Across the Street at 3 World Financial Center…
Let’s see…That was my freshman year in high school. We watched tv the entire schoolday. It got old pretty quick, but man what is going on in some people’s heads???
Started out as normal day for me, woke up 7-8 am, eating, then turned on tv for a bit. News reports came in about small plane hitting first tower, then nonstop views of the smoke…Then, right before everyone’s eyes, second plane hits, and the whole world changed at that point.
Lots of tv watching after that, noticed how surreal it seemed outside for the next few days when the skies were almost totally barren (airport flight path takes many larger passenger jets several thousand feet over my house, not that loud but I still hear them)
Heard from relatives in nyc that they were fine later that day, later that week heard from a friend that he made it out of 2nd tower before it fell, seriously thought he was gone since he worked way up there.
First heard the news in the middle of a set of seated calf raises; no shit.
I was on the 35th floor of 1 Wall St. Direct line of sight to both towers. We debated on wether or not to evacuate after the first plane but stayed there. As we stared at the burning building, the second plane hit. Then we knew it was time to bail. We caught the last ferry to Staten Island and hung out at a co-workers house until we could find a way home. I still have nightmares about that day.
I was on duty at the firehouse that morning, just starting to work-out, when we watched it unfold. As the morning progressed, we watched in shock as thousands died, knowing that hundreds of our brothers were among them.
Watching tv before work. Only one plane had hit at that time…I think. Then on the way to work I listened and heard the rest. It was such a surreal day. Noone did any work. So pointless… 
I, like some of the others, heard it briefly on the radio at work and thought it was just a small plane. Then the director put CNN up in the conference room and we all watched…
…after it was all over, we ran (drove, bused) home back to our familiies because (for some reason) work just didn’t seem that important that day.
It was my day off, but for some reason I still got up early. I turned on the TV and there it was. The footage of the planes hitting the towers is something that still haunts me. As well I can still remember seeing a man and a woman, perhaps co-workers, who grabbed each others hand and jumped out of the tower. They must have thought falling to their death was the lesser of the two evils. It was so sad. That day was very surreal, and I was glued to the TV for days.
in tokyo packing for a Sept 12 flight to NYC.
watched it live as i packed, then unpacked.
never got there
I was in the airport in Hartford, CT watching the news in the hotel lounge. They interupted the news as soon as the first plane hit and I thought “man some idiot flew his little plane into the WTC” Then as I was watching I saw the 2nd plane hit live-time. The news guy was freakin out and then I was like “JC we are under attack!” The airport was soon after evacuated as all flights in the us were grounded and the national guard was there quickly brandishing machine guns and with dogs.
Home sick w/ cancer, otherwise I should have been around that area actually real close. At WFC around that time. Today has been the first I went to the city on Sept 11th on its aniversary. Last time my cancer relapsed. Hopefully, I stick around for a few more aniversary.
In Health,
Silas S Chen
I was at school but had the period off. I saw the shit as soon as it happened. Since i live on LI we rushed to call my friends dad who works in wtc. He’s was good so we just watched the tube all day and left school early.
Cuda - yes she was, thanks. She fielded many calls from all of us ‘up staters’ who STILL don’t understand that Manhatten is not Brooklyn. laugh all I knew was that she worked all over the city because of her job and there was a small chance she could have been there, or in the vacinity. She was home and watching it on TV like everyone else.
I was late for class that morning. While on my way driving to school I had my radio tuned in to KRock. Howard Stern came back on just as I was approaching my school and announced that a small plane had hit the WTC.
Almost immediately, memories of the basement bombing of the WTC came to mind and my first thought was that it wasn’t an accident. How could it have been?? It’s a friggin’ huge set of buildings!
I felt uneasy (and just hoped that it truly was an accident), turned off my radio and went to my World History class. It was almost halfway through that some guy’s beeper went off and he announced aloud about the attacks on the WTC. Apparently, he had to leave as he was a volunteer fire fighter that was gonna go into NYC to help out (extremely brave guy).
The instructor immediately turned on the TV. By that time, the second plane had already hit. And no joke too: somehow intution struck me that Washington D.C. would be next. We ended up leaving that class early and school was pretty much cancelled for the rest of the day.
When I had gotten home, news of the Pentagon attack and the south tower collapsing had just been broadcasted. Up until that point, I had never felt so scared, hopeless, confused, infuriated, and sick to my stomach all at the same time.
After that I turned off my TV. I just couldn’t bear it anymore. And for the first time in my life, I actually prayed. I had never truly been a religious person by any means, but I didn’t know what else I could’ve done at that time then to ask some supreme being to be merciful. I got on my knees and I begged out loud for the people inside those buildings to come out safe and unharmed.
By the time I had gathered myself again to turn on my TV, I was slammed with replays of the planes hitting the towers and ultimately the towers collapsing. It only fueled the fire more. And like almost everyone else, I found myself in front of the TV for the next couple of days: hoping… and praying.
I just woke up around 11:00 and my brother-in-law came home for lunch and said the two towers were destroyed.I spent the next 6 months pretending like the world didn’t change.
I still cry sometimes when I think about it. Hearing the national anthem and “God Bless America” make me tear up. I’m only 22, so the first gulf war didn’t really mean anything to me. Now, I truly realize the meaning and intent of the problems in the world, and it means something totally different.
I took the day off of work for my birthday. Yep, September 11 is my birthday. Being a night owl I stay up late, and sleep days. My wife actually woke me and told me about everything once she got home.
The way she told it I thought it was worse then what it actually was. She mentioned 8 planes were hijacked, (which the news was rumoring, later reduced to four,) and that the WTC and the Pentagon was hit. I didn’t connect that it was hit with the planes, and didn’t know how they were hit. I thought it was the start of a war on American soil.
Being suddenly woken up and told this I was half dazed, and had trouble believing it. I spent the day and that night watching TV, or listening to the radio, and better understood the story.
Later I decided to pick up a flag, not realizing everyone had the same idea. (I got the last one actually.)
I live in Brooklyn, and used to be able to see the tops of the Twin Towers from my doorstep.
When I heard that one of the planes hit and the building was on fire, I went outside to look. There was a huge plume of smoke coming from the building. People on the street had stopped, and were standing and watching.
I went back inside to get my camera, and as i loaded my camera, the 2nd plane hit. I stayed glued to the TV, and saw the towers collapse on television (actually, couldn’t see that, just the audio. The cameras were all out of position).
The next few days were just total shock. Those buildings were so gigantic, that the idea that they could fall is incomprehensible. It’s like hearing “the Grand Canyon collapsed” or “Hawaii just sank into the ocean”. You just can’t get your mind around it.
This photo is one that my upstairs neighbor took.
I worked the overnight shift and came home at 8:30 in the morning and was listening to KML on 98 Rock. About 8:45, the newsman said he was getting a report of a plane hitting one of the World Trade Centers. The other guys were saying “How can someone hit the World Trade Center on a bright and sunny day?” Someone suggested it may have been an act of terrorism. The newsman said they would check everything out and have details after the commercial break.
I was on the internet when I heard this, so I quickly typed in “CNN.com.” The page wasn’t coming up, as if the site was being bombarded with hits. So, then I turned on TV. The second plane had just hit the other tower. My eyes open wide and jaw close to the ground, I felt like a truck had just hit me.