Please take the time to give 2 min. silence - it's a pittance of time, let us never forget those lost while we recall where we were that dark day....
For Freedom
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I remember the absolutely crystal blue skies in NY state that day.  It was a beautiful September day.  The kids had just gone back to school, I was home with just my little one, barely over a year old.  I had just stepped out of the shower when the phone rang.

Clark was calling me from the base (Fort Drum 10th Mountain Div.), he asked if I was watching CNN.  I made some off the cuff remark that "duh, I have a 1 year old at home, Sesame Street maybe, CNN?? No!".  He said go turn it on, someone just flew a plane into the WTC.  Then he said "Oh My God, did you see that??" It didn't sink in, I was standing in a towel and told him I'd call him back.  I got dressed, went downstairs and turned the TV to CNN.  The OMG was because he was watching the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower.

I called him back and we talked a bit, he was in military mode so I didn't get to talk to him long.  Then I sat riveted to the television, and watched as a 3rd plane (initially thought to be a helicopter) crashed into the pentagon.  I knew better than to try and call Clark on the base, so I sent him an email that said "Should I be getting scared now?"  He replied with one word  - "Yes"

At 1:00 p.m. he pulled up in front of the house.  All the fear of that day deepened 10 fold because I knew there was only one reason he was home.  He quietly loaded all his mobility gear into the back of his car and kissed me deeply and wiped away my tears, then kissed his son of only a year, and said "I don't know when I'll be home again"  I had a million questions, and knew that he could answer none of them.  I told him to call the first chance he got.

As I watched him drive away I was mixed with a sense of terrible grief and fear because I truly did not know when I would see him again, or IF I would see him again.  But more than that, I held a sense of pride that carried me through that dark day.

The skies were very blue that day, and without a cloud in the NY sky, the rain of a million tears fell upon us...

Cat
   

I was right here on ch.com when Ruth called and told me to turn on the TV. Two times I will never forget where I was.  JFK being assassinated and this.

I was just getting my hair cut when I heard on the radio that a small tourist plane had crashed into the WTC. It was only when I got home did I turn on TV to see minutes later the first tower come crashing down.

I'd booked a last minute holiday in Mexico for two weeks the day before with the flight due to take off in the early hours of the 12th. With the total chaos, nobody had a clue what was happening. I knew someone in one of the WTC towers and heard he had got out, as had his new wife from the other tower. Someone else I knew heard the plane crash into the Pentagon.

The holiday still happened. We were on one of the first flights to fly accross the Atlantic, although US airspace was still closed (I always wonder if we were followed by US fighters as the plane flew just outside of US airspace).

I had a late working schedule back then, the alarm was set for music at 9am.  It clicked on waking me but it was my day off, I didn't need to get up so laid back with eyes closed just listening.

Then the DJ I've listened to since the 60's broke in after a song with a very concerned tone I've never heard before and will never forget, announcing hesitantly disbelieving-like another jet has now crashed into the second tower.  Something was definitely wrong

I jumped up immediately to the TV and stayed glued all day as the extent of the plot kept unfolding with continuing disaster and death.

Never before and never again.

I was at work when our Kleen-Flow Salesman came in (he always comes in and starts out with a joke) and said:
"Did you hear about the two planes that have hit the World Trade Center?"
I replied " No, what is the punch line?"
He said " No, really, it is not a joke, it is really happening!!!" then he went over and changed our radio station to the one he was listening to in his car and from that moment till now mine and so many others lives have changed forever.... :'(
Angie's and mine cousin Hans is a pilot for American Airlines and was in the air at that very time and his flight was re-routed, and landed safely. He say's flying has changed forever for him...
Our prayers for all who have lost their lives on that day 9/11 :(

Home  - about to walk the dog.  A neighbor walking by mentioned it as I was leaving the driveway.  I turned around and cried for three days.

RIP Commander Dan Shanower, who died in the Pentagon that fateful day.  He and I went to the same college for a year.

I had just fed the kids breakfast and was on the phone with my friend Sue making a cup of coffee in the kitchen.  The kids started saying something about a plane flying into some building in NY, and I asked them what cartoon they were watching.  They said "no Mommy it's on the news". 

I came around the corner to see what nonsense they were talking about, when the second plane hit.  I told Sue to turn the news on and I'd call her back.

The kids asked if it was safe to walk to school, and I said that NY was very far away, but I'd walk them there if that made them feel better.

The rest of the day I was glued to the TV and to the computer gathering as much news as I could.  But something inside me died that day.

Sort of poetic that the sky is shedding tears today.

In my car, heading west on I-20, just between Minden and Bossier City LA.  I was listening to NPR when the radio announcer broke in with the news that the fist plane had hit the tower.  I thought that this was a hoax, something along the lines of the War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles in 1938 (of course it couldn't be real!).  Then the announcer breads in and says that a second plane has flown into the tower.

I went on to my store call on the other side of Shreveport.  Walked into the store, people everywhere were just standing around, some in shock, some were crying. 

Right about that time, Barksdale AFB was put on lockdown.

Forget?  never.

I was at my girlfriends house helping her clean her house and visit with her watching cnn also.  I saw it as it happened on cnn.  We were in shock and disbelief.  We sat there glued to the tv that day crying the whole time.  I will never forget those images.

I was late going to work after an all nighter with the head.  I had just gotten out of the shower when my son called from the house I was supposed to be working in.  They had found an old TV in an upstairs bedroom that had been left behind and turned it on to see if it worked.  The first plane had just hit.  Needless to say, the whole crew was standing around the TV watching it and Rich called me.  I turned on our TV just in time to watch the 2nd plane hit.  I never did go to work that day, and nothing else was done on the house either.  The next day my second son, Rob, decided he was going into the Marines, and the Marines told me I'm to old and fat (a LITTLE more politely than that).

Will I ever forget? NO!  Do I hold it against all Muslims? No, there is ONE who has told me he was sorry it happened, that it was an abomination to Allah.  I don't hold it against HIM.

Jerry

I was on a smoke break at my old job when our supervisor came outside and told us of a plane that flew into the 1st tower that she heard on the radio (we had it on all day).  There were only 6 of us that worked there, and 5 of us were there that day.  We all went back inside and listened as we heard the announcer say that this was all really happening and not a hoax.  Our supervisor told us through her tears that we could all go home and when I arrived, I turned on the TV to see that a 2nd plane had also hit.  I then phoned my husband, who was working out of town, and he told me of how he saw it live on TV.

My eyes were glued to the TV the rest of the day and I remember going outside for a cig and noticing nothing but an eerie stillness in the sky.  We live 30 min from an airport, so it was really weird.

I think the things that affected me the most that day were watching the people jumping out the windows and all the pictures put up all over the city looking for loved ones.

:(

Like most I heard on the radio a small plane had hit the WTC and most thought it was still an accident.  Left work and spent the remainder of the day watching tv in disbelief.  Watched the 2nd plane hit, people waving from the towers helplessly, the occasional "jumpers" and not believing what I just witnessed, the towers falling, all unfolding on live tv.  Later learning that the plane that went down in PA when veering off-course actually flew over our city.  It was like an out-of-body experience that day.  So surreal, couldn't wrap my mind around what I was witnessing.

My field is somewhat political and the daily workings of government greatly impact our day-to-day operations.  Knowing politicians never agree on ANYTHING the most uplifting event of the day for me came when the members of Congress, in a sign of solidarity and unity, took to the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America".  It gave me chills and I remember wondering how many realized what a profound moment in history THAT was.

God Bless those that were lost and their loved ones.

I was hanging rafters on a house in Texarkana when it came over the radio.

I was at work.  My boss's wife call and said that a plane had crashed into one of the towers.  We had no TV in our office, but we had one of those tiny little handheld TV's that we had gotten as a freebie from somewhere.

I pulled it out and plugged it in next to my desk and my boss and I looked at it watching the fires in the first building.  My boss walked back toward his office as I hollered out OMG, another plane just hit the second tower.

We both sat in chairs watching this two inch square TV screen understanding immediately that this was no accident.

My boss had walked back again toward his office a little later when I again hollered to him "they hit the Pentagon"!  Again we sat hunched together, and we stayed that way through the plane crashing in the field.

I agree, this I will always know exactly where I was and what I was doing right along with JFK.

Let us never become complacent and let us never forget!

Sandy

I was here looking at email and thinking about a haircut. I took a look at the news and postponed it for a week.

Charlie

I had not be diagnosed with CH yet and was was told this time my headaches were caused by my bite being off so I had just had four teeth pull and braces put on the day before. I was laying on the couch after sending the kids off to school. I was contemplating whether or not I wanted to live another day with all of this pain that no one understood or seem to be able to stop when I turned on the news. PERSPECTIVE 

I was on my way to work....stopped at 7-11 for coffee and it was playing live on the TV...clerk said "we've just witnessed the first shots of world war 3."

Joe

I was getting ready for work when my girlfriend called me and said to turn on the TV, I did in time to see the second plane hit. I will never forget this and to this day I have to change the channel when they show the towers getting hit, it just makes my blood boil when I see it so I have to look away. I like others watched in horror and wished I was still in the military so I could help give some payback and if I had been able to I would have gone back in to do just that. We are the most powerful country in the world so someone please tell me why we still can’t find the prick that set this up?

I recall that day clearly. I was getting ready to move to UK, to London, that week for my university studies. I picked up traveler's checks from the bank and walked home with my friend Laura.

When I got home, afternoon my time, I turned on the TV and saw special news broadcast. The anchor told what had happened and then I saw the live feed. So I saw the second plane live and so on.

I didn't need to be American to cry. I didn't need to know anyone from there to feel terrified. I called mom and left a message on her mobile, she was on a meeting - but had heard the news via radio.

We watched TV the rest of the day, special program after another for the next few days.

I know that many are angry at God because of what happened, but for me, personally, that week shows how He works on mysterious ways: I was originally due to fly to London on September 12, morning flight. But I changed my flight long before because my cousin, who lives in London, could not pick me up on that day, so I left on the Saturday on the same week. And, in retrospect, I don't think anyone could have made me fly anywhere on September 12.

Sanna

I was in Pensacola Florida with the Navy. We all got called in to the hangars and they rolled a TV in and we just sat there with our jaws on the floor.

That didn't last long. We went to D security base-wide. Which means nobody comes and nobody goes. Shotgun watch at all building entrances, 100% ID checks...even in uniform. Sandbagging all water facing buildings as if a hurricane was coming, and standing watch every other shift. I didn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time for a week.

Everything changed in the blink of an eye. I went from peace time service to fighting a war in less than that. It was totally crazy. I lived off base with my wife and kids, but didn't get to go home for 2 days. I didn't have a barracks room, so I slept in the Electrician's school on a couch between watches.

I'm so glad to have been of service in those times. I believe I was able to make a difference and look back to my military career with a somber smile. I wish I was able to do more still. I have several pen pals that are still serving over seas and I encourage everyone of you to do that. You don't know the power of receiving a letter from home. Just a little note saying Hi and thanks would suffice.

I will remember that day for ever.

My life changed forever on that day...i missed the first plane and had cnn or fox on,drinking my coffee getting ready to leave for work as i was listening to the reporter with both towers in the background as the second plane hit,i remember spitting out coffee as i screamed during the second plane...A very sad day indeed...i ended up taking off that day and the rest of the week...i can only hope that these little punk ass terrorist get 72 wild cavemen each to corn-hole them several times a day as they rot in hell.....Lenny

I was sitting here at my desk  here at the TV Station, listening to (not watching) my television monitor, with the volume turned down real low.

All of a sudden I heard all hell break out in the control room... I looked up and there it was.. right before my eyes..

I stared in amazement, than I started to cry....

No, I will never forget that day... Never