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#683 | Sunday, January 27th, 2002
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I heard about the first attack when my fiancee called from the gym, where she had seen the initial news flash on television. We live in Boerum Hill, a neighborhood in Brooklyn between one and two miles (as the crow flies) from lower Manhattan. The highlight of the tour of our one bedroom apartment had always been the postcard-perfect view of the WTC from our west-facing windows.
When she called, I instinctively flipped on CNN, but then I also opened the window shades. I felt like I was watching a tennis match, whipping my head from side to side to see the live shot on television and then comparing it to the same picture outside of my window.
I’ve always been something of an airline nut. Living where we live, with unobstructed south and west views, was especially fun for me, since we were directly under one of the Laguardia landing paths and I could watch them line up three or four deep as they prepared to land. On a clear day, I could even see the planes taking off and landing on the horizon over at Newark.
So I know where the planes are supposed to be on any given day, and I’d had nightmares over the years about them being in the wrong place and crashing into the ground. I’d never had a vivid enough imagination, however, to think that one might crash into the World Trade Center, let alone two. So I had trouble processing it all that morning when I spotted a fast-moving, low-flying plane heading north over New York harbor. I remember wondering to myself, "Haven’t they closed this airspace yet because of the accident?" Then I realized what was going on: "Oh, it’s the tanker plane coming to dump a load of water on the burning building." Then, that plane hit the tower too, and I realized in a flash that the first crash had not been accident.
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ron | 30 | New York
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#684 | Sunday, January 27th, 2002
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I was asleep.
Mom called and woke me.
I went to work.
I'm a radio dj.
Playing music just become "not fun".
2002 is here...
Mom called and woke me.
I went to work.
I'm a radio dj.
Playing music is theraputic.
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Karson | 33 | Alabama
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#685 | Monday, January 28th, 2002
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I am a police officer in a suburb of Dallas, Tx. I was attending a week long course at a regional police academy to become certified as an instructor so I could teach other police officers in the field of firearms. I had started that course on Monday, September 10th. Each day I would go to the station and check out a police vehicle so I could save miles on my personal vehicle, since the drive to the academy was around 30 miles each way. On the way to the academy, I would listen to talk shows to pass time during the drive there. On the morning of Tuesday, 9-11, we were running short on squad cars, so I was left to check out a donated Jeep to the department that was used for special outdoor events. This Jeep didn't have a working radio. As I arrived to the academy, around 7:55am CST, another student told me that a small plane had just hit the world trade center. I immediately thought that it was a small Cessna plane that was being flown by a student pilot that had accidently hit the tower. When I asked her if she knew what type of plane it was, she said that she thought she heard that the plane was a 767. I told her, "What?!? That's a freakin' big plane! That's not small at all!! That's a huge one, they use those for international flights sometimes!". By then, several people at the academy got word of the actual destruction and plane involved. A T.V. was brought out and we started to watch, not believing what we were seeing. Even at that point, we thought that it was a freak accident.
We realized that it wasn't an accident at all when the other planes started hitting. I remember seeing the other plane zero in and hit the second tower and I couldn't believe my eyes. When we saw the first tower go down I remember feeling extremely sad thinking about all of the people still in that tower and on the ground around it. They tried to continue with classes, allowing us to watch the T.V. during breaks. But I couldn't concentrate at all. I walked out of the class to watch the T.V. along with several others. None of us knew what was next. Being in Dallas, another major city-metroplex, we didn't know if we were next or not. Most of the students in my class were put on standby by their departments, especially those belonging to special units. Some were even called out of class back to their cities/departments.
I watched the T.V. all evening and night when I got home. At times, I became very angry. At other times, I would just cry.
To this day, there are times when I start to think of 9-11 and all of the innocent lives that were lost, and I just cry. I think of all of the blessings in my life and all of the wonderful opportunities that I have gotten in my life and I think to myself: "Everything that I have would not be possible had I not been born an American." I thank God for America, and even more so for being an American.
God Bless America.
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Tom | 26 | Texas
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#686 | Monday, January 28th, 2002
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I was bringing my boss some papers and Good Morning America was on as always. He said, "Chris, look at this, one of the Twin towers is smoking." I remember staring at it thinking what the hell... and the second plane hits. We spend the rest of the morning watching the program. He looks straight in my eyes and says, "you're witnessing history."
I leave for Marine Boot camp March 27th.
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Chris | 20 | Texas
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#687 | Monday, January 28th, 2002
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I was at work, and when the first tower was hit, we all thgout it was a freak accident. As soon as the second tower was hit, we all knew somebody was gonna pay for it. Osama is going down. . .
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Christian | 28 | Norway
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