Where were you when the world changed?

[Priceless]

Many thanks to aparch, who was able to capture most of the original 9/11 thread. All attempts to find the archive through google were rebuffed It is hard to imagine this was erased in the update. I highly recommend reading it.

Please keep politics out of this thread. I'm hoping this can just be a thread where everyone can share where they were, what they were doing and how this event impacted them. There are plenty of threads where we can talk politics.

Among the things I did that day was go to the Red Cross to give blood, but the line to donate was out the door and down the street. So I offered to volunteer. I was scheduled to start a new job for Dell and called my boss - I didn't really care if he gave me permission or not, I was staying right where I was. Fortunately, he said that I was much more needed there than at work. I was part of the phone team that was answering calls from people who wanted to donate clothes, money, blood, whatever. We also got calls from people who knew someone in Manhattan and were desperate for news. Those were the difficult calls because we had nothing to tell them. We had five TVs in the room, all tuned to different stations to try to get any news we could. As a result we saw the towers collapse over and over and over. For weeks afterward whenever I'd close my eyes I'd see a fireball and the WTC collapsing. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep for awhile.

Where were you?

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

Was an amazing thread that was really my only connection to the events for a while.

At work (in MN) when someone who just arrived at work mentioned he had heard a plane had hit one of the towers. I didn't think much of it at first since he had been listening to a irreverent mornig drive show but soon realized it was beyond serious when I couldn't get into any news-source webpage.

A coworker happened to be on his out the door and grabbed a small TV, at one point I bet there were 30 or more people in his office. When the first tower went down there was complete silence.

 

[walrus]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was at Hilltop in Ellsworth, waiting for a tech to show up to do a job for me. I was talking to a buddy in Portland who told me about the first plane, I said no freakin' way a commercial pilot takes a plane into one of the towers, neither of us knew what was going on, I turned on the radio in my truck and heard a 2nd one had hit, couldn't believe it. Finished my job, went home, watched tv news and posted on USCHO. It was a sad day and continues to be so.
I'm glad Aparch was able to get the thread, I've read it over many times and its good to read it again, to remember what those F'ers did

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

As i wrote ten years ago, i was at work when a coworker showed up and told me what happened. We were sent home which was an adventure on my bike. I could see the smoke from the Pentagon. When i got home I joined the crowd posting facts and rumors on USCHO.

 

[MountieBoyOz]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was a sophomore in college and I woke when my suitemate Vinny told me to turn on the TV because a plane hit the WTC. I turned it on at the exact instant that the second plane hit. My jaw hit the floor and I woke up everyone else. My other suitemates were from Washington Heights, Bed-Stuy and Manhattan so they were trying desperately to get a hold of their loved ones. I went to my history of sports class at 10:20, but my professor dismissed it because he had family in the NYC area. I went to my new girlfriend at the times place and watched everything. Luckily none of my friends lost any loved ones in the tragedy.

A couple of firefighters from the fire department I volunteer with went down to help out and they were in total shock. They couldn't believe this happened. I wasn't active on the board, but looking through it brought back memories of that day. Thanks for digging it out of the archives.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was anchoring the morning news on WRVA in Richmond. After the first plane hit we began yammering about the B-25 that hit the Emire State Building in '45. That all went away after the second hit. We went into "wall to wall" coverage and began deploying our people. We sent one to the Pentagon, of course. As luck would have it, one of our reporters was vacationing in NYC, so we were a local station with local reporters live in both locations. Then you try to localize the story, find local people who can add something to our understanding of what was going on. Most of the next serval days are a blur. It's hard for me to recall what happened on which day at what time. Long, long days.

As an aside, the young lady reporting from NYC had to come home a day or two early. The mother of her college roommate decided it would be a good thing to rat out her husband to the FBI. She was married to a Pakistani native, who was assistant manager at a Walgreen's. Seemed like a nice young guy to me. Anyway, she came home early to be with her husband when the FBI questioned him. Naturally, nothing came of it.

 

[state of hockey]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was eating breakfast at a cafeteria during my freshman year at Mankato. My morning class was cancelled because the prof. was ill. Sat down and saw on the TV that a plane had hit a tower at the WTC. Watched the second plane hit. Terrible feeling.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was on co-op at the time working on a site in Iron River, WI. When the events started happening, I was on my drive to work listening to a CD so I had no idea anything was happening until I got to work and coworker mentioned it. I can remember vividly listening to Bob & Tom talking about it. It was just eerie listening to them be serious about something. I ended up spending the whole day listening to the radio, updating my coworker and the construction crew on what was going on. I remember sitting in my crappy hotel in Superior, WI watching the video over and over again just in shock of what had happen.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was a freshman in high school. The announcement came over the PA during third period, around 9:30 AM. There was a rumor among students that Iraq had conducted the attack. I remember that my history teacher had a Q&A during her class that afternoon, and that's when I first learned about Al Qaeda.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was on my way to work, listening to the KQRS morning show (pretty much THE show in the Twin Cities for ratings/share). Tom Barnard had a tone in his voice that I found odd, but they didn't say what they were talking about. They just used words like "tragedy" and "a horrible situation." Given the aforementioned tone of voice, I knew something big happened, so I frantically started station-surfing to get info.

I finally get the info, and this jumbled feeling of anger/physical sickness/sadness took over. I had no clue what to think, how to fully process the info, or anything. I get to work, and there was a staff meeting stating that if anyone needed to leave, make calls to friends/relatives, they were free to do so.

Related: When they started showing the 9-11 specials soon after it happened, I couldn't bring myself to watch them. Even the commercials for them made that same jumbled feeling come back, and that's a feeling I NEVER want to feel again. EVER.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was watching TV before work. Saw the first plane hit, watched as they tried to figure things out and when the 2nd plane hit. After that I had to head to work. WHile there I heard the Pentagon hit. That blew my doors off. The towers were scary but could have been isolated. The fact they could hit the Pentagon scared me poopless. It made me remember when the Eastern seaboard had the huge power outage and my Dad was in his uniform waiting to be called up, out on the front porch, looking down the road and seeing other guys ready.

One of the Docs at work brought in a TV and put it in the break room. Folks were updating us as they came in for appointments. There wasn't a person in my office that didn't know someone.

The thing most etched in my memory was Lil's reaction. The idiot at his daycare had his class watching the TV (they were in Pre-K). I was putting my key in the back door when he asked me "why is everyone so sad Mumma?" I was baffled. I knew he knew all the people died. then he said "all the dead people go to God and that means they are happy, right?" What does one say to that?

 

[jen]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

Driving to work. On Port Road, turning on to Good Hope Road. The radio said a plane had hit the WTC, and I thought.. oh, must be a little plane... about 5 minutes later they said it was a jet. The guy on the radio sounded totally incredulous. I went to work and got online - although it was hard to find news. There weren't any TVs. Worked all day. Still have not seen TV coverage of the towers falling.

A girl in my high school class (we lived in the same neighborhood, but weren't really friends) worked for Carr and was in one of the towers when it fell. The Journal Sentinel did a series on her based on a recently written book - it's chilling to think how many thousands of stories like hers there are, and how many other countries have thousands of similar stories as well.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I, too, was driving to work when I heard. And I also thought that it was a small plane. I shrugged and thought "Well, there goes my 10am soap - it'll be pre-empted." I got to the office, was putting my lunch in the fridge when someone told me a second plane hit the other tower. I immediately thought of that Tom Clancy novel (was it The Sum Of All Fears?_ - the one where a Japanese pilot took a plane and crashed it into the Capitol during the State of the Union address. Little did I know that one of the planes was planning to do that.

They wound up giving us the go-ahead to go home around noon as they wound up evacuating the John Hancock Tower in Boston and it was two blocks from where I was. Got home and watched the coverage and hung out here with all of you. My brother emailed me about Mark Bavis mid-afternoon. It was such an exhausting day.

 

[huskyfan]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was driving. listening to NPR. they interrupted with news a small plane hit the World Trade Center. one of those freak accidents, right? then the second plane hit. I called my husband who was at the station - he was raving almost - so upset - he had visited the transmitters on top of the North tower earlier that year. information was so hard to come by in the car - none (!) of our local radio stations went to coverage - I stopped at Walmart thinking they might have it on TV - they had the audio on speakers, but no TV. I called my Mom, the kids, my brother. still no radio coverage. finally got a Thunder Bay station who was airing ABC audio live. Peter Jennings spoke of a report that the White House had been hit. started crying. later daughter called to say the towers had collapsed. pulled into a parking lot to talk to her - I was so shaken - I couldn't wrap my mind around it - "they fell down?" "fell over?" I just could not fathom it. she explained how they had pancaked down. emotional emotional day. finally got home late that afternoon and saw the full horror of it on TV. (still no coverage on local radio) (thank god for Thunder Bay radio)

 

[DrewskiT]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was a Junior in High School, and we were in the first full week in our new High School building, with TV monitors in the halls to show announcements and what not. Right after the first block, someone had turned to a news station on one of the TVs and the first tower was on fire already. My TA group decided to not go to TA, since our TV in the classroom wasn't properly set up yet, so we all sat in the middle of the hall and sent someone to get our teacher to join us. There are a couple very distinct things I remember about that morning. First, I was wearing a polo shirt with vertical red and white stripes, and often people joked that I looked like a popcorn box. After that morning, everyone decided it reminded them of the American flag. The second thing I remember was a friend of mine who is much smarter than me (he now works for NASA) said "God ****ed Bin Laden, this was definitely him." I remember asking him who "Ben Laden" was, and he explained to me who he was.

Most of the day was a blur, I don't think a single teacher attempted to teach anything. We watched TV in almost all the classes, and we were told that we were watching the one of the most significant events in the history unfolding. In retrospect I am really appreciative of that attitude, because pressing through trying to get something productive accomplished would be insignificant today, but immersing ourselves in discussion and watching the news unfold was helpful to gaining understanding.

That evening I went to the gas station to get gas for my little pickup truck that could only hold 5 gallons of gas (it would leak past that amount). The lines at the gas station were ridiculous, and some girls I was friends with were getting back to town, having been at a tennis tournament all day. They stopped and asked me what the hell was going on; they never knew anything about the day's events.

 

[komey1]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was at work. Someone said something but it really didn't sink in for a while. A TV was set up in the breakroom for people to watch. I watched for a while. I remember trying to get some work done but it kind of felt half-hearted because the room I needed to do the work was partially isolated. Afterwords, I watched all the coverage.

 

[manurespreader]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I had flown the flight from Albany, NY to Detroit that left that morning at 6 am. We had switched planes and boarded up to leave for Washington when a passenger got a call from his wife to tell him. At first we thought it was a small plane, and the tower let us taxi out but was not letting anyone take off.
I tuned the ADF to a local news radio station( WWJ) and found out that the second tower had been hit. About then the control tower told us all to to taxi back in, which we did, knowing that there would be no flights for several days. I finally saw the video when I got home about noon. By that time my wife was a wreck and the neighbors came right over to say they were very glad to see me.

 

[SteveP]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was working as Sports Director at the Radio PA Network. My desk was around the corner from the small TV in our newsroom. My colleague called me over after the first tower was hit and I watched the events unfolding while trying to contact my stringers in NYC -- until we got word that a plane had crashed near Pittsburgh.

I was given the assignment of heading to Johnstown - Cambria County airport, which was where officials were setting up a command post. I recall seeing state troopers guarding the tunnels along the PA Turnpike. I also recall that I wasn't able to get any updates - all of the local radio stations along the Turnpike were airing canned shows and music.

Once I filed a bunch of reports from the airport I managed to find a hotel room in J-town. Most stores and restaurants were closed - I managed to find a dollar store and stocked up on toiletries and a cheap golf shirt for the next day.

On Wednesday I went to Shanksville and continued to file live and recorded updates to our network, KYW in Philly and several other stations across North America. The confusion of how Flight 93 ended up in Shanksville was the biggest issue throughout the day.

On a lighter note, I was lucky enough to have my golf shoes in the trunk - they came in handy walking around the farm fields near the crash site. Certainly easier for me than the TV news women trying to negotiate in their fashionable 6" heels.

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was at work. Someone said something but it really didn't sink in for a while. A TV was set up in the breakroom for people to watch. I watched for a while. I remember trying to get some work done but it kind of felt half-hearted because the room I needed to do the work was partially isolated. Afterwords, I watched all the coverage.

I not only found it hard to work on the 11th but for several days after, I had MPR on my radio plus kept clicking over to CNN, the Star-Tribune, and other webpages for news/updates/commentary. I don't ever recall being so starved for any nugget of information.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Where were you when the world changed?

I was on my way to work, listening to the KQRS morning show (pretty much THE show in the Twin Cities for ratings/share). Tom Barnard had a tone in his voice that I found odd, but they didn't say what they were talking about. They just used words like "tragedy" and "a horrible situation." Given the aforementioned tone of voice, I knew something big happened, so I frantically started station-surfing to get info.

I was listening to KQ when the first plane hit, on 35E northbound, getting off at the 11th St exit in St. Paul. Tom was reading a report in the way that he does, saying some idiot pilot hit the WTC. They were commenting on that, recalling the Empire State Building being hit back in WWII, and just commenting on the odds of it happening in general. When I shut off my car, I started the walk into the office - a little over a half-mile from the Lafeyette Bride to Robert St., and in that time the second plane hit.

When I got into the office one of the operations managers stopped me as I stepped off the elevator. She told me that the WTC had been hit, and I replied, "Yeah, I heard. It was some Cessna or something."

Sh replied to me, "No it was a jet liner, and just a few minutes ago a second plane hit."

I stood there in disbelief, and then walked to my desk. The news websites were jammed, as you all likely recalled. Then I thought about it a little bit, and the woman whose desk is right behind me had an old boombox there that some former employee left behind. It just so happened to have a small 3" B&W TV screen on it. I pulled out from under her desk, turned it on to whichever TV station was giving the best reception and turned up the volume. Before long the majority of the employees on my floor were there behind me, either staying to watch or dropping by for a few minutes in between phone calls to whomever they had to call.

I went home around noon, telling my boss that it's not a day for work - corporate had sent out an email stating we could do just that only a few minutes prior, it turns out. On my way home I stopped off at an Ace Hardware in Eagan for some fly paper, as much to distract me as I anything else at that moment. As I was asking where the fly paper was, the woman cut me off as I said "Do you have any fl...," stating, "No, sorry, we've sold through our entire stock of flags. We've already had to turn away dozens more before you."