Does anyone care to discuss it remember their thoughts?
I was at the Yahoo home/headlines page. Nothing special. I was refreshing out of restlessness.
Then I refreshed and there was a headline that an airplane had hit one of the wtc towers.
I tried to click thru to the story. But couldn’t. The link was overclicked and yahoo couldn’t pass thru the request, or server could not respond.
At the time I was listening to the Howard Stern show. They were discussing Pamela Anderson, of course. And then someone on the Stern show staff interrupted the show with the news.
At first no one knew what was going on. A big plane? A little plane?
I left the Stern show playing, but turned on a second radio to a news station. They were trying to figure it out A few minutes later the second tower was hit.
Then we knew.
I had not yet seen any pix.
After that, I called my closest friends and family members. Told them to not ask questions and just turn on the tv. Just go. Then on to them next one.
There is this bonding impulse to share, I guess.
One worked nights and was asleep. I told him “wake up. Watch the tv. The world just changed.”.
Did it matter that he knew at that moment? I don’t know.
At the time, felt it did. Once he was awake, he agreed.
By that time the Stern show had caught up. I think they stayed on the air taking calls for 6 more hours, almost without a break. They took calls from viewers on rooftops and from people listening to emergency services feeds and similar.
I remember clearly Robin Quivers’s reaction when the first collapse happened.
At the same time time I ran a news radio and listened backs and forth.
The towers were gone so quickly.
I remember how confusing the day was. So many rumors. After all the 4 attacks, rumors of more. Rumors of military action. Where were the politicians and military leaders? Who knew what? Were military bases and airports under attack?
It took time for the quickie crazy rumors to fall away in favor of facts.
And then there was so much sadness and anger and resolve. and commonality of purpose.
But I remember that show, because it was such a raw and humane response to what was happening as it happened.
(This included mentions of rumors that later turned out to be false/worthless, or deliberately inflammatory.)
From the LAist
Howard Stern’s Broadcast of 9/11 from 2001
Not known for his on-the-spot news coverage, the Howard Stern Show broadcast of the tragedy five years ago remains one of the most compelling accounts of that infamous day.
For years the shock jock was the most popular morning radio show in Los Angeles, and on the morning of 9/11 Stern got the news while talking about Pamela Anderson. The show broadcast about four miles away from the World Trade Center and as soon as his then-General Manager came into the studio to alert him of the initial plane crash, the comedy show immediately turned serious.
Calls from all over the NY area came streaming in and the Stern show became a switchboard of sorts of first-hand reports from ordinary citizens and friends of the show. The range of emotions that ebbed and flowed from the staff and even Howard himself mirrored those of many Americans.
No matter how you may feel personally about the King of All Media, or his brand of humor, what made his show different than others that day was the immediacy and honesty of the callers, hosted by a man who was born and raised in the city.
Over the years many websites have preserved the show via mp3 or streaming media that can be found through a simple Google search.
@f00l I was working 3rds at the time, got home that morning, was listening to the Bob & Sheri show on the local radio station(no one carried stern around here), waiting for one of my HS friends to show up on ICQ so I could wish her a happy birthday.
they mentioned that a plane had hit the world trade center, so I turned on the TV, I hate to admit it, but to Fox and Friends.(I hadn’t figured out that “fair and balanced” was code yet…)
very shortly I watched the second plane hit…
and i was glued to the coverage all the way to the collapse… I forget when i went to bed
Here is an hour and a half restropective on the Stern show that morning. (the show was filmed as normal)
This piece starts a few minutes before the on air cast learned if the attack.
At first, they didn’t know how bad it was.
(Click thru to YouTube for the content)
Here is more brief Conan O’Brien interview, (he was a NYC listener that morning), discussing that show, and the live call-in reports and reactions from locals, with Stern
5-6 years. Yeah I did make some amazing personal connections. Mostly youngish, artistically or intellectually ambitious to a degree, at the time prob single, or no kids. Manhattan wasn’t easy or cheap even then for people with kids.
However, over the decades since, I don’t know now where most of them are. People paired up/got families, or whatever; settled into different lives.
In the 80’s, Manhattan was a blast. It was so possible to have almost no $, and yet have a great life; to see most things you wanted to see, hang out w incredible people. The social scene was very diverse and open to anyone who was interesting.
Now, even the well-off can struggle to afford a tiny closet to live in, there.
My school (and my classroom that morning) had a clear line of sight to the towers and I saw it all happen that day, although I missed the actual impacts.
I visited the observation deck with my dad just 2 or 3 weeks prior to that, at the end of August.
The delayed 2002 release of Spiderman was re-filmed to replace the opening sequence of Ol Spidey capturing a helicopter of escaping bank robbers in a web between the twin towers. It was deemed “too soon” and not as impressive, and didn’t really set the right tone for an opening sequence on top of dating the movie forever.
However, there remains a scene where the towers were left as a reflection in his visor, like a remembrance, and a fitting easter egg.
The PlayStation game of the same name also kept in-game reflections of the towers on other buildings as if they were there, but they were otherwise removed from the game.
The staff of the newspaper where I worked gathered around the TV in our breakroom, watching in shock while this unfolded. It’s surprising that we were able to get the paper to press that day. I remember the fear and sadness of the ensuing days, then the anger came to fore. The desire of every single person to help in some way. I will always remember every emotion from the weeks following 9/11.
I put a CD in the player to listen to as I drove to work that morning, so I had not heard the news until a coworker said something after I arrived. The CD I happened to pick: the soundtrack from the movie “Until The End Of The World”
I was in my first year of community college and sat down in my 9am class to take a test, asked the kid next to me to summarize the book we were getting tested on (bc I didn’t read it) and he told me about the first plane crash.
Upon driving to my 1pm class (bc classes weren’t cancelled till we got there) I saw a man walking down the side of the road in full military gear, knife, gun, water bottle, all the extra stuff and cops come from out of nowhere to surround and arrest him.
We also had military come into town that day bc at the the time about 8 miles down the road from my house was an active nuclear war plant and they were worried that was going to be an area of attack.
I think I actually did listen to the Howard stern show that day while driving to and from class and while not watching the news.
It’s funny the things you remember from such an important day.
I was in the shower getting ready for work when my gf poked her head in and said a plane hit one of the towers. The first thought, as I’m sure many had, was it must have been a small private plane. Someone was either an awful pilot, had a major mechanical issue, or decided to go out in their own spectacular blaze of glory. While curious to hear more, I was finishing up when the second tower was hit. At that point it was clear this was no accident. We had the tv on and were watching updates but I had to leave. I remember pretty much the exact location I had reached while listening to the news in my car that the first tower had fallen. (Gulph Road near the Wawa across from King of Prussia mall for you locals.)
I got to work where I happened to have a small tv on the shelf above my desk. The day was spent with coworkers alternating time around my desk watching the horrors unfold. At the time I worked for an e-commerce company as a CS supervisor, but we weren’t getting many calls that day. Except for one idiot that will always stick with me. A gentleman who ended up being escalated to me because his tennis racquet had not arrived on time the day before and he was pissed. Astonished, I asked him if had been watching the news that day. He said yes and I gently replied, “In the realm of everything happening in our world today, does your racquet arriving a little late really seem that important?” After a pause, he said no, it doesn’t. I promised to follow up with him at a later time. That is the only call I distinctly remember having to take and to this day it’s a reminder of how selfish people can be.
In remembrance to those that lost their lives. And to those that saved lives, those who now live with lingering illnesses caused by the attack, and to the friends and family of them all… thank you for your heroism.
I remember watching it on my little TV after the first tower was struck and as the rest was happening. It was all an “accident” till the second plane hit. Then I knew. I watched my son, born 11/19/99, sleeping in his swing in front of the fireplace. So serene. The world crashing down around him. I wondered what on Earth I was going to say when he was old enough to wonder about this event. I had a pregnant friend, no where near her due date, go into labor. She begged the doctors to do anything they could to keep her son from sharing the day of his birth with this event. He was born 9/12 at 12:02 AM. I wondered about the couples that worked at the building and what would happen when no one came to pick up the kiddos at daycare. It was a day I don’t ever want repeated.
Now my son is a 21 year old imbecile that will tell me to my face that 9/11 was a government conspiracy. He also believes in chemtrails. Ugh, so gullible.
@f00l I really hope it is. My husband and I look at each other like, where’d this kid come from? Oh, us. We messed up somewhere along the way for sure. I think it’s because we let him have friends. lol Oh and no beatings we’re given. Maybe shouldn’t have been so good to him growing up. I mean I love him and all, but where’d he come up with all this foolishness?
I was in the middle of a morning homeschool lesson with my mom when we learned of it. I don’t remember what channel the TV was on, but we saw the second aircraft impact on TV. Most of that day was spent talking to family and friends about it.
I was in my office, a very laid back place. We had the radio going, and they interrupted the song to say a plane had crashed into one of the Towers. We thought it was a joke, until the announcer started sounding very agitated. I vividly remember standing in front of the copy machine, turned to one of my co-workers and said the Afghanis did this. By then, we stopped working to listen, and then the second plane struck. I called my boss, who I knew was on the road on his way in, that I think we should close down. He agreed, I let my co-workers and field workers know, we are shutting down.
My first reaction when I went outside to the parking lot was, what is that smell? I promptly went to the bank, withdrew cash, then headed straight to a supermarket, listening to the news, and trying to wrap.my head around what was happening on this spectacular day. I bought a couple of cases of water, knowing that the NYC reservoirs weren’t too far from me and a potential target. I remember I was the last person able to use my credit card for the purchase, and then the system went down. By the time I got home, I could see the plume of smoke.
I spent the next 2-3 hours trying to reach my elderly parents who were on a bus en route to Atlantic City for the day. They saw the impacts from the bus. They refused to stay overnight in AC, nor would they let my brother who lives in NJ come get them so they could stay at his house. Somehow, the bus driver cajoled the National Guard into letting him back over the George Washington Bridge back into NY.
The smell of the fires lingered for days. I still have the memory of that scent…it was unmistakable. When all was said and done, our little commuter village, pop 6500+/- had lost 8 people in the collapses, including one of our village Trustees.
I also spent way too many days and weeks with a knot in my stomach because a few years prior I had dated an Afghani refugee who had been one of the leaders of the Mujahideen, and fought against the Russians. I kept waiting for the FBI or CIA to show up on my doorstep. Nothing came of it.
When the Tower of Lights was lit, I sat in my car and bawled. When I went to the Museum years later I bawled. I still tear up thinking about that I was so deeply affected and I wasn’t in Manhattan that day, just the outskirts, how profound is the effect on those that were eyewitnesses?
Here is what The Former Guy had to say about 9/11 at the time:
20 years ago, ****** *****’s first comment to the media was to mention, after the towers came down, that a building he owned was now the tallest in lower Manhattan. https://pic.twitter.com/gpn1gYCJNa
We were driving a hundred miles between family members. We turned on the news and got “…airplane crashed into one of the tallest buildings in the world.”
And that was it for several minutes, until the news broadcast cycled back around. Not at all like it happens in TV shows.
A skydiving competition in Kuala Lumpur had been in the news, so my guess was a plane involved in that had hit the Petronas Towers. So it was sad & interesting, but just another news story.
Everything changed in the next few minutes. When we heard it was New York, we were trying to figure out what had happened. And then we got the live news that the second tower had been hit. As others have said, we knew then that it was a deliberate attack. I can remember saying to my wife: “It’s Bin Laden, he’s obsessed with the twin towers.”
They almost pulled us in the door when we arrived, and we were watching live as both towers came down. It was nearly impossible to process or comprehend.
Worldwide flight cancellations are an interesting thing when you’re on the other side of the planet. In the end we got home ok, because our planned return date was still a couple of weeks away, and things had slightly returned to a new normal by then.
But it was far from normal. Armed military and armed police were all over Heathrow, and you just don’t see armed police in England. The airport and the flights were packed, as they were still catching up on the cancelled flights. We saw school groups, F1 teams, pro football (soccer) teams, and countless ordinary people, all anxious to get home.
The bright spot in all this was the universal outpouring of concern, sympathy & support from everyone we met. And I mean “universal” literally. Family & friends, of course. But EVERYONE we met; shopkeepers, hotel staff, petrol station workers, strangers at the next table in a restaurant, etc., etc. all had similar reactions. When they learned we were from America (usually by my accent) the response was: “Did you lose anyone?”, “Are you OK?”, “How close are you to New York?”, “We’re with you!”, etc.
It was amazing, astounding, heartwarming, and very touching. The kind of thing that gives you hope for this troubled world.
Sadly, the US squandered much of that good will in the following years.
/youtube We will never forget
Does anyone care to discuss it remember their thoughts?
I was at the Yahoo home/headlines page. Nothing special. I was refreshing out of restlessness.
Then I refreshed and there was a headline that an airplane had hit one of the wtc towers.
I tried to click thru to the story. But couldn’t. The link was overclicked and yahoo couldn’t pass thru the request, or server could not respond.
At the time I was listening to the Howard Stern show. They were discussing Pamela Anderson, of course. And then someone on the Stern show staff interrupted the show with the news.
At first no one knew what was going on. A big plane? A little plane?
I left the Stern show playing, but turned on a second radio to a news station. They were trying to figure it out A few minutes later the second tower was hit.
Then we knew.
I had not yet seen any pix.
After that, I called my closest friends and family members. Told them to not ask questions and just turn on the tv. Just go. Then on to them next one.
There is this bonding impulse to share, I guess.
One worked nights and was asleep. I told him “wake up. Watch the tv. The world just changed.”.
Did it matter that he knew at that moment? I don’t know.
At the time, felt it did. Once he was awake, he agreed.
By that time the Stern show had caught up. I think they stayed on the air taking calls for 6 more hours, almost without a break. They took calls from viewers on rooftops and from people listening to emergency services feeds and similar.
I remember clearly Robin Quivers’s reaction when the first collapse happened.
At the same time time I ran a news radio and listened backs and forth.
The towers were gone so quickly.
I remember how confusing the day was. So many rumors. After all the 4 attacks, rumors of more. Rumors of military action. Where were the politicians and military leaders? Who knew what? Were military bases and airports under attack?
It took time for the quickie crazy rumors to fall away in favor of facts.
And then there was so much sadness and anger and resolve. and commonality of purpose.
@f00l
Fwiw, that’s day’s Stern show used to be available on torrent sites.
Usually several downloads? I think one hour per torrent? Or something?
I don’t know if that day’s show is still out there for anyone to get. If so: it’s fascinating listening.
If I remember, the Stern show later raised a ton of $ for survivors, families, and rescue people? My memory is not clear on this tho.
I wonder if Sirius will re-broadcast that show. Stern owns his old content, so Sirius can do that if the show wishes.
@f00l
Fwiw
(If anyone is interested)
I am NOT trying to sell the HS show here.
But I remember that show, because it was such a raw and humane response to what was happening as it happened.
(This included mentions of rumors that later turned out to be false/worthless, or deliberately inflammatory.)
From the LAist
Howard Stern’s Broadcast of 9/11 from 2001
https://laist.com/news/howard-sterns-broadcast-of-911-from-2001
Various links to that show (Google), and links to discussions by others, including newscasters and commentators, of that show.
https://www.google.com/search?q=howard+stern+broadcast+9%2F11
@f00l I was working 3rds at the time, got home that morning, was listening to the Bob & Sheri show on the local radio station(no one carried stern around here), waiting for one of my HS friends to show up on ICQ so I could wish her a happy birthday.
they mentioned that a plane had hit the world trade center, so I turned on the TV, I hate to admit it, but to Fox and Friends.(I hadn’t figured out that “fair and balanced” was code yet…)
very shortly I watched the second plane hit…
and i was glued to the coverage all the way to the collapse… I forget when i went to bed
@earlyre
For anyone interested
Here is an hour and a half restropective on the Stern show that morning. (the show was filmed as normal)
This piece starts a few minutes before the on air cast learned if the attack.
At first, they didn’t know how bad it was.
(Click thru to YouTube for the content)
Here is more brief Conan O’Brien interview, (he was a NYC listener that morning), discussing that show, and the live call-in reports and reactions from locals, with Stern
https://www.google.com/search?q=remembering+9%2F11&biw=376&bih=596&tbm=vid&ei=ODo8YZOPHcH1-gTYlrIQ&oq=remembering+9%2F11&gs_lcp=ChBtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXZpZGVvEAEYADILCAAQgAQQsQMQgwEyCwgAEIAEELEDEIMBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyCwgAEIAEELEDEIMBOgYIABAHEB46BAgAEB46CAgAEAgQBxAeOgQIABANUJQdWPI4YI1BaAFwAHgAgAGnAYgB0Q-SAQQwLjE2mAEAoAEBqgEQbW9iaWxlLWd3cy12aWRlb8ABAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-video#ip=1
Remembering 9-11 search
One of my favorite photos, from another, earlier era.
Taken from the top of the WTC
(if I remember, from Tower One):
Moon Over Manhattan
From WSJ
(I think this story isn’t firewalled. Hope not.)
On 9/11, Split-Second Decisions by Employees at ICAP Affected the Rest of Their Lives
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-9-11-split-second-decisions-by-employees-at-icap-affected-the-rest-of-their-lives-11631093402
@f00l
Firewalled.
Were you in NY when it happened?
@Kyeh
No. Manhattan had by then long since become so much less affordable. I was there during the 1980’s.
@f00l Oh, I see. For how long? Long enough to have a lot of familiarity and memories, I’m sure.
@Kyeh
5-6 years. Yeah I did make some amazing personal connections. Mostly youngish, artistically or intellectually ambitious to a degree, at the time prob single, or no kids. Manhattan wasn’t easy or cheap even then for people with kids.
However, over the decades since, I don’t know now where most of them are. People paired up/got families, or whatever; settled into different lives.
In the 80’s, Manhattan was a blast. It was so possible to have almost no $, and yet have a great life; to see most things you wanted to see, hang out w incredible people. The social scene was very diverse and open to anyone who was interesting.
Now, even the well-off can struggle to afford a tiny closet to live in, there.
@f00l @Kyeh Private mode in Firefox worked for me.
@blaineg @f00l I’ll try that, thanks.
WSJ has made available digital content from the issue of Sept 12, 2001
https://wsjse-ny.newsmemory.com/?date=20010912&mod=ANLink
Cnn coverage from that Morning
(2 hours 43 min)
My school (and my classroom that morning) had a clear line of sight to the towers and I saw it all happen that day, although I missed the actual impacts.
I visited the observation deck with my dad just 2 or 3 weeks prior to that, at the end of August.
The delayed 2002 release of Spiderman was re-filmed to replace the opening sequence of Ol Spidey capturing a helicopter of escaping bank robbers in a web between the twin towers. It was deemed “too soon” and not as impressive, and didn’t really set the right tone for an opening sequence on top of dating the movie forever.
However, there remains a scene where the towers were left as a reflection in his visor, like a remembrance, and a fitting easter egg.
The PlayStation game of the same name also kept in-game reflections of the towers on other buildings as if they were there, but they were otherwise removed from the game.
@mike808 That’s pretty neat. A respectful tribute. What does ‘OI’ stand for, in this context?
@PooltoyWolf Colloquial shortening of “Old”. As in “Good Old Spiderman”.
@mike808 Oh, thanks! I saw a capital ‘I’, rather than a lowercase ‘l’. Im used to seeing the euphemism spelled with an apostrophe, i.e. Ol’ Ironsides
@PooltoyWolf I was lazy as I have to shift to the symbols keyboard to get an apostrophe on my phone.
@mike808 Gotcha
The staff of the newspaper where I worked gathered around the TV in our breakroom, watching in shock while this unfolded. It’s surprising that we were able to get the paper to press that day. I remember the fear and sadness of the ensuing days, then the anger came to fore. The desire of every single person to help in some way. I will always remember every emotion from the weeks following 9/11.
I put a CD in the player to listen to as I drove to work that morning, so I had not heard the news until a coworker said something after I arrived. The CD I happened to pick: the soundtrack from the movie “Until The End Of The World”
I was in my first year of community college and sat down in my 9am class to take a test, asked the kid next to me to summarize the book we were getting tested on (bc I didn’t read it) and he told me about the first plane crash.
Upon driving to my 1pm class (bc classes weren’t cancelled till we got there) I saw a man walking down the side of the road in full military gear, knife, gun, water bottle, all the extra stuff and cops come from out of nowhere to surround and arrest him.
We also had military come into town that day bc at the the time about 8 miles down the road from my house was an active nuclear war plant and they were worried that was going to be an area of attack.
I think I actually did listen to the Howard stern show that day while driving to and from class and while not watching the news.
It’s funny the things you remember from such an important day.
I was in the shower getting ready for work when my gf poked her head in and said a plane hit one of the towers. The first thought, as I’m sure many had, was it must have been a small private plane. Someone was either an awful pilot, had a major mechanical issue, or decided to go out in their own spectacular blaze of glory. While curious to hear more, I was finishing up when the second tower was hit. At that point it was clear this was no accident. We had the tv on and were watching updates but I had to leave. I remember pretty much the exact location I had reached while listening to the news in my car that the first tower had fallen. (Gulph Road near the Wawa across from King of Prussia mall for you locals.)
I got to work where I happened to have a small tv on the shelf above my desk. The day was spent with coworkers alternating time around my desk watching the horrors unfold. At the time I worked for an e-commerce company as a CS supervisor, but we weren’t getting many calls that day. Except for one idiot that will always stick with me. A gentleman who ended up being escalated to me because his tennis racquet had not arrived on time the day before and he was pissed. Astonished, I asked him if had been watching the news that day. He said yes and I gently replied, “In the realm of everything happening in our world today, does your racquet arriving a little late really seem that important?” After a pause, he said no, it doesn’t. I promised to follow up with him at a later time. That is the only call I distinctly remember having to take and to this day it’s a reminder of how selfish people can be.
In remembrance to those that lost their lives. And to those that saved lives, those who now live with lingering illnesses caused by the attack, and to the friends and family of them all… thank you for your heroism.
I remember watching it on my little TV after the first tower was struck and as the rest was happening. It was all an “accident” till the second plane hit. Then I knew. I watched my son, born 11/19/99, sleeping in his swing in front of the fireplace. So serene. The world crashing down around him. I wondered what on Earth I was going to say when he was old enough to wonder about this event. I had a pregnant friend, no where near her due date, go into labor. She begged the doctors to do anything they could to keep her son from sharing the day of his birth with this event. He was born 9/12 at 12:02 AM. I wondered about the couples that worked at the building and what would happen when no one came to pick up the kiddos at daycare. It was a day I don’t ever want repeated.
Now my son is a 21 year old imbecile that will tell me to my face that 9/11 was a government conspiracy. He also believes in chemtrails. Ugh, so gullible.
@milstarr
Maybe this (conspiracy nut stuff) in your offspring is a phase.
I hope so.
@f00l I really hope it is. My husband and I look at each other like, where’d this kid come from? Oh, us. We messed up somewhere along the way for sure. I think it’s because we let him have friends. lol Oh and no beatings we’re given. Maybe shouldn’t have been so good to him growing up.
I mean I love him and all, but where’d he come up with all this foolishness?
@f00l @milstarr
Maybe you and your husband shouldn’t have hogged all the good DNA for yourselves.
@milstarr Dang, I’m sorry to hear that about your son. X.x Amazing story about the childbirth.
Letterman monologue, Sept 17, 2001
(First show back on the air afterwards)
9/11 Hero Helped Wounded Man Down 60 Flights in Burning Tower. 20 Years Later, Their Bond Endures
Originally from USAToday
https://news.yahoo.com/9-11-hero-helped-wounded-180629603.html
I was in the middle of a morning homeschool lesson with my mom when we learned of it. I don’t remember what channel the TV was on, but we saw the second aircraft impact on TV. Most of that day was spent talking to family and friends about it.
I was in my office, a very laid back place. We had the radio going, and they interrupted the song to say a plane had crashed into one of the Towers. We thought it was a joke, until the announcer started sounding very agitated. I vividly remember standing in front of the copy machine, turned to one of my co-workers and said the Afghanis did this. By then, we stopped working to listen, and then the second plane struck. I called my boss, who I knew was on the road on his way in, that I think we should close down. He agreed, I let my co-workers and field workers know, we are shutting down.
My first reaction when I went outside to the parking lot was, what is that smell? I promptly went to the bank, withdrew cash, then headed straight to a supermarket, listening to the news, and trying to wrap.my head around what was happening on this spectacular day. I bought a couple of cases of water, knowing that the NYC reservoirs weren’t too far from me and a potential target. I remember I was the last person able to use my credit card for the purchase, and then the system went down. By the time I got home, I could see the plume of smoke.
I spent the next 2-3 hours trying to reach my elderly parents who were on a bus en route to Atlantic City for the day. They saw the impacts from the bus. They refused to stay overnight in AC, nor would they let my brother who lives in NJ come get them so they could stay at his house. Somehow, the bus driver cajoled the National Guard into letting him back over the George Washington Bridge back into NY.
The smell of the fires lingered for days. I still have the memory of that scent…it was unmistakable. When all was said and done, our little commuter village, pop 6500+/- had lost 8 people in the collapses, including one of our village Trustees.
I also spent way too many days and weeks with a knot in my stomach because a few years prior I had dated an Afghani refugee who had been one of the leaders of the Mujahideen, and fought against the Russians. I kept waiting for the FBI or CIA to show up on my doorstep. Nothing came of it.
When the Tower of Lights was lit, I sat in my car and bawled. When I went to the Museum years later I bawled. I still tear up thinking about that I was so deeply affected and I wasn’t in Manhattan that day, just the outskirts, how profound is the effect on those that were eyewitnesses?
Here is what The Former Guy had to say about 9/11 at the time:
You draw your own conclusions.
@mike808 omg
Danggg, #45 never knew when to shut his trap. That was ice cold, even for him.
I was in England when it happened.
We were driving a hundred miles between family members. We turned on the news and got “…airplane crashed into one of the tallest buildings in the world.”
And that was it for several minutes, until the news broadcast cycled back around. Not at all like it happens in TV shows.
A skydiving competition in Kuala Lumpur had been in the news, so my guess was a plane involved in that had hit the Petronas Towers. So it was sad & interesting, but just another news story.
Everything changed in the next few minutes. When we heard it was New York, we were trying to figure out what had happened. And then we got the live news that the second tower had been hit. As others have said, we knew then that it was a deliberate attack. I can remember saying to my wife: “It’s Bin Laden, he’s obsessed with the twin towers.”
They almost pulled us in the door when we arrived, and we were watching live as both towers came down. It was nearly impossible to process or comprehend.
Worldwide flight cancellations are an interesting thing when you’re on the other side of the planet. In the end we got home ok, because our planned return date was still a couple of weeks away, and things had slightly returned to a new normal by then.
But it was far from normal. Armed military and armed police were all over Heathrow, and you just don’t see armed police in England. The airport and the flights were packed, as they were still catching up on the cancelled flights. We saw school groups, F1 teams, pro football (soccer) teams, and countless ordinary people, all anxious to get home.
The bright spot in all this was the universal outpouring of concern, sympathy & support from everyone we met. And I mean “universal” literally. Family & friends, of course. But EVERYONE we met; shopkeepers, hotel staff, petrol station workers, strangers at the next table in a restaurant, etc., etc. all had similar reactions. When they learned we were from America (usually by my accent) the response was: “Did you lose anyone?”, “Are you OK?”, “How close are you to New York?”, “We’re with you!”, etc.
It was amazing, astounding, heartwarming, and very touching. The kind of thing that gives you hope for this troubled world.
Sadly, the US squandered much of that good will in the following years.