Where were you on September 11th 2001?

RacoonQueen

In school wondering why our English teacher was so late for class, she was too busy watching TV.

strokemyclover

I was in my first "real" job after college. I remember laughing a bit when I heard someone flew a plane into the side of the WTC - I thought it was one of those flimsy 2 man planes. Little did I know!

shinny

I was in our office in Paris when the first plane hit and we didn't know anything about it. We were heading to CDG airport and it was all over the news. My French isn't great so one of the girls I was travelling with was translating. They thought it was an accident at this point.

We were on the plane flying back to Dublin and there was an American guy a few seats back from us. He was on the Sky Phone and told everyone that a plane had hit the Pentagon. I just kept thinking about Sellafield. I was never so happy to land. I think we were one of the last flights out of CDG at the time. I hadn't seen any footage so myself and one of the other people travelling headed back to her house and watched it for the first time. It was so unreal.


I was also thinking about the fact that a collegue and myself were supposed to visit Morgan Stanley around that time but it got cancelled.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Here's some photos I took at 'Ground Zero'.

I love the simple message in the first photo, just a bit of graffiti wrote on the hoarding.

The second photo is a cross made up from some girder from the WTC.

The third is just people looking at the names of the victims - completely surreal experience, as anyone who'd been to NYC will tell you. Its busy and nosy, well that the site when I was taking these photos you could nearly hear your own heart beat!..

ismiseuisce

I was in first year of secondary school. In history class. Our history teacher was American and he burst out crying and left the room.

Was just finished school when I heard about it, ran home and watched it all unfold on sky. Was a crazy crazy day.

Berty

I was working for a US company at the time when the receptionist burst into the conference room

"TURN ON CNN"

After wathcing a few minutes the HR Director ran for the phone at the end of the room saying

"Oh my god Cindy and her guys are in there"

1 guy never made it out though.(of that department at least).

Also, my father was talking to a guy in Tower 2 at 4am(New York time) and nobody, not even his wife, ever spoke to him again after that.

admiralofthefleet

it happened around now, and here i am 9 years later working in a kitchen

arybvtcw0eolkf

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

it happened around now, and here i am 9 years later working in a kitchen

And with one swift turn of the ladle you've probably killed more people too!.

Namabillion

I was in senior infants so arrived home at 2. I was watching tv for a bit before we had to go and collect my brother who finished at 3. When i was trying to turn off the tv by pressing the button it wouldn't turn off. I tried turning it off but it kept coming back on. Next thing rte news came on with the breaking news of the plane crash. The button on tv still dosen't work today.

King Felix

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

it happened around now, and here i am 9 years later working in a kitchen

Same here.

I'm nearly in the exact same spot I was when I heard about it, in a coffeeshop in Amsterdam, a few doors away from where I'm posting this.

There was myself and four Moroccans in the shop. Two were cheering and two were shaking their heads, stunned.

A surreal moment for most people.

admiralofthefleet

India Muscular Home wrote: »

And with one swift turn of the ladle you've probably killed more people too!.

ssssshhhhhhhhhhhh, they call me shipman for nothing

midlandsmissus

I was in 5th year. It happened around 2pm our time didn't it? I remember there was a total news blackout at school, the teachers all knew but no announcement was made. Probably thought we'd all go nuts.

So I didn't find out till 4 O'Clock when my brother picked me up and started raving about 'OMG America under attack, I saw the second plane hit myself!!'. I was more interested in eating my bar of chocolate as I thought he had just gone nuts.

Got home, was rushed to the telly 'LOOK! Oh my god, world ending, terrorism, america under attack'. Still wasn't that interested. To be honest if my brother really gets worked up about something, I'll be really blase, just because I'm a contrary c*nt.
Ya know ...'Tower getting hit by a plane? Sure that's nothing....I've seen worse'
I just remember him gaping at me and going 'the world trade centre's been hit by a PLANE!!!' and me going 'yeah grand, what's for dinner?'

midlandsmissus

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

Just reading through that thread that was posted during the WTC attack and one post just jumped out, talk about hitting the nail on the head concerning the decade following the attacks:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=273673&postcount=62

How is Brummytom on that thread and he's only about 16 now! Boards.ie's youngest evil genius?

rannerap

I was in school, I remember coming home and watching it with my new school uniform on,I was just into second year

banshee_bones

I was in school, was in Double Art when the teacher came in and announced it. Got home and saw it all on Sky News.

WesternNight

midlandsmissus wrote: »

How is Brummytom on that thread and he's only about 16 now! Boards.ie's youngest evil genius?

You can thank a post years after it's been posted/locked, y'know

shinny

National Geographic have loads of documentaries on over the weekend but the one I think will be most interesting (because I've seen all of the others so many times now) is 9/11: I was there. It's on Sunday at 9pm.

New. Moving documentary that reveals remarkable true stories of ordinary individuals whose actions had a major impact on 9/11, offering a brand new perspective on the tragedy

Alicat

In 4th year about to start afternoon study. Teacher walked in and said "A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. Now everybody be quiet and get to work."

We didn't know whether to believe him or not, we weren't allowed ask questions. We all ran out to the bus after school yelling at the bus driver to turn the radio up. It still didn't really hit me until I got home and my dad had Sky News on and I saw the footage.

It still gives me chills today. The few videos of the second plane hitting really turn my blood cold. The panic and the screaming, just awful

herisson

i was coming home from a camogie match that we won we were celebrating with little sweets in the mini bus as ya do when your 10 and i remember the bus went silent when the radio seemed to blast out the twin towers have been attacked we didnt know what they were but we knew it must have been really bad

i remember coming home then and watching it on sky news with my family for the rest of the night

JupiterKid

I will never forget exactly what I was doing on September 11th 2001.:(

I was in my office having just come back from lunch at DIT Bolton Street when my sister in Holland phoned me and told me to get to a television immediately. She said that a plane had just hit the World Trade Centre in New York.

I told my two colleagues when I got off the phone and the three of us went down to the common area in the college where there were a number of staff already gathering and looking up at the TV monitors. The second airplane had just hit the towers at that point. People were stunned and silent. We all just stood there watching the news from Sky News as it came in. As soon as I heard about the other flights and the Pentagon under attack, I felt sick and thought that it might be the end of the world as I knew it.

Seeing the towers collpase one by one and the people leaping off them was truly shocking.

A good friend from the States was over in Ireland at a friend's wedding in Cavan and she was on her way back with her partner and another friend when they heard the news on the radio. She was pretty upset as she had a cousin that was working in the WTC. Nobody went back to their desks in work that day. I met up with my American friend that evening in town and we watched the repeats of the footage of the WTC being destroyed in a pub. We were all numb. My friend had called her mother a few times to find news about her cousin. Fortunately, she later found out that her cousin had escaped alive.

I was in tears by the end of the day.


EDIT: What's the miniumum age to be on Boards.ie? It seems some posters were practically toddlers when 9/11 happened!:eek:

Toots

I was in school when the first plane hit, but nobody knew about it. Then in the car on the way home my mum said that there'd been a horrible accident in New York and plane had crashed into the twin towers. Got in the house and switched on the TV just about when the second plane hit and realised it wasn't an accident at all. They kept showing footage of the second plane over and over again, I'll never forget the horrible sound it made just before it crashed.

messrs

i was in a hotel in barcelona - watching it on tv in front bar, not been able to understand what they were saying as it was all in spanish
american group also there, trying to find channel with news in english so they would no exactly what was going on - very scary just watching and not been able to know what they were saying
cue frantic phone calls to my brother who lives in NYC - he told me what was happening as we just looked at the pictures

gandalf

Had just finished lunch in O'Dwyers in Kilmacud and was heading back to the office with a work colleague. When we were paying at the counter the bar maid said something along the lines of "Did you hear about the plane flying into the Twin Towers in New York", we waited for the punchline but it didn't come as she wasn't telling us a joke. We then went downstairs and saw the footage on Sky News. That afternoon back in the office no work was done. I clearly remember some of the crazy rumours that were doing the rounds all day.

It resonated with me because at the time my sister was working in Boston and was scheduled to take one of the same flights that went into the towers a week later.

LostinKildare

(Sorry so long -- I've never written it down before -- but perhaps someone will be interested)

I was in midtown Manhattan on 9/11.

I was coming up out of the subway onto 35th Street on my way to work when one of my colleagues ran up to me and said he had overheard on a policeman's radio that a plane had just crashed into one of the WTC towers. Strange accident, I thought, I assumed it was a light aircraft.

When I got up to my office everyone was just arriving and turning on their computers. Reports were coming in that it was an airliner, and everyone was buzzing about it. I felt sick thinking of how many people must have died in the plane and tower. We speculated about how many people worked in the tower, and how long it would take to evacuate (when the WTC was bombed in 1993 it took many many hours). A couple of us went up on the roof where we had a view of downtown and could see the gaping smoking hole in the tower. I remember a colleague asked whether I thought the tower might fall and I said absolutely not! -- those buildings can withstand anything

A little while later I was in a meeting when a coworker burst into the conference room in tears and said that another airliner had hit the other tower. Panic broke out immediately. The publisher stood up and said he was closing the office and everybody scrambled out. I went back to my office and saw I had several messages --- rang back my husband, who had been standing on the roof of Queens Hospital and had seen the second plane hit. He told me all the the subways were closed and that Manhattan had been sealed off. He was stuck in an epic traffic jam on the BQE -- the police were stopping and searching all cars because there were reports of more bombs in all the boroughs. We arranged to meet in Brooklyn whenever we could get there. Rang back his family in Ireland to tell them we were okay. Rang my parents, who weren't home, and left them a message. Tried to ring some friends who worked on Wall Street. The phones went dead then so I got my stuff and left.

The scene on the street was surreal. Absolutely everything was closed -- office buildings closed, all shops shuttered, street vendors disappeared. The weirdest thing was that there was no traffic on the street. No taxis, no cars, only shocked-looking people walking around in confusion. A policeman was shouting to evacuate the area because there was a bomb threat to the Empire State building (at the end of the block). Absent another plan, I set off with a friend for her apartment in Chelsea. Bar the odd police car or fire engine that screamed past us on its way downtown, the city seemed to be completely emptied of cars until we saw one parked on 6th Avenue, doors flung open, radio blaring, with probably 100 people gathered around listening in silence.

We kept walking downtown. After 20 blocks or so the human traffic changed, almost everyone walking against us, uptown. We saw more and more shell-shocked people covered in dust, people sitting on the sidewalks crying. When we got to her apartment, her boyfriend had hidden the tv under a table because he didn't want us to watch it. I insisted on turning it on, there were only I think 2 very fuzzy channels that hadn't been knocked out. We heard the towers had fallen. Just sat there in stunned silence and kept thinking of all those people gone and what would happen now.

After a while we got reports that some limited subway service was restored, and there were rumours that bridges to Brooklyn had reopened to foot traffic, so I decided to go. They tried to persuade me to stay -- I was nearly 8 months pregnant, and my baby was trying to kick his way out! -- but I just wanted to go home. Between walking and subway I made my way eventually to Houston Street, which runs across Manhattan demarcating Soho from the Village. Houston was where the police had completely cut off all access to downtown with barricades across every street. The scene there was unreal. Hundreds and hundreds of police. Thousands of people begging cops to allow them to cross barricades to find their loved ones, trying to dodge around them, weeping, screaming, clutching each other, sitting on curbs just keening. Jesus it was devastating, I will never forget it.

I eventually got to the bridge and moved along with thousands of people streaming across. My husband was to pick me up at a bar we knew in Brooklyn Heights. I thought I could sit and relax there but the bar was absolutely jam-packed with people drinking, partying like it was the end of the world and we ought to end it on a high note! I sat outside and waited, watching these huge white flakes fall from the sky, it looked just like what you imagine nuclear fallout to be. There was a burning noxious smell in the air that made your throat hurt and I knew I shouldn't be breathing it.

Finally my husband, freed from the day-long traffic jam, arrived and we got home at about 9.00 that night. We rang around and learned to our great relief that friends we'd been worried about were safe -- one had escaped from the WTC (he was on a low floor), another working in a neighboring building had run away as the first building collapsed. I have never been so tired in my life.

Don Keypunch

In 2nd year History Class with probably the worlds most boring teacher.

rainbowtrout

I had started my first day at work in the job I'm in now (teaching). Went in to collect timetable, meet teachers etc and was left home early so I could prepare for the following day. Had just got in the door at lunchtime and turned on the TV to see the second plane hit. Spent the rest of the day watching the news.

DetectivFoxtrot

I was 22 and was holidaying in NY when it happened. We arrived on the Sunday and it happened on the Tuesday. We were staying with family in Up State NY but were travelling into Manhattan each day to see the sights, go shopping... well that was the plan at least, until the planes hit.

On the morning of the attack we were due to visit the natural history museum and then make our way down to the towers to visit the top floor for a birds eye view of Manhattan. However delayed jet lag set in and we didn't get up as early as we meant to. By the time we got up my husbands uncle came in to us and said you're not going anywhere, and turned on the the tv. We watched it unfold in awe (the first plane had just hit). Naively I thought that it was a minor enough incident at the outset (thought it was a small craft and was just an accident) and said let's go into town anyway. Husbands uncle said, 'you don't get it, all the bridges to Manhattan are closed (we'd have to take The Tapanzee to cross into Manhattan), the phones are down and there's fighter jets overhead, this is a terrorist attack' (we went out to the garden at that point, watching the fighters was jaw dropping). We were told later that the NSA brought the phones down so as to hinder communication in the area, in case other attacks were afoot, not sure how true that is..... people back home were trying to make contact with us all day (it was about 2pm in Dublin).

For the rest of the day we watched the event unfold. A guy living in the house we were staying in worked down in the financial district. No one could make contact with him and the worst was feared. Thankfully he arrived home at about 10pm that night. He was soaked to the bone (said he was forcibly hosed down as he had to have any potential asbestos residue eliminated), he WALKED home from Manhattan, took him hours and hours.... he said he saw a couple of people jump from office windows....

Manhattan was essentially shut down, but a day or so after the attack the bridges started to open. Once it reopened we immediately went there. The whole area was blocked off, and we met the blockade at West Houston and 1st Street (I think that was about 13 blocks from Ground Zero, can't remember). We managed though to get through (diverted through some smaller avenues) and got down as far as 3 blocks from Ground Zero. It was very sad. Every lamp post, window shop etc. already had missing people posters up, there were pictures and vigils being held everywhere in the streets. People were walking around crying, praying, freaking out. Some cries for help were chalked into the pavements "Have you seen such and such, they are 5 ft 4", black hair, was wearing red sweater and jeans", stuff like that; it was heartbreaking. There were army convoys constantly going by, bring supplies to the FDNY and other rescue operatives. Some civilians were pushing trolleys of bottled water, presumably taken from their own shops or something...
We couldn't go any further, but all there was to see was the deathly plume anyway, and to be honest I didn't want to go any further....

Didn't get to see much of Manhattan that holiday and haven't been back since, although I really do want to visit soon.

The first flight allowed out from Manhattan to Dublin happened to be ours, so there was a lot of media attention when we arrived, I recall being interviewed and it being on the news, can't remember what I said.... but I do recall getting stick over it from friends and family!

some pics attached. I have better ones but they're on a different pc that has since died on me, I must actually remove the hard drive and recover the pics.


Pic taken of The towers the evening before, on September 10th, from the Staten Island Ferry




Blockade




Civilians bringing aid




Were the twin towers once stood

RockinRolla

I was actually getting head from Sheila, some foreign exchange bird that was in the college. She wasn't great but at least some towers were being erected that day.

LostinKildare

DetectivFoxtrot wrote: »

Every lamp post, window shop etc. already had missing people posters up, there were pictures and vigils being held everywhere in the streets. People were walking around crying, praying, freaking out. Some cries for help were chalked into the pavements "Have you seen such and such, they are 5 ft 4", black hair, was wearing red sweater and jeans", stuff like that; it was heartbreaking

Yes. That was terrible. All over the city, MISSING posters and little shrines everywhere. Desperate people on street corners would thrust flyers into your hands with pictures of their daughters or fiances or whatever. Convinced that they had survived and were walking around the city somewhere with amnesia.

Because I was pregnant I had to go over to NYU hospital on E 32nd St for doctor's appointments several times. I'd walk over from the westside, and the closer I got to the hospital the more posters and family members I'd see. The hospital was the place where they were coordinating identification of remains, and there was always a large crowd of family and friends outside waiting for the next announcement. That continued for many weeks.