Twenty-four years since 9-11. We are now as far away in time from that unforgettable day as Americans in 1965 were from Pearl Harbor. Anyone today under 27 has no first hand knowledge of the event. Where were you on that day, assuming that you were alive then? It was a Tuesday and it was a cloudless magnificent day in Central Illinois. I was at the law mines. The husband of my late secretary Chris was the first to inform us that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York. We attempted to carry on with our tasks, but we got little work done that day. My main memory of my mental state that day was one of rage, angrier than I had ever been, before or since. A bit of that anger still comes back to me each anniversary. Those are my memories. Tell us yours.
On the USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean. A few days prior we had left the Persian Gulf and were heading south for a port call in South Africa. Needless to say, we turned around and the Enterprise was the first on scene in the Arabian Sea just a short time later.
Great Mistakes, training to go into the Navy.
We thought it was some kind of a mind-game, and not unjustly– the head instructor for my division was really tied up in stories, and tried to keep us from hearing anything because… he wanted us to get better scores on the stuff we were testing on that day.
My bunk-mate’s dad was in the Army section of the Pentagon, he’s a Lutheran chaplain and there was a big Chaplain meeting there that day. (he was fine, other than hurting his ankle helping a secretary out of the rubble)
Guy in the division across the hallway had a family eatery in one of the towers. His entire mom’s side.
For some reason they ran out of something stupid and she happened to be sent out to go pick it up.
He declined taking a week delay so he could go to the funerals, because he wanted to get out to the fleet and do something.
Graduated with his division, and made the funerals; they made it work.
I was also at work, in my corporate law department office downtown in a major Texas city. A good friend, the guy who later became my RCIA sponsor, came in to tell me the first tower had been hit, and we both went to the office lounge to watch TV news. We saw the second plane hit, and then sat there until the towers came down. I was dumb with shock at first, then it quickly turned to the anger that Donald describes in the post.
To me, the most intense personal experience was the next morning, on my commute to work. My route took me directly past the airport, and as I used to come in early to beat the morning rush, it was still dark at that time of year. The entire expanse of the airport was like a black hole—no terminal lights, no runway lights, no aircraft, nothing. That was just plain spooky, but it brought home some of the enormity of what had happened.
I was in the car on my way to a hearing. I heard the first reports on a sports talk radio station. When I got to my destination I told the hearing magistrate about the news. She put on her video screen just in time for both of us to catch the sight of the second plane hitting the south tower. At that moment we both fully realized that it was a clear act of terrorism. Such a sad day. If you have a chance visit the United 93 memorial in Pennsylvania.
At my office in midtown Manhattan by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. My sister called me after first plane. It was a quick call with no details on type of plane. At first I assumed maybe it was a small plane accident. Ten minutes later secretary came by, crying, saying second plane into other tower. Knew then it was a terrorist attack. All then gathered around cafeteria TV and try to make calls to family. Stunned silence as the towers fell. From then on people started leaving the office to make their way home (walking mostly) since public transportation was stopped for most part.
Lost three friends in the towers. Incidentally, exactly 1 week later, on 9/18, I would have been at a breakfast meeting/event at Windows on the World restaurant atop one of the towers.
A side story, my wife (then girlfriend) was in Ireland that day with her mom and sister. They were driving all around the west of Ireland that day and had no idea of the tragic events. When they arrived at their hotel and clerk saw she was from New York she said how sorry she was about what happened in NYC. My girlfriend had no idea what the clerk was talking about and the clerk had to explain.
They were in Ireland until flights were able to resume. They couldn’t say enough of how wonderful the Irish were to them knowing they were Americans. They were somehow able to get on the first flight back into NYC. Plane was filled with people heading to NYC to attend funerals, since many of the firefighters killed were Irish Americans. Their plane flew right over Ground Zero which must have been just an awful sight to see for the families of those killed there.
For months afterwards, there was funeral after funeral at St. Patrick’s cathedral.
Echoing JMJ, I am still touched at how Queen Elizabeth responded. That was classy.
A lot of countries were classy. I like to focus on that, especially when the “everybody is against us” stuff gets a little thick.
[…] J. Burkas/CNA/The Reg Why Is the West in Such a Mess? – Richard Bastien at Crisis Magazine Where Were You On 9-11-01? – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American Catholic Updates on the Political Landscape from […]
I recall waking up in the morning with the images of the plane going into the tower almost on loop. The Morning Show presenters were in a state of shock as they reported on the attacks. Every other news story was secondary. It was surreal.
The attacks changed the whole world permanently.
This from the Australian War Memorials website:
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty at the time of the attacks, and he keenly felt the effects on the American psyche. In solidarity with the US, Howard invoked Article IV of the ANZUS Treaty for the first time and offered Australian military forces and assets for what would become a US-led “global war on terror”– reaffirming our alliance based on shared histories and common values.
On 12 October 2002 the war came closer to home when three bombs were detonated by Jemaah Islamiyah in Bali’s tourist hotspots, killing 202 people, 88 of whom were Australian. The 2002 attacks were the largest loss of Australian life from terrorism.
I was driving the children to preschool. We don’t have television, only radio, so when I turned on the radio and heard the rosary (it wasn’t the hour for that), I was very confused.
8 years old and homeschooling with my mom. We spent the rest of the morning crying.
<a href=http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/>. . Major Rescorla was the squadron executive officer of our reserve unit.
Something of a legend, he had served in three armies, in Viet Nam a hero of the battle of Ia Drang, a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Oak leaf Cluster and “V”, Purple Heart, and too much else to count. At first glance a snake eater, but when you talked to him you realized the tough exterior hid a deep intellect and compassion. </a>
<a href=http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/>
<A href=://Hank’s Eclectic Meanderings: 9/11 Hustlin’ Up Stragglers> Major Rescorla was the squadron executive officer of our reserve unit.
Something of a legend, he had// served in three armies, in Viet Nam a hero of the battle of Ia Drang, a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Oak leaf Cluster and “V”, Purple Heart, and too much else to count. At first glance a snake eater, but when you talked to him you realized the tough exterior hid a deep intellect and compassion. </a>
I was at work in downtown Pittsburgh. It was a picture perfect late summer day in terms of weather. Sunny, mildly warm, clear – no clouds at all. When the first plane hit I thought it was just a Cessna. When the second one hit it was clear. We were told to get out of the office and go home.
Flight 93 made a U turn over Ohio and was headed for Washington when the passengers put a stop to it
The Flight 93 Memorial is 100 miles from my back door. For anyone going, you use the Somerset exit off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It is not far from the exit.
I was at work. My boss went home and brought back a little TV so we could watch the news. We were hoping against hope that it was only an accident, until the 2nd tower was hit.
At the university where I worked we prepared the empty rooms for the injured, but there were none. We sat by the tv and cried and prayed with the students. The father of one called at 4 o’clock to say that he had gotten out of the south tower alive and was headed home.
When I saw the second plane hit the tower I thought: “When are they going to stop the war in Israel.” Then the reality of the terrorist attack set in. I am still numb. It does not go away.
Teaching in a nominally Catholic school, which was near enough to NYC that maybe half the kids parents worked there.
One of my freshmen students came up and told me between classes that “a plane just hit the Twin Towers.” I told him the story about how a bomber hit the Empire State Building during WWII and how there was little loss of life, intending to comfort him and give perspective. It was my perspective that was changed by the end of the day…
I was heading to work in downtown Dallas. I was listening to a CD and had no idea that anything was going on. As I drove I kept getting feeling of unease and thought that I would call the kids school when I got to work to make sure that they were okay. At work, I heard about the plane and found that the bar next door had opened and turned on all their TVs so people could watch the news. A big crowd watched the towers fall and we all cried together. Then all of the people who worked in the high rises were sent home and the streets were packed with cars at a very odd time of day.
I will never forget going home that evening and talking to my 3 kids about what had happened and having to look at my oldest, who had just learned to drive, and tell him that if anything happened in downtown Dallas that he was to drive his brother and sister out to their grandmother’s house in the country. I told him to not wait on me. The world had changed for the much worse that day.
It was strange to not see planes coming into DFW airport that evening.