Remembering Sept. 11 2001

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I was in 8th grade at the time in Social Studies class. Somebody came up to me before that period and said something about it, but I have to confess that my friend and I were so shocked that we ran to class to see what was going on. There was no early release, but over the next few days the teachers really tried to give us a good view of the situation and encouraged us to share our worries and things that were going on.

We have family in upstate NY so we checked on them, and a friend had their uncle die. It was extremely scary and extremely sad overall.

[Dick Linn]

Another thing I remember: A co-worker's wife worked in the Pentagon (Navy officer) where it was hit. Her office was destroyed. I don't remember if she was down the hall or what, but it was a very close call. My co-worker (retired Navy pilot) was on a site visit to a customer in PA. When he heard, he jumped in the car and started back to DC. He was very near the area where flight 93 went down at the very time it went down. What are the odds of that?

[Cory]

I was in my sophomore year of high school.

I go to sleep every night with music on, so I awoke at about 6:00 or so, and instead of hearing music like normal it's some talk show. I'm pretty out of it because I just woke up but I heard something about a plane hitting a building.

The rest of my family was just waking up, so I ran downstairs and turned the news on just in time to see the first collapse and couldn't believe what I was seeing. When I yelled upstairs for my family to turn the TV on because the WTC just collapsed, nobody even believed me for a good 15 seconds.

I went to school, and we pretty much didn't do anything the entire day. We just watched the news the whole time, and discussed what was happening.

I'll never forget the images of those planes crashing into the towers, people jumping from the tower, and then their subsequent collapse. Probably the most horrifying moments of my entire life.

Along with the horror came selfless acts to help others. The passengers of Flight 93 made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the terrorists from striking their final target. The 343 firefighters, 23 police officers, and 37 Port Authority officers who perished in the collapses, ran into the burning buildings to save people when everyone else was running out. These people are all my heroes.

[bigbeezy]

6th grade. i remember i was at my Gifted Student Program class, can still rember where i was when i heard. No one rly know exactly what was going on. I remember pretty clearly that none of us kids were rly even worried or w/e, more like in shock and didnt understand what was happening. i remember that most of the teachers, once they found out didnt tell the kids so they wouldnt freak, but ours told us. we sat and watched CNN for like 3 hours. I dont think it all really set in, to me at least, til that night.

its kinda wierd to think that theres kids out there that are now in elementary school that were born after 9/11/01...they will never no anything different

[Kims Robot]

I was at college in my senior year, and I remember getting back from my first class of the day, and my roommate got a call from her boyfriend saying we had to turn on the TV. We did, and sat there in awe watching the events unfold... we saw the second plane hit live as well. I remember being in shock, and crying for all those people, and I called my dad as soon as I could. I sat on the phone with him for an hour as he watched at work too, and had no idea what to do, think or say... it was just horrific to me that anyone could hurt so many people. I had a class at 10:00 that I ended up going to, and the teacher taught it as if nothing happened, most of us sat in stunned silence. I dont know if he didnt know or just didnt know what to say. After that we did get a campus-wide email saying that we were welcome to not attend classes, and that counciling and call centers had been set up for anyone who was affected or might need to contact family.

That day was also my godson's second birthday... today he celebrates his nineth. It is still odd for me to feel so sad and so happy on the same day. In some ways I am thankful he was too young to understand it all.

[Carlee10]

I was in fourth grade...I didn't know what a terrorist was, or Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan was. I didn't know what the Pentagon was besides for a shape, or the Twin Towers. All I knew was that one of my classmates told me some planes flew into a building. That night I was educated, the painful way. My broher was only in second grade;everything had to be explained to us, like why people would want to fly planes into buildings. Scary how fast stuff can change......

[Bharat Nain]

Unlike most of you, I was in India at this time. I remember getting a phone call from my uncle telling me to turn the TV on. As soon as we turned on the TV, all the channels (or most) had some form of news coverage with the twin towers in flames. My dad used to work in NYC and he happened to be in the area that day. It was a very scary moment to not know where he was. We were dialing his number constantly every 2 minutes only to get a lovely American lady to tell us that all lines are busy. We talked to him few hours later only to find out he was suppose to be(but wasnt) in a building across the WTC. But anyway, it was very horrific to see what happened. I remember the newspaper being delivered early in the morning - earlier than usual with the headlines "America under attack". (Morning over there was some time around 7 PM here). And then a year or so later I end up in this country. I hope you all know how blessed you are to be in this country. If any other country had to sustain such damage, they would be in pieces. Make sure you show respect to all those who serve this country and those who died to preserve this free world. In my opinion, there is no better place to live. I hope every one of you takes at least a few moments to say a few prayers for those who gave/lost their lives and also think about how blessed you are just to live here.

[JoshD]

I was in the 6th grade back in St. Louis, MO. I remember a parent coming into our history class and talking to the teacher for over 30 minutes, which was odd because our teacher hated interruptions. Anyway she didn't tell us anything, but I found out in Spanish what had happened. We were all terrified at what had happened, and when I got home me and my mom just watched CNN for hours.

And Mr. Linn, I never had the honor of meeting Karl, but I have heard nothing but great things about him. It was and honor to serve as the president of the team he helped co-found and it was also an extreme honor to receive the scholarship set up in his memory. I for one will never forget the sacrifice he made for our country.

[Protronie]

I was on a night paving job so sleeping on the couch... feel asleep watching CNN (about the only thing its good for). Woke up seeing the north tower on fire. Thought it was a movie at first, then thought NYFD was going to have a tough time putting that fire out. Then the second plane hit and I was shocked... turned on all my scanners to listen to what was going on.
Called my boss and sent would out to our crews... that night I went to work with four scanners monitoring everything. Nobody knew what was really going on or what / where the next target would be.
There was a lot of talk about the big fuel tank farms in the area and my boss told me and my NC DOT counterpart to keep our nuclear density gauges under lock when not actually using them.
Being born in NY it hit hard, being a vol firefighter at the time my first thoughts went to the firefighters and other emergency workers... losing 343 brothers in one moment was a major shock to everyone.
To be honest... I was fighting mad and frustrated cause I couldn't dish out some good ol American pay-back.

-p

[IndySam]

Nothing remarkable about how I watched it. I was at work like most people and watched it on the TV in the break room, like most I can remember every moment of it.

After the second tower fell I went outside. It was a beautiful day with a brilliant blue sky without a single cloud. On a day like that in Indy you can usually see 10 contrails in the sky and if you look you can easily spot at least 4 or 5 jets.

It was dead quiet, no noise from the planes, no vehicles on the roads (my office was in a mostly residential area and by then most people were at home or work watching what was going on) even the birds were quite like they knew something was wrong. Absolute dead silence. I was in the middle of 800,000 people and it seemed like the whole world had stopped and I was on an island all by myself. Never will forget that feeling.

[Dick Linn]

Originally Posted by JoshD

....

And Mr. Linn, I never had the honor of meeting Karl, but I have heard nothing but great things about him. It was and honor to serve as the president of the team he helped co-found and it was also an extreme honor to receive the scholarship set up in his memory. I for one will never forget the sacrifice he made for our country.

Josh, give me a holler on the phone. I'm in the phone book in Midlothian. Or PM me or something. I'm reasonably sure we've met, but I can be flaky at times. If you know my younger one, Tan, he will attest to that, LOL.

VCU was supposed to let me know about who got the scholarships each year and get us to meet up, but they never did. Ah ,well. Best laid plans and all...


Jon236: Thanks. We do what we do. Some of it works out and some does not work so well. I have good memories of all those hundreds of hours spent each year with the team.

P.S. Josh - Karl was the one who designed that team logo. The fireball sorta thing. We won the unofficial button logo award at the VCU regional two years in a row, while we got our act together. Several years later, we did receive a Motorola quality award for our robot.

[Elgin Clock]

7 years later & I still remember exactly where I was when it happened. It's one of those events.. Like how people say they can remember exactly where they were when they heard Kennedy was assassinated, or when Elvis died.

Before 9/11/01 I had only one memory that was similar to that thinking of "where were you when?" and that was when the space Shuttle Challenger exploded.

Anyways, 9/11/01 I was at work & someone came in & said the first tower was hit. We turned on a TV we had sitting by (about 20 of us surrounding a little 10" TV - what a sight!).

One of my most vivid memories of the day was when my boss came around & said a little while after the first plane hit, "Ok people, nothing else to see, back to your desks...".

Famous last words huh? I (as well as the other 20 people) were about to leave the TV (not really) & then the second plane hit, & then the reports came in of the flight over PA.

It's not that my boss was being mean, but we were at work, & expected to get work done. Little did he know that statement to get back to work would leave such an impression in mostly all of us standing there I'm sure.

Since then, I've changed jobs, seen the world & the US cope with 9/11, saw all those candle light vigils & memorial dedications as well as the formation of a Homeland Security & a Terror alert system.
Some days (looking back on the news coverage of 9/11) I think the words "terror", "terrorism", or terrorists" were the most used word on the news for days on end, and that somehow numbed the general public to the severity of those terms.
The US flags that were popping up everywhere in the days following 9/11 are less & less now which is also quite sad.

Being so close to NYC, it seemed that day anyways, that everything was happening in another world since I was only seeing it unfold on TV, but over the years, I have met people who lost friends & family on that fateful day so it hits closer to home when that happens & I just visited Ground Zero a few weeks back & while it just looks like a construction site which isn't a rare sight in NYC, not seeing the profiles of The Twins from a distance away (South Street Seaport area in particular that day) served as a reminder more than going to the actual site.

On another note, I've also since then had friends & family join & serve in both Iraq, Afghanistan & elsewhere in the military, & although my feelings on the war I'll keep to myself, I do support every one of the troops who decide to accept the call to defend the best darn country in this world as a direct result of the events of 9/11 or just because they feel the same way about this country as I do.

[ATannahill]

i was in 3rd grade, first year of schooling in florida, my mom told me on the way home, the teachers didnt say anything.

for you that can laugh about it