9/11

[LennyBriscoe]

It’s 20 years on Saturday since the 9/11 atrocities. I was at work when the news filtered through and I still remember the disbelief at what was happening.

Every year I watch documentaries, it still fascinates me (for want of a better word).

Where were you when 9/11 happened? What sticks in your mind the most?

 

[hereforthememe]

I was only 4 so I don't remember the news or really what was happening... I do just remember this big "thing" all the adults were talking about. It was weird because I recognised it was serious, but it took a few years for it to click, and another few years to actually grasp what had happened. My grandparents were in New York days before it happened, so they talked about it a lot.

 

[Kaylarina]

I was at school - my teachers husband was in NY and was supposed to be in the towers for a work meeting, but it got pushed later at the last minute. I remember how deathly quiet the whole school was.

I’ve visited Ground Zero a number of times - first in 2004 and I was amazed by how small I found the area. I always expected it to be such a big area.

I can’t quite believe it’s been 20 years.

 

[Prgirl_cesca]

It’s 20 years on Saturday since the 9/11 atrocities. I was at work when the news filtered through and I still remember the disbelief at what was happening.

Every year I watch documentaries, it still fascinates me (for want of a better word).

Where were you when 9/11 happened? What sticks in your mind the most?

Have you watched the 2 new documentaries on the BBC this week? My husband is a 9/11 obsessive and we have seen every doc going but these two were incredible.

I was in the shower having come home from holiday the day before and my mum rang the landline so I ran down soaking wet and she told me to put on the telly as she had heard about a plane crash in NYC. I was a teenager and not very worldly so I didnt quite get the magnitude of it at the time.

 

[hereforthememe]

On a somewhat related note... I was in Manchester Airport when the Arena attack happened at the Ariana Grande concert. Our flight had just landed and usually you just walk through to passport control right?

They had security there, too, checking random bags etc.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

Have you watched the 2 new documentaries on the BBC this week? My husband is a 9/11 obsessive and we have seen every doc going but these two were incredible.

I was in the shower having come home from holiday the day before and my mum rang the landline so I ran down soaking wet and she told me to put on the telly as she had heard about a plane crash in NYC. I was a teenager and not very worldly so I didnt quite get the magnitude of it at the time.

We’ve just finished watching ‘The President’s War Room’, it was really good to hear things from their perspective. I’ve got ‘Surviving 9/11’ on the planner.

 

[Prgirl_cesca]

We’ve just finished watching ‘The President’s War Room’, it was really good to hear things from their perspective. I’ve got ‘Surviving 9/11’ on the planner.

Surviving 9/11 was brilliant too but the President's War Room was phenomenal.

 

[Guitarwarrior]

I was 11 and it was my second week of secondary school. It was probably around 4.15/30 UK time and I was in my living room having a snack and a drink before leaving for my ballet lesson. My parents were in the kitchen and could hear their conversation and “how awful it was”. I wandered in and asked what’s awful and they told me to put the television on. I can’t remember my reaction. I obviously knew something very bad had happened and a lots of people had died but it’s only as I grew into adulthood I was actually able to fully comprehend what had happened. One thing I think did help was one of my teachers at the time ditched his lesson plan and had a discussion lesson with us where we could talk about what happened.

I haven’t watched many 9/11 documentaries but I found the two new ones on the BBC a really interesting watch. The president’s war room was possibly one of the best bits of tv I’ve seen in recent years. The snapshots of Bush having the news relayed to him were incredible.

 

[under the ivy]

I was only 8 but I remember getting home from school with my Nana and she told me to ‘sit down and watch the news because something bad has happened in America’. I remember seeing the Towers collapse on TV.

When I visited NYC a few years ago I visited the site of the Towers and the memorial. Although it’s a ‘tourist’ attraction and is busy, there’s a solemn atmosphere.

I like watching the documentaries too. I need to catch up on the ones on iPlayer.

 

[Baconbutties]

I was 24 walking through town with my boyfriend. Saw it on the telly's in the window of a shop, just stood there in disbelief. I remember ringing my dad to ask was he watching the telly. I still can't believe it happened to this day.

 

[hol20x]

I was in primary school and I remember getting home and my mum had the news on and I watched it unfold. I was only 7 so I didn’t really understand what was going on but I very clearly remember watching it.

 

[didn't want to join]

I was in my 30's, had 2 small children and my Mum had come to babysit them as I had a job interview in London.

At first, we believed a small training plane had hit the building, then it became obvious it was a large plane

One of my children had a little blue/white/pink plastic toy house and held up the tv from it, which oddly had the twin towers on it's screen, we still have that little tv, even though the toy house is long gone. You realise watching old tv shows and films, the towers were a huge thing, like Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower, a very well know face of a country.

Seeing the first tower in flames was horrific, I've worked in tall buildings and I felt for the people there.

I got on the train and it had many shocked, saddened, worried people. My interview was rubbish, I didn't want to be there and wished I'd just stayed home. It was eerie (no planes were flying) and everyone had begun to leave and go home, I passed several people crying and in shock.

The train home had some people who knew workers in those two buildings, so very sad. To see both the buildings gone and the photo of a window (like a kind of jagged edge and small shapes that you realise are windows) really brought it home the following day.

I've watched many documentaries over the years, I guess because you just want to know why?

Thinking of all those affected.

 

[Libbie]

I remember it quite vividly too. I was 17 and watching the end of Neighbours (lunchtime ep), when the credits cut to the image of the second plane heading for the south tower, I saw it hit live, unbelievable!
I honestly thought they’d mistakenly put a disaster film on! It was so surreal!

 

[Mrspowell]

I was coming back from swimming lessons and we heard it on the radio. Does anyone know if there’s any new docs coming out or recommend any maybe I haven’t seen?

 

[bowtiesarecool]

I was in my first week of year 2 at college, 16years old (I was a young one in my year). A couple had mobiles, and on the afternoon, news was filtering through of a serious thing in New York. We lost concentration and got sent home, I arrived home to my parents watching the news. Seconds after sitting down, the first tower collapsed and I realised the magnitude of what was happening.

I must admit I watch any documentary about it, I don't know why.

 

[bubbadabut]

I had just come home from a half-day at work and I think the 2nd plane had just hit. It all seems like a dream now. I wouldn't have even known what the twin towers were had my sister not been to the top of them in the January of that year with school. Awful to watch but sadly, morbidly fascinating, and I too watch all the documentaries.

I was massively into the NY music scene at the time, Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc. When 9/11 happened I felt like something was pulling me to go, like I had to get it out of my system. Anyway I went a few months later, to see the ground zero, which just looked like a building site, apart from a girder which they'd left standing. It was a lot smaller than I expected. I just stood there for a while, taking it all in. Can't believe its been 20 years. Has the world become a better place since? Probably not

 

[Shesaidwhat?]

I was at primary school, I think that’s actually what sticks out for me because I remember our teacher stopping teaching us putting the tv on in our classroom and us all sitting on the floor watching it not fully understanding what had happened.

I can’t believe it’s been almost twenty years.

 

[under the ivy]

I was coming back from swimming lessons and we heard it on the radio. Does anyone know if there’s any new docs coming out or recommend any maybe I haven’t seen?

There’s some on the iPlayer that are recent

 

[Meangirl815]

I was at work in a travel agents. One of my colleagues took a phone call from a family member who told him what had happened. I worked in foreign exchange and we had to stop all transactions with dollars as the stock markets had closed.

I worked inside a shopping centre and i remember it being empty for the rest of the day apart from staff. We all took turns to go and watch the news on the TV's in argos window.

 

[Bubblesandflowers]

I remember coming home from primary school and my nan had the TV on very upset. I don’t think I really understood how that event would go on to change so much.