I was at a changing of base commander ceremony at Ft Huachuca. We were bussed to the parade grounds at around 5:30am in our dress blues… Stood in that field at parade rest for an hr or more, then we started hearing and seeing the bus drivers huddle around one of the busses with the radio really loud… Could not make out what was being said but seemed panicked and somber in tone. Ceremony was running late and that never happens… Few mins later rumors came throughout the flight and other branches from the airmen soldiers and marines that were closest to the busses… Pentagon was attacked, New York bombed, airplanes grounded and we were left in that field till about 8am AZ time… Then very quickly they put us back on the busses and the ride back to barracks was totally different then just a few hours before… In that timeframe of being at the parade grounds the base was locked down and transformed, Had army in Humvee’s with 50s riding around so many front end loaders carrying concrete to close every bldg entrance… No cars other than mil running around , the base trained tanks crews so you could hear tank turbines running lots of em… Helis flying over with doors open and gunners out… Got to the barracks went straight to the day room and watched like the rest of the country on repeat for a few days… Phone booth lines were packed only a few ppl had cellphones which were also useless… But really the weirdest most surreal day of my life… Where were you?
I was in college at UNC-Charlotte. Woke up to hearing it on John Boy and Billy and then turning on TV. Classes were not canceled but it was weird walking to class and seeing planes everywhere in holding patterns waiting to land at CLT. Downtown Charlotte evacuated after the 2nd tower was hit.
At work. When the first plane hit we thought it was an accident. Pilot error or equipment malfunction. When the second hit it was obvious that something was up, but Radical Islamist Terrorism wasn’t talked about much back then so it was still unclear as to what was happening.
Unfortunately this evil still exists among us and our Government is failing to protect this country from another such attack. Over 80 terrorists have benn caught crossing our southern border so we have no idea how many have not been caught.
We are complacent.
I was at work in Cincinnati. I actually flew back home a few days later, the first day they re-opened the airways. Remember it like it was yesterday. I got a call on my cell telling me to get to a computer and go to a news website.
I was sleeping after working a midnight shift (cop) when my sister called to wake me up and tell me what was happening., then I was glued to the TV until my shift again that night.
The county was so unified and strong after 9/11. It’s difficult to go through the strongest this county has been in my lifetime, to the absolute lowest as it is now, and complete incompetence of our “leaders”. Such a sad shame.
I will never forget.
I was a day shift production Supervisor at GM. I’d just got done with my morning startup routine and headed to the box to approve timesheets. A fellow Supervisor came in from his startup and said someone told him a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We both walked straight into the day room and wheeled over the TV with rabbit ears we used for monthly training videos. When we finally got a station dialed in things seemed somewhat benign -just a freak accident. The camera was fixated on the burning North tower. It was only a couple of minutes later we watched the second plane hit the South tower live. At that point we were both completely taken aback, knowing instantly this was no accident.
Spent the rest of the day trying to calm my folks down. No one knew what do and there was not much being communicated with respect to a government/military response. Comms were difficult back then, no smart phones really, just radios and word of mouth. It was utter confusion for a large part of the day. When I finally got back to the office, the phone was ringing off the hook with 2nd shifters asking if they should come in to work or stay home. I had no idea what to tell them really… other than we were still pushing steel out the door.
I was coming off working the night shift in Range Control at Fort Jackson, SC. I had just got into the house when I heard the news. The following shift we had started perimeter patrols around the ranges and impact areas. Shortly afterward I volunteered to deploy. I was overseas between South Korea and Iraq for the next four years-May 2002 to August 2005.
I was at work in the DC suburbs, listening to Howard Stern on the radio, when they reported a plane hit the first tower. A caller was live on Stern watching the first tower burn when all of the sudden he cries out, “Oh my God, a plane just hit the other tower!” It was chilling. I’ll never forget.
We happened to have the windows open because the weather was so nice that day. Out of nowhere we heard a low thud noise in the distance. One of my coworkers said, “Oh, they got the Pentagon too…” He was trying to lighten the mood, but was a prophet instead…
We watched the rest unfold on a TV our receptionist had.
In high school shop class, spent the rest of the day watching it in the remainder of my classes throughout the day from the wall mounted tv’s.
Exactly @Copenhagen!! 
I was in Ft. Lauderdale, working. We’d just started ripping the old windows and doors out of a house.
Side note-I used to play pool at the same place as the hijackers. Toby’s Billiards, in Hollywood, FL. They always used the tables at the back of the hall. I’d actually passed, and said hello to, the man I later learned was Mohammed Atta. Yeah, they drank beer and played pool.
Hollywood is an odd place. Maybe like Derry, Maine.
Thanks it’s nice to know so many will actually never forget.
At my 1st unit in Wisconsin. Doing training and we took a smoke break, someone said an airplane accidentally hit the tower so I was watching CNN and then the 2nd plane hit live on tv. I remember the scrambling and barricading, I remember was gas lines, everything was suspicious, and I went home on leave that Xmas and a guy who looked middle eastern jumps up in the aisle and I’m thinking “you’re shitting me” but then picks up his baby to walk around.
I was working at a vaccine manufacturing site. I crawled into a mechanical space at 0730 to work on some equipment. I crawled out at 1100 to whole new world. What should have been a building with hundreds of people was empty.
The next day the state police patrolled the site and additional armed security was at all gates. Certain vaccines were housed there. Hydraulic barriers were installed by the end of the week.
I actually had a reservation to fly from Greenville to DC later that same day. Of course everything got grounded and I had to take Amtrak from Clemson to Alexandria, VA. Very somber ride with just a few passengers. We congregated in the bar car hoping to get some further news of what was happening. Train got stopped south of Charlottesville, VA. for about an hour until they got permission to continue. The entire trip took over 12 hours instead of the usual 8. The bar car attendant’s husband was a fireman in NYC and she had no idea if he was alive or not. I still wonder how her husband made out. All in all one of the saddest days in my memory.
English class… Sophomore in High School
I was at work, Refrigeration Maintenance at a Tyson Processing plant - just came back from the convenience store next door for coffee.
Walked in the breakroom and like 70 production people were gathered in a semi-circle around the TV. I was like “que es pasando?” (what’s going on) and one finally tears away and answered in broken engrish “es el Twin Towers! Avion crash!”
I watched for a minute or so, as everyone murmured about the burning building…. And then the next plane swung into view and ploughed-into the other Tower……
Nobody said a word for at least a minute or two. Then Panic as someone came in and said “They bombed the Pentagon and the Whitehouse!” Some ran out onto thr Production Floor, some left without even taking off their smocks.
Of course it wasn’t bombs, and the Whitehouse wasn’t hit - that convenience store; the Owner showed up, and jacked-up the price of gas to $6.50/gal (from like $1.29)…. people were fighting at the pumps…. For an hour or so it was Chaos in the streets of Redneckistan, Arkansas…
I just called my Wife at work, told her to stay put, do what she could, don’t worry unless there was an immediate local Disaster - and we would figure something out before the end of the workday.
I was in a training class, working for a Major North American Department of Defense. I followed a lot of people to the lunch room and saw the follow-up on video. We had been on terrorist alert since the 1980s. I said, “Pearl Harbor all over again.”
The Colonel sent us home early. I wanted to stay even if there was nothing to do but “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” I wanted to be doing something positive. My Lady Wife had been home all day alone and was glad I was home. Geoff Who has not forgotten.
I remember it clearly. That whole weekend was a major weekend in my life. on Friday September 7,2001, I was let go from my first career job position. I was a contractor for the USPS in Information Technology. I had worked 5 years almost there doing IT work, and being let go took me by surprise. Saturday was normal, sunday 9/9 I went to a comedy show wiht my family, had a decent time, but still had the whole “jobless” hanging over my head. I was recently married that previous May, and being a newly wed, with no job and many bills was frightening to me as i had never been unemployed before. Luckly Monday 9/10/2001 was my birthday… or unluckily because that being laid off really sucked for it. however i was able to setup an interview with a tech contracting company for the next day in the morning at like 8 am, at the main library downtown. Since they were a contracting company they didnt have an office locally and conducted interviews there. On tuesday 9/11/01 i arrived early at like 730am est. and everything seemed normal. I listened to the radio like normal and waited for the appointment. at 8 i went in and did my interview and all that was required. I dont recall how long it took me to get through all of it, but i do remember when i got out, i called my wife on my cell phone, and she said to come home as a plane has crashed into the world trade center.
When i had gotten home, she had CNN on or one of the news channels and i remember watching the second plane hit the building. we were dead silent, as was everything when that happened. It was like the world stood still. My Dad worked for the US Mint in Downtown DC, and had called me stating he was fine and was being evacuated and told to go home. The roads were so congested with everyone leaving DC he had to take a route he normally wouldnt have to get home, and was on the I think GW Parkway overlooking the pentagon when the plane hit that building. He pulled over to the side of the road and freaked out for a bit and then called me, to let me know 1, what he just saw, and 2, that he was out of DC and safe so far. I couldnt believe what was happening… the coverage on tv was shocking. Planes being told to be grounded, everything shutting down. then the patriotism that erupted from it. the Unity and solidarity of being An American, i can only wish we could get back to. It was a shame that it took something so drastic like that attack to unite us as a country. And boy did it, for a good decade almost we were pretty well together well at least 5 years… maybe not a whole 10… I wish we could feel that way all the time with all of our fellow americans. Proud, united, patriotic, together… It was eerie, sitting on my front porch with my neighbors, not hearing any aircraft, or not hearing any traffic on the nearby roadways… everything was quiet eerily. I was out of work for almost 2 months, finally getting on as a Tech support person for UPS on like the 24th of October 2001 or somewhere near that date… i cant remember now… longest stretch i’ve ever had without a job in my whole life. I was very thankful to get that job… and worked there for 8 years. It’s amazing how much has changed since 2001 in this country… same with it being amazing with how much i’ve changed myself. i was so young, just turning 26, and now i just had my 47th birthday… i’d never thought that we would have been in the war for/of terrorism for 20 or so years, but then again i’d of also never thought i’d of had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of 43 either… its amazing how much living you can do in 20 years i guess.
I was in the Army, stationed at Ft. Hood, TX (4th Infantry Division). I was on my way into work when my wife called me and told me what was on the news. By the time I got to the gate, the post had been “ locked down” and all cars were getting searched. When I got to the unit, there was already talk of us deploying. I remember every detail of that day.