Where Were You?
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: sundowner
11-Sep-23
I know there is another thread in remembrance of 9/11, but thought it might be interesting to hear where folks were and what they were doing when the evil murderous radical muslims killed over 3000 innocent Americans.
Like the Kennedy assasination and other momentous events, most people remember exactly where the were and what they were doing in 9/11.
I was in elk camp near Daniel, Wyoming, hunting with a good friend. After the attack, we didn't have much interest in hunting.
From: Jaquomo
11-Sep-23
I was on a United flight headed to New York City. People on phones were updating the other passengers, and the pilot turned the plane around and went back to Denver. We watched the tower collapse in the terminal at DIA. Since my trip was obviously canceled, I went back to elk camp. Weird how there were no planes in the sky.
From: fdp
11-Sep-23
Standing in a state office in Waverly, Ohio with a Deputy U.S. Marshall watching it unfold on tv.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
11-Sep-23
3rd grade classroom my mom has some of our plumbers grab extra TVs and they brought them to the school in library and office so people could see what was happening….small private school. Remember it like it was yesterday… had a girl in my class who’s dad was on a flight to NY that morning, fortunately his had already landed at the airport….but took a while for her family to figure out and have that reassurance
From: Dale06
11-Sep-23
In a closed door intense business meeting in down town Cleveland. The meeting was interrupted and told of the situation. There allegedly was another plane that was in the Cleveland area with status unknown. I drove through down town Cleveland to my suburban office and there was virtually zero cars on the roads.
From: Boatman71
11-Sep-23
I was in process of building Light Racks for Lambeau field at work. Large structures that required alot of overhead welding. I had my welding helmet down running a bead when my boss tugged at my shirt and told me what had happened. My response was "was the pilot blind"? Didnt think much of it at the time, then my wife called and told me what was happening. The the second plane hit, and my day was officially over (production wise) it was pretty hard to concentrate on what I was doing. Before the end of the day we had our mobile lighting trucks headed to ground zero and many of my coworkers were going into the unknown bravely. Proud to be an American and proud to be part of the Lighting team I work for (still).
From: Bob
11-Sep-23
I was home. My team was going into work later that night to upgrade all computers in the company to Windows 2000. My colleague called me and told me that a plane just hit the towers and to turn the news on. I asked my boss if we were still going in and he said the "show must go on". He was a dick. I lost my brother-in-law, Battalion Chief Orio Palmer on that day. Feels like it just happened.
From: TMac
11-Sep-23
Bob I’m sorry for your loss. Orio was depicted on 60 minutes last night. They said he ran marathons for fun and had reached the 79th? floor of the south tower trying to help those above, where the plane hit, to try and get out. A true hero!!!
From: tobywon
11-Sep-23
Sorry to hear Bob, terrible. Definitely a true hero as were many other first responders. I was sampling groundwater at a landfill that day. I remember when the first plane hit, we thought it was just a pilot error or mechanical problem. Then after hearing about the second plane, Pentagon, and PA crash, we realized there was much more to it. My wife (at the time), was at a conference in NYC for work and saw the second tower fall from the window. I didn't know what part of Manhattan she was in, so there was some uncertainty there until I heard from her later that day.
From: Bob
11-Sep-23
That is pretty scary for sure. I'm glad that she made it okay.
From: Charlie Rehor
11-Sep-23
In downtown Boston at work. Still have my entrance pass to Tower 2 from August 28th 2 weeks before.
From: Buffalo1
11-Sep-23
Was in Vicksburg, MS coordinating the start for a corrections organization convention golf tournament.
From: 12yards
11-Sep-23
I was at work. When I first heard about an airplane flying into the WTC. I imagined a piper cub or small airplane. Then I got the whole story. My parents were visiting from MI. They immediately hit the road and went home.
From: LBshooter
11-Sep-23
I was muskie fishing on the lake all day and when I came in for dinner around 530 everyone was gathered around the tv watching the news. As I walked in the door I joked not knowing what was going on and said , "did someone die." then the replay of the plane striking tower two was on and I felt like s&*t. It didn't seem real and yet the replay after replay kept going on, sad day. I'm glad trader Joe decided to be on play dates today.
From: deerhunter72
11-Sep-23
I had just pulled into the parking lot at work and the morning radio show out of St. Louis reported that a plane had struck one of the towers. They started speculating that it must've been a small plane and all sorts of things, even some lighthearted joking. I sat there for a few minutes listening and then news of the second plane hit and I'll never forget the change that took place, that this was no accident and that we were under attack, you could feel it even over the radio.
From: drycreek
11-Sep-23
I had just left my office to go and check jobs when my wife called me and told me about it. I called the office, told them to turn on the tv, and I went back to the office for about an hour. When I left the office I tuned in Fox News on Sirius to get the rest of it. It was apalling and completely unexpected to me. It’s almost unbelievable the lengths that depraved fanatics will go to prove their point.
From: Timex?
11-Sep-23
Was working on a truck in the shop all day & heard it on the radio.....but wasn't until I got home & saw it on TV that I realized the magnitude of the situation.
From: Basil
11-Sep-23
I was working in a power plant and was walking past a control room. An operator kind of frantically waved us over. We went in just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. Was a gut punch and was wondering just what was about to break loose. Pretty somber moment even all these years later watching memorials this morning.
From: Stix
11-Sep-23
Was hunting. My area is over a flyover zone for D.I.A. I used the jets coming over for cover noise while still hunting. Couldn't figure out why no planes were flying. Went home and found out. Couldn't hunt rest of season.
From: Griz
11-Sep-23
I had some work done at my home the day before and stayed home to finish some trim work up when my wife called and said something had happened. Went in the house and as I looked at the tv the second plane hit. I called her back and told her what was going on as their internet was jammed up and did this all day. Late morning a car with MD plates parked in front of my house and two guys got out and started walking the neighborhood. Police were on them in minutes. Turned out they were selling seafood, poor guys. I live on the flight path for the former Willow Grove Airbase in SE PA and around mid morning the A-10s began scrambling. Talk about nerves!! When my wife got home from work she sat in front of the tv for hours crying. She thought I was being dramatic in my phone calls but she finally realized how bad it was.
From: Treeline
11-Sep-23
I was backpacked in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness hunting elk. Actually noticed that there were no planes or con-trails for a couple of days.
When we got to the trailhead on the 14th, there were no vehicles and the roads were basically empty with no traffic. Kind of wondered what had happened…
Heard that there was a terrorist attack on the radio and started piecing it together. Got home and my answering machine was full with frantic messages from my Mom.
It was like being in the Twilight Zone.
From: greenmountain
11-Sep-23
I was working with our secretary and the travel agent to book a flight. The line went dead at the travel agent's computer link. The home computer was located in one of the two towers. The travel agent started crying when she learned why the computer didn't respond.
From: Groundhunter
11-Sep-23
I was with my partners on the tactical squad. We were just coming into our district, when we heard. A nice day, about 930am, when I got the news.
Police calls really went down, the next week.
From: Shug
11-Sep-23
I got laid off from work that morning...( NYC electrician) And I was on the E train headed to the trade center to go home in Jersey.
The subway stopped and everyone got off... long story short I ended up on a ferry that took me across the Hudson River... surreal was the word of the day
From: Highlife
11-Sep-23
Sitting in traffic on the Mannheim bridge looking at the Chicago skyline when I heard about it on the radio thought it was some sort of schtick than the second plane hit.
From: Robear
11-Sep-23
We were elk hunting in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana. We were up on Moose Butte in the only spot that had cell service. My dad called me and told me what had happened. He said that thousands may have died. We hunted for 6 or 7 more more days without any other contact with the outside world. When we got into a hotel that night, even though we were exhausted we couldn’t stop watching the coverage. It was then, and still is horrific.
From: Shug
11-Sep-23
I got laid off from work that morning...( NYC electrician) And I was on the E train headed to the trade center to go home in Jersey.
The subway stopped and everyone got off... long story short I ended up on a ferry that took me across the Hudson River... surreal was the word of the day
From: ARROW
11-Sep-23
In Wyoming Antelope hunting. same as most noticed there were no planes in the sky but did not know why until I got picked up and was told the towers were hit.
From: BC
11-Sep-23
I was at my desk when coworkers gave us the news. Turned the TV on in the conference room and a few minutes later we watched the second plane hit. For a few seconds I thought we were watching footage of the first plane until it hit me like a ton of bricks....first tower was already in flames, we were under attack. We watched those Americans die on live TV. Terrible.
From: Woods Walker
11-Sep-23
I was working on some job estimates at my kitchen table with the radio on, when they reported the first plane hitting a building in NYC, so I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit.....unbelievable.
I live in northern Illinois but the rest of my family was in New Jersey, about 15 miles from Manhattan, so I immediately called them. Talk about "hitting home!"
From: fuzzy
11-Sep-23
I was working with the Giles County Virginia Department of Health. I'd been out doing a perk test and came back to the office and everything was in turmoil. Government offices were scrambling to assess threats including potential bio terrorism threats. When the news reported the numbers of first responders lost I broke down and cried.
From: Tejas
11-Sep-23
Sitting at home, getting ready for one of my friends daughters funeral who had been tragically killed in a car accident a few days prior.
From: air leak
11-Sep-23
I was fishing and there wasn't any cell service. Didn't find out about what happened until 4:00 in the afternoon.
From: DL
11-Sep-23
I was at work leaning against my tool box listening to the radio. Got home from work showered and watched TV for over 8 hours
From: longspeak74
11-Sep-23
I was backpacking across Isle Royale. Didn't find out until a few days later when the ferry picked us up.
From: Willieboat
11-Sep-23
Arctic circle waiting for a floatplane ride out the bush.
From: butcherboy
11-Sep-23
I was in college class trying my hand at college again for the third or fourth time. Went in to the cafeteria and there was big screen TV in there. Thought it was another crazy plane crash till I saw the footage of the 2nd plane.
From: Bigdog 21
11-Sep-23
Self employed carpenter getting ready to walk out of the door at home, when it came on tv. Seen the second plane hit
From: Chuckster
11-Sep-23
Getting ready to head out the door for work when I got a call to turn the tv on. About 30 seconds after the tv was on I see the second tower hit. I was really taken aback. Headed into work. Was a machinist. We didn't get squat done that day as everyone was in and out of the breakroom watching tv. It was a terribly historic day. Bosses just rolled with it and let watch tv that day.
From: Deets
11-Sep-23
Was working at a VA hospital in the morning when vets came in from the dayroom to tell staff about the attacks, will never forget the moment, its as if it was yesterday.
From: Deets
11-Sep-23
Was working at a VA hospital in the morning when some vets came in from the dayroom to tell staff about the attacks, will never forget the moment, its as if it was yesterday.
From: KsRancher
11-Sep-23
Was sitting in 9th grade drivers education class. The teacher brought in a TV on one carts. And we watched it all class
From: Meat Grinder
11-Sep-23
I didn't have to go to work until noon that day, and headed over to my Mom's a little after 9:00. I heard Bryant Gumbel on the radio talking about the attack on the World Trade Center, and assumed he was referring to the bombing in 1993. I quickly realized that I was mistaken.
Prayers for those killed, and for those who lost loved ones. Shame on those who've chosen to forget (I'm talking to you, President Biden).
From: Rock
11-Sep-23
At small Airport in Northern Quebec watch on a small TV, as soon as I saw the first plane I told everyone with me that it was no accident (no roads that far north) trying to fly out to a bigger town where we had a Van for our drive back to Montreal after a very successful Caribou Hunt. We were in the air about 5 minutes when the closed all air travel, but as we were so far north they allowed us to fly 1+ hours to our destination. After spending 3 days in Montréal trying to get a flight home, we rented a car and drove home.
From: jdbbowhunter
11-Sep-23
Was in NM on an elk hunt. Guide couldn't understand why GPS wasn't working. Ran into forest service worker about 11in the morning about 2 miles off the road. He informed us as to what happened. Took the wind out of the hunt. Had to drive home from NM to NY.
From: Lewis
11-Sep-23
Picking up final supplies to fly out with my wife to Az to hunt mule deer on the Kaibab Plateau the next day well that got delayed I was in a Walmart in Crossville Tennessee and my wife called and said get to a tv and I saw the second plane crash very sick feeling but I did think that this was the way my mom and dad felt December 7 1941 yep never forget Good luck all Lewis
From: BK
11-Sep-23
Was working in my shop when my wife came out and told me. Later that day fighter jets flying in formation kept buzzing the skies overhead. I later found out that Air Force 1 with President Busch on board was going to land at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha. They were clearing the skies of all air traffic. We live 35 miles west of Omaha. After that it was very strange not hearing or seeing any planes in the air.
From: drycreek
11-Sep-23
I had just left my office to go and check jobs when my wife called me and told me about it. I called the office, told them to turn on the tv, and I went back to the office for about an hour. When I left the office I tuned in Fox News on Sirius to get the rest of it. It was apalling and completely unexpected to me. It’s almost unbelievable the lengths that depraved fanatics will go to prove their point.
From: Elk369
11-Sep-23
MD cancer Center in Houston, in a gown, just got pumped full of (both ends) that white goup, was headed out the room to hall way to go to xray, and people where running down the hallway screaming we are under attack, we had flew down from OK and couldn't get home, no planes, no rental cars. Bro drove down after couple days and picked us up. oddly, there were foreigners all over hospital until then, they all disappeared
From: hunt'n addict
11-Sep-23
Elk hunting in CO. I shot a bull on Sept. 9, and my dad shot the first bull of his life on Sept. 11 @ 7:05am MST. Packed his bull out that afternoon, and at the trailhead we were told of the attack earlier in the day. It was a couple days later before we were able to see pictures and videos of the attack. Never forget!
From: yeager
11-Sep-23
I was at home in my family room playing with my one year old granddaughter when I got a call from my sister. As I was a captain for American Airlines then, she was checking in on me. That month I had, what we call in the airlines, Boston turn-arounds…….my schedule was to fly from Chicago O’hare to Boston and then back to Chicago. My trip that day, and in fact the rest of the month was cancelled. God bless and shall we never forget.
From: Thornton
11-Sep-23
Watched it on the Radiology waiting room TV at the hospital I worked. That afternoon was bluebird sky, people were frantically driving around to get gas before prices went up, and the contrails disappeared from the sky as all planes were grounded by the FAA under threat of being shot down.
From: btnbuck
11-Sep-23
I was with a few friends in Colorado elk hunting. We didn't find out til Thursday when we went to town for fuel and a few supplies. We found out when one of the guys called home and we bought a paper and read about it. It was surreal how we didn't know til two days after it happened.
From: Mike B
12-Sep-23
My father and I were working in our home office, and Terry Green called me and told me what had happened and to turn on the TV. Turned it on, and about 5 min. later the second aircraft arrived.
9/11 was one of those events that burns itself into your mind, forever.
From: IdyllwildArcher
12-Sep-23
I was asleep. I was on the West Coast and had stayed up till 4 AM playing Everquest and slept through the entire thing.
When I woke up, I walked across the street to Rubios to get some fish tacos and it was like the Twilight Zone with no one on the roads or in the parking lots. In those days, I had no cell phone and no TV.
I didn't find out till I logged in to play video games again that night. A friend of mine I played Everquest with told me what had happened and joined the Army the next day because of it. He ended up dying in Iraq three years later.
That had a huge impact on me as far as my appreciation for those that give their lives for this country so that the rest of us can live in freedom. I subsequently finished college, developed a career, and raised two kids because of people like him and the many American heroes before him that made it possible for me.
From: Zbone
12-Sep-23
Girlfriend and I had just returned early that morning, like 2AM, from a Colorado elk hunt and still in bed when her mother called and told us to turn on the TV which we did just in time to see the 2nd jet hit the tower...
A day I'll never forget, but unfortunately in today's society and the condition of this country many have...
From: Corax_latrans
12-Sep-23
I know a lot of folks who were directly affected. One friend of a friend has had extensive plastic surgery to repair the glass shrapnel wounds to his face. He got those injuries while other people were jumping. I know a gal who had an appointment cancelled last minute — she’d be dead if she’d been there. There was a kid on the high school hockey team with a hyphenated last name; his mom was pregnant when his biodad was killed.
We were home and got a call from FIL to let us know what was going on; we watched it all on TV until BIL was scrambled to down any suspicious airliners…. Never prayed harder in my life.
I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and took the kayak out into the sound, turned my back on the smoke plume and caught some schoolies, but I heard Fighters circling — never saw them because they were operating at drug-runner altitude.
It was a pretty crappy day….
From: DanaC
12-Sep-23
Was at home, getting ready for a dentist appointment. The anger has faded, but I still get a lump in my throat seeing an old picture of those towers.
Anyone remember the movie 'Crocodile Dundee'? When Mick arrives in NYC there's an 'establishing' (you are here) shot of the towers. Saw it on tv a few years after 9/11and damn near cried.
From: Ricky The Cabel Guy
12-Sep-23
first two planes hit the towers about the time i got to my office. watched it on tv until we had to leave for a business meeting about 3 hours away. listened on the radio the whole way. third plane crashed in route to the meeting. got to the meeting site only to learn that the meeting had been cancelled so we came home listening to the coverage on the radio the whole way. it was like listening to "war of the worlds" in real time...freaky.
From: Stan Rauch
12-Sep-23
After an early morning moose hunt in Idaho I went into a restaurant by Darby, MT and everyone in there was looking intently at a TV. Will never forget.
From: Whocares
12-Sep-23
Was spiked out on an elk hunt. Didn't find out til I got to town on the 14th. Saw it on a TV being replayed and made my knees shake. The no planes flying over didn't register till I found out.
From: PECO2
12-Sep-23
I was in Reno.
From: Mint
12-Sep-23
I was in my office on 31st by Penn station. The VP of Sales came in and said that his wife called him and said a small plane hit the twin towers. I swung around in my seat to look out my floor to ceiling window behind me and saw the tower burning and said no small plane did that. For the next few hours the whole office watched in horror as the tragedy unfolded. I still remember the missing person flyers hanging in Penn Station.
From: Shuteye
12-Sep-23
I was bow hunting about 200 yards from my house. i walked in the house and my wife had it on TV and just as I walked in the room the second plane hit the second tower. i didn't go hunting in the afternoon, I watched TV.
From: Ziek
12-Sep-23
I was horse-packing out a Colorado bull. The friend helping me turned around at the trailhead and returned to camp. When I went back in about 3 days later, he and another friend hadn't noticed anything different when I asked them (no aircraft flying), and they had a hard time believing me. We had no phone service in camp.
I flew an early United flight into LGA when things opened up. We flew up the Hudson on a visual approach, and Ground Zero was still smoking. I also became a Federal Flight Deck Officer within about a year of that becoming an option. Later, one of our NY layover hotels was literally right across the street from the Memorial.
From: Deets
12-Sep-23
Mint, thats a tough one.
From: RnE-Texas
13-Sep-23
On my first elk hunt. Unit 55. My friends uncle insisted we have a small radio for weather updates. We heard the news of first plane hitting the tower. Being a private pilot I knew it wasn't an accident. Reality set in when second plane hit. We listened to that little radio all day. Hunting was not important after that. Crazy how, being from Texas, your family was no where near there but you still want to hear their voice.
From: Quinn @work
13-Sep-23
It's amazing how if you were alive when it happened, you to this day, remember exactly what you were doing at the time. I was home and getting ready to go to work when the news broke. It's like time stood still while saying WTF???
From: midwest
13-Sep-23
I was at work. Everyone was bringing TV's in and we had them in every office. Like someone mentioned, it was like listening to War of the Worlds, only real.
From: Ricky The Cabel Guy
13-Sep-23
"Like someone mentioned, it was like listening to War of the Worlds, only real."
that was me.
to make it even more surreal...i had literally just finished reading the first book in the "left behind" series. if you havent read it...i highly recommend it.
From: Copperman
14-Sep-23
I was in bed sleeping after working a 6p-6a shift for my department. I was woke up by my wife barging in the bedroom telling me what happened and turning the TV on. We were glued to the TV the rest of the day until I went back into work at 6pm. Things were so weird at work, no traffic, no calls, and the people I did have contact with were so nice and friendly.
From: Hawken
14-Sep-23
I was doing 140 mph killing boll weevils in a cotton field. Shortly had to land as the FAA shut down all aircraft flights in the USA!
From: huntr4477
14-Sep-23
I was on my break at work. The TV was on but I wasn't really paying attention to it, until I heard the news report interrupting whatever program was on. We all turned to the TV as they were reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. It was assumed to be a terrible accident until we saw the second plane come in and hit the other tower. My heart felt like it dropped in my chest. The whole day after that seemed surreal.
From: TREESTANDWOLF
14-Sep-23
On a job site with my crew.
The owner had his TV on and we all gathered around… until the second plane hit.
We left everything there, called our spouses, and picked up the kids from school.
Here on Long Island, it was very surreal.
Some days, I wish our country would bond like we did then.
A stark reminder how fragile life really is.
Here, almost every body knows somebody that perished.
They can’t be forgotten, nor should they be.
From: Al Dente Laptop
16-Sep-23
I was working at a jobsite one block away. We heard the first plane hit, and thought that a manhole had exploded. We ran to the roof to see what was going on, and saw what could never be unseen. We saw the second plane hit, and knew that something very very bad was going on. Most broadcasting was knocked out, because the almost all came from the WTC. I believe that only CBS broadcast from the Empire State Building. I was trying to get in touch with my sister, since I had heard that another plane hit the Pentagon. My brother in law was stationed there, and in fact his office was part of the devastation, but he was safe. I cried that night, and like I said above, I can never unsee what I saw. It saddens me that in the over 2 decades since it happened, the reverence is gone, the glory of America is gone, and the complacency of this progressive administration has set us up for destruction from within.
