Today marks the 10 year anniversary fn the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. On this day, ten years ago, families were destroyed. Children were born while a parent died. Our nation stood together, surrounding television screens and computers to watch the events unfold.
I was a freshmen in high school. Ten years ago, I woke up expecting just another boring day of school with the same high school drama from everyone. I honestly do not remember EXACTLY where I was, but I remember watching a television and crying. It may have been in my American History class, I can remember the layout of the desks and the teacher that was in there, his hand over his mouth. We had televisions in all the rooms, and I wouldn't doubt that every single one was turned on.
Where were you?We will always remember. We will never forget those who ran in while others ran out.
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Comments (27)
I was a freshman in college and had class from 8a-850a CST. We didn't have television in our apartment so I found out after class. I remember leaving class and everyone was running around, scared. Someone yelled to go home and turn on the TV. I went to a downstairs neighbor's apartment... someone I had never met... and there I sat for hours, watching, and crying. So scared... our college is 10 miles from an Air Force base.. we didn't know what was happening. I will never forget!
I was a sophmore in high school and I was in 4th period band class. I live in NJ across the river from Manhattan, so there was an announcement made over the loudspeaker that anyone who had relatives that worked at the World Trade Center should report to the library - which one guy in my class did, his uncle worked there. Our teacher tried to keep us focused on rehearsing and wouldn't really talk about what was going on. Most of our teachers were told to try and keep us focused on school, and they weren't allowed to put the TVs on at the high school or the middle school, because administrators didn't want to risk a student seeing a parent or relative's body being pulled out of the wreckage. Many teachers and parent volunteers rode around on school buses that day until around 5 pm, ensuring all students had a parent or guardian at home, or stayed at the schools until late until every child was picked up (even if they didn't work in the towers, plenty of parents in my town commute to the city for work and were obviously having trouble getting home). The smoke from the explosion was in the air for a good two days (and the weather was gorgeous that day). I came home and watched the news - contractors were there putting in our bay window. My dad was away in Las Vegas on a business trip, and he and his colleagues ended up having to rent a van and drive home cross country, since airports were shut down. My dad travels for work a LOT so we were all used to his coming and going by then, but my dad remembers that being the first time in a while that we all ran to the door immediately to greet him with hugs when he arrived home.
I was still seething from an argument with my wife the night before! She woke me up shortly after the planes hit and we watched television in horror. Whatever we were mad about didn't matter anymore (to this day I still can't remember!) Schools let out early and we picked our kids up and tried hard to explain what had happened without scaring them to death. We all spent the day together watching the news and trying to make sense of it all. Amid rumors of even more planes headed our way that day, I took the day off because there's no place I'd rather be than with my family.
Grade 7. Teacher came in crying and told us about it.
I was in Paris with my mother. I believe we were inside the Montmartre cathedral. Was pretty intense coming outside and hearing all the screaming.
I was in high-school for my Science-Biology class. It was the principal who announced to us that an aircraft crashed into the WTC. But I remember the most was the events on the news that whole week.
I was in grad school in San Francisco. For weeks, months afterward - there were national guard members on the Bay Bridge, worried that it might be a target for terrorists. I will never forget any of that.
I was 8 years old, and my mom woke me up. We were watching and she said " oh look they're showing it again " ... but then we realized it was the 2nd plane hitting.. =[
I was in my freshman Spanish class. I remember hearing whispers of stuff around 10am during a class change...but it seemed like a plane had crashed somewhere- I didn't realize it was into the World Trade Center. After a few minutes in class, an administrator knocked on our door and gave my teacher a green sheet of paper. She sat down at her desk, read it, and just sobbed. We didn't know what to do. We thought something had happened in her personal life. After a few minutes, they made an announcement on the loudspeaker. I can still see that scene etched in my memory, where I was sitting, in what room, and the placement of the loudspeaker on the wall. During my next class, our teacher turned on the TV, and we just watched in shock. He let us use his personal cell phone to check on any relatives we had in NY or DC. We were worried our area was next- I live in the Virginia Beach area of Virginia, and there are multiple military bases in the area.
I will never, ever, forget that day.
I know we will all remember where we were, who we were with and where our family was.
The only thing I could think of was getting back to my family, but I had to work and so did my husband. It was the best thing in the world to be able to hug him and the boys when we all finally got home.
http://wmljshewbridge.blogspot.com/2011/09/10th-anniversary-of-day-our-lives.html
I was 14, freshmen in higschool and we were at school camp. Out in the middle of nowhere. We were getting ready to play spoke tackle, when one of our teachers announced to us what was happening. Then we just continued on with our day. That was it. Some parents drove up and took their kids home and some of us had to just wait till the trip back the next day. Totally cut off from the world. I do remember, however, getting newspapers when we were stopped for food and gas. We looked/read all the way home. I remember just staring at the cover of one of the newspapers and looking at the burning tower and thinking how terrifying that would be to live through. I still can't imagine being in there. :(
@EJC102486@xanga - I was also a sophomore in high school. I found out about it just before class started. (My school started late...like 9am!)
I was in 7th grade, as soon as everyone found out they put the tvs on. Then we were on lockdown til like 6-7pm that night. They swore we were next to get hit because of Lilly & we make pretty much all the medicine, so they thought we would get hit there.
I was in middle school in OKC. We were all taken to the cafeteria and the principal made the announcement that the first plane had crashed into the WTC. I remember our teachers debating among themselves if it would be smart to try to send us home, I assume everyone was afraid that OKC would be a target because we were still healing from the 1993 bombing. When they found out that another plane was being directed to Pennsylvania and it wasn't an isolated attack, we were rushed to a steel tornado shelter while arrangements were made to get us all home. My mother was put on alert with all the other nurses in case there was a plane crash downtown. It was a terrifying day, all I could think about was the bombing and the after effects and if that was happening again. I'll never forget the terror I felt and how hard I prayed for those affected by the attacks.
I remember everything about where I was. I was 21, working clinicals at St Francis Hospital in Columbus Georgia (big Army town). We had to evacuate the hospital due to what was felt to be a credible bomb threat. As we were taking patients out, one older man was very upset that he had lost his wife in the confusion. I told him I would find her, and after getting a description of her, I snuck past security to go back in the building to find her. She was wandering around (had dementia) when I found her and I reunited them.
It was pretty ugly though, at first before the bomb threat. I'll never forget the scene in the ER. One of the main ER drs was Iraqi and some of the nurses got personally mad at him yelling "it's you! It's your family! You are killing our people!" He had to be escorted to safety from the nurses. It was intense and ugly.
I was in first grade...my teacher turned on the TV and we were all excited cause we thought we were gonna be able to watch Zoboomafoo. I didn't really understand until I went home and my mom told me about it. I remember she was crying & I saw the people jumping out of the windows and I told her not to cry because those people would live.
I was in 6th grade art class when the teacher told us a plane hit a building. There was a really small airport in our town, so I figured that's all it was. It wasn't until a prayer rally (private school) that we all knew what was going on. We had the radio on for the rest of the day. I even remember going home and watching the news ALL night with my dad and we ate hamburger helper lasagna. I still can't believe it's been 10 years.
i was getting ready to go to school and the news was on the little tv in my moms room and we were standing watching the tv in horror. it was awful.
I was in 7th grade. My grandma had come to wake me up for school. A few minutes later she came back and said "You need to wake up. Something happened in New York." I remember walking out, tired and confused and when I looked at the tv I just stood there in silence and watched until I had to go to school. In my reading class that day the teacher asked us "Who can tell me what happened today?" me and a few other people raised their hands to answer. That was where I found out a plane crashed in the field in PA, too and that the Pentagon was hit.
I can't even remember the details of a certain day last WEEK, but I can remember what I was doing THAT day, vividly.
I was driving to work and listening to the radio. I heard about the first plane and was thinking how terrible that was and I wondered how something like that could happen. I figured it was just a very unfortunate accident. Then they mentioned the second plane and I no longer thought that way. I was thinking, something is VERY VERY wrong for there to be 2 planes doing this in the same place.
Once getting to work, I mentioned to my boss what I heard on the radio and we turned on the radio at work. In no time at all we heard about the Pentagon. We we very disturbed the whole day that we were there. It was hard to concentrate on what we were supposed to be doing.
I was 10 and was getting ready for the day. My mom was on the phone with a friend and she told us to come in the living room and turned the tv on. We saw almost all of it. I remember watching the news for the next few days and just being so scared thinking that was going to happen to every sky scraper.
I was 14 years old, and I was on the school bus. It was early in the morning and I was half asleep with my head on the seat in front of me. I had my headphones in listening to the radio on my CD player. All I remember was the deejay on the radio repeating "Oh no... Oh my God... Oh my God... Oh no..." I woke up as I heard the deejay yell "OH MY GOD" as the second tower was hit. I didn't know what was going on until I got to school. We didn't have classes that day at all. We just watched the news coverage. It was horrible. A good friend of mine was pulled out of class and come to find out her cousins were in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. It was crazy to me because I thought we were so far away in Las Vegas that it wouldn't affect anyone so closely. I won't forget the look on her face when the principal tapped her on the shoulder. It was as if she knew...
8th grade Spanish class
I was in fifth grade Reading & Writing when the principal called the whole school to the auditorium and explained to us what was happening. I still remember it vividly, I was in New Jersey but we could see the smoke... just a huge ominous cloud...
Ten years later, I was in bed with a French boy. (Yeah, lolrite, dunno what happened. Bill O'Reilly would be so pissed.)
Actually I felt bad not being in NYC this year. It's forever my real home.
I was a junior in high school in California. My alarm for the morning was set to a radio station. I woke up to the announcement that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center. That jolted me awake, but it took another minute for me to realize why I was crying. My big brother worked across the street from the world trade center.
I ran out of my room to tell my parents. They had already heard. My mom was panicking while my dad tried to calm her, saying that it must sound worse than it actually was. He kept saying that my brother was fine.
My family spent the entire morning trying to get hold of my brother or his fiance. Of course, everyone in the country had the same idea and all the phone lines were overloaded. I eventually had to leave for school. I remember walking in late, apologizing to my teacher, and thinking it strange that he didn't care I was late.
Everyone was all right. My brother was on a ferry crossing to Manhattan when the second plane hit. His fiance, now wife, was actually in more danger. She was directly under the trade center in the subway platforms when the planes hit. Thank gods, she got out ok.
My brother later went back to his office across the street from the WTC. He brought back his laptop computer. All that remained of it was the titanium casing.