SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001/ PLEASE POST MEMORIES HERE/ NOTHING POLITICAL

[Tricia]

Hi Everyone,

September 11th day. Most of us remember where we were when we heard about the towers being hit. We were glued to our TV's for at least a week. To

It is a day to remember the fallen. The innocent people who lost their lives.

It is still hard to believe, isn't it? When you think about the hijackers all getting on the planes with box cutters and taking each plane over? Still shocks me when I think about what they did.

I pity the next crazy guy who tries to rush a cockpit. Everyone from the strongest dude on the plane to someone like me, an old bat with zero strength, will attack.

My at the time 5-year-old son and I were watching when the second plane hit the tower. It was very traumatic for him. He couldn't understand what was happening. So you know what he did? He went and got his crayons and a big huge piece of paper and drew two towers, leaning away from each other, with the planes going in-between them and missing the towers. Then the people on the ground were all safe and the people in the towers were safe too. That is how his forming brain dealt with the stress of all those people dying.

Please KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THIS THREAD.

Thank you.

Never Forget!

 

[gregjrichards]

I’m remembering the 2,996 people who died in New York, The Pentagon and Pennsylvania eighteen years ago today they are gone but not forgotten. I am also remembering all the rescue workers, police, firemen and citizens who have died since due to the horrendous ill health from the toxic dust and those who continue to suffer terrible ill health.

I have never forgotten that there are still human remains from the World Trade Centre still to be identified after all this time and the victims who have no remains to identify.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected.

 

[JerseyGirl]

I was working on the Jersey side of the Hudson. Saw everything from my conference room window. I think back and remember how we all thought it was just a traffic helicopter that hit the first tower.

Once the second plane hit, we were told to evacuate, I ran to Penn Station. Since the trains were down, I jumped on the first bus out of the city. I didn't find out about the Pentagon or the Pennsylvania plane crashes until I got home 6 hours later. It was too much to handle and a piece of me died that day.

Will never forget.

 

[Eleven_11]

It’s hard to believe so many years have passed because I remember it like it was yesterday.

I had gotten up early that day because I was fostering a kitten who started crying. I sat and watched the news with my Mom who was getting ready for work and the initial report was a small plane had crashed into a high rise.

I remember the horror of watching as the news unfolded and being on the phone with my sister and crying with her as the first tower fell.

And I still get chills when I remember sitting outside and not seeing a single plane in the air (we lived near an airport).

As traumatic as it was for me, my thoughts today are with those that died and also with those who survived, I can’t imagine what today must be like for them.

Never forget.

 

[Sprockett7701]

Apart from the births of my children there are two other days I’ll never forget 9/11 and the day Princess Diana passed.

So many people affected that day and still. My thoughts to each and all.

Never forget. X

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I saw the "breaking news" on the Today Show. My sister called me within minutes of the first tower explosion, and we were on the phone when the second plane struck. The entire day was surreal. Never forget...

 

[Stopthehate]

Never Forget. God Bless all the souls lost that day, as well as, folks still fighting for their lives today.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

As I watch on FNN this morning all of the somber ceremonies to honor all of the thousands who lost their lives that day, I never become desensitized to the pain, and suffering that was caused by the worst mass murderers in our history.

But I also remember how much pain, agony, horror, and uncertainty came for all citizens across our nation.

As I watch today it still seems surreal how our country was brought to its knees in the worst mass murder in our history.

Yet, I knew then we would rise again to proudly stand as tall as ever.

Our fallen heroes that day showed us the path. That we must always face head on the unimaginable horrors, and terrorists attacks to make sure it's never repeated.

It is the mass murder that still today takes the lives of our heroes, yet not one would have done it any other way. Each one would still run toward immense danger while others would run away.

As each one passes away from what they experienced that horrific day should have homicide listed as the COD, and should be added to the very long list of deaths along with all others.

But I fear it will happen again. These kind of terrorists are still plotting, and planning to destroy our goodness by replacing it with their own depraved, demonic evil.

Imo, they will not strike us again with airplanes as their deadly weapons.

Imo, They are planning to shutdown our infrastructure, power grids. and internet communication capabilities everywhere especially in large cities with large populations.

I will never forget that day because it also brought our people together all over our country. It truly showed united goodness is the only way to ever combat evil. It showed that all the negativity projected is always overcome when goodness unites as one nation, one people, under God.

So while unbelievable maddening evil struck our beautiful nation that day it was the goodness in our people that allowed for us to still stand tall as a strong nation rising from the ashes.

I will never ever forget 9-11!

God bless al of our fallen heroes, our heroes who have passed away since then, and the many who are very sick, and dying even today.

May God be will all of the thousands of families who's lives were forever changed that day.

God bless our great nation, and keep it safe from the terrorists who plot to do us great harm even now.

Never forget!

 

[momrids6]

I honestly thought one of the kids' movies was playing when I looked over at the tv while cleaning. Tried to turn it off, and realized it was the news channel. It was surreal.

Never forget

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I saw the "breaking news" on the Today Show. My sister called me within minutes of the first tower explosion, and we were on the phone when the second plane struck. The entire day was surreal. Never forget...

I was sitting on my sofa watching FNN when it was happening, and began to unfold.

I'm thankful they are replaying the news footage of them when reporting as it was happening that day.

It's a stark grave reminder how stunned everyone was at the time... thinking the first hit was a horrible accident, and then how horrifying it was to absorb that we were really under the worst terrorist attack we had ever seen.

Jmho

 

[kaen]

I will remember the quiet of no planes flying, the acrid smell in the air, and the utter pain of many I knew.

Never forget. Keep fighting for healthcare for those who were there and are plagued by illness now.

 

[AliceInPain]

I watched it as it happened live on TV.
I lived in London and had just dropped my oldest off at nursery (kindergarten,) and my usual habit was to turn on teletext when I came back home to read the latest news.

One headline was about a hijacking and another one about a plane crash in NYC.
As I was reading I realised they were talking about it on TV and they said there was a connection. I turned to watch and it was live showing one of the buildings on fire.
I switched to different channels and I think they were all showing the same footage.

I thought it was a horrific accident. Then the second plane hit.
It's undescribable. The knowing it wasn't an accident, it was on purpose, and this was happening right now. Another plane hit the Pentagon, I was just sitting there in shock, waiting for the White House to be demolished.

The image I remember the most from watching is when the second plane hit. Seriously disturbing. Like watching a drama where a baby is ill and suddenly it turns into a horror movie and the baby gets ripped to pieces by evil humans.

The first close-up footage I saw was of a man escaping the fire through a window. He climbed out and stayed on the ledge waving his shirt (I think.) I think he eventually hung from the ledge, still clinging on to life, then slowly lost his grip and went down. Does anyone know if he was ever identified?
It hurts my heart everytime I see him.

 

[MKZoo]

I lived and worked in Alexandria, VA at the time. A few dozen of us ended up on the roof of our office building watching the smoke from the Pentagon climb in to the air.

It didn’t take long for stunned silence to devolve in to a bit of chaos as everyone attempted to find friends and family in DC and New York. I had never before experienced that sense of being truly afraid and the only thing we could do was just ... go home.

Later that night, I sat on my boyfriend’s couch watching the news. He lived a few blocks from the Pentagon so every few minutes fire trucks just getting in from West Virginia and Ohio would go screaming down the street. It’s seems almost unreal now.

I’ve been watching the family members read the names in New York. It’s poignant to see how many of them are too young to have even known their loved one who perished. We must never forget.

 

[CeeCeeCat]

I was working in London, in Harrods. It’s odd how much I remember about that morning - you know, back when it was shaping up to be just another day. I remember I made - and drank - way too much coffee. That I shared toast and Marmite with one of the cats. I remember the commute to work was grey and cloudy and sharply cold and that I was unreasonably irritated by the crowds of people making their way through my tube station as they headed to an International Arms Fair being held at Docklands.
At work, my Area Manager visited and were chatting idly about nothing when (as we realised later) the first plane hit.
Wandering back from lunch, a colleague told me of a bomb that had gone off in New York’s financial district. To begin with, it didn’t sound that bad...
Harrods is a huge department store. One with a large TV concession. So a while later, a friend and I headed up there to see if there was anything on the news.
I am never going to forget the scene that greeted us as we walked into the television area. Crowds and crowds of US tourists, all packed in front of the nearest screen. Some sitting cross-legged, some standing and clearly stunned. We learned of passenger planes that had been hijacked and flown into the Towers and the Pentagon. Even then, I couldn’t grasp what had happened - I remember calling my Dad and asking him “what happened to the passengers?” because I couldn’t understand - the hijackers must’ve let them disembark, mustn’t they? His response was a stark, ‘they died, CeeCee’. And then as we stood watching, the first tower fell and the room was full of shrieks and sobs.
The rest of the day was punctuated by tears and further visits to the TV department. A friend drove me home that night, me reading aloud pages of the Evening Standard that described the horror in more detail than we could bear...
After work on Friday that week, some of us bought flowers and walked to the US Embassy to sign the Books of Condolence.
Eighteen years on and I still honestly believe that what I wrote in the Book - that it stands true even today:
Be brave, America. Justice and goodness will always prevail.

Never forget.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I will remember the quiet of no planes flying, the acrid smell in the air, and the utter pain of many I knew.

Never forget. Keep fighting for healthcare for those who were there and are plagued by illness now.

Thank goodness, that has already been done.

Our government just recently has made sure they are all taken care of for decades to come now.

Jmho

 

[kaen]

The first close-up footage I saw was of a man escaping the fire through a window. He climbed out and stayed on the ledge waving his shirt (I think.) I think he eventually hung from the ledge, still clinging on to life, then slowly lost his grip and went down. Does anyone know if he was ever identified?
It hurts my heart everytime I see him.

There were many people who jumped out of the towers. One of them is someone I knew. The original footage from that morning has not been reshown (Thank goodness.) since as it was traumatic to watch people jumping/falling as well as respectful to the people who jumped/fell.

 

[margarita25]

 

[ZZbball22]

While reading some of these replies I thought I would offer my perspective of that day.

I was 11 years old and far away from the attacks. My recollection is having a normal school day up until everyone realized what had happened and the full extent of the attack. At which point we stopped our normal school day and were free to walk around the school and be with friends for the rest of the day.

They put all available TVs up and were playing the news so we could watch if we wanted. No one was really on edge or didn't seem to be. Just seemed like it was something significant we needed to be aware of.

I don't recall exactly grasping the magnitude of the attacks until years later when the war was still going on.

Just a perspective at how long this has been going on, looking back at my 11 year old self.

 

[MaryG12]

I was living in CT (my home state) at the time. It felt very surreal at the time. I was attending the college at the time in West Hartford (was an adult student) and class was dismissed early that morning. Went home, saw my mother with the tv on and she was crying. My father died a year earlier. The event was so horrific - and while my college held a vigil for those who died, one of the students standing in the row to my left broke down - she lost a relative to that horrific incident. I went white.

Hard to believe this happened 18 years ago. The world will never be the same ever again.

 

[mrs_peel]

I was upstairs that morning, making my mom's bed, when I turned on the news and heard about the first plane. I called down to my mom, who was just home from the hospital and couldn't walk on her own. Shortly after that I saw the second plane hit the tower, in real time. I raced downstairs, grabbed my mom and carried her up the stairs on my back. We sat on the edge of her bed and watched it all go down. I remember seeing Greta Van Susteren on CNN, looking horrified and reporting that the Washington Mall was on fire, (turned out to be the Pentagon) and thinking that we were at war with an unknown enemy. My mom remembered Pearl Harbor and the Hindenburg explosion, but she said that this was much worse because they could only read about those events in the papers or see it, delayed and edited, on the newsreels. We kept asking each other, "Where are the helicopters? Why aren't they evacuating people?" And then the towers collapsed and we just sat there, stunned. Mom had tears running down her face and she said simply, "All those people."
My sister was a reporter at the local newspaper and she heard about the second plane on the radio driving in. When she walked in her colleagues were talking about the "private" plane that hit the tower and she said, "The second tower just got hit by another plane. It's not an accident," and the entire newsroom just blew up. I know people say you embellish your memories of events like this, but I remember exactly what I experienced and how I reacted.