WHERE WERE YOU ON SEPT. 11, 2001?

[Joan]

:'(I will never forget that terrible day when there was so much destruction and so many people lost their lives in New York City.

I was living on Long Island and had just arrived at work. My boss, the Mayor of Patchogue, always had his TV on in the morning. Quite a few of us were standing in his office talking and watching the TV when "9/11" happened. We saw the first plane go into the first tower. We couldn't believe it! We really weren't sure what we had just seen. I ran into the next room and called my husband and told him to put on the TV. By the time I arrived back in my bosses office, the second plan went into the second tower. We all stood there really not believing what we had just seen. We thought the first plane was just an accident but when the second plane hit, we all knew it was intentional.

It was the worst thing I have ever witnessed. The Twin Towers which my husband and I had been to numerous times was now gone. Something I am sure we will all never forget. God Bless all those innocent people that died that day.

[Lenny]

I just parked my school bus at the church after my morning run and went into the rectory to check my mailbox and everyone was in the priests dinning room watching what they thought was a fire at the world trade center until the news castor said a plane had struck the building. As minutes went by, the tragic story unfolded as we were glued to the t.v. in awe after learning it was a terrorists attack. Images indelibly etched upon our minds forever.

[lori]

as many people, I will also never forget that day. I was laid off at the time but helping a friend set up a program at his office when we heard that a plane crashed into one of the the towers. Thinking it was a Cessna (small plane), I called Rich who at the time who was a NYC firefighter and asked what was going on. He with the the firefighter mentality they all have, thought it was a "job" and was excited to be going down there to see what was happening because he also thought it was a "small plane" While talking to him the next plane hit. Oh my god ! we then realized we were under attack.
I remember telling him to be careful and that I love him and right away he said
"don't' start that, I will see you tonight. This is nothing"interesting words to hear at that moment.
Well I never saw a TV so I had not idea what the scene looked like as I continued to help my friend. I tried to call Rich after hearing 250 firefighters were lost. the phone calls started to him around noon and I was not able to reach him until 5:15 that evening. His voice was the was the most incredible sound I had ever heard. He was exhausted being there all day and knowing alot of his friends and colleagues were missing. Rich came home 3 days later and the very next day started running the funerals for all the firefighters and FDNY officers who were lost that day. Sometimes he would do as many as 2 or 3 a day. Calling the families for details of the guys he did not know so everything was PERFECT, and especially the guys we did know.
Interesting that when Rich talks about 9/11, he thinks people have forgotten over time but I know for sure THE BCS hasn't forgotten and many others still remember.
He retired about a year ago from the FDNY and whenever the "guys" get together they still share some hilarious stories about the guys who were lost. Its still hard to imagine they are not here anymore
Bronxgirl942, I have not formally met you yet but I do want to say Thanks for starting this post. It felt good to talk about it for a little while.

[Deleted]

I was at my desk when someone called in from the field. The manager turned on the TV in his office. We soon found out that it was far worse than the initial report of a small aircraft hitting the Towers. May they all REST IN PEACE!

[Joan]

:)Lori...................it is nice meeting you too. That was some story you told about Rich. Glad he is one of the fortunate ones to have survived the atrocity. Some of your comments about the firefighters brought tears to my eyes but at least some of them can remember all the fun things about them. I'm glad you liked that I posted it, and you got to got to get some things off your chest.

We should never forget that day!

[wheezie]

I was in my office at the time, when someone came running in and told us what was happening. All work stopped as we gathered around the TV. Then the phones started to ring. I was working for a nursing home with about 100 residents and many employees. We started taking messages from family members and loved ones who just wanted to say they were OK.

I couldn't go home that night and stopped at a local tavern. There were some pretty angry people as the scene was shown over and over again on the news. A very sad day for all.

[Deleted]

i was still in bed when someone from work called and told me what happened -- i dont remember what i said other then he was telling me an untruth -- he told me to turn the tv on and nothing was ever the same again

i have a cruising buddy who worked in the pentagon with his wife on 9-11 and i have taken the liberty of adding his story to this thread



It has been a month since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I have thought off and on during these weeks about writing down my experiences of that day and sharing it with friends and family, especially now while it is so very clear in my mind.

TUESDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2001

It was beautiful day in Northern Virginia, it was clear, low humidity and the forecast was for a pleasant day in the low 80’s. The day started like any other workday for Carey and me. I got up around 5 AM and went downstairs for my first cup of coffee and 30 minutes of morning news. After my shower I got Carey up around 5:45 AM. We left the house for the Pentagon and work around 6:45 AM, arriving in our parking space around 7:20 AM and at our offices by 7:30 AM.

Carey and I both work for the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. Our offices are located in the Pentagon, Rooms 1E667 and 1E677, respectively. Once you learn it the Pentagon room numbering system is actually quite easy to understand and use. The first number represents the floor. The second place is a letter that corresponds to the ring of the Pentagon. Starting from the center of the building, jokingly referred to as “Ground Zero” and officially as the Court Yard, there are 5 rings, A through E. The third position designates the corridor location. There are 10 corridors in the Pentagon running from the center of the building, like spokes on a wheel. In other words, we are on the first floor, outer ring, just off of the 6th corridor.

Tuesday morning at work was pretty much like any other day. Carey went off to her cubicle in her division and started her day’s work. I only had a limited staff in the office that morning with only 3 of my 6 staff actually in the building. I went about my typical routine that morning, checking with my staff to see what was they were working on for that day. My division chief normally has a leaders’ meeting around 9 AM and we usually run down our major actions or projects for the day. Tuesday morning there was no meeting scheduled as many of the staff were at a meeting in a local hotel across the highway from the Pentagon.

Around 9:00 AM somebody came by my cubicle and asked if I had heard that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. They said it was on the television in the chief’s office if I wanted to see what was going on. I walked around to the office and stood in the doorway watching a live feed of the fire at the top of the North Tower. I asked what had happened and was told that a plane had hit the building. It might have been a commercial aircraft, but nobody was sure at that time. I watched for a few more minutes and returned to my desk. I remember wondering how such a thing could happen, it obviously was a clear day both here and in New York. My initial thought was it was some kind of malfunction of the aircraft or a pilot having some kind of medical problem. I’d only been sitting at my desk for a few minutes when another person came by and said a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers. I replied I already knew about it and they told me that no, this was another plane. A second plane had hit the other tower! Incredible, impossible! I got up again and went back to the chief’s office. A larger group was gathered there and I could barely see or hear the television. I got there just in time though to see a playback of the second aircraft crashing into the building. It was obvious, this was no accident and neither had been the first plane. By then it was 9:15 AM, 30 minutes since the first airliner had crashed into the North Tower. I immediately turned around and went off to find Carey. I had no sense of panic or worry at that time, an attack on the Pentagon never crossed my mind. I found her just across the hallway in her boss’ office watching the reports his television. We watched the replays on the television for a few minutes. It was becoming clear to us, to the gathered group and to the television news people, that this had been some type of terrorist attack. At no time was there any mention of any other unaccounted for aircraft. One of the people in the group at the time was Sandi Taylor, our Staff Action Control Officer. I vaguely remember Sandi leaving the area and heading back toward the executive offices located at 2E481.

Around 9:30 AM I went to tell Carey that I was going down the corridor to the men’s room and then out for a cigarette. She was on the phone, so I didn’t bother her and went on. We aren’t allowed to smoke in the Pentagon but there are several designated places outside where we can smoke. The closest one to our office is an alley-like drive between the B and C rings of the building. This alley is about as wide as a two-lane road and makes it possible for service vehicles to get access to the outer rings and hallways of the Pentagon. I guess I can best describe it as a concrete canyon with five stories of building rising on either side. I stepped outside and started chatting with Terry Woomer from one of our other offices. We talked briefly about the apparent situation in New York and what could it possibly mean. Who would do such a thing? Why?

Our conversation switched over to Terry’s car that was due back to him after an accident. He had barely started to answer me when we both became aware of this growing sound of jet engines. This isn’t terribly unusual for the Pentagon as we are just a quarter of a mile off of the main flight path for landings and takeoffs from Reagan National Airport. In fact, commuter aircraft and smaller private jets often fly over the Pentagon to land on the one diagonal runway at Reagan. Additionally, the Pentagon’s neighbor to the west and south is Arlington National Cemetery. Upon occasion, when they are honoring an Air Force officer, they fly a four-plane formation where one of the jets pulls up steeply, kicking in the jet’s afterburner and raising quite a racket in the Pentagon. But this was no plane landing at Reagan or a missing-man formation over Arlington. The noise grew louder and louder, echoing heavily off of the concrete walls around us. It was so loud and so intense that it actually bent us over, almost like it was physically pushing down on us.

All of a sudden the sound stopped. For the briefest part of a second it was totally quiet and then came the sound of crushing impact and explosion. Up until then I couldn’t place exactly where the sound was coming from, but now I knew it was behind me to my right. I turned to my right just in time to see a large orange and black cloud of flame rise above the Pentagon. In retrospect today I can say that I was approximately 500 feet from the point of impact. Fortunately most of the 500 feet was taken up by the structure of the Pentagon itself and it acted like a dam, turning the force of the explosion up and away from where I was standing. While not enough to burn me I could feel the heat of the fire cloud on the side of my face. For just a split second I stood there frozen by the sight of the huge mushroom shaped fireball above me then I realized the alley was starting to fill with smoke and flying debris. The debris seem to be floating, mostly insulation, roofing materials, and papers. One larger piece, that penetrated the alley wall about 200 feet from me, was the left landing gear assembly. I have since been told by a couple of the others who were standing with me that there was also shattered glass and parts of the building flying around.

I quickly checked around me, none of the five or six people near me were down or apparently injured. We all headed back into the building. Terry and I entered the 6th corridor, about fifteen feet from where we were standing at the moment of impact, and headed toward our E-ring offices. As we entered the building we encountered a number of other civilians and military reacting to the impact and heading down the corridor in the direction of the impact. We told them to turn around and evacuate the building immediately. It was only now that it was dawning on me what had happened. A hijacked airliner had been crashed into the Pentagon, somewhere between the 3rd and 4th corridors! I don’t know why but I immediately decided not to shout this out, partly because I wasn’t sure, partly because I didn’t want to believe it, and partly because I didn’t want to panic the people around me.

As we proceeded down the corridor I noticed more and more light, white smoke coming from C, D and E rings to my left. People were just starting to exit their offices, mostly startled and confused. The Pentagon is a massive, huge, concrete structure. Only 20% of the offices have windows to the outside so it was not surprising that they had not heard anything or only a muffled boom and had only felt a slight jolt in their offices. I reached the E ring and turned right and then right again into Carey’s division. Almost everybody was out of their offices or cubicles and I was asked what happened and all I could say was that there had been a large explosion and that everybody should evacuate the building immediately. Carey was not in her cubicle but I could hear her down toward my end of the office calling out my name. She was not panicking, but obviously upset that I was not at my desk. All they had felt in the office was a jolt and a rush of air blow through the office; hard enough to blow loose papers off their desks. I walked quickly down to my cubicle and hugged her, told her I was not hurt but that we needed to get out of the building immediately. She asked me if it was a bomb and I said I did not know but we needed to go.

My two staff were already out of their cubicles and on their way out of the office; the third person had left earlier for a meeting outside of the building. I checked around for a couple other people and they were also on their way out. I noticed it then, and I still think it is noteworthy, that there was no panic of any kind. The military in our offices were responding instinctively and were quickly organizing and ushering people out of the office. Interestingly, for some reason, the rather elaborate alarm system in the Pentagon had either not been activated or was damaged in our part of the building as it never sounded while Carey and I were in the building. Carey and I walked the 800 feet of E ring from the 6th corridor and the exit at the 8th corridor at a deliberate pace. The rings are eight feet wide and several thousand of us calmly filed out of the building almost marching three and four abreast. I should add here that I deliberately did not take us out the first exit at the 7th corridor. This exit empties into a grassy area that is only about a couple of hundred feet deep and bounded by a four-lane highway and chain link fence. I did not want to be trapped between the highway and the building so I moved us on to the next corridor that would take us out and over the pedestrian bridge across the highway and into the lot where our truck was parked.

We cleared the building with no trouble. By the time we got to the guard station at the exit they had dispensed with identification checks and were telling people just to exit quickly. One of Carey’s most vivid memories is the alarm sound of the turnstiles as person after person passed through them without swiping their badge. It was at the exit that we saw some of the first emergency personnel responding to the crash as a couple of members of the Pentagon SWAT team ran into the building. I would estimate that it was now between 9:45 and 9:48 AM, only seven to ten minutes since the impact of the airliner. We crossed the pedestrian bridge over Route 110 and started to make our way to our truck. Again, in the back of my mind was the thought that one airliner had been crashed into the Pentagon, there had been two planes at the World Trade Center, and I did not know if there was a second plane headed for the Pentagon.

We stopped a couple of times to talk to people from our office. The first person we talked to was Colonel T. W. Williams, the Executive Officer for the ACSIM. T.W. had been out of the executive offices and down in our area watching the live television reports on the World Trade Center when the impact took place. I told him that whatever had happened appeared to have happened in the general location of the executive offices. I will never forget the look of surprise and obvious shock that crossed his face. I was to learn later that he reentered the building and tried to make his way to the executive offices only to be turned back by the smoke and spreading fires. We then stopped and talked to LTC Frank Womble. I told Frank we were going to get to our truck and go home. We briefly stopped one more time and comforted a major from our office who had gotten her child out the daycare center located just outside the Pentagon. By this time the air was full of the sound of the sirens of emergency vehicles responding to the Pentagon.

We reached our Ford Explorer I remember turning and looking back at the Pentagon. By this time a large cloud of black smoke was rising from the right side of the Pentagon, obviously there was now a serious fire in that area. We tried to use the cell phone we left in the glove compartment. Our immediate thought was to call Lesley, Carey’s sister, and tell her we were okay and leaving the Pentagon. Already the cell phone system in the area was overloaded and we were unable to get a call out. According to the phone log it was then 9:53 AM. We left the parking lot and headed toward the George Washington Parkway which would take us to Spout Run and then through Arlington to west bound I- 66. Other than a brief bit of traffic congestion at the exit to the parking lot we were able to easily make our way home. As I drove Carey kept trying to use the cell phone but service was still out. We were about half way home when at 10:14 AM, again the cell phone log recorded the time, the phone rang and it was Lesley trying to find us. She had seen the World Trade Center attacks on the television and then the reports of the Pentagon attack. She had tried our office phones and was finally able to reach us through our cell phone. Since we had been unable to get a line out we asked her to call Carey’s parents and tell them we were safe and on our way home.

We arrived home at 10:55 AM. We immediately tried to use the phone in the house and could not get a line. We again tried the cell phones, no luck there either. I immediately thought about our computers and access to the web. Since we use a cable modem, which is independent of the phone system, I thought there was a chance we could quickly get short emails out to our family and friends. This worked and within an hour or so we were getting responses back from our families expressing relief and thanks for our safety. As it turned out it was nearly 2:00 PM before we had regular phone service and were able to actually start to check on co-workers and talk to family.

We spent the rest of Tuesday and the next couple of days clued to the television. We now knew that it had been a hijacked American Airlines, Flight 77, from Dulles International Airport, that had slammed into the side of the Pentagon. We also knew that Cheryle Sincock, our general’s secretary, and Sandi Taylor, our staff action control officer, whose office had been right at the point of impact, were missing and unaccounted for. Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell, our deputy’s executive officer, had been in the hallway near the office and had been severely burned and was hospitalized in serious condition. Dr. Gerald “Geep” Fisher, a contractor with Booz-Allen and Hamilton, was also missing and unaccounted for. I mention Geep because we worked on several projects over a 12-year period and we had become friends. In fact, he and I were working on a new effort but he was in the Pentagon to brief another office and most probably would have come by to see me later that morning.

EPILOGUE

189 people lost their lives at the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. 125 of those were military, civilian and contractor personnel working in or visiting the Pentagon, the rest on Flight 77. Our friends and co-workers Cheryle Sincock, Sandi Taylor and Geep Fisher all lost their lives that day. Brian Birdwell is in fair condition but still in the hospital and will be faced with many more months of surgery and therapy to overcome 3rd degree burns to 60% of his body. On Friday, 12 October, Carey and I attended Cheryle and Sandi’s funeral and memorial services. This was a difficult, emotional time for us but it helps us gain closure and move on in our life. Each day gets a little easier, a little better.

Obviously 11 September 200l means something different to each of us. It will be one of those days when we all remember where were we when it happened. We will never forget.

[Fran Gyomory]

First plane hit while I was watching the Today show. I called Helen in NY and while she and I were talking about the "accident" the second plane hit and we knew we were at war! I will NEVER forget that day and pray for all the innocent souls that went to Heaven that day from NY, PA and Northern Virginia. God rest their souls.

[carjoh5]

I had just gotten home the night before from Vacation, and woke up to hear all the news going on while I was gone. When all of a sudden, the plane went into the building. I started yelling for John to wake up, I Told him that the Tower was hit, and that I just knew it was not an accident and that we were being hit from terrorist. It was a gut feeling that I has, and then the second plane hit, and I knew right then that I was right. So sad, so many people lost their lives.
My friend was telling me the story of her son Jody, he was working(11 floor) and started to smell gas, he yells for his friends at work to run and leave the building, they did not want to leave, but Jody said he was going, he ran all the way down the steps, and kept going till he got far away when he seen the second plane hit, it was then that he thought about his three Friend that did not leave, he thought of them as he went home. He found out when he got home that they did follow him down the steps, and manage to get out. He said he cried for days after, he was so glad then the 3 mens got out like him.
A few months later we took a trip to Arlington and the security was so tight. We went to the Graves at Arlington, and we were turned away, then my cousin who worked there took us inside by the Pentagon, again the security was tight and we were stopped inside, but my cousin showed his badge and we were able to drive Thur, the building were unbelievable, a big black hole was open on the building. We also has taken a trip to Vegas by car, and we were stopped going into Vegas from AZ, It took a little longer getting in but you knew we would be safe. I worry when I have to take a plane, but I will not let the terrorists stop me, because that would be what they want to happen..

[Bobbi]

I was at work that day. I worked for one of the Government offices in Collier Co. FL. Part of our department was security, therefore among our campus cameras, we also had a TV on all day.

I watched the whole thing, in the mean time, my oldest son worked not far from the towers. My family and I were frantic because we couldn't reach him.

He had just gotten off the subway and saw the whole thing. Everyone was running. He and thousands of others walked from the sight all the way across the 59th St. bridge into Queens. Remarkably a friend of his was able to come and pick him up. He arrived home at about 11 p.m that night with blisters all over his feet and his shoes in shreds.

Thank God he was not close enough to be harmed.

My husband was a foreman for a contractor building the towers. I'm sure if he was alive he would have been devastated.

[marylou]

My son called from San Diego....it was around 6am there and the story was breaking on the early morning news. He told me to turn on the tv and I did, just in time to see the second plane crash into the tower. Honestly, I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. I remember thinking, my god, can two planes be that disoriented and lost. It just didn't make sense. But as the confusion became reality of knowing we were under attack, I remember that I didn't want to watch anymore, but I couldn't tear myself away. I called into work to say I was going to be late, but nobody was at the office. Everyone was home, glued to the tv and radio. I saw shadows falling from the upper floors down along the front of the towers. They were those poor, doomed people jumping rather than burn up, but I couldn't take in the horror of what I was seeing. Then the towers collapsed, one by one and the sight of all that rolling smoke and dust filling the streets and the people running is something I'll see in my mind's eye for the rest of my life. I wish Streisand and Richard Gere and Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin, et al. would remember that whenever they feel the need to open their mouths.

[Joan]

My son was one of the Site Managers for the clean-up at the site of the Twin Towers after the atrocity. He said he couldn't believe what he saw. Complete devastation! One clear night when he was working he took pictures down there, and when the pictures were developed there were speckles of light throughout the pictures. He believes they were the souls of some of the people killed that day. I believe they were too!

[Deleted]

My neighbor across the street was fortunate enough to walk away from the Towers that terrible morning. She still suffers from PTSD!

[Deleted]

I was at my daughters house watching the morning news and saw the first plane come around hit the towers followed by the 2nd plane.
It will be a day I will never forget.

[pegleg]

lougee1043 said:

i was still in bed when someone from work called and told me what happened -- i dont remember what i said other then he was telling me an untruth -- he told me to turn the tv on and nothing was ever the same again

i have a cruising buddy who worked in the pentagon with his wife on 9-11 and i have taken the liberty of adding his story to this thread....

Thanks for posting that Lou. I _know_ that I read this story somewhere else, but can't recall where at the moment. It was a horrendous day.

[Deleted]

[quote author=pegleg
]Thanks for posting that Lou. I _know_ that I read this story somewhere else, but can't recall where at the moment. It was a horrendous day. [/quote]

i might have posted it last year about this time and in regard to a similar thread

[pegleg]

lougee1043 said:

i might have posted it last year about this time and in regard to a similar thread

I wasn't a member here until last May 07. I may have read it in one of the military news sources I get?? AF Times or something like that, maybe?? Doesn't matter (except to satisfy a mild itch). I had some friends in the Pentagon that day, although farther away from the impact. Similar stories.

One interesting comment he made was that the left landing gear assembly ended up about 200 feet from where he was standing. Puts the kibosh on that theory from those conspiracy nuts that it was a US launched missile that hit the Pentagon. (Not that any of that nonsense needed to be refuted.)