All,

I only wish to ask that all stop and reflect for a moment during your day on where you were on that morning five years ago. Remember what you were feeling; remember what felt important and what did not.

I was just pulling into the work parking lot when I heard of the first crash into the WTC building. I was listening to DC101 and thought it was a pretty sick joke. I hurried down the stairwell and into the center to turn on the television. By noon, another service member and I were collecting snacks/drinks from local supermarkets to take to the blood drive center. People were waiting 4-5 hours, literally, just to give blood because that was the only way they could help. Later that day I headed over to the fire station. We all wanted to be ready and to help in any way.

I remember driving I-95 for a couple of weeks afterwards. Somber, considerate, and passive would be appropriate words to describe drivers during that window of time.

No matter what you think of our country's leadership... no matter where you live... we all reap the benefits of those before us and those serving the United States of America now. Take a moment today to thank those at home and abroad that continue to protect one's right to have the freedoms we do.

Thank you.

 

I was on 395 north when the first plane flew into the WTC, I was on my way to a friends out to pick her up to go to school. While waiting for her to get ready I turned the TV on and there it was, the building on fire. All the reports were a small personal plane flew into the tower, but I had a bad feeling about it all and it definetely looked worse then a small little plane flying in........

Then they started interviewing someone, and had an outside camera shot at the bulding when all the sudden the second plane flew right into the other building...... This was when my bad feelings about it all were confirmed and the reporters announced that the planes were hijacked commercial airlines.....

The rest of the day was a blur, didn't make it to school, just sat in front of the tv all day watching the news.....

 

i was in my college geography class, my freshman year at the time. i came out of class to smoke a cigarette and saw on the TV that the first plane had already flown in. after class was over we were all glued to the TV down in the common area and saw the 2nd one fly in. i was speechless.

soon after they cancelled classes for the day and then the plane hit the pentagon.....what a freakin day. all we could do at the time was pray for the best. me and some friends finally left school and had to get away to get our minds off what the hell just happened.

this country is so much stonger now and i thank God everyday that i live here in this country

 

I was on 95 with an ex from Vermont heading back home from seeing my sister who lived down here. We didn't see the planes hit, but we watched both buildings fall. My sister called and told me DC was being hit as well. At that time there were still a lot of unconfirmed incidents in the DC area. We raced into the bronx where my mom lived to check on her and to help out. My mom was okay so I drove to the scene (as close as I could get anyways) but they turned down our help. Pretty much the most useless I've ever felt.

Thank you Skip for starting this thread. I didn't know anyone in the buildings personally, but my sister did. If something bothers my sister, it bothers me. A lot of good people were lost that day. I'll never forget.

 

I was in my office across from Union Station...I ended up walking home to Rosslyn late morning instead of getting on the subway. By chance, met up with my cousin from AZ outside the Willard Hotel where he was staying. Took a break there for awhile and made a couple of calls. Cell phones were jammed, along with traffic. It was surreal.

Gave an interview to German television while walking down Constitution Ave toward the Roosevelt Bridge. Went past the burning Pentagon. Since my condo overlooks the side of the Pentagon that was hit, I was able to view the efforts to put out the fires and the progress toward rebuilding over the next year. Quite an experience...this morning in the dark I looked out and saw several beacons shining into the sky from the Pentagon grounds. Also, lots of flags are hanging from buildings and bridges in the area. A nice tribute.

 

I was at work that morning. My office, at the time, was about 1 block away from the White House. I was working as a business trainer.

I got the call from my boss (who was off that day) about what had happened. I immeadiatly brought everyone into our large training room to discuss what had happened (my students were all Japanese nationals). We had no TV so I was getting reports by phone. As soon as the plane hit the Pentagon, I evacuated the students to my place up the street in Dupont Circle. It was about a 20 minute walk.

I will never forget that walk. It was total chaos. By the time we got to Dupont Circle, folks on the street were saying that planes had hit both the White House and the Capitol Building... People were everywhere trying to get out of Dodge. Just chaos. My cell phone stopped working so I really had no idea what was going on. Thank God we all made it to Dupont Circle.

We got to my place and turned on the TV. All of us (about 30) just sat there staring at the TV not believing what was happening. Some of my students headed out on foot (they lived locally) most ended up spending the nite. Couldn't get anywhere... No Metro and the streets were jammed.

I have not, nor will I ever, forget that day.

I have made my peace with how I felt that day; angry, scared, hateful. But I will always take a moment in early September to remember those that were lost and those that have lost. Maybe, someday, it will hurt less. So far, it hasn't.

 

I worked for Lockheed Martin at the time and was doing new employee orientation.
I remember that morning well. It was sunny, clear and cool. When it happened, I called my wife.
For less the obvious reasons, I was suprised that she did not know it was happening.

My old LM building is in the direct landing path for BWI. When those planes coming you can literally see the pilots in the cockpit. I can remember walking out to the entrance patio that morning as the situation unfolded. I can remember watching more plane come into BWI that morning as we were "emptying" the skies.

It was an eerie feeling looking up at those planes. And it was an even more eerie feeling in the days that followed, not having the rumble of the planes overhead. and then when they started back to regular operations....F15's were not an uncommon site.

I had relatives that "escaped" WTC - 7 early in the morning and I have close friends who worked in that part of Manhattan.

Looking back on the day, our lives were changed in so many ways. I can honestly say that I am glad I do what I do professionally. There are so many people doing the difficult task of protecting our freedoms (both here and abroad).


They need and deserve our support.

 

On Spet 11, 2001 i was still in college in NC. The campus had never been so quiet. All i wanted was to hear from my family up here in NOVA, i knew they were ok because none of them work in or around the pentagon. But, as i'm sure alot of you did, i just wanted to tell my family that i loved them. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost their lives and those who lost loved ones on that day.

 

I had just gotten off my 12 hour shift with the police department, came home, and hopped into bed. My pager and my cell went off an hour later and the dispatcher told me to turn on the t.v. and head back to the department. I got up took a quick shower, put on my uniform, vest, and gear and headed out. At the time, I had a take home car and headed out with lights and siren to HQ. On the way to HQ, I turned on the radio and heard a plane had just hit the Pentagon. At that moment in time, on the police radio, the interagency call came out to all jurisdictions that Arlington PD needed any help they could get to the Pentagon. I radioed in to HQ that I was headed to the Pentagon to assist as needed. On the way there, there were a lot of police vehicles just screaming down the road headed in the same direction. When I got there (which was only a few minutes after the crash), there was chaos everywhere. I parked my cruiser and jumped out. I ran towards the open hole in the Pentagon. I saw a friend of mine who was a VA State Trooper, and he was helping pulling people out and away from the Pentagon. He handed me a young lady he was carrying, and I took her across the lawn, into a safe area. He headed back to help more people. As I was laying the lady down, I recalled hearing a series of explosions going off in the Pentagon. I ran back towards the hole, only to be met with searing heat. I helped a few people who I saw that were still trying to get away, into a safer area. I then saw my friend once again, attempting to pull more people from the wreckage. He stumbled out and I assisted him to a safer area. He had a hard time breathing, and ended up dying that day. From what I could gather, he went in 3 times that day to pull people out of the wreckage and the fumes got the better of him. Just a normal VA State Trooper, who went above and beyond what he had to do and gave up his life doing so. I will miss him, but more importantly, so will his wife and three kids.

So in all of this, please stop all the conspiracy theories. Please understand that a terrible thing happened this day, September 11, 2001 and to remember that this nation and it's citizens, strongly held fast. We gave up a lot of good lives that day, and to just remember the good that can come out and not the bad.

 

I was at school, sleeping when my brother called me to turn on the TV, that "we were under attack". Tired, I asked what channel. "Any channel, it's all over the TV" he replied.

I turned on the TV, the History Channel was on from the previous night. "It's not on the History Channel" I said. "It most certainly will be." he replied.

I felt helpless w/ one of my parents working in an important federal building, We both tried calling but all cell signals were jammed... About 2 hours later I got a call from my parent saying that they were evacuated almost immediately after the Pentagon was struck.

Two of my fraternity brothers enlisted with the Army that day... craziness.