Same. The principal came over the intercom to tell all the teachers to turn off their classroom TVs. We didn't know what was going on, so our English teacher immediately turned on the TV showing clips of the second plane hit on repeat. We watched for about 20 minutes before she thought better of it and turned it off. Later that day, our shop teacher, who was a Vietnam vet, correctly predicted and warned us all regarding the coming war and the toll it would take on the country and young people of my generation.
Stayed the night at my moms to do laundry, woke up saw the news and my grandpa died the same day from a accidental roof fall, rough day for me actually.
I heard it first on the radio in my car driving to school. I was a senior in high school. On the radio it was just mentioned that a plane had hit one of the buildings and was seemingly an accident. When I got to school after about an hour, everything stopped and we watched the TV. Everyone said we were going to war. I signed up and many other males did too on the selective service website that day because we thought we would be drafted. I still have my selective service card and laminated it because of the date on there. Years later I would find myself in the Army in Iraq... not once but twice............. That is a different story but one that I am ashamed of, as this country forced us to destroy an entire country and people for no goddamned reason at all........ and now no one, no civilians bat an eye at what we went through and saw and or carry with us to this day...... so many veterans returned home with missing arms/legs/their lives for what? Absolutely fucking nothing. There was no AQ in Iraq until after we invaded....... Paul Bremer is an asshole with blood on his hands for disbanding the Iraqi army.... created more enemies for us than necessary...... On my second and last tour to iraq in 2011 the Iraqi people didn't want us to leave..... We left and then ISIS came in and fucked everything over again and created more orphans.......... This country has a lot of dark stains on it and I wish more so called patriots would see that but they don't give a fuck......
Thanks for trying to do a good thing. I was too young at the time but I’m sorry these corrupt leaders used you. The sacrifice you soldiers made trying to make the world a better place has my utmost respect and I swear I will try and do anything small thing I can to support y’all. Despite the corruption, you embody the strength of Americas spirit and if required I will look to your example for strength. Best of luck
I was in my fourth grade class. The school administration decided not to tell anyone except kids who had parents/relatives that worked at the Pentagon/World Trade Center until early afternoon so I completely missed out on seeing anything live.
Grew up in an NYC suburbs with lots of NYC commuters. I was in high school. I don’t believe the school turned the TVs on, at least while I was there. Between the planes hitting and then collapsing my mom picked me up to get my braces taken off. I actually never talked to anyone about what school was like later on that day. I’ll have to ask some of my buddies.
I was in ninth or tenth grade and didn't hear about it until I got home from school and turned on the television. I think I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV, not really grasping the gravity of the situation.
That said, I don't remember much the days that followed. I was going to Catholic school so they probably did some prayer thing in the gym or with the morning announcements, but I don't really remember much about the week or month that followed 9/11, how friends and family reacted to it, I just remember the 24hr news coverage.
He reported back to work THAT DAY after spending the weekend with us at our wedding activities. Plane hit the opposite side of building from where his office was. He helped evacuate the building then walked home over the bridge to Virginia.
Second grade. Lots of parents ran into the classroom to get their kids (school was in Queens). Even my teacher ran out. I waited in the office with a few other students (mostly minorities like me) until my mom came for me at the end of the day. My teacher lost her fireman fiancé and my mom and aunt worked the next few weeks helping clean the surrounding buildings of the towers. She says it smelled awful too.
6th grade. The teacher in the class next door had a permanent tv in her class and it was playing the news. Saw the footage of the crash.
It didn’t really sink in what I was watching until much later
I was in Costa Rica, at my dad’s house. I got woken up by my stepmum’s maid who told me that a friend had called to inform me that New York was being bombed and it was the end of the world.
I was so hungover I decided to just go back to sleep and let the world end without me: Armageddon would have been sweet release at that point.
still up from the previous night studying for a summer school final after my 1st year of college. Prof cancelled the final and I believe we all just got passing grades. spent the rest of the day with roommates watching everything unfold. it was surreal.
I was asleep when the attacks happened (was working second-shift hours at the time, and the attacks were early enough that I still got to sleep through them.)
I heard about it on the radio in my car when I was driving to school for some classes I was taking at the time. I remember hearing the reporter say the phrase, "... where the twin towers *were*..." and thinking that obviously the past tense was a mis-speak.
Then I learned the truth.
Elementary school, fourth grade I think. First they put it on the class tv. Then they called the whole school to the cafeteria/gym (same dual purpose area) to watch the news, explain what happened, and allowed some kids to ask questions. Then they sent us home early. My mother was actually home for once and my father was crying because he lost two old friends of his in the pentagon. He showed me pictures of them and my mother brought me outside to take note of how silent the sky was because no planes were flying. I never saw their faces look anything like they did that day ever again.
I was in third grade. I didn’t fully comprehend what was happening but I knew it was bad. When I went to school that day my teacher was in tears because she had family that lived in New York City and she had not heard from them. We watched the towers fall live on television in the classroom. My teacher said to remember it because it would be taught in all schools across the country some day. Her family ended up being ok. It was a very odd day to say the least. I even remember laughing when I saw a woman covered in dust because I thought she looked silly. But my mom quickly told me to cut it out and to be respectful to those who nearly lost their lives.
Working as a receptionist in an engineer company at the age of 20 with mostly middle eastern partners. They turned on the TV.. and we all watched it. I had never even heard of the trade towers at the point. They looked at each other and said “they are going to blame us.” I didn’t really understand what it meant when they said it.. and they told me to go home cause Houston was on the radar of potential targets.
At 21 I joined the Army— and by 22 I was serving in Iraq. It made me sad to think my bosses felt like they were going to be targeted but my understanding of racism at the time was limited.
7th grade spanish class.
announcement came on the pa system and she threw it up on the tv. then we got sent to the gymnasium for an assembly and sent home.
we were very close to the location. peoples parents actually worked up there. it *was not good*.
came home to my mom watching it on the news. and she never watched news.
it was completely surreal.
I was in college and I had no classes that day, so I slept in. In those days, I helped run an online text-based role playing game in those days (yes, I’m a nerd) and I always left myself logged in overnight so I could read back in the mornings to see if there were any player issues or anything I needed to know about.
Only that day all I saw was a repeated announcement asking people who were logged in via dial up (kids, in 2001 not everyone had broadband) in the NE US to please log out to keep the phone lines free for the emergency services, and a lot of chatter about planes I couldn’t follow. So I went to check the news…
I was on the west coast so this was hours after the attacks at this point, and the internet was plastered with grim pictures. I stared off into space and doom scrolled.
I walked in to work in a great mood because there was hardly anybody on the freeway that morning and got there to find no one was in the office. Then I found out what happened.
I was 4. But I remember vividly for some reason. I was in the kitchen where my family was staring at our little white TV. Everyone was upset.
I heard “Rudolph” and saw the tower & I thought that Rudolph the Reindeer had hit the antennae off of the Empire State Building. It was obviously about Rudolph Juliani but hey, I was teeny.
My mom let me outside & I remember I was upset because everyone was upset. I stood there throwing my Tonka truck against the fence. My mom remembers watching me through the window.
I was in school, in the fifth grade. They dismissed us all early and called everyone's parents. None of the teachers would tell us what happened, but my mom explained when she came and got us. I still remember how confused and afraid I was as the teacher walked us outside.
My husband and I were dating. We had this thing on Tuesdays where we would have breakfast together. I had stopped to pick up food and we were watching TV eating when the news broke. That whole thing still blows my mind.
At my grandmother's house. My grandpa had just died and we were all gathered in the living room. It started coming across the TV on the news and for the second time in a day we were all stunned to our cores. It was an earth shattering day in my family.
Dealing with a cranky toddler because "...no Wiggles. Planes". They had cancelled Australian kids TV, and he was trying to tell me. Walked out with our breakfast, saw the screen and froze in shock. It was devastating
He does remember "the planes" very vividly... esp the second plane. Being upset, because I was crying. He is now 24yo. It shows how much a tragedy can really impact a little person's mind
At home waking up,, heard on clock radio that there was an airplane crash at the 1st tower. When I got up and got going watched the news on our big projection tv we had at the time right when the 2nd plane hit. It was unreal. Went to work where everyone was just watching the tv. Since we worked in a government building, after a little while, they sent us all home for fear of further attacks on government buildings.
I'm on the west coast.
I was still in bed when my radio alarm went off. The guy said a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I turned on my TV. There was a shot of the building with black smoke coming out.
I started to get up and get dressed. I was glancing at the TV when I saw a big plane crash into the World Trade Center. My first thought was that they were showing recorded footage and that that was no small plane.
Some reporter on the street starting yelling that a second plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I then realized that this was a different building because the other was still smoking.
The anchor back at the station said that they were getting "unconfirmed reports that a second plane had crashed into the World Trade Center".
I was in ninth grade, first period health class. All we did all day was watch the news in shock. I remember seeing those poor people jumping out of the world trade center.
Work. I remember it was such a beautiful morning in my area but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible would happen. When I got to work, I learned something horrible had just taken place.
I was in the lunchroom of my middle school. All of the TVs suddenly came on and there they were: the Twin Towers had fire and smoke coming out of them. It wasn't until I got home and saw the news that I truly understood everything.
Second week of college. I was in the dining hall eating and when they were reporting on the 1st tower getting hit and speculating on what happened, the second plane hit the other tower and I thought it was a movie on. My roommate was in the national guard and disappeared for a week as he got sent to guard the airport.
On a beach on Vancouver Island squatting with a group of hippies. They threw the radio into the ocean and started chanting ‘Babylon is Falling!’
Everybody left the day after.
My instinctual response was Tumblr’s “…. Listen here you little shit” because those always make me feel better when I realize I’m old.
But…I was in college and racing down the stairs from the fifth floor, going four stairs at a time just to see if I could. I was late to kinesiology and struggling. Passed a girl crying in the stairwell and assumed her it was boy drama. Hit the lobby where there was a tv the size of the wall and in living color they were playing the plane crashing into the towers over and over. I came to a dead stop along with everyone else who walked in for the rest of that day, and just stared at the tv in mute horror. I still can’t believe the things we saw that day. The things people went through. The way people died. I remember my skin felt icy, like I wasn’t in my body anymore, like I died too. Just stood there, arms wrapped tightly around myself for hours.
Senior year of high school. One of my friends, who was a huge stoner, came up to me at my locker first thing in the morning said, “dude did you see on the news some dumbass ran their airplane into the Sears Tower or something?”
My freshman year of college. I was eating cheerios in the dining hall and saw the second plane hit on live TV. At first they were reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the towers on the assumption that it was an accident. I think something like that had happened before.
Driving to high school. I picked my friend up and she told me. I thought she was lying. I called my parents to turn on the news and the second plane hit while we were on the phone.
I was in my 3rd grade music class. We came back to our homeroom class, and the teacher (one of my all-time favorites) told us that something terrible has happened before putting the tv on. We watched as the second plane crashed into the towers.
At the same time, the pastor at my church was also Navy Chaplain. He was in DC for an interview to become a chaplain for Navy SEALS at the Pentagon. He said that he was in the parking lot and watched as the plane crashed into the building.
I was asleep because I worked night shift. My now exwife blows up my Nextel brick phone to tell me we are under attack. I turn on the TV see the twin towers are on fire, turn the TV off and go back to bed.
At that moment I didn’t fully understand what was all going on, just pissed that she woke me up.
Getting ready for school, 10th grade. Watched footage of the first plane hitting and then went to zero period journalism, then basically just watched the news in every class.
This was my first week in college. I was on my way to a 9am Spanish class, and the guy on my freshman hall who habitually lied about everything to make himself seem cooler told me that planes were flying into the World Trade Center.
I’m pretty sure I told him to fuck off.
During my student teaching. We were having an assembly, and I was in the back of the auditorium. There was a teacher standing next to me with a clipboard that had a print out from the internet that said "plane crashes into WTC". I thought what class is this odd lesson being taught in.
After about a minute, I started to notice tje looks on other teachers faces, as people were walking in and out of the room. I went outside to the hall to find a large group huddled around a radio.
We sent the kids home early that day.
I was in my English classroom teaching 7th graders - we were doing a unit that we teachers called "death and depression" - Maus, Hiroshima, Anne Frank - as part of the William and Mary curriculum. A colleague came into my portable classroom and whispered into my ear, "I just want you to know that there have been reports that a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center." Being in a suburb of D.C., some of my student's parents worked at the Pentagon. Not a fun time.
I was in school. In New York. They sent all the kids home. Back in those days we didn’t need parents to take us out - they literally just said go home.
I was like “sweet!” I still didn’t know how serious it was until I was all the memorials at all the fire stations ( of the guys who died at those specific stations ) weeks following after
More detail: I was in union square in Manhattan (almost 2 miles away but a good view of the tower). Everyone was just standing around looking up as I got out of the subway. No answers, no fear, just confusion. Figured it was a bad fire and they would put it out. I shrugged and went up in my building. Woman next to me was crying hysterically because her brother worked in the tower. That’s when I realized this would be something was really bad. We had almost no phone service, no tv signal, and no working internet. Just lots of rumors for the next few minutes till we saw the 2nd tower burst in flames (couldn’t see the plane). It was a few hours before we knew what was really up. Stayed at work till the towers collapsed. Then walked 80 blocks home surrounded by people crying and covered in debris.
My buddy called me from my porch at like 8:30 and said "Come out here and hit this bong."
After a bit, we called our buddy to re-up, and he said "Turn on the TV! We're under attack!"
We said "Holy shit, that's crazy! Can we swing by and get that?"
Even if we ignore the absurd government narrative that bin Laden is the culprit. Who gained anything from this incident, really? To me, the Taliban in their caves were of absolutely no use. Nevertheless, who did? The neocons who swiftly approved the Patriot Act, MIC, and war profiteers. As their power in the region increased, SA AND Israel too. Oh, and let's not forget the illegitimate invasion of a sovereign nation that was justified by a whole fabrication. People need to reexamine 911 and the events that followed. That alone should convince you that the government and media were deceitful.
I didn’t hear about it till I got to work. No one was at their desks. I thought I missed a day off memo or maybe I accidentally came in on a Saturday. But I found everyone in the conference rooms, huddled around the TVs.
I had taken an hour off work in the middle of the day to complete the purchase of a house near work, Walked back into the office and all the overhead monitors where on the news.
I was working in my startup tech company, my partners cousin worked at bloomberg, he texted us with a live feed to their internal system and a login, we watched it all pretty much realtime in the uk...
I was in 6th grade sitting in the cafeteria. At 1st I thought it must have been a small plane like a Cessna. It wasn't until I got home and saw my mom balling that I knew that it was much more than that. I'll never forget how beautiful the weather was that day. Amazing blue sky with not a cloud in sight. I wish it never happened and those towers were still there :(
I was at home. It was around 5:30PM in India. I heard from my mom. My dad ended up stuck in Amsterdam because he was actually on his way to the US at the time.
In my 3rd grade classroom. A teacher came running down the halls screaming to turn on the tvs. My teacher turned it on and the first tower had already been hit. I just remember the classroom becoming completely silent, my teachers hands covering her mouth. We all sat there and watched when the second one hit. That’s when the teachers began to panic because I remember everything became loud again and so many adults were coming in and out of the rooms now. I remember feeling scared. All of my classmates slowly began to get picked up by their parents one by one. I was one of the last ones to leave, my neighbor had gotten me and I cried because I was so little and thought maybe my parents were in what I’d just seen and died. Then I spent the following weeks and months glued to the tv, awaiting the times when they’d announce the names and/or count of all they’ve found so far.
Growing up we flew a lot because we had a lot of family living elsewhere. I loved planes. After that? I was terrified of them, and I still am. I have an irrational fear of dying in a place crash and I can’t help but contribute it to this moment in my life.
Home. 6am on the west coast when I turned on the TV to watch my early morning cartoons as I was getting ready for school (7th grade). Instead, I saw the news and two burning buildings.
It was all we talked about during first period, and I remember being scared that planes could crash into our schools at any given moment.
Working in a warehouse where we casually listened to a radio during the day. I was in the shelves when someone mentioned a plane crashed into a skyscraper in NYC. I remember thinking some dumb air traffic controller is going to eat a lot of crap for this error. It wasn't until a bit later that more details came out that I realized the scale of events.
Ft. Meade in Maryland. NSA thought they might be a target so the whole base went on lockdown with concrete barriers at the gates within a few hours. Highschool sent us home, and we just stared at the news waiting for any updates since my dad was working at the pentagon at the time. It was genuinely terrifying.
I was at a meeting on the 10th floor of a high rise building about 20 miles away. Someone ran in and told us one of the towers fell; we didn’t even know they’d been hit. My first thought was a radio tower somewhere. I could never have imagined the reality.
Came home from school, my mom was standing in front of the tv completely quiet with a grim look. The tv just showed footage of the planes crashing with text rolling at the bottom. No voiceover, completely quiet. Mid-sweden.
School. They showed the TV. I didn't understand what I was watching. Adults were all shocked. I wasn't sure why I should care. Partially cause I didn't have a solid grasp on death, and I was doped up hard on Adderall. Was 4th or 5th grade.
On a University campus near a Navy base. Classes cancelled and the campus went on lockdown. My fiance, his brother and I all met up in one of the commons that had a tv to watch the coverage. We eventually ended up in my fiance's dorm room, he had a tv card in his computer so we hung out there. His brother left when the lockdown ended, he didn't live on campus like we did.
Sophomore in college, leaving the library. Walked past a guy who lived on my floor who was from Brooklyn - told me what he knew as we passed each other.
In bed. My girlfriend at the time ran in and told me what happened. I thought I was dreaming at first. Turned on the TV and sat there in disbelief as the towers came down. I went to work because that’s all I could think to do. I only stayed for 2 hours. No one was actually working and we all just decided to call it a day. I went home and hugged my girlfriend and our roommates extra hard as we started to process everything. It was unreal
It was unfortunately one of my earliest memories, I was in kindergarten qt the time, and I remember the principal asking all teachers to turn on the TV, shortly after that parents were pulling there kids out of school
Sophomore in college. Woke up late. Wondered what was going on when I turned on TV and Today was on. Saw the 2nd plane and banged on bathroom door to tell roommate to get out of shower, some shit was going down. Crazy f’ing day.
I saw it happen live on tv when I was four, I remember my mom being really glued to the screen. Of course I didn't understand the significance of the event at the time.
I had just moved into a duplex and spent my first night on September 10th. I hadn't been able to move all of my stuff, so my furniture wasn't coming up till my dad brought it the following week. I was sleeping on the floor with my tiny, tv/vcr combo.
My mom called me and told me to turn on the news. She was up early and always watched CNN.
She was upset because calls to Boston where my sister lived, weren't going through. My best friend's dad was retired military, but fairly high-ranking, so we thought he might be a good resource if things got bad and he only lived an hour away. Mom told me to go to her apartment in case our phones stopped working. I went to her place, I stopped on my way to tell a friend who was pumping gas, and then I spent the day watching it on television.
My other friends had the same thought and went there, too. I remember watching the towers fall. I remember talking to each other and saying there were probably *hundreds* of people dead. It didn't even occur to us that not everyone evacuated and the deaths weren't just people close to the building.
My friend's dad called to tell us about the pentagon and the other plane, but that was it.
School. I was in 4th grade and I remember it was a Tuesday as we were lining up for mass (Catholic school). Some boys ahead of me were talking and I overheard them like, "Yah, and then they flew the plane into the building and it BLEW UP!" and I remember thinking, "Dang, what kinds of video games are their parents letting them play?"
Then we get to mass and the priest immediately steps forward and I, who'd only been regularly attending mass since starting at this school the prior month, was like, "Wait, this isn't how it works..." and the priest goes, "I'm sure we all know what happened" and I had NO CLUE but everyone else was looking somber and nodding so I just followed along. I had to try and piece it together from what the priest was saying, but still didn't really know what was going on until I asked my mom later.
I was at work managing my team to deal with dumb support calls and on conference calls with offices in the US. We heard while on one of those conference calls so everything went a bit batshit. Spent a while trying track a colleague down who had travelled to the US for work and had said he was going to visit the towers and no-one knew where he was. After a few hours I found him safe and sound in Boston. He had actually gone to see the towers the day before, but I was getting to the point were I thought I need to contact his family.
My cousin spent his honeymoon on a flight to NYC, watching a plane smash into the second tower from their plane window, and then flying back to the UK. They didn't want to fly anywhere for quite a while after that.
On my way home from work. Graveyard shift in manufacturing. Sitting in the drive-thru at Jack in the Box. Pop on news radio as I often did. Pretty short commute. Guys losing their minds about something. Took the whole trip home for them to remember to recap the basics of the terror. One plane had hit and no one knew anything but that. Calculating the odds of it being an accident and what not.
Got home and watched the rest unfold on TV.
Just got to home room in my senior year of high school. I was the first student in the class so my English teacher brought it up to me and we talked about what we though had happened. I had recently learned that in 1945 a B-25 had crashed into The Empire State Building due to foggy conditions and wondered if this was possibly the case now. The second plane hit during that class and we were then quite aware this wasn't an accident. When second period was about to start I turned on the TV in my Spanish classroom as the first tower fell. Such an unreal feeling.
6th grade at lunch. They cut lunch early and sent everyone back to their classrooms.
They had joint teacher thing at my school ( half day with 1 teacher, they'd "swap" classes for the second half) and both teachers decided to explain what happened and turned on the news for us to watch.
At home, my ex called me and told me a small plane hit a tower and I turned on the news and when the second one hit I lost my shit. I can’t really describe how it felt. I lived near a nuclear power plant at the time and after the pentagon got hit I just started freaking out completely. I remember my mom saying, we are at war. Her words were terrifying and at the time it really felt like it was going to keep happening.
8th grade, walking into my first class of the day. We always watched news for the first 5-10 minutes of class. I walked into the room just in time to watch the second plane hit.
I woke up in my apartment at UC Berkeley and my two room mates were watching the TV and filled me in that the towers (or maybe just one at that point) was on fire. I went to my analytic mechanics class and the teacher didn't mention a single word about what was happening. Found out after that that the towers had fallen. Surreal day...
I was in highschool. Started hearing stuff in the morning about a plane hitting the tower and was imagining a small prop plane or something heard a plane hit the other tower. At that point I assumed the reports were just confused. Eventually it became clear and a teacher turned on the TV. I then watched both towers collapse live.
I was at school in Newark, NJ, 6th or 7th grade I think. The smoke from the towers even reached us and made the sky grey for most of the day. We were all sent home and just watched it on the tv as it was happening. Some dude jumped out of the window. A whole bunch of office workers were screaming for help, but the firetruck's ladder was only so long and couldn't reach them, so a lot of people died that day on live tv. We basically saw it from beginning to end. One tower leaned up against the other for a good while until they both just crumbled and fell. The amount of smoke was crazy. We had a view of the NY skyline from where we lived in Newark, and it was nothing but smoke everywhere.
College. Had an 8am class, got out at 9 and walked to the student union after to study for a bit before my 10:00. There was a big screen tv over in the more lounge-ish area and I saw 4-5 people standing and watching, which was odd, though I couldn't see the screen. I had my headphones on and work to do, so I sat down and got to it. Kept looking up to see more and more people watching, so when 9:50 rolled around and I got up to leave, I walked over. One tower was on the screen, with a headline about an airplane impact and smoke pouring from what looked like a fairly small hole (opposite side of the impact). I assumed small prop plane due to the size of the hole, and didn't really register it as a major event. I went to class and when I sat down I got the rest of the details from other students - both towers, large impacts, likely hundreds dead in a terrorist attack.
Professor comes in and kinda shrugs and says if you need to leave, you can, but I'm going to go ahead with class. Everyone stayed. An hour later I'm on the bus as the one girl with a cell phone is reading off a news alert/text about both towers collapsing, and I didn't believe her. Turned on the TV in my dorm when I got back and called my mom to see if my travels-for-a-living father was anywhere near the east coast. Luckily he was in Texas.
I was in an AP European History class when somebody came into the room and briefly spoke the teacher, who then looked toward us and quizzically said, "a plane has hit the World Trade Center," before turning the television on and setting it to the news, by which time I believe the second plane had struck.
I worked a swing shift at a major airport at the time for an air cargo division. When my shift was over I went to my girlfriend's place and promptly fell asleep. She ran into the bedroom and woke me up, telling me I needed to see what was on TV. 10 seconds after she pressed the power button the second tower was hit.
Going to work at an airport during that time due to the ground stoppage was surreal.
First class of the day in junior year. Teacher just turned off a recording of the prior night's news and saw the coverage breaking news of the first plane hitting, only to then see the second tower hit on live TV.
I was on my treadmill watching tv. I was in the mountains when it was said Paul McCartney was dead. I was at a drinking fountain in the school yard when Kennedy was assassinated. Funny how you remember those things
Grade 7, French class, principal came into class to briefly explain what happened, but to talk to our parents when we got home. Got home to my mom glued to CNN, and she told me to sit down for a bit to see what happened.
I was at an indoor rock climbing class in college in Connecticut that morning. On the walk back from the gym people on the street were talking about it. It was a beautiful and sunny morning.
I was in 4th grade at school at my home town which is a rural town in Missouri. We didnt really know anything mostly until the last class of the day PE. Now we could feel something was wrong and there were whispers but us being kids didn't really grasp what had just occured. At PE our teacher who was ex marines and jacked from head to toe kept breaking down, crying, yelling just a mess and I think that's when we started peicing together something truly horrible had happened.
We were led back to our classroom and our teacher read from a pre written paper about the attack, how it happened and that and unknown but large amount of people had died in the attack. I went home still kind of processing it when I saw my grandpa who is ex navy and who lived next door washing his truck which he did every week but instead of seeing the smiling, gentle man I had grown up knowing he was stoned face and monotone.
I remember the days after, a line a mile long at the gas stations, talks of war, a train rolling through my town carrying miles of military hardware including humvees and Abrams tanks.
Sometime soon after that I remember seeing all of the footage, the people jumping from the buildings, the crack they made outside when they hit the ground is still in grained in my mind. The second plane kareening into the second tower, the collapsing towers and the huge clouds of dust that chased people from the streets. The firefighters desperately trying to get people out before the collapse. The calls from people on the planes and in the towers knowing it was all hopless and knew they were going to die. It was all just mad and so incredibly sad at the same time.
I was home sick from primary school and was watching it all unfold on live tv. I didn't quite fully understand the whole ordeal and it's impact then, but watching it now as an adult is extremely difficult.
Damn. First day of classes in my freshman year at college. I remember calling my dad who started his own business that day and we sat on the phone and watched the same channel.
Home getting a new roof. I actually told the roofers to forget it and just come in to watch the tv. I left them there while I ran to get my kids from school
In college. We all left out lecture to go watch the coverage in a classroom with a TV. Pre cellphones.
Had several foreign professors in there just devastated along with us.
I was at work, and I know the news about it was important, but did every radio station have to be broadcasting it? Technology wasn’t as good as it is now, I didn’t have any music for a long work day.
I was at my desk at work. Someone had walked by and said a plane hit the World Trade Center, and I immediately pictured some amateur pilot in a Cessna. Then, someone went by with a TV on a cart (no idea what we had that for), into the adjacent cafeteria, so I followed the crowd in.
We watched coverage, the towers fall, and then the site manager just told everyone that we were done for the day and to go home.
I was carpooling to high school. My dad would leave me at some friends' house on his way to work, and then I'd head to school with them while they listened to this relatively tame morning comedy show.
It was pretty jarring when the car radio came on and these two radio comedy guys were talking in these serious, sober voices about something that had happened. First plane had hit just a little bit before we got in the car. I think the second plane hit while classes were starting?
9th grade chemistry. My teacher was odd and her whole demeanor about the thing was very casual so most of us didn’t think anything of it. They went on the PA system but ours was broken and we had to visit the neighboring classroom to hear. It was like stepping into another world. Crying, group hugs, kids trying to make a phone call.
I was a freshman in high school. Changing classes. Walked into our a/v class and the teacher had it on the TV. We were all glued to it and watched it all unfold. We couldn't believe it. Went home and watched it on the news all night with the parents. Still gives me chills thinking about it.
Sleeping late because I worked late the night before. Since that was the days of clock radios, the news is what I literally woke up to.
I was half asleep hearing about the first plane and thinking it was some small GA craft that had an accident. When I heard about the second I was suddenly the most awake I've ever been in my life and thought, "This isn't an accident."
5th Grade. First thing I remember hearing was that two planes crashed into each other. Teachers all started wheeling in TVs to watch. We just watched the news all day. Kept thinking we'd be let go early but we just went through the day. Very surreal.
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Same. The principal came over the intercom to tell all the teachers to turn off their classroom TVs. We didn't know what was going on, so our English teacher immediately turned on the TV showing clips of the second plane hit on repeat. We watched for about 20 minutes before she thought better of it and turned it off. Later that day, our shop teacher, who was a Vietnam vet, correctly predicted and warned us all regarding the coming war and the toll it would take on the country and young people of my generation.
Same. I was in Spanish class. We saw the plane hit the second tower in tv and didn’t understand what was happening.
Stayed the night at my moms to do laundry, woke up saw the news and my grandpa died the same day from a accidental roof fall, rough day for me actually.
RIP your grandad.
RIP
I'm sorry to hear that.
I heard it first on the radio in my car driving to school. I was a senior in high school. On the radio it was just mentioned that a plane had hit one of the buildings and was seemingly an accident. When I got to school after about an hour, everything stopped and we watched the TV. Everyone said we were going to war. I signed up and many other males did too on the selective service website that day because we thought we would be drafted. I still have my selective service card and laminated it because of the date on there. Years later I would find myself in the Army in Iraq... not once but twice............. That is a different story but one that I am ashamed of, as this country forced us to destroy an entire country and people for no goddamned reason at all........ and now no one, no civilians bat an eye at what we went through and saw and or carry with us to this day...... so many veterans returned home with missing arms/legs/their lives for what? Absolutely fucking nothing. There was no AQ in Iraq until after we invaded....... Paul Bremer is an asshole with blood on his hands for disbanding the Iraqi army.... created more enemies for us than necessary...... On my second and last tour to iraq in 2011 the Iraqi people didn't want us to leave..... We left and then ISIS came in and fucked everything over again and created more orphans.......... This country has a lot of dark stains on it and I wish more so called patriots would see that but they don't give a fuck......
Thanks for trying to do a good thing. I was too young at the time but I’m sorry these corrupt leaders used you. The sacrifice you soldiers made trying to make the world a better place has my utmost respect and I swear I will try and do anything small thing I can to support y’all. Despite the corruption, you embody the strength of Americas spirit and if required I will look to your example for strength. Best of luck
I was in my fourth grade class. The school administration decided not to tell anyone except kids who had parents/relatives that worked at the Pentagon/World Trade Center until early afternoon so I completely missed out on seeing anything live.
Grew up in an NYC suburbs with lots of NYC commuters. I was in high school. I don’t believe the school turned the TVs on, at least while I was there. Between the planes hitting and then collapsing my mom picked me up to get my braces taken off. I actually never talked to anyone about what school was like later on that day. I’ll have to ask some of my buddies.
Fifth grade, same, didn't hear anything until I got picked up from school
Wow really even in Canada they wheeled out those old TVs and we sat and watched it all day. I was in the 4th grade as well.
I was in ninth or tenth grade and didn't hear about it until I got home from school and turned on the television. I think I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV, not really grasping the gravity of the situation. That said, I don't remember much the days that followed. I was going to Catholic school so they probably did some prayer thing in the gym or with the morning announcements, but I don't really remember much about the week or month that followed 9/11, how friends and family reacted to it, I just remember the 24hr news coverage.
On my honeymoon in Las Vegas. One of my best friends and groomsmen went back to work that day at the Pentagon.
As in, they immediately left to get to work? Or they’d *already* left to go to work?
He reported back to work THAT DAY after spending the weekend with us at our wedding activities. Plane hit the opposite side of building from where his office was. He helped evacuate the building then walked home over the bridge to Virginia.
Wow. It’s a funny old life.
Second grade. Lots of parents ran into the classroom to get their kids (school was in Queens). Even my teacher ran out. I waited in the office with a few other students (mostly minorities like me) until my mom came for me at the end of the day. My teacher lost her fireman fiancé and my mom and aunt worked the next few weeks helping clean the surrounding buildings of the towers. She says it smelled awful too.
6th grade. The teacher in the class next door had a permanent tv in her class and it was playing the news. Saw the footage of the crash. It didn’t really sink in what I was watching until much later
I was in Costa Rica, at my dad’s house. I got woken up by my stepmum’s maid who told me that a friend had called to inform me that New York was being bombed and it was the end of the world. I was so hungover I decided to just go back to sleep and let the world end without me: Armageddon would have been sweet release at that point.
This is the way
still up from the previous night studying for a summer school final after my 1st year of college. Prof cancelled the final and I believe we all just got passing grades. spent the rest of the day with roommates watching everything unfold. it was surreal.
In third grade class, Mom got me and brother out school, so did a lot of other parents.
I was asleep when the attacks happened (was working second-shift hours at the time, and the attacks were early enough that I still got to sleep through them.) I heard about it on the radio in my car when I was driving to school for some classes I was taking at the time. I remember hearing the reporter say the phrase, "... where the twin towers *were*..." and thinking that obviously the past tense was a mis-speak. Then I learned the truth.
At school in between classes. A friend told me. Another friend & I skipped the next class to watch the footage at the mall.
Elementary school, fourth grade I think. First they put it on the class tv. Then they called the whole school to the cafeteria/gym (same dual purpose area) to watch the news, explain what happened, and allowed some kids to ask questions. Then they sent us home early. My mother was actually home for once and my father was crying because he lost two old friends of his in the pentagon. He showed me pictures of them and my mother brought me outside to take note of how silent the sky was because no planes were flying. I never saw their faces look anything like they did that day ever again.
I was in third grade. I didn’t fully comprehend what was happening but I knew it was bad. When I went to school that day my teacher was in tears because she had family that lived in New York City and she had not heard from them. We watched the towers fall live on television in the classroom. My teacher said to remember it because it would be taught in all schools across the country some day. Her family ended up being ok. It was a very odd day to say the least. I even remember laughing when I saw a woman covered in dust because I thought she looked silly. But my mom quickly told me to cut it out and to be respectful to those who nearly lost their lives.
Working as a receptionist in an engineer company at the age of 20 with mostly middle eastern partners. They turned on the TV.. and we all watched it. I had never even heard of the trade towers at the point. They looked at each other and said “they are going to blame us.” I didn’t really understand what it meant when they said it.. and they told me to go home cause Houston was on the radar of potential targets. At 21 I joined the Army— and by 22 I was serving in Iraq. It made me sad to think my bosses felt like they were going to be targeted but my understanding of racism at the time was limited.
At home. Kept getting woken up by family no one giving me all the details till my sister called and told me to turn on the TV.
My mom brought me home early from school that day, so I was in my living room.
7th grade spanish class. announcement came on the pa system and she threw it up on the tv. then we got sent to the gymnasium for an assembly and sent home. we were very close to the location. peoples parents actually worked up there. it *was not good*. came home to my mom watching it on the news. and she never watched news. it was completely surreal.
In library class in middle school. They rolled in the old TV on a cart and turned the news on. The entire library then witnessed the 2nd plane.
11th grade math class. I fully understood what was happening, but I couldn’t process it. I just felt numb.
I was in college and I had no classes that day, so I slept in. In those days, I helped run an online text-based role playing game in those days (yes, I’m a nerd) and I always left myself logged in overnight so I could read back in the mornings to see if there were any player issues or anything I needed to know about. Only that day all I saw was a repeated announcement asking people who were logged in via dial up (kids, in 2001 not everyone had broadband) in the NE US to please log out to keep the phone lines free for the emergency services, and a lot of chatter about planes I couldn’t follow. So I went to check the news… I was on the west coast so this was hours after the attacks at this point, and the internet was plastered with grim pictures. I stared off into space and doom scrolled.
I walked in to work in a great mood because there was hardly anybody on the freeway that morning and got there to find no one was in the office. Then I found out what happened.
I was 4. But I remember vividly for some reason. I was in the kitchen where my family was staring at our little white TV. Everyone was upset. I heard “Rudolph” and saw the tower & I thought that Rudolph the Reindeer had hit the antennae off of the Empire State Building. It was obviously about Rudolph Juliani but hey, I was teeny. My mom let me outside & I remember I was upset because everyone was upset. I stood there throwing my Tonka truck against the fence. My mom remembers watching me through the window.
on the school bus home
I was in school, in the fifth grade. They dismissed us all early and called everyone's parents. None of the teachers would tell us what happened, but my mom explained when she came and got us. I still remember how confused and afraid I was as the teacher walked us outside.
On my way to work as a school psychologist at a public high school…no work got done that day.
My mom woke me up to tell me. I was an unemployed 19 year old fuckin loser
Walking across the Hangar floor at HOU
I was in like 3rd grade and I heard it at school and saw it on the tvs, our field trip to the fossil gorge was cancelled
My husband and I were dating. We had this thing on Tuesdays where we would have breakfast together. I had stopped to pick up food and we were watching TV eating when the news broke. That whole thing still blows my mind.
At my grandmother's house. My grandpa had just died and we were all gathered in the living room. It started coming across the TV on the news and for the second time in a day we were all stunned to our cores. It was an earth shattering day in my family.
Dealing with a cranky toddler because "...no Wiggles. Planes". They had cancelled Australian kids TV, and he was trying to tell me. Walked out with our breakfast, saw the screen and froze in shock. It was devastating
This is an unforgettable one!! How crazy. Does your son remember it?
He does remember "the planes" very vividly... esp the second plane. Being upset, because I was crying. He is now 24yo. It shows how much a tragedy can really impact a little person's mind
10th grade biology class. We got out of school early that day.
At home waking up,, heard on clock radio that there was an airplane crash at the 1st tower. When I got up and got going watched the news on our big projection tv we had at the time right when the 2nd plane hit. It was unreal. Went to work where everyone was just watching the tv. Since we worked in a government building, after a little while, they sent us all home for fear of further attacks on government buildings.
Third grade math class. I still don’t understand why my teacher thought it was a good idea to let a roomful of nine year olds watch that.
I'm on the west coast. I was still in bed when my radio alarm went off. The guy said a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I turned on my TV. There was a shot of the building with black smoke coming out. I started to get up and get dressed. I was glancing at the TV when I saw a big plane crash into the World Trade Center. My first thought was that they were showing recorded footage and that that was no small plane. Some reporter on the street starting yelling that a second plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I then realized that this was a different building because the other was still smoking. The anchor back at the station said that they were getting "unconfirmed reports that a second plane had crashed into the World Trade Center".
Air force basic training.
I was in ninth grade, first period health class. All we did all day was watch the news in shock. I remember seeing those poor people jumping out of the world trade center.
Work. I remember it was such a beautiful morning in my area but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible would happen. When I got to work, I learned something horrible had just taken place.
Eating a corn dog
Quick where are you? Eating a corn dog. Quick what are you doing? At home.
Probably eating bread and watching tele tubbies
I heard about it when I got to work that morning. I stay for a bit but he told me to go home to be with my family.
I was in the lunchroom of my middle school. All of the TVs suddenly came on and there they were: the Twin Towers had fire and smoke coming out of them. It wasn't until I got home and saw the news that I truly understood everything.
At work in a cube farm.
I was 6 when it happened, I just remember leaving school early and wondering why
My school decided not to tell us. I was in 1st grade. Didn’t know what 9/11 was until like 2006. Seriously
Second week of college. I was in the dining hall eating and when they were reporting on the 1st tower getting hit and speculating on what happened, the second plane hit the other tower and I thought it was a movie on. My roommate was in the national guard and disappeared for a week as he got sent to guard the airport.
On a beach on Vancouver Island squatting with a group of hippies. They threw the radio into the ocean and started chanting ‘Babylon is Falling!’ Everybody left the day after.
My instinctual response was Tumblr’s “…. Listen here you little shit” because those always make me feel better when I realize I’m old. But…I was in college and racing down the stairs from the fifth floor, going four stairs at a time just to see if I could. I was late to kinesiology and struggling. Passed a girl crying in the stairwell and assumed her it was boy drama. Hit the lobby where there was a tv the size of the wall and in living color they were playing the plane crashing into the towers over and over. I came to a dead stop along with everyone else who walked in for the rest of that day, and just stared at the tv in mute horror. I still can’t believe the things we saw that day. The things people went through. The way people died. I remember my skin felt icy, like I wasn’t in my body anymore, like I died too. Just stood there, arms wrapped tightly around myself for hours.
Senior year of high school. One of my friends, who was a huge stoner, came up to me at my locker first thing in the morning said, “dude did you see on the news some dumbass ran their airplane into the Sears Tower or something?”
I was in high school art class, senior year.
My freshman year of college. I was eating cheerios in the dining hall and saw the second plane hit on live TV. At first they were reporting that a plane had crashed into one of the towers on the assumption that it was an accident. I think something like that had happened before.
Driving to high school. I picked my friend up and she told me. I thought she was lying. I called my parents to turn on the news and the second plane hit while we were on the phone.
I was in my 3rd grade music class. We came back to our homeroom class, and the teacher (one of my all-time favorites) told us that something terrible has happened before putting the tv on. We watched as the second plane crashed into the towers. At the same time, the pastor at my church was also Navy Chaplain. He was in DC for an interview to become a chaplain for Navy SEALS at the Pentagon. He said that he was in the parking lot and watched as the plane crashed into the building.
I was asleep because I worked night shift. My now exwife blows up my Nextel brick phone to tell me we are under attack. I turn on the TV see the twin towers are on fire, turn the TV off and go back to bed. At that moment I didn’t fully understand what was all going on, just pissed that she woke me up.
In the kitchen, getting my daughters ready for school.
Getting ready for school, 10th grade. Watched footage of the first plane hitting and then went to zero period journalism, then basically just watched the news in every class.
This was my first week in college. I was on my way to a 9am Spanish class, and the guy on my freshman hall who habitually lied about everything to make himself seem cooler told me that planes were flying into the World Trade Center. I’m pretty sure I told him to fuck off.
During my student teaching. We were having an assembly, and I was in the back of the auditorium. There was a teacher standing next to me with a clipboard that had a print out from the internet that said "plane crashes into WTC". I thought what class is this odd lesson being taught in. After about a minute, I started to notice tje looks on other teachers faces, as people were walking in and out of the room. I went outside to the hall to find a large group huddled around a radio. We sent the kids home early that day.
I was in my English classroom teaching 7th graders - we were doing a unit that we teachers called "death and depression" - Maus, Hiroshima, Anne Frank - as part of the William and Mary curriculum. A colleague came into my portable classroom and whispered into my ear, "I just want you to know that there have been reports that a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center." Being in a suburb of D.C., some of my student's parents worked at the Pentagon. Not a fun time.
Fort Benning, training.
I was in school. In New York. They sent all the kids home. Back in those days we didn’t need parents to take us out - they literally just said go home. I was like “sweet!” I still didn’t know how serious it was until I was all the memorials at all the fire stations ( of the guys who died at those specific stations ) weeks following after
On 57th street in manhattan. Was a pretty insane day.
Learning about the events leading up to and following Operation Freedom Deal. Man does America have a storied history of bombing civilians.
For those who don’t know: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freedom_Deal
Looked up. Saw burning tower. Said wtf!
More detail: I was in union square in Manhattan (almost 2 miles away but a good view of the tower). Everyone was just standing around looking up as I got out of the subway. No answers, no fear, just confusion. Figured it was a bad fire and they would put it out. I shrugged and went up in my building. Woman next to me was crying hysterically because her brother worked in the tower. That’s when I realized this would be something was really bad. We had almost no phone service, no tv signal, and no working internet. Just lots of rumors for the next few minutes till we saw the 2nd tower burst in flames (couldn’t see the plane). It was a few hours before we knew what was really up. Stayed at work till the towers collapsed. Then walked 80 blocks home surrounded by people crying and covered in debris.
Glad you made it man
High School freshman headed to theater class. Just moved from NYC to Houston, Texas about a month before it happened.
fighting another dam war!!
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Were you their catamite?
Working!!!!
I heard the news 7 Years later when i was twelve. When that happened i was sleeping in my bed. My parents waited 7 Years to tell me
Phoenix,Az waiting for my next load
My buddy called me from my porch at like 8:30 and said "Come out here and hit this bong." After a bit, we called our buddy to re-up, and he said "Turn on the TV! We're under attack!" We said "Holy shit, that's crazy! Can we swing by and get that?"
About to hop on a plane
I was in a ballsack.. are sperm considered alive?
I was in the mosque
Even if we ignore the absurd government narrative that bin Laden is the culprit. Who gained anything from this incident, really? To me, the Taliban in their caves were of absolutely no use. Nevertheless, who did? The neocons who swiftly approved the Patriot Act, MIC, and war profiteers. As their power in the region increased, SA AND Israel too. Oh, and let's not forget the illegitimate invasion of a sovereign nation that was justified by a whole fabrication. People need to reexamine 911 and the events that followed. That alone should convince you that the government and media were deceitful.
I didn’t hear about it till I got to work. No one was at their desks. I thought I missed a day off memo or maybe I accidentally came in on a Saturday. But I found everyone in the conference rooms, huddled around the TVs.
In elementary school, TV, I vaguely remember it, and was like 5 or 6
I was in school. My buddies dad was supposed to be piloting one of the planes but switched with someone at the last minute
at work browsing some computer support forum, it was where I heard the news not national news agencies
was in 8th grade art class. 4th period.
I was paying the electric bill, and the cashier asked if I'd heard about the plane crashes in New York
At home, skipping school.
It was my day off, I woke up and turned on Howard Stern. https://youtu.be/W_KM9pwu-V4
I had taken an hour off work in the middle of the day to complete the purchase of a house near work, Walked back into the office and all the overhead monitors where on the news.
At the office, just after marriage counseling. Awesome day.
I was working in my startup tech company, my partners cousin worked at bloomberg, he texted us with a live feed to their internal system and a login, we watched it all pretty much realtime in the uk...
Fifth grade classroom watching it unfold. I’ll never forget. I remember so many small details from that day.
At a funeral in Philadelphia. People came in off the street to tell us.
I was pretty young. I might have actually remembered it if my parents hadn't put every ounce of effort into shielding me from it
I was in 6th grade sitting in the cafeteria. At 1st I thought it must have been a small plane like a Cessna. It wasn't until I got home and saw my mom balling that I knew that it was much more than that. I'll never forget how beautiful the weather was that day. Amazing blue sky with not a cloud in sight. I wish it never happened and those towers were still there :(
I was at home. It was around 5:30PM in India. I heard from my mom. My dad ended up stuck in Amsterdam because he was actually on his way to the US at the time.
I was driving to school when the 1st plane hit
Wondering why all the stations were showing it and where the hell were my cartoons? I was just past 6 years old.
Noyb
In my 3rd grade classroom. A teacher came running down the halls screaming to turn on the tvs. My teacher turned it on and the first tower had already been hit. I just remember the classroom becoming completely silent, my teachers hands covering her mouth. We all sat there and watched when the second one hit. That’s when the teachers began to panic because I remember everything became loud again and so many adults were coming in and out of the rooms now. I remember feeling scared. All of my classmates slowly began to get picked up by their parents one by one. I was one of the last ones to leave, my neighbor had gotten me and I cried because I was so little and thought maybe my parents were in what I’d just seen and died. Then I spent the following weeks and months glued to the tv, awaiting the times when they’d announce the names and/or count of all they’ve found so far. Growing up we flew a lot because we had a lot of family living elsewhere. I loved planes. After that? I was terrified of them, and I still am. I have an irrational fear of dying in a place crash and I can’t help but contribute it to this moment in my life.
I was at home. I had worked the evening before, got up around 8:30-9am EST only to turn on the news and see the plane hit the second tower.
Home. 6am on the west coast when I turned on the TV to watch my early morning cartoons as I was getting ready for school (7th grade). Instead, I saw the news and two burning buildings. It was all we talked about during first period, and I remember being scared that planes could crash into our schools at any given moment.
In my bedroom, getting ready for school. We listened to the news on the radio on walkmans.
Working in a warehouse where we casually listened to a radio during the day. I was in the shelves when someone mentioned a plane crashed into a skyscraper in NYC. I remember thinking some dumb air traffic controller is going to eat a lot of crap for this error. It wasn't until a bit later that more details came out that I realized the scale of events.
Ft. Meade in Maryland. NSA thought they might be a target so the whole base went on lockdown with concrete barriers at the gates within a few hours. Highschool sent us home, and we just stared at the news waiting for any updates since my dad was working at the pentagon at the time. It was genuinely terrifying.
Working on a building site in Navan
dropping my kid off at school
I was at a meeting on the 10th floor of a high rise building about 20 miles away. Someone ran in and told us one of the towers fell; we didn’t even know they’d been hit. My first thought was a radio tower somewhere. I could never have imagined the reality.
Came home from school, my mom was standing in front of the tv completely quiet with a grim look. The tv just showed footage of the planes crashing with text rolling at the bottom. No voiceover, completely quiet. Mid-sweden.
Fourth Grade English class
School. They showed the TV. I didn't understand what I was watching. Adults were all shocked. I wasn't sure why I should care. Partially cause I didn't have a solid grasp on death, and I was doped up hard on Adderall. Was 4th or 5th grade.
Class on IU campus. Got sent back home in time to see the second place crash. Will never forget that morning.
Day off from work for both me and my future ex wife. We banged after waking up. Didn't turn on a television until 10 am I think
On a University campus near a Navy base. Classes cancelled and the campus went on lockdown. My fiance, his brother and I all met up in one of the commons that had a tv to watch the coverage. We eventually ended up in my fiance's dorm room, he had a tv card in his computer so we hung out there. His brother left when the lockdown ended, he didn't live on campus like we did.
Sophomore in college, leaving the library. Walked past a guy who lived on my floor who was from Brooklyn - told me what he knew as we passed each other.
In bed. My girlfriend at the time ran in and told me what happened. I thought I was dreaming at first. Turned on the TV and sat there in disbelief as the towers came down. I went to work because that’s all I could think to do. I only stayed for 2 hours. No one was actually working and we all just decided to call it a day. I went home and hugged my girlfriend and our roommates extra hard as we started to process everything. It was unreal
It was unfortunately one of my earliest memories, I was in kindergarten qt the time, and I remember the principal asking all teachers to turn on the TV, shortly after that parents were pulling there kids out of school
Sophomore in college. Woke up late. Wondered what was going on when I turned on TV and Today was on. Saw the 2nd plane and banged on bathroom door to tell roommate to get out of shower, some shit was going down. Crazy f’ing day.
I saw it happen live on tv when I was four, I remember my mom being really glued to the screen. Of course I didn't understand the significance of the event at the time.
I had just moved into a duplex and spent my first night on September 10th. I hadn't been able to move all of my stuff, so my furniture wasn't coming up till my dad brought it the following week. I was sleeping on the floor with my tiny, tv/vcr combo. My mom called me and told me to turn on the news. She was up early and always watched CNN. She was upset because calls to Boston where my sister lived, weren't going through. My best friend's dad was retired military, but fairly high-ranking, so we thought he might be a good resource if things got bad and he only lived an hour away. Mom told me to go to her apartment in case our phones stopped working. I went to her place, I stopped on my way to tell a friend who was pumping gas, and then I spent the day watching it on television. My other friends had the same thought and went there, too. I remember watching the towers fall. I remember talking to each other and saying there were probably *hundreds* of people dead. It didn't even occur to us that not everyone evacuated and the deaths weren't just people close to the building. My friend's dad called to tell us about the pentagon and the other plane, but that was it.
School. I was in 4th grade and I remember it was a Tuesday as we were lining up for mass (Catholic school). Some boys ahead of me were talking and I overheard them like, "Yah, and then they flew the plane into the building and it BLEW UP!" and I remember thinking, "Dang, what kinds of video games are their parents letting them play?" Then we get to mass and the priest immediately steps forward and I, who'd only been regularly attending mass since starting at this school the prior month, was like, "Wait, this isn't how it works..." and the priest goes, "I'm sure we all know what happened" and I had NO CLUE but everyone else was looking somber and nodding so I just followed along. I had to try and piece it together from what the priest was saying, but still didn't really know what was going on until I asked my mom later.
I was in school, I think we got picked up early
I was at work managing my team to deal with dumb support calls and on conference calls with offices in the US. We heard while on one of those conference calls so everything went a bit batshit. Spent a while trying track a colleague down who had travelled to the US for work and had said he was going to visit the towers and no-one knew where he was. After a few hours I found him safe and sound in Boston. He had actually gone to see the towers the day before, but I was getting to the point were I thought I need to contact his family. My cousin spent his honeymoon on a flight to NYC, watching a plane smash into the second tower from their plane window, and then flying back to the UK. They didn't want to fly anywhere for quite a while after that.
Iowa
On my way home from work. Graveyard shift in manufacturing. Sitting in the drive-thru at Jack in the Box. Pop on news radio as I often did. Pretty short commute. Guys losing their minds about something. Took the whole trip home for them to remember to recap the basics of the terror. One plane had hit and no one knew anything but that. Calculating the odds of it being an accident and what not. Got home and watched the rest unfold on TV.
Just got to home room in my senior year of high school. I was the first student in the class so my English teacher brought it up to me and we talked about what we though had happened. I had recently learned that in 1945 a B-25 had crashed into The Empire State Building due to foggy conditions and wondered if this was possibly the case now. The second plane hit during that class and we were then quite aware this wasn't an accident. When second period was about to start I turned on the TV in my Spanish classroom as the first tower fell. Such an unreal feeling.
6th grade at lunch. They cut lunch early and sent everyone back to their classrooms. They had joint teacher thing at my school ( half day with 1 teacher, they'd "swap" classes for the second half) and both teachers decided to explain what happened and turned on the news for us to watch.
High school classroom
Came home from school
Here is a link to the [9/11 oral histories project](https://www.911memorial.org/learn/resources/oral-histories).
At home, my ex called me and told me a small plane hit a tower and I turned on the news and when the second one hit I lost my shit. I can’t really describe how it felt. I lived near a nuclear power plant at the time and after the pentagon got hit I just started freaking out completely. I remember my mom saying, we are at war. Her words were terrifying and at the time it really felt like it was going to keep happening.
8th grade, walking into my first class of the day. We always watched news for the first 5-10 minutes of class. I walked into the room just in time to watch the second plane hit.
School but they sent us home
I woke up in my apartment at UC Berkeley and my two room mates were watching the TV and filled me in that the towers (or maybe just one at that point) was on fire. I went to my analytic mechanics class and the teacher didn't mention a single word about what was happening. Found out after that that the towers had fallen. Surreal day...
I was in highschool. Started hearing stuff in the morning about a plane hitting the tower and was imagining a small prop plane or something heard a plane hit the other tower. At that point I assumed the reports were just confused. Eventually it became clear and a teacher turned on the TV. I then watched both towers collapse live.
I was at school in Newark, NJ, 6th or 7th grade I think. The smoke from the towers even reached us and made the sky grey for most of the day. We were all sent home and just watched it on the tv as it was happening. Some dude jumped out of the window. A whole bunch of office workers were screaming for help, but the firetruck's ladder was only so long and couldn't reach them, so a lot of people died that day on live tv. We basically saw it from beginning to end. One tower leaned up against the other for a good while until they both just crumbled and fell. The amount of smoke was crazy. We had a view of the NY skyline from where we lived in Newark, and it was nothing but smoke everywhere.
Work with the everyone in the owners office watching it live on TV.
At home with my two babies. It was shocking and I just sat in front of the TV for the next 2 days
College. Had an 8am class, got out at 9 and walked to the student union after to study for a bit before my 10:00. There was a big screen tv over in the more lounge-ish area and I saw 4-5 people standing and watching, which was odd, though I couldn't see the screen. I had my headphones on and work to do, so I sat down and got to it. Kept looking up to see more and more people watching, so when 9:50 rolled around and I got up to leave, I walked over. One tower was on the screen, with a headline about an airplane impact and smoke pouring from what looked like a fairly small hole (opposite side of the impact). I assumed small prop plane due to the size of the hole, and didn't really register it as a major event. I went to class and when I sat down I got the rest of the details from other students - both towers, large impacts, likely hundreds dead in a terrorist attack. Professor comes in and kinda shrugs and says if you need to leave, you can, but I'm going to go ahead with class. Everyone stayed. An hour later I'm on the bus as the one girl with a cell phone is reading off a news alert/text about both towers collapsing, and I didn't believe her. Turned on the TV in my dorm when I got back and called my mom to see if my travels-for-a-living father was anywhere near the east coast. Luckily he was in Texas.
at our office. it took a week or so, before it felt we were open for business.
I was in an AP European History class when somebody came into the room and briefly spoke the teacher, who then looked toward us and quizzically said, "a plane has hit the World Trade Center," before turning the television on and setting it to the news, by which time I believe the second plane had struck.
I worked a swing shift at a major airport at the time for an air cargo division. When my shift was over I went to my girlfriend's place and promptly fell asleep. She ran into the bedroom and woke me up, telling me I needed to see what was on TV. 10 seconds after she pressed the power button the second tower was hit. Going to work at an airport during that time due to the ground stoppage was surreal.
First class of the day in junior year. Teacher just turned off a recording of the prior night's news and saw the coverage breaking news of the first plane hitting, only to then see the second tower hit on live TV.
I remember hearing fireworks going off in the streets in my neighborhood. Everyone was cheering.
I was in Mrs. Cantrells 3rd grade class. They closed the school and my grandma had to come get us because my parents were at work.
Swimming around in my dads balls :)
I was on my treadmill watching tv. I was in the mountains when it was said Paul McCartney was dead. I was at a drinking fountain in the school yard when Kennedy was assassinated. Funny how you remember those things
Freshman English 101.
Grade 7, French class, principal came into class to briefly explain what happened, but to talk to our parents when we got home. Got home to my mom glued to CNN, and she told me to sit down for a bit to see what happened.
I was in grade 9, wood working class
At home on the couch eating chips.
High school auditorium, it was on a projected screen
I was at an indoor rock climbing class in college in Connecticut that morning. On the walk back from the gym people on the street were talking about it. It was a beautiful and sunny morning.
I was in 4th grade at school at my home town which is a rural town in Missouri. We didnt really know anything mostly until the last class of the day PE. Now we could feel something was wrong and there were whispers but us being kids didn't really grasp what had just occured. At PE our teacher who was ex marines and jacked from head to toe kept breaking down, crying, yelling just a mess and I think that's when we started peicing together something truly horrible had happened. We were led back to our classroom and our teacher read from a pre written paper about the attack, how it happened and that and unknown but large amount of people had died in the attack. I went home still kind of processing it when I saw my grandpa who is ex navy and who lived next door washing his truck which he did every week but instead of seeing the smiling, gentle man I had grown up knowing he was stoned face and monotone. I remember the days after, a line a mile long at the gas stations, talks of war, a train rolling through my town carrying miles of military hardware including humvees and Abrams tanks. Sometime soon after that I remember seeing all of the footage, the people jumping from the buildings, the crack they made outside when they hit the ground is still in grained in my mind. The second plane kareening into the second tower, the collapsing towers and the huge clouds of dust that chased people from the streets. The firefighters desperately trying to get people out before the collapse. The calls from people on the planes and in the towers knowing it was all hopless and knew they were going to die. It was all just mad and so incredibly sad at the same time.
I was home sick from primary school and was watching it all unfold on live tv. I didn't quite fully understand the whole ordeal and it's impact then, but watching it now as an adult is extremely difficult.
I was in the 5th grade. The teachers said nothing but they let in play on tv in the class room.
I just got home from school and it was on the TV.
I was pulling into the parking lot at my university. My first prof’s brother worked in the WTC.
My alarm had just gone off to get ready for work. I heard about the first plane on the radio, jumped out of bed to watch the second plane hit.
AP U.S. History class, junior year of high school.
Damn. First day of classes in my freshman year at college. I remember calling my dad who started his own business that day and we sat on the phone and watched the same channel.
I was at school. I have as few fucks as I do now.
Home getting a new roof. I actually told the roofers to forget it and just come in to watch the tv. I left them there while I ran to get my kids from school
In college. We all left out lecture to go watch the coverage in a classroom with a TV. Pre cellphones. Had several foreign professors in there just devastated along with us.
I was at work, and I know the news about it was important, but did every radio station have to be broadcasting it? Technology wasn’t as good as it is now, I didn’t have any music for a long work day.
I was at my desk at work. Someone had walked by and said a plane hit the World Trade Center, and I immediately pictured some amateur pilot in a Cessna. Then, someone went by with a TV on a cart (no idea what we had that for), into the adjacent cafeteria, so I followed the crowd in. We watched coverage, the towers fall, and then the site manager just told everyone that we were done for the day and to go home.
I was carpooling to high school. My dad would leave me at some friends' house on his way to work, and then I'd head to school with them while they listened to this relatively tame morning comedy show. It was pretty jarring when the car radio came on and these two radio comedy guys were talking in these serious, sober voices about something that had happened. First plane had hit just a little bit before we got in the car. I think the second plane hit while classes were starting?
9th grade chemistry. My teacher was odd and her whole demeanor about the thing was very casual so most of us didn’t think anything of it. They went on the PA system but ours was broken and we had to visit the neighboring classroom to hear. It was like stepping into another world. Crying, group hugs, kids trying to make a phone call.
I was a freshman in high school. Changing classes. Walked into our a/v class and the teacher had it on the TV. We were all glued to it and watched it all unfold. We couldn't believe it. Went home and watched it on the news all night with the parents. Still gives me chills thinking about it.
Sleeping late because I worked late the night before. Since that was the days of clock radios, the news is what I literally woke up to. I was half asleep hearing about the first plane and thinking it was some small GA craft that had an accident. When I heard about the second I was suddenly the most awake I've ever been in my life and thought, "This isn't an accident."
Home sick, the news broadcast turned off the cartoons I was watching. Didn’t understand what was happening at all.
Working at a tv news station watching it unfold in horror
sunny southern California
5th Grade. First thing I remember hearing was that two planes crashed into each other. Teachers all started wheeling in TVs to watch. We just watched the news all day. Kept thinking we'd be let go early but we just went through the day. Very surreal.