Hey!

Seldom do I turn on the T.V. in the morning but on that fateful day of the attack for some reason I headed for the kitchen and flicked on the set on the way by.

We all know what unfolded over the next few hours. I remembered looking out my office window some years before and watching the smoke from CHALLENGER in the sky, it lingered in the then cold Florida air....

My good friend was at 37000' piloting a 747 over Greece with a flight plan over the mid east heading to Asia. His trip ended up taking the big jet via Delhi completely around the world. It took days after the groundings of all commercial air traffic.

Those visuals are stamped in my memory and will never be erased. It's good to remember, and every time I go through airport security, regardless of the hassle, I recall how those events impacted the lives of so many.

Denis

I was on an Airbus, flying from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Montreal, Quebec, when we made an unscheduled stop to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. We were just told that for security reasons, we were landing immediately. So many things go through your mind....!!!

But as we landed, at this small community airport, and were seeing 3 or 4 other large planes, one behind the other landing, we figured something horrible happened.

We were stranded in this Ontario community for 3 days, but what the people did there so that all stranded passengers were taken care of was great.

So many Canadian communities, like Gander Newfoundland, who took in douzens of international flight shows how communities got together in such horrible times.

So, for me, being 30,000 ft in the air when this happened, i agree Denis, that it's a memory that stays for life..

I was driving to a customer and went by the Hamilton airport and a Westjet plane just landed in front of me and for some reason I was struck to see such a large airplane in the Hamilton airport nothing to do with the events that were to unfold tem minutes later but that image still put some size perspective when I later heard the radio program announce that a plane had crashed into the tower. Then when they announced that another plane had done the same I basically started to think of a late friend of mine (he passed away three years ago) who two months earlier was discharged from his position.He worked just under Windows on the World and almost all his employees were killed. I will never forget but still find it hard to look at images of those two buildings. I also remember the next day when our local fire department had not placed the flag at half mast that I marched in and demanded they lower to half mast.

With all the U.S. bashing that goes on I always remember a Canadian who wrote an article I always remeber Gordon Sinclair who gave this speech in 1973.

[phillytalk.com]

Just press the audio button.

I had the right to remain silent...but I didn't.

[burlingtonscwt.wordpress.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2008 12:52PM by seamusoisin.

Remember the phone calls, frantic, trying to track everyone down and make sure they were safe. Some decided not to go to work that day, some made it out safe, and some did not. I still get that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see the images or even think back on that dreadful day.

I was packing up my mothers home after she had passed away when my husband called me to turn on the tv. He said that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers. I couldn't believe my ears. The only tv in the house was old (it had a round thingy on the top for an antenna) and I wasn't sure it would work. I turned it on and I saw smoke then the 2nd crash! I thought something was wrong with the tv. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! Horrible!! I'll never forget that feeling. Here I was packing up Mom's house feeling very sad but I couldn't even begin to imagine all the pain other people were experiencing.....and their families, later. Fate is a weird thing.
My prayers go out to all the dearly departed and their families.


Contessa

I will never forget everything I said and did and saw on that terrible day.
We were here in SXM of course but our daughter was living in NYC about a mile away from the WTC.
I called her many times that day, always panicking when I couldn't get her. We watched TV for days, more horrified each day.
I saw those towers being built when I was living in NYC.
When I saw them fall and realized all the lives that were being lost, I realized what a terrible thing was done to the entire world.
My daughter was only 22 at the time and I realized her outlook on the world would be forever changed.

I've been back to NYC many times since then and I always look to the sky where you used to see those towers. I have never been able to bring myself to visit the area and probably never will.

[barcann.livejournal.com]

I was working in the operating room in Northern Virginia. We essentially had a grounding of sorts. All on-going operations proceeded until finished, while all elective surgery was cancelled for the rest of the day in expectation of receiving trauma victims from the Pentagon. Later in the day, my drive home brought the awful view of billowing smoke from the Pentagon itself.

I had driven my son to daycare, dropped him off and went to Stew Leonard's in Dabury for groceries. It was a beautiful fall day, air crisp and windy. I called the office to see if husband wanted me to stop for bagels and coffee, and he was in shock and told me to turn on the radio. The rest is history.

I was at work and my co-workers and I watched in horror as it unfolded as we all had videostreaming on our PCs. I called my husband first and told him to turn on the TV and then my parents. I sat mesmerized by the computer and at home by the TV for days until our daughter who was 11 said, “Mommy please turn it off; stop watching the same thing over and over."

My company let us all go at 11:00 AM and all I wanted to do was get home to my family. Our cell phones weren't working, and my best friend who I worked with was unable to get home because she lived in Queens and all the bridges were closed so she followed me home.

I couldn’t wait to get to my daughter’s school and pull her out and hug her. I remember the Principal asking me why I was taking her out of school and I don’t even remember saying much more than “you’re kidding me right!” By the time I got to our daughter, she was one of only a few sitting in the classroom and wondering why the other children’s parents kept coming in to remove them from class. The day is etched in my memory forever.

I was at the Princess Heights with my boyfriend packing to fly back to NYC. We were trying to come up with reasons for how a plane could crash into a building. Then the second plane crashed. We weren't thinking clearly and headed for the airport immediately, just wanting to get home. We had to stay three extra days before we could get out. I sat in the room and cried most of the time. The feeling of helplessness for those people was overwhelming. I'll never forget.

I was at work, working for the port of Philadelphia, we are on the approach to PHL, it was so strange not to see a plane in the sky.

Hancock Tower, Boston - being told, we're next - mandatory evacuation.

ADDENDUM.......
We had tickets to SXM on 9/24. No way was I getting on a plane.....but, after talking with my brother who's a Navy S.E.A.L. I felt a little better. He reminded me that it was the safest time to travel, so I decided to go. He was right. The airport was loaded with military. Marines carrying huge guns and walking around. Very eery! When we arrived in SXM we were amazed at all the American flags and American flag tee-shirts people were wearing!! In fact, there was a gift shop in Ph'sbg that was giving away tee-s with the American flags on them. The support was amazing! We went to Peg Leg Pub that night and were overwhelmed by support! We were questioned by locals and transplants about the 'climate' at the airport, how Americans were doing, how we were feeling about what happened etc. Amazing!! However, also, eery was the lack of people on island. Tourism was very low, understandably so.
The rest is History.....


Contessa

Contessa - we did the same thing, we had tickets to fly out on 10/4, it had been a rough summer for me, and both hubby and I decided - the heck with it, we are going!! ! It was very eerie, there may have been 20 people on the flight!! The beaches were empty! We had a great trip and turned around a month later and flew down again with the kids in November!! Same thing, flights empty, our attitude was security would be at it's highest, so no fears! Flight prices were amazing. Then again in February for President's week, we flew down to the Atlantis on Paradise Island for the kids break, same thing, booked maybe a month out, and got non-stops from LGA for under 250 a seat!! Had another great trip!!! Then for our April trip, again, flights cheap and went for it! Still can't get over the amount of travel we did between 2001/2002, in a way it was a kind of - were not gonna let them stop of us from living!!

I was just about to walk out the door to go to work when it all started. Since I was a pre-school teacher and we did not want the little ones to see what was going on, one of the other teachers set up a television in an empty classroom. We took turns going to watch the television. We had to be extra careful with what we said, as one of our student's father was an American Airline pilot who was flying on the west coast when everything started happening.