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September 11th 2001

3K views 30 replies 28 participants last post by  Hizay 
#1 ·
Please hold a moment of silence at 8:46, 9:03, 9:45 and 10:10, the exact times each plane went down.
 
#4 ·
While We're At It

I Second That Quailallstar. I didn't realize that everyone was willing to share where they were that day. My wife works on wall street, on the Brooklyn side and she was in the towers back in 93 when the first attempt was made to blow them up so she's having flashbacks. Anyway, I have her on the phone and she has the catatonic "thousand yard stare" tone in her voice and she tells me everything that is going on. Not one iota of emotion in her voice. She saw them both come down and apparently the angle at which she saw them was totally different from what the rest of us have seen in the footage. She hung up the phone right after that, all she said was "I have to go." It took her all night to get home. As soon as the second plane hit, we went on alert, only it was a CF because no one on our department had any plan formulated for a situation like this. I was working a 4-12 shift and we were on the cross-county pkwy here in Westchester and we get a call to shut the parkway down in both directions because of a bomb threat. I remember closing the road down with my partner and it was around 6:30 that evening and once traffic was stopped and we walked beside the stopped cars, I'll never forget the looks on the faces of the people in those cars. You could see it in their eyes as they watched us, "Oh my God, what's going on now? Why are we stopped and who are they looking for. Are my kids here in danger." Since we couldn't answer any questions they posed us, it made it that much harder. The threat never materialized and was later called a false alarm. Anyway, I hope we learn form all this and NO we must never forget. I can't tell you how pissed off I get whenever I hear one of these pointy-headed so called intelectuals prattle on about we should get over it and it might have been all our fault. Obviously none of them lost anybody that day. So keep the faith people and if anyone wouldn't mind, please keep some others in your prayers. There are four guys on my job who are in the reserves and are right now fighting in the middle east, so if you could take a moment to ask God to keep an eye on them, their wives and kids would really appreciate it.


"May the wings of liberty never lose a feather!"

God Bless,
CB
 
#7 ·
MOS was observed at 5:47 and 6:03AM PDT. Was watching this on all the channels. It still saddens my heart, esp. watching the children naming the victims.

How many of you remember what you were doing that day? I certainly won't forget. I didn't even know what was happening because I got up in the AM to go to an early doctor's appointment so I had no time to turn on the TV. I didn't even listen to the radio until after I left the hospital; I then noticed the tone of the radio announcer was very somber and talking about a tragic event in NY and information was rather sketchy but that a second airplane had just hit the WTC.

Once I got to work, I got on the now frenzied internet and all my co-workers were abuzz about this. I then remembered some of you here on CB5 (nycpassat, JonBoy) and immediately tried to email them. Nothing hit as hard as when Willie recounted seeing the towers in flames and then realizing that the Met-Life building he was in, is listed as a high-probabiliy target and was forced to leave the building by his boss. 2 yr. later and I can still remember all this. All I do know is that particular day, work was a distant second in my life's priority; I just wanted to be with my wife and kids. About the only other event that affected me the same way was our own CA Loma Prieta earthquake of 89'.

So proud to be an American today. A bit sad, but proud.
 
#8 ·
HermanH said:
How many of you remember what you were doing that day?
I was still at home, running late that morning. I actually heard United 175 go into Tower 2, but I didn't realize it at the time what it was. Next thing I know, the hospital's paging me, and I'm yelling at my then-girlfriend as to what happened while I'm trying to get my shoes on.

I happen to live right by the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side, and even though they had already shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, I was permitted to pass through since I had my hospital ID. I remember looking up at the burning towers, thinking to myself, "What kind of planes hit them?!", and then following a FDNY ladder company across the Bridge. Who knows how many of those firefighters didn't go home that night.

We more or less had our command center set up by the time I got to work, and we got busy: how many patients could we discharge? Hold up the OR's, we need to have them available for casualties. How's NYU Downtown Hospital doing? (They're our sister hospital, and only five blocks away from Ground Zero.) Then we heard the Pentagon was hit, and for a brief, fleeting moment, I got scared; what in hell is going on here? But then, it was back to work.

Tower 2 collapsed as I was on the phone with someone, I looked up at the TV after the collapse had already started. Tower 1 collapsed as I was on the 'Net in my office, trying to get more information. They took out NYUDH's water lines, and suddenly, NYUDH had no way to generate steam to sterlize instruments, and meanwhile, they've got trauma cases needing to go to the OR's. We set up a shuttle system where they would send up dirty instruments, we'd sterilize them and then send them back down.

WTC 7 went down sometime that afternoon (side note: I had just paid a visit to WTC 7 to visit the city's Office of Emergency Management in May 2001, and I still have my visitor's pass from that visit. Somehow, I had never thrown it away, and found it in my desk a few weeks after 9/11/01), taking out communications and power lines for NYUDH. Now, they were really deaf, dumb and blind. We worked harder to support them, taking transfers from them and coordinating emergency medical supplies for them and FDNY EMS.

After I made sure that my g/f, her brother and my mom were all okay, I got off my shift in the command center around 7 pm. They needed someone with a car to run sterile instruments to NYUDH -- our van was in the outer boroughs dropping off stranded patients -- so I volunteered, and drove into an area of pitch-black (for those of you in NYC, it was exactly like the Blackout in August), except for the hospital. Dust was everywhere, it was eeriely quiet. I dropped off the instruments in NYUDH's emergency department and wanted to walk over to Ground Zero, when I realized that I didn't have my fire helmet -- I had left it at home. (I carry it in the car now.) I came back to my hospital.

Made another run to NYUDH around 10 pm, and called it a night. I slept in my office, in case we needed to gear back up -- we were getting word to expect 500 patients to come out of "the pile", but no ETA. Sadly, as everyone knows, only a handful of people were pulled out alive, not 500.

The next morning came, and as I woke up and stumbled into the command center, I kept asking myself if it had only been a dream...sadly, it wasn't.

Andy
 
#9 ·
My family visited NYC in June of 2001. We did all the typical tourist things, visited the Statue of Liberty, got on the Today Show and took the classic timer photo of the 4 of us looking down into the camera with the WTC towers above us in the background.

One evening we went to the Empire State Building to see the city at sunset. There was a fire alarm and the visit to the top was cancelled. As we made it up and out onto the street there were dozens of young, strong, cool firefighters walking around the sidewalk and tending equipment on the trucks parked there. It turned out to be a false alarm. We thought it would be fun to take a few pictures with the trucks and firefighters so I finished off a roll of film. We got some great shots and the guys really hammed it up in the photos for some goofy Kentucky tourists.

The afternoon of the tragedy I came home early to find my wife and daughters on the patio with our trip pictures. I couldn't help but wonder how many of those young men and women in the photos lost their life that day as first-responders. We copied the photos and sent them to the fire companies shown on the trucks.

As hard as it is to look at those pictures, not knowing if those particular people lived or died, I keep a copy on my desk to remind me of their courage and how much life can change in an instant. May God bless them and their families and all who lost loved ones two years ago today.
 
#10 ·
I was sitting at my computer at 5:46 (PST) having a coffee before work and watching the news.. the rest you all know and I will never forget.


(X-Post) I, Like a lot of us in the B5 and VWVortec, joined the forums after 11 Sept 01 and never had the honor of “virtually” meeting Richard S. Gabrielle (bond007goldfinger). I for one would like his family to know my heart is with them as it is with all that suffered losses on that day. Distance and time dictate that I can’t be there on the 13th of this month to pay my respects with the ones that can attend, but I will be there in spirit and my heart is with you.

Dee Henderson
 
#11 ·
Guys, this day really hits me hard.


I lost a good friend from H.S. who was with me in Desert Storm and graduated with me from the School of Business at Howard University. Major Clifford Patterson, I will never ever forget you bro, Rest-In-Peace!

Please pray for all those we lost, and pray for peace..


William Brown Jr.

aka The Swami
 
#13 ·
I was at my desk at work when someone came running up the hall, "Someone flew a plane into the WTC!!" At this point, we all thought it was an accident, but everyone wa aghast nonetheless.

I had a friend who worked on the 94th floor of tower 2, I ran outside and tried to call him on my cell phone, hoping with every fiber of my being that he was OK. There was no answer, as all cell communication was jammed up. I kept calling and calling, and nothing....

I went back inside, and recieved the news that the second plane had hit. Sorrow gave way to anger as we all realized at once that this was no freak accident. I called my friend's parents who were able to tell me that he was late to work that day, and was spared. I said a prayer, and went back to watching the coverage.

As the day unfolded, the horror became too much to bear. I couldn't watch anymore, so I left work and went for a drive to contemplate what had happened. It was all such a shock, but the biggest eye-opener came two weeks later, at a housewarming party for the aforementioned friend. At his party were a few co-workers who were in the building that day. To hear them tell their stories, of how they made it out, of people they saw who didn't, struck a nerve that hadn't quite been touched by the tragedy.

To those who lost their lives, to their families, to all our soldiers away from home, you are truly heroes, and the world cannot possibly give you enough thanks, praise, and honor.
 
#14 ·
I was driving my little one home from the Dr.'s office for his 1yr checkup. I heard the the anchor on KYW say "uh, we are switching to live feed from NYC right now, there has been a major accident at the WTC" and then the feed from the traffic copter. I called my brother-in-law from the car to make sure he knew what was going on. I got home and turned on the tube which surprised the hell out of the movers who were packing our house for the move to Savannah as we refused to turn it on the day before. Then things pretty much stopped.
 
#15 ·
I was actually running a little late that morning...at 10 to 8 I would've been walking between the two towers like every other day.
:(
 
#16 ·
One of those anniversaries you wish didn't exist....

I got off the elevator and a handful of guys were in the big conference room setting up a TV. I didn't think anything of it, musta been a big whig meeting in there something thing morning. I was at my desk when my friend came in and said,
"A plane flew into the world trade center."

I thought he was kidding or something then he told me to come into the conference room. I got there just in time to see the replay of the first plane and a few minutes later the second plane. There were about 15 of us in the room and more coming in to see what we were looking at. The room was silent.

The rest of the day those of us that stayed at the office spent the day checking in on the conference room and scouring the internet for news. Of course so was everyone else so most of the news sites were down or iffy from the overload of traffic.

I'm not a crier, but 9/11 brings me to tears without fail. There was a show on CNN Sunday I htink it was. Archive video and amatuer video and what not. I was welling up from the minute I turned it on.

I hope we never have another day as sad as that.
 
#17 ·
I remember that day just like it was yesterday. i was on my way to work and heard something about it on the radio but i didn't understand what was going on. I got to work and everyone i saw had this sad face, so i was :???: . i went to the break room and saw that everyone was watching tv and saw what happened.........then saw the 2nd plane hit. man that hit us hard. one of my co-worker's sister was on one of the towers and she was trying frantically to call her. she didn't know what to do. the lines were busy and she couldn't get thru. she was going all out crying :( . there was just nothing we could do to help. we closed early that day at 11am :(
 
#19 ·
I was sitting on the bed in my room at Club Med Turks & Caicos watching God Morning America, sattelite-fed from Miami. My friend was in the shower and I was getting dressed. GMA went to commercial then came back about 20 sec later with the image of the first strike, still thought to be an accident. I called trying to track down my sister as she was to be at Chase Plaza for a meeting that day. On a fluke, I called her office in Jersey and she was there, stating the meeting had been moved to White Plains for 2 pm and she had no clue about the impact. We spoke as I continued to watch GMA, telling her about snorkeling with dolphins and an odd nurse shark or two. As I'm watching & speaking, the 2nd plane hits and my mouth dropped............... When we left, Saturday the 15th, everone on the plane was glad to be getting home. We were all somewhat chipper and joking about the plane being delayed 10 minutes for a late passenger: "If we don't recognize him, he ain't getting on the plane !!" was thrown around in nervous jest. The flight was uneventful, the pilot ordering headsets for everyone to hear music, movies,etc. Once we came within sight of the still smoldering rubble, a somber silence came across the cabin with a few gasps and "Oh my God" softly whispered...
 
#21 ·
I was at work, walking a coal train (I am a conductor). I had gone to work late the night before and we were on our way back home. Our train had a problem and I had to "walk" the train to make sure everything was ok, when my engineer told me over the radio that someone had bombed the WTCs and the Pentagon, he was told by someone who called him. I'm thinking to myself there is no way this could have happened again. I remembered that I had a "pocket TV" in my back pack. Once I got back to the locomotive, I switched on the TV and could not believe my eyes. I began trying to call my family in Baltimore and friends that worked for the state department in DC to make sure they were alright, of course I couldn't get through. After that they started telling everyone not to try to call because lines were tied up.

I still see the images of that day and the days to follow like it was yesterday. I didn't know anyone that died personaly, but it still hits home. My condolences go out to those who did loose someone, be it friends or family.

Please, don't ever forget these events and please pass them on to the next generations.

"Those who forget their past, are doomed to repeat it" Please remember what happened so that our country doesn't have to go through this ever again.

Please remember
big byrd
 
#22 ·
I work for a Japanese Bank in the process of merging. WTC was going to be our main building and many of us had already transfered there from Rockefeller plaza. Usually we have a TV in the trading floor but since the relocations, we had no way of knowing or seeing what was going on. I work in support and first thing we got was many have lost connection to the network. My boss' wife called and said a plane had just hit one of the towers. First thing we thought was some schmuck accidentally crashed his small plane. Waiting for pictures to post up in CNN.com then we all gasp, Thats not a small plane.

All thoughts went to our co-workers in Tower 1 (first building that was hit) They had just moved there a week before to the 81st floor (we occupy floors 79 to 81). From the pictures we thought that plane hit those floors and many of us were waiting outside our midtown office hoping for some of them to show up. Surprisingly, none of them were killed and had only come out with dust and minimal scratches. My dept was suppose to move to Tower2 that same week. Our bank also had offices on the floors were the second plane hit. Our sister bank Fuji was occupying those floors. When the second plane hit we didn't worry too much because we were certain that all have already evacuated. We later learned that there was an all OK announcement made at Tower2. All of the top managers who went back up for a conference call meeting were killed when the second plane hit. Included in the group was one of our good friend who knowingly went in to tower2 to persuade the others to get out eventhough they announced that it was ok to go back in.

IT was the day the Earth stood still. I cry still today whenever I see documentaries about this. It is sad to see how we easily forget a tragedy like this. I see so many complaining about the most benign of things forgeting that there are so many, far greater, things that we can dwell on.
This is the reason why our country fights (afghan, Iraq) it is so that it does not happen again in our soil.

God Bless you and Keep you all our armed forces who are willing to lay down their own lives for the sake of others. His Light shines upon and GIVES you PEACE
 
#24 ·
This is and will be a very very sad day for everyone!!
Here in Sweden we will specially remember this date, because today we lost our beloved Swedish Foreign Minister, Anna Lindh.

Yesterday she was stabbed in central Stockholm when she was shopping.
She died of her wounds this morning at the hospital.
 
#25 ·
My uncle works in the Pentagon. He said it was the loudest thing he has ever heard, and so much terror struck everyone that day. This day is known as Patriot Day. Fortunantly my uncle survived the acts of terrorism. My heart goes out to all who lost loved ones in NYC, VA, and Penn.

-Keith
 
#26 ·
I was born in NYC, the towers always meant something to me. I have been in them many times. Hell barely a few months before the planes hit I was eating breakfast in them. My heart goes out to all those who lost something on this terrible day :cry: .

My condolences to the family of Richard S. Gabrielle (bond007goldfinger). I never had the pleasure of meeting or speaking to him. From what I heard he was a great person. :sad:
 
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