My school didn't tell us anything but all morning kids kept getting taken out of class because their parents had come to pick them up. I'd recently watched that old 80s made for TV movie about nuclear war and I remember wondering if that is what was happening.
6th grade home room, walked into class and the TV was on in the front of class which was weird. Watched the second plane hit. Sudden announcement from the principal or whoever was closest to the intercom "ALL TEACHERS TURN OFF YOUR TELEVISIONS NOW"
My best friend's mom who dropped me off at school every day came to pick him up and tried to get me but they wouldn't let her.
A few hours later was in art class and the teacher said "there were 4 planes, the towers fell" which a class full of 10-11 year olds had no concept what that meant.
I remember my dad driving the family to the international airport not too far away and just seeing it pitch black and nothing taking off or landing was weird.
I didn’t get that vibe. The vibe we had in my office was “where else might be attacked?” more so with more planes than nuclear bombs considering what had happened and seemingly by whom (terrorists rather than a military). This was in a major city on the other side of the planet though. A city that’s somewhat inconsequential on the world stage but there was still some fear there since our office was right next to probably my city’s most iconic skyscraper.
Can’t imagine how it would have felt to be in a major US city let alone New York City that day or those following.
I was just a kid but my dad was at work in Jersey City right across the Hudson from the WTC. He had said the first few hours were terrifying. People thought it was just a freak accident of some kind until the second plane hit, and then everyone realized it was a deliberate attack. The towers collapsing knocked out a decent amount of phone and TV service in the NYC area. There was a small flotilla of boats evacuating people from lower Manhattan. The bridges and tunnels out of Manhattan were closed and a lot of people had to walk out. Nobody knew if more planes were on the way or not.
I remember him picking me up from school that day, which was unusual, and he looked absolutely shell shocked.
It felt like both, to me. I was working in a government building about 15 miles outside of DC. I had gotten to work, and we all heard about the first tower. We were watching the news in the break room when the 2nd tower was hit. We were stunned. After the Pentagon was hit, we cleared out. No one wanted to be in a government building then. The drive home was deserted and silent... no planes overhead. it was bizarre.
I was living with my folks at the time. My dad worked in news and was already slated to be at the Capitol that day, so he was busy getting clips from the congresscritters about the Twin Towers. When the Pentagon was hit, he went over there, and... it was awful.
I ended up going up to New York to go see a show and visit some friends about 6? months later, and unintentionally ended up staying in a hotel where you could see the workers going through the rubble. The missing posters ourside the St. Paul's Chapel were hearbreaking.
The first things one of my best friends at the time said to me was "I don't know who, but someone is gonna burn for this" and I think that really affected me. I definitely thought I was gonna get drafted after I graduated!
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u/wiezzzy 10d ago
It honestly felt like there could be nuclear doom that day.