Where were you/your kids on 9/11/01?

Parent Cafe
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Today’s weather in NYC is 9/11 weather. Crystal blue skies, cool, not humid.

I was late going into the office on 9/11/01. I was supposed to attend a meeting in the Wall Street area, but instead dialed in so that I could volunteer at my 6th grader’s school photo day. At two points during the call, there was a lot of static - it was the two planes hitting the towers. After I hung up, our babysitter called out to me “you should come see this” - she was watching the news, and there was film of the planes hitting the towers. My colleagues leaving the meeting later emerged out of the building to find policemen running toward them frantically waiving them in the opposite direction - the first tower had just fallen.

When I arrived at the school, the principal had just finished telling the students that there had been an accident at the trade center. My son’s teacher asked me if I thought f he should turn on the TV for the 6th graders to watch, that he was thinking that they were old enough and this was clearly a significant event. I told him that some of the footage being shown was very raw - I had seen someone fall or jump. He kept the TV off. The class photo was taken. Later I learned the father of one of my son’s classmates had been killed in one of the towers.

I called my 9th grader’s school, and asked that the office give him a message that both parents were ok. The office refused. I still find that pretty amazing - a number of other parents told me they got the same response. At Christmas in 2001, my 9th grader and nearly all of his classmates got the same present - a cell phone.

Later that day, a group of 6th grade parents debated - should there be practice for the travel soccer team? It seemed inappropriate to some. A consensus was reached - let’s get the boys away from the TV for an hour or so, and let them run around outside in the beautiful weather.

82

I was cleaning house and listening to CD’s all morning while my three kids were at school. When I got in the car at 12:45 to pick up my youngest from preschool, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I got to the school I said, “you’re not going to believe what I just heard on the radio.” Of course they all knew what was happening. I had no idea, yet, of the magnitude of it all. I’m glad I didn’t see it unfold, the aftermath was bad enough.

I still remember the stillness of those days when no planes were flying. I never thought I noticed the planes that flew over our house, until they weren’t there anymore.

83

I was at work in downtown DC. D1 was at school near our house. D2 was in at the daycare center at my office.
DW was on work travel in Texas and was supposed to fly home that afternoon.

The initial instructions from the agency were to hold tight. I was on the board of directors and we decided to stay open until early afternoon. I think I went back to my office and pretended to work.

I drove home past the smoking Pentagon and was one of the few cars on the road at that point.

My wife ended up driving home from TX and got home the Sunday after 9/11

84

I was living in Los Angeles at the time so it was still very early in the morning for us when the towers were struck. Both my husband and I were home and had the morning local news on the TV. We watched until it was time to go to work. I remember my husband wondering if I thought there was a chance that something could happen in LA. As my mind could not fathom that this was a deliberate attack (although it was quite obvious after the second tower was struck), I responded no way we are so far from NYC. However on my way to work at a large county hospital, my pager went off and I was notified that we were activating the command post. We only did this during disasters or large accidents when mass casualties were expected to arrive at the hospital. At this point, I got very nervous. Upon arrival to work, I reported to the command post where the administrative staff spent the rest of that day glued to the TV and just trying to make some sense of what we were seeing. On this day, our three executive staff were in Chicago for a meeting. After their flight was cancelled, they rented a car and it took them three days to get back to LA.

For the next several days, I remember the skies being eerily quiet. The only time the silence was broken was when military jets flew overhead, which we previously had never seen–very unnerving.

This is the first year that I have been able to watch any 9/11-related programming. I too watched the CNN broadcast of the amazing documentary that was supposed to be about a rookie firefighter but turned to be a first-hand account of the attack on the towers. I also watched the PBS broadcast about the attack on the Pentagon. Both were very difficult to watch but I felt it was my duty.

85

At work. Had to keep working while being aware of the horror of the day. Co-workers’ family members worked at the Pentagon and a niece was in daycare there. It was nerve wracking waiting to hear while simultaneously being completely gut-wrenched horrified by the events. It was only after I came home, watching the replays of it, and someone called from work to say the ones we were worried about were okay that I broke down and cried.

Yds was in middle school and mds was in high school. They kept it from the kids because of parents working up there. I can’t remember details but I know they were super sensitive to that. Our county lost 22 people in the Pentagon.

86

Oh, it was THE most perfect late summer day, too. The sky was an amazing blue, perfect temps, clear.

87

60 minutes had a show on the 9/11 museum last night. And how difficult it was to decide what to include in the museum and how things should be presented. Hard to not cry. Everyone being interviewed and the interviewers wiped away tears.

One of their top concerns was that anyone of a young age (my kids included) don’t really know about 9/11. Many weren’t even born yet. Here is a very recent event in our history with the task put on them of telling a story that respects the victims and still tells a true story of terrorism without whitewashing it.

I had friends who were actually about 20 minutes late going to a meeting that morning–at the towers. They were in a cab on the way.

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@sybbie719 , cold chills reading your post. Hugs.

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I lived in northern VA at the time and was driving to work after my son’s first IEP meeting when I heard about the first plane hitting the WTC. I got to work (in the library of an Army command) just in time to see the second plane on TV. Not long afterward, we looked out the window and saw the smoke from the Pentagon. The librarian was freaking out because her DH worked in the Pentagon (he was unharmed). I later found out that my ex-husband was standing in South Parking waiting for a shuttle bus when the plane hit the Pentagon.

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Sybbie, I am glad you are here to share your story.

91

I was on the 25th floor of the WFC building directly across the street when the first plane hit, and on the ground looking up at the hole like a fool when the second one hit.

The next 45 minutes were a scene I find difficult to describe. Nothing you see on the many excellent documentaries can really communicate what it was like. I don’t enjoy going over the details and I find it hard to do without sharing all of them, and I don’t think you want that here.

I was one of the lucky ones who got out just before everything shut down. I have seen the short film on the boat heroes that evacuated people, and it includes the NY Waterway ferries. I got on one of those ferries, (just missed one and was the first one on the next) and – please believe this is truthful and not a joke in any way – the man demanded a ticket.

I had one.

I got on.

I got the last sardine train home before they shut down Hoboken station (no ticket necessary there). Didn’t know the towers had fallen until I got home before noon to my 8.5 month pregnant wife and 2 year old son.

He hugged me and said he was hungry. I made him a tuna sandwich. Can’t eat one without thinking of that one.

There is one very practical lesson I learned that day. If you are ever unfortunate enough to be around a crisis event – whether a terrorist attack, fire, whatever – just leave. Immediately. Don’t think about it until you are far, far, away.

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I am amazed at how many stories have been told here about folks who avoided certain death that day due to fluke circumstances: running late, helped at kid’s school, took another train because previous train was too crowded…

So many chilling accounts.

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Very true. It amazed me how many people survived because they took their kids to their first day of school. After a few years I remembered that and now for 10 years in a row – including weekends like this year – my friends and I avoid work and meet for a leisurely breakfast to remind ourselves keep priorities straight and family first. Because we can.

@sybbie719 , your story is amazing, and I am so glad you exited the building. Our building was immediately evacuated also even though it had not been hit. It pains me to think of the folks in the other tower who were told to go back to their desk.

I must repeat – something happens, get far away fast.

94

I was only a little over a year old at the time, but my parents had brought me to visit my aunt who lives in the financial district. They told me that you could hear the planes crash and once everyone knew what was happening it was like a stampede to go north uptown.
I’m so grateful my father decided to visit his sister that day, for she worked on the 101st floor of the north tower (one of the floors directly hit by the plane), and feel tremendously for those who were not as lucky and know someone whose life was claimed. best wishes…

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The people in the south tower were told by building management to remain at their offices after the first plane hit. Those that didn’t listen and heeded their survival instinct by leaving immediately lived. Those that trusted the ‘authorities’ most likely died after the second plane hit. Trust your survival instinct and act.

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@NoVADad99 , this is exactly what I tell my kids. Sometimes you should trust the authorities, but when your instincts tell you otherwise, obey those instincts.

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@Postmodern - Yep. Learned that lesson too. Never, ever wait for help. Get out.

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My wife thinks I am paranoid. When I’m in a crowd or unfamiliar situation I’m always looking or listening for clues that something may not be right, and looking for ways out. 999 out of 1000 times I’m probably just overly cautious, but it only takes one time…

99

I was working in NYC, in midtown, but we had an operations center in the North Tower (fortunately on the 12th floor, and they got out, though several people were hurt by falling debris and one person witnessed someone who had jumped landing on a police officer in the plaza…). Two of our senior development managers who I worked closely with perished in the Windows on the World restaurant, they were there for a financial tech breakfast…that morning I had been in to work early for a meeting, and someone told me a plane had hit the WTC, we had a room on our floor with a TV and when I saw what had happened and they said it was a small plane, I said it wasn’t, and that it couldn’t be an accident, that day there was 50 mile visibility…then when the second plane hit we knew it was more than just that.

I think the thing I remember most otherwise was watching people in the street, the panic to ‘get away’, people were streaming northward and in my own office a lot of people were panicking, worried about an attack, it took a lot to calm people down and focus on what we needed to do. The other thing I will remember is how some people realized the fire department and 1st responders were going to be overwhelmed, and collected money to buy things like bottled water and such to give to the local firehouse (who lost like 6 guys on 9/11 it turned out). I was concerned about getting home (I live in NJ), and was worried about the people we had there, but I also didn’t feel that much immediate fear…some of it I think was shock, some of it was a kind of survival mode I suspect. I knew we likely would be okay, I was working in a non descript building on the east side, but I was worried about getting home. My wife said it was weird, she was at my son’s school that is in a pretty unbuilt up area, and when I told her she said it was weird to be among all this green (and horses), on a beautiful day, when that was going on. Later on the anger hit, and the sadness over those who died.

I didn’t have an ultimate survivor story, but I heard one later. When my son played little league, one of the coaches was a high ranking tech employee at Cantor Fitzgerald, who were located pretty much where the plane hit (I believe the second tower) and were almost wiped out. He decided to play hooky that day and go fishing, it saved his life.

Another story I was just reading came about this guy who was the head of security for Morgan Stanley (his name was Rick Rescorla). They were located in the south tower, and apparently he had insisted on evacuation drills for the 2700 employees working there, they had a full evacuation plan (apparently after the 1993 bombing he realized the danger of terrorism with high rise buildings). When the north tower was hit the PA told people in the south tower to stay put, to which he said something unprintable, and ordered the evacuation to get underway and of the 2700 working there, only 13 didn’t make it out. He himself disappeared going back into the building, was last seen on the 10th floor before the building collapsed. https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Rick-Rescorla-Saved-2-687-Lives-on-September-11

Yesterday was as beautiful a day as 9/11 was in 2001, it was kind of eerie in that sense.

100

“The people in the south tower were told by building management to remain at their offices after the first plane hit. Those that didn’t listen and heeded their survival instinct by leaving immediately lived. Those that trusted the ‘authorities’ most likely died after the second plane hit. Trust your survival instinct and act”

As I mentioned up thread my 24 year old cousin and a group of his young co- workers who were in an upper floor office survived after the turn back message because their older boss had been trapped in the MGM fire many years before. He told them that the lesson from that was once an alarm goes off you leave the building and move away until you can assess for yourself what is happening. I have followed that advice myself ever since.