9/11

[Clemmy Fandango]

I was in Tenerife at the time and didn't see a TV for ages, just heard it on the radio. It was hours before I actually saw it, you have images going through your mind as to what on Earth could be happening, watching it eventually was worse than I could ever imagine.

A really interesting drama to watch is the Looming Tower on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately the distrust and lack of communication between the FBI and the CIA and vice versa and also the Government's lack of understanding of the risks Al Qaeda bring caused these guys to literally train for months right under their noses. The lack of security for domestic, rather than international, was a massive weak point. This could have all been avoided sadly.

 

[dorydaryl]

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.

I don't yet have that feeling of being 'immune', even now, although I kind of know what you mean.

The individual legacies of people there at the time or who lost loved ones still have the power to move and shock to this day.
You rock up at work, expecting a dum-de-dum kind of morning. Sun is shining and you're thinking how nice it would be to make the most of the last days of summer rather than sitting in your office. An hour later you're choosing between suffocating/burning to death or taking that one step out of the window you know will be your last, also knowing you'll never see your loved ones and friends again. Seeing all those around you going through the same thing. People you've just had a joke or (verbal) fight with, or spilled coffee on an hour earlier. It's all going to be over.
It's unbearable.

 

[grumpycat]

I don't yet have that feeling of being 'immune', even now, although I kind of know what you mean.

The individual legacies of people there at the time or who lost loved ones still have the power to move and shock to this day.
You rock up at work, expecting a dum-de-dum kind of morning. Sun is shining and you're thinking how nice it would be to make the most of the last days of summer rather than sitting in your office. An hour later you're choosing between suffocating/burning to death or taking that one step out of the window you know will be your last, also knowing you'll never see your loved ones and friends again. Seeing all those around you going through the same thing. People you've just had a joke or (verbal) fight with, or spilled coffee on an hour earlier. It's all going to be over.
It's unbearable.

It really does make you realise how short life can be. I can’t comprehend making those decisions.

And yeah - we are all getting so desensitised now that the shock of it almost seems so much less than how I felt at 9/11.

I suppose with 9/11 there was no ‘on the ground’ footage vs if something happens now- like with the Paris attacks on trial now it’s all so instant, at the click of a hand there’s footage right there in the middle of it. Whereas even now with 9/11 still so many stories are being told and footage unearthed. It gives me goosebumps when I remember the footage of the building collapsing and the dust cloud swarming to people and them running into shops or whatever and it swirling past

 

[Geranium]

I don't yet have that feeling of being 'immune', even now, although I kind of know what you mean.

The individual legacies of people there at the time or who lost loved ones still have the power to move and shock to this day.
You rock up at work, expecting a dum-de-dum kind of morning. Sun is shining and you're thinking how nice it would be to make the most of the last days of summer rather than sitting in your office. An hour later you're choosing between suffocating/burning to death or taking that one step out of the window you know will be your last, also knowing you'll never see your loved ones and friends again. Seeing all those around you going through the same thing. People you've just had a joke or (verbal) fight with, or spilled coffee on an hour earlier. It's all going to be over.
It's unbearable.

I agree, don’t think I will ever be immune. Your words are so moving.
Apart from the horror of the twin towers there was also the knowledge that planes full of passengers could be used as weapons. Plane travel changed so much after 9/11. I can’t imagine how those passengers felt when they realised what was happening.

 

[grumpycat]

I also meant immune in regards to terrorism in general, the fact it’s become such a, well not regular but frequent thing in our lives since 9/11 first happened, - not 9/11 itself. Hope that makes sense!

 

[ElektraWintour]

I was at secondary school, I got the bus home and walked in on my mum watching the news in disbelief.

I went to the memorial about 7 years ago and the thing that upset me was seeing women’s names followed by ‘& her unborn child’.

I’m finally seeing the musical Come From Away in London next month which I recommend if people haven’t heard of it.

Also I caught the last 30 mins of a documentary on itv the other night which was just amateur footage, not sure if it’s the same as ones that have already been mentioned. I need to watch it on catchup from the start.

 

[QueenieBee-BopALula]

I was working in a funny old building, which had a mezzanine over looking a larger working area below, my mum had called me, and told me that a plane had just gone into one of the towers, and my first reaction was to laugh, not that it was funny, more that I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I was on the BBC news website, and shouting over the mezz area, telling everyone in the office what was happening.

Seeing that first plane going into the first tower was horrific, and the whole aftermath still makes me shudder.

Thanks for the national geographic recommendations, will check them out x

 

[LennyBriscoe]

I agree, don’t think I will ever be immune. Your words are so moving.
Apart from the horror of the twin towers there was also the knowledge that planes full of passengers could be used as weapons. Plane travel changed so much after 9/11. I can’t imagine how those passengers felt when they realised what was happening.

I didn’t fly before 9/11 because I was too scared. It blows my mind to think that only 20 years ago you could walk onto a plane with pretty much anything.

It’s almost impossible to think that something good could come out of it but since then, air travel has changed so much we probably are safer in the sky than on any other method of transport.

 

[Columbo]

The thing that always sticks in my mind is watching the news live and seeing the second plane hit and the penny dropping that it wasn’t an accident.

Watched the Under Attack documentary on ITV the other night and found some of the calls from people trapped inside the building absolutely harrowing. One woman was asking the operator if she was going to die, I think I read that nobody on the floors above the point of impact survived so I think that lady probably didn’t make it

The whistles/ distress signals from fire fighters inside the building. Gut wrenching.

Also the recordings from air traffic control when they realised there was a plane headed for the Pentagon and mobilising the fighter jets to the United 93 flight.

Bloody hell when you really think about it, the terrorists brought America to it’s knees that day

 

[Stillwater]

It was and is still so shocking.

I was at work, first job post uni, my brother texted me as he was at home, We had been on holiday to NYC the September of 2000 and had been to the top of one of the towers.

I recall, as vividly, waking up the following morning to start my routine to get where I was going, and I could barely get out of bed. I felt, is this what we’re doing to each other now? It felt so insignificant to go this dumb job.

 

[Youre a wizard Harry]

I was 9 years old and I remember coming home from primary school, with the footage showing on tv of the towers burning. I didn’t really understand what had happened, other than something bad had happened and lots of people had died. As an adult now, I can’t quite comprehend just how many people died and the lasting effects.

I visited the memorial and museum a couple of years ago, and I agree with other posters who have said it’s eerily quiet. I went on a busy day, lots of people around the pools and yet it felt so quiet.

The under attack documentary on itv is very good. I hadn’t watched many documentaries about 9/11 before, I’d like to watch more.

 

[Stillwater]

Thank you for the tv recommendations - The President’s War Room is fascinating. About to start Looming Tower.

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

Seeing the people throw themselves out of the towers and seeing the towers collapse are probably the most upsetting moments for me. Just seeing all those lives disappear in an instance.

there were children on some of the planes, pregnant women, expectant fathers, it’s just so sad.

 

[taffygirl77]

I’m sat watching the Netflix documentary now. I was on my honeymoon in Brazil, we flew out on the only uk flight on the Monday. I was glancing at the tv and said to my hubby, “We’ve not seen this film” we found out a few days later what happened. We had to have our luggage all shrink wrapped - it was surreal

 

[Delia Smith]

There’s footage/recordings on Youtube from poor people trapped in the upper floors of the towers calling 911, that were later used in the enquiry. One man in particular who you hear right up until the second tower collapses. It’s absolutely harrowing and much more shocking than the recordings they aired in the ‘phone calls from the towers’ documentary so please only look for it if you feel you can handle it. I had a huge interest in 9/11 for a few years after visiting Ground Zero and searched for as much info as possible hence finding that. Visiting ground zero 5 months after the attacks was quite an experience.

 

[MyLittlePony25]

I was 12 and on reception duty at school. I saw the tv in the receptionists office but didn’t know what it was as they whispered about it. I didn’t think any more of it until I was home my mum put the news on. I watched all evening with her, as the second plane hit, as the people jumped from the buildings and as the towers fell.
It was the first I heard of terrorism and I have never and will never forget it. The fear they must have felt… the pain, the fear I felt and the fear that rippled through school, through the world… my childhood hadn’t been great but it was ‘normal’ for me but from that day and for a very long time, I saw the world as a very dark place.
It sometimes seems so long ago but also only seems like yesterday that it happened. I will certainly be thinking of all of those that lost their lives, on the day and in the aftermath and the military personnel too.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

I was 19 and work in an estate agents at the time and the first I knew of it was when one of the valuers came in and said that two high jacked planes had been flown into the financial district in New York and ‘thousands had been killed. Then for the rest of afternoon we were getting phone calls from clients telling us about it as they were watching it live. I still didn’t realise how bad it was till to I got home and saw it on the Six O Clock News. My mum had watched the whole thing unfold live because she always had the T.V on in the day then. The image of the jumping couple holding hands is the one that haunted me for ages afterwards.

Im another who has been to Ground Zero. This was before it was redeveloped and really isn’t anywhere near as big as you’d expect.

 

[Penguin86]

I was 15 and was watching the news as the first tower fell. Later that night I was in a life changing car accident so unfortunately this date is horrific for me for other reasons

 

[Happy Lady]

I was at work and the FD rang my HR director. He had a TV in his office. We watched the second tower being hit in disbelief, like a horror movie taking place live.

Here in the UK there were plans for a tower to be built for our financial business to be built in London. It was scrapped after 9/11.

 

[openbook1]

I was only 9 when 9/11 happened but it might be one of my clearest memories. I remember it like it happened yesterday. I was at my gran's after school and I always watched tv for a while. The news came on and it showed the towers on fire. Then my mum picked me up and we went to Tesco. They had the news on all the display tvs and the first or second tower collapsed. It was awful.