Where Were You?

[oneshot 1]

I was out Squirrel hunting. My Uncle worked at the Pentagon and would have died but he had flown to Los Angeles on 9/10.

oneshot

 

[FishnDave]

I worked for the City of West Chicago engineering department in Illinois.  I lived about an hour from work, so I was driving to work when this started.  I was listening to the radio, and the DJs were talking about what was going on.  Once I got to work, they had TVs on, and we watched live as the 2nd tower got hit, and then the pentagon.

There was a lot of "terrorist cell" activity in the area, based on reports from people I knew.  There were 2 middle eastern guys in the subdivision I was doing projects in that killed their asian landlord just a few days before this happened.  Another middle eastern guy that worked at a resort I often drove by was seen dressing up in the morning in overalls like an airline baggage handler (instead of his usual impeccable suit and tie), and he went to the O'Hare airport.  There were several of these guys that were taking flying lessons from the local small airport.  There was a guy that worked at a car dealership that told his coworkers he was going to be gone for awhile (left just a day or two before this went down), and something big was going to happen.  They thought maybe he was going to get married....he never did come back.  Stories like these...just from a few people I knew.  How many more stories like this were there?

Remember when there was a small aircraft that flew over the the restricted airspace near the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., a year or so later...they weren't answering radio warnings, jets were scrambled and almost shot them down?  My wife was in a meeting with important folks there at the time, and the Secret Service came in and started rushing everyone out of the building, (or the really important folks went somewhere underground)....my wife had to take her shoes off and run.  Turned out it was just a young kid (and instructor?) taking flying lessons...weird.

[Johnsfolly]

My dad was scheduled to have a business meeting that morning in one of the buildings (WTC 7?) next to the towers that was destroyed. Fortunately that meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

I was at work in Columbia and folks were discussing it as the second tower fell. Most folks in the office had no connection to the WTC. To them they were just some tall buildings in NYC. I have been in them a few times. My dad and stepmother were married in the North tower. I parked for the wedding within 50 ft of where there was a previous bombing attempt in the parking garage. We were going to be in NYC that Oct and we had my daughter excited about going up to the top of the towers with her Pop pop, but that didn't happen. I remember as we did a trip out to the statue of liberty that Oct just seeing the emptiness on where the towers should have been.

What struck me most was the day after when you went outside there was almost no noise. The sky was empty of contrails.

 

[ness]

I was at work and on the phone with a broker when the first tower went down. They had a TV on their sales floor in KC and he was giving me a blow-by-blow...then he paused and just said, 'It's gone.' I asked him what and he said, 'The tower.' 

We did/do business with Sandler O'Neill a brokerage firm whose headquarters were on the 104th floor of the south tower. They lost something like 60 employees including one of the founders. I knew two people there -- Todd Rancke and Judy Scott. Todd was killed, Judy had a dentist appointment and wasn't in the office that morning. Todd was a fairly young guy with young kids.

Have a friend that worked for Nomura at the time. Their HQ was in the World Financial Center across the highway from the World Trade Center complex. He saw the beginnings of things from his office before the evacuated.

Bloomberg terminal has a news feed with headlines scrolling down the page constantly. That day I printed several pages of them in real time. Interesting to look at them now see how things developed. Also to see the bad info that was hitting the wire -- like the White House was hit, Sears tower too.  And how the markets reacted. 

[fishinwrench]

I was headed to Bennett Spring and needed gas.   There were lines of people everywhere waiting to get gas.  I called home and asked WTH was going on, figuring that someone had mentioned a fuel shortage or something, and my wife at that time said "I dunno, a plane crashed into a building in New York, that's been all over the news this morning".

I was like...."Well what the hell does a plane hitting a building in New York have to do with me not being able to get gas?"  

I finally came across a little gas station that wasn't being mobbed, got gas, and had a great day fishing.    Didn't learn the  rest of the story  until I got back home.  

[Quillback]

I was out fishing for salmon in Puget Sound with a buddy of mine, it was a beautiful morning, September is a great month weather wise in the northwest.  Anyway, my buddy gets a call from his wife and she tells him that a small plane has crashed into the WTC and that it was all over the news - even though a small plane crashing into a skyscraper would be newsworthy, I recall wondering why it was such a big deal.  So we kept on fishing and a while later, can't remember exactly how long, but his wife called again and gave us an update and I realized this was a major event.

So we loaded up the boat and went home.  Of course when I got home I was checking out what had happened on the news.  

[BilletHead]

         My Lineman and I were putting in a new three phase primary extension from behind the bowling alley to a new Dollar General store. We were digging and setting poles when we looked up and seen the commercial airline jets making u turns and the contrails following. It was a beautiful blue sky. It was just weird. Turned on the radio in line truck to hear what was going on. I got a sick feeling. When we got back to the show up the supervisors had the TV on. Leaving town to come home the gas stations were packed filling vehicles and gas cans. Chaos Gas price gouging was already going on. Back at home we were glued to the TV.  For awhile after that we were told anytime we went by a station to make sure the line trucks were topped off with diesel and every end of the day do it again. 

[Gavin]

I was sitting on the 20th floor of a high rise, waiting for an eye exam. Saw the second plane hit just after I signed at sat down to wait, knew it was on at that point, but by whom?

[Mitch f]

Took my buddy Mark fishing on the Meramec in a canoe that day. We stopped by a McDonalds for breakfast and they had a TV set up in there in the corner of the dining room. There was a gathering of people crowded around the TV. I was curious why everyone was gathered around the TV.  I asked a lady and she said a small aircraft ran into the World Trade Center. At the time it seemed everyone was thinking it was just a small airplane with a bad pilot. It wasn’t until we drove another few minutes and they announced the 2nd tower was hit. I remember having goosebumps when I heard it.

[Terrierman]

I was at home watching the news drinking coffee and preparing to go to a meeting later that day.  Saw the second plane hit the tower on live TV.  The meeting was cancelled.

I was big into Jack Russells at the time.  Went to trials/dog shows all the time.  Following weekend one of my good friends was putting on a trial in Kentucky.  Everybody needed some normal.  The show went on with more people helping, more unity and more just solid we will get them just wait, than I have ever or ever hope to experience again.  One of my great friends from England was able to get there only a little late.  Went hunting after the show - and we did good but the thing I remember most was how the field we started in was covered with small white butterflies.  Our host had a little problem that day though, bent over to see what one of the terriers was on to, and stuck a huge locust thorn right in her butt cheek.

911 always makes me remember those days.  The trial host's B'day is today and we reminisced.  It was tough for sure.  But I wish somehow the country could come together again like it did then.