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#1619 | Thursday, August 29th 2002
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I was at work in Boston and just finished sending some research via e-mail to our London office when I saw on my Bloomberg screen a red news flash of an apparent airplane crash into the WTC. I remember being in shock for a few seconds and then I saw a colleague run by my office towards the Trading area where there is a television. I ran to the Trading area where everyone was quickly congregating and the television cameras were already focused on the WTC from a rooftop in midtown Manhattan. Black smoke pouring out with a beautiful blue sky as a backdrip. At this point the television commentators were guessing that a small plane had crashed into the North Tower. I kept thinking that the hole looked awfully big for a small plane. I ran back to my office to call my sister. I called a friend in New York where I heard people screaming in the background "Oh my god - people are jumping from the tower". I told her she should be getting out of her office and out of the area. I went back to the television and all of a sudden we witnessed the second plane crash. Joe S. a trader, said "Oh my god I think that was a 767 jetliner". Kate G. another broker confirmed that Lehman Brother brokers were telling her dozens of people were jumping from the Towers. Things moved very quickly at this point; hijacked planes, missing planes, and finally the Pentagon being hit. My office is in the Financial District of Boston directly across Logan Airport. All during this, fellow colleagues, were just grabbing their stuff and leaving. When the Pentagon was hit, Sean R. gave the word for everyone to immediately leave. By this point most of the people in my office already had left. We're on the top floor of the elevator bank that serves my floor. On it's way down it stopped on every floor and on every floor the elevator bank was jammed with slightly panicky people saying things like "Oh no that elevator is filled too" or "I'm taking the stairs - I'm not waiting anymore". When I got to the street, it was very surreal. It was like being in one of those 1950's "B" movies where people are running in the streets away from monsters. People were running to and fro. I had never seen anything like it. When I got to North Station to take the train home, the crowds were already spilling out the door because the concourse was jammed. I was very lucky to get on my train. It was here on the train that I head the unbelievable news that the Towers had collasped. People were crying and clearly in shock.
What I most remember of that terrible day was how beautiful it was. A gorgeous blue sky day with a hint of Fall in the air. I will always remember the horrors. My thoughts and prayers go to all those who lost a loved one that day.
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John | 41 | Massachusetts
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#1601 | Monday, August 26th 2002
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We got up and went to the gym like most mornings. It was 5am in California. By the time we finished working out and headed to the area where the treadmills were, we could see the first images on the TV's from New York. The first plane had hit the north tower. Everyone was glued to the TV's. I frantically tuned my walkman to hear the audio. Our local stations were monitoring NY1 or any local New York station. I tried to start working out again, but was glued to the TV when I saw it happen. I couldn't believe my eyes when out of blue the second plane hit WTC #2. The news crew from NY1 were screaming "Oh my God" and "Holy Shit". The closed captions even recorded that. I jumped off the bike and starting yelling "Oh my God NO!" I went into a panic. I told my partner to give me the keys to our condo, I had go home and try and contact my best friend in NYC. On my way out of the gym, the guy behind the counter was in shock watching the TV. All I could say was "we're being attacked! We're being attacked." I ran out the door and started to cry. There was a lady coming into the gym and I simply told her, "New York has been attacked. It's on the news." She probably thought I was nuts.
The next hour was a panic. I called my mother and my father and frantically tried to reach my friend in New York. My partner was still at the gym and came home to find me on the phone crying into my friend in NYC's voice mail.
I had the news on NBC when the third plane hit the Pentagon. I rushed into the bathroom and told Michael (my partner) "They attacked the Penatagon!". My mom called me at that moment. I didn't know if I should go to work fearing that Los Angeles would be attacked next. While I was taking a shower, the south tower collapsed. I saw the replay of it on TV and almost threw up. I visted the WTC in 2000 and stood on the top of the south tower that I now watched fall to the ground on TV.
I rushed to get ready to go to work. I don't know why I tried. When I got in my car, my cell phone never stopped ringing. My other best friend in SF was calling in tears, my partner was calling me back making sure I was ok and giving me updates on radio. Our normal happy and crazy DJ's were freaking out and crying. I kept switching the radio around and trying to remain calm. Los Angeles drivers were actually polite that day. When I was about to approach the freeway, the north tower collapsed. Michael called me to tell me the news. I already heard and was turning my car around to go home. There was no way I would be at work today. I called my boss and left a voice mail. I didn't care if they fired me. I had to be home.
The next few hours were spent relaying info to my partner while he was at work (his company was total jerks and made them work. Mine was cool about us staying home). The whole time, all I could do was worry about TJ (my friend in NY). Finally I called his former co-worker in SF and he hooked me up with someone that might know where he was. (My friend flew alot for work and always took the Nework to SF flight that crashed in Penn. Plus he had clients near the WTC) I was able to find out that TJ was ok.
The rest of the day was spent watching TV and being in shock. Finally at about 6pm Los Angeles time, I got a hold of TJ. He was staying at his other apt in New Jersey. He said to me "Honey, you'll never ever hear a New Yorker say this again but, thank God I was in New Jersey!"
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Ronny | 41 | California
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#1596 | Saturday, August 24th 2002
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Where was I?
I was at work the Vicksburg District Army Corps of Engineers,Vicsksburg when all hell broke loose. I heard over the radio from Dan Rather CBS news that a plane struck one of the towers of the WTC. Minutes later I bolted up from my desk and headed to the break room and I saw my fellow employees gaping at the tv screen: and I saw fhe trade centers smouldering smoke on a beautiful blue day in lower Manhattan. We couldn't believe what happened. As the day wore on most of us stayed in tbe break room glued to the tv set;watching up dates. By late afternoon panic had set in as well over thte attack over the terrorists attacks. 72hours later a general put out an email which put the districts on a Forcecon alert.
As a result of 9/11/01 I'm now its historian of that day.
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chuck | 41 | Mississippi
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#1410 | Friday, June 21st 2002
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I awoke on tuesday morning at 8.30 a.m. (pst), September 11th, 2001 as I do most mornings- with the television on. I recall the Today Show was on and the hosts were on camera with smoke filling the New York skyline in the background behind them. Still somewhat sleepy, I was becoming aware of a tragedy that had just ocurred. I was seeing smoke and hearing talk of an airplane crash but could not see exactly what they were talking about. Only after they showed a clip of the two WTC towers collapsing did I fully understand what had happened while I was sleeping earlier. The images from that day, and in the weeks following, from New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania have changed the way I feel about our friends, our enemies and the world we live in. It is sad that some countries only teach there young about violence and hate. Thoughts and prayers to the innocent victims of 9/11, their families and their friends.
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David | 41 | California
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#1380 | Friday, June 7th 2002
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I was on my way to work and was running
late. I work at a stock brokerage firm in Houston, Texas. When I got to my office I noticed the receptionist was in my office on my phone crying. I asked a fellow office worker what was going on and she said Hijackers had hijacked four planes and crashed 2 into the World Trade Centers & 1 into the Pentagon and a 4th was still in the air. She said she told the receptionist to use my phone so she would have some privacy because her brother worked at the Pentagon and she was frantically trying to find out if he was OK. About this time our Branch Manager came over the PA and announced that they had ordered the building evacuated. Our offices are in the Continental Airlines Building. I stayed behind so I could help our receptionist look for her brother. After calling for about an hour she finally got a hold of her mother and found out her brother was OK. I have always been an extremely patriotic person and I remember the feeling of rage that I had watching the TV the rest of that day. I remember at one point I screamed at my TV screen "Whoever your are you just messed with the wrong country". I will never forget that day.
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Debbie | 41 | Texas
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