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21st Anniversary of Sept 11, 2001

HumblePi

HumblePi

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Today is the 21st anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Where were you the morning of 9-11?

I think we can all remember that day with clarity. I was at work in the middle of a Medicare inspection, I was manager of a home respiratory company. Our meeting was interrupted by a knock on the door by one of my employees, "Come look at this! New York is under attack!" I left the inspector who was examining documents and went to the room where the little television was. When I got to the TV, black smoke was coming out of the side of the North tower. I remembered the 1999 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, but that happened in the parking garage beneath the tower. Then, as we all watched in horror, an airplane flew into the South Tower. That's when panic set in among my staff. It was clear that our country was under attack, and we anticipated there might be more. Several people left work to be with their children, that's how scared they were. Things only got worse from the second tower strike. The weird thing is that the State inspector never moved from where she was inspecting records, she finished and left without even a mention of it.

Here's something people may not know; Queen Elizabeth was deeply moved by what happened on 9-11 in the U.S. In a show of solidarity with the United States, the Queen broke a 600-year tradition and played the Star Spangled Banner during the changing of the guard on 9-11. After the U.S., the United Kingdom lost more people in the attack on the WTC, 67 in all. Twenty years later, in 2021, by order of the Queen, the U.S. national anthem was played again during the changing of the guard, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of that day.
 
I was at work.
It was about 6 a.m. here in Los Angeles.
I always arrived early in order to prepare.
I turned on the TV and saw the plane hit the first building.
Then when the second plane hit the other building, even someone as stupid as I knew something was up.
I do not remember whether I watching it live or on tape.

I was sick to my stomach when I thought about the sheer indescribable horror felt by the 3,000 human beings in those buildings. Those who were working in offices or walking in the halls or those inside elevators.

I am so sad when I see TV commercials asking for money to help survivors or their families.

The American government should be paying all of those expenses, instead of wasting billions on various unneeded projects or on unworthy people.
 
That morning I caught a flight out of Logan Airport to NYC about 45 mins before the hijackers caught theirs. I was in a cab on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and watched some of it happen live, on my way to an office building literally one block away from the WTC.

Hard to grasp it's now more than two decades ago.
 
I was on a stay-cation and washing the windows with the radio on. I rushed inside and switched on the TV and saw the second plane hit. I remember saying "We're under attack" I kept watching and saw people jumping from the towers and I was still watching when the towers fell. I remember feeling intense anger and sadness.
 
I was off work that day had the TV on CNN and the breaking news came on that a small plane had hit the world trade center.
It was a beautiful September morning in New York. Clear sky's and mild temperatures. The news folks were questioning how could a plane hit the tower on a clear day? Then more news was being reported. Maybe this was some kind of an attack? A few minutes later the unthinkable happend a second plane hit the other tower. Horror!! Explosions, smoke, fire and people jumping from the towers. We have been attacked!

Things escalated quickly after that. There was a feeling of fear, extreme sadness and over powering anger. So many people killed in a few minutes. That day change America forever!

God bless everyone who perished on the dreadful day.
 
The unreality didn't end on 9-11. All flights were cancelled, bridges and tunnels were shut, and the subway system going to Lower Manhattan closed. The eeriest thing was seeing the sky devoid of any airplanes or jet streams for days after Sept. 11. North American airspace was closed to civilian traffic for two days.

This is what the Cortlandt St. IRT subway looked after the attack. That line was directly below the towers.
1662899691445.webp

It took 17 years to reconstruct this station. This is what that station looked like on reopening day, 2018

1662899435717.png
 
it was my day off and I was out shopping.

On a wall of silent TVs, I saw the footage of the first plane hitting the tower over and over again
 
HumblePi said:
Today is the 21st anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Where were you the morning of 9-11?
Click to expand...

I was watching Imus in the Morning and they were showing the north tower on fire so I walk up the six flights to the roof of my building to take a look.
As I was watching, I saw a plane flying very low and hit the south tower. I was shocked. I immediately ran down the 6 flights and one block over to the neighborhood school. I
No one knew what was going on yet and I just grabbed my kid saying she had a doctor appointment. As I was leaving I saw another parent running toward the school.
Anyway, I got her in the car and we headed out of town. They shut down all roads but we got out just before. I did not even stop to pay the tolls.
I had no idea what might be attacked next or what might be in the smoke.

When things settled a few days later (I had a country home too which is where we fled to) it was a bit surreal. Our park became a helicopter landing site. The piers were set up as triage centers. The school ice rink became a morgue.
We had tanks at the subway entrance and military with machine guns on the platforms.
We lost 19 from my neighborhood. Additionally, a buddy of mine was forced to jump.
 
HumblePi said:
The unreality didn't end on 9-11. All flights were cancelled, bridges and tunnels were shut, and the subway system going to Lower Manhattan closed. The eeriest thing was seeing the sky devoid of any airplanes or jet streams for days after Sept. 11. North American airspace was closed to civilian traffic for two days.

This is what the Cortlandt St. IRT subway looked after the attack. That line was directly below the towers.
View attachment 67412148

It took 17 years to reconstruct this station. This is what that station looked like on reopening day, 2018

View attachment 67412147
Click to expand...

I forgot about the lack of airtraffic. That was very noticeable.
I never saw a picture of the destroyed IRT before. Path was destroyed too.
 
noonereal said:
I was watching Imus in the Morning and they were showing the north tower on fire so I walk up the six flights to the roof of my building to take a look.
As I was watching, I saw a plane flying very low and hit the south tower. I was shocked. I immediately ran down the 6 flights and one block over to the neighborhood school. I
No one knew what was going on yet and I just grabbed my kid saying she had a doctor appointment. As I was leaving I saw another parent running toward the school.
Anyway, I got her in the car and we headed out of town. They shut down all roads but we got out just before. I did not even stop to pay the tolls.
I had no idea what might be attacked next or what might be in the smoke.

When things settled a few days later (I had a country home too which is where we fled to) it was a bit surreal. Our park became a helicopter landing site. The piers were set up as triage centers. The school ice rink became a morgue.
We had tanks at the subway entrance and military with machine guns on the platforms.
We lost 19 from my neighborhood. Additionally, a buddy of mine was forced to jump.
Click to expand...
That's funny that you mention Don Imus. He was one of the oxygen patients of the company I was managing.
 

The Only Existing Footage Of 1st Plane Hitting WTC​






At the 1 minute mark on the video the plane fly's over the firefighters. The sound from the plane makes your skin crawl!
 
After I saw parts of the Second Tower crash onto the building I recognized as the offices where my editor's husband worked, I spent hours on the phone trying to get through to her, but the NYC phone grid was paralyzed. Later that afternoon, I did get through and was massively relieved to learn that her husband had a business meeting in another part of town that morning. He was okay. Some of his colleagues, still in the building by the twin towers, weren't as lucky.
 
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