September 11: Where Were You?
Patch wants to know where you were on the day of the attacks on the twin towers at the World Trade Center in 2001.
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Most people can tell you exactly what they were doing and how they felt when they heard the news on Sept. 11, 2001.
I'd just dropped off my daughter at preschool and was listening to the radio while driving home. I nearly drove off the road when I heard the news—but thought it was a radio stunt à la The War of the Worlds, where it was a fictional account of events. It was simply too horrible to be real.
When I got home, my babysitter was there with my younger daughter and we watched the twin towers fall on TV. I wasn't sure what to do—go back to the preschool and get my daughter? Take cover? Cry? Pray?
Call my brother! I suddenly remembered my brother Dan, who normally worked in Washington, DC, was in New York City for work.
I couldn't breathe—I was eight months pregnant at the time and my emotions were running high. Dan turned out to be shaken, but safe. He later decided to move to New York and lives there now.
I was most worried about what kind of world my son would be born into after such a tragic event.
During the hours and days after Sept. 11, I cried for all of the other pregnant women who were calling into the television stations saying that their husbands were missing. Last year was difficult when I saw features, like this one on ABC News, about the children who never met their fathers.
My son has thrived in a post 9/11 world, largely unaffected by the events of that day.
SHARE: As you remember those who were lost 11 years ago, share your memories and reflections with others by leaving a comment.
Here are the stories of some other Patch editors:
number9dream
1:06 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Like many people, I was at work. A secretary from a neighboring department came running in with the news.
I was recently separated from my (now ex-)wife and children, and had dinner with my parents that night. I'll never forget leaving their house, pausing at the top of the steps out front, looking up at the sky, and thinking how my children's world was becoming so much different than mine.
Ron Murphy
4:55 pm on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
I was working the nice crisp Tuesday morning, much like today, as the Administrative Officer for the Office of the Fire Marshal, District of Columbia Fire Department. I remember being called into the Fire Marshal's office to watch the TV as they were showing the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, while I was standing in the office, along with my fellow workers, the second plane hit. We were in disbelief that this could be happening. And then we heard that a plane was heading towards the Pentagon. As with any disaster there was a plan to follow. My assignment was to report to the Firefighting Deputies Office and assist with logistics and staging. The DC Fire Department sent units to the Pentagon to assist with units from Arlington. As units from DC were reporting to the Pentagon surrounding jurisdictions sent their units, many of them volunteers, to back fill our stations. Thankfully we had the use of the parking lot at RFK Stadium for staging. Some of these units, I can remember one in particular Greenbelt, were utilized in laying handlines into the Pentagon to fight the massive fire along side firefighters from Arlington and DC. The streets of downtown DC where in chaos, cars were driving sidewalks or the wrong way on the streets. It was mass hysteria. A few hours later as my duties in assisting with logistics and staging wound down I would make my way over to the Pentagon and see the destruction first hand
rebecca w
9:43 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
I was working in Hampton, VA as a juvenile probation officer. At the time of the first plane hitting, I was in the midst of sending a juvenile to detention for some sort of delinquent activity. After the juvenile was sent on his way, I remember being glued to the set at my office staring in disbelief. I was basically glued to the tv for days.