Remembering Sept. 11 2001

[Kyle]

Seven years ago today, less then an hour from when I make this post, 2,974 died at the hands of 19 terrorists.
Please at some point today take some time and remember those who gave their lives on that day and the families that they left behind.

Here is a list of the names of all the people that died excluding the terrorists.
2,974 Names

Also do not forget the 343 Fire Fighters that bravely gave their lives to save strangers.
Here is a video called "Blood of Hero's" about the Fire Fighters who died that day.


Also if you would like use this thread to share thoughts and feelings about today? Where were you and what were you doing when the attacks happened 7 years ago?

I should have been on my way to school but for some reason we had a new bus driver who forgot to pick me and a friend up, we were the first stop and he missed it. We went to my house and called a friend to pick us up and drive us in late, as I left I turned the TV on to the weather station so the dog could have noise during the day and heard the weather man announce that all flights in the US were grounded so I quickly turned the channel to CNN and watched the whole event happen. Something I will never forget.


-Kyle

[Nate Smith]

I had just left to wait for the bus on the way to work when things started happening, so I didn't hear much until I got to where i had to change buses, and at that point, I heard from someone listening to the radio that the first tower had been hit. By the time I got to work, we turned the TV on just in time to see the first tower go down. Throughout the day(I worked phone support for an ISP at the time), we kept the TV on to find out the latest of what was going on...

[JBotAlan]

I was in 6th grade. It was within the first few weeks of middle school; I was in social studies class. The news was kept from us for quite awhile...in fact, I am pretty sure they didn't tell us what was going on. All the teachers (understandably, from my current point of view; not so much from an 11-year-old's point of view) acted bizzarely. I'm pretty sure any kind of teaching activity ceased, and we may even have had an early dismissal (the details are so fuzzy. All I have left are a few select visuals and the emotions of the time). My parents are the ones that really explained what was going on. Before then, I didn't even know that there was such a pair of buildings.

I will definitely pray for those killed and their families.

Jbot

[tseres]

Grade 5:
the teacher walks into the room after lunch and announces that the World Trade Centre towers had been hit by terrorists in airplanes, and that we were ok up here in Canada...

I'll always remember just coming home and watching the news and seeing the video.

[RKElectricalman]

I was in 6th grade, as well, at the time, and it was the second week of school for us and my first day back from vacation. I remember coming in late to class that day to get acquainted with my surroundings, classes, and my schedule which I was completely new to. Not too long after introducing my self to the class, and getting settled in to my second block class, the PA droned asking the teachers to check their emails...

Our teacher, going against the advised protocol, turned on the TV and let us experience the tragedy in front of us. It was a hard moment to take in, in general, and even worse being of the faith and skin tone I am. We left school early that day, and the whole day I was bent on finding out more information on the day's events. It was heart breaking to see it happening, over and over again. It was terrifying knowing that they could've hit the White House, and so close to you in Virginia. It was hard to walk confident in days following the attack, not knowing if I would be persecuted for my faith as others across the US were.

A tragedy caused by radicals, and terrorists, effected a country as a whole and people of all different kinds. Before we united, we needed a shock to make us civil again.... I'll never forget 9/11

[Wayne Doenges]

I was at work when I heard about the first plane hitting the tower.
I kept going back to CNN online to catch the latest news when I saw the second plane hit. I didn't find out until later that a friend of mine (Christoffer Mikael Carstanjen) was on the second plane (Flt 175). He was on his way to California to visit friends and ride motorcycles.
I prayed that he felt no pain.

Every year, in July, we (the Internet Pacific Coast Riders Club) hold an auction during our annual Deal's Gap ride to raise money for a educational fund in Chris' name.

[Kyle Love]

7th grade, "study hall", we walk in and the principal comes over the intercom to turn on the TV's and that's what we see when the teacher turned the tv on. The worst part was that we saw the second plane fly into the other tower, live.

[Molten]

I was in the seventh grade. The teachers were told they could not speak of it. They were not to watch tv/search the net/or let on anything was wrong. I remember that it was spread through the school, but only as a rumor. I didn't believe it. I went on with my day and after school, people were everywhere. The usually slow walk to my mom's work was replaced with people swarming to get places. I got shuffled and my brother found me walking the wrong direction(he was a Junior at the time) and took me to our mom. She had him released to make sure I made it safe. I was safe....Too bad those planes and the people weren't.

Thanks for starting this thread. I was going to myself, but I just wasn't early enough.

[EricH]

I was in 7th grade and my mom and I got to school for the first day, but the VP and one of the other parents stopped us. All they said was, "Go home, there's been a terrorist attack." We spent the rest of the day listening to the radio/getting the news in between normal activities.

[rees2001]

I find it odd that so many of you were left in seclusion. I guess it would be best to shield the younger students.
I first heard on the radio as I was returning to school (work) from RIT where I had been teaching a class. Initially the radio stations didn't know what had happened. They thought it was an accident. When I got to school nobody knew what was going on so I tuned in the TV to the local news station. Minutes later the second tower was struck, and then the events of the day became much clearer. We left the TV on all day & didn't even think about teaching.

That spring we attended the NYC Regional. Our bus driver took us the site. Those are images I will never forget.

For those of you that lost family or friend my prayers are with you today.

[Dick Linn]

I best remember 9/11 through the thoughts and deeds of my older son, Karl. A few old-timers may have met him, as he was co-founder of Team 975 which started right around that time. He helped out at the VCU regional for two years when he was attending VCU, one year as a tech inspector.

Anyway, here's his take on that day. I haven't altered this email other than the email addresses:

From: karl@zzz.net
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 11:11 AM
To: rlinn@zzz.com
Subject: Terrorism

Dad-

I'm typing this at school during lunch. I went through the webmail backdoor, because the school isp blocks most communication sites. If you don't already know, a bunch of planes, passengers and all, were hijacked and made kamikaze runs. First one plowed into the World Trade Center, causing one tower to collapse. A second plane, looked like a 737 or something slammed into the second one shortly thereafter. A little after 1030 we got to a classroom that was picking up the news, and right after that we saw the second tower go. Titus pulled the cable, doesn't want the school panicking, but word is moving faaaaast. Also, a commuter plane hit teh pentagon, all key government officials are being evacuated, bush is on his way home. Unconfirmed reports state that a car bomb went off outside the state department. FAA has grounded everything and fighters can be seen scrambling. A few hijacked planes are still missing, another jet crashed earlier in the day a short distance from the airport, but no one is sure whether or not its related. 1 palestinian group has so far claimed responsibility, but they all try to be proud and stupid. The real perpetrators would know that once the US finds out, they would be incinerated into the stone age. This is an amazingly well coordinated attack, focusing on the major symbols of the free world, all within 1 hour. All the history teachers have studied and have known that there is gap in recent years that should be filled by a war, not just a little gulf war. Even I knew it was coming, but I never expected such a violent and unprecedented attack. This could easily erupt into a holy war if there are enough zealots in palestine and elsewhere, and could cause a huge conflict that could spell the end of the muslim faith. I hope it doesn't get that global, but you can be sure the world will not let this one go unpunished. This is without a doubt the biggest, most vicious act of terrorism (if not an act of war) in modern times, if not the history of mankind. Looks like Bush and the military will be getting those funds to finish research on all those new weapons and fighters scheduled for the next 8 years. Well, I'll see what's going on when i get home, most of the news sites here are normally blocked anyway by the school isp. Just let you know that we heard it too. Now that I'm done, there could have been another attempt at something, although national security forces probably would've intercepted. Nonetheless, the nation has been really jarred, and while I fear what's going to come, most of it is channeled into anger in knowing that something will happen. Take care, and buy more ammo.

-Karl

He and another student were subsequently motivated enough to paint this mural on the wall of a classroom at James River High. I didn't find out about this mural until after Karl was killed in Iraq during his deployment with the Marines. I'm sure that 9/11 strongly influenced him, as it did many others.

[chaoticprout]

I remember going to sleep on Sept 10th and hearing 2 very loud bangs coming from outside, and then falling asleep. My mom woke me up around 6AM or so saying "They bombed the pentagon" and well, the day revolved around watching TV until like 8:45 (school was at 9, can't believe I went) and being in complete shock the entire day. School was crazy because there were lots of thoughts of Los Angeles being a prominent target, one of my teachers left to go pick up her daughter in downtown because she was so scared. Then, the most vivid thing was going to Soccer practice and being in this open field, "enjoying ourselves", while we all had the attacks on our minds. We heard a plane and the entire team looked up and saw the first plane we had seen that day just fly above us. Chilling.

[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?

[Jon236]

Originally Posted by Dick Linn

He and another student were subsequently motivated enough to paint this mural on the wall of a classroom at James River High. I didn't find out about this mural until after Karl was killed in Iraq during his deployment with the Marines. I'm sure that 9/11 strongly influenced him, as it did many others.

Dick,

As a father, I can relate to both your tremendous pride and your anguish as you remember Karl. I honor you and your family on this day of remembrance.