September 11th. Where were you?

[44hunter45]

I had a service call in Riggins at the High School. We heard the news when our clock radio alarm went off. I went to the kitchen and turned on the TV as the story unfolded.
Those images are still burned in my brain. Planes hitting the towers and the bodies of those who jumped falling. Also the sound of those bodies hitting the roofs below. Shocked survivors walking zombie like covered in concrete dust as the emergency crews rushed in.

When I finally left for Riggins, I had weapons and enough 5.56 and .45 ammo in the truck to take out a company.
I'm sure my parent's generation worried that my generation had not seen the horror of Pearl Harbor. In my turn, I wonder about those who were born after Sept 11 2001. 21 years ago

I'm proud and grateful for those who stood for us in those times. I'm saddened by the cost to those men and women. PTSD and physical cost, relationships lost, teammates lost.

Today I remember.

I remember those who jumped, I remember the passengers of Flight 93, I remember the First Responders who ran INTO the towers. I remember those who took the fight to our enemy and all they left behind to go. As with all the veterans before them, we will rarely know what it was they left there when they came home.

I know many of you who stepped up are here on HT. I know only the smallest bits you have let show of the price you have paid.

Thank You!

 

[Stocker]

7th grade. Walked into school and the teacher had it on in his classroom. We just sat and watched it all day. Not sure the gravity of it really sank in for me until much later.

 

[Big Bore]

I had just finished a fly fishing trip to the Snake River in Idaho and was on my way back to the Salt Lake City airport to fly home on that day.

 

[44hunter45]

I had just finished a fly fishing trip to the Snake River in Idaho and was on my way back to the Salt Lake City airport to fly home on that day.

Were your flights grounded?

 

[Flatbrimmer]

7th grade. Walked into school and the teacher had it on in his classroom. We just sat and watched it all day. Not sure the gravity of it really sank in for me until much later.

Same, 4th grade. My teacher was a retired LAPD officer, when he heard the news we stopped everything and watched the tv all day.. at 9 years old I just remember being bored outta my wits… I’m thankful for Mr. Shadduck now

 

[pabearhunter]

I was testifying in court for a retail fraud case that I hooked. The deputy's at the door told me when I walked out. I thought they were joking till it came over the radio. Sad day.

 

[hank4elk]

Were your flights grounded?

That day changed where I would work and how. It also put a hold on a trip to DC to visit a sister and do some politicking and sight seeing.
A year later I flew out and spent a week with my sister, a day with my congressman that included a private tour of the White House while it was still closed to the public , one an hour testifying before a committee, and a visit with those I left behind at The Wall and Arlington.

 

[np307]

I was 7 and we were on our way to DC as a family. We got about 15 miles away and were stuck in traffic. Didnt have the radio on so we didnt know what had happened. At some point we saw national guard units rolling by and then my mom realized it was time to figure out what was going on. We ended up making our way off an exit and got turned around and made it back to Richmond for the night. I dont think I ever saw the footage until the next day but my mom explained what had happened. I obviously couldn't really comprehend it but I understood something terrible had happened. It seems like it was both so long ago and just the other day.

 

[perma]

I was in elementary. School went on lockdown as soon as the pentagon got hit.

Looking back, I understand the fear but it seemed kind of silly do lock the school down. We were a mountain town in CO. No one knew us from Adam.

As I got older and started to understand, I saw the picture of the falling man. To this day, probably the most cryptic thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. He just seemed so content with his decision.

 

[44hunter45]

I was in elementary. School went on lockdown as soon as the pentagon got hit.

Looking back, I understand the fear but it seemed kind of silly do lock the school down. We were a mountain town in CO. No one knew us from Adam.

As I got older and started to understand, I saw the picture of the falling man. To this day, probably the most cryptic thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. He just seemed so content with his decision.

A fellow we knew from church went into the woods behind his house and shot himself after watching the news coverage. He was a Vietnam era PTSD sufferer. No note, no words to his wife, nothing. He just grabbed his rifle and walked out the back door.

 

[hank4elk]

A fellow we knew from church went into the woods behind his house and shot himself after watching the news coverage. He was a Vietnam era PTSD sufferer. No note, no words to his wife, nothing. He just grabbed his rifle and walked out the back door.

The last living member of my 3 crews died that day at the Pentagon. Trying to save others...

 

[jryoung]

I was living in Fairfield, CT which is a community that commutes to Manhatten and Wall Street. It was surreal, everyone knew someone who was lost. It was months before it felt like the fog/daze we were in lifted.

 

[seeth07]

7th grade. Walked into school and the teacher had it on in his classroom. We just sat and watched it all day. Not sure the gravity of it really sank in for me until much later.

We as well, in 7th grade, 5th period, French class. Buddy overheard the teachers radio as he walked in while she was eating lunch. He told me that he just heard we are at war and both DC and NYC were hit.

On my way home, I asked my dad if he heard about us going to war. He said we would talk about it as a family when we got home and watch the news and updates. That was a crazy long night with the 4 of us all sitting in the living room talking and watching.

 

[rwc101]

Social Studies class where we watched the morning news/read newspapers to start the day. TV got cut off pretty quickly, but we saw one of the towers get hit. Recently saw some footage I hadn't seen before. Weird feeling.

 

[dgc1963]

I was 39 working as a contractor a retirement hme that morning had an older gentleman walk by an tell me a plane flew into one of the towers I thought OMG then a bit later had the same guy tell me another plane hit a tower I thought he was just mixed up n the story untill on of the other workers told me 2 planes hit 2 towers I looked at him and said we are under attack
Stopped working went home called my family many times that day, Thinking about the loss still puts a lump in my throat
One thing I heard someone say after was september 12th we were all the people God made us to be the little things just didnt matter anymore! We stood in line to give blood,We drove 11hrs just to help, We cared about the person standing beside us
Its a shame how soon we forget look at us now

 

[jt13]

In 5th grade, home from school because I was sick. Woken up by my mom a little after 8am to the tv blaring the bad news

 

[Redmt]

I heard it on the radio as I was getting ready to warm up my dozer. I headed back out from the backcountry to the guys place I was working for to see it unfolding live on TV. We sat watching not believing what we were seeing

 

[turbobrick]

I was in my junior year of college, living at home. I basically had all my classes crammed into two days a week so I could work the rest, and 9/11 was a school day. My mom came in and said something was going on in New York, and I got to the tv just in time to see the second plane hit. My commute to UNR was over an hour, and it wasn't clear if classes were still going so I went. I had an amazing professor who had been teaching us about the Troubles in Ireland, and had lived there during some of that time. He just said, I'm here to talk with you guys if you want, or you can just sit here if you want to be with people, we're not having class, just friends trying to understand what happened. So many vivid memories of a terrible day.

 

[Pahoundsman]

Working on a bridge, the GS came out and told us. It was unbelievable until I got home and saw the news.

 

[Wallydeuce]

I was at LAS waiting to board a flight to San Jose, CA watching CNN's coverage of the "accident " when the 2nd aircraft hit. I was on the phone with my (now X) wife who was on a job rotation in Pasadena. Nobody was flying anywhere that day so I went to the office. My X, fearing LA was going to be next, rented a car and drove home.