Where Were You on 9/11?

[wyomingsiouxfan]

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years already. I have always heard in my life about how there are moments that you will never forget. I was in the shower when the first plane hit and my brother was yelling through the door telling me about what happend. I made it out to the TV in time to see the second plane hit. I was a junior in high school at RHS and one of the towers fell during my math class, nobody was really paying attention to the teacher anyway, but when the tower fell, school was practically done for the day. Where were you? Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers. WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

[GeauxSioux]

I was sitting in my office when a lady in my office said that a plane hit the World Trade Center. At that time she didn't know much more than that and I assumed it was cloudy in NYC and a private plane hit one of the towers. I had a meeting downtown Pensacola at a US Courthouse that morning and caught all of the news on the way. I called my wife to let her know what was going on. When I went into the Courthouse all of the cell phones had to be surrendered, so we all sat that there for two hours not knowing what was going on. My wife called me over and over again frantically trying to reach me; not knowing that I didn't have my phone, but knowing that I was sitting in a Federal Building. The entire day was surreal. I will never forget it.

Edit: My brother was in a hotel near the Pentagon that day and wasn't able to get out of DC for 3-4 days.

[Bleed Green]

When the first plane hit I was on the way to the dentist ... the second plane hit when I was getting my teeth cleaned ... had no idea it was happening because I always listen to CD's in the car and the dentist office didn't have a tv or radio on that morning. I didn't find out what happened until I got to the golf course for my tee time and I talked to the superintendant and he told me a plane/planes had hit the WTC. Found out about the Pentagon actually on the golf course from the UND track coach who was setting up the course for the UND cross country meet.

Was really an unreal day that day. Hope it never happens again.

Add to that my sisters birthday is on September 11 ... so I will never forget that day.

God Bless America!!

[NORGE]

I was on a drilling rig south of Bowman, ND. I was working as the nightshift mudlogger so I was sleeping at the time all started. The directional drillers came and woke me up to see the live footage. The first thing I thought was that this was some kind of joke, like the War of the Worlds broadcast. I just kept watching as the whole thing unfolded, dumbfounded, then made a call to Mom and sister to appease the worry wart in me.

[wyomingsiouxfan]

I was on a drilling rig south of Bowman, ND. I was working as the nightshift mudlogger so I was sleeping at the time all started. The directional drillers came and woke me up to see the live footage. The first thing I thought was that this was some kind of joke, like the War of the Worlds broadcast. I just kept watching as the whole thing unfolded, dumbfounded, then made a call to Mom and sister to appease the worry wart in me.

So we were roughly in the same area.

[jloos]

So we were roughly in the same area.

I was living in St. Paul. I was watching Regis while eating breakfast (we did not have cable). They showed live footage of what they said was a small plane that crashed into the first tower and then proceeded to show the second plane live. It was a very sick thing to watch. I was then paged to work where I stayed for the next 18 hours making sure no terrorists wanted to blow up the metrodome.

[jimdahl]

Having abandoned our offices by 10am or so, I remember watching tv in the hotel bar until about 11:30am when the genius manager kicked us all out insisting he had to start preparing for the lunch crowd. I don't think he quite grasped the magnitude of the event.

I was in Atlanta, though living in Madison, WI, at the time. Atlanta and O'Hare being among the last airports to reopen that week, I felt reasonably stranded in Atlanta. I found out that two of my coworkers were from Chicago, so we just grabbed one of their rental cars and drove up to Chicago/Madison. The funniest part of that trip was when the two women I was driving with forced us to stop at an outlet mall on the way home (really, you need to shop now? One of them even called my wife to apologize that I'd be getting home two hours later.) I still remember the poor Hertz woman when I returned that car-- Her: This car wasn't rented by you. Me: Nope. Her: Where is the person who rented it? Me: Chicago. Her: This car was supposed to be returned in Atlanta two days ago. Me: Yep. Her: <dumbfounded silence> Me: Have a nice weekend.

The next weekend (not the 15th, but the 22nd) I was in one of our private corporate hotels just outside NYC. I was apparently among the few idiots who actually followed through his commitment to travel to NYC that weekend, so my company was letting visiting rescue workers stay in all of our empty rooms. I got to talking to some guys from a SWAT team from upstate at the company bar, who offered to take me to down to ground zero. The story of how we managed to get through two roadblocks but not the third is too long for this post, but it's a good one. So, we got as far as the inner ring around the WTC buildings but not inside. At that time the trade centers were still about a 5-story pile of rubble. Mentally trying to process the destruction, it was the smell that really overwhelmed you because you were mentally prepared for everything else.

[nodakvindy]

I was at LAX for what was supposed to be a 6:00 am flight to Minneapolis. My sister had just had my nephew the night before and I was thinking that my fantasy football season was over as Ed McCaffrey had broken his leg during the Monday night opener just hours previous. As I got to the gate, I suddenly see that my flight is cancelled, then check the next gate over and see that one is as well. No one really knows what is going on. A group finally gathers around a single TV outside an unopen retaurant. With no sound initially it was difficult to figure what was going on. Eventually we came to understand what was happening.

They sent our bags back out to the baggage claim. I got a ride back to the friends' house I was staying at and was trying to figure out how I would get home. It was eerie driving through a nearly empty LAX with a ton of satellite trucks in front of the American and United terminals. I ended up staying in LA Tuesday and got a rental car on Wednesday morning. Ended up driving through to Bismarck for work, stopping for about 6 hours in Salt Lake City.

That drive was something to remember, all the flags flying and the yellow ribbons, in cities, small towns, on fence posts at ranches. Messages on signs like "We are united" and "God Bless America", a reminder that once in while we are still all on the same team. I had quite a few friends that worked down at Ground Zero in the aftermath, and heard a lot of stories. Definitely something that won't be forgotten

[mikeypat15]

I was at Stevenson High School in Chicago, early in my junior year. We had ironically just finished watching a video in my first period Economics class on the world impacts of Lower Manhattan and the WTC. We walked out of class and through the cafeteria and saw students gathered around the overhead TV's. I will always vividly remember seeing the headline stating that the Sears Tower has been evacuated. It was just after the first tower collapsed and all one could see was smoke and dust and I quickly began to believe something had happened in my city. I tried looking at the pictures trying to decipher where in Chicago this was when the headline changed to the Tower collapsing.

I continued on to class with one of my closest friends in total disbelief. I remember trying to create a story that I had heard news stories that the WTC was planned to be imploded and that this was it, just in total disbelief.

I got to my English class and opened the doors to find my teacher in tears. I still was in complete disbelief and asked her what had happened, and she explained that two airplanes had hit the WTC. I was already a pilot and was in total disbelief that this could happen and asked, "Was it a small airplane?" to the response, "No." Then asked, "Was it cloudy, was the weather bad?" Again, "No." I just did not want to believe what I was seeing. We proceeded to watch the events of the next hour including the second collapse which just made me sick.

I then went to Gym class. My teacher was an ex-marine but is still very involved with military affairs. He simply sat us all down and explained to us that when we have kids, they will one day ask us where we were on this day, and we would never forget. Obviously, I never doubted him.

On a side note, while I was writing this NBC which is doing the coverage as it happened, at Jim Mic (not going to attempt his last name) describing an F-16 making a long sweeping pass over the Pentagon. If I remember correctly, it was ND's own Happy Hooligans who made that now famous "First Pass."

[remington_270]

I was living and going to college in Thief River Falls, MN. Every morning i would get ready for school while watching any of the "Morning News" channels. I got ready to go, shut the TV off and left in my car. Campus was about a mile away so it only took about 1-2 minutes to get there but in that time between shutting the TV off and getting to school, the first plane hit. Myself, my classmates and instructors were all gathered around the TV watching while the other planes did there damage.

We didn't do anything besides watch the TV that day.

[Ranger]

I was in my office, 3C200, in the Pentagon. Was DoD at the time. Witnessed evil and heroics.

[siouxhockeyfan11]

Walking into my classroom in the seventh grade my teacher had the tv on it was my second class of the day.

[Goon]

I was driving down demers on my way to work listening to Tim and Swig in the morning.

[siouxforeverbaby]

Sitting in school near Minot for my freshman year. I had a sub second hour so she wouldn't let us watch the news even though the kids from the air base were freaking out. Got to watch the news for the next period and nobody could really believe it the entire day.

[dagies]

I was in my office, 3C200, in the Pentagon. Was DoD at the time. Witnessed evil and heroics.

I cannot believe no one has acknowledged this yet. None of our stories could compare. Totally understand if you don't add anything to your post, but I'm on the edge of my seat ready to read if you do.

Wow.

[wyomingsiouxfan]

I cannot believe no one has acknowledged this yet. None of our stories could compare. Totally understand if you don't add anything to your post, but I'm on the edge of my seat ready to read if you do.

Wow.

This is the first I've seen it since I checked this morning. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be that close to everything that happend. I'm glad you are ok and all military personal are always in my thoughts and prayers.

[dagies]

My story can't be as interesting as Ranger's but I'll add it anyway.

On 9/11 I on a remote Canadian lake, fishing. In fact, at the time the towers were falling we had motored to a small rocky river inlet between 2 bodies of water and sat on the shore enjoying the sun, casting for walleyes. It was a beautiful day to sit and relax as the sun warmed the rocks. We had no way of knowing what was happening on the east coast.

The following day we packed up and waited for the float plane to pick us up at the appointed time. It was another beautiful day. The kind that makes you hate to leave. Presently the plane flew over, landed, and motored up to the dock.

The pilot jumped out, grabbed the rope and tied the plane fast to the dock. He turned to us as we walked down the dock toward him with some of the gear, ready to load.

"You guy's got a radio?"

"No"

"The States is at war."

Holy s...! You could have picked our jaws up off the dock. When we left there was no hint of conflict, at least not beyond the norm which for that time was not very significant. How could this be?

"They've knocked down the World Trade Center buildings, and bombed the Pentagon".

Now our eyes were as big as saucers. Images of fighter jets, and bomber planes (remember, we didn't yet know how this had come down) attacking US soil were surreal. How could this be? Where would they come from? Who would launch a surprise attack on the US? It just didn't work. We couldn't get a hold on it.

In mostly silence we got our gear packed. The pilot then gave us some more details, about how airliners were the instrument of destruction, that they haven't accounted for all of the airliners yet, and it is suspected there are one or 2 still possibly threatening with no known targets. He said he was grounded and was not supposed to fly. The outfitter had told him it was his call whether he wanted to pick us up or not. He decided he would come get us, but he would fly low and would not use his radio. (I remember once we were in the air he commented that a fellow pilot was foolishly using the radio!).

As we sat in the plane for the 20-30 minute ride in we tried to digest the little information we had. Who would do this and why. Are our families in the Mpls/St. Paul area ok? Were those cities threatened? What value would they have as a target? With a lack of information your mind grasps at straws trying to connect the few facts available. The paths between these facts can be many and varied. It doesn't help you put it to rest.

When we finally got in our car we had an hour of travel in Canada and another 5+ in Minnesota to get home. It gave us plenty of time to catch up with the latest radio news. First Canadian public radio and then whatever we could get in northern MN. By the time we got home around supper time on 9/12 we had a reasonable picture of what was going on. I remember my wife filling me in on the events while we watched tv replays of the attacks and subsequent falling of the towers. Outside my son was playing on the lawn (7 years old) and seemingly unperturbed. I hoped he could stay that way.

I know I'll never forget where I was or the events as the memories are as clear now as they were 7 years ago.

Interestingly enough, my boss was on a hunting trip in Montana and was out of touch as well during that time. We are/were the #1 and #2 in our office. It's the first time in my 20 years of work that I can remember the staff expressing how they wished we had been around.

[Sioux-cia]

I was late getting to work at the Fargo VA and saw a bunch of employees and patients gathered around a small televison set in the waiting area near the P.T. area near the entrance I always entered. I didn't know what was going on and neither did anyone I asked. It was absolutely surreal. Around 11am, after we got more information, I went into the surgery changing room to be alone and lost it. The OR secretary came in for something and asked if I was crying because someone I knew had been killed/hurt. She looked at me as if I was crazy when I said no.

Ranger, thank you and all the other 'yous' for your service.

[jimdahl]

I went to the opening and dedication of the 9/11 Pentagon memorial tonight. A few snapshots:

9/11 Pentagon Memorial opening

[SiouxPride0303]

I was in my 2nd year at UND and I heard some snippets of it on the radio as I got ready to leave for school. I only had one class that morning, French at Merrifield. As I parked my car, the radio was saying that the Pentagon was hit and that was when I got cold all over. I just thought if they can hit the Pentagon, the center of our defense, its way more serious and scary.

I dont remember much from the French class. I had to go to work at a bank right after and I changed at my then boyfriends house. I was watching the news coverage with his mom and just really didnt want to go to work after seeing the tower fall. I remember getting to work and the first thing I did was walk behind the teller line to hug my mom.

I remember driving around that night and seeing the gas lines at every gas station in GF. I remember my dad putting our our American flag and it was out until the first snowfall.

The next day I went to Christus Rex and prayed. I'm not really the praying sort and the Rex wasnt my church, but I went anyway. And I cried a quite a bit. Then I went to the Presbyterian church that evening to pray again and cry again.

I watched some of the coverage again today on CNN and some of the scant coverage on Canadian news and saw some pics online and my eyes got watery again. I'm pretty sure that no matter where I am or how old I get, September 11 will always wrench out that emotion and vulnerability I felt that day.

[Schmitzzz]

I was in the car listening to Howard Stern in Hartford when they broke the news. I had taken the day off from work to get a few things done around the house but spent the remainder of the day in front of the TV.

I had been in NYC the previous Sunday hanging out in Central Park w/ a friend. Neither of us had been to the WTC so we just decided to walk there from Central Park (about 4 miles). We figured the place would be closed and we wouldn't be able to get to go to the top, but we just had to go check the place out... I'm glad we did. I had my picture taken in front of the gold sphere that sat in the plaza. It was weird seeing this site take center stage in front of the world a couple days later.

[sioux7>5]

I went to the opening and dedication of the 9/11 Pentagon memorial tonight. A few snapshots:

9/11 Pentagon Memorial opening

Those are some great pictures Jim. Thanks for sharing.

I can not imagine what being there would have been like. Very emotional would have been my guess.

[Siouxmama]

I was at home when the 1st tower was hit and didn't have the TV on, but when I drove to GF, I made a stop at Walmart for a few office supplies and there were people standing around watching the TV's. I ended up in the sports department, watching TV in disbelief with another guy that I didn't know. Doesn't matter how much of a tough guy you are, or try to be, this guy and I both had tears running down our cheeks. Spent the rest of the day listening to the radio, and got home ASAP to find out more from the news reports. My cousin was on business in NYC at that time, and we were all quite worried about him until he made it home.

A day that will never be forgotten.

[Goon]

I was at home when the 1st tower was hit and didn't have the TV on, but when I drove to GF, I made a stop at Walmart for a few office supplies and there were people standing around watching the TV's. I ended up in the sports department, watching TV in disbelief with another guy that I didn't know. Doesn't matter how much of a tough guy you are, or try to be, this guy and I both had tears running down our cheeks. Spent the rest of the day listening to the radio, and got home ASAP to find out more from the news reports. My cousin was on business in NYC at that time, and we were all quite worried about him until he made it home.

A day that will never be forgotten.

To this day I still can't believe it, it was a horrible day that changed us forever.