I will never forget that day. NEVER. I was working at the time for a woman in her home office. I was between jobs and was driving to her house for my day's work. I heard it on the radio and then when I got to her house, I put on the TV. It was so surreal. I didn't really grasp the enormity of the situation. It was like a dream. I watched the Today Show's coverage of it and I watched as each of the towers fell. I again couldn't really grasp what had happened. Of course I ended up going home early and I was glued to the TV set into the wee hours of the morning. The sadness and despair in the faces of those looking for their "people" was heart wrenching. Our Country was under attack. It finally sunk in. Thousands dead. 4 airplanes involved. Terrorists. Destruction. Fear. Paralyzing fear. It was all too much to comprehend. I personally did not know anyone who perished, but I felt like I did. We all felt like we did. They were a part of our families. Our United States of America family. God rest their souls. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God rest in peace! We will never forget!
UPDATE!! SmokeStik Post Memorial Day Contest.....check out this fabulous new battery! In Honor of 9/11
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There are no silly 9/11 stories, I have a female friend who told me that when she was watching it on TV and didn't think about calling her then-husband, she knew it was time for a divorce, it was then you knew who really could not live without.......
My personal story fwiw.......I had recently started working at home and taking care of our son, ferrying him back and forth to daycare. My wife was at work and called me at home to tell me that a plane had hit one of the twin towers (is there anything more surreal than seeing movies about the future with them still standing, like Escape from New York?) and to turn off ESPN and put on a news channel. As I was on the phone with her we watched from separate places the horror of the second plane ramming the other tower..........then everyone knew it was on purpose, you hoped it had been an accident. She obviously had to hang up and the trying of reach loved ones on the clogged phone lines of all of our loved ones......you just want to make sure if they're all right, you know? Then the Pentagon with the footage there and eventually the news about Flight 93.....I am a resourceful guy but not extremely forceful (What can I say? Pacifist hippie!!!) but this was the first time that I thought there may be something I can neither anticipate nor protect my family from -- I'm sure the feeling of powerlessness that ran through me pervaded throught the rest of you, it was a fear that I have never felt before. People moved like automatons at the daycare when I picked him up; shock/hate/horror was on everyone's visage. Truly, at that point, I thought it was ultra-right-wing Americans again...........
We lived under the flight path of Midway airport, I think the runways were perfectly in our direction but 20 miles away, the planes would always queue up to land and there was an endless stream 20,000 feet above our heads. A little plane noise regularly but nothing disturbing, one of those minor suburban annoyances -- but now it was silent. I stood in the driveway for hours looking, scanning, searching everywhere for anything in flight but the skies were so very eerily empty, just the military choppers from the nearby bases. Once the specualtion started about what might be next.....it did nothing to calm our nerves as we were close to multiple nuke plants, army bases, and the great City of Chicago. Even malls got scary.......
The wars, especially Iraq, we have waged since have been a blot on our country and a disservice to the memory of the innocents that died that day and to the many men and women who are dying now who tried to rescue them. I hope the slaughter of our best and brightest for political expediency ends sooner rather than later.........
My personal story fwiw.......I had recently started working at home and taking care of our son, ferrying him back and forth to daycare. My wife was at work and called me at home to tell me that a plane had hit one of the twin towers (is there anything more surreal than seeing movies about the future with them still standing, like Escape from New York?) and to turn off ESPN and put on a news channel. As I was on the phone with her we watched from separate places the horror of the second plane ramming the other tower..........then everyone knew it was on purpose, you hoped it had been an accident. She obviously had to hang up and the trying of reach loved ones on the clogged phone lines of all of our loved ones......you just want to make sure if they're all right, you know? Then the Pentagon with the footage there and eventually the news about Flight 93.....I am a resourceful guy but not extremely forceful (What can I say? Pacifist hippie!!!) but this was the first time that I thought there may be something I can neither anticipate nor protect my family from -- I'm sure the feeling of powerlessness that ran through me pervaded throught the rest of you, it was a fear that I have never felt before. People moved like automatons at the daycare when I picked him up; shock/hate/horror was on everyone's visage. Truly, at that point, I thought it was ultra-right-wing Americans again...........
We lived under the flight path of Midway airport, I think the runways were perfectly in our direction but 20 miles away, the planes would always queue up to land and there was an endless stream 20,000 feet above our heads. A little plane noise regularly but nothing disturbing, one of those minor suburban annoyances -- but now it was silent. I stood in the driveway for hours looking, scanning, searching everywhere for anything in flight but the skies were so very eerily empty, just the military choppers from the nearby bases. Once the specualtion started about what might be next.....it did nothing to calm our nerves as we were close to multiple nuke plants, army bases, and the great City of Chicago. Even malls got scary.......
The wars, especially Iraq, we have waged since have been a blot on our country and a disservice to the memory of the innocents that died that day and to the many men and women who are dying now who tried to rescue them. I hope the slaughter of our best and brightest for political expediency ends sooner rather than later.........
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These are some powerful stories, how could they be anything else.
I hadn't had the radio on that morning. When I got to work a coworker told me about a plane crashing into a tower. Someone had dug out a small TV and put it in an open work area. Everyone in the building had gathered. We stood together and watched, in silence and tears.
I hadn't had the radio on that morning. When I got to work a coworker told me about a plane crashing into a tower. Someone had dug out a small TV and put it in an open work area. Everyone in the building had gathered. We stood together and watched, in silence and tears.
DNC - bumping up a contest with awesome meaning for the weekenders to get in here and share their story!
As a former firefighter, that day was especially tough to watch the horror that the firefighters of the NYFD went through. No loss is greater than another but for me the loss of the 343 that day hit home.
I was the supervisor of a local ambulance service on that fateful day. Our dispatcher called me into the dispatch office and I watched as the 2nd plane hit. Being in emergency services for many years, all sorts of things were running through my head, from how could such a tragic accident happen to we are under attack. I felt like the later was true and immediately ordered all of our units to finish the run they were on and return to base, and any units without a patient on board to immediately return. I didn't know what else to expect as we saw the plane hit the Pentagon, another crash in PA. I was afraid for our area since we are so close to Oak Ridge, TN and the nuclear research that goes on there. At first I thought I was overreacting, but didn't care, I wanted to be prepared. I'm thankful that I was wrong.
There were many times in my career that I had to go home after a shift and just hug my kids or lay in the bed with them after a tough day. This one was the same for me. Watching so many of my brothers die that day was very hard to watch and I carried a heavy heart for them. I felt guilty for a while because my grief was centered on them so much that I had almost blocked out all of the other lives that were tragically taken from us. It still is a very solemn day for me on the anniversary.
We had our wedding scheduled for the following Saturday and contemplated cancelling for fear that no one would be in the mood for a celebration. We decided that the best thing to do was to continue and not let terrorism do what it tried to do and that was to break our spirit. It was a great day and really seemed to be a healing for many, I know it was for me.
Thanks for letting me tell my story, God Bless the 343
I was the supervisor of a local ambulance service on that fateful day. Our dispatcher called me into the dispatch office and I watched as the 2nd plane hit. Being in emergency services for many years, all sorts of things were running through my head, from how could such a tragic accident happen to we are under attack. I felt like the later was true and immediately ordered all of our units to finish the run they were on and return to base, and any units without a patient on board to immediately return. I didn't know what else to expect as we saw the plane hit the Pentagon, another crash in PA. I was afraid for our area since we are so close to Oak Ridge, TN and the nuclear research that goes on there. At first I thought I was overreacting, but didn't care, I wanted to be prepared. I'm thankful that I was wrong.
There were many times in my career that I had to go home after a shift and just hug my kids or lay in the bed with them after a tough day. This one was the same for me. Watching so many of my brothers die that day was very hard to watch and I carried a heavy heart for them. I felt guilty for a while because my grief was centered on them so much that I had almost blocked out all of the other lives that were tragically taken from us. It still is a very solemn day for me on the anniversary.
We had our wedding scheduled for the following Saturday and contemplated cancelling for fear that no one would be in the mood for a celebration. We decided that the best thing to do was to continue and not let terrorism do what it tried to do and that was to break our spirit. It was a great day and really seemed to be a healing for many, I know it was for me.
Thanks for letting me tell my story, God Bless the 343
I remember that day quite well. I was getting ready to leave for college english class when my mother called me and told me to turn the news on. I was shocked. I could not believe what I was seeing. I sat there for a few minutes pondering on if I should go to class or sit there and watch. I decided to go to class and inform my teacher and everyone else in that class what has happened. Before I left I made sure I grabbed my portable radio just in case my teacher wanted to listen. On the way there I flipped through all my favorite radio stations and sure enough all of them were focused on what had happened. When I made it to class I asked my teacher if she knew what happened and she said no. Well I told her what happened and I could tell she felt the same way as I did. I told her that I brought a radio to class so that we can listen to it and she agreed. She made the announcement to the class and we sat there for a good half hour before all classes were cancelled. As I was walking to my car I overheard that all flights have been cancelled at the airport and that there was a no fly zone. When I got home I just sat in front of the tv and did nothing else but watch what was happening. That day changed the way I wanted to live. I wanted to fight for my country and get revenge for what happened. But I could not becuase of my asthma and that really hit deep. But I decided if I cannot do that I will do the next best thing so I went to my local blood bank and donated blood. I can only hope that my blood helped someone that was injured on that day. Thank you for reading this
I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to post here. I would like to keep this going another week since I am expecting SmokeStik to make an official announcement regarding the charity we will be donating to and the release of the Halligan kits and batteries. The number of entries will dictate the number of prizes......at this point I plan on giving away one prize for every 10 entries.....so everyone has a decent chance of winning. Will keep you posted!
OMG - nothing for two days!
Well
IT UP
Also added a link to it in the contest thread again to try to get some more stories about 9/11!
Well
Also added a link to it in the contest thread again to try to get some more stories about 9/11!
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I was at the my work doing customer/tech support night shift for a web based company when the event happened. Part of my job was monitoring some of the chat rooms that we had and one of the people in a room started posting the news. I thought it was a very bad prank at first then one of the others said that it was on the news. I got up from my computer and turn our radio on to the news and the entire office gathered in to listen to them describing what was happening. All anyone could do was sit there not believing what we were hearing. As the morning crew came in most of them hadn't been listening to the news on the way in and when they got to the door and heard it they just stood there as the whole company gathered around the one radio we had to listen to what was happening.
I was in my classroom teaching. We stopped what we were doing and watched the news for the rest of the day.
I was doing landscaping at the time, the boss and i were sitting in the truck waiting to get loaded with supplies listing to the radio when they announced the first plane hitting the tower. we were talking about it tring to figure out how a plaine could accedently hit the tower and they announced about the second plane. We looked at each other and said terrorist's at bthe same time. we went ahead and worked all day but didn't really acomplish much that day because we really couldn't keep our minds on the job.
I was a waiter in Boston at the time. It was a beautiful morning so I took my motorcycle into work that morning. Walked into the dining room with a "Hey guys!", "Shhh! Come over here! A plane just hit one of the towers in New York!". Several of us spent the next hour or so glued to the TVs above the bar. Eventually the manager received a call: Since the restaurant was on the first floor of a building owned by the city, we all had to evacuate due to the possibility of car bombs.
On the ride home, the streets that would typically be packed with cars, shoppers, and pedestrians on a sunny September day were noticeably subdued. One of the busiest streets in Boston was eerily calm that day...
On the ride home, the streets that would typically be packed with cars, shoppers, and pedestrians on a sunny September day were noticeably subdued. One of the busiest streets in Boston was eerily calm that day...
9/11 changed my life in a number of ways, I never knew such evil had existed in the world. I was young and alive and I never felt so free. Now constantly I feel shaking in my bones, always in fear of the next move. I always plan for the worst and hope for the best. It all kinda makes me wonder what the Himalayan mountains might have in store for me 
I was living in San Diego. Pregnant with my first child. I listened to a radio station out of Mexico on my way to work every day, so did not hear anything about it on my way to work that morning, as it had just happened. When I got to work I went down to the roach coach to get my breakfast when I heard two of my shipmates talking about what sounded like a movie. They always blow up the big buildings in those movies. It was not until morning muster, and the announcement was made that the first tower had fallen that I finally realized that we were under attack. Now the attack on the USS Cole had affected me, being in the Navy but it had seemed a very abstract thing since I was so new to the military. I was still in training. I spent the rest of the morning with the other people in my office watching the news coverage, and wondering what kind of world I was bringing this child into, and if his mother was even going to be around enough for him to recognize. I never did end up going to sea. The Navy discharged me due to a medical condition. I will never forget the feeling of helplessness I felt on that day. Even though I was active duty at the time, I saw it through a mother's eyes. Every fall, when I send my son off to the first day of school, I think about how I felt that day.
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Ok, here goes.... 
sorry I haven't posted sooner, LK
My birthday is on September 10th and I had always wanted to stay at the Madonna Inn up in San Luis Obispo, CA. This place is very famous (and very 'Pink'!!) built entirely out of large rocks and boulders from the nearby hills, and all of the rooms have a different "theme"... most of them even have showers that are made out of stone to resemble waterfalls...
I had a little extra money at the time, so I decided to treat myself and my current boyfriend back then to a couple of nights there for my B'day. The 1st afternoon/evening was spent just getting settled in, and the next day we went exploring, had a nice dinner and a romantic stroll along the River Walk that runs through town. As we were getting things packed up the morning of the 11th getting ready to check out, I happened to turn on the TV to hear some news.
It didn't quite register at first, but I called him over and said that I thought it was the Twin Towers in NY... we both sat on the edge of the bed in shock and disbelief, and I'm not really sure, but I think we might have seen the 2nd tower get hit, but everything was such a blur. I called the hotel office to see if we could get a late check out and they said no problem, so we eventually gathered up our things and headed home.
I barely remember the drive back... it's normally about 3 1/2 - 4 hrs. but it seemed like we were just drifting and was over before I knew it. The Hwy/Fwys were deserted, even when we got back into town (unusual for L.A.) we had the radio on listening to the news the whole way, and hardly said 2 words to each other.
I also have a friend who's B'day is on the 8th, and I found out later that her b/f took her to NY for her B'day, and they came back home the 10th... on one of the very same # Flights that was in the disaster!! I got chills when I heard that, but I guess it just wasn't their time... and I know that they are thanking their lucky stars every day!!!!
That's one birthday that neither one of us will ever forget!!!
sorry I haven't posted sooner, LKMy birthday is on September 10th and I had always wanted to stay at the Madonna Inn up in San Luis Obispo, CA. This place is very famous (and very 'Pink'!!) built entirely out of large rocks and boulders from the nearby hills, and all of the rooms have a different "theme"... most of them even have showers that are made out of stone to resemble waterfalls...
I had a little extra money at the time, so I decided to treat myself and my current boyfriend back then to a couple of nights there for my B'day. The 1st afternoon/evening was spent just getting settled in, and the next day we went exploring, had a nice dinner and a romantic stroll along the River Walk that runs through town. As we were getting things packed up the morning of the 11th getting ready to check out, I happened to turn on the TV to hear some news.
It didn't quite register at first, but I called him over and said that I thought it was the Twin Towers in NY... we both sat on the edge of the bed in shock and disbelief, and I'm not really sure, but I think we might have seen the 2nd tower get hit, but everything was such a blur. I called the hotel office to see if we could get a late check out and they said no problem, so we eventually gathered up our things and headed home.
I barely remember the drive back... it's normally about 3 1/2 - 4 hrs. but it seemed like we were just drifting and was over before I knew it. The Hwy/Fwys were deserted, even when we got back into town (unusual for L.A.) we had the radio on listening to the news the whole way, and hardly said 2 words to each other.
I also have a friend who's B'day is on the 8th, and I found out later that her b/f took her to NY for her B'day, and they came back home the 10th... on one of the very same # Flights that was in the disaster!! I got chills when I heard that, but I guess it just wasn't their time... and I know that they are thanking their lucky stars every day!!!!
That's one birthday that neither one of us will ever forget!!!
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I was waiting for my boss to pick me up to head to the gym. I couldn't believe what I was hearing on the radio. What did they mean a PLANE just flew into the World Trade Center. I rushed downstairs to turn on the TV (did not have cable in my bedroom), and just as I did the 2nd plane hit. I never got the call that work was called off, so I headed in just in case. The place was a ghost town, no passengers, about 4x the amount of usual planes on the ground, & mounted patrol, City, State & County police, K9 officers & border patrol were everywhere around the building, I just went back home. I remember when I got home, just standing in the driveway (our house was in a direct flight path) and looking up at the sky, not able to comprehend how quiet it was, and just looking around thru a new set of eyes, like it was my first time seeing the world. I will never forget the surreality of that moment, when the world changed in my eyes.
At the time I worked at a rental car office in our local airport. We were not allowed to enter the building for approx 1.5 weeks, so we had to do business out of our off site cleaning facility. No one cared if they had originally taken a day off or vacation days, we came in to work anyway, people needed us. We needed to keep the business running, people HAD to get home somehow.
The next few weeks while all air travel was grounded I witnessed some of the most amazing moments of people just coming together to help each other, whether it was a group of 4 men who met in our parking lot for the first time and decided to drive cross country together to California to get home to their families, families taking in college students trying to get back to school, someone driving from Florida to us in upstate NY; while doing the whole trip in a box truck, people just yelling out, "I have room for 3 more heading to Colorado, will stop on the way and drop you home" to all the people standing around. It was truly the most amazing show of kindness & camaraderie I have every seen.
At the same time my brother in law's 79yr old mother worked in that part of Manahttan, and he was trying frantically to get ahold of her. He finally did, but due to no transportation she had to stay at her boss's home for 2 days, until she could get back home to Riverdale.
That is 1 day I will never forget until the day that I die.
At the time I worked at a rental car office in our local airport. We were not allowed to enter the building for approx 1.5 weeks, so we had to do business out of our off site cleaning facility. No one cared if they had originally taken a day off or vacation days, we came in to work anyway, people needed us. We needed to keep the business running, people HAD to get home somehow.
The next few weeks while all air travel was grounded I witnessed some of the most amazing moments of people just coming together to help each other, whether it was a group of 4 men who met in our parking lot for the first time and decided to drive cross country together to California to get home to their families, families taking in college students trying to get back to school, someone driving from Florida to us in upstate NY; while doing the whole trip in a box truck, people just yelling out, "I have room for 3 more heading to Colorado, will stop on the way and drop you home" to all the people standing around. It was truly the most amazing show of kindness & camaraderie I have every seen.
At the same time my brother in law's 79yr old mother worked in that part of Manahttan, and he was trying frantically to get ahold of her. He finally did, but due to no transportation she had to stay at her boss's home for 2 days, until she could get back home to Riverdale.
That is 1 day I will never forget until the day that I die.
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The second plane hit just as I had to leave for work. On the way, reports started coming over the radio of other planes that may have been hijacked. The entire day was surreal, as were days and weeks after that tragic day. My only means of information at work was via radio, and we all were preoccupied trying to glean as much information as we could. It was and still is so unbelievable, unimaginable, so senseless. Having not seen most of the news coverage, I found a website that has archived several news stations coverage of the events, September 11 Television Archive : Free Movies : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive It's an invaluable tool for us and for future generations, lest we never forget.
I worked second shift back then and had just gotten up and was having my 1st cup of coffee when my friend called and told me to turn on the TV. I just sat there watching in total disbelief. It was so hard to believe that it was really happening and the rest of the day I felt I was in a heavy fog, still trying to comprehend it all.
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