[fsn32]

As we mark the five year anniversary of that horrible day... where were you and how did you find out.

I had just finished training a group of students at the radio station for a practicum class when one of our workers came in and said that a plane hit the World Trade Center... by the time we got into the back and turned on the TV the second plane had crashed and word of the Pentagon was coming in.

We had the only TV in the area and it seemed like everyone in the building was coming in to see what happened.

The other things I remember most was when President Bush gave his speach at ground zero and when Dave Letterman came back on the air and interviewed Dan Rather who started to cry. After that, they joked about something and it felt like it was OK to laugh again. It's hard to believe it's been five years.

[SuperJon]

I was sitting in Earth Science that morning. The class was downstairs at my school and none of the classes downstairs had tv's. After that class (9:40), I went upstairs to meet my girlfriend at the time and she told me we were being attacked. I had no clue what was going on. My next class was a civics and legal issues class. We didn't have a tv in there but the classroom across the hall did and there wasn't a class in there. My teacher would occasionally go check on what was going off and come back and tell us. She came in and said that the towers had fell and no one really reacted in any certain way. I didn't realize how big of a deal that was til I got home and saw it later.

The next class was marching band. We went out and practiced like normal after having a little talk. Then my last class of the day was Algebra II and we sat in the dark and listened to the radio for the entire hour and a half of class.

That night, I went to church with my girlfriend. The next morning I didn't feel good so I sat and watched CNN the entire morning. I don't think I went to school the next day either. That Friday I went to school at lunchtime because I wanted to march that night (have to be at school half the day and all of that stuff). My band director gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard that day in class. He said that we were the first sporting event to happen since 9/11. MLB hadn't started playing yet, the NFL hadn't played. That Friday night people were going to be going to games for the first time since everything happened. The Star Spangled Banner had a completely different meaning that night. He said he wanted us to worry more about what the song meant than anything else. He had most of the class crying, especially the guys (remember, we were all worried about the draft and all of that being reinstated right after it happened). We then practiced the song multiple times and you could see most people just closing their eyes and playing it. That night we played Elkin HS and got completely killed, but the Star Spangled Banner was perfect and it felt like it was ok to start to live again.

That Saturday night, Rudy Guliani started on Saturday Night Live in one of the most memorable ways ever. Him and Michaels just spoke to the audience with firemen and policemen behind them. They said it was ok to laugh again, and we believed them, and then I laughed and finally got a good night of sleep.

[Sly Fox]

I was sleeping (obviously before I had kids) when the phone rang from my mother-in-law. She told me about the first plane crash. I flipped on the television and within seconds the second plane hit the other tower. They were already saying they were grounding all planes across the nation. We were a little freaked since my wife was an airborne traffic reporter flying at that very moment.

When I got to work it was so somber working in a television newsroom that it was surreal. I remember we went to UT football practice and Chris Simms told me that he had just minutes before heard from his dad who worked in an office near the WTC towers. I was working in Austin and that city was considered a prime target at the time since it was Dubya's hometown for all intents & purposes.

Its a day none of us will likely ever forget. Everytimg I go through security at the airport it gives me memories.

[Libertine]

Oddly enough, I was in the bathroom. I was taking a break and ran into Don Cole as I washing my hands. He asked me if I heard about the plane that flew into a building in New York. I went back to my desk and pulled up CNN.com. It was around 9:45 and the second tower had just fallen. After that, I had to go to the bathroom again.

The rest of the day and really most of the week is just a blur to me now but I'll never forget that afternoon practice when Coach Karcher pulled everyone aside for a few minutes before we started and presented the gospel to the team. Nine guys got saved sitting on the practice field that day.

[Realist]

I was driving down to Myrtle Beach for work and was by Shaw Air Force base when I saw a couple of fighter jets take off near me. I thought it was strange since I had never seen anything like that near there, so I turned on the radio just on the off chance there was something going on.....that's when I found out. I stopped in Conway and found a small bar/restuarant and ate with the locals and watched what was going on. That was a late lonely night at the beach in a hotel room.

[vastrightwinger]

I was sitting in Dr Danny Lovetts Evangelism class when he came in on his Cell (not unusual for him) and everyone heard him say "Was it a bomb or a plane?" The room fell silent and thats when he told us what happened. He dismissed class immediatly and I went to my dorm on the hill. I ran into the first room just in time to see the first tower come down. It really doesn't feel like 5 years.

[thesportscritic]

I was in Humanities class in the Fine arts room 101. I got out of class and watched it on the Big screen TV in the TV studios in the Fine Arts building at LU. I was in time to watch one of the towers fall and then the second one as well. I can honestly say that was the darkest day in my life. This event will be hard to put behind me.

[El Scorcho]

I was sitting on the couch in my apartment on Wards Ferry Road, eating cereal and watching the NBC morning news. They cut to a shot of the first tower after the plane had hit, and stumbled around their words trying to guess what had happened. (At this point, they really were just guessing.) They had a live shot of the tower when the second plane came in, and at that point it was clear something deliberate was going on. I yelled for my roommate to get out of the shower and we sat on the couch for the rest of the morning watching TV just like most everyone else, I think.

[Innocent Bystander]

I was at work when a buddy e-mailed me that a plane had flown into the WTC. He didn't give any details, so I thought he meant a small plane accidentally hit the tower. Further e-mail between us gave the actual events. I remember trying to find a website that I could access for news, but couldn't get through on any of them. It wasn't until sites like ESPN.com switched to this story that I was able to keep track of the news. That night, my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I went to our regular Bible study with the singles group from church. Everyone kinda sat in stunned silence. The pastor that was leading the study asked me and another guy that had served in the military what we thought our response would be...I guess we were the closest thing we had to experts in the group, though we were far from it. I felt a frustration that night that has not really stopped as I told the group that this wasn't like getting attacked by a country that you could go and retaliate against because they would just hide and could be anywhere.

It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years. I have not been to ground zero, but I did visit the Pennsylvania crash site. I would highly recommend a visit if you are in the area. On a very dark day we saw mankind at his worst as terrorists chose to kill thousands of innocent civilians and we saw mankind at his best in the actions of the firefighters and police that ran into the WTC and the actions of those on flight 93 that save who knows how many lives.

Five years later, I'm not sure what surprises me more....how much has changed or how much hasn't.

[4everfsu]

I was at home watching TV, unemployed but looking for a job. Watching Fox news and they said a plane hit one of the towers.
I thought a small private plane until they showed the first picture and I knew then it was no private plane but a commerical jet and I knew then it was a terrorist attack. I remember screaming at the Fox announcers, like they could hear me, to tell them to get the people out of the second tower, I just knew another plane would hit. I was unfortunately right.
Watching the towers fall was hard, but the hardest part for me for the longest period of time, was waking up in the middle of the night thinking the passengers last moment of life before the planes hit the towers and the pentagon. I can only imagine their thoughts being of their loved ones, who they would never see again and the fear they had not knowing what was going on. It is only by the grace of God I was not on one of those planes.

[jcmanson]

I was living in Colorado, we were two hours behind, so I was just waking up and getting ready for school. It was my senior year of high school. I was watching Sportscenter as I do every morning, and Dan Patrick cut in saying there was some breaking news going on, and we could turn it to ABC news to learn more. Since this was so very unusual, I flipped it over there, and saw that the first tower had been hit, and then saw the second plane hit. I was in shock for a week or so. The first thing I did was call my dad at work, and make sure he was ok. I went to school and all we did was watch the news all day, and they told us to keep an eye out for anyone specific. Definitely a day I will never forget, and it hurts thinking back on it. My prayers go out to the victims' families'

[TallyW]

I was just getting up for the day (lived in TX at the time) to get ready to work and my wife called into the room saying that a plane just hit the WTC. I went into the living room to watch the TV when the second plane hit. I was in shock. I called my friend who lived nearby and he came over. We cancelled everything that day and watched TV. I was a youth Pastor so we decided to hold a prayer service for the community that night. We got the word out and that evening many of us gathered in a resturant and prayed together. Some cried and we all had unanswered questions. So many people were afraid of the unknown and I just remember the amount of responsibility I felt as a 21 year old Youth Pastor to try and explain something like this.
As I sit and see the minute by minute accounts of 5 years ago all of the memories flood back into my mind... definately a life changing experience.

[TIMSCAR20]

I was living in Northern VA at the time and I was taking a class in a hotel meeting room about a mile from Dulles Airport. I worked from my house in Leesburg most days but my office was downtown DC next to the World Bank which is a target 365 a year long before Sept 11th. So I was worried about my co-workers and I couldn't get in touch with anyone. I couldn't find Mrs SCAR but one of my buddies' wife worked with her and he told me they were alright and were going home. Our class took our 1st break right when it all went down and we were in the hotel lobby watching it. I went to my car to have a talk with my wife and she was telling me what was going on so I went to the lobby to see and I was stunned. Our class continued but without the locals as we all felt we needed to go home. We heard so many rumors that proved to be un-true. We heard the FAA in Leesburg was under attack and we could see that building from our house. We heard there were 15 planes that were under attack. We heard about the Pentagon and of course that turned out to be true....That week was so surreal. Living that close to the airport that it originated from and being not far from the Pentagon made it really tough to deal with. On Wed Sept 12th the skies were clear and there were no planes. Now that was strange. Not many folks in the streets either which for Northern VA is even stranger. I had to go to a meeting downtown on Thurs Sept 13th and Mrs SCAR didn't want me to go because of the World Bank. When I got down there I saw the National Guard and tanks in front of our building. It was unbelievable! I will never Forget Sept 11th 2001. A few days later I took a few pictures of the hole in the Pentagon. I used to play hoops outside on Saturdays about a mile or less from there. I visited the hole in Ground Zero a few months later. You could still smell death and jet fuel. Sad.

[bigsmooth]

i was in raleigh. the night before , my fiancee and i had broken up, so i was reeling a bit. i did not go to work, and i was heading to chapel hill to play golf. i was listening to ESPN radio. i was not really paying attention, but realized they were not talking about sports. i quickly pulled in to a dick's sporting goods and ran in to see at least 50 people watching the carnage on the many tv's there. There were some ladies crying, businessmen on cell phones trying to call NY or DC, it was just so weird. i sat in dick's for the next hour very numb, because a close friend of mine lived in manhattan. i did not catch up with her till 2 days later, but she was ok. like sly, everytime i fly, it brings back memories.

[LUconn]

I was a sophmore at LU, asleep in my dorm room and the phone rang an my roomate who was also asleep answered it and the conversation went a little something like this

Guy on the phone: "dude, turn on the TV there's planes crashing into buildings!"
Roommate: "what?"
turns on TV
Roomate: "dude, there's planes crashing into buildings!"
Me: "what? holy cow. There's planes crashing into buildings!"

We then watched it for the next few hours as people started coming back from classes. I just sat there thinking about how much other stuff might be going on and if there was going to be a huge wave of retaliation and if I was going to get drafted and how I didn't know if they drafted college students. I still think the fact that those buildings aren't there anymore is insane. How the heck do you knock them over? (that's rhetorical. I've seen all of the TLC programs about it)

Then we went to a special emergency convo that I wore jogging pants to. It was the first time I had ever seen that giant flag backdrop they use sometimes.

[ATrain]

I was in American history in high school, and a guy came in and told us what had happened. Then the administration called us all together for an assembly and informed us of what was happening. Most classrooms didn't have a TV so we listened to the radio, but chemistry class was held as normal.

Just over a year later I went on a missions trip to NYC and we went to ground zero...seeing the tall buildings surrounding the site and knowing that the towers easily dwarfed them all, and looking down into that giant hole, it was just an indescribable feeling of shock at how huge it really was and how much of a miracle it was that more people weren't killed when the towers came down.

[Libertine]

Not exactly a "where were you" but it applies. When I was a kid -- 11 or 12 -- my family was headed to Nova Scotia and we stopped in NY to see the sights. I remember standing next to the big brass globe that stood in the plaza area between the towers and looking up, knowing that these were the tallest two buildings in the world. I was standing in the heart of Manhattan with an ocean of people all around me, yet when I looked up, all I could see was the sky and two straight dark lines climbing into it. It felt like I was standing alone in the deepest hole imaginable and, eventually, I had to look away because it kind of got in my head. Those two buildings side by side and so much taller than everything else around them, there was almost an air of loneliness and sadness about them. We actually went up in Tower 1 to the observation deck on the 86th(?) floor and I remember that everyone else was looking around at the skyline, oohing and aahing at how far they could see. Maybe the height bothered me a little -- I don't know -- but I couldn't take my eyes off of the ground and the plaza where we had just been and it struck me how far removed the building seemed from everything else going on below. It was like the world outside the windows was nothing more than you might see on TV. Eventually, we came down and went on to other things but it's amazing the images your mind retains. I still remember the red brick pizza joint across the street. I still remember the big brass globe. I remember the guy with the hot dog cart and the other guy with the baklava cart -- I'd never had baklava before and I didn't have it that day either -- and sometimes when I hear the words "Ground Zero", I wonder if any of them survived.

[PAmedic]

Was working dayshift- sitting on the couch in the lounge/dayroom when a firefighter from our local came rushing in yelling to turn on the TV.

we did, to see footage of Tower 1, smoking badly- an obvious major working fire.

No big deal, FDNY is the best in the world- they can handle it- is normally multiple alarms right off the bat just to get the equipment there. Then, Tower 2 is hit, and "oh SH...." goes thru the room.

now we know whats going on, and medics and firefighters are pulling in to watch. We STILL figured they would get a handle on it because NO ONE figured those towers were coming down.
Evacuations were the priority, then they'd make an attack, it would be slow- but these guys would go in and get it, we thought. Hope none of the brothers gets killed, thats all.

Then, the worst- the first Tower comes down- and we are all in shock. I remember turning to my partner and saying- "we just lost the entire @#%^& first alarm assignment". She had tears in her eyes and couldn't talk. We figured about 100 guys, not realizing that night shift guys all doubled back and jumped on the rigs and headed in. That doubled staffing on each company and resulted in a lot more fatalities.

The rest was a blur of switching between different channels to see what we could learn, knowing the second tower was coming down, and just waiting for it to happen. The worst thing is most radio communications were down or very poor, and they couldn't get the word to some of the companies (firefighers) to evacuate. Those guys may never have realized what was going on- though many DID but made the decision to stand fast and keep working. I dont' know that I could have done that- though I like to think I would have.

Of course our entire system, with all others in the Philly and NYC areas went on Code Red status, we staffed our Special Response Teams and staged for deployment in to the area. Only a few units ever went, due to unfortunately very few survivors and nothing to do. We were on edge for the next week, and in some respects- all firefighters, medics and police officers will ALWAYS be that way.

We will always remember the sacrifices that day.

Hence, my signature.

[Purple Haize]

I have no heroic story like MEDIC's but I remember that day and the days after.
I was teaching my 8:00 a.m. class (Intro I believe) and everything was fine. There was some commotion around 9 and when the classes changed someone asked if I had heard about the plane that hit the World Trade Center. Having lived in Chicago, I remembered a few years earlier when a private pilot had a heart attack and crashed his Cessna into the Sears Tower. so I made some joke about how hard it is to miss those things they are so big. Or maybe it was some stunt pilot trying to fly between them. There was sparse attendance for the 9:20 class which was odd, but we pressed on. A few minutes into the class someone walked in. I thought I was one of my students trying to walk in late (and we know how well THAT went over) and I asked what they wanted. They said ALL classes are cancelled and there will be an "Emergency" convo. (One of the football players asked if this meant practice was cancelled!) So I went back to my office with NO CLUE what was going on, fired up DRUDGE and WHAM!!! DR G told us to head home. Traffic was snarled and we were alternating by the big crane by the "Little House" on the side of DeMoss. Around traffic comes the BIG SUV and through the one lane. It was the good Rev and you would have thought he was being Evaced. Then I attempted to go through the one lane, right of way and all that, and there was a car load of, for lack of better phrase, lackey's trying to cut around everyone and about ran head on into me. The "Great Hairpiece" was waving his arms at me, and I "waved" back but not using the entire arm if you know what I mean. So they backed up and let traffic proceed as it was. Got on the phone and tried to call my Cousin who worked in the Towers and some friends that worked near the pentagon. I found out that my Cousin has just left the building that DIDN'T get hit first to go to a meeting in the other one and was hearded by Penn Station. (When I did talk to her there was a loud explosion and she said there was a big blast coming out of the Subway. Then she hung up and was one of the masses walking across the bridge. I got home, flipped on FOX and just stared. My wife got home and without saying a word went to the basement and brought up an American flag to hang from our house.
The part that ALWAYS gets me is teh following week. I had a student come up to me and ask to turn in an assignment even though it was late. They were a good student so I was a little suprised it was late. I asked her why it was late and she said "My dad worked in one of the towers that went down and until yesterday we didnt know what had happened to him (this was about 5 days or so later) They found him just wandering through downtown Manhattan. So he is alive." I told them to leave my class immediately and don't worry about turning in ANYTHING until this situation was resolved and she got some rest. Any assignments that are missed we will work on getting that taken care of.
On a final note, I remeber thinking, somehow Iraq had a hand in this. Guess I was wrong, or right.

[thepostman]

well it was in 2001 the year after I graduated high school, I was basically in a stage in my life that I had no clue what I wanted. I was working third shift at a gas station and living at home. Naturally at the time of the attacks I was sleeping. When this first plane hit the first tower my mom came into my room and said a plane had crashed into a buidling in new york. I was half out of it and not really completely there and thought it was just some minor accident or something. My mom then came in and said another plane had crashed into the second tower and told me she was starting to get scared. I woke up and came out to the living room and watched the tv not believing what I was seeing. The local news would cut in from time to time and say that Kennedy Space Center was a potential target. My dad works for Lockheed Martin at the air force base right next to the KSC so naturally my mom was scared. I spent most of the time trying to calm my mom down and tell her it would be ok. For a while they weren't letting anybody leave the base, but finally they did and my dad showed up early afternoon.

After all that was finished I began to think about what had happend. I was angry. I couldn't believe people would be so cowardly and go after people that had nothing to do with anything. I just couldn't understand it. The next day I went to the Air Force recruiting office to talk to the officer there and was so close to joining. I prayed about it and for whatever reason I felt as if God did not want me to go.

It was a crazy 24 hours, i was angry for a while then that just turned into sadness and hoping we would unite and do something about that....of course we were united for maybe a month and now 5 years later we are more devided then I think we have ever been before. Its sad really.....

[PAmedic]

in no way could I be construed a hero, though I know that's not what you meant.

Many heros died that day, civilian and emergency service workers alike.

[Purple Haize]

in no way could I be construed a hero, though I know that's not what you meant.

Many heros died that day, civilian and emergency service workers alike.

Thank you for understanding. It is too often that it are the Heroes who are no longer with us. Flight 93, the Emergency workers who stayed to help save others, nameles samaritans that carried people down and went back up to get more and never made it back. It happens in war all the time, and it happened on 9/11.

[LU'sbestmanager]

Im from NY and my story is CRAZY! and i thank God everyday for it.... i was a freshmen in highschool, and i was in social studies when they made the announcement over the loud speaker. I ran out of my class and tried to call my mom, but the phones weren't working. My mother worked 5 blocks over from the WTC, and that morning she just happend to be doing some shopping for me about a mile from her building. she happend to be with a friend and they both walked all the way home over the bridge. she came home really dirty.. but i didnt care, i gave her a huge hug. I was just happy she was alive!

What makes the story a little more crazy is that SHE HAS BEEN WORKING IN THE WTC ON THE 80TH FLOOR FOR 10 YEARS BEFORE GETTING A BETTER JOB OFFER IN......... LATE AUGUST!! if she was still working there she would have been one of those people who were stuck, because the plane hit the 75th floor. now if that's not crazy i don't know what is. less than a month before the buildings fell she moved to another building! i thank God everyday for that.

[PAmedic]

Just one of many rigs lost that morning

[mrmacphisto]

I still remember like it was yesterday. Exactly six weeks before the planes hit, I stood atop the North Tower. I remember the amazing view of the city, and eerily, I remember seeing a plane flying over the harbor. I remember thinking, "Wow, I'm looking down on a plane." A month and a half later, both towers lay in ruins.

I was in class when it happened; Mrs. DeLong's Children's Literature class. It wasn't until I reached my car and started the ignition that I found out what had happened. I remember rushing home to see the second tower fall. The rest of the day is a blur, but I remember spending it with various friends, eating lunch at Cici's (who had ESPN on and couldn't figure out how to change the channel; as they were scrambling for the manual, ESPN switched over to ABC News), going to my Worship class which functioned as a prayer meeting, and attending the emergency Convo that was called after classes were cancelled.

Five years later, with the war and hell going on overseas, I hear my countrymen and women saying, "We Will Never Forget." For me, though, I try as hard as I can to forget what's going on. Some attempts are better than others. I will always remember the way our world changed that day, but for me to constantly think about the things we do to protect and defend freedom would require me to compromise my mental health.

Here's hoping we see an end to this war in my lifetime.