Those 4 planes were taken over and deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and into the ground in Pennsylvania.
We will never forget those 3003 people who died.
RIP coming from a proud American
My commute in 2001 was about 45-60 minutes. Tons of road construction and traffic congestion. On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, the traffic was particularly bad - as was news and sports talk on the radio. Dumb stories, fake laughs, no interesting sports leads, radio hosts talking over one another, etc. So I quickly jumped to CDs in my Jeep Grand Cherokee to listen to music during my painfully slow roll. But at least I was blissfully unaware of anything else going on other what I could see through my windshield and in my mirrors.
When I got to the office, I was simply relieved to get off the road. Never mind I was again going to sit - this time in a chair vs. behind the wheel. Nonetheless, the worst of the day was over I figured in terms of frustration.
I put down my keys, started my laptop and headed for my first cup of coffee. On the way back to my desk, I stopped by our centralized mail files to see what junk awaited me. Before I could get there, a co-worker met me along the way and was kind of wide-eyed.
I remember him saying something along the lines of "Man, that is crazy. Did you see that plane hit the Trade Center?" I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He paraphrased his own question into a statement "Yeah, some sort of plane hit one of the towers in New York." No sooner had he said that did we hear another co-worker from their nearby office audibly say "Oh sh*t, another one."
We then parted ways, and I returned to my desk to fire up my web browser as soon as possible. I remember getting FOXNews.com to load - though all pictures and video would not. That is still one part of 9/11 I truly recall - everyone in our company was web bound, constantly trying to re-load pages for updates. Our web traffic had to have peaked that day. Page loads timed out. Many would only half-render.
I tried going back to one of our local news talk radio stations - the one I'd abandoned during my commute. We've never been able to get great radio reception on the floor of our building. But I could hear things well enough to understand the chaos that was unfolding.
Several folks packed up their gear and went home for the rest of the day. I chose to stay at work - but obviously not nothing done. I'd already scheduled Wed-Fri as 'vacation' days to pressure wash and steal our cedar fence at home. I'm really glad I did and followed through with it. It gave me 3 days to be alone and process a wide range of emotions that cycled many times in the days that followed.
I visited the Ground Zero site in NYC in November 2002 - about 15 months after the tragedy. Emotions were still raw as I stood there at night in a light mist. And I still reflect about what was & what has become each time I fly to Newark NJ and glance towards the City.
It was a tragic day that resulted in numerous heroic acts. It's forever etched in my memory bank of "where were you when it happened?" dates, i.e. 7th grade shop class when Alan Shepard lifted off, 10th grade World History when JFK was shot, on a Friday night Trailways bus home from college when MLK was shot, in bed with the TV beside it just before starting my senior year of college when men walked on the moon.
I'm certain that no American who has memory of 9/11/2001 will ever forget where they were and what they were doing when the awful news reports started.
Exactly 40 years ago on this date (9/11/1974) we had a tragedy here in Charlotte involving an aircraft. 69 souls lost their lives in the crash of an Eastern Airlines flight coming into Charlotte-Douglas Airport. The now defunct Eastern and the flight crew were cited for gross negligence and numerous safety violations. Future NASCAR Winston Cup Series Director, Dick Beaty had worked for Eastern and was Assistant Manager of the Charlotte airport at the time of the crash.
A number of prominent individuals, including the News Editor for CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite perished on the flight from Charleston, SC to Charlotte 40 years ago today:
As Dave said this is one of those "never forget where you were days". When I heard the news I rushed in and saw the second plane hit and knew it was no accident. I was asked to comeout of retirement andwork for Homeland Security as a training consultant/Instructor. The next 7 months was a blur as I worked 238 consective days without a day off. I did every Airport west of the Mississippi including Guam and Hawaii and Anchorage . Needless to say the ole race carstayed inthe shop and was a welcome way to unwind and get back into as normal way of life as possible.
To Eric: I think it is very special that YOU initiated this post as the only possible memory you could have of this date in 2001 is from television news on the anniversary of this date. That you are a young one with the pride to call yourself a "proud American" restores my hope in your generation that many have given up for lost, although I never have. God bless you Eric, and thanks.
To TMC Chase, Dave, and Bill, yes, we all remember where we were and what we were doing on that fateful day, and, as Dave points out, on those other days that will forever be burned into our minds and hearts. I will leave it with the oft used words, sometimes recited by some with no clue, "God Bless America".
Ok I was at the Navy Shipyard in Brooklyn NY. That's right down on the water across from the ill fated towers. I was waiting for the port to locate me so I could have a very big box loaded from overseas.
All of a sudden the cops came flying in telling everyone to get the heck out of the port and NY. First and only time I ever left NY without paying a toll,in fact I ran all the way nonstop to Va, with a 13 axle trailer stretched out . Never will I forget what I saw and how I felt that day. Memories of not the good times
Johnny... a side note here:
I made my very first trip to New York City over Easter weekend 1960 by train from Richmond with my Boy Scout Troop. Our leaders had made arrangements with the Navy and we stayed in barracks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I still remember the milk served at breakfast in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as the best and coldest I ever drank.
Directly across the road from our barracks, they were constructing the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and we were given a tour while the ship was being constructed.
To my horror, while still under construction, that ship burned in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on December 19, 1960, killing 50 workers, just 7 1/2 months after we were aboard.
Boy we cranking some old memories out of dusty minds here -- KEEP IT UP GUYS and GALS
RR standard equipment for dusty minds!
The crash site of 1974 is about 10 miles from my house. I was working in Belmont at a body shop that morning. I'll never forget the convoy of ambulances that came down Wilkinson Blvd. to go to the site behind the airport. Don Gardner's shop is down near thecrash scene closeto where the Police and Fire traning center is now. He told me his dad brought out some of the injured on the hood of his Ford farm tractor. If I remember correctly, the cause of a lot of the fatalities and burns were from the polyester clothing of the day being so flamable.
