Pollyana

I worked for the police in the UK when it happened. Part of my job was to man the Casualty Bureau phones -the numbers that get published for people to ring for news of loved ones in any disaster. September 11th we were gojng to run an exercise, based around a simulated plane crash at Gatwick -it had already been postponed once.
We turned up at work just after the second plane hit. Spent the next 12 hours waiting to go live on the phones if similar attacks happened in the UK.

Found out later that the daughter of one of my Dad's closest friends had been in New York for a conference, and would have been in the Windows on The World restaurant when the planes hit. RIP Sarah.

Englishmum

Yes, that was the Risk Waters conference at the Windows On The World, right at the top of (I think) the North tower. My husband's boss, named Alex was due to attend but was sick and asked another guy from the office, also called Alex to replace him.....

My next door neighbour's step-brother died too and another neighbour across the street worked at Eurobrokers in the South Tower on the 84th floor. They were aware that a major incident had taken place in the other tower and began to evacuate by going down the stairwell; however there was a tannoy announcement that the all-clear was given and that people could return to their desks. My neighbour recalled the bomb going off in the basement car park of the WTC a few years before and felt uneasy, so decided to leave the building. Unfortunately most of his Japanese colleagues went back upstairs to resume their work. Tragically, the second plane crashed into the 84th floor.

For weeks later my neighbour was going to funeral services for his lost colleagues - dozens of them. In our neighbourhood many lampposts had posters pinned up stating "Missing - Have You Seen This Person?".

There were many funeral services being held at the RC church two blocks from our house......we constantly heard a single bell toll. The saddest thing of all was that there no bodies to bury for most of the victims who perished.

Pollyanna - the bride looked so beautiful - what a tragic ending to her life

Jerseygirl

One of my husband's colleagues was over from the UK...he was visiting clients in the second tower. Being used to the IRA bomb threats in the UK...he disregarded the instructions to return to his office after the first plane hit...and got the hell out of there. He hailed the first cab he saw...handed the cabbie a wad of notes to get him as far away as possible.

One of the saddest stories I heard was from my GP. A patient's husband had perished in the attacks...almost a week had passed and she couldn't bring herself to tell her young son daddy wasn't coming home. My GP told him...

RICH

I was in London wondering if we would get hit next. I don't celebrate my birthday so much since then.

steveq

We have a new friend here whose son's birthday is 9/11. Its also the day her husband died of cancer. Its really not a good day.

Pollyana

Thats right, it was the Risk Waters conference.

the family issued her wedding photo as the "official" one and it was used in all the Uk papers for weeks -I remember thinking it must have just made things worse really, such a happy photo for a sad occasion. I don't think her Father ever came to terms with it really, he always seemed so sad when I saw him, even years later.

Pollyana

It was very scary being in sussex at Police Hq, getting updates from COBRA ( the government body) and expecting that at any moment the Uk would be next. We had all the forms ready to list details from next of kin, all the phonelines ready to activate, very very surreal day. And at first there were Planes "missing" over the UK, turned out they had landed in Amsterdam but the " not knowing" was terrifying.

scrubbedexpat091

This was posted by former co-worker yesterday. This was the first msg systems ops sent out that day.

Pollyana

Chilling. But from a professional point of view, fascinating.

Seeing the facts of the response put together in retrospect, as a learning exercise if nothing else, is really interesting, though it never detracts from the sadness and shock felt on the day.

scrubbedexpat099

Reminds me of a quote by Napoleon on how the psychological is to the physical as 10 is to 1.

scrubbedexpat091

This was the first time seeing this msg in 14 years, I totally forgot about it all together. The gal who wrote was and probably still is very professional and level headed.

Don't mind the slang used and spelling, was how we communicated by cutting down on letters in words, and HP stood for America West Airlines.


We were on the west coast, and while I was not their first thing that day, none of our flights ever left the gate since everything ended up closed down before our departures were to leave. If I recall we did get 1 diversion that had departed LAX, but otherwise the airport saw no significant diversions that day.

Being close to the naval air station north island across the bay, the jets in and out of there for the military were the most active I have ever seen there.

Having hundreds of procedures literally change overnight was hard, once we went back to work, nothing was the same, we got a list told to read it, and follow it, never thought so many changes would happen like that in such a short amount of time.

ian-mstm

I don't often post in this forum, but I just happened by today and saw this thread. I hope no one minds if I post.

I was at work that morning listening to the radio at my desk. The radio DJ was watching TV and broke onto the air to say that a small plane had just hit the north tower of the WTC. There was confusion, of course, as people tried to get more information... but there was a TV in one of the nearby rooms, so many of us went to watch. By the time we arrived, there was confirmation that it was a commercial plaine... and about 5 minutes later, the 2nd plane hit the south tower. There are some things that you simply can't unsee! No one spoke, and the silence was broken only by hushed whispers. We all stood there watching... because there was nothing else we could do. Whispers gave way to tears - and then the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon. Someone spoke and said something we had all been thinking - the US is under attack. We all watched as the south tower collapsed. No one cared that they weren't at their desk! It was the most unnerving hour we had ever spent! Some people left work, but many of us stayed long enough to see the north tower collapse... and then I left and went home. I, like many others, watched the news the rest of the day and most of the evening. I watched reports of a 4th flight that went down in Pennsylvania - and in the early evening, 7 WTC collapsed.

All flights over US airspace were grounded. Planes in flight were forced to land immediately, or were diverted to Canada and Mexico. Driving to work the next morning, there were no contrails visible - and there were usually a dozen or so.

I got my green card just a few months earlier... and, honest to god, I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in the US.

Ian

MarylandNed

I was in Washington DC where I was working at the time. I arrived late to work that morning (about 10am). I parked my car at the subway station in suburban Maryland sometime after 9am and remember hearing a brief report on the radio stating that a plane had crashed into the WTC in NYC. There weren't many details and I just assumed it was a small plane accident. It might even have said 2 planes but I wasn't paying much attention.

When I emerged from the Farragut North subway station (near the White House) in DC, I immediately knew that something was very wrong. There were people everywhere on the streets with panic on their faces. Many were on cell phones and most were going into the subway station - apparently leaving work and on their way home which was obviously very strange for around 10am in the morning. What I didn't know was that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon across the river in Virginia while I was travelling on the subway and that the people I saw heading home had been evacuated from government and other buildings in DC.

I eventually get to the office and that's when I find out the full scale of what has happened. Many people headed home. There were rumors of other planes being hijacked and heading towards DC and, with our office being located a few blocks from the White House, people weren't keen on hanging around. However, there were also other rumors of car bombs in DC (untrue as it turned out). Having grown up in Northern Ireland, I knew that the street was the last place you wanted to be if there were car bombs. So my instincts told me to stay in the office that day and I was one of the last to leave around 5pm. When I got home I watched the news in total shock at what had happened.

The next day, there was tight security in DC around the White House and other prominent buildings and I had to show ID and a business card before I was allowed through a police cordon to get to my office. At lunch I wandered over to the White House and sat in Lafayette Park. There wasn't a plane in the sky.