16 years...

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Sixteen years ago today, just about this time of day, our world changed forever. We swore "We'll never forget."

Where were you and how do you remember it?

Rick C

 

[Heliman]

I was on my way to work and heard it on the car radio. Later in the day I remember having a knot in my stomach thinking that war was inevitable. 16 years later we are still at it with no end in sight......

 

[blume357]

I was on top of a chimney....

 

[Poco Oso]

I was walking through the house on the way out to my shop. It stopped me cold in my tracks. I never have forgotten. This is still a very sad day for me. We're known as " Flag town USA" here. They're flying proudly today.

 

[Kevin]

I was driving to work, Boise, Idaho. Bob and Tom were on the radio, and at first I thought it was one of their radio skits. At work we wheeled in some televisions and if I remember everyone went home early.

The day before was my wife's first day on her new job. She had flown to California for training, then she was delayed a few days coming home.

I know some of you guys have negative feelings about New Jersey, but when we lived there, on Sept 11th they opened up the fire stations and had free bbq and beer, and let the kids climb all over the fire trucks.

 

[SR1911SHOOTER]

Hi,

Sixteen years ago today, just about this time of day, our world changed forever. We swore "We'll never forget."

Where were you and how do you remember it?

Rick C

I was on my way into town to pick up a paper, and my neighbor called me, and said turn on your radio.
The world changed!
Blackie

 

[akbluz]

I was moose hunting here in Alaska along the "Haul Road to Prudhoe Bay" when the news came on the radio..... my hunting pard and I were dumbfounded. It was amazing how quiet the skies became when all the bush planes ceased flying - and we later learned there were a few "close encounters" between those planes and some jet fighters.

 

[Colonialgirl]

I was getting ready for work with the radio on and heard the news; I couldn't believe it at first; turned on the TV and there it was.
I'll never forget a perfect example of the betrayal of our country by politicians that wont enforce the laws.

 

[Fox Mike]

Lost a friend at the Pentagon that day. I don't soon forget those things.

 

[5of7]

I was surfing the internet and saw the WTC with smoke coming out of it. Thinking it was a fire, I clicked on it and read the story. I told my wife that WW III had just started. Smoke on the water. 8)

 

[Selena]

I was coming back from my uncle's funeral. I had my world destroyed twice in the same day.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Well Since you Asked. :D Normally I post this ever 9-11, but I thought maybe you Guys were tired of reading it.
Glad you asked.

Hey Guys,
At the time 9-11 took place around 8:45AM or 9:45ET (CRS) was when I became aware of it. My wife and I were flying back to Houston from Norfolk Va.in our Beechcraft Bonanza. We had just spent 6 weeks with my Son and Daughter.
At that time I received a radio call, we had been in the air about a hour, from Air Traffic Control to land immediately. I thought something wasn't right before I got the call. The reason was that a Mercy Flight, flying sick folks, out of NC was told if he landed at his NY destination he wouldn't be able to take off. ATC would not tell him why, so he went back to NC. It was about 10 mins. later when I got "the call"
I asked what was the reason and I was told that there had been a national emergency and we had to land at either Raleigh Int. or Chapel Hill NOW. I chose C H because it is a nice little airport. Boy did I make the right choice for once. I was given a phone number to call when I got on the ground.

At that time I told the controller that I had four kids in the Navy, Son, Daughter, Son and Daughter-in-law, and I wanted to know what the He## was going on. Needless to say I was SCARED I thought someone had set off a Nuke.
The controller was very nice then and told me what was going on.
Anyway we landed at Chapel Hill NC and spent 2 days there before we rented a car and drove back to Norfolk and stayed another 10 days. We could not fly and the kids needed our help. We saw the second tower fall on the TV in the airpot office.

Within 2 hours after the attack my Daughter was flying the air group personnel out to the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman, while it was on it's way to New York City. The F-18s could not land without the LSOs and other support people that had to be flow out to the boat.
My Son-in-Law flew his helo that day to go to a ship off the coast of NC to support a Marine amphibious force that was being loaded on board to go to New York City.
That night my Son, who was flying the Navy radar plane, was flying off the coast of New York to see if any other aircraft were coming. If so they would have been intercepted.
It was a bad day for every American. I will never forget how scared I was at the time then how mad I got.

After all these years it still does.

Jim

 

[jimbo1096]

I had just gotten to work and had turned the TV on in our customer area when the network came on with a special news report. I stood there wondering how an airplane could have messed up bad enough to run into a building. I was in building management and had a 12 story building in my portfolio. As other employees started coming in and the story got clearer, I had a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about all the people in the building and what was happening because of the fires. Then the second plane hit and we knew this was deliberate and an act of terrorism. My wife's birthday had been 2 days earlier and my daughter's was 7 days later. Up until this event, September had always been a joyful month, with the birthdays and the beginning of the cooler weather and start of the holiday season. I will forever associate the 9/11 attack with September and the hatred I felt welling up against the kind of people that would plan and execute this type of an attack against innocent people.
The remainder of the day was spent with TV on and an eye to the developing news and subsequent attacks on the Pentagon and crash of American Airlines flight 93. As said earlier, the world changed forever.

We should never forget September 11, 2001, Lest we repeat the same mistakes.

 

[blackhawknj]

I got to work early, word went around a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers, I told a co-worker:
"It isn't an accident."
Two national traumas for me, the other being November 22, 1963.

 

[Justice B. Swift]

I was archery hunting in a remote part of NW Oregon and hadn't had any human contact for over a week (except hunting pals). We decided to hop in the truck and go check a distant ridge for recent sign. As we drove, my buddy tuned his radio to another station, as our chosen one no longer had reception. He landed on a news broadcast of the events as they unfolded. We listened and wondered what "Si-Fi" program we had stumbled onto. After several long minutes my pal says "I think this is for real" to which I said "are you s__tting me... there's no way ?" As we continued listening, it soon became clear that this was a game changer. We just stopped the truck, and stared toward the east as if we might see it for real. It still seemed just impossible. We discontinued our hunt and just pondered what might come next. How would the US government respond and when? Would the west coast be next? We later drove 65 miles into town... I think just for confirmation, and of course it was on TV in every cafe, and store including the tiny little Ford dealership. For the remainder of our trip it never left our thoughts.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

I was in a cotton field setting on the tailgate of my pickup shooting dove and heard it on the radio.
I came home and turned on the TV. A couple of minutes later the second plane hit the tower.

 

[WendyZXZ]

At work, easy and sad to remember...

 

[Mike J]

I was at work. We were working on renovating the ballroom of the Marriott Marquis out by the airport. Some of the guys working for other contractors were staying in rooms there. One went to his room to get something & heard it on the TV while he was there. He came back & told my working partner. We sat in my partners truck & listened to the radio to see what was going on during our next break.

 

[cas6969]

I was at work... I had just gotten home the day before from a boar hunt with my brother in law. I never got the photos developed from the hunt because the next day they no longer seemed important.

My brother in law was NYPD and was back at work. He was responding to the site and was called off to go elsewhere. Had he not, he would have been there when the towers came down. He spent a week or so at ground zero helping with the rescue/recovery. In 2009 he died of cancer attributed to his exposure there.