9/11 Memories and thoughts

[+ Just Chuck]

I got a haircut this afternoon.  My barber is 23 years old.  My brain was reeling as I put together the the thought, "this person was YEARS away from being born when 9/11 happened".

Two heroes that I like to remember every year are Jeremy Glick and Mark Bingham.  They are the two flight 93 passengers who led the passenger charge to retake the plane forcing the terrorists to abandon their plans and crash the plane into a farm field.  Jeremy Glick had previously been a national champion heavyweight Judo competitor.  Mark Bingham was a gay 6'4" rugby player.  It'd be hard to pick two better men to lead the charge to retake the plane.  

[mike carey]

1 hour ago, Just Chuck said:

Two heroes that I like to remember every year are Jeremy Glick and Mark Bingham.  They are the two flight 93 passengers who led the passenger charge to retake the plane forcing the terrorists to abandon their plans and crash the plane into a farm field.  Jeremy Glick had previously been a national champion heavyweight Judo competitor.  Mark Bingham was a gay 6'4" rugby player.  It'd be hard to pick two better men to lead the charge to retake the plane.  

Mark has been memorialised beautifully in the Bingham Cup, an international competition for gay rugby clubs.

[+ Just Chuck]

My client wouldn't like me discussing them. But when 9/11 happened, I was at work and worked straight through until about noon on 9/12.  On my way home, the streets were weirdly empty.  I was coming down off of some sort of extended adrenaline charge.  I stopped at a stoplight.  I don't know how many light cycles later . . . I woke up . . . still stopped at the stoplight, car in drive, my foot still on the brake.  

Edited Thursday at 10:48 AM by Just Chuck

[56harrisond]

This is still one of the best 9/11/2001 documentaries 

• The Filmmakers: French brothers Jules and Gédéon Naudet and FDNY firefighter James Hanlon directed the film. It was produced by Susan Zirinsky of CBS News.

• The Original Plan: The filmmakers planned to document a rookie ("probie") firefighter, Tony Benatatos, at Engine 7/Ladder 1/Battalion 1 in lower Manhattan.

• What Happened: While filming on the morning of September 11, 2001, Jules Naudet captured the only clear video of the first plane hitting the North Tower. The crew then followed firefighters responding to the World Trade Center.

 

 

 

[+ Italiano]

What I DO NOT have memory of, is of one heavy man lifted by two "big strong firemen".

Ok, end of post.

[marylander1940]

To all those victims of terrorism! Rest In Power! 

 

[+ Just Chuck]

That Naudet Brother's film was excellent and hard-to-watch. 

[mtaabq]

Albuquerque, New Mexico here. I had just arrived at my office and booted up my computer and it was all over the internet. A co-worker ran in shortly thereafter with a television set and we all gathered around and watched events unfold. When the first tower collapsed there was absolute silence in our building. Nobody said much, really, all day. Soon after one of my two bosses showed up, saw what was going on, and asked if I intended to watch TV all day or if I intended to work. Right after he said that my other boss called and told me to pack up and go home. I finished my “to-do” list for boss #1, then went home. I just watched TV and remained pretty much in a daze all day. I started nipping at the bourbon and Coke rather early. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years. 

[Nightowl]

I was at my desk in a government building that was reported to be one of the targets.  We weren’t hit but our work lives were never the same after the attacks.

[mtaabq]

1 hour ago, Nightowl said:

I was at my desk in a government building that was reported to be one of the targets.  We weren’t hit but our work lives were never the same after the attacks.

I am so sorry that happened to you. 

[Luv2play]

I was driving to my family doctor for an early morning appointment when the morning show radio host said around 5 minutes to 9 that reports coming from London to the CBC were that a small plane had hit the World Trade tower in Manhattan. I knew the host, John Lacharity, and his show was over at 9 am. He signed off saying the CBC would stay on top of developments and break in to regular programming with any further developments.

I got to the doctor's and went in to see him. When I got out people were buzzing in the reception room. By this time the second plane had hit and when I got back to my car the CBC was covering the story non stop which continued throughout the day.

I got home and watched the TV for hours  knowing that this meant war. 

[BuffaloKyle]

2nd period 10th grade English class I was in. We watched it in every class for the rest of the day. I remember how weird it felt then walking around outside the rest of that day and afterwards. You could feel the depression and sadness in the air.

[ShortCutie7]

I was in my math classroom in junior high (in Brooklyn), when an announcement in a solemn voice came over the loudspeaker and asked several students to report to the office.  One of those students was the girl sitting next to me.  Class continued as usual until she returned and told us that "the twin towers exploded," but her parents were ok.  After a few minutes of commotion and speculation amongst my classmates, another announcement came over the loudspeaker and asked all students to report to the auditorium and wait for our parents to pick us up.  By then, it had occurred to me that my father worked a few blocks away from the WTC and that something might have happened to him.  What was probably a brief wait for my mother felt like an eternity.  When she finally arrived, she assured me that my father was fine and had to walk home,  so would get home very late.  My father got home around 9PM, and was visibly exhausted and covered in soot.  He had seen the whole thing happen from his office window.

[TonyDown]

I was living in San Jose.  Both towers were already hit when I woke up.  I joined at a neighbor's  home to watch the news coverage.  

[Vulgarii]

My grandfather called my home while I wss getting ready for school and he told me to turn on the news, and I did and just saw smoke so then I turned it off.

 

At school, we had a substitute teacher for that period and we got to watch the news then. I never forgot the specific questions that a reporter asked a fireman about the smaller explosions they heard.

[Boeingboing]

I was living on the UWS at the time. Normally, at that time of day, I would have been walking my boyfriend’s dog along Riverside Park and we would have seen the first plane zoom along above our heads. I forget why we weren’t out yet, but I was making coffee with the news on when the first report came across. Sadly for her, I stayed glued to the TV until well past the time the second plane hit. By the time we got outside to give her a quick spin around the block there was already a line at the ATM in the corner of our building and the shelves at Gristede’s were picked well clean. 
 

My boyfriend at the time was starting the first day of his new job just blocks away. He was on the subway, headed for E. 4th St. stop when it started. He ended up running from the collapse and then walked all the way back to 86th St, getting home around 3p.

 

I’m amazed it’s been 25 years. 

[Becket]

I was at a camp in a wooded area with my sister. She had been listening to her radio and woke me with the words, "Hey something weird is going on."

[+ nycman]

It was a very long day that ended very abruptly.

The horror of realizing there was suddenly nothing to do but bury the dead, and prepare for war.

[marylander1940]

Every 9/11 Conspiracy Debunked

[marylander1940]

Marcy Borders, the Dust Lady

[marylander1940]

 

[Peter Eater]

The cruelty of that horrific event was so intense that it generated a divided response — heroism and deep compassion on one side, epic hate and more cruelty on the other — that is still playing out now, a generation later.

Looking forward to Mayor Mamdani’s leadership at today’s New York memorial.

[Luv2play]

I pulled out a photo album this morning and opened it to the pages which contain a dozen or so photos of myself and my sister taken in NYC. We visited for a week about three weeks after the 9-11 attack. My sister was attending medical meetings at the Sloan-Kettering and I was just tagging along to do some sight seeing. 
We had considered cancelling our trip but went after Mayor Giuliani invited tourists like us to come and not stay away. 
One day we walked around the ruined towers which were behind steel fencing which allowed one to gaze at the smouldering ruins. Knowing well over 2 thousand people were still buried there was surreal. 

The whole area smelled bad and dust covered all the surrounding buildings at street level. Many businesses were closed and looked like the day people had fled. 
Then we went back uptown to our hotel and Grand Central Park and life was normal although subdued. We walked across Brooklyn Bridge one day and taking photos of ourselves the one thing missing in the background was the twin towers. 
At LaGuardia airport on our return, as we were waiting to board our planes, a speaker on the PA system announced the invasion of Afghanistan. That galvanized the crowds seated around us. Some people got up to leave, abandoning their flights. I told my sister to relax, as it would take the terrorists at least a day to react. 
Those are my memories of that fateful time.