I was at Station Yaquina Bay, OR. My 2 year old boy woke us up screaming at 2am that morning about planes crashing into buildings, I dismissed it as too much sugar in his diet and put him back to sleep. Woke up at 5 to watch the morning news and saw the damage of the first plane, then as the cameras were rolling I saw the second plane hit. Totally freaked and decided to keep my son's sugar intake right where it was at, in fact gave him an extra lollypop that day, before I took off to the station for the next 6 days. On my way to work I saw 4 out of the 5 gas stations in town raising their prices by up to $2 extra per gallon, I was glad to hear they got their chops busted later by the state and federal officials for gouging the American people.
Was sailing north Bound ICW heading to Myrtle Beach on the mighty warship ANVIL. Myself and the OINC were on the bridge when we got a call from grtoup over the nextel to ggo take a look on the TV. We spudded down and turned on the TV and the satalite decided to fail that morning. We did find a Spanish speaking channel and saw what was going on but no audio( in English). We were ordered to stay out and not tie up until a plan was formed. Back then a WLIC did not carry much for a weapons complament but we did the best we could.
I was sitting in my living room playing with my kids then ages 1, 2, and 3. My wife (night worker) has a room upstairs to sleep during the day. She was watching the news, and came down to tell me what was going on. She watched us playing for a few minutes, though the partially closed door, knowing that our childrens lives had just been changed forever. She then came in and we turned the TV on.
Its ironic that certain moments in our lives stand out. I was station at Group Southwest Harbor and remember it was a very nice crisp morning. I had arrived to work had everything all planned and the DC1 had come in and we were bulling about general stuff and the radio was on across the room and i heard something on about a plane hitting the tower so i remember asking him did you hear that and he said what a plane hit one of the towers. So we got up went into the rec deck next to my office and turned on CNN and thinking wow this is bad and i said it several times and then the second plane came across the screen and there was about ten of us standing in awe as we watched everything unfold and then the poop really went to the fan and it got really chaotic. I have never forgotten
I was in D8 when the first plane hit the tower. As someone mentioned, it was initially reported to be a commuter plane. When the second plane hit on live TV, everyone was stunned. Some cried, but most were simply horrified. The room I was in was designated as our Incident Area Command, so I didn't have far to go to report for duty & I knew I wouldn't be going home for a while.
I remember in the following days how the country was galvanized and outraged, and that patriotism and unity of The People made me especially proud to be an American. Across the country, anyone that had a flag was flying it, as the nation came together and grieved. Sadly, over the years since 9/11, the number of flags have dwindled, and I fear that we as a people are becomming vulnerable once again in our complacency. Our best defense against another attack is public awareness and action.
For me, it is like this happened yesterday, and I know that for the sake of our children, I can not afford to ever forget. Thanks, T for this thread.
I was working the 0700-1500 shift at Cleveland ARTCC (ZOB). Typical morning rush and I got my first break around 0835. I went to the cafeteria for breakfast and took my tray to the ‘smoke shack’ to eat and watch the local news. They reported a ‘small plane’ crashing into one of the WTC buildings and showed a feed from CNN with no sound. So, of course, I switched channels. While watching, I saw the second plane hit….”Crap” actually I said worse than that…and headed back to the control room. We already had all of our Sectors opened by then and asked the supervisor where he wanted me. I manned the Dansville (DSV) intermediate altitudes (FL280-FL330) radar associate position. My job was to handle inter- and intra-facility communications and assist the radar controller with separation. I think New York Center (ZNY) had shut us off by then but Boston Center (ZBW) and we were still accepting traffic. Our sector had two aircraft request to return to their departure points. Of course a lot of talking and rumors going on. The big question was, ‘Why don’t they just tell us to clear the airspace and sort it out later?’ I don’t remember how long it took (it seemed like forever) but the order was finally given. As each sector was cleared, it was shut down and we were told to evacuate the building. There is more but I had to sign a ‘non-disclosure’ paper when I retired so I don’t know how much detail I can give.
I was on watch at Activities New York, as a Vessel Traffic Control watch stander. We saw it all go down on our cameras. In a matter of no time, I had every mariner in the New York harbor calling me over the radio at the same time asking what they should, and how they could help. I was still a break in at the time, and everybody was busy or consumed with something else related to what was happening, so I was on my own, and had to direct ferries full of people, tugs, merchants ships, cruise ships, and others to steer clear of the immediate impact area and safely navigate them to their destination. Eventually, the whole port was closed to all but essential vessel traffic, meaning just the Coast Guard and Navy. One scene that was worthy of film footage for a documentary or movie was when we looked down the Kill Van Kull river on one of our cameras and saw a whole fleet of Tugs in formation going full speed ahead with a huge wake behinf them racing towards the lower Manhatten area to render assistance.
I was sitting in the office in Gaithersburg, Maryland doing a bunch of RO's when one of the guys came in and said something about a plane hitting the WTC. Kept working until they said a second plane hit the other tower. They had a TV on in the shop so I went to watch. When I heard about the Pentagon I ran into the office and tried to get my wife on IM. Couldn't, tried her office phone nothing, tried her cell nothing. She worked in Pentagon City. Her office window looks down over the Pentagon. I also try her car phone zip. Starting to get a little crazy. Tried home zip. In the meantime we had F=15 flying so low you could see the pilot. Nothing else in the sky. Then she pulls up in front of the office still shaking like a leaf. When the plane hit it shook her building and she looked up at the window and saw the fire ball. She headed for her van and out of there. Good thing she did they locked all roads down in and out. Most of her co-workers didn't get out until late at nite and no phones were working. They couldn't go back to work for a week. Around there you could look up day or nite and see dozens of planes in the air. It was errie to look up and see nothing. She couldn't wait until time to retire and get far from that area.
I had retired in 2000; I was working for Penske Truck Leasing in St. Louis at the time. No TVs available so we only had the radio news reports. When I got home, an old shipmate got ahold of me. Her brothers fiance and their baby were either flying to New Orleans or from New Orleans when their plane landed in St. Louis. We put them up for the night until some people drove up from New Orleans to pick them up. Then we had 2 more house guests for another night; couldn't expect them to drive from New Orleans and turn around and drive back.
I was working at the World Trade Center - Chicago. The building was closed down for two days due to the name sounding similar to the World Trade Center towers in NYC.
I KNEW I had to do something (anything) to help out my country in the wake of the attacks. I joined the USCGAux and have been humbled and yes, HONORED to assist you active duty and reserve Coast Guard personnel ever since.
Thank you again and again for standing the watch every day and in every place for us! You have NO idea how much you mean to the nation.
Originally posted by Yankee3: I was on watch at Activities New York, as a Vessel Traffic Control watch stander. We saw it all go down on our cameras. In a matter of no time, I had every mariner in the New York harbor calling me over the radio at the same time asking what they should, and how they could help. I was still a break in at the time, and everybody was busy or consumed with something else related to what was happening, so I was on my own, and had to direct ferries full of people, tugs, merchants ships, cruise ships, and others to steer clear of the immediate impact area and safely navigate them to their destination. Eventually, the whole port was closed to all but essential vessel traffic, meaning just the Coast Guard and Navy. One scene that was worthy of film footage for a documentary or movie was when we looked down the Kill Van Kull river on one of our cameras and saw a whole fleet of Tugs in formation going full speed ahead with a huge wake behinf them racing towards the lower Manhatten area to render assistance.
I can only imagine what you went through. I use to get the chills taking a 110 around the battery with the deck and conn. 100s of boats calling? No thanks, dont want to be there.
I retired from the Coast Guard in August 2001, and had just started working for Alaska Airlines. I had the day off on Sep 11, 2001. My wife woke me up and was obviously frightened and upset. She said I needed to turn on the tv because a plane had just flown into one of the WTC towers. We turned on the tv just in time to witness the second plane fly into the second tower. I'll never forget that impact image and the resulting devastation from that day as long as I live. May the good Lord continue to comfort and heal the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives that day.
Stationed at TACLET NORTH. Conducted Security at TRACEN Yorktown that evening, Requal'd on all weapons, deployed in support of Op. Guarding Liberty within 24 hours.
I was CO at Station Golden Gate and had just pulled into the parking lot and was greeted by the OOD (BM2 Winters) who asked me if I knew what was going on? I didn't and he took me to the TV set and we watched the fire in the first tower, a moment later a second plane hit the second tower. I said this isn't an accident and to arm up the duty section and get some boats under the bridge (watching the towers). One interesting note was that had a Counter-Terrorism team from the FBI onboard for a exercise that morning. I met their SAC on the messdeck and we talked about what had just happened. We spoke with the Bridge Authority who were talking about closing the bridge. The FBI team all left and headed south. As more crew showed up for duty we sent armed teams out aboard the SF/Sausalito ferries, and even the CG Aux reported in to help (Herm Zelles). We blocked off access to the GG Bridge (land access to the north tower), and restricted access to the station to all but assigned crew. The crew did an outstanding job of spinning up to secure water access to the GGB and providing security on the ferries. It was the beginning of a long 30 days or so for the station (as well it was for the rest of the CG), We ended up becoming a mini-ISC for resupplying offshore cutters for the next month or so. Throughout it all there was not one complaint from the crew. The restaurants in Sausalito would even drop off goodies for the crew at our security check point. R
I had just graduated from Boot the prior Friday (Sept 7th, 2001) went to NY to see the Statue but missed the ferry so the family and I took a panoramic pic with the Twin Towers behind us. On that Tues 9/11 my wife and I were driving from Miami to Patrick AFB to choose a house on base. When we arrived to the base, it had just began. My wife forgot her ID but they still let her in. We went to the Housing Office and watched the second plane hit the other Tower, still not believing what was going on and in shock. Still we went to south housing (off base) to look at a few houses. Then we heard how bad it was getting, and they were kicking everyone off base. So we tried to get back in but it was too late. FPCON (then it was THREATCON) was at its max and my wife with out ID was no way going on base. So we waited for the housing people but they never showed. Eventually they let me in and I left the key with a maintenance guy. On our drive back to Miami the whole way over we heard everything on the radio. That night when everyone (reserves) were getting activated, I thought to my self "why the heck did I just join the military?" Remember, I had still not reported to the Vigilant, and had no idea what was going to happen. All in all it was a scary few day. I finally got a hold of the BM1 and BMC on the boat and they were at dry dock at the good ol' Baltimore yards. They told me not to worry, we will be here for another month or so. I reported to Station Port Canaveral a week or so later and then to the boat about 15 days later.
