Where were you when 9/11 happened?
- Thread starter bartholen_v1legacy
- Start date
I was serving in the military then. We were celebrating our CO's birthday on base. We even got his favourite salmon sashimi served in the mess during dinner. We were all enjoying the treat when the TVs played the planes crashing into the Towers. None of us were ignorant of what that meant; the sergeants were organizing our men for rapid deployment to secure critical facilities long before orders came down from Corps HQ. We waited through the night, those of us trained in them donned MOPP suits and awaited orders for mobilization. Before dawn we were entrenched as supplemental troops for the British and American embassies.
I was nine. My class was heading back from lunch when the teacher stopped us to look at the TV, which she and the person with her kept shielding us from. When we got back to classroom, we were told there would be no recess but just a creative day because parents were already starting to pick up their kids. Eventually, the teacher decided she couldn't keep it from us any longer and told us that something bad had happened. I remember making a joke about war (I was really immature as a child), and the teacher just said we may be heading in that direction. She told us about the planes and towers, and she gave a short explanation of terrorism. Despite this being a Christians school, I don't think she took the opportunity to rant on Islam, but I don't remember.
Because of the scare, that day everyone was sent to an area near the sanctuary for pick up. Everyone figured it would serve as less of a target than where we normally got picked up. Some children started cracking jokes about "stupid terrorists". I remember being too afraid. Eventually, my mom picked me up and explained things a little further. I think they were also keeping tabs on my uncle, who was volunteering to help people.
Overall, it still feels a little surreal.
Because of the scare, that day everyone was sent to an area near the sanctuary for pick up. Everyone figured it would serve as less of a target than where we normally got picked up. Some children started cracking jokes about "stupid terrorists". I remember being too afraid. Eventually, my mom picked me up and explained things a little further. I think they were also keeping tabs on my uncle, who was volunteering to help people.
Overall, it still feels a little surreal.
I was in 8th grade history class. I was scrambling to finish a worksheet that was supposed to be due in a few minutes that I neglected to do as homework, because I sucked at time management. The teachers were all called out of the rooms, so I was psyched that I might actually get my worksheet finished in time. When my history teacher returned, she had one of those TV carts from the library, so that only put me in an even better mood. Got my homework done on time AND it's a movie day? Sweet! She also sent one of my classmates to the office, which I didn't really think much of at the time.
Yeah... then she put on the news. We all just kinda sat there in shocked silence. I don't recall for how long we watched, but the school sent us all home early, and it was the most eerily quiet bus ride ever considering it was full of middle school children.
I don't think I really knew how to process it at the time, so I just kinda went into normal after-school routine. I booted up my PC and started playing some StarCraft: Brood War multiplayer. At least, I tried to. Within moments of checking out the Use Map Settings section, there were already World Trade Center themed maps appearing. That kinda made me a bit sick, so I called it quits and worked on a school project instead.
I found out later that the classmate that was sent to the office was removed from the class because her dad was a pilot who worked for American Airlines, and he was flying that morning. Thankfully his aircraft wasn't one of the ones hijacked, though.
Yeah... then she put on the news. We all just kinda sat there in shocked silence. I don't recall for how long we watched, but the school sent us all home early, and it was the most eerily quiet bus ride ever considering it was full of middle school children.
I don't think I really knew how to process it at the time, so I just kinda went into normal after-school routine. I booted up my PC and started playing some StarCraft: Brood War multiplayer. At least, I tried to. Within moments of checking out the Use Map Settings section, there were already World Trade Center themed maps appearing. That kinda made me a bit sick, so I called it quits and worked on a school project instead.
I found out later that the classmate that was sent to the office was removed from the class because her dad was a pilot who worked for American Airlines, and he was flying that morning. Thankfully his aircraft wasn't one of the ones hijacked, though.
Canadian here. I was in high school math class when our principal came over the PA informing us that the U.S. was under attack asking everyone to congregate in the library. There are TVs in there, and they were showing footage of the attacks, and after that we went home early.
Scary stuff.
Scary stuff.
Don't remember.
There are more memorable things that have happened in my life.
I was around 15 years old at that time, and I just remember it being school as usual.
I just wish people would stop acting like it's the single most horrible thing that has ever happened.
There are more memorable things that have happened in my life.
I was around 15 years old at that time, and I just remember it being school as usual.
I just wish people would stop acting like it's the single most horrible thing that has ever happened.
I was in class at the time. I think I was about 8 years old. My family came to pick me up shortly after lunch.
I went home and played outside with all my friends for the rest of the day.
I went home and played outside with all my friends for the rest of the day.
Another Brit here. I was 11, got home from school, couldn't understand what my mum was saying - something about a building in new York that was on fire. Apparently this world trade center was a big deal but I'd never heard of it. Then the reporter said that it was probably someone who had deliberately flown a plane into it, and I couldn't figure out, if it was such a big deal, why the reporter was so calm about everything. Then my mum said it was one of the buildings in the intro for 'Friends', and then it was real. And then the second building was hit, and the one collapsed, and the other collapsed. And I felt numb - it was so far away and so inconsequential to some kid worrying about going to 'big school' next year - but I remember this vivid thought that that I could feel the dust clouds in my stomach.
It's strange to think that most kids must have had the same experience.
It's strange to think that most kids must have had the same experience.
What? Never heard of it. I was in the control room, co-ordinating everything. And i'll thank you not to stare and judge, if you'd be so kind! [small]For the greated good. {Westcountry accent implied}[/small]
I don't mean this in a "Ha Ha" kind of way but a "Wow, that was interesting timing" kind of way; just throwing that out there now before I get myself in trouble...
I was in my High School history class when the second plane hit and we started figuring out that it wasn't an accident. Our History Teacher had the TV on and started to give his own theory over who was behind it based on the type of attack and the current goings on in the world and funny enough, the name he floated and taught us about that day was Osama Bin Laden. So we ended up watching the news and getting a breakdown of similar terrorist attacks in recent history. So that was a neat day.
I was in my High School history class when the second plane hit and we started figuring out that it wasn't an accident. Our History Teacher had the TV on and started to give his own theory over who was behind it based on the type of attack and the current goings on in the world and funny enough, the name he floated and taught us about that day was Osama Bin Laden. So we ended up watching the news and getting a breakdown of similar terrorist attacks in recent history. So that was a neat day.
I was in high school at the time. Tenth grade if my memory and math skills serve.
I overheard someone mentioning planes flying into buildings as I stopped by my then girlfriends class with her before continuing on to my class around 10AM. At the time, I thought they were talking about a movie and didn't think much of it. I later learned about what happened and realized what those two people were talking about. Really random how that one thing stuck out in my head.
This was also the same day my Spanish teacher decided to call my mom to complain about me as I didn't really respect him. That didn't go well for him. My mom cussed him out and he apparently had little to no idea what happened. Guy was a compete idiot.
The next day he starts telling the class how people barely acknowledge terrorist attacks in Israel. They sort of go around them. Seriously, is it any wonder I didn't like him? I still wish I had walked out of his class in protest.
I overheard someone mentioning planes flying into buildings as I stopped by my then girlfriends class with her before continuing on to my class around 10AM. At the time, I thought they were talking about a movie and didn't think much of it. I later learned about what happened and realized what those two people were talking about. Really random how that one thing stuck out in my head.
This was also the same day my Spanish teacher decided to call my mom to complain about me as I didn't really respect him. That didn't go well for him. My mom cussed him out and he apparently had little to no idea what happened. Guy was a compete idiot.
The next day he starts telling the class how people barely acknowledge terrorist attacks in Israel. They sort of go around them. Seriously, is it any wonder I didn't like him? I still wish I had walked out of his class in protest.
My 6th grade class. I think cause it was early we were just sitting around. I just remember the teacher being taken out of the room then coming back in. I didn't understand much what was happening. I just knew that something was a big deal, and I probably remember the moment after the fact cause it was apparently important.
I'm a New Yorker by the way, if that adds any relevance. I didn't lose anyone, but I know atleast one girl who lost her father and now theres a street named after him in our town.
I'm a New Yorker by the way, if that adds any relevance. I didn't lose anyone, but I know atleast one girl who lost her father and now theres a street named after him in our town.
I worked in a furniture factory at the time, and was cobbling together an armrest for some ugly sofa when I heard the news. We always had the radio on.
I was 31 and working in the UK, it was close to 2pm and I was about to finish lunch. We had a shared internet terminal with full access to download installers for drivers, etc as required but it could also play video from the BBC's website, which the usual network that most people used couldn't (it could just see static pages as I recall).
I saw the first plane crash and looked to my immediate left where my line manager was sitting and I vividly remember saying "Kathy, I think you need to see this". I was too busy looking at what was happening to see her reaction to the looping video, but after a few short moments there was a crowd of people behind me taking it all in. Over the next 15-30 minutes both networks just dropped to a crawl (I think quite a few people suddenly remembered the password for the network that they didn't use anymore), and at some points the BBC website was struggling too. In the end a few tannoy announcements went out in the buildings we occupied, because we worked with US companies and there was no way for anyone to get information about people they knew other than to watch a TV.
Credit is due to the teachers in the US that carried on working, where I was it was almost impossible to think about work over the noise in your head of the implications of what had happened.
I saw the first plane crash and looked to my immediate left where my line manager was sitting and I vividly remember saying "Kathy, I think you need to see this". I was too busy looking at what was happening to see her reaction to the looping video, but after a few short moments there was a crowd of people behind me taking it all in. Over the next 15-30 minutes both networks just dropped to a crawl (I think quite a few people suddenly remembered the password for the network that they didn't use anymore), and at some points the BBC website was struggling too. In the end a few tannoy announcements went out in the buildings we occupied, because we worked with US companies and there was no way for anyone to get information about people they knew other than to watch a TV.
Credit is due to the teachers in the US that carried on working, where I was it was almost impossible to think about work over the noise in your head of the implications of what had happened.
Doing the timezone conversions, it would have been near midnight on a school night, so I would have been in bed.
I was on my first day of pass to Sophia, Bulgaria from the KFOR mission in Kosovo. I had a Bulgarian taxi driver turning up the radio, pointing at me and pointing at the radio. All I could understand was blahblahblah New York. By the time I got back to the hotel, it was on the news and I watched tower 2 get hit. Pass was promptly cancelled since they now assumed it was an attack and we shipped back to Kosovo on high alert. We came back from Kosovo a month later and deployed to Afghanistan not long after. Next was Iraq but that's a different story.
The sick irony for me was coming back from a mission based around defending Muslims from being killed by Christians only to be told that the United States had been attacked because we hated Muslims.
The sick irony for me was coming back from a mission based around defending Muslims from being killed by Christians only to be told that the United States had been attacked because we hated Muslims.
I was 6 and coming home from kindergarten. Needless to say, I didn't know what the fuck was going on.