9/11

[grumpycat]

Like a few others I was 11 and had just started secondary school. I was getting in the car and my parents told me to be quiet as we listened to the radio. We got home to put the news on and caught the second plane live. I can remember the feeling of disbelief as we all watched it live. At 11 I can’t really remember comprehending but when I watch it now I can’t bear the Thought of all those people going into the tower and everyone in the world just watching on.

I think we had the news on all afternoon. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years and we’ve gone from being utterly shell shocked to almost immune to the entire thing now if you know what I mean. It doesn’t feel like 20 years ago, whenever I watch a documentary I’m always shocked at how ages everything feels. And how fast technology has come along, now you can be informed at a push notification and then you had to call someone or text them on a Nokia 3310 style phone.

 

[dorydaryl]

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.

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

When I visited the site in 2008 (before the pools were installed), that's what struck me. For such a small space with the chaos of a big city happening all around, there was an eerie calm/ silence. It was also a building site itself back then but the silence is what struck me.

On the day itself, I came home, early-afternoon, from a joyous occasion (helping to promote an awards ceremony for local Yorkshire achievers and chatting away with Lisa Riley). The local press and TV had been there. (Obviously, they had far more important things to cover later that day!). I got home, early afternoon and flicked the news on. It was just after the first plane hit and that was shocking enough. Then, the second hit as I was watching rolling coverage. It was such a beautiful day both here in the UK and in NY. By teatime, it was if the skies were dark here, too, despite the bright sunshine that lasted all day.

It was the people trapped and falling out of windows that sticks with me most. There was nothing anyone could do. This was happening live on TV and the immediacy of it....Also knowing that the emergency workers who we had witnessed entering the towers with a the aim of rescue, nor all those trapped for the most part would never be coming out alive as the towers fell. The anxiety not knowing how many hijacked planes were airborne and what damage they were yet to do was quite palpable, especially when everyone knew the Pentagon was also hit.

Just horrible. And it does feel like yesterday.

 

[Geranium]

I was at home because a carpenter was working on our staircase. We were due to go to NYC for the second time in about two weeks to celebrate my 40th. My husband phoned and told me to switch on the tv as a plane had hit the WTC. Like so many people we thought at first that it was an accident involving a light aircraft. The carpenter joined me watching the live footage and we both saw the second plane hit. I was on the phone to my husband who also had the live footage on at work. We watched tv the whole day. We both absolutely love NYC, have visited many times and even after one visit fell very connected to it. We had gone up to the observation deck on our previous visit and I also remember lying on a bench in the plaza below, staring up at the towers against a blue sky. I remember touching and admiring the Atlas statue there.We were both struck by the complex of shops and food outlets beneath the towers, we had no idea that was there. The towers were so immense, it’s hard to appreciate their height and how they stood out on the skyline until you were actually there.
We went back the following year and several times since and have seen the clearing and evolution of the site which was very moving. Atlas survived but was mangled, they placed him temporarily in Battery Park. I cried when I saw him there. He is now near the memorial.
NYC has a powerful spirit than nothing can crush. I have immeasurable respect for it’s citizens and all the heroic first responders, their courage was matchless.

 

[FlatWhite]

I was in primary school. I can remember the school principal coming to our classroom, knocking on the door and telling the teacher a second plane had hit. They put it on the tv and we all watched, not knowing what was going on but just sat in silence and shock.

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

I was only five, almost six at the time and I didn’t know anything about it until I got home from school as I was quite young.

I went back to my dad’s and he had the tv on watching it and I remember seeing it on the tv and asking what had happened. I’ll never forget that and since then I’ve grown up hearing about it and watching documentaries, it’s heartbreaking.

i went to New York in 2018 for my birthday and I visited ground zero and the memorial. It was very sad to see.

 

[PollyPerks]

I was 26, working in an Outpatients department. It was a quiet afternoon, and I remember seeing the Outpatients Sister coming by with an odd expression on her face, and she said, "New York's in flames, planes have crashed into the World Trade Centre". My colleagues and I went straight onto our computers to find out what had happened, then we went to the Children's Outpatients, which was empty that afternoon, as it was the only part of the department that had a screen, usually for showing cartoons. We watched the news for a long time, and I remember seeing the footage of the second tower falling over and over - I actually have no idea if I saw this happen live or if I just saw a repeat of the footage. Then I went home and watched the news for hours. I found the lack of places in the sky for the next day or two really eerie - where I lived and worked was right on the flight path to Heathrow so there would usually be a plane every minute or so, and a sky without planes felt so odd.

 

[grumpycat]

The memorial really is the more eerie place I’ve been. The air feels heavy. the memorial is beautiful though. I remember seeing the sea of names and not comprehending just how many people died. I hope that the 20th anniversary goes on without any kind of disruption

I didn’t get time to go in the museum but I’d love to in the future. New York is an amazing place, covid delayed my third trip there and I cannot wait to go back.

 

[Melmx]

I was only 7 at the time it happened, I only have a vague memory of watching the news footage and everyone talking about it, I remember being terrified that planes where going to start crashing into buildings all over the world

now at 27 I have a bit of a morbid fascination, I watch every documentary and read any books etc about it

Its crazy to me that it’s been 20 years since it happened and the worlds really no better off

 

[Notredamn]

Teenaged me was home from lunch at school. Joined my mother in watching the events unfold. We had thought a helicopter hit by accident whilst filming or something. Then the second plane hit. For me there was a world before and a world after.
Because of the nature of parents ' jobs at my and my siblings' schools, temporary walls were put up around them and we had security. Where we lived the event also stirred up xenophobia and racism which hadn't really existed beforehand.
I'll never forget the horror the victims must have endured, even now it's inconceivable.

 

[UnknownTattler]

I was 12, I came home from school and put the tv on to watch citv, and the picture on the telly was of the New York skyline from across the water all covered in smoke. And I was like what is this, where are the kid's programmes, so I kept watching to see if they would come back on, before soon realising that regular programming wouldn't be back on for a while.

I too found the President's War Room documentary fascinating, hearing from all the top people in power at the time was really interesting. Another documentary that I have watched a few times now is '102 Minutes that Changed America' which is all footage filmed by people in the area that day, it's currently available on All 4.

 

[Moolo]

I was on a plane to Boston (first ever flight on my own at the age of 18!), due to take off at around the same time as the first plane hit.

An announcement came over the speaker and said there had been an incident in New York. Then another announcement to say a plane had crashed into the WTC and then another saying another plane had crashed and it was looking like a very serious incident.

We had to sit on the plane for a few hours and I could hear a lot of people on the plane speaking about what could have happened, talking about if they had family in New York and so on. I was quite confused by it all - like it hadn't really registered what was happening or how serious it was.

The flight was then cancelled and I had to wait at the airport for my dad to pick up - it was there I saw some TV footage and saw some armed police (never had seen police with a gun before!) and realised how serious it was. We had the radio on on the way home and just couldn't believe it - entire journey just sat in disbelief that something like that had happened.

Still feels that way sometimes even with how awful the world is - just horrendous.

 

[BigMavis]

One day in America (national geographic) is phenomenal. Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but highly highly recommend.
Shows FDNY trying to figure out what to do... they would hear crash after crash and realise it was people...falling. absolutely heartbreaking.
Just makes me so sad.

 

[Monkeybum]

We had a walking tour when I first went to New York and the tour guide told us whenever it's one of the victims birthdays they put a white rose in their name on the memorial

 

[AlanBanan]

My uncle lived in Queens and worked as a bar man in Manhattan in the area of the towers, he doesn’t really remember it as he blocked it out, but he remembers people jumping and they looked like ants in the air and then all of a sudden they were popping like balloons on the ground,

He also said most of the jumpers were in one general area and not all around like you’d seem to think, He thinks a lot of people jumped from the same side of the building hence why they landed where they landed.

He wasn’t the better for it for awhile and had a big problem with drink coping with it.

He lives in dublin again and if you want I’ll ask him a question he can answer, seeming he was right in the area where it happened

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

I haven't looked into it enough, but what was the lead up and reason for those terrorist attacks?

 

[Yel]

I wonder if sky news repeated Kay burley's "reporting" this morning?

"The entire eastern seaboard of the United States has been decimated in a terrorist attack." Kay Burley, Sky News presenter

 

[footylass2021]

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?

i was approx 5 blocks away , hence why i have chronic asthma now

 

[Itsmedoctortea]

I wonder if sky news repeated Kay burley's "reporting" this morning?

"The entire eastern seaboard of the United States has been decimated in a terrorist attack." Kay Burley, Sky News presenter

I have searched forever for this (never to be found) video!! She is a weapon

 

[Yel]

I have searched forever for this (never to be found) video!! She is a weapon

Have you got a spare few hours? It must be in this video somewhere. Report back if you get the timestamp!

 

[LemonPledge]

I remember that day so vividly. It's the only time (aside from when my Grandad died) that I've heard my dad sob. My parents lived and worked in Manhattan for years, the WTC was very familiar to them and several of his former colleagues lost children.

My friends boyfriend was working in the South Tower. When the plane hit the North his company were like "well you can leave if you want but there's no reason to". In hindsight it's crazy to think that's the attitude they took! Luckily he decided to leave. My friend said it really struck home seeing so many cars sat in the car park of their local train station - some weren't moved for weeks - people who had taken the train into work and never come home.