Where were you on that day? What did you do, say, feel?

I was at ANT Honolulu at the time. Got a call around 4am. Jennifer answered the phone. When she hung up, I asked her who it was, and she said her dad, who was yelling about an embassy bombing. I replied asking what got bombed, and she said the WTC. Within seconds, I was jumping out of bed to turn on the TV.

I was scheduled to take leave that morning and my sister and her husband were flying in from Memphis for a week with us. First time she had flown on a plane in her life. When I turned on the TV and saw the second plane hit, my heart sunk to my feet. I knew she and her husband were already in the air.

I call the OINC and told him to turn on the TV. He and I drove to the office, and my leave is cancelled as I begin running harbor patrols for Station Hono. I had a coxswain cert I mantained there to keep the rust off.

My sister was grounded in Houston and my dad had to drive there from Memphis to pick them up. I am not sure I have ever been so angry, so disappointed, and so confused in my life. Why would anyone do that? How ugly can people be? I kept asking myself.

I still give my sister a rough time about picking that day as the first time she would try flying.

T

I was at Swiss Air Cargo Terminals, Logan Air Port when the first plane hit the tower. The office manager motion for me to come into his office and watch a replay on TV. This was a controlled area of the airport that would come under drastic change as a result of 9/11. Later I went to the golf course as well as visited St Bernards Catholic church in Concord. The church was opened but empty when I arrived at around 6;30pm

I'm originally - born and raised - from Brooklyn, NY.

I was stationed in VA - CAMSLANT. I'd just gotten off the mid-watch and was at IHOP when I heard someone saying that they were going to attack Norfolk. We paid our bill and left to go home to get to a TV. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I watched on TV as the second plane hit the tower. I tried calling EVERYONE I knew back home. I couldn't get in touch with anyone. Before I joined the CG I worked down the block from the towers. I went to work at about 10, they were looking for people to go to NY to set up COMMS. I BEGGED for them to let me go. My friends and family are there. I can say yes, that I'm still bitter. (They sent someone else... someone that was in the "golden-boy" connection... someone who although was very knowledgeable in their job, wasn't a subject expert in communications anymore, someone not as qualified as I was.) I couldn't go home.

I can tell you I'm one of the lucky ones who had to deal with that loss. NONE of my friends or family were murdered, hurt or injured. I had 2 family members who worked in the towers. One was on vacation, and the other one was out sick.

9/11 was my graduation day from the ~4 month USAF IDMT school at Sheppard AFB, TX. We had just taken our last exam and were waiting for the graduation ceremony when someone came into the room and said "a small plane just crashed into the Twin Towers". My dad worked at the Verizon building across the street so I was a little concerned. Another report confirmed it was a large jet. Managed to get thru to my mom, last thing she was able to say before the phone cut out was "Dad made it out of his building before the second plane hit, that's all we know". Cell phones no longer got thru to NY. I walked to the command office where I overheard the leadership watching a TV. I told the secretary that my father works right there, and can I take a look at the TV. I was told NO. I asked if I could leave her phone number with my family to relay any thing they'd heard anything about my Dad. I was told NO, but the generic admin number on the other side of the base was such and such.

Changed out of my bravos in the class room, told the instructor staff to go F themselves and left. The base went to delta just as I left. Made it to Alameda the next morning to report into the ISC awaiting further orders to meet my ship.

My dad was OK, but I didn't find out for a dozen hours.

The AF can bite me, that's how they treat folks, and I was a Chief. Got my distinguished grad certificate in the mail.
CWO A

I listened to Imus every single morning. On Sept. 11, 2001 I had to bring my daughter to the orthodontist and she wanted to listen to a CD so we had no idea what was happening. When I got to the Academy, all my officemates (what a sickening term) were gathered around a tv watching. I went home and cancelled said daughters 13th birthday party (she was born on Sept.11th 1988. I proceeded to get drunk as hell as I couldn't believe what was happening. Saturday September 8th and Sunday September 9th, we took our kids to LL Beans in Freeport,ME. for school clothes. We stayed in the Super 8 next to the Maine Mall the same night these *****s were in there. Wish I wouldv'e have known Mr. Atta was in there then.
God Bless America and President Obama.

I was at work here in Phoenix when a co-worker heard the news on the radio. The word spread throughout the building. Not too long afterward the company President walked through the building and sent us all home. No work was getting done and he knew we were all anxious to find out eaxactly what had happened.

Decent company, we were all paid for a full day work.

I was living in Australia. Before I joined the Coast Guard, obviously. I was in Cottesloe Beach, a suburb of Perth on the west coast, watching Tuesday night TV with my roommates. At 9:00 (pm, we were exactly 12 hours ahead) whatever show we were watching was over so we started flipping channels and saw something weird on the ABC (their version of PBS). I started calling family in the States, got my dad on his way home from the gym and had no idea what I was talking about. I remember staying up all night trying to grab whatever bits and pieces of information were out there.

I was living in WA state I was watching TV when it happend I said "oh my God" It was a nightmare for me.

I got out of the Coast Guard in 1991 and have lived in Michigan's upper peninsula since that time.
I was standing in line at a local bank here in Sault Ste Marie MI. At each end of the bank above and behind the tellers were two TV's, each tuned to CNN so customers had something to do as they waited. Originally the story was a small communter plane had crashed into one of the towers. Then there were reports it was a much bigger plane. Everything came to a screeching halt as the second plane hit. With the possible exception of the drive through tellers everone was rivited to the TV's. Everyone was dumbstruck, there were a few "oh my god's" and one of the bank officers turned the TV volume up so everyone could better follow the story. For what seemed like a long time but was more likely no more than 10 mins or everyone was just staring in disbelief. Slowly, quietly I completed my transaction and left the bank. I went home and watched the rest of the day's unbelievable event's unfold.
Just typing this story brings back some of that horrible feeling of that terrible day.

Working for the government in New Carrollton, MD when somebody came into the conference I was in to say that the building was being evacuated. I went into the main corridor and it was packed with panicked people streaming out to the parking areas and metro station. I took the elevator up to my office on the sixth floor and when I saw the smoke streaming from the Pentagon it really hit home. People were going nuts over their family members because the cell grid had crashed early on and people were out of touch.
That was one of the longest commutes back home to Alexandria, Virginia in memory. The panic and uncertainty that day and in the ensuing days is something I'll not soon forget.....

I was working and on my way to show an income property. My client was new to me and we had never met. When I arrived at the property I waited a few minutes for the client. When he showed up, I was shocked. He was Middle Eastern – Lebanese – to be exact. He was a mess… a total wreck! It was obvious he had been crying. He still had tears in his eyes. We did the usual small talk and then I asked him why he was so emotional since he’d only been a citizen less than a year. I can still remember his voice, breaking with emotion. He said, “This is why I left Lebanon. Half my family was murdered by terrorists. The other half is pretty much in hiding. I came here to get away from the hate and violence and now I feel like it followed me here.”

Since that time, he and I have become great friends. It has been my honor to help him and his family. Funny thing, he gets upset when the airport security does not stop him! He says that he is the exact profile that should be stopped. He says that he would stop himself! But instead, he tells me that the guards turn a blind eye to him as though they don’t want to offend him. To quote him again, “Some fools never learn!” My answer, unfortunately, is “No, they never will.”

I lived on OTIS AFB Cape Cod, Mass at the time, I was on my second day off (station 2 on 2 off) and was watching the morning news when the story broke. I was glued to the screen obviously. Living on OTIS we got used to the AF F-15 Eagles flying around, they were sometimes a tad annoying giving the close proximity of the airfield to housing. I was on the phone with my father when the two jets scrambled and flew right over my house bound for the city, I told my father to listen and held up the phone (not that i needed to). You can pretty much imagine how that felt!

Southbound in the Inside Passage, with about 60 passengers, planning on a 0900 in Ketchikan. About 0600 the Mate wakes me and wants me in the pilothouse. We are just getting tidbits on the local radio station. Kicked the mains ahead full and arrived in Ketchikan around 0730. I made the wake up call early, advised of what we had heard and were heading to port at fastest speed.

All passengers and many east coast crewmwmbers headed to the nearest phones to make contact. I headed to the office to get instructions from the powers that be. I had 2 days ahead of me where I'd be out of regular comms with anyone. The marine operators were spotty at that time and the next cell coverage wasn't until Campbell River, BC. The front office was useless , no plan or instructions, we are confused, don't tell them anything, just get to Seattle Saturday AM as per schedule. That went over like a fart in church.

We sailed, checked in with Canadian Traffic, got what info we could and passed it along to the passengers. At night we could get Canadian AM radio stations skipping from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. By the time we got down to Campbell River, still no plan front the office as to what will happen to all the passengers upon arrival. About that time, ended the phone tag, hauled towards Friday Harbor, the first US port in the San Juan Islands, got passengers ashore to use the phones as long as needed, left that Friday evening for Seattle. The home office had some half azzed plan in place, crew ws thanked by all the passengers for the effort to get them to the lower 48, not a lot of warm and fuzzies towards the company. Then the "suits" came aboard and started to chew the crews azz, for what reason is still a mystery.

I exchanged comments the "suits", we continued on with our fall initerary. I got fired a day after laying up the ship for the season. All told, a very hectic fall, crossing the border many times, having to deal with confusion from the CG, Customs and all the government agencies involved. Creating a lot of our own vessel security plans.

The crew (kids) were fantastic during the whole fall season, worked extremely hard at settling dow jittery passengers, and giving them a weeks solitude from that hectic time. Gained a great respect of the "wisdom" of the 20 somethings in the crew. Developed an extreme prejudicce towards any organization that embodies, vision statements, core values, all that TQM crap, because when push came to shove, they folded, and all that "stuff" was not worth what it was printed on.

After, I retired at Governors Island, I went to work with the Support Center Fire Dept. As a result I made many friends with the members of the NYFD in the Battery Fire house Locations, especially 10 HOUSE, the fire house directly south from the WTC.

I left the Fire Dept and went to work at US TRUST, who had branch location next door to TRINITY CHURCH ( Where Alexander HAMILTON is buried). I often went to the basement of the WTC to eat on meal breaks.

On Sept 11th, I was home, having just returned from my son's wedding on Oracoke Island, on the 9th. I had toyed with the idea of staying one more day in Norfolk, on the way home to Florida, but decided not to. Had I, I would have been airborne heading to Chicago, when the planes hit the towers. Lord only knows where my plane would have landed, when the planes were grounded.

As it was I was home and had just finished breakfast, when the first plane hit. I watched in horror as the second plane hit, then the reports from Arlington and PA. APPALLED AND ANGRY AS HELL.

I prayed and wished that I was still on AD. I continue to pray for those who were lost, my friends in the FDNY, and the PAPD, and the workers in the towers and the families.

God hold them in the palm of HIS Hands. I pray.


Jack

I was a 1/c cadet at the academy that day. In between classes I heard about the first plane. I remember returning to Chase Hall (cadet barracks) and finding a bunch of swabs watching TV (what looked like a movie) in one of the day rooms, which they weren't supposed to be doing. Then one of them tells me its not a movie, its happening now in NY, and I knew we immediately that we were under attack. Rumors spread through Chase like wild fire that night, nobody knew what was going on. People were talking about early commissioning and being sent immediately to the fleet for duty as if WWIII were breaking out. Many of us wanted to strike back, immediately, and in person.

I remember the corps being formed up on the parade field and being addressed by the ADM, who didn't have many answers to give. I remember returning to the barracks, unsure of what lay ahead.

That day, a "new normal" was defined for many who had gone before us, some still on the water, others long since departed from the ranks. For some of us, this is the climate we emerged into. If I at times seem overzealous here in these pages, it is probably because my zeal for safeguarding the homeland was forged in the smoking embers of the towers, the pentagon and a lonely pennsylvania field.

I'll never forget...

I was up in OR I my cousin said "Antie Esther awake up wake up." I woke up and stared at the TV I had around trip ticket to go back to CA I hand a copy of the flight I go down to Mulino friend drove me down I got the first flight out after the 911 incident I mailed myself crochet needles I got on the plane 3 days later. My friend drove me to the airport I had a small nail clippers they took away my clippers. I got on the flight the plane was half empty. I landed at LAX I used the shuttle back to my
apt. The man behind me had a small knife in his Pocket they took his knife away many rentin cars they took the freeway back home. They were from MI most of the people were living across the contry

Just driving onto the base while listening to Howard Stern, they reported that it appeared that a jetliner had accidently slammed into one of the towers, I parked, went into the office and asked if anyone had heard anything, a bunch of us went to the rec deck turned on the the TV and watched as the second tower was hit. Shortly after that we got the report about the Pentagon and spent the next couple of hours trying to track down one of our SN who was assigned as a tour guide, thank God it was his day off.

I was assigned to the CGC SASSAFRAS in Guam. My telephone rang at 0200 it was my mom in GA asking if I was alright. I turned on the television to see the second plane hit the WTC. A few moments later the phone rang again and it was the duty section re-calling the crew. The line of cars trying to get through the gate at COMNAVMAR stretched for miles down Marine Drive as all Navy assets homeported in Guam were recalled as well. Unce we left the pier we were out steaming for several days awaiting further instructions and tasking.

I was stationed on CGC Chase then. We were tied up in our homeport (San Diego), in between patrols. I had duty on the 10th, but had the midwatch that night/morning. I had hit the rack after I was relieved at around 0400.

Since I had midwatch, I could sleep til 1000. I never did sleep til 1000. Sometime after 0700 my Chief was in my berthing area waking me up (the only time I ever recall him in our berthing area) and telling me to get down to the ET Shop. At that point I had no clue what was going on. I made it down to the shop where everyone else was watching the TV. I was still foggy from only getting 3 hours of sleep, so I didn't quite grasp what the heck had happened.

Naval Station San Diego was on full alert as well as every other ship there. I recall hearing Navy ships and/or subs pinging with active sonar looking for threats (our shop was below the waterline). I had never seen security that tight at the Navy base before.

Nobody left the ship for the next 4 days while the command was trying to figure out what to do and tasking from District. We ended up getting underway to go safeguard San Fransisco harbor.

MSO Jacksonville, came in late from my daughters dental appointment. Everyone was gathered around the conference room TV. Ironically my first marching order when I reported in was to box up the weapons and send them back to district “don’t need them anymore”. This was just after the USS Stark incident, and I informed the upper echelon that would look kinda silly since our M16’s and 870’s should be getting here any day now. I worked long and hard to get the local Reservists weapons quals up to date, for those in the know – my QPR went from 7 to around 40. Weapons & ammo allowances tripled, worked weekends on the range. When 9/11 happened the BOSS was comforted by the fact we could meet the mission requirements of securing the port. 2001 was supposed to be my 20 year retirement from the CG and the beginning at FLETC Glynco, GA. Instead ended up pulling another couple of years at MSST 91104 Galveston.

Prayers to the victims