Where were you when.....

[Curly Top]

I was at my new home which we'd been living in for about a month after returning from living for a year in New York. We lived in a flat about five blocks away from the twin towers.

My husband phoned me from central London to put the TV news on. At the time, the news team believed it was an random but horrific accident, but I saw on TV in real time the second plane go into the tower. It became apparent that that this was an unprecedented act of terrorism. Then the cameras moved towards the streets I had recently walked with my young children and I saw the carnage and screams. It was surreal seeing the place I'd recently spent time (there were shops and coffee shops at the bottom of the towers) being attacked in such an appalling way.

As a previous poster said, it was hard to take your eyes off the screen. It just didn't feel real - more like a hideous film.

 

[svdwoodsen]

I was a child but I remember seeing it on news at school - we were all completely horrified. The school sent all of us home by mid-day after calling our parents and there were fears that something similar would happen here in the near future or even on the same day given it was multiple incidents during 9/11 (I lived in a major city close to NYC).

Many years later, after I graduated college, I ended up working for one of the companies that used to be in one of the towers in New York. Luckily, most of the people evacuated on time but the firm still had some casualties. There was a big plaque in the office with the names of all the people who passed away that day. I used to walk past it every time I went in and out of the building and it was sobering to see. Some of my colleagues had already been working for the company back then and they avoid talking about it mostly, but it was traumatizing for everyone. 9/11 was always a hard day for the firm because some of the people who had worked there for years escaped and knew multiple people that perished.

 

[Web30]

I was in year 7, didn't know anything till I got home and we just left the news on all night. I remember the next day more, everyone was talking about it!

 

[eSsExBiRd]

Day off work so at home. My Dad called me asking me to put the TV. It was just as the first news alerts went live and from there I don’t think I moved all day. Watching the second plane going in live on TV and hearing the reactions as it happened had me in tears. Watching the horror unfold, people running for their lives, jumping from the towers, reports of other hijacked planes and the towers falling with all those souls

I visited the 9/11 museum earlier this year which is located in the footprint of one of the towers. Seeing all the names at the remembrance pools, seeing the steel supports in their original positions, damaged fire trucks and reading personal accounts was harrowing. There’s an iconic picture with people escaping via steps and they are still there, preserved in the museum.

 

[under the ivy]

I was 8 and I remember being home from school and my Great Nana was at my house, telling me to ‘sit down and watch the news because something bad has happened in America’. Remember her saying that to me clear as day. It was the BBC News Channel that was on, and I remember seeing the 2nd tower collapse.

I visited NYC 2 years ago and visited Ground Zero. I cant imagine the horror that people witnessed.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

I was in my little rented flat with my baby daughter. I’d just put her down for a nap, turned the television on, and the second plane struck.
I remember going to look at my sleeping baby and crying and crying. I thought the world would end before her life had even begun.
I was a single parent at the time. The next day an ex boyfriend came to visit me and we had a very, um, passionate week together. I honestly think it was some kind of response to trauma and the sense of impending doom, like maybe we’d never get another chance!

 

[Chewingthefat]

I remember I skipped college that day. I was looking after my mates flat while she was on holiday so headed there. I sat down with a cup of tea and put the tv on. The first plane had hit and I watched as the second plane hit tower 2. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! The fact you were watching events evolve in real time just made everything so much more horrific. Watching those poor souls fall or jump from the towers is something I’ll never forget.
I had a sister who was in America at the time and on a flight to Vegas during the time of the attacks. We couldn’t get through to her for some time and the worry was just dreadful!

 

[LT31514]

I was in the U.K. in afternoon French class (year 9). I remember rumour got round the school and by the time I got home at around 4pm, my mum was watching it with my Nanna on the news and the TV stayed on for the whole evening. I was 14 at the time and cannot believe how fast the years have gone by. I’ve been fortunate enough to go to ground zero twice now and it’s such a moving place. I was actually in New York the May of 2001 and have some haunting pics of me at the WTC.

 

[Loftcat]

I had flown from Manchester to NYC, when when we were diverted to Newfoundland in Canada, as airspace was closed, found out when we landed. Horror. Diana. Was taking to my fiance in L.A. Due to meet up with him in a couple of days, heard it live, cos of the time difference.

 

[Fenella]

I was at work in my first proper job, the finance director came in and said what had happened but not much detail, I didn’t really know what the WTC was, it was weird as nobody seemed that disturbed by what he said but obviously we had no idea the enormity of what had happened until we got home and saw the tv (no work tv and barely any internet). I remember coming through the front door and had heard a bit more of what had happened on the way home and remember saying to my mum ‘is it true?’. Just so awful.

 

[Amber90]

I was 5 years old when 9/11 happened, just came home from primary school and could not for the life of me understand why I couldn't watch Mona the vampire etc (4 channels and no sky in those days). It literally was on every channel - I remember my mam explaining to me what was happening... I vividly remember the hideous 00s living room to. Cant believe its been 19 years - truly horrific. I didn't grasp the enormity of it at the time being so young, I have been to Ground Zero and its just unimaginable how terrified those people must of felt.

 

[Peggy5]

I was in Benidorm of all places, people were running through the streets and piling into restaurants. We were oblivious until a fellow tourist told us what happened. I remember my dad pulling us into a Chinese restaurant to watch it on the tv, everyone was silent. It was just bizarre, like everywhere was playing the same film.

 

[Dancing Dave]

We finished early in school that day and I was knocking on the door no one was answering, eventually one of my brothers opened the door and I followed him into the TV room and a few minutes later the second plane hit the towers. So, so strange. My whole family sat around watching for the day - stills begs belief now as an adult something like that could and did happen. July 7th is another story.

I've been to the WTC a few times and it's so solomn. Like the whole city has switched off when you're there.

 

[Sosig]

I was in year 4 remember coming home and it being all over the news for days

 

[265]

Working in London, it wasn't until I got home that I learned what happened, during the day I heard a few bits and pieces of information and I was concerned that what was going on in America might be just part one. I was worried that London might be targeted as part two of the attack and could happen during the next 24 hours. After seeing the news when I got home I continued to think London was next, I carried on working but I was worried.

 

[MonkeyTennis]

At home, after a dentist appointment. I was listening to the radio and heard the news, switched on the TV and saw the second plane fly into Tower Two.


It was just horrific watching the buildings, knowing the people inside were dead/dying or making the decision to jump. It is something I'll never forget.

 

[bringingdownthebs]

9/11 I was in year 5 at primary school and our headteacher called us all to the assembly hall and wheeled in the tv. We all thought we were going to watch something fun! To this day I have absolutely no idea why he chose to show little children the news coverage but it’s something that’s haunted me my entire life. As soon as they mentioned they’d be building a memorial I knew I wanted to visit. I finally made it there on my honeymoon in 2017 and it was the most humbling experience of my life. I don’t think my husband had previously realised how deeply it had affected me until we were there. I still can’t think about it without getting upset - I remember being almost 10 years old and seeing the events unfold and thinking about the poor people trapped. Then seeing people jump... I couldn’t really grasp that concept as a young girl, obviously, but remember asking my mum if they managed to escape and she explained to me, in the best way she could, that they wouldn’t survive the fall.

Manchester bombing 2017 has stayed with me too. I’m a mancunion and we lost a colleague in the attack. On the night I was about to turn off the light and go to bed but then saw the news break on Twitter that there had been a bomb at the arena. I couldn’t get to sleep and continued reading as the horror unfolded. My friend was a 999 call handler at the time and I remember texting her to see if she was okay... I didn’t hear back from her until the following evening and she was traumatised (understandably). It was only when I got to work the next morning that we discovered one of our colleagues was missing and confirmed as being at the arena picking up her daughter at the time of the explosion. I’ll never forget colleague after colleague trying to get through to her mobile and being met with voicemail each and every time. It was later on in the evening following the attack that it was sadly confirmed she’d been killed. I remember feeling so lost after it. I couldn’t fathom the innocent people and children that had been murdered so close to home.

 

[CherryAcid]

It was my first day at college and we had gone to the seafront to build sandcastles for teambuilding. It was very quiet on the front and we was unaware what was going on until i got in and my mum told me.

 

[judsmum]

I find it fascinating how we all remember exactly where we were.

@svdwoodsen I can only imagine how emotional the atmosphere is there and poignant seeing those names in your office. I also hope that your colleagues take some comfort in the fact that even people from tiny Yorkshire villages like mine send nothing but love to them.

When Diana died I was at my mum and dads caravan in flamborough with my sister and brother in law. It was astonishing. My mum was heartbroken. She always had Magic radio playing quietly all through the day and night and that day they cancelled all shows and put music on a loop of about 8 songs. Each of those songs now reminds me of the day she died.

 

[sarahboo]

I was at my nans house, I'd faked earache for a couple of days after a hearsay concert. My nan was upstairs when the breaking news story came on, I remember shouting her to come downstairs & we sat & watched it all unfold. The second tower being hit was terrifying. I was only 9 & remember being unsettled for months afterwards, the news & documentary coverage was constant & I vividly remember my friends & I living in fear of more terrorist attacks happening.

It was such a tragic event, it always saddens me when I think about it. Even after 19 years I am still shocked it happened.