Englishmum

It is so sad to see the (now) annual remembrance ceremony at what was known as Ground Zero.

I still vividly recall every minute of that fateful day. My husband was at the WTC although his office was in Times Square: he attended an early meeting with clients at the WTC before taking them to his company's main technical centre on Long Island and they were just driving out of the city.

He phoned me, saying that the limo driver's car radio wasn't working and they could see a lot of smoke coming out of one of the towers and could I put the TV on to find out what was going on.

The TV reporter said that it may have been a plane crash but this was just speculation.....I said to my spouse that it was probably one of the little tourist pleasure flights (impossible at first to gauge the scale of it) and he said "no it must be a bigger plane, there's too much smoke"...then the reporter said that thought it might be a 737. Soon it was obvious that it was a larger plane....a 767.

We all know the magnitude of how the events unfolded and I posted here on BE some years ago of how it affected our local community and my family here in a New Jersey commuter town in the NYC Metro area.

I have to take the train soon into New York City: next to the station is a plaque with the names of the township residents who perished on 9/11. I know that there will be flowers, candles and stones (placed by those of the Jewish faith in lieu of flowers) placed next to their names. I will pause and reflect on how such evil prevailed on what was such a beautiful morning 14 years ago.

Nutmegger

One of the things that also sticks in my mind is what a perfect September day it was, Englishmum. After all the planes were grounded there wasn't a sound, it was so quiet and beautiful. I remember going outside to look at this gorgeous day and then returning inside to the TV to see the nightmare that was unfolding sixty miles south of me. No one who was in the tri-state area on that day will ever forget their memories of where they were, what they were doing.

Jerseygirl

Weather wise it certainly was a perfect day. That's what I thought as I was driving back from dropping my daughter at school. The sky was blue...not a cloud in the sky...it was only around 8am the car's thermometer read 84F.

After I arrived home I jumped on the treadmill and switched on the TV. Sarah Ferguson was wrapping up an interview...then came the newsflash. First reports said a light aircraft...possibly a Cessna...had accidentally hit the WTC. I remembered seeing a pic of an old military jet that had hit the Empire State Building during WWII I think it was. The damage was nothing like I saw on TV...so I was pretty sure it wasn't a light aircraft.

I remember Paula Zahn on CNN talking to a guy...think his name was Fred or Frank...he was trapped in the first tower. He was on the phone to Zahn for quite a while...then there was an explosion and the phone went silent.

My daughter's teacher took a call from her husband...he worked on one of the top floors in the first tower. He told her that he didn't think he'd be home...he was right.

One of my husband's biz partners was traveling on one of the planes. He had a young daughter and his wife was pregnant. There was an employee from my husband's company on all four planes. One was a young woman...it was her first assignment since joining the company. Another was a guy and his partner...they had their young adopted son with them.

Shortly before 9/11 it had been my daughter's 16th birthday. We spent the day in NYC celebrating...helicopter ride...theatre and dinner at The Windows On The World restaurant. The staff sang happy birthday to her as she blew out the candles on her cake. When I think of her birthday I wonder if any of those people perished that day.

Below is a pic of The WTC Memorial in Morristown...the largest town near to where we lived. It comprises of the WTC steel beams.

petitefrancaise

I think all of us will remember where we were that day no matter where in the world. For me, it started with my mum calling me in Scotland asking me where OH was. I said "Just got to the states, why?" Watching the tv and crying for all those poor, poor people.

civilservant

9/11/01 was the first day I ever had internet - it was AOL dial up. Being only 16 at the time, I was still living at home with my mother back in the UK.

I remember logging in for the first time, and seeing AOL news. I thought it was a new film coming out or something. Turning on the TV changed that.

You know, I have my doubts about the 'official story' of what happened, being an aviation geek the story of what happened at the pentagon just doesn't seem within the capabilities of a 757, but quite apart from any conspiracy theory it was a terrible human tragedy, and my thoughts go out to anyone who lost a loved one or suffered in any way as a result of that terrible day.

I have been to ground zero, the first time in 2010 and the last time this year, and it changed so much in that time, but it has not lost it's sense of quiet, of reverence. It's as if everyone there knows that this was one of the pivotal moments in history and the respect that it deserves. I think they did a wonderful job with the memorial pools - it's just a shame (but only natural) that it has become a tourist attraction.

sir_eccles

I was still in the UK at the time, at work suddenly the internet was grinding to a halt it felt like we were back on dial up. Rumors started going round, then shouts of "I got the BBC to load" or "the guardian is loading". I had to go home home early, couldn't get any work done.

scrubbedexpat091

I was on the west coast and as I worked night shifts until 2am, I was sleeping when everything happened, and as I didn't use the internet much back then (dial up still) and wasn't watching the news, it wasn't until worked called at 2pm pacific time I even learned of it happening.

I was working for an airline at the time, work was calling to tell me we wouldn't need to come in until further notice, ended up being 3 days off I think, maybe 4 days off.

For the first few weeks afterwards people didn't want to fly, our flights were going out almost empty, some having less then 10 passengers.

joto

I was working at reception and DH called to say there was a plane into the WTC. He had a TV in his office, so was calling my office periodically giving updates. I remember my boss sitting beside me waiting for the updates as well. We were all shocked, specially when the second plane hit, and wondering "what the he11 else is going to happen". There wasn't that much work done that day, as a lot of clients cancelled their appointments.

N1cky

We were still living in the UK, I had the afternoon off work for my first appointment with the midwife. I was driving home listening to the radio when the news started coming in, I got home and hubby already had the TV on, I walked in just as the 2nd plane hit. As most people did, I spent the day in stunned silence watching the TV, except for 30 minutes where I went to my appointment and heard my daughters heartbeat for the first time. It felt very surreal.

The events of that day are still hard to comprehend, how can people be so evil.

tht

I was 21 years old and 9/9/2001 was my first time in NYC and second time in the US, I found the pictures I had taken that day about 6 years later on a roll of film I had never developed. Fast forward to 2004 and I was taking the PATH train through the massive whole in the ground where the towers had stood, and now I have a view of the freedom tower from my rooftop. Still hard to believe it.

Nutmegger

This is the memorial a local man created in his garden for the colleagues he lost. It offers a daily reminder to all who drive past.

kodokan

We were in the UK, living in a house that backed right onto the Fleet Air Arm base at Yeovilton, near Ilchester in Somerset. I'd been out doing some shopping that morning, and had caught a news report about a plane flying into the WTC tower; at the time there were no details and the assumption was it was a light aircraft. I thought no more of it, really.

I got home, pottered about putting the shopping away, then was wildly startled by alarms and screaming jet engines from the next door Navy base. EVERYTHING they owned, dozens and dozens of Harrier jump jets, Chinooks, everything, was scrambling to take off and get into the air. I put the TV on, and spent the next few hours staring at it in stunned disbelief/ phoning updates into hubby at work. I think the moment when it profoundly struck me was when they announced that US airspace was now closed, and any plane entering it - the air over the whole of the US! - would be shot down.

Vimto

I was in Dubai driving home on the main road to Abu Dhabi Sheik Zayed Rd and got a call from a colleague who told me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, I told him he was lying as I could see the Trade Center as I sat in afternoon traffic. He paused and then told me that it wasn't the Dubai World Trade Center but the one in NY. We were 8 hours ahead of the east coast. I didn't know what to say after that just sat like the rest of the world glued to CNN for the rest of the day.

london_calling

My wife was in Midtown that day but her brother at Bank of America worked much closer to the Twin Towers. She still gets flashbacks when she hears loud fire engine sirens. It was an unbelievable tragedy then, and still is.

All of which made the US government's subsequent response to the attacks so utterly sickening.

username.exe

I was working at a Starbucks in central London on Oxford St. Beautiful summers day.
At some point in the afternoon an American lady burst through the doors and screamed at the top of her lungs: 'America is under attack!'
Being so close to Soho, and with plenty of local characters around nobody paid much attention.

A couple of hours later I went to take my break and as I walked down Oxford St I noticed everybody was stood still reading a copy of the Evening Standard.
I couldn't believe the pictures on the paper.

The tube ride hime was very sombre. Everybody glued to their papers or commenting to strangers next to them on the tragedy. And what did it mean for Londoners? Were we next?

I watched the news with my dad for the rest of the night. I remember a couple of periphery buildings finally fell down quite late. I stayed up most of the night talking to future mrs username on the other side of the pond, racking up a huge phone bill.

I flew out to San Diego on Oct 11th and by then everything relating to travel, politics and international stability had changed completely.