Ot: 9/11

[stephenmarklay]

Thank you. I remember the day so well too. I was sitting in a room with navy officers ( I worked in defense) as the towers and pentagon were hit. I was in Boston and it was scary. I remember the military planes post and the airforce base I worked on was on red alert.

But my son was born 11 years ago today. Out from the ruins comes something positive. I am lucky to be able to think of this is a good day while many others never will be able to.

[Bruce K]

I was at work when my wife called and told me to turn on the radio.

Everything stopped.

The office was near Logan airport in Boston and the sounds of airplanes was a normal part of daily life. It was eerie walking out to go home to the virtual silence.

Later, we got a call that two close friends had been on the United plane that went down in PA.

We will never forget.

BK

[2LeftCleats]

I am surprised by the number of Paceliners who were present and have shared their stories. I sat at a safe distance watching in disbelief on TV. Your first hand accounts bring a somber perspective. Thanks for posting.

[kohagen]

My office was on the 14th floor of 2WTC. We had a telephone system that would forward your calls to your home, cell, whatever number you chose. That allowed us to work remotely or get calls while we were on the road. It was also the first day of school in NY, so the office manager was taking her child to school that day. There was nobody in our office at that time, so we were fortunate. My younger daughter saw me in shorts at home when she left for school, so she knew I wasn't going into the office that day. My older daughter was away at college, and didn't know where I was. Since the phone system was affected and overloaded, she couldn't get through. We finally got word to her through a third party.

My younger daughter was scheduled for some college admission interviews later that week. We were never so happy to get out of the area than we were then.

[climbgdh]

I remember it well too. I was working in St. John’s Newfoundland on a offshore oil mega project. I was in the office that week and we were in the midst of the morning call to the offshore platform in the main boardroom when one of the Admin Assistants poked her head in the door and told us about the first plane going into the WTC. Shortly after that the office basically shutdown and they told us to go home and naturally everyone followed the days events on TV for the rest of the day and into the evening. The small town of Gander (population ~9K) which is about a 3 hour drive from St. John’s had many dozen trans Atlantic flights that were destined for various airports in the US descended upon the town. By the end of the day there were roughly 7000 people being put up in school gyms, community centres, peoples homes etc until flights could continue. In St. John’s there were several dozen flights that landed there as well and if memory serves me correctly there were roughly 9000 people laid over in the city for several days. Definitely surreal and hard to forget...............

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by climbgdh

I remember it well too. I was working in St. John’s Newfoundland on a offshore oil mega project. I was in the office that week and we were in the midst of the morning call to the offshore platform in the main boardroom when one of the Admin Assistants poked her head in the door and told us about the first plane going into the WTC. Shortly after that the office basically shutdown and they told us to go home and naturally everyone followed the days events on TV for the rest of the day and into the evening. The small town of Gander (population ~9K) which is about a 3 hour drive from St. John’s had many dozen trans Atlantic flights that were destined for various airports in the US descended upon the town. By the end of the day there were roughly 7000 people being put up in school gyms, community centres, peoples homes etc until flights could continue. In St. John’s there were several dozen flights that landed there as well and if memory serves me correctly there were roughly 9000 people laid over in the city for several days. Definitely surreal and hard to forget...............

That town's hospitality and kindness was turned into a Broadway musical...
https://comefromaway.com/

[54ny77]

one extraordinary aspect of that period of time was the gracious way in which people interacted, in what is a normally gruff town. things seemed slower. people were kind. or at least patient.

a month or so later my office building (rock center) was evacuated due to an anthrax scare. that was unnerving.

2001 was, as has been said, a year i'll never forget.

i still don't have the stomach to see the memorial, even after all these years. gleaming new towers now stand where i spent so much of my early work life, including 7WTC.

[oldpotatoe]

Was being driven to work by wife to bike shop..heard the stuff on the radio, thought it was a 'War of the Worlds' type spoof broadcast...early..about 7:15, CO time..saw people running on Pearl St....seemed strange..heard some guy yell.."US being attacked!"...walked down to local restaurant that had a TV to watch first tower come down...made me VERY angry, when realized we were being attacked....I had retired in 1993 but called the Commander Detailer in DC and asked to come back on active duty, be a staff weenie so some Aviator could go aviate, all I needed was a haircut..they said..'we'll call ya'..

Still makes me angry, 9/11, the political mistakes by our 'leaders' on the way to trying to make the homeland safe..work in progress, 18 years later.

[vav]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

i still don't have the stomach to see the memorial, even after all these years. gleaming new towers now stand where i spent so much of my early work life, including 7WTC.

I haven't been back to the site either. Hard to stomach for me too. 9/11 was a Tuesday and I was at Windows on the World restaurant on the WTC 1 the Saturday before. I was stuck in NJ on I-280 East Bound right around Newark and could see from my car the smoke coming from the site.

Years later while living in Boston I met a guy that was working on one of the towers when it happened and narrowly escaped that day but a lot of his colleagues didn't make it. He moved to MA and told me ( 2007 ) that he had not been back to NYC at all in 6 years

[GregL]

I was in Frankfurt, Germany preparing a new airport radar system for a test. My German colleagues and I were installing the software and firmware under the review of their quality manager. As we drove between radar sites on the airport, the music playing on our car radio was interrupted by a news broadcast. My colleagues translated the news and let me know about the first plane hitting the north tower. We all thought it had to be a small plane hitting the tower by accident. I remembered the famous B-25 crash at the Empire State Building and hoped the casualties would be few. We went to the next radar site and continued our work. When we got in the car to drive back to the airport computer center, we heard about the second crash into the south tower. We all knew immediately that this was not an accident. Once back at the computer center, we watched CNN on a wide screen TV and watched the tragedy unfold.

Memories of that day are still vivid in my mind. Our German hosts were incredibly kind and supportive. As we watched the towers fall, Thomas (the quality manager) handed me his GSM cell phone (I didn't have an international cell phone at the time) and said "I know you need to talk to someone." I called my wife, praying that this wasn't the last time I would hear her voice. I was comforted by her calm support and knowing that her parents were at our home that morning. I knew my father-in-law would take care of my wife and 2 year-old daughter if I were not destined to come home again. Within hours, we knew that I wouldn't be going home anytime soon. My wife was incredible, telling me that she knew I'd be home someday, even if it meant a ship to Canada and a bus from there.

The German people were amazing. Whenever someone overhead us speaking English, they offered their kind support. Since we planned on being in Germany through mid-September, we just continued working. The long work days helped keep us focused. Our hotel was soon filled with Air Force pilots as the build-up to operations in Afghanistan began. When we finally came home nearly two weeks later, security screening felt like entering Fort Knox. Two separate security screenings and police with military rifles and body armor everywhere. The planes going to the US were ringed by armored vehicles. When we finally got on the plane, I had an entire business class cabin to myself. I effectively had my own flight attendant for the entire trip! I told her that she didn't have to spend any time on me, I would just walk to the galley if I needed anything.

My final memory: seeing my daughter when I finally got home. As I walked out of the terminal at the Syracuse airport, my little girl ran to me and wrapped me in a hug. My wife told me that she knew I went away on an airplane and that airplanes had crashed into buildings. Until she saw me, she didn't know if I was coming home. My extended travel days ended right then.

Greg