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Original poster

Where were you for 9/11

359 replies

Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 09:33

I was in France, i hadn't a clue what was happening. Didn't fully have the language, it was like a film. Watching a doc now, bringing it all back.

OP posts:
Daisy523 · 12/08/2023 16:44

Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 16:23

It's kind of mad to read your perspective tbh. You were essentially a baby when it happened. You're a post 9/11 person. My daughter is young, she sees it very much as history, same as looking at WW2 or something. Whereas for me, it's contemporary.

Show quote history

Yeah, it’s a weird one. I have very vague memories of beforehand, but they’re odd little memories like how the 2001 Spider-Man movie originally had the Twin Towers on the poster, and how it was taken down after it all happened. Very inconsequential things like that.

But essentially, I never really knew a world where the World Trade Center was anything but ground zero. I watch documentaries on it, and see how utterly shocked the people who witnessed it were. It’s like they never considered such a thing could possibly happen, but the younger generation grew up with near constant terrorist attacks that it’s not so surprising that that type of evil exists. Still horrifying, but not surprising. Everyone seemed to innocent before it.

crew2022 · 12/08/2023 16:45

In the school playground picking up my dc. One of the mums had a tv in her car and told us a plane had crashed and we crowded round as the second one went in. We were all silent as it dawned on us this was no accident.
I took the dc home and they played with our new kitten while I watched the tv footage without making a big deal of it although I felt shocked to the core.

Jamtartforme · 12/08/2023 16:49

Yes it’s odd my children will see it as distant history. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m trying to personalise a tragedy that is unrelated to me but it’s very stark that 23 years have passed as it’s a hallmark of our own lives ticking on, if that makes sense. That those days were such a long time ago and we’ve all aged. But of course that is very secondary to the fact those who died never got to live those years.

Original poster
Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 16:52

Daisy523 · 12/08/2023 16:44

Yeah, it’s a weird one. I have very vague memories of beforehand, but they’re odd little memories like how the 2001 Spider-Man movie originally had the Twin Towers on the poster, and how it was taken down after it all happened. Very inconsequential things like that.

But essentially, I never really knew a world where the World Trade Center was anything but ground zero. I watch documentaries on it, and see how utterly shocked the people who witnessed it were. It’s like they never considered such a thing could possibly happen, but the younger generation grew up with near constant terrorist attacks that it’s not so surprising that that type of evil exists. Still horrifying, but not surprising. Everyone seemed to innocent before it.

Show quote history

I wasn't really aware of the twin towers beforehand, had never been to the states etc. But i knew when it happened that it was massive, you felt the world changing at that moment. It was a bit like an assassination that way.

OP posts:
Original poster
Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 16:55

Jamtartforme · 12/08/2023 16:49

Yes it’s odd my children will see it as distant history. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m trying to personalise a tragedy that is unrelated to me but it’s very stark that 23 years have passed as it’s a hallmark of our own lives ticking on, if that makes sense. That those days were such a long time ago and we’ve all aged. But of course that is very secondary to the fact those who died never got to live those years.

That's exactly it tho isn't it. We aged, and all those people didn't get the chance to. It's awful.

OP posts:
crackfoxy · 12/08/2023 17:02

We'd just arrived home after landing at Heathrow. Put TV on whilst unpacking and couldn't believe it. Sat glued to the TV for hours.

stargirl1701 · 12/08/2023 17:05

At work. I just taken my class to the door at home time. I passed the janitor's office on the way back to my class and the TV was on. I wondered what on Earth he was watching at that time...

elp30 · 12/08/2023 17:09

I am American and was living in Greater Manchester then. I was at home and had just put my eight-month-old baby for a nap and I went into the kitchen to make a tea. When I came back to the room I was watching the tv change to the news with the feed from NY. I just gasped. My aunt worked at the WTC.

I immediately picked up the phone to call my family in the US but I couldn't get through. Then I saw the second plane and I went into a complete panic. The whole afternoon was horrific.

At one point, I had to leave the house to collect my older two children from school and it was surreal. My world was falling apart and it was so calm and quiet outside of my house because I was safe in England.

I honestly cannot remember how I got to the school or how we got back. However, my oldest, who was nine-years-old, told me that when the first tower fell, I fell to the floor sobbing. Then the second fell and I was still trying my family on the phone and it just dropped out of my hands. I was just numb.

I wasn't able to connect with my family for two days. My aunt managed to get out. My aunt couldn't speak about her experience or go back to lower Manhattan for 15 years. I met with her a few years ago and she told me what happened. I can 100% understand why she didn't speak about it for so long.

Original poster
Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 17:11

elp30 · 12/08/2023 17:09

I am American and was living in Greater Manchester then. I was at home and had just put my eight-month-old baby for a nap and I went into the kitchen to make a tea. When I came back to the room I was watching the tv change to the news with the feed from NY. I just gasped. My aunt worked at the WTC.

I immediately picked up the phone to call my family in the US but I couldn't get through. Then I saw the second plane and I went into a complete panic. The whole afternoon was horrific.

At one point, I had to leave the house to collect my older two children from school and it was surreal. My world was falling apart and it was so calm and quiet outside of my house because I was safe in England.

I honestly cannot remember how I got to the school or how we got back. However, my oldest, who was nine-years-old, told me that when the first tower fell, I fell to the floor sobbing. Then the second fell and I was still trying my family on the phone and it just dropped out of my hands. I was just numb.

I wasn't able to connect with my family for two days. My aunt managed to get out. My aunt couldn't speak about her experience or go back to lower Manhattan for 15 years. I met with her a few years ago and she told me what happened. I can 100% understand why she didn't speak about it for so long.

Jesus christ. That is beyond awful. I'm so sorry.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 12/08/2023 17:19

I was at home in the suburbs of Chicago with a newborn and 3 yo and my mum. I had gone back to bed after getting the older DCs off to school at 8, and my mum came into the bedroom to tell me something had happened in NYC and the children's programming she had been watching with 3 yo DC had been interrupted. So I got up and there it was, all unfolding on the TV. I saw the second plane hit the tower.

The school phone tree sprang into action to request all children be picked up by 11:30. My mum walked to get them. The city emptied - jam packed trains and buses headed outbound and empty ones returned. There was no city-bound traffic on the highway. The usual faint hum of planes overhead stopped completely and was replaced by the far off sound of USAF jets, with con trails all over the light blue September sky.

We were very concerned for a relative who was living in NYC and tried phoning but couldn't reach them. Phone service in Manhattan had stopped. Luckily, they were out of town.

MuskyCarbolicSmokeBallCo · 12/08/2023 17:21

notimagain · 12/08/2023 15:44

@MuskyCarbolicSmokeBallCo

, I actually lived very close to an RAF base at the time.
I can't remember the planes being scrambled but I suppose they must have been

No reason to suppose they did, it might have made sense to scramble the very small number of air defence aircraft kept on stand-by at a couple of RAF bases across the UK but I'm not sure even that was done.

It was one of the main ones in the UK. The one that always got scrambled for Russian jets. That's why I suppose they would have been.

Can see if I any of my RAF brat friends remember.

Yetanothernewname101 · 12/08/2023 17:23

@Chickenkeev I had nursery children who thankfully were playing at the other end of the room. We had a special assembly the following day but that was it from what I can remember.

MiniStormInATeacup · 12/08/2023 17:24

I worked for BT in Operator 100, Emergency services connections and as an International Operator.

Phone lines went crazy with me people screaming and crying to get connected via the international Operator. At first we had no idea why until the floor manager came round and told us.

Incredibly shocking and almost unbelievable. I remember a caller telling me a plane was flying into buildings just before I was told by the manager and just thought I had a crazy on the phone (it happened a lot - the crazys not planes flying into buildings) .

Annaishere · 12/08/2023 17:24

I was walking home from school then came in to see the news just as the second plane hit

Original poster
Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 17:32

Yetanothernewname101 · 12/08/2023 17:23

@Chickenkeev I had nursery children who thankfully were playing at the other end of the room. We had a special assembly the following day but that was it from what I can remember.

Isn't that the best thing about little kids, they just don't know. They give you a break from real life that way.

OP posts:
notimagain · 12/08/2023 17:32

MuskyCarbolicSmokeBallCo · 12/08/2023 17:21

It was one of the main ones in the UK. The one that always got scrambled for Russian jets. That's why I suppose they would have been.

Can see if I any of my RAF brat friends remember.

Show quote history

Well in those days that almost certainly narrows it down to one of three airfields I remember well....😉

Without going too far off thread remember all this happened in deepest peace time with zero build up and there would have been no way of scrambling a whole station, Battle of Britain style, within minutes or even hours of this starting..for the UK if anything it would have just the very limited number QRA aircraft in the first instance.

If you read the American reports on 9/11 the USAF had much the same problem, very few assets that could be deployed quickly (and some of them, already airborne, were unarmed and would have had to ram their targets) ...it took a long time to get armed aircraft airborne in dribs and drabs.

AlfietheSchnauzer · 12/08/2023 17:39

I was 17 and living a homeless hostel on my own. In the tiniest room you've ever seen. Whilst my parents were on holiday in Canada

AlfietheSchnauzer · 12/08/2023 17:41

CandyflossKid · 12/08/2023 09:46

Registering my premature twins birth. First time I'd left the hospital since they were born.
The nurse looking after them on NICU was American and she left work early to try and get in touch with her mum and sisters who all lived in New York.

Do you remember if you found out if her relatives were ok?

MuskyCarbolicSmokeBallCo · 12/08/2023 17:49

@notimagain it's not outing to say as I don't live there anymore. Was Leuchars.

Original poster
Chickenkeev · 12/08/2023 17:51

AlfietheSchnauzer · 12/08/2023 17:39

I was 17 and living a homeless hostel on my own. In the tiniest room you've ever seen. Whilst my parents were on holiday in Canada

😔

OP posts:
Chanhedforthis · 12/08/2023 17:53

First day at secondary school.

I didn't really understand but knew it was serious as some teachers were crying.

Starseeking · 12/08/2023 17:57

I was working in the Harrods Beauty hall as a makeup girl during school holidays.

The TV's on the 5th floor had to be switched off as there were so many people up there crowding around them.

All the glamorous ladies from the Middle East with head to toe clothing covering themselves quickly left the shop. It was just getting to the end of holiday season for countries that are extremely hot that time of year, so the mass exodus was very noticeable.

icanflytoday · 12/08/2023 18:02

In Florida out for the night with my friend who I really regret losing contact with.

We got in a minibus to be taken back to our hotel at around midnight and saw the news on big screens. We were 20. We went back to our hotel and sat in bed watching the US news channels.

rugbychick1 · 12/08/2023 19:23

I was living in Sydney, and due to the time difference, I saw it on breakfast television the morning of 12th September. Seemed very unreal. Oddly, the first time I did the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb on 9/11. But the wrong day in NYC.

pavillion1 · 12/08/2023 19:27

i was a working in a shoe shop and we always had radio 1 on in the stock room . I remember thinking why is Chris Moyles still on and why their is no laughs or jokes , id never heard him be serious before . After a while we knew the was a terrorist attack but nothing could prepare me for what i saw on the tv when i got home .. I just hope that, that is the biggest thing i will ever see in my lifetime. So awful and the repercussions are still going on today.