NOTE: This thread has been marked serious. Anyone not being serious will have their posts deleted. Some of you who know me know I am interested in a very unique part of history. The media and history books report much of the same thing, but I am more interested in individuals' stories. So where were you on 9/11? How did you react? What did you do? What's YOUR story? As for me, I was in school and since I live so close to NYC, our principal knew many students' parents worked in NYC and to avoid upsetting anyone, decided not to tell us. Throughout the day, students were being called out of class as their parents came to pick them up, but the majority stayed. It was only after I was picked up by both my mom and dad (my dad very seldom took off from work to pick me up and I usually knew if he would be in advance) and we were driving home from school that they told me what had happened. I remember driving through a park, looking through the car's sunroof, and hearing and seeing an F16 roaring overhead. I got home and being the newshound I was (and still am), I was glued to the television until I went to bed. My house is located under the departure/arrival path of one of NYC's airports so I am used to constantly hearing the roar of jet engines as they climb out on departure or are descending in to land. That night I remember hearing nothing. I will also never forget watching the members of Congress singing God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol and how it gave me chills to see all of these people united together to show the world our resolve to continue on as normal. What's your story?
I was in 5th grade- sensitive as ever, sort of "locked away" in my own world. I didn't understand a lot of things around me. I was in class- we were going over the days of the week in spanish when she suddenly got a call, and went to the back room. When she returned she was in tears and turned on the TV, and we saw the news reports as they were happening. I didn't understand- we had a bomb threat evacuation happen in school at the same time. I dont know, to this date, if they were ever related or not. I remember being so confused, so lost. My teacher had family up in NY. Students around me had no clue what was going on either. Once I finally understood what was going on, I felt so afraid, so unsafe. It took years to rid myself of the paranoia, and I wasn't even directly involved. I had no family up there, nor any friends.
I was in 2nd grade when it happened. The tragic event already happened by the time I woke up. When I did finally wake up, I found it strange that my father (who drives me to school), was already wide awake and dressed up. He had the TV on in the kitchen, but despite his lack of English, he knew that this event was catastrophic. Nonetheless, the day started out as normal, but when I got to my school (which only takes like 3 minutes to drive there), almost nobody in sight despite it being 20 minutes until school started. I headed over to my 2nd grade classroom with my teacher explaining to me that class has been cancelled for today and helped me call back my father to pick me up. When I returned home, I took a look at the TV to see what was happening. Unfortunately, I didn't really understand the magnitude of the whole situation so when I saw that almost every channel was George W. Bush's speech to the nation, I just thought it was annoying because he was getting in my way of watching some cartoons on a school day. The next day, my teacher explained to me what happened and tried to explain the entire incident in language that a 2nd grader would understand. We had our moment of silence for those who lost their lives to the crash and I was fixated on the news for the next few days trying to understand what has happened and pestered my uncle on what means what. To be honest, I wasn't as shaken by 9/11 because my parent assured me this wouldn't happen in San Francisco.
Second grade. All the adults were were in the hallway talking; the rest of us had no idea what was happening. They let us all go home. My mom, sister and I were all on the couch watching the news. I was playing my gameboy. I knew something serious was happening but I obviously didn't 'get' it. My mother had a very concerned look on her face. That's what I remember most. We later found out that her cuz died. He was a fireman.
I'm not sure which grade I was in but I know I was still in elementary school. Our principle made an announcement, most of us did not understand at the time. I remember my teacher saying that something terrible was happening. Although we did not comprehend what was going on..my classmates and I started crying because we were afraid. Whenever I was afraid as a child, I use to always pray for the world to be safe. That's what I did.
I was in grade 1 at the time. I remember watching the morning news with my parents, and at the time it just didn't register that it was a tragedy. I thought they were demolishing an unused tower as I did with my LEGO buildings. So, 6-year old me asked [paraphrased], "Why doesn't the building topple over onto its side? Where does it go?". I don't remember my parents' response to that though, but I still feel really bad for asking them that back then in a situation where I am certain they were really stressed.
Not quite sure what grade I was in but I think I was in the 3rd grade and we were in class, a teacher was whispering something to my teacher and she turned on our class television to a local news station, they were showing footage of the North tower after it got hit, I was little at the time so I had no idea what was going on but I had a sense of fear, my teacher was crying and all of the kids, like me, didn't really know what was going on so we were just staring at her, chilled to the bone at the way she was bawling, after she calmed she explained to us what happened and I got really sad and some of the kids were crying, truly one of the most horrifying events in American history.
I was in 6th grade at the time in my science class. Ironically, our school was in a lockdown as a close by burglar/robber was near by. I came home and overheard about the twin towers being "torn down" by terrorists. I didn't even know what to think of it so I ignored it, and than I saw the Raw footage on the news, and I could not stop staring at the TV, my jaw was also dropped. I think I was crying, because in history class we talked about the attack on the USS COLE that happened a year earlier. Broke my heart. Bless all that perished that day and their families.
I was at home, just doing normal everyday things. My auntie phoned my up and told me to turn on the news, that something really terrible had happened. I remember staring in horror at the TV footage of what had happened and then trying to make contact with all of my online friends who might have been in the area to make sure they were ok. I think the part that hit the hardest for me was seeing pictures of couples holding hands and leaping out of windows together to their death. Even though this happened in the US and the terrorist attack in London several years later took a completely different form, I still feel uneasy about low-flying airplanes to this day.
i think i was in 5th or 6th grade. i remember being at my baby sitters house listening to her and my mom cry about what just happened. i remember not really understanding what was going on. after asking what was wrong they told me to not worry about it as i was too young. i saw the footage and thought it was a movie until i went to go watch my morning cartoons and i saw the same footage on nickelodeon. i was flipping through channels and seeing the same thing over and over. then it hit me; it wasn't a movie, it was the news being broadcast on every channel. even still i didn't understand the severity of what was happening until i heard that hundreds of people died that day and the numbers kept raising. at that age i had know idea what a terrorist was or about bombings/attacks. i feel very fortunate for not losing anyone that day. and i'm sorry to anyone that has. that day was one that will never be forgotten.
It's somewhat ironic, because I currently work as a paramedic, and several of my co-workers actually responded to the twin towers on 9/11, but for the most part, I don't remember 9/11/01. I suppose I was about to turn 11 years old, which would have put me in 6th grade. I have a vague memory of my mother, who was a teacher at my elementary school telling me what had happened on my way home from school that night. I saw the footage of the plane hitting the twin towers again and again over the next few days, but it never had any impact on me. It happened in new york city, and I lived at the opposite end of the state, about 9 hours away. I didn't know any of the people involved, so it was effectively a different world for me. I think I might have shrugged and asked what the twin towers were when I was first told; I didn't ever really develop strong feelings about the event. To this day, I'm honestly more intrigued by what in the name of god or anything else could convince a person to throw their own life away like that (the plane hijackers), and upset about what that day has been used to support/create than I am by anything else related to it.
I was in 2nd grade. I had just finished putting my backpack in my cubby and sat at my desk. I was early to class that day for some reason. The rest of my class slowly filtered in, many of their families worked on the army base (as did mine at one point). I remember we had just said the pledge when one of the teachers ran down the hallway screaming "the towers are falling! the towers are falling!". I didn't know what she was talking about. Every teacher in the wing made the mistake of putting it on the television in the classrooms. Not 5 minutes later the school went into lockdown. Every student was ordered to move their desk away from the windows and sit under it. We could see the smoke rising outside the windows and parents in full military gear were storming through the halls snatching their kids out of the classrooms. And I... I just sat under my desk crying hysterically picking at my blue pokemon sandals. Eventually they moved what was the remaining students into the cafeteria and police were demanding parents show identification to pick up their kids. They blocked all traffic north bound to allow firetrucks, EMS, police, and military responders the right of way to get to NYC. I remember getting a phone call from my dad when he was in Newark, he was using a payphone, I could hear the chaos of people screaming things mumbled in with the crying. I don't remember much of what my dad said other than "Mommy will get you. I'll be home soon." followed by a guy screaming "Can you help this guy" and my dad dropping the phone. My parents at the time were working in two opposite directions, my dad was supposed to go to North Jersey and ended up being stuck in Newark and my mom was supposed to be at home. My mom at the time was beginning to go blind and I was unaware of it. All I knew was she was wearing glasses and couldn't drive often. Unfortunately neither of them were able to get to me until almost 5:30PM that day.
Was in the subway going to manhattan with my dad and all the trains stopped and then later we got news that twin towers were hit and they fell everybody was panicking in the train I didn't know wtf was going on
I was in third grade(I'm 21 now) and myself along with all of my fellow classmates were sitting on the rug while our teacher was reading to us(Which is something she did a few times each week). I'm not sure if I remember because of the events that happened making my memory slightly better that day or what, but she was reading The BFG. There was a gentle knock on our classroom door as our principal walked into the room, whispered to our teacher and then took the stage at the front of the rug. She calmly told us that the World Trade Center had been attacked, but didn't give us any specifics telling us that people had died or anything. She explained that we would be safe and if we needed to, we could talk to her personally after lunchtime or one of the councilors. She didn't stay in the room for a long time because she was personally going to each classroom individually. I didn't really comprehend the severity of the situation at the time, which I'm honestly thankful for and I'm sure that it was the same for my classmates. We went on with our day as we usually would and nobody in my class really got dismissed. If it's of any relevance, I live in Worcester Massachusetts, which is one of the largest cities in New England, second only to Boston MA.
I was in kindergarten We had just started our "free time" where we're allowed to just roam the classroom and chill All of a sudden my father (active Air Force at the time) bursts through the door in his fatigues, saying we had to go As I exited the classroom, I saw dozens of other parents scrambling to get their kids, all in uniform (we lived right next to Fort Bragg, Fayetteville NC) They took me home and my mother flipped on the TV, just to see the horror that they just kept playing over and over I was eating my lunch out of my SpongeBob lunchbox with plastic hands and feet while she cried hysterically, trying to phone my grandmother who lived in NY I couldn't see very well, and I didn't have glasses yet, so I thought they were doing construction or something; my mom had to explain to me what was happening My uncle Dominick went to the city to help his friend Kevin Fitzgerald find his wife who was in one of the towers when they were hit She was about a week away from maternity leave; she was pregnant with their daughter Patricia They searched through the rubble in hopes of finding bodies, but they couldn't find anything We started having moments of silence after we said the Pledge of Allegiance, in the morning, every September 11th That shit still freaks me out, even to today, as I type this
I was born and raised in Rutherford, NJ (8 miles from Manhattan). I was in 6th grade at the time. All the teachers and kids were crying out of fear of losing a loved one. Rutherford is a commuters town and many kids had family members that lived or worked in NYC. My Father was working on Wall Street at the time, as a Sales Trader. The building where he worked was about a block away from the World Trade Center. Since my Mom didn't hear from him after the attack she swiftly took my brother and I out of school while trying to hide her fear. About an hour or two later he was able to call us and tell us that he was okay. I also had a cousin who was in Lower Manhattan at the time of the attack. He had to duck into a photo booth with a bunch of other people until the smoke finally cleared. I remember him and his friend stopping over that night covered in dust. I will never forget how black the sky was after the attack, the smoke seemed to rise forever. Fun fact: My Dad was in the building across the street from World Trade Center bombing, but I was too young to remember that.
I was in 3rd grade and we had no class that day for some reason I don't remember. I remember watching the news after the first tower was hit, and afterwards watching it live when the second tower was hit. When that happened everyone in my family was shocked and couldn't believe what was happening. My parents started calling our family up in NY to see if everyone was ok, specially an aunt who worked really nearby the towers. Watching everyone crying and running away was horrifying. My parents turned off the TVs when they started presenting the people who were jumping off the towers, and that's all the recollection I have of that moment.
