Your 9/11/01 memories

[pg1067]

On Sept. 11, 2001, my wife was teaching middle school (and was pregnant with our first kid, although I'm not sure we knew yet).  I had just started my first job out of law school the day before.

She had about a 45 minute commute and probably left our apartment around 6:30 a.m. PDT.  I had computer system training the first two days of my job and didn't have to be int he office until 9:00, so I was still at home and turned on the TV after she left.  By that time, both WTC buildings had been hit, but neither building had collapsed yet.  I'm pretty sure I was still home when the first building collapsed.  I probably left for work right around when the second one went down.  I was in training with one other new lawyer and the person who was doing the training.  The other lawyer was trying to get in touch with some people she knew in NYC (I don't think anyone who was actually in any of the WTC buildings).

Obviously, it was all over the radio as I drove into the office.  Speculation about whether someone might be targeting Los Angeles was a big topic.

My drive into the office went right under the very end of most flights' approach into LAX, so I saw no planes going overhead for the first couple weeks of my commute.  Once air travel started up again, it was a little eerie for the first few days seeing planes come in so low overhead.

I later found out that one of the partners at my firm was in a building very near the WTC (might have been one of the WTC buildings other than the two towers) for a deposition.  The story, as I heard it, was that, after running out of the building, he headed toward the nearby Hudson River and jumped on a boat that took him over to New Jersey.  He then rented a car and drove back to Los Angeles.  He wanted to make sure to get back because his secretary was getting married the following Saturday.

[Lonk]

I was young (12 years old) and not in the country so don't have much of a story. I remember a friend of mine approaching me at 9:30am and telling me "the twin towers collapsed" and my reaction bein "well that sucks". I didn't really understand what happened until I saw it on the news a bit later and realized what the situation was. I immediately told my mom and we were trying to get in touch with my dad, who was a cab driver at the time in NY. He didn't drive much downtown, but us not hearing from him for a while got us worried.

The moment I do remember vividly was 2 months later, November 12th, when a plane crashed in Queens, NY and everyone thought it was another attack. That plane was headed toward The Dominican Republic (where I was living at the time), and the worry was that my father was flying to see us that day. Luckily his flight was much later in the day and it got cancelled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587

[vtgrad]

I remember the day was damned beautiful... cloudless sky, cool Fall temps in Blacksburg/Radford VA.  Overall a perfect start to a Fall day.

I was somewhere between Sophomore and Junior year at VT and in a class of roughly 1,800 (intro to business systems or something like that) when the AV guys dimmed the lights on the professor and said "we're turning on the projector, you want to see this".  In the din and confusion we were seeing on that huge screen, we actually saw the second plane hit the south tower live (might have been ABC's broadcast).  I was out of my seat and heading for the doors when the professor said "get the hell out of here and off this campus before it's shutdown".  Sooner rather than later, after I got back to my car and was on Prices Fork headed to Radford, campus was shutdown.  I feel like I heard a report of students barricaded in a common area or maybe a dining hall... that may have been bs though.  Lot of bs news was bandied about that day I remember.

Prices Fork Road (a back-door way to get the commuter lot from Radford) passes by the Radford Arsenal, which shutdown before I got to the turn-off; military vehicles were everywhere and the traffic on Prices Fork was slowed to a crawl as vehicles were quickly looked over and allowed to pass.  I was listening to the radio and heard the broadcast that the south tower had collapsed... I honestly didn't believe it.  I was quickly distracted from the radio by jets passing low overhead (A-10s I think) out of the Arsenal.  I was uncomfortable for certain.

When I got to my girlfriend's dorm at Radford (she's now my wife), we watched the north tower collapse together live.  First Virginia Bank (my employer) had closed for the day, as had several businesses large and small, and I went home to watch the remaining events with my dad and mom.  A surreal day.

I remember that drive home and how absolutely gorgeous the day was... I smelled hay as I passed Draper Valley Golf Course and had the sun setting in my eyes and the windows down.  The dichotomy of the events of that day and the day itself have always stuck with me.

[hunnus2000]

I remember the day was damned beautiful... cloudless sky, cool Fall temps in Blacksburg/Radford VA.  Overall a perfect start to a Fall day.

I was somewhere between Sophomore and Junior year at VT and in a class of roughly 1,800 (intro to business systems or something like that) when the AV guys dimmed the lights on the professor and said "we're turning on the projector, you want to see this".  In the din and confusion we were seeing on that huge screen, we actually saw the second plane hit the south tower live (might have been ABC's broadcast).  I was out of my seat and heading for the doors when the professor said "get the hell out of here and off this campus before it's shutdown".  Sooner rather than later, after I got back to my car and was on Prices Fork headed to Radford, campus was shutdown.  I feel like I heard a report of students barricaded in a common area or maybe a dining hall... that may have been bs though.  Lot of bs news was bandied about that day I remember.

Prices Fork Road (a back-door way to get the commuter lot from Radford) passes by the Radford Arsenal, which shutdown before I got to the turn-off; military vehicles were everywhere and the traffic on Prices Fork was slowed to a crawl as vehicles were quickly looked over and allowed to pass.  I was listening to the radio and heard the broadcast that the south tower had collapsed... I honestly didn't believe it.  I was quickly distracted from the radio by jets passing low overhead (A-10s I think) out of the Arsenal.  I was uncomfortable for certain.

When I got to my girlfriend's dorm at Radford (she's now my wife), we watched the north tower collapse together live.  First Virginia Bank (my employer) had closed for the day, as had several businesses large and small, and I went home to watch the remaining events with my dad and mom.  A surreal day.

I remember that drive home and how absolutely gorgeous the day was... I smelled hay as I passed Draper Valley Golf Course and had the sun setting in my eyes and the windows down.  The dichotomy of the events of that day and the day itself have always stuck with me.

I had to do a little Google on Radford Arsenal for you story to make sense. Man, that must have been scary seeing all those military vehicles around and the Warthog's flying around. Your description reminds of the scene from a movie called The Day After before the nukes went off. 

[vtgrad]

No that you mention it, it was a bit like The Day After... everyone trying to process what was happening with an eye to what might happen next.  Uncertainty I think was the worst mental part of that day.

A-10s (I'm almost positive), on the deck, running through the ridges were a sight for certain!

[hunnus2000]

No that you mention it, it was a bit like The Day After... everyone trying to process what was happening with an eye to what might happen next.  Uncertainty I think was the worst mental part of that day.

A-10s (I'm almost positive), on the deck, running through the ridges were a sight for certain!

A-10 Warthogs usually fly low and in pairs and are quite intimidating. They are common around. Actually, so is the Stealth bomber - now those are quite scary! Impressive but scary.

[Stadler]

You'd know an A-10 if you saw one.  They aren't called the "Wart Hog" for nothing (they used to be based here in CT at Bradley; the Air Force friend I refer to at times is/was an A-10 pilot).

[Herrick]

I was 20 years old in my second year of college in Long Island, NY. I don't remember which class I was in. Someone who worked at the college came into the room and said something like, "They crashed planes into the Twin Towers". We were all sent home. The drive home was like going through a ghost town. Hardly anyone was out.