I remember

[Fradrok]

A coworker of mine was having car trouble one week and asked me to swing by on my way to work to give him a lift as his home was just off my normal path to the office I was working in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was near the turn-off when the radio news mentioned a plane had crashed into one of the highrises known as the World Trade Center in New York City. This would have been about 8:15 am, Central Standard Time. So early in the morning on that day, and there was little information at the time, so I called my friend to let him know I was running late and for him to turn on his television.

Nine years later, though I knew not a single soul in New York City, I cannot get the images of the truck I was driving, the time of day, the errand I was on, or the phone call of my crying wife as I reached my office telling me another plane had hit the second tower out of my remembering. And the next call when yet a third plane had hit the Pentagon. The fourth plane, bound for the capital, was miraculously dealt with by the heroism of those passengers on board.

The slow hours of that morning are etched into my memory. And I trust my memory of that morning in 2001 will never leave me. I'm sure many Saints of STC have their own stories of specific details, otherwise benign and easily forgotten, that are etched into theirs.

/salute

[Jethaya]

at the time i was still working out of a rented office . part of my morning routine was coffee and news so i remember while I was waiting for the cofee maker to poor my first cup.

i opened the tv and saw the first tower,
they were saying a plane had crashed in it. then the second plane got the other tower . live on tv !!!

i couldnt not beleave this was happening, with every minute passing by the horror was growing. i didnt do much work that day i was glued to the news

i think all over the world peoples still remember what they were doing at this tragic moment in history

/never forget

jethaya

[Sabreth]

This morning is especially ingrained in my memory for they twin towers fell on a family vacation during the beginning of me Senior year of High School.

Our family vacation was to go to Disneyland for the first time in all of our lives, we've never been before. The day we arrived we spent half a day there, but didn't get to see the whole place. The next day was spend at Knotts Berry Farm. The next day we were going to spend the whole day in Disneyland.

My parents didn't have a lot of money so they got a single hotel room with two beds, they had one bed and my two younger brothers had the other bed. I myself had the floor.

My mother has always been an early riser and this morning was no different. Just like the morning before she would wake up real early and turn on the news. As soon as she turned on the news the second plane hit the tower. Before I could make out what was going on she had dialed some of our relatives that joined us for this trip to wake them up and tell them what was going on. As she was making these phone calls the first tower fell.

My father is in the military, Army Guard to be specific (Hence the reason why I joined the Air Guard >.>). Disneyland was shut down that day, so we weren't going to go. Soon we learned that the Pentagon had been hit too. We were afraid that the highways would be closed down and that my dad would have been called up for duty (we drove) so we packed up, checked out and hit the road.

For some reason my relatives had a friend over in Nevada who would let us stay that night there, but when we got into town they changed their minds. We ended up driving another hour over to Reno and stayed a couple of nights there. I'm guessing my dad called his unit and they told him that nothing was happening immediately, so to enjoy his vacation.

I was already looking at signing up with the Air Guard but 15 days later there was a huge swearing in ceremony at the base and my recruiter wanted me to be part of it. Haven't looked back since.

[Tyenee]

I was babysitting and one of my friends was there with her child. I had asked her to watch the kids so i could go get gas for the lawn mower. I got to the gas station where there was a line all the way out to the road. Not wanting to sit in the line and no understanding why there was a line that far out for gas. I turned around and drove back home about the time they said the 3rd plane had crashed. Me and my friend sit and held our babies as we watched the news about the tragic event unfolding before our eyes.

[ianthathegnome]

i was sitting in the neonatal ICU with my preemie son when someone came into the unit and said a plane had crashed into the world trade center. i thought..how crazy, was the pilot drinking or something?

i left the unit to go outside to call my fiance/now hubby, and was watching the tv as the second plane it.

i lived near ft. hood, texas at the time and was afraid the area might be attacked due to heavy military presence.

i remember after calling hubby, going back to the nicu, and holding my son, thinking maybe i should take off with him and go hide somewhere. it was a very primal and terrifying feeling.

[Coldaru]

I was at home, in Boynton Beach, FL and getting ready for work when I heard of the First hit. While watching the News I saw the second, and the Pentagon Crashes, and those others that followed. I remeber Watching Horrified. My Phone rang as the attorney I worked for a the time closed the office and told us all to stay home adn comfort our Families in this time of Crisis.

It was six hours of News and information watching and wondering when I got the first call from My Aunt saying she had not heard from my Cousin who worked in the Pentagon.. I prayed with her as we grew up together and were more like brothers living 2 miles apart than cousins...

2 More hours passed and I got a second phone call from the mother of one my best friends asking for me to come to church with thier family and two other friends that we grew up with, Which I did.

It was 3 days of Praying before we found out that both had lost their lives in the Pentagon Crash. John was a Yeoman working with Intel, and Mark was a 1st Sargent in the Security brigade.

This day has always brought sorrow, tears and laughter to their memeories.

I Salute all that are still serving on this day looking still for those who did this to our countries and families. I pray that you all come home safe to a country that loves and honors you.

God Bless America, her military, her population, her government, and more so the Freedoms we have due to all who have served her.

Amen.

[Cistern-Casey]

I remember this day like it was last week.

I was working as a DBM for a company compiling county real estate info for online viewing in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. I had come in early that day and was at my desk doing some work when my boss came in and asked if I had heard about the plane that ran into the World Trade Center. I just chuckled, not realizing the actual damage that would cause, and commented about what an idiot the pilot must have been. In my mind I wasn't picturing a large commercial airline, just a small private plane. A short time after that he came back in and said that a second plane had hit the other tower, and I just remember being confused as to how that could happen twice in such a short time. He and I ran across the street to the Radisson Hotel and stood with about 25 other people in the lobby watching the news on the TV. Once the report of the plane hitting the Pentagon came through, we knew this was no idiot accident. Shortly after, on live television, we watched the towers fall. Half of the group was in tears...the other half in shock. After a couple of hours we walked back over to the office and went back to work.

I never felt any immediate danger or threat. I believed that had it been an attack by a country those planes would have been nuclear missiles, and there would have been more of them. Later that day a few guys from the office and I went out to grab some lunch (other Saints at the time whom I worked with ... Volly, Chronomis, Gilsani...) and we were in complete shock when we saw the lines of cars in every gas station that lead all the way out into the streets. It wasn't just 1 or 2 stations... it was every single station. None of us had given any thought to how that would affect the oil and gas prices.

I think the shock of what happened is still there today. But the reality is that life goes on. Just as with every other tragic event that we endure, you never forget, but you continue to live your life. The difference should be in how it affects the life we live. Hopefully we choose to live better because of it, and not sink down into the cesspool of hatred that caused it to begin with.

[KeldorSTC]

I was living with my sister and her boyfriend at the time. I was only 19 years old. My sister had gone off to work, her boyfriend thier daughter and I were all asleep. I woke up to the phone ringing and my sisters boyfriends' mother yelling into the phone, "WAKE UP JAY, SOMEONE CRASHED INTO THE TOWERS!!". She hung up immediately and I went into his room and woke him. He told me she was probably on one her crazy rambles and to ignore it. He went back to sleep and I went out to the living room. Now wide awake I turned on the tv and seen what she meant. I was in complete awe. I ran back to his room and woke him again to inform him his mother was not crazy. As we both came back to the living room the second plane hit. He and I were watching everything unravel before our very eyes. Work called me and informed me to stay home. My sister was sent him from work bec of it, they closed up. We continued to watch the news all night. A friend of my mothers was working in the Trade Center when it happened and did not make it out. The very next day I was where I felt I was needed. I was sitting in an army recruiters office alongside my sisters boyfriend. Unfortunately for me at the time I didn't have a diploma or a G.E.D. and they couldn't accept me. I also had a very bad history of depression and other things I used to do, so that too kept me out. All's I knew is I wanted revenge on those who did this to my home. And watching all of New York's finest fire fighters, police officers, and EMTs made me feel prouder then I have ever been to be an American. God Bless the surviving families that lose their loved ones that day. God Bless America. I truly hope that we eventually find the rest of those responsible for this.