Let's take a moment.

[Danoinark]

I watched both planes crash into the towers on live TV. I was about to leave for work and told my daughter who was feeding my grandson to change channels. I work in the Court system and knew that we would have to begin to increase security at the building. Its exactly what we did for the day and it has not changed in the five years since. I felt violated. Just like if someone had broken into my home and taken something from me. It has also taught me how vulnerable we are to this kind of act. It has made me respect life more and how short it truly is. Live your life today like it could be you last. My mother taught me those words years ago. Dano

[Wayne SW/MO]

My wife and I were working and living in Oregon at the time, and my practice was to fire up the net in the morning to check the weather. When Yahoo came up there was a picture of the first strike, but I ignored it thinking it was a fire in some building. I checked the weather, returned to the front page, and there started checking headlines and when I realized it was a plane that had hit the WTC, I immediately thought of of '93 and wondered to myself if it was related to terrorism. We then turned on the TV to watch in horror the rest of the story.

As a free country we will always be vulnerable, and we have to decide how much security we need while we fight this war.

We also have to realize that this war is an attack on who we are, not what are government has done.

[ColdWaterFshr]

I was talking to my boss on the phone when the 1st tower collapsed. I told her I couldn't talk anymore . . . and I politely hung up on her.

The next day we drove the family down to Destin, FL -- a trip we had planned many months prior. We weren't sure it was the right thing to do. The drive down, people had cut-out american flags from their newspapers and plastered them to inside windows of their cars. When we arrived, fighter jets from nearby naval airbase were running near-continuous exercises over the beach that very few people were on. Holding my 1 year old sons hand, walking barefoot on the beach, and watching the air-show. Going out to dinner with my wife, choking down shrimp cocktail while the TV broadcast Bush's speech had everyone's attention and applause.

[Terrapin Station]

My wife and I were in NYC this past weekend. Went down to Ground Zero on Sunday and just stood and stared at the enormous hole in the ground. The feelings of confusion, sadness, and anger wash over you immediately as it is still so hard to understand. As you can imagine, hundreds of news vans with their satellite dishes lined the streets and reporters filming everwhere. Our flight left LaGuardia yesterday and flew over the site. I couldn't help but imagine what was going through the passengers' minds those last few minutes. Just an incredibly moving experience but made me very proud to be an American.

[jOrOb]

I was just getting off duty and heading home. When the first reports came over the radio I didn't think much of it. When the reports of the second plane came in, I was floored. I remember getting notice after notice that we needed to secure our equipment and be prepared for more attacks. We spent the whole day on pins and needles waiting.

The following days were not any better. The anxiety of not knowing if another attack was coming, mixed with the knowledge that many of my brothers and sisters were in those towers was like a weight, always there. We all wanted to help, but all we could do was watch.

I don't ever remember being surprised though.

[Rolan Duffield]

I remember the day very vividly. My wife and I were on a cruise ship at the time near Juno, Alaska. Our trip took us from Kansas City to Vancouver where we boarded the cruise ship on Sept. 8, 2001 for a 11 day trip. Our travel was up the inter costal waterway to Seward. Then a train trip to Denali and finishing in Fairbanks, Alaska.

On the morning of 9-11, I got up early as I wanted to see the ship dock when we arrived in Juno. Saw the sun come up that morning as a brilliant orange sunrise. I took pictures of it as it was so brilliant and colorful.

Just prior to docking, the captain spoke over the intercom and told us what was happening in New York and Pennsylvania.

We were conserned as our oldest son was in Pennsylvania at the time for a conference.

We left the ship later in the morning for a shopping spree in Juno. Every store we were in had a TV or radio playing with news about the events. The residents were as conserned as we were.

Later in the afternoon we finally were able to contact our son in Pittsburg. He left his cell phone on expecting a call from us.

Arriving back at the ship, security changed and was very tight. You needed your ship pass as well as proof of who you were.

That evening the Captain invited anyone who wanted to attend to a memorial service on the ship.

Arriving in Seward a couple of days later we learned that another cruise ship that was returning to Vancouver had about 350 people returning rather than the 3,000 they expected because no one could get to the ship.

Our trip on to Seward, Denali and to Fairbanks, Alaska was normal travel. On Arriving in Fairbanks, we met people who had been there a week since 9-11 and couldn't get a flight back to the states.

We left Fairbanks on schedule 9-19-01 at 5:00am. One of the first flights back to the States.

We were very glad to be home and in the good old U.S. A.

[jeff]

I was getting ready for work and watched the whole thing. My brother was flying cross-country that day and that's all I could think about. I didn't find out that he was ok until late afternoon. I found out later that a friend from high school died in tower 1.

[jdmidwest]

Almost 20 years later, lets dredge this one up.....

Current events.

Wonder where ole Terry went to.  Lots of others on the Forum back then are gone.

Started a 4 day vacation today, first time off since June.  Good news at the DR Visit, "You are over 4 years out now, almost zero chance of cancer coming back"!  Stopped at Dunn's and one of the guys said, "America the Great".  I responded, but was confused, "Yes it is".  He responded and the conversation turned to the news that I had not seen.  Terror bombs overseas have killed our men.  

 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

How about a perspective from a 6th grader? I was only 11 years old at the time, but I remember it fairly vividly. I had no idea what the WTC was, or any real idea about terrorism, as I was a happy-go-lucky kid.

I remember looking out the window through the old blinds as morning announcements were coming over the speaker. The sky was so, so blue. I vividly remember having the thought "that is the bluest sky I've ever seen." Not a cloud in the sky and the thick haze of summer had lifted. Of course, that is a common theme talked about now. But it was weird I noticed it. By this time it was probably when the North Tower was struck.

First class of the morning was PE--heck yea! We were playing indoor soccer. Not my favorite, but still fun to start the day playing sports. About 15 min into the game our principal came in and pulled our teacher, Mrs. Lombardo, aside. I still remember the look on her face: panic, fear, uncertainty come to mind. We finished the class and went back to our home rooms instead of the scheduled English. 

They didn't turn the TVs on for us, which I am now grateful for. We really had no business seeing nearly 3k people die in real time. 

They must've called all of our parents because we were all picked up by 12pm. I remember my dad saying terrorist are attacking the United States and we needed to get home. I still had no real comprehension, but I became a little fearful. We went home and I remember watching the news coverage for a little. Then my neighbor friend, Tony, knocked on the door. We went outside and played catch.

We journaled about it in class the next few days. I wish I still had the notebook to see what 11-year-old me wrote. People often ask why Millennials are so messed up. Maybe it's because a majority of us watched 3,000 people die on live TV, as well as the American way of life pre-9/11?

I've since read many books on the tragedy, and I think the best thing I've learned is the heroes who prevented more loss of life and gave everyone a little more hope in humanity: Welles Crowther, Rick Rescorla, Orio Palmer, Moira Smith--all heroes and better people than I will ever be. RIP to all.

[Seth]

I just remember walking in to the locker room and one of my classmates mentioning something about it and turning on the radio so we could listen to the broadcast. We were all huddled around listening and thought "holy crap!". That's all I really remember from that day. It would have been my sophomore year so I was 15 at the time.