NEW YORK
"Where were you on 9/11?" as remembered by those in New York that day.
Former Lower Manhattan employee Michael recalls the morning of September 11th, lost in the dust cloud of the World Trade Center collapse as he prayed to get home and see his family again.
1. "I was at the Towers, that morning. I don’t talk about this much.
The World Trade Center was my subway stop (F train from Brooklyn) and I came up and out of the stairway at the WTC to look up and see both buildings burning. People everywhere, mostly silent, looking up. Horrible.
I went to my office, on the 17th floor of a Maiden Lane building, and called my mom. I told her I was ok and she began to reply and then said,
'Oh my God - they just hit the Pentagon!'
I told her I loved her and was leaving and I then called my wife; she and I agreed she would take the train to meet me, and we’d continue to Brooklyn, and home - and our 11-month old daughter- who’s been born Sept. 26, 2000, and who was home with our nanny.
Moments later, the first tower fell; our building rumbled, and we looked down to see clouds of smoke/dust filling the streets. We made sure everyone on our floor was good to go, then went downstairs through the fire stairwell, emptying into the all-glass foyer. We couldn’t see out. It was gray, everywhere. When I tried to leave, I couldn’t; I didn’t get 20 feet before being unable to breathe.
As that began to lighten, I wrapped my shirt around my head so I could breathe, and trudged through the dust and broken glass to the corner of Broadway and Maiden. I stood at the subway stairs, looking at the remaining tower and waited for my wife, to take the train back to Brooklyn. She never met me - she was mid-town and, as she stepped on the train, service was suspended; she walked the three miles home.
When the 2nd tower began to collapse, I turned, and dead sprinted until the dust became overwhelming, then I hid in the foyer of a building just off Broadway. There were about a dozen people there; mostly cops and firemen.
There were floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows at either end. It grew completely black at each - you couldn’t see out at all. No cell service, and landlines were down.
My daughter was home with her nanny. I couldn’t reach my wife, or anyone. It was pitch black at either end. We had no idea what was going on, or the building we were in would collapse.
Still the only time I’ve ever legitimately prayed, to get home to my little girl. And still the worst day of my life.
My deepest respects to everyone who lost someone that day. Peace and good health."
- Michael Hinkley
The World Trade Center was my subway stop (F train from Brooklyn) and I came up and out of the stairway at the WTC to look up and see both buildings burning. People everywhere, mostly silent, looking up. Horrible.
I went to my office, on the 17th floor of a Maiden Lane building, and called my mom. I told her I was ok and she began to reply and then said,
'Oh my God - they just hit the Pentagon!'
I told her I loved her and was leaving and I then called my wife; she and I agreed she would take the train to meet me, and we’d continue to Brooklyn, and home - and our 11-month old daughter- who’s been born Sept. 26, 2000, and who was home with our nanny.
Moments later, the first tower fell; our building rumbled, and we looked down to see clouds of smoke/dust filling the streets. We made sure everyone on our floor was good to go, then went downstairs through the fire stairwell, emptying into the all-glass foyer. We couldn’t see out. It was gray, everywhere. When I tried to leave, I couldn’t; I didn’t get 20 feet before being unable to breathe.
As that began to lighten, I wrapped my shirt around my head so I could breathe, and trudged through the dust and broken glass to the corner of Broadway and Maiden. I stood at the subway stairs, looking at the remaining tower and waited for my wife, to take the train back to Brooklyn. She never met me - she was mid-town and, as she stepped on the train, service was suspended; she walked the three miles home.
When the 2nd tower began to collapse, I turned, and dead sprinted until the dust became overwhelming, then I hid in the foyer of a building just off Broadway. There were about a dozen people there; mostly cops and firemen.
There were floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows at either end. It grew completely black at each - you couldn’t see out at all. No cell service, and landlines were down.
My daughter was home with her nanny. I couldn’t reach my wife, or anyone. It was pitch black at either end. We had no idea what was going on, or the building we were in would collapse.
Still the only time I’ve ever legitimately prayed, to get home to my little girl. And still the worst day of my life.
My deepest respects to everyone who lost someone that day. Peace and good health."
- Michael Hinkley
Written Stories:
Like Any Other Day2. "September 11, 2001- was just like any other early autumn day. I was a young
Goldman Sachs programmer heading into work that morning in Lower Manhattan. I was slightly peeved when the N train I took to work from Brooklyn stopped without explanation at Pacific Street. I walked over to the nearby Atlantic Street station to transfer to the uptown 4 train. This train took me to the Battery Park Bowling Green station- which was only 2 blocks away the offices at 125 Broad Street. The time was 9:15 am. I remember the exact time because at that point I was slightly peeved at being made tardy for work by the failing public transit system. As I rushed up the station exit staircase to make up for lost time, a work colleague grabbed me on the shoulder. He was heading in the opposite direction on the way down the station staircase. In terse words, he told me to go home. Puzzled, I asked why. He said, 'Look up.' Look UpRight at the top of the station exit stairs, I arced my head up and looked straight up Broadway. Against a cloudless blue sky, I saw huge rising plumes of smoke.
It never occurred to me to leave. My objective was to get to work. I had no other destination than to walk up Broadway- towards the source of the smoke. At the time, there was no panic in the streets. People milled about in general confusion as they planned their next steps. As I made my way past Wall Street along Broadway, the skyscrapers blocked my view of the towers and I could not imagine what was on fire. SurrealThe scene was surreal. With smoke in the skies, I saw what looked like pieces of paper floating down. I finally reached Liberty Plaza which allowed me to get a good view of the towers. Even though I was witnessing the horror not more than a few hundred meters away, the whole scene did not feel real.
It could be that I did not feel to be in any immediate danger. I did not feel the heat from the flames or the noxious fumes from its smoke. I did not feel horror- because the strange thing is I could not imagine what horror it was to be inside the floors where the fires were burning. Adding to the surreality of the moment were loose leaflets floating down weightlessly from the sky. They seem to float for an eternity as they fluttered earthbound. As I walked closer to the towers, I finally met resistance at the corner of Liberty Plaza and Broadway. A few of New York City’s finest had cordoned off the area. At that point in time, I gazed at the scene for a few minutes- along with a growing throng of onlookers. I thought the fires would be put out by the firefighters or would burn out. It was just a matter of time. Any other possibility had not entered my mind. Huge Dust CloudsAfter staring at the fire for a few minutes I thought to walk back to Broad Street. As I was walking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye an abnormally huge cloud of brownish dust in the air.
It was only a minute or two afterwards that I thought the dust cloud could have come from secondary bomb attacks. I remember reading that was a favorite strategy of terrorists- attack first in one primary location, then as the victims wander out in confusion, attack them again with a secondary explosive device. It was only then that I realized someone was trying to kill me. I started to think about leaving the area. If there were secondary explosive devices, I thought the best way out of Lower Manhattan was by way of the lower east shoreline- near South Street Seaport. And in the worst case scenario, if the situation got worse, I cloud always jump into the river to escape. Going UptownI reached South Street and as I walked along I overheard others say the towers fell down. I did not believe it. I took a look back- and only saw thick haze where the towers should appear. The thick smoke was so enveloping that I wasn’t sure where the towers were.
Once I passed under the shadow of Brooklyn Bridge, I immediately felt more secure. It was as if the bridge was a demarcation line between a war zone and everywhere else. No Sight of the TowersAs I reached Pike Street, I slowed down and looked back. (photos below)
- Patrick Leung (Read Patrick's full, unedited story at his website: https://patrickleungwl.github.io/2016/fifteen-years-on/ ) |
3. "I was a senior in high school, a few blocks away from Ground Zero at Stuyvesant High School. It was our first class of the day and we all watched the attack take place from our classroom windows. They evacuated the school and I walked with a friend north, away from the burning towers and smoke. During our escape we saw the Twin Towers collapse.
When we reached Midtown, I ran into a football teammate who was planning on going to school late that day, and we spent several hours at his house watching the news on TV. My friend and I were only able to leave Manhattan to return to our homes in Brooklyn after the subways reopened."
- Thomas
When we reached Midtown, I ran into a football teammate who was planning on going to school late that day, and we spent several hours at his house watching the news on TV. My friend and I were only able to leave Manhattan to return to our homes in Brooklyn after the subways reopened."
- Thomas
4. "I was in medical school in New York City. Rushed to the ER and we set up trauma teams to take care of what we expected to be hundreds of badly injured patients. But... nothing.
Couple sprained ankles from people running away, a few asthma attacks from inhaling smoke and dust. No serious injuries. People died when the towers came down or they made it out in one piece."
- S. S.
Couple sprained ankles from people running away, a few asthma attacks from inhaling smoke and dust. No serious injuries. People died when the towers came down or they made it out in one piece."
- S. S.
5. "I was in 3rd grade on Staten Island, my class found out about them by overhearing our religion teacher talking to our teacher. I am pretty sure one of us told the whole class and then we ran to the window to see if we could see anything. We could see the smoke from the window as the day moved on.
We didn't do any work that day and I knew my mom wasn't going to pick me up like other parents were doing. I watched the smoke from the window in the classroom then again as I was on the bus coming home from school. I was in shock mostly because
I had gone to the World Trade Center maybe a week before this happened."
- Shana M.
We didn't do any work that day and I knew my mom wasn't going to pick me up like other parents were doing. I watched the smoke from the window in the classroom then again as I was on the bus coming home from school. I was in shock mostly because
I had gone to the World Trade Center maybe a week before this happened."
- Shana M.
6. "I was in my first week of seventh grade at Felix V. Festa Middle School in New York City. First classes must have started at around 8-8:15 am. Only a period or two had gone by and the students started to realize something had happened. I remember being in the transition into 2nd or 3rd period and when I asked what had happened, someone replied:
'They destroyed the World Trade Center!'
Now at that time I thought that the Chrysler Building was the World Trade Center. I don’t know why. The Twin Towers to me were always just that: the Twin Towers. So, for the next hour or two, I thought that the Chrysler Building had been destroyed.
My father was a police officer for the NYPD, 33rd Precinct in Washington Heights at the time. I certainly remember thinking about my dad and assuming he had to be okay.
Some students had been taken out of school, picked up by their parents. Not a lot, but some. They came to my class and called my name. I remember immediately thinking “this has to be very bad” and worrying about my father.
My mom was waiting outside in the car, I asked her what had happened and she told me immediately,
'Terrorists have attacked a building in the city with planes.'
My father was perfectly okay. He worked a very regular Monday to Friday 8 am-4 pm and very rarely had days off. By some stroke of luck he was off that day.
When I got back home, my dad was there watching the news. It wasn’t long after this that he was called in along with probably any other improbably-lucky off-duty NYPD that day.
Out of the almost 3,000 people lost that day, my family only knew one person. He was a member of the FDNY, a friend of the family who had dated my godmother in the ‘80s around the time i was born. His name was Timothy Matthew Welty. When my mother was pregnant with me, she chose the name Nicholas. However, when I was born, she said when she looked at me that I just wasn’t a Nicholas. I was a Timothy. She chose the name Timothy Matthew because she loved Tim Welty’s name. I never got the chance to meet Tim.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about 9/11 often. I think about how different my life may be if my father had been at work that day. If he didn’t make it back like so many others. Like Tim Welty. I think about how it was definitively the end of my childhood and the beginning of my journey of adulthood that I still struggle on to this day. I will never forget."
- Timothy H.
'They destroyed the World Trade Center!'
Now at that time I thought that the Chrysler Building was the World Trade Center. I don’t know why. The Twin Towers to me were always just that: the Twin Towers. So, for the next hour or two, I thought that the Chrysler Building had been destroyed.
My father was a police officer for the NYPD, 33rd Precinct in Washington Heights at the time. I certainly remember thinking about my dad and assuming he had to be okay.
Some students had been taken out of school, picked up by their parents. Not a lot, but some. They came to my class and called my name. I remember immediately thinking “this has to be very bad” and worrying about my father.
My mom was waiting outside in the car, I asked her what had happened and she told me immediately,
'Terrorists have attacked a building in the city with planes.'
My father was perfectly okay. He worked a very regular Monday to Friday 8 am-4 pm and very rarely had days off. By some stroke of luck he was off that day.
When I got back home, my dad was there watching the news. It wasn’t long after this that he was called in along with probably any other improbably-lucky off-duty NYPD that day.
Out of the almost 3,000 people lost that day, my family only knew one person. He was a member of the FDNY, a friend of the family who had dated my godmother in the ‘80s around the time i was born. His name was Timothy Matthew Welty. When my mother was pregnant with me, she chose the name Nicholas. However, when I was born, she said when she looked at me that I just wasn’t a Nicholas. I was a Timothy. She chose the name Timothy Matthew because she loved Tim Welty’s name. I never got the chance to meet Tim.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about 9/11 often. I think about how different my life may be if my father had been at work that day. If he didn’t make it back like so many others. Like Tim Welty. I think about how it was definitively the end of my childhood and the beginning of my journey of adulthood that I still struggle on to this day. I will never forget."
- Timothy H.
7. "I was a sophomore in high school in a suburban town of NYC. It was the beginning of my public speaking class, and I was listening to "Satellite" by Dave Matthews Band on my discman, when a teacher came in and said,
'There's been a terrible accident at the World Trade Center.'
We stopped what we were doing and tuned into 1010 AM and listened in real time.
After the second plane we heard that they were stopping all air traffic. It was crazy because it was so so quiet, until there were USAF jets being scrambled seemingly right over our school. It sounded like a train was going through the school. I had no idea that's what fighter jets sounded like.
Then came the Pentagon and Flight 93.
People were crying. A good percentage of my community commutes to NYC for work, including a lot of my fellow student's parents. there was an announcement over the PA system to ignore the news, not to be distracted, and to go on with our day.
People freaked out. Chairs were being thrown, people were screaming. The closest thing I'd ever seen to a riot.
All of the TVs in the school were on the news and pretty much everyone watched as the towers fell. We couldn't go outside for lunch, because the air quality was so bad.
Many, many people in my community were lost. My father-in-law was a first responder, and has developed some health issues. My uncle owns a construction company and spent the next week volunteering, bringing loads of rubble away from the WTC with his dump truck trying to find survivors.
Me? I cashiered at my local grocery store. There were tons of people coming to buy things to give to the first responders. We sold out of bottled water before I even came to work after school that day.
We're a pretty rich suburb, and the military wasn't normally something most of us did. Myself and several of my friends ended up joining in the next two years or so.
Life completely changed. 11 years later, I was in Kabul, Afghanistan."
- S. M.
'There's been a terrible accident at the World Trade Center.'
We stopped what we were doing and tuned into 1010 AM and listened in real time.
After the second plane we heard that they were stopping all air traffic. It was crazy because it was so so quiet, until there were USAF jets being scrambled seemingly right over our school. It sounded like a train was going through the school. I had no idea that's what fighter jets sounded like.
Then came the Pentagon and Flight 93.
People were crying. A good percentage of my community commutes to NYC for work, including a lot of my fellow student's parents. there was an announcement over the PA system to ignore the news, not to be distracted, and to go on with our day.
People freaked out. Chairs were being thrown, people were screaming. The closest thing I'd ever seen to a riot.
All of the TVs in the school were on the news and pretty much everyone watched as the towers fell. We couldn't go outside for lunch, because the air quality was so bad.
Many, many people in my community were lost. My father-in-law was a first responder, and has developed some health issues. My uncle owns a construction company and spent the next week volunteering, bringing loads of rubble away from the WTC with his dump truck trying to find survivors.
Me? I cashiered at my local grocery store. There were tons of people coming to buy things to give to the first responders. We sold out of bottled water before I even came to work after school that day.
We're a pretty rich suburb, and the military wasn't normally something most of us did. Myself and several of my friends ended up joining in the next two years or so.
Life completely changed. 11 years later, I was in Kabul, Afghanistan."
- S. M.
8. "I barely six years old, living in the northern end of Manhattan. My mom and aunt walked my cousin and I to a new school that we only recently began attending so I was still figuring out schedules and all that by the time the attacks occurred. Maybe an hour and change after we got dropped off everyone in the school was walked down to the cafeteria which also doubled as a bomb shelter since our school was built during the Cold War.
Not long after the fracas of getting everyone in the cafeteria my cousin and I saw our moms along with everyone else’s parents rushing over to pick their kids up. We only lived five blocks from my school and while the walk there still feels quick it seemed like we must have full on sprinted back home because it felt like it took literal seconds to get there.
All I remember from the rest of the day was turning on our bulky living room TV and watching the news in what felt like the moment to define a generation"
- Anonymous
Not long after the fracas of getting everyone in the cafeteria my cousin and I saw our moms along with everyone else’s parents rushing over to pick their kids up. We only lived five blocks from my school and while the walk there still feels quick it seemed like we must have full on sprinted back home because it felt like it took literal seconds to get there.
All I remember from the rest of the day was turning on our bulky living room TV and watching the news in what felt like the moment to define a generation"
- Anonymous
9. "I was almost 6 years-old, living in NYC. I remember watching the news and my family panicked about my uncle who worked in WTC. I saw the second plane fly into the next tower and thought,
'Boy, that is such a big mistake, someone is definitely getting fired.'
Then I saw people jumping out of windows.
My grandma reassured me that there were firefighters with tarps down below catching everyone."
- Anonymous
'Boy, that is such a big mistake, someone is definitely getting fired.'
Then I saw people jumping out of windows.
My grandma reassured me that there were firefighters with tarps down below catching everyone."
- Anonymous
10. "I was sitting inside Astor Barbers on Astor Place in Greenwich Village The first plane flew right over 6 minutes before I sat in the barber chair. Just so you know--Astor Barbers is just about a mile and a half from Ground Zero. It was the ABSOLUTE loudest sounds I've ever heard. The terrorist had gone full throttle to get the most speed for impact.
History made...world changed."
- Anonymous
History made...world changed."
- Anonymous
11. "My perspective was from the middle of 7th avenue around 11 am after both towers had fallen.
I had just moved to New York City for school about two weeks prior. I was lucky, I was two miles away from the towers. Someone ran into our classroom and told us they saw a plane fly into the World Trade Center. Class was cancelled and we were glued to our televisions.
In disbelief, my friend John and I decided to take a walk to see for ourselves if what we were watching on TV was really real. The only word for what we witnessed is surreal, it was like being in the middle of a war zone. Imagine walking down the middle of 7th Avenue in the middle of the day with no traffic, no cabs honking, just the occasional siren and then complete silence. All of the roads were closed except to emergency vehicles.
We made it as far as Broadway and Canal Street. That was as far south as NYPD and the National Guard would let you go. You could see all the windows were blown out of the buildings in front of you. The concrete in the streets was buckled and cracked as if it was hit by a bomb. Residents weren't allowed to go home. There was no cell or landline service for hours. I had 47 voicemails later that day.
What impacted me the most and still sticks with me to this day, was seeing the crowds of people walking north past us covered in dust and soot. We chose not to take photos of them out of respect, but sometimes I wish I had just to show how real it was that day. Another thing that sticks with me was the burning smell that lasted for weeks afterwards. That was the stench of death.
It was sad, it was solemn, it was heart wrenching to see people beside themselves with grief walking aimlessly with "missing" signs for their lost loved ones."
- P. B.
I had just moved to New York City for school about two weeks prior. I was lucky, I was two miles away from the towers. Someone ran into our classroom and told us they saw a plane fly into the World Trade Center. Class was cancelled and we were glued to our televisions.
In disbelief, my friend John and I decided to take a walk to see for ourselves if what we were watching on TV was really real. The only word for what we witnessed is surreal, it was like being in the middle of a war zone. Imagine walking down the middle of 7th Avenue in the middle of the day with no traffic, no cabs honking, just the occasional siren and then complete silence. All of the roads were closed except to emergency vehicles.
We made it as far as Broadway and Canal Street. That was as far south as NYPD and the National Guard would let you go. You could see all the windows were blown out of the buildings in front of you. The concrete in the streets was buckled and cracked as if it was hit by a bomb. Residents weren't allowed to go home. There was no cell or landline service for hours. I had 47 voicemails later that day.
What impacted me the most and still sticks with me to this day, was seeing the crowds of people walking north past us covered in dust and soot. We chose not to take photos of them out of respect, but sometimes I wish I had just to show how real it was that day. Another thing that sticks with me was the burning smell that lasted for weeks afterwards. That was the stench of death.
It was sad, it was solemn, it was heart wrenching to see people beside themselves with grief walking aimlessly with "missing" signs for their lost loved ones."
- P. B.
12. "I was in 5th grade and around 9:00 we looked outside our windows - which had a perfect view of the World Trade Centers - to see nothing but smoke. Our math teacher settles us down but becomes increasingly worried and frantic. Eventually administration rushes into the class and whisper into my teachers ear. At this point we see our math teacher - a woman whom we all feared and respected - fall to the floor bawling uncontrollably, cursing, kicking and screaming. It took three co workers to remove her from the class.
I learned much later that her husband worked on the same floor that was hit by the plane.
With phone lines being down, it was not until three days later that we heard the news that her husband was alright. Apparently she had forgotten to pack him his favorite breakfast, so about 10 min before the attack he took the elevator down to pick up his favorite treat - a street falafel. As he ordered the first plane hit.
I learned much later that her husband worked on the same floor that was hit by the plane.
With phone lines being down, it was not until three days later that we heard the news that her husband was alright. Apparently she had forgotten to pack him his favorite breakfast, so about 10 min before the attack he took the elevator down to pick up his favorite treat - a street falafel. As he ordered the first plane hit.
I will always remember watching the towers fall from our math class window while hearing the wails of a woman down the hall.
As an adult now -I have his Polaroid pictures he took of the aftermath. I became a social studies teacher later in life and I had met with my math teacher who still worked in the same district. After some verbal jousting about how bad of a listener I was she came back with the polaroids as a gift to me and said, 'Use these pictures as primary resources - never let the students forget that humans, not words in a textbook, experience history.'" [View Photos Here: https://imgur.com/a/XbI1lxo ] - Anonymous |
13. "In high school on Long Island, about 30 miles from NYC. I remember they put the school on lock-down, locked all the windows and doors and wouldn't let us out of the classrooms. Parents were coming to grab their kids but no one inside knew anything. There were rumors of a large fire, chemical attacks, all sorts of crazy speculation. I remember one kid freaked out because his grandma lived in NYC and he jumped out the first floor window to run home. I didn't hear what actually happened until we all got home."
- Cameron
- Cameron
14. "In the dorm shower at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. Someone had hooked up a stereo in there and had it tuned to a local radio station, when I got out of the shower I heard the news coverage and thought it was some kind of War of the Worlds broadcast.
I got dressed, gathered my stuff and headed to class. When I got there, class had been canceled and there was a big TV set up in a common area where everyone was watching the news. It took me a solid two minutes of standing there watching my classmates weeping and hugging each other before I realized that it was a real thing in the real world."
- Charles Hatfield
I got dressed, gathered my stuff and headed to class. When I got there, class had been canceled and there was a big TV set up in a common area where everyone was watching the news. It took me a solid two minutes of standing there watching my classmates weeping and hugging each other before I realized that it was a real thing in the real world."
- Charles Hatfield
15. "I was a college freshman living in Chelsea, I hadn't lived in Manhattan for more than a month. I left my for a 9 am class around the time the first plane hit. When I got to class everyone was talking about how it must had been an accident - none of us could fathom it was done on purpose. Shortly after, the second plane hit and we knew then it was not an accident. I went outside and looked at the downtown skyline, I could see the smoke and fire coming from the towers.
They had the students go into the auditorium and gather together in front of a projection of the news and we watched as the tower collapsed. People inside the auditorium were screaming and crying. I went back to my dorm and tried to call my family but none of our cell phones worked.
One thing I will never forget was walking to the Roman Catholic Church on 8th Avenue because I felt I needed to pray about what happened. The city had made pay phones available for free so people could call their loved ones. Perfect strangers were hugging and comforting each other. They gathered around televisions and radios. The city of New York really came together as one family.
I was lucky that my family and I were safe. I was able to get on a train and go home. The train was packed with people and it was one of the last trains they allowed to leave Manhattan. They had ambulances at every train stop because people were passing out from inhaling the smoke around the towers.
My family was safe. My cousin who worked at WTC miraculously had a meeting midtown and was not there when the towers were hit. My cousin was a firefighter and helped to find people in the rubble. My dad even went there to help find people. We were all okay but it's definitely a memory that is going to stay with me for the rest of my life."
- Jen
They had the students go into the auditorium and gather together in front of a projection of the news and we watched as the tower collapsed. People inside the auditorium were screaming and crying. I went back to my dorm and tried to call my family but none of our cell phones worked.
One thing I will never forget was walking to the Roman Catholic Church on 8th Avenue because I felt I needed to pray about what happened. The city had made pay phones available for free so people could call their loved ones. Perfect strangers were hugging and comforting each other. They gathered around televisions and radios. The city of New York really came together as one family.
I was lucky that my family and I were safe. I was able to get on a train and go home. The train was packed with people and it was one of the last trains they allowed to leave Manhattan. They had ambulances at every train stop because people were passing out from inhaling the smoke around the towers.
My family was safe. My cousin who worked at WTC miraculously had a meeting midtown and was not there when the towers were hit. My cousin was a firefighter and helped to find people in the rubble. My dad even went there to help find people. We were all okay but it's definitely a memory that is going to stay with me for the rest of my life."
- Jen
16. "I was driving to work, northbound on the Sprain Brook Parkway just north of Yonkers, listening to Howard Stern talk about Pamela Anderson. The he got serious and said that an airplane had flown into one of the twin towers. Like a lot of people I thought it must be some yahoo that lost control of their Cessna.
I approached my exit and turned onto I-287 East, heading for I-95. By the time I reached that merge, the second plane had hit. That was when I along with just about every other American that was tuned in, thought oh shit... We're at war.
One of my friends lost her boyfriend in that tragedy. My housemate worked in Manhattan and watched the second tower collapse. A friend of a friend was IN the second tower when it got hit and said it felt like an earthquake. He had been standing at a window, in shock, watching bodies plummet from the first tower when he felt the impact."
- Anonymous
I approached my exit and turned onto I-287 East, heading for I-95. By the time I reached that merge, the second plane had hit. That was when I along with just about every other American that was tuned in, thought oh shit... We're at war.
One of my friends lost her boyfriend in that tragedy. My housemate worked in Manhattan and watched the second tower collapse. A friend of a friend was IN the second tower when it got hit and said it felt like an earthquake. He had been standing at a window, in shock, watching bodies plummet from the first tower when he felt the impact."
- Anonymous
17. "I worked in a middle school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and my husband worked on 28th St in Manhattan. We had been married exactly one month. While I was teaching, a custodian came to tell me a plane hit a building in Manhattan. I worked to control my face so the students would not think anything was wrong, even though I thought he only meant a little Cessna plane. The next period was my prep period and at 8:55 I went to the main office to find out what was going on.
During that 45 minute period, several things happened:
- The scope of the emergency became clear.
- Our principal asked us not to tell the students anything.
- I successfully placed a landline call to my husband.
He realized he had been under the towers on the A train when the first plane hit. We agreed he would walk north to get out of the city and figured if he could get to the 59th St bridge, he could walk across and get the G train back to near our home in Brooklyn. We said good-bye knowing it could be a long time before we talked again or saw each other. It was decided I would not worry about him until I had not heard from him for 24 hours.
I then had to keep teaching as if nothing had happened. Students began to be picked up from school. At first just a few, and then more and more and more. The other children began to worry and by 12:30 pm I told them,
'Yes, there's an emergency going on but we are all safe in school and the teachers would all take care of you.'
One grandmother showed up in hysterics because we would not release her granddaughter. The child's mother was a receptionist for Cantor Fitzgerald and... It was later confirmed that she was killed.
Another child's father showed up covered in that terrible white-gray ash. Again, fearing he was not all together, we held the child while he cleaned up best he could and the mother was able to arrive as well.
By 1:30 pm, two thirds of our students had been picked up. At dismissal time the principal insisted we go home even though there were 15 children still at the school. No student was allowed to walk home that day. The principal and three other staff members waited until 9:00 pm when that last child was picked up. I got a ride home from a colleague who lived near me. What should have been a 20 minute drive took almost and hour and a half. Getting home to an empty apartment was the first time I felt truly scared. I had no reason to think my husband was in danger but I wanted him with me.
Luckily, I only had to wait 45 minutes before he walked in the door. Because he had decided to get out of the city so quickly, he made it home soon after 5. Together we went up to our building's roof. We were directly in the smoke plume. Partially burned pieces of paper were floating down to our roof. They all looked like legal documents. Realizing we did not know how toxic the smoke might be, we went inside again after only a few minutes. A few days later we cleaned the roof and chose to throw away the papers. We thought that they might be private files and saving them felt wrong.
In the end, we personally knew three people who died, knew of several more who died, and heard countless harrowing stories from our friends about that day."
- Julia Garland
During that 45 minute period, several things happened:
- The scope of the emergency became clear.
- Our principal asked us not to tell the students anything.
- I successfully placed a landline call to my husband.
He realized he had been under the towers on the A train when the first plane hit. We agreed he would walk north to get out of the city and figured if he could get to the 59th St bridge, he could walk across and get the G train back to near our home in Brooklyn. We said good-bye knowing it could be a long time before we talked again or saw each other. It was decided I would not worry about him until I had not heard from him for 24 hours.
I then had to keep teaching as if nothing had happened. Students began to be picked up from school. At first just a few, and then more and more and more. The other children began to worry and by 12:30 pm I told them,
'Yes, there's an emergency going on but we are all safe in school and the teachers would all take care of you.'
One grandmother showed up in hysterics because we would not release her granddaughter. The child's mother was a receptionist for Cantor Fitzgerald and... It was later confirmed that she was killed.
Another child's father showed up covered in that terrible white-gray ash. Again, fearing he was not all together, we held the child while he cleaned up best he could and the mother was able to arrive as well.
By 1:30 pm, two thirds of our students had been picked up. At dismissal time the principal insisted we go home even though there were 15 children still at the school. No student was allowed to walk home that day. The principal and three other staff members waited until 9:00 pm when that last child was picked up. I got a ride home from a colleague who lived near me. What should have been a 20 minute drive took almost and hour and a half. Getting home to an empty apartment was the first time I felt truly scared. I had no reason to think my husband was in danger but I wanted him with me.
Luckily, I only had to wait 45 minutes before he walked in the door. Because he had decided to get out of the city so quickly, he made it home soon after 5. Together we went up to our building's roof. We were directly in the smoke plume. Partially burned pieces of paper were floating down to our roof. They all looked like legal documents. Realizing we did not know how toxic the smoke might be, we went inside again after only a few minutes. A few days later we cleaned the roof and chose to throw away the papers. We thought that they might be private files and saving them felt wrong.
In the end, we personally knew three people who died, knew of several more who died, and heard countless harrowing stories from our friends about that day."
- Julia Garland
18. "My mom dated a firefighter from the Bronx by the name of Ángel Juarbe. He made my mom the happiest I'd ever seen her, and made it a point to play with us as often as he could.
My parents were newly divorced and as a kid and I didn't like Ángel. He wasn't my dad, I was still thrown off as to why my parents weren't together and why this guy was always around.
My parents were newly divorced and as a kid and I didn't like Ángel. He wasn't my dad, I was still thrown off as to why my parents weren't together and why this guy was always around.
Angel went on to star in a reality TV game show called Murder in Small Town X.
He won the show, $40,000 and a new Jeep that he gave to his dad. One week after the finale aired, he died while attempting to save another firefighter in the World Trade Center Marriott Hotel. I will never forget the 4-5 months thereafter hearing my mom bawl her eyes out every night in the kitchen. She would fall asleep crying and I would wake up to find her lying on the couch. She was too heartbroken to fall asleep in her own bed yet." - D.J. |
19. "Grabbed my usual coffee and muffin from the cart on 15th Street and 8th Ave and headed to the elevators in the massive building where I worked. I remember so clearly the color of the sky.
I exited the elevator and used my secure card to enter my floor from the lobby and everyone was standing by the windows looking south. I asked a colleague where he was going and his response was that he was going to buy a disposable camera because some idiot flew a plane into the twin towers.
I walked towards my office and gathered with a cluster of people I knew closely and watched as a second plane flew into the South Tower. People shouted and someone was holding a garbage pail under her chin almost immediately to vomit. The fireball engulfed the whole building. We could feel it and hear it.
With my breakfast still in its paper bag, and one strap from my backpack over my shoulder, I unlocked my office door and called my wife, who was home with two small children and my mother visiting from out of state. I told her I was coming home and she said,
'Oh, good.'
I told her to turn on the radio and listen to the news, we have been attacked and people are flying planes into buildings on purpose. A colleague then said to me from the doorway to my office,
'You ready to get the f-ck out of Dodge?'
I replied, 'My shit's already packed.'
We got into the elevator and took it down to the parking garage under the building and people were still coming in, oblivious to what was going on above ground. We entered the West Side Highway and could see police cars behind us closing various entrances, so very few cars were on the road at the same time. We made great time. By the time we cleared the city and were headed home, both towers had fallen and I was in tears. There was terrible cellular signal that day and I didn't speak to my wife until I got to my front door, where she hugged me and cried. False reports on the news were that Grand Central was bombed and she was sure if that's how I planned to get home. We huddled near the radio, had computers going with news updates, and put on a VHS of The Land Before Time for the kids. Two days later, I wanted to return to the office, but was not allowed.
That was a horrible day. I think about it all the time and I can still distinctly remember the sounds of people screaming as the second plane made its way up the Hudson and the color of the smoke against the sky and the enormous fireball covering the tower that looked like special effects in a movie.
But it was all too real."
- A. S.
I exited the elevator and used my secure card to enter my floor from the lobby and everyone was standing by the windows looking south. I asked a colleague where he was going and his response was that he was going to buy a disposable camera because some idiot flew a plane into the twin towers.
I walked towards my office and gathered with a cluster of people I knew closely and watched as a second plane flew into the South Tower. People shouted and someone was holding a garbage pail under her chin almost immediately to vomit. The fireball engulfed the whole building. We could feel it and hear it.
With my breakfast still in its paper bag, and one strap from my backpack over my shoulder, I unlocked my office door and called my wife, who was home with two small children and my mother visiting from out of state. I told her I was coming home and she said,
'Oh, good.'
I told her to turn on the radio and listen to the news, we have been attacked and people are flying planes into buildings on purpose. A colleague then said to me from the doorway to my office,
'You ready to get the f-ck out of Dodge?'
I replied, 'My shit's already packed.'
We got into the elevator and took it down to the parking garage under the building and people were still coming in, oblivious to what was going on above ground. We entered the West Side Highway and could see police cars behind us closing various entrances, so very few cars were on the road at the same time. We made great time. By the time we cleared the city and were headed home, both towers had fallen and I was in tears. There was terrible cellular signal that day and I didn't speak to my wife until I got to my front door, where she hugged me and cried. False reports on the news were that Grand Central was bombed and she was sure if that's how I planned to get home. We huddled near the radio, had computers going with news updates, and put on a VHS of The Land Before Time for the kids. Two days later, I wanted to return to the office, but was not allowed.
That was a horrible day. I think about it all the time and I can still distinctly remember the sounds of people screaming as the second plane made its way up the Hudson and the color of the smoke against the sky and the enormous fireball covering the tower that looked like special effects in a movie.
But it was all too real."
- A. S.
20. "I was in college at Queens College CUNY which has a great view of downtown Manhattan. It was always easy to see to see the way storm clouds might sit over just that crowded island for long periods without touching any surrounding boroughs. Today though, everything was clear and beautiful. We were so very close, but so far away.
I had gotten to school early, it was my new girlfriend's birthday and I had a present I was nervous to give her - A ring; not meant to signify anything, not that early anyway. I was sure she would take it the wrong way, but I really wanted her to have it.
I went to a class. Everything was normal...
Someone in the theater shop said they heard on the radio that a plane hit the Twin Towers - Then it became two planes. - Then someone said there were explosives on a bridge! There were several other horrible rumors that weren't true, but there were no TVs in the shop or in the music building to confirm or deny them. Those who had cellphones had no signal.
Things were very quiet. Some people started sobbing. They couldn't reach their parents. We went to the next class where our professor told us what he has heard so far. He said people didn't have to stay, but that he was going to be here anyway as he couldn't go home. Every professor who lived in Manhattan was more or less trapped with the bridges and subways shut down.
I was in a daze. I became obsessed with finding my girlfriend. It was her birthday after all. When I got to the Quad I could see the smoke. Our view of the buildings themselves was blocked.
I worried about me mom. She didn't work in the Financial District, but I still had no idea how she was going to get home. When I got home I finally saw the footage: The plane - The people jumping - The buildings falling.
I was breaking.
I remember my last purchases at the Borders and Rickey's in the weird mall under World Trade. I remember meeting my boyfriend for lunch while he was interning for Morgan Stanley. I start to recall people who were supposed to be there today. My ex-boyfriend was meeting someone. My friend was recording something at the winter garden.
Those people all were fine. The meeting was cancelled last minute and my friend slept late.
I have memories of weird specific moments. Deciding I must use these bracelet making skills from summer camp as a child to make Americana-wear. I remember a teacher being really emotional at how I seemed, and I didn't get it at the time.
It was a very strange week. I know I was lucky. I was so close, and so far."
- S. Y.
I had gotten to school early, it was my new girlfriend's birthday and I had a present I was nervous to give her - A ring; not meant to signify anything, not that early anyway. I was sure she would take it the wrong way, but I really wanted her to have it.
I went to a class. Everything was normal...
Someone in the theater shop said they heard on the radio that a plane hit the Twin Towers - Then it became two planes. - Then someone said there were explosives on a bridge! There were several other horrible rumors that weren't true, but there were no TVs in the shop or in the music building to confirm or deny them. Those who had cellphones had no signal.
Things were very quiet. Some people started sobbing. They couldn't reach their parents. We went to the next class where our professor told us what he has heard so far. He said people didn't have to stay, but that he was going to be here anyway as he couldn't go home. Every professor who lived in Manhattan was more or less trapped with the bridges and subways shut down.
I was in a daze. I became obsessed with finding my girlfriend. It was her birthday after all. When I got to the Quad I could see the smoke. Our view of the buildings themselves was blocked.
I worried about me mom. She didn't work in the Financial District, but I still had no idea how she was going to get home. When I got home I finally saw the footage: The plane - The people jumping - The buildings falling.
I was breaking.
I remember my last purchases at the Borders and Rickey's in the weird mall under World Trade. I remember meeting my boyfriend for lunch while he was interning for Morgan Stanley. I start to recall people who were supposed to be there today. My ex-boyfriend was meeting someone. My friend was recording something at the winter garden.
Those people all were fine. The meeting was cancelled last minute and my friend slept late.
I have memories of weird specific moments. Deciding I must use these bracelet making skills from summer camp as a child to make Americana-wear. I remember a teacher being really emotional at how I seemed, and I didn't get it at the time.
It was a very strange week. I know I was lucky. I was so close, and so far."
- S. Y.
21. "I was in the basement of a hospital in upstate New York doing an internship in immunohematology (blood bank). There were no TVs down there, just a radio. I remember the main headline that day, until about 8:50 am, was that Michael Jordan was coming out of retirement to return to basketball.
I heard the first confused reports of a plane hitting the towers. Then a second. I was not one of those who made the immediate connection that this was a deliberate act. Over the AM radio, I heard that one of the towers had collapsed, and I was frustrated with the imprecision of the radio announcer, because clearly this couldn't happen. Maybe part of the tower fell off or something, but the entire thing can't collapse! Just weeks before I had spent a hot summer night running around lower Manhattan, taking all sorts of amateur artsy shots of the towers and surrounding area. It wasn't until lunchtime that I went up to the cafeteria, and finally saw the repeats on TV.
The next month, October 2001, I was interning in a medical microbiology lab when the anthrax mail attacks went out, but that's another story."
- P. W.
I heard the first confused reports of a plane hitting the towers. Then a second. I was not one of those who made the immediate connection that this was a deliberate act. Over the AM radio, I heard that one of the towers had collapsed, and I was frustrated with the imprecision of the radio announcer, because clearly this couldn't happen. Maybe part of the tower fell off or something, but the entire thing can't collapse! Just weeks before I had spent a hot summer night running around lower Manhattan, taking all sorts of amateur artsy shots of the towers and surrounding area. It wasn't until lunchtime that I went up to the cafeteria, and finally saw the repeats on TV.
The next month, October 2001, I was interning in a medical microbiology lab when the anthrax mail attacks went out, but that's another story."
- P. W.
22. "I was 22 and had recently graduated from university. I was working as administrative assistant in a building near South Street Seaport, about 10 blocks from the World Trade Center. At work that morning, someone yelled to come to the break room with the TV. It showed a plane had hit the WTC. I was on about the 14th floor and our windows overlooked the river and Brooklyn. We couldn't see the towers, but soon after I heard a quick crunch noise, and the TV showed the second plane hit.
I watched an endless stream of paper fly across the river to Brooklyn. Nobody knew what to do. Less than an hour later, we heard a rumble saw and huge smoke clouds rolled down the street and up our windows, covering them! Mobile phones stopped working so I couldn't call family. We waited in the lobby as people covered in ash came in for shelter.
Finally we were told us to leave and go home, but no transit was working. The city was so quiet, everything had closed. I saw large, endless crowds walking across bridges to Brooklyn. I somehow got in touch with my uncle by phone and met him at a friend's apartment. We watched news all afternoon. Trains finally started again that evening so we walked all the way to midtown to go home to Long Island."
- Victoria Akre
I watched an endless stream of paper fly across the river to Brooklyn. Nobody knew what to do. Less than an hour later, we heard a rumble saw and huge smoke clouds rolled down the street and up our windows, covering them! Mobile phones stopped working so I couldn't call family. We waited in the lobby as people covered in ash came in for shelter.
Finally we were told us to leave and go home, but no transit was working. The city was so quiet, everything had closed. I saw large, endless crowds walking across bridges to Brooklyn. I somehow got in touch with my uncle by phone and met him at a friend's apartment. We watched news all afternoon. Trains finally started again that evening so we walked all the way to midtown to go home to Long Island."
- Victoria Akre
23. "I was too close for comfort, on the 24th floor of an office building five blocks away with a clear view of the towers. Was watching North Tower burn when second plane hit and that ball of flame erupted towards us. I saw the shock-wave coming, it was like being inside a drum when it hit. Smoke was sucked into our building by the air conditioning, setting off the fire alarms.
We evacuated into chaos below.
I deliberately did not watch the people jumping, and am still glad for that decision. The buildings fell by the time we were out of the area and I went back to work a week later. The fires burned underground for weeks, knowing it was burning bodies made it even more awful."
- S.D.
We evacuated into chaos below.
I deliberately did not watch the people jumping, and am still glad for that decision. The buildings fell by the time we were out of the area and I went back to work a week later. The fires burned underground for weeks, knowing it was burning bodies made it even more awful."
- S.D.
24. "I was an active duty Soldier working in an Army National Guard armory in upstate NY. It was a beautiful day.
Listening to the radio, I had heard something about a plane hitting one of the buildings but really didn't think much about it. I had been to the observation deck of one of the two years before and remembered seeing small planes and helicopters flying around and thought it was probably that. The FDNY would make quick work of it. Then one of the other AD Soldiers come in and said we should get into his office and turn on his TV. Holy crap.
I was a volunteer firefighter back then and knew this was no small plane, but I just couldn't wrap my head around why this had happened. We watched as the second plane went into the other building and the only thing I could think was how dumb those pilots were to blindly follow the air traffic controllers. You have to remember, nothing like this had ever happened here before. There was the attack on the WTC in '93, but terrorism was something that happened somewhere else.
The phones started ringing: my Guardsmen, our higher headquarters, everyone was calling! There's too much to go into here, but I was never so proud to be working with National Guardsmen. We were professional volunteers who were always looked down upon by the active component until that point."
- Mike
Listening to the radio, I had heard something about a plane hitting one of the buildings but really didn't think much about it. I had been to the observation deck of one of the two years before and remembered seeing small planes and helicopters flying around and thought it was probably that. The FDNY would make quick work of it. Then one of the other AD Soldiers come in and said we should get into his office and turn on his TV. Holy crap.
I was a volunteer firefighter back then and knew this was no small plane, but I just couldn't wrap my head around why this had happened. We watched as the second plane went into the other building and the only thing I could think was how dumb those pilots were to blindly follow the air traffic controllers. You have to remember, nothing like this had ever happened here before. There was the attack on the WTC in '93, but terrorism was something that happened somewhere else.
The phones started ringing: my Guardsmen, our higher headquarters, everyone was calling! There's too much to go into here, but I was never so proud to be working with National Guardsmen. We were professional volunteers who were always looked down upon by the active component until that point."
- Mike
25. "On September 11th, I was in 7th grade at a middle school in Chelsea. For those of you who don't know, Chelsea is a neighborhood in mid town Manhattan so not really at Ground Zero but close enough that you can see some of the buildings.
The story will begin, not with me, but with my parents.
My Dad started the work day as he always does, by walking one block to the subway. When he got halfway down the block he heard a plane overhead and thought that it was flying awfully low which is strange. When he got to the end of the block he could tell something was wrong and immediately turned around to go home and call my mother. Upon receiving the call, my mother looked out our window where she could see the "accident" at the Twin Towers. She grabbed a video camera and began filming but was fiddling with the camera and recorded only her shocked reaction when the second plane hit.
I was at school, with no real knowledge of any of this but I am hearing rumors about a plane. For the most part I ignored the rumors, until I look outside my classroom and saw my parents who had arrived to pick me up. That's when I knew something serious was going on.
My dad had this tiny radio that he is listening to to try to get news while my mother was on her flip phone trying to reach the parents of all my school friends. Our apartment was located very close to the school and many of my friends lived much further away. My mom was trying to see if she can pick up my friends to bring them to our home to wait for their parents, but phone lines were started to get swamped. The few that she could reach took her up on that offer.
As we left the school, I saw a girl with her father crying. I knew the girl but I wasn't very close to her. I later learned that her mother worked at the World Trade Center and died on that day. My mom knew her mother and she said she was a lovely person. To this day she is the closest person by degrees of separation to me that died on that day. Whenever I go to a victim memorial I always try to find her name.
The next day school was canceled and I was walking around the city with my parents, just taking it all in. There was a lot of smoke, many truck carrying debris and many soldiers. The atmosphere was so different than anything I had ever experienced before. I remember that we were looking for a copy of the New York Times. We had one at home that was delivered to us and wanted another but every single news stand was out. There was one broken news stand that had them but we couldn't get it to open.
On the 13th, school was back on and everything went back to 'normal.' In the days that followed everything just felt different."
- Jordan F
The story will begin, not with me, but with my parents.
My Dad started the work day as he always does, by walking one block to the subway. When he got halfway down the block he heard a plane overhead and thought that it was flying awfully low which is strange. When he got to the end of the block he could tell something was wrong and immediately turned around to go home and call my mother. Upon receiving the call, my mother looked out our window where she could see the "accident" at the Twin Towers. She grabbed a video camera and began filming but was fiddling with the camera and recorded only her shocked reaction when the second plane hit.
I was at school, with no real knowledge of any of this but I am hearing rumors about a plane. For the most part I ignored the rumors, until I look outside my classroom and saw my parents who had arrived to pick me up. That's when I knew something serious was going on.
My dad had this tiny radio that he is listening to to try to get news while my mother was on her flip phone trying to reach the parents of all my school friends. Our apartment was located very close to the school and many of my friends lived much further away. My mom was trying to see if she can pick up my friends to bring them to our home to wait for their parents, but phone lines were started to get swamped. The few that she could reach took her up on that offer.
As we left the school, I saw a girl with her father crying. I knew the girl but I wasn't very close to her. I later learned that her mother worked at the World Trade Center and died on that day. My mom knew her mother and she said she was a lovely person. To this day she is the closest person by degrees of separation to me that died on that day. Whenever I go to a victim memorial I always try to find her name.
The next day school was canceled and I was walking around the city with my parents, just taking it all in. There was a lot of smoke, many truck carrying debris and many soldiers. The atmosphere was so different than anything I had ever experienced before. I remember that we were looking for a copy of the New York Times. We had one at home that was delivered to us and wanted another but every single news stand was out. There was one broken news stand that had them but we couldn't get it to open.
On the 13th, school was back on and everything went back to 'normal.' In the days that followed everything just felt different."
- Jordan F
26. "I was 4 years old and 9/11 was my first real memory. Before that, I only remember small snippets, flashes of moments really... But I remember that Tuesday.
I went to Pre-K on the south shore of Long Island, close to Queens. We had an enclosed backyard we were allowed to play in, and it bordered a little stream. I was playing with some rocks by the stream when the fire alarm went off inside, but for some reason when the teachers started trying to line us up it was to bring us in. My four year old brain couldn’t understand why we would go inside if there was a fire, so I looked all around and there, way off in the distance, was a huge plume of black smoke. I thought,
'There’s a fire outside but there aren’t any fire alarms outside, so that’s why we’re going inside.'
As I was about to get into the building, what can only be described as the loudest sound I’ve ever heard roared above our heads as fighter jets sped past us towards the smoke, in hindsight they had to be going near the speed of sound.
We sat inside, in the dark, until we were picked up. My aunt who lived nearby picked me up. She’s the most outgoing and talkative person I know and we didn't say a word to each other the entire ride home. When my mom got home, I could tell she had been crying. I didn’t really know why, but she sent me to my room and wouldn’t let me come out until the next day.
I just remember being scared.
The next day, my mom made us breakfast. She had hung my grandfathers giant American flag out the window of the apartment. The news was playing on the TV And I stayed home that day.
I went back to school a few days later. It was years before I understood what actually happened, but I did wonder if all my friends were ok, a lot of them didn’t come to school for awhile. As it turns out, I was one of the lucky few, over half of my classmates had lost a parent or a relative. And so for a few years, it was just the day my friends' moms and dads died.
- Michael Arianas
I went to Pre-K on the south shore of Long Island, close to Queens. We had an enclosed backyard we were allowed to play in, and it bordered a little stream. I was playing with some rocks by the stream when the fire alarm went off inside, but for some reason when the teachers started trying to line us up it was to bring us in. My four year old brain couldn’t understand why we would go inside if there was a fire, so I looked all around and there, way off in the distance, was a huge plume of black smoke. I thought,
'There’s a fire outside but there aren’t any fire alarms outside, so that’s why we’re going inside.'
As I was about to get into the building, what can only be described as the loudest sound I’ve ever heard roared above our heads as fighter jets sped past us towards the smoke, in hindsight they had to be going near the speed of sound.
We sat inside, in the dark, until we were picked up. My aunt who lived nearby picked me up. She’s the most outgoing and talkative person I know and we didn't say a word to each other the entire ride home. When my mom got home, I could tell she had been crying. I didn’t really know why, but she sent me to my room and wouldn’t let me come out until the next day.
I just remember being scared.
The next day, my mom made us breakfast. She had hung my grandfathers giant American flag out the window of the apartment. The news was playing on the TV And I stayed home that day.
I went back to school a few days later. It was years before I understood what actually happened, but I did wonder if all my friends were ok, a lot of them didn’t come to school for awhile. As it turns out, I was one of the lucky few, over half of my classmates had lost a parent or a relative. And so for a few years, it was just the day my friends' moms and dads died.
- Michael Arianas
27. "I was ten years old living in Long Island, it was just a normal day when I woke up that morning. I got up, ate breakfast, got dressed, and my mom took me to school. The teachers never told us anything, but there were signs that something was wrong. The Principal had announced that we couldn’t go outside for recess that day. We weren’t told why, but we all assumed it was because our playground was covered in geese crap since the playground was connected to a baseball field which was always swarming with geese. Throughout the day, things became weirder. My teacher had moments where she would cry out of nowhere, and the other kids in my class started to be picked up early. By the time school ended there were only six kids left in my class, including myself.
When my mom picked me up I told her how weird the day was and she responded with,
'The Trade Center had been attacked.'
Now, I was ten years old only, and lived on Long Island near the border between Nassau County and Suffolk County. I had only been into the city once or twice, and didn’t know what the World Trade Center was. My teacher didn’t assign homework that day, so when I got home I turned on the TV and saw it all playing on repeat. My father, who worked nights, didn’t go into work. He had gone to the store to buy some food, batteries, flashlights, etc. My mom said it was for just in case. I don’t think it really hit me at the time, the scale of what happened and the sheer magnitude of life lost. I was sad about the people dying, but I didn’t really understand it all. I didn’t know what a hijacking was or who terrorists were.
My birthday is September 16th, and my mom was supposed to bring me and a friend to a restaurant in the city. That was cancelled obviously. Life was on pause the next few days. I still went to school but it was different. People were quiet and sad. A classmate didn’t come back to school. I would later learn that he lost both parents in the towers. We had to practice drills of all sorts after 9/11. Fire drills, shooter drills, and bomb threat drills all of which we were told that these were in case a second attack were to occur. We were all scared. My mom and dad ended up taking me to an Aquarium that was on Long Island. Things had begun opening back up. As we were watching a sea lion show outside, everyone stopped clapping and stared as we heard a plane go by overhead.
Looking back at growing up before and after the Iraq war started, I cringe at how I acted. Where I lived, it was a fairly conservative area, and after 9/11 my community ramped up the 'patriotism' to the extreme. This included an anti-Muslim sentiment that took the form in jokes, taunts, and my family going off about how we couldn’t trust them. Anything that went against the President or what we saw on TV as the first strikes began in the Middle East, was 'unpatriotic'. I really hate that I bought into it back then. My parents, who weren’t even conservative, really enforced the fear of a second attack coming out of nowhere, and I still cringe when the thought pops into my head of a joke I told someone during all this. I was at the Doctor’s and I decided to tell him a joke I heard at school. I had to have been twelve at the time. I go,
'Why aren’t there any Middle Eastern people on Star Trek? Because it takes place in the future.'
He was Middle Eastern. He didn’t say anything, but my dad looked shocked and dragged me out of there.
I still wish I could have apologized to him but we didn’t go back there. My parents really tore into me about it, and I felt bad, but I didn’t mean anything by it. Friends of mine, who were Middle Eastern or practicing Muslims moved away from the area. I don’t blame them. The rhetoric, the ultra hard line 'patriotism', the racist/xenophobic mentality that grew must have been awful to live around. I’m so glad I didn’t embrace that mindset fully, and as I watched more of the Iraq War develop on TV I grew to oppose it. Seeing just what was happening over there seemed horrific, and no better than what had happened to us. I still think about those two to three years though, and how everything in the country grew to be so cold."
- Peter LaTrace
When my mom picked me up I told her how weird the day was and she responded with,
'The Trade Center had been attacked.'
Now, I was ten years old only, and lived on Long Island near the border between Nassau County and Suffolk County. I had only been into the city once or twice, and didn’t know what the World Trade Center was. My teacher didn’t assign homework that day, so when I got home I turned on the TV and saw it all playing on repeat. My father, who worked nights, didn’t go into work. He had gone to the store to buy some food, batteries, flashlights, etc. My mom said it was for just in case. I don’t think it really hit me at the time, the scale of what happened and the sheer magnitude of life lost. I was sad about the people dying, but I didn’t really understand it all. I didn’t know what a hijacking was or who terrorists were.
My birthday is September 16th, and my mom was supposed to bring me and a friend to a restaurant in the city. That was cancelled obviously. Life was on pause the next few days. I still went to school but it was different. People were quiet and sad. A classmate didn’t come back to school. I would later learn that he lost both parents in the towers. We had to practice drills of all sorts after 9/11. Fire drills, shooter drills, and bomb threat drills all of which we were told that these were in case a second attack were to occur. We were all scared. My mom and dad ended up taking me to an Aquarium that was on Long Island. Things had begun opening back up. As we were watching a sea lion show outside, everyone stopped clapping and stared as we heard a plane go by overhead.
Looking back at growing up before and after the Iraq war started, I cringe at how I acted. Where I lived, it was a fairly conservative area, and after 9/11 my community ramped up the 'patriotism' to the extreme. This included an anti-Muslim sentiment that took the form in jokes, taunts, and my family going off about how we couldn’t trust them. Anything that went against the President or what we saw on TV as the first strikes began in the Middle East, was 'unpatriotic'. I really hate that I bought into it back then. My parents, who weren’t even conservative, really enforced the fear of a second attack coming out of nowhere, and I still cringe when the thought pops into my head of a joke I told someone during all this. I was at the Doctor’s and I decided to tell him a joke I heard at school. I had to have been twelve at the time. I go,
'Why aren’t there any Middle Eastern people on Star Trek? Because it takes place in the future.'
He was Middle Eastern. He didn’t say anything, but my dad looked shocked and dragged me out of there.
I still wish I could have apologized to him but we didn’t go back there. My parents really tore into me about it, and I felt bad, but I didn’t mean anything by it. Friends of mine, who were Middle Eastern or practicing Muslims moved away from the area. I don’t blame them. The rhetoric, the ultra hard line 'patriotism', the racist/xenophobic mentality that grew must have been awful to live around. I’m so glad I didn’t embrace that mindset fully, and as I watched more of the Iraq War develop on TV I grew to oppose it. Seeing just what was happening over there seemed horrific, and no better than what had happened to us. I still think about those two to three years though, and how everything in the country grew to be so cold."
- Peter LaTrace
28. "My husband worked across the street from the Towers, on the fourth floor of his office building, I don’t recall the address, but it was near that little church. The first plane hit and no one knew what had happened. Everyone in his division, about 15 people, went to the windows in time to see the other plane hit. They saw the plane pushing stuff: people, furniture, debris, etc, OUT of the building on the other side from where it came in. They saw people falling because they had been pushed out.
My husband has never been able to talk about it.
My husband yelled,
'Guys, we are at war!'
And that at everyone should follow him out of the office and go down the stairs, not the elevator, and run, since those buildings are going to come down. He bullied them all safely out and made them get away from there. They all eventually got home safely.
He walked all the way to the end of Manhattan where he caught a bus. At about 4 pm he was able to call me and it was like hearing a voice from God. I had thought for sure he was dead since his office was right across the street and I figured he must have gotten caught in the dust blast and suffocated. He has severe asthma and I knew he wouldn’t get through that. I cried so hard as I drove the ten miles to the Croton Harmon station, that I missed the exit to pick him up and had to go back around via the next turnoff. He was covered in soot and dirt and was in deep shock and was shaking. He did not sleep much for several days.
Our two children were little and it had been a tough day. He has never been able to talk about it except to tell me the basic facts, as I’ve related them here. The topic still upsets him and if he sees a picture or hears it mentioned he has to leave the room.
It’s hard to believe there’s a whole new generation of kids who don’t remember it. Maybe it’s a good thing. We need to heal from it."
- Barbara Dodsworth
My husband has never been able to talk about it.
My husband yelled,
'Guys, we are at war!'
And that at everyone should follow him out of the office and go down the stairs, not the elevator, and run, since those buildings are going to come down. He bullied them all safely out and made them get away from there. They all eventually got home safely.
He walked all the way to the end of Manhattan where he caught a bus. At about 4 pm he was able to call me and it was like hearing a voice from God. I had thought for sure he was dead since his office was right across the street and I figured he must have gotten caught in the dust blast and suffocated. He has severe asthma and I knew he wouldn’t get through that. I cried so hard as I drove the ten miles to the Croton Harmon station, that I missed the exit to pick him up and had to go back around via the next turnoff. He was covered in soot and dirt and was in deep shock and was shaking. He did not sleep much for several days.
Our two children were little and it had been a tough day. He has never been able to talk about it except to tell me the basic facts, as I’ve related them here. The topic still upsets him and if he sees a picture or hears it mentioned he has to leave the room.
It’s hard to believe there’s a whole new generation of kids who don’t remember it. Maybe it’s a good thing. We need to heal from it."
- Barbara Dodsworth
29. "I grew up just outside of NYC and was able to see the towers from my classroom window. Only the top windows were open that morning, and the blinds were closed; it was just a normal day, absolutely beautiful.
About an hour into the day, the art teacher walked into the room and pulled our teacher out into the hallway to tell her something. She came back in with a look of shock on her face and went right to the closet to get out a portable radio. She explained to us that a plane had accidentally flown into the World Trade Center, and then related the time when a plane hit the Empire State Building. All of this kinda blew us away.
As she started tuning the radio to 1010 WINS, a few of us went to open the windows because we knew we could see the towers from the class window.
We opened the windows just as the second plane hit the tower. We all kinda... knew that it wasn't an accident then.
I honestly don't remember much of our initial reaction to that, strangely enough; I remember the atmosphere; the fear, the uncertainty. Then the towers fell and we were just... in shock. Over the next couple hours, we just listened to the news as most everyone's parents came to get them, by the end of the day, there was only me and 2-3 other kids left. On the walk home, I stared at the giant cloud of dust rising in the sky. Just sat watching news for the rest of the day with my family, in sheer astonishment of what happened."
- G. C.
About an hour into the day, the art teacher walked into the room and pulled our teacher out into the hallway to tell her something. She came back in with a look of shock on her face and went right to the closet to get out a portable radio. She explained to us that a plane had accidentally flown into the World Trade Center, and then related the time when a plane hit the Empire State Building. All of this kinda blew us away.
As she started tuning the radio to 1010 WINS, a few of us went to open the windows because we knew we could see the towers from the class window.
We opened the windows just as the second plane hit the tower. We all kinda... knew that it wasn't an accident then.
I honestly don't remember much of our initial reaction to that, strangely enough; I remember the atmosphere; the fear, the uncertainty. Then the towers fell and we were just... in shock. Over the next couple hours, we just listened to the news as most everyone's parents came to get them, by the end of the day, there was only me and 2-3 other kids left. On the walk home, I stared at the giant cloud of dust rising in the sky. Just sat watching news for the rest of the day with my family, in sheer astonishment of what happened."
- G. C.
30. "My grandfather was the captain of the Circle Line and ran the ferry express from Manhattan to Staten Island. He invited my mother and I to the boat that day. I was only five years old so I can’t remember much. But my mother told me years later that when the second plane hit and the smoke was covering the city, my grandfather's ferry was used as a evacuation transport. I have a faint memory of the people covered in soot entering the boat. On the second run he dropped my mother and me off and made trips back and forth until midnight. I wish I could show you the picture my mom took from the ferry but she passed as well as my grandfather a couple years ago so I have no idea where it might be."
- C. S.
- C. S.
31. "I was commuting to work in Manhattan via a high speed catamaran ferry boat from New Jersey.
We saw the smoke from the first plane before we left the dock in New Jersey and thought it was a strange weather cloud at first.
As we got underway, the news came in that it was a plane and an accident. There was lots of talk about the plane years ago that crashed into the Empire State Building.
People went to the top deck for a better look.
We watched the second plane fly overhead and into the second tower. Everything became very clear and very somber immediately.
We saw the smoke from the first plane before we left the dock in New Jersey and thought it was a strange weather cloud at first.
As we got underway, the news came in that it was a plane and an accident. There was lots of talk about the plane years ago that crashed into the Empire State Building.
People went to the top deck for a better look.
We watched the second plane fly overhead and into the second tower. Everything became very clear and very somber immediately.
By the time we got to the pier in Manhattan, the doc was flooded with people. We took as many as we could, well past the rated occupancy for the boat, and left to go back to New Jersey.
On the way back, we watched both towers fall. I remember a long gap between the two. I also remember the stream of smoke and debris flowing from them overhead. It was glittering, littered with what we assumed was office paper. That was surreal as hell. Some on board had escaped the towers.
There's two ports of call in New Jersey and school buses were brought in to take those that needed back to the other. I was one of those people.
Riding that school bus was a head trip. Everything around us seemed kinda normal... As if the news hadn't hit yet. We all just went home.
Then the world changed.
- Jim Rooney
On the way back, we watched both towers fall. I remember a long gap between the two. I also remember the stream of smoke and debris flowing from them overhead. It was glittering, littered with what we assumed was office paper. That was surreal as hell. Some on board had escaped the towers.
There's two ports of call in New Jersey and school buses were brought in to take those that needed back to the other. I was one of those people.
Riding that school bus was a head trip. Everything around us seemed kinda normal... As if the news hadn't hit yet. We all just went home.
Then the world changed.
- Jim Rooney
32. "I was in to get my truck's oil changed or a minor warranty repair, I don't remember which, but it was taking much longer than they predicted. I was in the waiting room with a few other folks, started pacing around saying that I needed to leave soon because I had to help out in my daughter's classroom. I also remember how agitated I started to feel about them taking so long and told another lady it was probably because I was,
'Some woman who didn't know any better so they just put my order to the back of the pack to do when they go to it.'
The lady replied,
'No look!' as she pointed at the TV.
The TV showed the towers, after the first crash had happened. I saw it, but it still hadn't processed in my brain what was going on because I wandered back into the service area and saw all the mechanics surrounding a television out back. I immediately got mad that they were too involved with the news and not working on the vehicles making me late to my daughter's school.
The service guy told me it wouldn't matter because with what just happened they probably will be cancelling all the schools anyway. I asked him what he meant.
'A war is starting.'
At that moment I stopped and realized how stupid and selfish I was. I asked if I could just take my truck and drove out of there to the school.
I was terrified when I got there and the whole school was getting information about what to do. I don't remember much more about it, but despite the lock-down I was able to dismiss my daughter.
To this day I will never forgot being so self-involved and acting like a jerk when people had just been killed. I hope to never forget how I acted on September 11th."
- S. E.
'Some woman who didn't know any better so they just put my order to the back of the pack to do when they go to it.'
The lady replied,
'No look!' as she pointed at the TV.
The TV showed the towers, after the first crash had happened. I saw it, but it still hadn't processed in my brain what was going on because I wandered back into the service area and saw all the mechanics surrounding a television out back. I immediately got mad that they were too involved with the news and not working on the vehicles making me late to my daughter's school.
The service guy told me it wouldn't matter because with what just happened they probably will be cancelling all the schools anyway. I asked him what he meant.
'A war is starting.'
At that moment I stopped and realized how stupid and selfish I was. I asked if I could just take my truck and drove out of there to the school.
I was terrified when I got there and the whole school was getting information about what to do. I don't remember much more about it, but despite the lock-down I was able to dismiss my daughter.
To this day I will never forgot being so self-involved and acting like a jerk when people had just been killed. I hope to never forget how I acted on September 11th."
- S. E.
33. "I lived and went to school in Brooklyn and every morning before school, I would look out my kitchen window and see the financial district skyline. On 9/11 I was in fourth grade, my class was approaching our classroom and we were waiting for the teacher to open the door. There was a window at the end of our hallway and, while waiting for her to open the door, I remember looking out the window and seeing a plane fly into the second tower. There was smoke everywhere, kids gasping and I was just shocked to see what was happening. My teacher then rushed us into the classroom. Kids started crying and she started asking us if we had family members who worked in the towers.
I'm not sure what happened next, but parents started coming to the school to pick up their kids. My mom came for me and as I was leaving I saw the school lobby packed with parents, kids and staff. We were all scared. I came home and stood by the kitchen window. The sky was gray & smokey, I could no longer see downtown Manhattan.
That was the last time I saw the twin towers."
- Anonymous
I'm not sure what happened next, but parents started coming to the school to pick up their kids. My mom came for me and as I was leaving I saw the school lobby packed with parents, kids and staff. We were all scared. I came home and stood by the kitchen window. The sky was gray & smokey, I could no longer see downtown Manhattan.
That was the last time I saw the twin towers."
- Anonymous
34. "I was a first grader living in Riverhead which is about 2.5 hours east of NYC. An announcement coming over the loudspeakers about buildings crashing but I didn’t know what it meant. I remember watching my first grade teacher break down in tears.
An hour or so later my mom came to pick my sister and I up early from school. She was very very worried because nobody knew what could happen next, especially since we were relatively close to the city. When we came home, the TV was on and I saw all the footage of the buildings coming down. None of it was really processing though being that I was 6 years old. My uncle was a NYPD cop and a first responder to Ground Zero. We were all very worried about him.
Turns out he developed a form of stomach cancer years later because of all the toxic air he breathed."
- Jessica Allen
An hour or so later my mom came to pick my sister and I up early from school. She was very very worried because nobody knew what could happen next, especially since we were relatively close to the city. When we came home, the TV was on and I saw all the footage of the buildings coming down. None of it was really processing though being that I was 6 years old. My uncle was a NYPD cop and a first responder to Ground Zero. We were all very worried about him.
Turns out he developed a form of stomach cancer years later because of all the toxic air he breathed."
- Jessica Allen
35. "I was at work in the ICU when my coworker got a call from her sister that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned on the radio and as soon as I heard the second one had been hit I thought,
'Oh shit, we’re at war.'
I didn’t know who we were at war with, but it was obvious before the other 2 planes that was the situation we were in. I was raised on tales of Pearl Harbor Day. It was immediately obvious to me.
We listened to the radio the rest of the day, between treatments, in a haze. When second shift came in to relieve us they changed the radio and I was SO ANGRY. I thought they couldn’t understand the importance of what had happened because they were Canadian, not American. Later,I realized they were right....we were just listening to the same doom over and over before the phrase 'doomscrolling' was invented.
I will never forget that moment, nor the panic on a resident’s face as she couldn’t contact her husband who worked at the World Trade Center (as it turns out, he was lucky) nor the immediate knowledge we were at war and we didn’t even know who with yet."
- Anonymous
'Oh shit, we’re at war.'
I didn’t know who we were at war with, but it was obvious before the other 2 planes that was the situation we were in. I was raised on tales of Pearl Harbor Day. It was immediately obvious to me.
We listened to the radio the rest of the day, between treatments, in a haze. When second shift came in to relieve us they changed the radio and I was SO ANGRY. I thought they couldn’t understand the importance of what had happened because they were Canadian, not American. Later,I realized they were right....we were just listening to the same doom over and over before the phrase 'doomscrolling' was invented.
I will never forget that moment, nor the panic on a resident’s face as she couldn’t contact her husband who worked at the World Trade Center (as it turns out, he was lucky) nor the immediate knowledge we were at war and we didn’t even know who with yet."
- Anonymous
36. "I lived in Jackson Heights, Queens, and worked in Long Island City, Queens, at the time. My commute to work was a straight shot on the 7 train, which is an elevated train in that part of Queens.
I remember waking up that morning and wondering if I could possibly call off work and go to the beach -- it was an absolutely beautiful day. I didn't, but I did lounge around at home for long enough that I was late heading off to work. I wound up getting to the train right around the time the first plane hit. I saw all the smoke and thought maybe there was some kind of industrial fire down in Long Island City.
I'd been on the train for a few stops when a woman in a floral-print dress got on at Woodside Station and told the whole car that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. She sounded crazy, but everyone turned to look out the window anyway -- and just as we all turned, the second plane hit. It was a shocking, frightening, horrible thing to see.
Everyone panicked simultaneously. The train went to express service so we ran right through to Queensborough Plaza (which was my usual stop), and virtually everyone onboard piled off. It took me 10 minutes to get off the train and onto the street that day, something that normally took maybe 90 seconds.
At work, we had the TV on. We had to keep changing channels to get coverage as different channels kept going off the air. We were watching CBS when there was a seismic rumble underfoot and the glass rattled in the windows. We were about 7 miles away, as the crow flies, from the towers. The newscaster said, "I think-- can we roll that back? I think -- it looks like -- I think the South Tower has just collapsed." Another reporter, when the North Tower collapsed, was at the scene, and I still remember her shrieking, on live television, "
'Jesus Christ! Jesus F---ing Christ!'
Later that night, once I was home, a car backfired outside of my apartment and I completely lost my mind, thinking it was gunfire or a bomb.
The air smelled like blood and metal until December."
- Kathy H
I remember waking up that morning and wondering if I could possibly call off work and go to the beach -- it was an absolutely beautiful day. I didn't, but I did lounge around at home for long enough that I was late heading off to work. I wound up getting to the train right around the time the first plane hit. I saw all the smoke and thought maybe there was some kind of industrial fire down in Long Island City.
I'd been on the train for a few stops when a woman in a floral-print dress got on at Woodside Station and told the whole car that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. She sounded crazy, but everyone turned to look out the window anyway -- and just as we all turned, the second plane hit. It was a shocking, frightening, horrible thing to see.
Everyone panicked simultaneously. The train went to express service so we ran right through to Queensborough Plaza (which was my usual stop), and virtually everyone onboard piled off. It took me 10 minutes to get off the train and onto the street that day, something that normally took maybe 90 seconds.
At work, we had the TV on. We had to keep changing channels to get coverage as different channels kept going off the air. We were watching CBS when there was a seismic rumble underfoot and the glass rattled in the windows. We were about 7 miles away, as the crow flies, from the towers. The newscaster said, "I think-- can we roll that back? I think -- it looks like -- I think the South Tower has just collapsed." Another reporter, when the North Tower collapsed, was at the scene, and I still remember her shrieking, on live television, "
'Jesus Christ! Jesus F---ing Christ!'
Later that night, once I was home, a car backfired outside of my apartment and I completely lost my mind, thinking it was gunfire or a bomb.
The air smelled like blood and metal until December."
- Kathy H
37. "I was 10, in fifth grade, playing outside before school which didn't start until 9:30. My neighbor, who was my age, came out saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought that she was making a particularly cruel joke, since everyone knew that my dad worked there. I went inside to see my mom standing in front of the TV, jaw on the floor, on the phone with my dad's mom. I went to school anyway, while my poor mother fielded calls all day from friends and family, nearly in tears, asking if my dad was okay. I wasn't allowed to answer the phone for a few days afterwards. Thankfully my dad was on a business trip in Spain at the time, which was a business trip we would always complain about. The one that made him miss both the last few days of summer and the first days of school. Though everybody on his floor got out okay, his company lost over 200 people.
Before my mom dropped me off at school I said to her,
'One good thing is that daddy will get to be home with us for a few days while they fix his building.'
Later that day, in school, one of my teachers told us that the buildings had collapsed. A girl in my class ran out of the room crying. Her dad was a firefighter, and she had no idea if he was okay. I never found out. Kids were being picked up early all day.
After school my friend and I were doing our homework together in the kitchen. We weren't allowed to watch TV and didn't feel like playing. We listened to the radio instead when we heard about 7 WTC collapsing. That night, and for several nights after, we watched Nickelodeon during family TV time. It was the only station not replaying the footage over and over again.
My dad couldn't get a flight home. He wound up stuck in Spain for ten days, longer than his intended trip by almost a week.
For a few years after, a decreasingly small part of me thought that this was just an incredibly vivid dream, and eventually I'd wake up back in fifth grade. It went from a comforting fantasy to a terrifying concept the older I got."
- Brian Greene
Before my mom dropped me off at school I said to her,
'One good thing is that daddy will get to be home with us for a few days while they fix his building.'
Later that day, in school, one of my teachers told us that the buildings had collapsed. A girl in my class ran out of the room crying. Her dad was a firefighter, and she had no idea if he was okay. I never found out. Kids were being picked up early all day.
After school my friend and I were doing our homework together in the kitchen. We weren't allowed to watch TV and didn't feel like playing. We listened to the radio instead when we heard about 7 WTC collapsing. That night, and for several nights after, we watched Nickelodeon during family TV time. It was the only station not replaying the footage over and over again.
My dad couldn't get a flight home. He wound up stuck in Spain for ten days, longer than his intended trip by almost a week.
For a few years after, a decreasingly small part of me thought that this was just an incredibly vivid dream, and eventually I'd wake up back in fifth grade. It went from a comforting fantasy to a terrifying concept the older I got."
- Brian Greene
38. "I was living on Long Island and working the polls for the primary that day. At around 5:30 a.m. I was on my way to the polls when I was rear-ended at a red light, lightly. The other driver drove away. I felt fine, but I called it in anyway and went home so I could report it. Turns out it was a 97-year-old man who didn't even realize what happened.
I had no idea that my little fender bender would fade into the background of the day's events. I made it to the polls by the time they opened. A little after 9:00 a.m. one of the voters said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They were fuzzy on the details and we assumed it was a small Cessna or something. It had happened before with the Empire State Building.
A little while later, another voter came in and told us another plane had hit the other building. It began to dawn on us this was no small event. The small trickle of voters had slowed to nothing and we turned on the radio. They didn't have much yet. I called my fiancé (now husband) on the phone and he filled me in. He lives in Queens and most of our friends live in New York City so we began to worry.
I only had so many quarters so I returned to the main auditorium and the group around the radios. I will never forget that moment when they announced the first tower had collapsed. It felt like I had been punched in the gut and I sunk into a chair without realizing it, unable to stand. It went on like that. We were all in shock. I used to work in the Empire State building and was terrified for my former co-workers.
An hour passed. They let us know that the election had been canceled but we couldn't go anywhere. We couldn't close the polls without the supervision of police and they had better things to do that day.
So we stayed in that auditorium with nothing but a radio. While the rest of the world was watching, we were listening. The loudspeakers of the school begin to call kids down to the office. In my hometown, almost everyone works in New York City. I hoped that each name called was being picked up so their parents could be with them through the tragedy, and not because they just lost a parent. It was hard to ignore that possibility each time a name was called out.
in the afternoon, the police were finally able to come and help us shut down the site so we could go home. I finally turned on the TV in saw the images I have been hearing about. I went to the hospital to try to donate blood but they were full. I called around and found a blood donation center. I stood on the line for a few hours until they sent us all home. People were bringing snacks and juice to those waiting. Not people from the center, but others like us who didn't know what else to do.
Later that night, we tried to call our friends who we knew worked downtown. There were 10 hours with busy networks. One had been interviewing for a job with Cantor Fitzgerald. It had gotten down to him and one more candidate. Turns out she had gotten the job. Another friend of mine worked in the towers and got out just in time, although I didn't learn this until later. Another was supposed to show a tourist friend around the WTC that day and cancelled. We were lucky. My uncle was not. He lost so many friends.
The next day I had a doctor's appointment in Queens. The air was thick with acrid smoke and a strange smell. The day after we were drawn to Manhattan. Everywhere you looked in the city there were missing posters, candles, makeshift memorials. We went down to Washington Square Park and looked south.
I have worked downtown many times since then, on Wall Street and on Fulton. Some of my coworkers got very sick from the dust in the air.
I have lived New York City for 15 years now. My neighbors are wonderful. They're there when I need them and have been there for each other during the pandemic. 9/11 allowed the rest of the country to see what we're capable of, if only for a moment."
- L.T. Ciaccio
I had no idea that my little fender bender would fade into the background of the day's events. I made it to the polls by the time they opened. A little after 9:00 a.m. one of the voters said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They were fuzzy on the details and we assumed it was a small Cessna or something. It had happened before with the Empire State Building.
A little while later, another voter came in and told us another plane had hit the other building. It began to dawn on us this was no small event. The small trickle of voters had slowed to nothing and we turned on the radio. They didn't have much yet. I called my fiancé (now husband) on the phone and he filled me in. He lives in Queens and most of our friends live in New York City so we began to worry.
I only had so many quarters so I returned to the main auditorium and the group around the radios. I will never forget that moment when they announced the first tower had collapsed. It felt like I had been punched in the gut and I sunk into a chair without realizing it, unable to stand. It went on like that. We were all in shock. I used to work in the Empire State building and was terrified for my former co-workers.
An hour passed. They let us know that the election had been canceled but we couldn't go anywhere. We couldn't close the polls without the supervision of police and they had better things to do that day.
So we stayed in that auditorium with nothing but a radio. While the rest of the world was watching, we were listening. The loudspeakers of the school begin to call kids down to the office. In my hometown, almost everyone works in New York City. I hoped that each name called was being picked up so their parents could be with them through the tragedy, and not because they just lost a parent. It was hard to ignore that possibility each time a name was called out.
in the afternoon, the police were finally able to come and help us shut down the site so we could go home. I finally turned on the TV in saw the images I have been hearing about. I went to the hospital to try to donate blood but they were full. I called around and found a blood donation center. I stood on the line for a few hours until they sent us all home. People were bringing snacks and juice to those waiting. Not people from the center, but others like us who didn't know what else to do.
Later that night, we tried to call our friends who we knew worked downtown. There were 10 hours with busy networks. One had been interviewing for a job with Cantor Fitzgerald. It had gotten down to him and one more candidate. Turns out she had gotten the job. Another friend of mine worked in the towers and got out just in time, although I didn't learn this until later. Another was supposed to show a tourist friend around the WTC that day and cancelled. We were lucky. My uncle was not. He lost so many friends.
The next day I had a doctor's appointment in Queens. The air was thick with acrid smoke and a strange smell. The day after we were drawn to Manhattan. Everywhere you looked in the city there were missing posters, candles, makeshift memorials. We went down to Washington Square Park and looked south.
I have worked downtown many times since then, on Wall Street and on Fulton. Some of my coworkers got very sick from the dust in the air.
I have lived New York City for 15 years now. My neighbors are wonderful. They're there when I need them and have been there for each other during the pandemic. 9/11 allowed the rest of the country to see what we're capable of, if only for a moment."
- L.T. Ciaccio
39. "I was working on the Bloomberg mayoral campaign and took the train up from DC to NYC on 9/9/01. I was staying at the Marriott at the WTC. On the evening of 9/10, I figured it was too crappy a commute to the campaign, so I went up to the observation deck and then packed my things to move a little uptown. I didn't have a chance to tell anyone.
Next morning I went to the hotel gym in the basement and then breakfast, wrapped up and started heading to the office. I walked out the door and my phone rang. One of my friends was calling to make sure I was ok, since he heard there was an accident maybe at my hotel. I told him I had swapped hotels and looked down the street to the WTC.
Saw the second plane fly right into the building.
I remember everyone at the campaign HQ pretty much being in a daze all day. I ended up leaving early, walking around the city, remember everyone being incredibly nice to each other. Packed up that evening and sat at the train station until they finally started letting them go again, I want to say it was around 2am.
Still have the clothes I wore that day on a hanger in a garbage bag. Every year or so I'll take a look. It still smells like smoke and ash."
- Anonymous
Next morning I went to the hotel gym in the basement and then breakfast, wrapped up and started heading to the office. I walked out the door and my phone rang. One of my friends was calling to make sure I was ok, since he heard there was an accident maybe at my hotel. I told him I had swapped hotels and looked down the street to the WTC.
Saw the second plane fly right into the building.
I remember everyone at the campaign HQ pretty much being in a daze all day. I ended up leaving early, walking around the city, remember everyone being incredibly nice to each other. Packed up that evening and sat at the train station until they finally started letting them go again, I want to say it was around 2am.
Still have the clothes I wore that day on a hanger in a garbage bag. Every year or so I'll take a look. It still smells like smoke and ash."
- Anonymous