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Original poster

Do you remember where you were that day

653 replies

Lovingthesunshine88 · 11/09/2019 15:41

Do you remember where you were that day 18 years ago? 9/11

I was 13 and had just started high school i was doing swimming when PE teacher got called out, when she came back in she told us to get changed and make our way home if possible and said the world was under attack by terrorists.

Obviously this was scary to hear at 13 i hadn't heard of terrorism. I remember getting home and my mum watching it on TV in utter shock. I was such a sad day and still makes me feel sad 18 years on thinking of all those innocent people losing their lives

OP posts:
WindsorDuchess · 11/09/2019 15:52

First week at secondary school, came home to see my mum watching it on TV. We had crisp sandwiches for dinner that night because she was too upset to cook.

dudsville · 11/09/2019 15:52

I was listening to cds and redecorating.
My mum rang me and told me. I was in London at the time and she was worried about whether there would be attacks there. (OP I think your teacher did overreact but it was a very frightening thing at the time and lots off people had immense fears about further attacks). Thankfully I didn't have a TV at the time. I didn't venture out, listened to the news on the radio. I can still hear one woman describing what she saw as people jumped. Saw the pics in commuter's newspapers the next day.

Stickybeaksid · 11/09/2019 15:52

In New York. It was the last week of my J1 visa. One of the guys who lived with us shouted at us all to come down and watch what was happening on tv. It was awful. Phone lines were all down so we couldn’t get word home to our parents. I just remember the dust afterwards and all the photos of the missing people. It’s in my memory forever. I will never forget that day and the week after as long as I live

magicstar1 · 11/09/2019 15:52

I was on holiday in America with my ex...my mother phoned to tell me what was happening as we were a couple of hours behind. We had to change our plans as we were due to visit NY the following week, and had to rearrange flights etc.

mbosnz · 11/09/2019 15:53

I was working at an office in the square mile in London. We were a fortune 500 American origin business, with offices in the towers. My bosses wife rang and told me to turn on the TV, a plane had just flown into the towers. I thought she meant a cessna, and it was a terrible accident. I turned on the TV in time to see the second one hit the tower. I watched all the footage live. I will never unsee that.

The Americans I worked with were chanting at the TV, 'kill them. kill them. Kill them all.' It was horrible. (Sorry to any Americans that offends, this, I swear, is the unvarnished truth. I can understand the primal, visceral anger, but it was horrific to watch).

I spent the day on the phone trying to get through to colleagues in New York.

Then we were sent home due to fears that London could be next. The tubes were down, due to fears of terrorist attack. I'd never got home overground before. The buses were heaving. People thronged the streets. We got to talking, and I got passed from person to person, everyone putting me on the next bus going the right way, until it felt like the whole of London had worked together to get this little Kiwi home. That was a wonderful experience to be borne out of such horror. It was the true British Blitz spirit.

I got home to DH and cried, and cried, and cried.

easyandy101 · 11/09/2019 15:53

I was at work, in an office next to Victoria station

We sat and watched it happen on the news, very sullen. Then our boss told everyone to go home.

Walked round to the station and it seems like every other office had tipped out as well, the place was busy like rush hour

Went to my mum's house and we sat and watched the news for hours

milliefiori · 11/09/2019 15:53

I remember. I'd just started a new round of IVF. Our final one ever. I'd come home from the hospital and snuggled up with a cup of tea to have a quiet day, as prescribed by the doctors. Turned on the TV...

But that, out of five rounds of IVF, was the one that was finally successful. So I have very odd feelings about that day. I remember it vividly because of 9/11 but with the happy outcome we got in mind too.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 11/09/2019 15:53

Yes at home with DS who was poorly. Watched it on TV as it was happening. Also awake in the middle of the night with DS (ill again) a few years later when the SE Asian tsunami happened, so watched that live too Sad.

dustarr73 · 11/09/2019 15:54

Watching the news just before i collected ds1 and 2 from school. I was rooted to the spot watching the news.Everyone was late up that day to the school.Such a weird day.

joystir59 · 11/09/2019 15:55

I meant to type 13 of my American colleagues died in the WTC, but no-one I knew personally.

ShirleyPhallus · 11/09/2019 15:56

I too was sent home from school. The city I grew up in had a big event on with lots of influencial people and there were fears there would be other attacks.

I can’t believe it’s been 18 years. Still feels like it happened so recently.

Flowers to anyone who lost a friend or family member

Jenniferturkington · 11/09/2019 15:56

I was in my house at uni (in uk) talking to my new boyfriend who was at uni in NY. A friend came and told me so I told boyfriend who looked out of his window and could see the smoke (he was actually across the river in New Jersey). We stayed on the phone until the second plane hit, then he went to start checking on friends. I couldn’t then get through on the phone until the next day so I was lucky I knew he was ok.
We had only been together a few months and I hadn’t yet met his parents. Apparently they didn’t know if he was ok and couldn’t get through to him all day.
I flew out to NY on the 14th September and will always remember flying in over Ground Zero and the atmosphere in the city that week.

Drogosnextwife · 11/09/2019 15:56

We weren't sent home early. I went to my best friends house with her straight after school and her mum told us. I would have been 11/12.

stopgap · 11/09/2019 15:56

I was in London. I’d gone home from work sick. After a nap, I saw an email from my (American) husband about a bomb at the WTC and turned on the TV.

My brother-in-law at the time worked in the towers, but didn’t actually leave for work that day because his nanny was running late.

Bluebellbike · 11/09/2019 15:56

I was t a friends house after taking my son to school. We sat drinking coffee looking at the TV screen in disbelief. It took few minutes to sink in tht it ws happening right then and there, it ws not just a movie.

AudacityOfHope · 11/09/2019 15:57

I was ill and had taken a sleeping tablet. When my boyfriend woke me up to tell me I couldn't really get it together, and thought I was dreaming it for quite a while.

Drogosnextwife · 11/09/2019 15:57

I had never heard of the world trade center until that day.

ShirleyPhallus · 11/09/2019 15:57

@mbosnz I know it’s such sad subject matter but you really do write beautifully. Your story had me gripped and nearly made me cry!

SquintEastwood · 11/09/2019 15:58

Yes. I was 15 and at home recovering from an operation, I was woken by my Dad shouting "What the fuck has just happened?!" when he saw it on Sky news then we watched silently as the second plane hit and realised it wasn't an accident.

I think it's one of those defining moments in history that everyone remembers.

JingsMahBucket · 11/09/2019 15:58

I watched the second plane fly into the second tower because I was in a very tall building that was south facing with big windows. I have lots of memories of that day and the next 36 hours but I don’t talk about it too much. I have several friends whose parents were lucky and missed meetings that day and their lives were saved.

I didn’t realize I had PTSD until a few years ago when the terrorist attacks in Brussels happened. I missed being on the bombed subway because I delayed leaving by a few more minutes than usual.

Leaannb · 11/09/2019 15:59

As an American my family was at JFK (airport in NY) waiting for our flight to Heathrow. We were moving to Lakenheath

JumpingFrogs · 11/09/2019 15:59

I was on holiday in Spain with dh and two toddlers. We literally didn't find out about it till a couple of days later when dh passed a newspaper stand and saw the headlines in the English speaking papers. Unless you were in an incredibly remote area I just don't think you could find out that late these days with mobile phones and social media. But it was September and all the British tourists had gone, so we just hadn't spoken to anyone who could tell us about it!

Mrsemcgregor · 11/09/2019 15:59

I was 20 and had been watching Neighbours on BBC1 with my then boyfriend. It went straight to news before the credits as the first tower had been hit. We thought it was an awful accident. Then the second plane hit as we were watching and my BF said it was a terror attack, I still thought something awful was happening with air traffic control or something (I know, naive). Until the Pentagon was hit.

People always seem to forget about the Pentagon and United 93. I always make sure I include them in my thoughts.

cheesenpickles · 11/09/2019 15:59

I had just started college and remember being in the library getting my NUS card done. The staff were saying the internet was down and that planes had flown into the Statue of Liberty, empire stare building etc. Ended up heading to McDonald's which had a tv and seeing the pictures.

Rushed home as my dad was in aviation security and was actually holding a conference at that time to talk about domestic screening in flights in the US specifically.

Once I got home it was bedlam and we didn't see him for months at a time as he was flying to Canada, staying in London and other places to discuss the ramifications.

I remember getting home and my mum just staring at the rolling news coverage. Still haunts me to this day and I can't watch any of the footage without getting very emotional. I actually visited ground zero the next year, there were still cars in the car park and posters of missing loved ones everywhere.

DementorsKiss · 11/09/2019 16:00

yes - my 30th birthday

I was at work & we all gathered around a tv as a shocking report had come in about a plane going into a tower & watched as the second unexpected plane hit