wanted it kept in his room and was forever watching it ( against the rules ) and he came to the office as he saw it on the news. That evening the small community gathered in somber at the gymnasium for prayer and reflection.
There’s another surreal memory from 9/11 that just came back to me. I went onto the deck at my Mom and Dad’s house and looked up. I stood there with tears streaming down my face as I watched papers floating on the breeze. Those papers had been sitting on desks and in filing cabinets in the offices of the Trade Center Workers. Three of them landed around my parent’s house. Two were confidential financial documents and the third was a “From the Desk of” reminder about a dental appointment.
I was sitting at home and could not believe what I saw , it was horrible .
My husband was at work .
It was my daughter’s fourth birthday. We were baking a cake together. We didn’t have radio or tv on. It was also voting day. After the cake was done we went to vote. On the way there listening to the radio they were saying only that a plane had hit one of the towers. They didn’t say what kind. I remember asking the poll workers if they had heard. No one seemed concerned. When we got home I turned on the tv
They were showing the second plane hitting the towers. At first I thought it was an animation, not real, it took me a bit for it to sink in that it was real. That our country was under attack. My son, who was in first grade, remembers the teachers leaving the classrooms to watch the tv periodically. He said that was not normal. Many thanks to everyone who shared their memories. I plan on going back to the beginning and reading all the comments again. Thank you Mary for asking your readers to share their memories. May we never forget that day.
Marie – this has been so – I hate to say interesting – but eye opening when I hear what other women my age were doing that day. I plan on gathering all these comments into a journal as such and keeping it for the younger generation
9/11 was our 25th anniversary, our day has never been the same.
My dad’s birthday was Sept 11. When people ask me how I feel about his birthday being associated with the attack, I just say it was his day first!
On that beautiful day in September, I was getting ready to go golfing & lunch with my 2 high school friends, something we did once a month. The phone rang, it was my teacher friend from middle school, she was crying, she kept saying turn on you TV, turn on your TV. I turned it on just in time to see the plane fly into the Pentagon. OMG, my son, Gregg is working in the Pentagon, something told me it was the side where his office was. His office was in the 3rd ring on the 3rd floor. (The nose of the plane had made it almost into the 3rd ring.) How was I going to know if he was OK, I called my oldest son, a retired Army officer, It took an hour and a half for him to know Gregg was OK. He and all the other officers he worked with were in meetings in other parts of the building, except 4 officers were above the crash, they survived, but suffered serious health problems in years after. When Gregg realized what had happened, he ran to his office & grabbed his beret. & his Dad’s picture off his desk. He didn’t get back into his office for 3 weeks. His wife, an Army doctor was working at Walter Reed that day. The phones were jammed, the only way to let her know he was OK was to leave a message on their home phone. Gregg had just moved back into his office after that side of the Pentagon had been completely renovated with stronger reinforcement. They believe the plane would have done more damage if not for that. Gregg had a uniform hanging in his office, he said no matter how many times it was cleaned, if it became a little damp the smoke smell came back.
Yes, a day never forgotten…Donna from Wisconsin
Today, the kids’ school is gathering at their outdoor classroom to say the Pledge of Allegiance together as a group. My 4-year old grandson doesn’t have school today, but we will go to gather with the group.
I’m wondering if others made commemorative quilts after 9/11. I remember making the Small Flags House quilt specifically to commemorate and to help me work through the feelings I was having. I must have picked up the pattern and flags in 2002 on my annual trip to MN. It still comes out every Memorial Day and stays up until after 9/11.
I was working the morning of 9/11. I was a mammography technologist, with a new patient every 20 min. I remember the secretary stopping me and updating me with each new horror each time I left the exam room. It was so terrifying as we were located an hour and a half from NYC. I still vividly remember one particular patient that morning. She asked me if I had seen the news coverage. She said it was ‘Wonderful”. I couldn’t even speak,I was so shocked! It still sickens me even all these years .
Susan – it sickens me to read it as well. I’d like to comment more but won’t.
Yes, that sickens me too! Just like today sickened me when I saw two political figures, a man and a woman, in New York laughing while the names were being read aloud of family and responders lost in that tragedy. It showed them laughing. It turned my stomach that they care that little about our country!
God Bless America and help us care about each other!
Oh my!
That makes me sick and angry…
My son in law was living in Brooklyn and worked in Manhattan. My daughter had been to see him a week earlier for his birthday and had taken pictures of the twin towers. Robert had heard the plane being so close to the building that he worked in and then heard the crash into the building. He went to the rooftop and then saw the second plane hit the building. He did go to the street level to see if he could help but ended up returning to his building. They were all told to leave. Because the subways were closed he had to walk home to Brooklyn. As many had to do this he said you could feel the movement of the bridge as that many people walked the bridge. It was a very somber time and they have not returned to the site.
We are not immune from tragedy.
I myself was working at school and heard the news. We were not able to watch the TV. I remember not being able to get word whether Robert was okay because the phone grid was all jammed up. It was hard to wait for word from him.
On that day I was standing in my kitchen with the tv on and I stood there mezmermized. On that day we had a guy in the house that was doing some construction work on the house, he was a young guy. I was trying to tell him what was going on and he didn’t seem interested at all. I just kept watching the news and reruns, watching it over and over.
Memories of 9/11. That was our 30th Wedding Anniversary. People would ask us later, why in the word did you get married on 9/11?? I’d replay, in 1971 9/11 was a regular day. But continuing on 9/11/01 we were living in Waynesboro, PA just a few miles from the underground Pentagon in the mountains east of town and Camp David. Military jets were continually flying over our area as we lived in close proximity to DC. I was working as secretary for our church in Ringgold, Maryland. That day we watched TV of what was going on in our country. People came to the church to pray for our country. Like everyone else it was a day of dazed feelings. How could this be happening??
My dad was born on Sept 11, 1932 — long before the tragedy. It’s strange how people ask me the same type of questions. I just tell them it was his day long before the attack.
September 11, 2001 began as a perfect autumn day in Washington, DC. I lived in Arlington, Virginia a few miles from the Pentagon and drove to work at a large law firm about 8 blocks from the White House. I passed close by both of those buildings when they were in perfect condition on my way to work about 7AM that morning. I needed to be in my office because the managing partner of the firm had to be at National Airport early for a flight to Chicago scheduled after 9AM, and I knew from experience that his intense fear of flying meant that he would call in a zillion times before flying to ask about every detail of work in the coming weeks. This was the distraction he habitually used to avoid thinking about having to fly. Shortly before 9AM, an attorney ran by my desk and shouted that a plane had struck the World Trade Center, and I immediately phoned the managing partner awaiting his flight to Chicago and told him not to fly but to return to our office immediately. As we were talking, he shouted into the phone that he had just looked out the window at the airport and had seen smoke blasting out of the Pentagon nearby. He confirmed that he was leaving the airport immediately.
When the second tower in NYC was hit and we realized that it could not be an accident, the office managers struggled with the best course of action concerning keeping our office open and employees at their desks. The goal was to provide maximum safety to everyone working in our building, but we knew that one of our firm’s largest offices was in NYC and many of our corporate clients had offices in the World Trade Center. A law firm is trusted because it offers its services at the most desperate moments experienced by its clients, so questions were raised about whether employees should remain in their offices to provide help as it might be requested, or whether they should be dismissed to keep themselves safe. We could not lose sight either of the fact that we were located very close to the White House which might become a terrorist target.
After about an hour, management made the decision to tell everyone to leave the office, and I raced downstairs to remove my car from the underground garage. Outside the garage was total gridlock, and I wondered just how I might get home. Surely I could not return on the roads I’d used in the morning passing the Pentagon and the White House, so creativity was called for. I had graduated from a university in Washington, DC, and in the process had become quite familiar with the layout and streets of the city, so I could predict with some accuracy where the traffic was choking up now. I turned my car in the opposite direction countless times as I slowly made my way to the west of the city instead of toward the south where I lived. By using all the back streets and a few well-known alleys, I got to Maryland where I found less traffic (it was still blocked in the traffic jams I’d avoided), but the entrances to many major highways were either jammed with unmoving cars or closed off to all traffic. Then I remembered that if I continued west into a rural area of Maryland, there was a little known ferry which crossed the upper Potomac River from Maryland into Virginia. If I got that far and found the ferry operating, then I’d arrive on the shore of the right state again and be able to carve my way from west to east back to my home. My plan worked, and three hours after leaving my office, I arrived at my home. There, the sun which had started the morning had disappeared into dark skies filled with smoke and the smell of burning that was happening at the Pentagon. That would be present for weeks. Inside my home, TV was filled with constant replays of the New York City, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania tragedies, and tears flowed continually both on and off the screen. Silence governed the night with no flights to be heard, and no people could be seen outside their homes.
My office had to reopen the next morning, but driving to work was radically changed. The Pentagon continued to burn for several days, so no traffic could pass it. The bridges over the Potomac going into the center of Washington were crowded only because so many other routes were closed, but arriving in the city center, I was shocked to see for the first time in my life that there were soldiers of the National Guard at every corner redirecting traffic or checking credentials of anyone like me who needed to enter the restricted area near the White House. This continued for a few weeks. When my usual commuting route running closely between the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery finally reopened, the charred black walls of the Pentagon dominated the skyline and my emotions for many more weeks.
The tragedy of 9/11 was felt in my law firm for years after events of that horrible September morning. We learned that a pilot of the plane which had flown into the Pentagon was the husband of one of our Washington, DC staff members. Family members and friends of several of our employees had been lost both in New York City and in Washington, and the largest loss of life experienced by any employer located in the World Trade Center was experienced by my firm’s treasured client whose offices were all higher than the 100th floor.
Wanda – oh, Wanda, this is written so well and conveyed to me with great detail – which I’ve never heard before. Before this account have you ever written it down for posterity’s sake? I just cannot imagine trying to drive in all that confusion and then to know it was your “treasured client” who lost the most employees! I cannot imagine how many people you knew personally that perished that day. I’m reading this in bed and wonder how I will get to sleep now. Thank you for telling us your story. I remember other details of your life from past correspondence / you have lived a very interesting life.
Thanks, Mary – I’ve never been able to write this down before. When I saw that the accounts from all your readers were creating a truly homespun patchwork quilt in mostly somber tones blushed with the stories of extraordinary kindness, I knew the time had come for me to add my words.
Wanda – thank you so much for honoring my readers with your story – it was heartbreaking to read but added so much to what you have aptly called “a truly homespun patchwork quilt of extraordinary kindness”. We will never forget.
Wanda, Thank you, you have painted a picture with words pertaining to your experiences that awful day. It’s too bad you had to be so close.
First I heard what happened was when my adult son called to ask me if I saw what was happening on the tv? No, I never turned tv on in the morning. I turned it on & we both watched & continued talking on the phone. He asked me what did I think it meant? I told him we are now officially at war, but we don’t know who the enemy is yet – but the government definitely would. It was on our home soil, well organized and had it not been for those people on the plane that took things in hand the enemy would have taken that plane to wherever it was planned. I told him there won’t be much information from the govt for a while yet, as they had to get all the information together, analyze it, plan the response — but they definitely would be going after who did it and it would be fierce when it happened. We lost all those lives, who had families & futures planned, children they loved – they were going about their lives just as we all do & in minutes it all ended for them. As a country I think we lost our innocence that day – it no longer felt safe going about our lives in the US. It kind of felt to me like it did when JFK was assassinated. When that happened, I came home from school and turned the tv on and there it all was. I didn’t understand why it happened. I was incredibly sad for his family as I watched the car and the attack on the President. I didn’t feel quite so safe anymore, and it was a long, long time till I did feel safer. I was 7 1/2 years old.
I was at work. I was the office manager at my church. My husband called me to say that the towers had been hit. I turned on the radio in my office. I couldn’t imagine how terrible it really was until I got home that afternoon and watched it on TV.
The ladies of the church were there preparing lunch for the Rotary Club that met there every Tuesday. I remember going downstairs and telling them what happened.
One thing that I will always remember is how blue the sky was that day and how quiet it was. I lived in the country where it usually was quiet but it seemed especially so that day and the following days.
Yes! The sky that day was incredibly blue and not a cloud to be seen! It was the perfect Fall day…until it wasn’t.