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#1758 | Sunday, September 8th, 2002
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I worked in downtown Manahattan. Firemen came to my office building and told us to evacuate. I tried from there to get home to Brooklyn, but by the time I get to the bridge it was shut down. I remember a couple holding hands jumping, and a guy jumping with hands streched, like he had a parachute, but there wasn't any. I remember seeing people walking away from the buildings. A woman covered with ash and dust, some men. An EMS worker vomiting in the street. I remeber a woman gasping and when I truned around the first tower was falling. This was the only time I can remember a gathering of so many people with everyone quiet. Only radios were playing. People walked around with nowhere to go. Women took off their heels and walked barefoot. No I can never forget.
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Anonymous | 23 | New York
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#1759 | Sunday, September 8th, 2002
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I had taken my mom to a dental appointment that morning. Afterwards, we went to breakfast. A gentleman in the booth behind us asked the waitress if he heard anything else about the plane crash. She said the radio said something about a plane hitting a tower.
The way they were acing I thought a plane hit a radio control tower during takeoff.
On the way home, I turned on the local talk radio station. The announcer said that a plane had struck the world trade center. I was shocked, stunned, but still figured it was an accident.
My mom and I went into the house to turn on the tv, just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. My dad works at WPAFB, so we were calling him. In what seemed like seconds, they were flashing pictures of the Pentagon being hit, we have family in DC, and the trade towers collapsing.
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Lisa | 23 | Ohio
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#1760 | Sunday, September 8th, 2002
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I was at work in Leeds, England. It was around 14:15 and my phone rang. I answered as I usually did. "Good afternoon. Lloyds TSB Business and Commercial. Paul Speaking." On the other end of the phone my brother tells me that two planes have crashed into the WTC.
I spent 5 minutes telling my brother to hang up and let me get back to work as the whole idea was preposterous. The only thing that was going through my mind was that he was getting me back for playing a practical joke on him on national radio where I won a camera. I thought he was doing the same thing to me. I waited for the DJ to come on and say whether he'd won or not. She never did.
Five minutes into the call my brother pursudes me to turn my radio on. as soon as I did I dropped the pen I was holding and for about 30 seconds I didn't talk or move. I let my brother go and started to tell the people in my team what had happened. I had to give my radio to all of them to prove what I was saying.
Word then spread around the office. Customers were filling us in over the phone as we had no TV and I couldn't sit there listening to my radio all day.
Then the towers collapsed.
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Paul | 21 | United Kingdom
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#1761 | Sunday, September 8th, 2002
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It started out as a beautiful September morning, the sun shining and everything. Yet a few hours later the whole world changed for me, and it was no longer a beatiful day. I as sitting in school, and as I walked into my health class, I saw my teacher had the t.v. on. I saw 2 planes crash into the World Trade Center. Once I realized what was happening, I felt all numb. This couldn't happen to us! We're the most powerful and giving country in the world! Why would we be attacked? There were so many questions racing through my mind; I couldn't believe it. My mom came to pick me up, and I went up to my room and listned to the radio. The news of the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania shocked me. Where would it end? I became scared and prayed to God to protect the U.S. and other countries from the sudden attacks.
It's been almost a year since, and I've now come to realize that through all the terror and destruction, good prevailed. The terrorists intended to scare and divide us, yet we have showed them the spirit of America. In tough times we stick together, and with the help of our allies we struck back. Not only did this unite our country, it united others with us. Which is bad news for our enemies. God Bless America!
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Katherine | 15 | Ohio
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#1762 | Sunday, September 8th, 2002
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School had just started in late August at Mercer University in Macon, GA. At the time the first plane hit, I was probably asleep or lying in bed awake in my dorm room, dreading going to my first class at 9:25. It was in that class that I first heard that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I didn't think much about it at the time.
That class ended at 10:40 and I went to my next class. When I entered the building, I noticed a hubbub among some of the students, but I didn't think much about that either and I continued on to the classroom. Someone was watching the television in the upper right hand corner of the room, and that's when I saw the first gaping hole. And said to myself "Oh, this looks bad" but I wasn't thinking terrorist attack. I was thinking it was an accident, even though the sky was clear blue.
I didn't hear anybody else mention anything about terrorist attacks, but I wasn't paying much attention to what anybody had to say at that moment. I could only see one tower because of all the smoke getting in the way, so I didn't realize that the other one had been hit as well.
The rest of my classmates and the professor entered the room, wide-eyed, sat down and stared at the screen just like I did. We watched the first tower fall, and I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or what. My mind didn't immediately register that the tower was falling until I heard this gasp from someone in the room.
Then there was news about the Pentagon being hit and we saw those pictures, and then there were news reports/rumors that Camp David had been hit. Thank goodness that one turned out to be false.
Then we had to watch the second tower fall, and sometime during all this a letter was distributed around campus from the President of the university stating that our classes were cancelled for the day and that there would be a memorial service in the university chapel. I'm not much for religion, but I went because I felt like I had to do something. After the ceremony, I stayed glued to the television set all day long, then all week long, then all month long, and to this day the only thing I really watch on television is the 24 hour news channels.
After that day, we talked about what happened in class for the next couple of days. I remember being pissed off, I didn't even grieve until well after a week of the tragedy. I was too angry and I wanted to hit back at someone.
One thing that has changed for me is my interest in international affairs. I knew some of what happened outside of US borders before the attacks, but my interest really started to peak after this, especially in regards to the Middle East. I can't say I was surprised at the attack, though. I'd seen the "Death to America" chants and ritual US flag-burning in the Middle East on special reports on ABC, NBC, etc for years, so I figured it was just a matter of time, especially when the writing seemed to be on the wall after the embassy bombings and the USS Cole bombing and the towers and the first WWC bombing.
Now I've just heard about some Al Queda guys who were interviewed on Al-Jazeera revealed that the original plan was to attack nuclear plants. In light of that, we were actually lucky that we got the Sept. 11 that we did as a wakeup call, bad as it was. Now I hope the government can prevent them from carrying out those original plans, but I just have a bad feeling. I've become much more cynical of the world and I don't trust anyone outside of family and friends. I don't know who to trust or believe and so I've resigned myself not to trust or believe anyone--not our government, not the European Union, or the UN, or anybody else.
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Kori | 21 | Georgia
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