Taking inspiration from Peppermint's posting and the recent House vote on early withdrawal from Iraq. . .

Where Were You on September 11, 2001? 





Some examples of excerpts in comments on Pep's blog:

The Crawfish :

September 11th. I was at my desk in the Quality Assurance office at Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Ft Worth, when the QA Chief, Gunnery Sergeant Batastini said "Hmmm. There's reports that a plane just hit the World Trade Center!" We all thought it was probably a small plane in foggy weather or something. A couple of minutes later he said, "Hey, here's video of the crash!..............HOLY SH!T! That's a SECOND PLANE!" All our heads whipped around at that. I'm not sure who said it first, but within seconds we were sure that Islam had attacked us again, but in spectacular fashion this time. There was a small TV in the publications office and we found a couple of extension cords to get the TV out to the loading dock (the only place we could get reception). For the rest of the morning, every shop in the building had a couple of people out there in shifts, so they could bring back info to the shops. I had to go deliver some reports to the base safety office, and while I was returning to AIMD, I heard the report of the first tower falling. I stopped along the road and cried like a little kid. Around the time that the second tower fell, the base was ordered closed, with the exception of alert crews and launch crews for the 3 fighter squadrons (1 Navy, 1 USMC, 1 TX Air Guard). I remember seeing the reports of street dancing in Palestinian areas, along with muslim areas of Britain and other places.

Phil:

I can recall almost to the minute what I was doing, where I was, who I was with and what I was thinking on all three of these days. When the first WTC building collapsed, I turned to one of the new young brokers and told him the world will never be the same. We are now at war and life will never be as we knew it.


Nee:

I was in the carpool line at my daughter's preschool. When they said a plane hit the WTC and identified it as a commercial airliner, I screamed, "f-ing terrorists!", peeled out of the line to Walmart across the street and then bought anything Red, White and Blue to put in my car, on my car...you name it. It was the worst few days I have ever spent...and I have not, nor will I ever let a chance go by to tell my kids how lucky we are. They have not been sheltered from this at all. They need to know!


Squiddy:

I was working in finance in NYC at the time and many of my friends and relatives (including my fiance in L.A.) feared I was in the WTC during the attack. Luckily, I worked a few miles north, although I had interviewed for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 110th floor of the WTC. I knew a really nice guy who worked at Cantor and died that morning. (He was Jewish, too, so the myth of it being a Jewish plot, that all Jews knew to not be there, is obviously wrong.)

So yeah, I was there, saw in person, was horrified like in a nightmare. But I'm sure it was just as awful no matter where in the country you were at the time.

Funny thing, I actually DID get one good piece of news from the NY Times not long before that day. They had a color, multi-page spread on some Osama bin Laden guy, his terrorist training camps, and announcement that he was going to attack the U.S.

So when I saw the second tower get hit and knew this was no accident, I said, "This must be that Osama dude."


And mine:

I was living in a grey rent house. My daughter was 2, and I was getting ready to go to work. I was getting her dressed to take her to school.

I turned on the TV to put on Grover, but on came the local news channel showing the first tower on fire. They said a plane hit it, and I said, "Honey, I think you should get in here and see this...." Just after that, the second plane hit the tower and I heard "This is no accident."

We still didn't know exactly what was going on, and I listened to the radio as I drove her to school. When I reached the school, the radio reported that a plane, thought to be hijacked, crashed in a field. I remember praying "DEAR GOD. What is happening?" And I was afraid--so I sat in the car with my child and cried.

As I was sitting there, I heard the tremendous noise of jets overhead, coming from the local Barksdale airforce base. I called my husband and asked if I should leave the baby or not. While on the phone, he said quickly, "I gotta go. Bush is landing in Barksdale." (My husband was police captain and they had to get the city security ready for the arrival of the President.) Many of us stood in the parking lot, about 4 miles from Barksdale AFB, and watched as several airforce jets escorted the landing of AirForce One.








"But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing.  .  .

I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.  .  ."

In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may he watch over the United States of America. Thank you."  September 21, 2001