9/11 ten years later - Where were you the day the world changed

[SFK]

What I find most chilling and heartbreaking is the eerie silence of watching that second plane approach and collide in the live footage only imagining how it must have been anything but silent inside the aircraft. Just devastating, those poor people, and those children onboard.

Have there been any recorded accounts of survivors who made it out of the towers from their offices on lower floors who actually caught sight of the plane(s) approaching?

[Kylie]

I was a Senior in high school. I remember waking up that morning, turning on the news, just to listen while I got ready. I was putting on my make up when the first plane flew into the first tower. I remember thinking, "Oh no, that's horrible". But not really thinking anything more than that. I kinda listened as I continued to get ready, and then just as I was about the flip the TV off...the second plane hit. I didn't realize what was going on at the time, but I remember pausing and going, "OMG what is this?"

My friends dad was driving us to school when the first tower fell. We were listening to it on the radio. He had to stop and pull the car over. A lot of cars seemed to do the same, or kinda freeze where they were. His said said "[!@#$%^&*]" and my friend and I were like, "There were still so many people in there..."

By the time I got to school and settled into class, the second tower had fallen. Everything seemed to change then. The things that mattered before that, make up, boys, Senior year, popular and unpopular kids seemed to stop. And I can remember us sitting in class, watching, no one talking. We all hugged in the hallway. Some the most popular guys in the school, cried. A few talked about going to join the military so they could get those bastards...a lot of them did actually do it. We had an impromptu vigil around the flag pole, which was already at half staff. It was like for that one moment in time, we were all just together and that's how it had to be. Nothing else was important.

I just remember being numb. In shock. Thinking it couldn't be possible, they'd pull some of those people out live. It wasn't possible that all those people were gone like that. Then I flashed back to something my 10th grade Modern World History said (in 1998, a year after Bin Laden tried to take the Towers out the first time) "Don't forget the name Osama bin Laden. You will hear again in your life time."

To this day, I've never cried. I want too. But I'm still not sure I'd stop.

[SFK]

On that day, I had one very anxious, "What is this world coming to??/We're all gonna die!" moment by myself where I *almost* cried, but I didn't. I finally cried a couple years ago when I was reading about the folks who worked in the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the North tower. They'd lost so many workers that day and some of the survivors started their own international cuisine restaurant to honor their former comrades who had come from all backgrounds. That famous "Falling Man" picture is believed to be one of the restaurant workers.

[SnCCorinthos4ever]

Now I live in Melbourne, Australia. It was a Wednesday morning for us. One I got to work I stayed glued to the radio which did a very good tribute with the song Bridge under troubled waters. I remember leaving the office to go down to the bank as we were opening a social club account and as I walked out I heard a plane that seemed to be to low looking up I remember thinking holy crap he is flying low.

When we got to the bank to open the account it took up to 3 - 4 times longer than it should have. The bank had TV's on and we were just watching them still not being able to believe what happened.

A year later some one had suggested that all cars on the road turn their headlights on at the time that the first plane hit. I was already at work at this time, but I looked out the window and just about every car that went past had their headlights on.

[wingwalker]

I was a freshman in High School. My first period was Gym, so I didn't hear anything until Second Period Math class. Teacher told us a plain crashed into a building in NYC, thousands probably died, now get out your Math homework that's due today. She didn't talk about it rest of class & we were all confused about what happened since she only briefly mentioned it & continued with class. Third period, Teacher had TV set up to CNN and briefly explained what happened for those that didn't know and told us to pay attention for as this would be my generation's "Where were you went Kennedy got shot?" moment. For homework had to right a page of our thoughts & feelings for the day's events. I definately remember the watching the first tower fall on live TV. Quite a stunning experience. For the rest of day, every class we just watched the TV, discussed what was going on, except for last period. My bitchy Spanish teacher was like "You've been watching the TV all day, you what happened, we're having regular class today." Everybody was pretty mad at her. LOL

[SnCCorinthos4ever]

Thought that you may like this link.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/september-11-anniversary

Some of the Canine hero's

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/photo-gallery/gallery-e6frf94x-1226130211829?page=1

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I started off the morning as usual. Woke up for school around 6. (8th grade at the time), watched Late Night W/ Conan on the NBC West channel and ate breakfast. My mom drove me to school that morning and so I was early for my 1st period history class. My teacher turned on the classroom TV as everyone started to pour into class. It was on NBC and I remember when Matt Lauer said that it looked like something hit the WTC everyone in class just shut up and started watching. About 10 mins later the second plane hit.

Not one kid in my class didn't scream. Seriously. The teachers from across the hall didn't know what was going on so they asked us. Mr. Dixon (my teacher) told them that we just had a terrorist attack. Once the principal came on the loudspeaker and told the teachers to not allow us to watch anymore we didn't. I didn't find out that the towers actually fell until my mom picked me up that afternoon.

[Titus Andronicus]

I was in my junior year at Valdosta State University in 2001. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had one class, Intro to Anthropology. The lot was pretty full that morning, so I parked way in the back and took the bus to class. I think class started at 9:30. Class ends and I'm doing newspaper research in the library for my own amusement, so I walk over there. Spend an hour or two in the library and take the bus to the lot because I don't feel like walking.

The radio was on in the bus. Something about a bombing. Hey, it wouldn't be the anniversary of that World Trade Center bombing attempt a few years ago would it? ... would it? My God, this is live. Oh. My. God.

The whole bus is quiet. I get off close to my car. I pop out the homemade cassette of Queen songs and turn to Gulf 104 out of Tallahassee, which had an ABC feed. I was commuting from home and would spend the 45-minute ride switching between that station and WMTM, which had a news feed out of somewhere.

So, it wasn't until about noon that day that I heard anything.

It was later rumored that Valdosta State was the only university in Georgia not to cancel classes and we were back in session the next day, too. Not only did they not tell us, they didn't do anything afterwards. I spent 3+ hours on campus and didn't realize anything. The library was operating like normal. Just bizarre.

[Max]

I was a senior at George Washington University, which is located just blocks from the White House. That morning, I was studying for a possible pop quiz in one of my classes. I do remember hearing a lot of sirens, but I continued to study. Then, I received a phone call from my mother, who told me about the attacks and to turn on the television. (For some reason, I do not recall if the second plane had yet to hit the towers. I do not believe that either tower had collapsed at that point, though I am not completely certain about that as well.)

Classes were cancelled that day, although they resumed the following day. Given that a plane had hit the nearby Pentagon (which is actually located in Arlington, VA), I was very worried that there would be a terrorist attack near the White House or Capitol. If it wasn't for the brave crew of the plane that went down in rural PA, there very well might have been.

[Adam]

Yeah, the common conclusion seems to be that the plane's target was The Capitol.... by that time the building would have been evacuated, but imagine the optics if that majestic, historical building had been destroyed. Damn.

Ever watched United 93? I remember being quite reluctant to go see it in theaters because I had heard how realistic it had been shot and the fact it had only been 4 or 5 years since the attacks at the time of release, but oh my god. Such a vivid experience. I've watched a few times and everytime I get sucked in to the point where you feel like you were on the plane. So well done.

[SnCCorinthos4ever]

I have watched that movie several times and it still has me sitting on the edge of my seat and wathcing in awe of what they did.

Another movie is World Trade Centre with Nicholas Cage in it about the two Port Authority guys traped under one of the towers.

They had a Children of 9/11 on TV here the other night and three of the Children were the Burnett girls on it.

Even though it has been 10 years, it still feels like it was only yesterday that it happened.

[Max]

Adam, I have not watched this movie but would very much like to do so. I really appreciate you telling me about it.

[Adam]

No problem, Max. It certainly is not for the faint of heart. It was shot in more of a documentary style.... all the characters were played by non-Hollywood actors, essentially nameless faces which only added to the effect of it all. They intersperse real footage from the day, as well as real audio recordings. And one of the lead FAA people (who's first day in his new job was on Sept. 11, 2001) was played by the real guy. Paul Greengrass is the director, and he did receive an Oscar nom for best director.

[Skin]

That's similar to my experience that day too. I was in 5th grade at the time and was 11 years old, the only difference was that our teachers didn't tell us anything. It was so surreal looking back on it because nothing had changed. No one acted out of the ordinary, no one told us what was going on, no one said anything and the next day it was like it didn't even happen. Everything just proceeded like a typical school day. We just were dismissed earlier as a result of it all. I honestly had no clue what was happening and when I got to go home early I was confused as to why the cartoons weren't on. My mother had to explain everything to me and I still didn't really understand it, I just kind of saw it as another kind of catastrophe that happened. I thought it was like a natural disaster like hurricanes, tornado's and forest fires. It didn't really sink in until much later that people had actually planned for this to happen. Once I realized that I was terrified.

[jcar03]

This is some recently released audio recordings of that day, including one of the flight attendants relaying information:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/08/nyregion/911-tapes.html