11/9/2001 - Where were you?

[EdnaKrabappe]

I was on my way to work in London. I was on the train and had dozed off so had no idea really where i was. My phone went off and it was a colleague of mine. She asked where i was in a panicky voice and then in the next breath said don't go into central london. I knew i'd passed Watford so had no chance of getting off train at my own choice. She said to keep her and H/O posted. Then my then b/f phoned me and again pretty much gave me same message saying they'd evacuated Canary Wharf, (where i'd been working a few weeks previously.)

I walked through kings cross looking at the strained expressions of people not really understanding what was happening but wanted to get out of central london asap. I was stopping in St John's wood. I left the train station there and it was so quiet.

I got to my hotel and turned the tv on. I didn't go down for dinner that night I was so transfixed by the tv. It didn't seem real.

[miaowwoof]

Oh my God, miaowwoof!

 

 

I know!! I can still hear one of their voices as they phoned me telling me how much their families couldnt thank me enough and how one of them had little children :/ felt so awkward but ssooo happy they were safe!!

[jake4jack200]

I remember it well. i was at work , on my break when the shock news came on the news.

[HappyHoosier]

I was on my way to work -- at a daily newspaper in northern Indiana -- when news of the first plane crash came over the radio. I assumed it was a small, single-engine plane that had accidentally struck the tower. By the time I reached the newsroom, they were reporting the second impact -- I knew then that it was a terrorist attack.

 

I spent the rest of the day on the phone interviewing regional airport officials (all planes were grounded immediately), folks at the local FBI offices and Indiana residents with loved ones in New York.

 

We were about an hour from our first press deadline and 2 1/2 hours from our second, and final, deadline when the attacks happened. The newsroom was humming except for the moment when the first tower collapsed -- everyone uttered a collective "Oh" followed by a stunning 30 seconds of silence. We all realized then how many casualties there would be.

[buck]

I had just set out on a monthly working trip to York, Pennsylvania when I heard an aircraft had just hit one of the WTC towers. I remembered that a Mitchell bomber had hit the Empire State Building during WW2 with heavy loss of life. Then not long after, I heard a second aircraft had hit the other tower, another had hit the Pentagon, and another had crashed in a Pennsylvania field. It was very clear by this time that some terrorists had been at work, but who could it be? Who had the organizational and hlying skills to do such a thing? I thought about the Oklahoma bombing but that didn't fit. I pulled into a bar in Allentown and stayed glued to the TV till I was finally unfit to drive and checked into a motel for the night.

[Sierra]

I was working at the Home Office as i was a work permit officer. One of our main companies was morgan stanley, their

Offices were in the towers.

 

A week later i received a personal gift from 2 morgan stanley workers thanking me for potentially saving their life.

 

A few days earlier i had stayed late at work to process

2 urgent temp out of country applications for 2 americans. They travelles to england on the 10th.

If i hadnt have voluntarily worked late that night they would have not been able to come over and would have been in the towers!!!!

 

The thank you letter and words from them will stay in my heart forever

 

I love hearing stories like this. How could you have known? Of course you couldn't. It just goes to show that our actions influence others more than we ever realize, and that we are more connected than we think.

 

I'm in California, and we are three hours behind the east coast timewise. It was about 7:30 pacific time, and there was the usual madness in the morning with my husband having left for work earlier and my children getting ready for school. I don't remember the TV being on, if it was, no one was watching it. My daughter left to get to her school and I was walking my youngest to his school nearby.

 

As we rounded the corner and the school came into sight, I knew immediately something was very wrong. The entire student body was assembled in front of the school and the US flag and the California Bear flag were at half mast.

 

We were informed that terrorists had flown a jet into the WTC, that it was burning, and that people were jumping out of windows. New York was in chaos. Everyone was in shock. School remained open, but I don't think much was accomplished that day. My husband was on his way to San Francisco but didn't pick up his cell phone. He didn't even attempt to get home that evening as traffic was a hopeless mess and there was talk of shutting down both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges. He spent the night in the city with my aunt and uncle. I tried to call my cousin on the east coast because her husband worked in the second WTC, but I couldn't get a hold of her either. Her husband made it out ok, but ended up having to walk home to New Jersey. I spent the rest of the day watching the horrific events unfold on TV at home alone and with my neighbors.

[chimay]

I was at work talking with two colleagues in a classroom when a third colleague came to tell us the terrible news which she'd seen on the BBC website. I didn't have access to a PC so I had to wait until I got home to find out more of the horrific details.

[CarolW]

At work in the lab - one of my colleagues went to the clinic room (where they have tvs...) then she came back and said "Someones just flown a plane into the World Trade Centre"!!!

 

we all just looked at her and said "What???!!!!" and then there was a mad rush for the Internet!!

 

My department manager has two sisters, both working at the WTC - he just sat in the office with his head in his hands, listening to the radio all afternoon.....

Both of them were all right - one wasn't in work that day and the other got there about 8:45 am when it all started kicking off... They were very very lucky!!!

[callippo]

Kanchanaburi, Thailand. It was 8pm (20,00) there when the first of the 2 planes hit the buildings on that Tuesday, so didn't quite digest the enormity of it until the next day. Saw it happen on the tv while we were having dinner, at night. The CNN coverage was the same as you would have got anywhere else.