OT- Remembering 9/11

rickdugan
Verified and Certifiable Super-Reviewer
At 8:46 am on 9/11/2001, Mohammed Attaand the other hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crashed the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

At first it was assumed that the crash was a horrible accident. Then, at 9:03 am. hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building. At this moment, we knew that this was no accident.

At 9:37 am, hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 crashed the plane into the western facade of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 59 aboard the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building.

At 9:59 am, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

At 10:07 am, after passengers and crew members aboard the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 learned about the attacks in New York and Washington, they mounted a heroic attempt to retake the plane.In response, hijackers deliberately crashed the plane into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew aboard. It was suspected that this plane was headed either to the Pentagon or the White House.

At 10:28 am, the World Trade Center’s North Tower collapsed.

I was in New York City that day, when the whole city went into mourning and all too many people were faced with the tragic and senseless loss of family, friends and acquaintances who were killed for no other reason than because they worked in those buildings. There were also too many heroes to count on that day, including NYPD, FDNY and the people on Flight 93 who forced the hijackers to bring the plane down in a field rather than into another building.

We will never forget.

17 comments

Latest

shadowcat
9 years ago
Amen.
minnow
9 years ago
+1 on above. Kudos rick to this and the post that you made on another site several years ago.
pensionking
9 years ago
Well stated.
TheeOSU
9 years ago
A terrible day. Never forget!
londonguy
9 years ago
I can tell you our thoughts are with you on this infamous date. We'll never forget either.
jackslash
9 years ago
I remember watching TV and seeing the second plane hit. Horrible.

I visited the 911 Memorial Museum when I was in NYC last August. It is certainly worth seeing if you are in NY.
mikeya02
9 years ago
My brother lost his step daughter on Flight 93. Deora Bodley. She was 20. We were at the very 1st memorial in Shanksville. It was held outside and hundreds of towns people surrounded the area waving flags, The reading of names was sadder than sad. I was sitting next to a woman who lost her daughter. She showed me her picture. But the people watching cheered when one name was called. Something like "Yeah, go Joey!" Then it was off to the crash site where Bush attended.
VeryBigDawg
9 years ago
Great post and great summary!

I hope we never forget. On news this morning in Atlanta they talked about the 3 planes that went down that day. Already they have forgotten the one in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. So sad.
PhantomGeek
9 years ago
+1 Rick.
shadowcat
9 years ago
The are 155 homes in my home owners association and every one of them flew the flag today.
dallas702
9 years ago
I had just walked out of the police station of moderate sized midwestern city, where I lived then, after coffee with the assistant chief and a few minutes in the pistol range. It was a clear cool late summer morning. I started my car and a "live" radio report from NYC interrupted the music with a report about a tragic plane crash at the World Trade Center. It took a few minutes to figure out that it wasn't some "War of the Worlds" prank. My wife used to work in the South Tower, and still had friends who worked in the Towers, so I called her. At first, she too wouldn't believe it.

By the time I got to my office everyone was talking about the plane crash and it was covered live on all the networks. That is why I, and everyone in my office, watched live as the second plane impacted the South Tower. I still had my breifcase in my hand when the towers went down. I called my wife. She, too, was watching TV and she was sobbing. The circuts were busy in NYC and she couldn't get through to anyone.

My wife lost seven friends that morning. She talked, instead of about the friends, about the artwork in the private offices. She knew that one office in the North Tower had two Matise paintings, a Remmington bronze, a Piccaso and other works that were together insured for over $280 Million. She talked about the "bridge" between one of the other buildings (also destroyed when the Towers fell) and the North Tower, a shortcut to one of her favorite lunch counters. I would be months before she could talk about lost friends. She still crys on 9/11.

I was never fond of NYC, still wouldn't live there, but on that day I became a New Yorker. Rickdugan is right, we will never forget.
Mr_O
9 years ago
I once read that the magnitude of a tragedy could be measured by the time between the event and when jokes referencing it begin.

After 14 years, I've still never heard anyone joke about that day. I might just go ballistic on them when I hear the first one. One of those life events that we remember every detail about it, forever.
motorhead
9 years ago

"We will never forget"

+1 Rick

rickdugan
9 years ago
It was such a surreal day in so many ways. I was working in Midtown, but the people who were hosting a breakfast event that I was attending abruptly cancelled with no explanation. it seems that their corporate offices were in one of the towers. When I walked outside, we could see the smoke even 40+ blocks away, though I didn't know what was happening until I made it to my office. Many of the shops and restaurants in the city either closed or never opened for the day. I had never seen Midtown look so empty. Cell phones were useless for most of the day and most of the trains out of the city were shut down until later in the day, when limited service to northern points was restored.in order to get as many people as possible back home (myself included). Hordes of people were walking over the Brooklyn Bridge in order to get out of the city as, of course, no subway or other commuter services were running downtown.

But of course I was one of the lucky ones as I was 40 blocks north and didn't lose any family or close friends, just business acquaintances. The funny thing is if the outfit that was holding the breakfast had decided to do it in their offices at the WTC instead of a hotel in Midtown, I might be dead or telling a different tale altogether, but here we are.
minnow
9 years ago
I was out of town on a business trip on 911. After being glued to the TV for several hours, I felt an attitude adjustment was in order. There happened to be a stripclub within reasonable walking distance. One of my coworkers agreed with my idea. Although I wouldn't characterize the atmosphere as somber, neither was it a "party atmosphere" with a blabby DJ. I think everyone there just needed for something more "normal" to happen. In this case it did in this was just one way weren't going to let the terrorists win.
seaboardrr
9 years ago
I'll never forget that day. We were both home. Mrs sea was in the computer room and I walked in a few minutes after the first plane hit. I thought she had a movie on and remember thinking I couldn't remember ever seeing this movie. She told me it was CNN. Even after the 2nd plane hit I still can't remember it actually sinking in what was really happening. We sat in the computer room all day and all night watching the news. Watching people jump from the towers. Watching them fall. Watching NYC getting shrouded in a massive cloud of dust. Seeing the pentagon get hit and watching footage of flight 93 wreckage. Watching maps of which planes were still in the air and the sky clearing as they were all forced to land. I remember at some point that day I got in the shower and cried.

You hear people crack a joke about something horrible and then say "too soon?" It will always be "too soon" for 9/11 and I hope I never hear someone try and joke about it.
Mr_O
9 years ago
I was in Ohio right near Wright-Patterson AFB. was there ever a lot of air traffic, and ZERO commercial planes. Was pretty spooky. Every once in a while a loud boom (a sonic one, at least that's what it turned out to be)would echo the country side.
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