Meester_Vapor

Home from the gulf for a year and a half when this happened.

Made me want to re-enlist.

SON OF 68

My uncle owned a car wash & detail center here in the Chicago suburbs. I ran the business as he no longer lived here. I was doing the morning books and getting deposits ready for the bank. It was kind of a slow morning to start off, so some of my employees had the TV on in our little "break room".

"372".....That's the number of cars washed from the previous day that I was writing down as one of the guys came in and said a plane crashed into one of the buildings. I was still not in the know of what building it was. I thought it was a small plane that crashed into the ground and hit a building. Then I saw that it was the Trade Center. My first thought was actually "How the hell can you not maneuver around that?", immediately followed by the feared thought that this was deliberate. Shortly after those thoughts, the second plane came in.

I remember afterwards, the street out front, a busy highway, became desolate. It was eerie to say the least. I asked all the guys to bring in everything and we closed for the day. I then did as just about everyone else did. Remained tuned to every news channel there was to be had.

As was said already, it's amazing how a tragedy like this can cause you to take a snapshot of the exact moment when you heard of what happened. I can see that moment like it was yesterday.....

bigo5552000

I was in the 9th grade. It was first block english class, Mr. Harding's class. Over the intercom the principle said "CODE BLUE" Mr. harding ran to the class room door and secured it. Code blue was the code used for intruders or any onther major event that could require locking the school down. Mr. Harding told us to move away from the windows so no one could see us if they looked in. We sat there quitely, some on the floor and others in desks, for 45 mins or so. Then the all clear was given. The principle and vice principle went around to all the rooms telling the teachers what had happened. The information was then conveyed to everyone over the intercom. I can remember hearing the principle try to describe/rationalize the events that had just transpired. He struggled through it clearly upset. For the rest of the day we stayed in our home rooms watching the news. Most kids were picked up by there parents, but I had to stay(my parents worked an hour from the school). I then took the bus home and watched the news for days it seems. That is the only day I can think of that is frozen in time like that...

bigD1515

Geez it's been such a long time but I remember it pretty well. I thought for sure I'd be the youngest one here but someone said the 3rd Grade already. Yup I was in the 3rd grade (8 years old) in English class. Principle came over the intercom and told the teachers to turn on their TV's to the news and they were talking about planes and building. I didn't know wtf was going on! I remember shortly after the 1st plane hit, kids started getting checked out by the dozens. I heard my name and I'm not gonna lie, I was happy as S***. But like I said I had no idea. So me and my mom get home and just as we did, the 2nd plane hit and she started crying and and I was like "ohhhhhh noooooooooo mommyyyyyy". Then the building fell and that's really all I remember. I do remember each year after that having atleast one or two classes having a lesson on the attacks and involved a video of some sort and it just hits you everytime you see the tower fall, even 11 years later. As the years went on, the video lessons were more of technology and how the buildings were designed for this not to happen. It did anyways and I will never forget this day in history. God Bless America.

Goldenpony

At work. Static Load Lab in GE Evendale.

mcate

I was an instructor in the Navy on shore duty in Norfolk, Va. I was sitting at my desk when someone ran in saying a plane had hit the WTC. We walked in to one of our classrooms & watched the TV coverage for a few, then went back into the office, thinking it was just some accident. Then somebody ran in & said another plane just hit. Then we all looked at each other, knowing we were under attack. Since we were considered non mission critical personnel on base, we got sent home. When we were called back in 3 days later I'll never forget them telling us "No BS at the gates." Marines with .50 cal mounts were locked & loaded for the next few months.

J95SNAKE

I was building B52 tires when they hit. Everyone was running by my shop in mass towards our conference room where the TV was. I was making so much noise I didn't hear the radio announcing what happened. I stopped once I saw the herd run by and went where they were. We were all in shock. After the second jet hit they completely locked us down. Kicked every non-military civilian off the base immediately. I deployed shortly thereafter to launch B52s into Afghanistan. It was awesome to watch them launch full of weapons and come back completely empty. I knew we finished them off when the jets started coming back with the same weapons they left with.

05gtdriver

Myself being Mexican-American, son of a WWII veteran, I really was starting to get perturbed by your presumption of the immigration status of the people you were surrounded by during your meal, why? Well, because of my skin tone and the city I live in(Los Angeles), it's not until I speak that one can obviously tell that I am American, but there are many, many Angelinos who are legal residents that have accents(extremely common out west) and it's sad that others still base things on what they see on TV and read on the internet/newspaper. Although you acquitted yourself nicely by observing something called "humanity", something that binds all of us when crisis arrives, I, also, must understand too, that many tourists, visitors and new residents aren't exposed to the many different nationalities that we have on the west coast and your comments/observations are things that you honestly and sincerely admit to seeing/listening to. I thank you for your honest post.
I too was in shock while the events of 9/11 unfolded, it was 6am out here and I was just beginning my shift at work & before proceeding on my route, another driver asked me if I had heard what had happened in NYC? At the time, we all thought it was a plane crash, as the day went on, the terrorist part of it all became clear and since I work for a city owned public place of meeting, we had many precautions come our way, very sad day indeed.

ROU$HGIRL

@jayyvee where did you get that 3.7 emblem?!

mcate

I lost a shipmate in the WTC on 9/11. Tara McCloud Gray. I didn't know her very well. We were stationed on DDG-72 in the late 90's, & I think we stood a couple of watches together. She had gotten out & moved back home to NYC. So many lost on that day.