Where Were You And What Were You Doing When You First Heard Of 9/11?

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USSID18
USSID18 Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 20, 2026 6:46PM in Random

I worked with guys, with EOD dates of 11 September 2001 on their DD214's.

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  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,108 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I worked second shift and was getting ready to start the day. Will never forget

  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,108 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @USSID18 said:
    I worked with guys, with EOD dates of 11 September 2001 on their DD214's.

    Doing that would be even more of an eye opener. All are grateful for something im sure 🙏

  • YQQ
    YQQ Posts: 3,460 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I was still in bed, watching TV , saw the news, then got out of bed, preparing to get ready for a flight from YVR to AMS. the airline called , Flight was canceled out of YVR. very sad story, as 3 days before I had dinner at Windows of the world @ the world trade centre. First I thought the news I saw was an ad for some tv show. Then I realized that all the new chanels had the story,,,My GF looked at me and said... you are shaking.....I said yes... remember, I called you from there 3 days ago....
    H

    Today is the first day of the rest of my life
  • JBK
    JBK Posts: 17,872 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I was working overseas, in Europe. So, it was in the afternoon for us. I'll never forget the Australian in the office remarking that "America will be really mad now". They of course were horrified by it and knew there would be ramifications for everyone, but they were just a bit detached since they weren't the primary target.

  • USSID18
    USSID18 Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
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    @johnny9434 said:

    @USSID18 said:
    I worked with guys, with EOD dates of 11 September 2001 on their DD214's.

    Doing that would be even more of an eye opener. All are grateful for something im sure 🙏

    There were patriotic young American's "that didn't walk", they ran to the nearest recruiter on the afternoon of 9/11 to sign up! 🇺🇸

  • Hyperion
    Hyperion Posts: 7,515 ✭✭✭
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    I was at work in NJ, watching the towers w a few of our techs on a small tv. Horrific watching the second tower strike, etc. my mail route in West Trenton NJ was one of the Anthrax mail routes. I remember FBI agents in Ewing telling us we should be spraying out mailboxes with bleach mixtures ..just in case

    My Ebay (None)
  • ChrisH821
    ChrisH821 Posts: 7,151 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I was a junior in high school. Between classes I heard rumblings of it from people talking in the hallways, then got to the next class, which happened to be US History, and watched on the news. By that point the first tower had fallen and we saw the second one fall.
    I don't know how much 9/11 influenced my decision, but that summer I enlisted in the Army, and shortly after graduating in 2003 I began basic training at Fort Benning.

    Collector, occasional seller

  • ambro51
    ambro51 Posts: 14,471 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 24, 2026 6:32PM
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    In a commercial bindery feeding unfolded Christmas cards into an Escomat, which is a high speed industrial folding machine. Blanche was working st the end putting the cards into boxes working as fast as she could’ve We heard the News over the radios we had going. it was break time and three of us rode to the local quick mart for a coffee and soft pretzel. When we got back, we didn’t start the machine right ……we listened to the radio. Stan, the plant manager told us how when he was a kid a big plane flew into the Empire State Building. •••••. That day, after work, me and a friend put a divider wall up in up workshop. Between the wallboard is that days newspaper. •••••••. The amazing thing though is one day ONE DAY before that Gary, the business owner was in NYC talking with overseas reps on a contract. They met at their office in the WTC…..the reps and that floor were ground zero.,

  • ShaunBC5
    ShaunBC5 Posts: 1,974 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I was a sophomore in college and was asleep because my first class wasn’t until late morning. My mom called to tell me something horrible had happened and I had to plug the TV in to watch the news and see what was going on.
    I went to class and none of us knew what to do. The classes got canceled and we were just zombies roaming around outside the building talking about what might come next.

  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,108 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @johnny9434 said:
    I worked second shift and was getting ready to start the day. Will never forget

    I turned on the tv and at first thought it was a movie until I realized it was fox news. 😦🤯

  • MsMorrisine
    MsMorrisine Posts: 40,084 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    driving and listening to the radio: "getting some news hat a plane has hit the wtc"

    i thought it was a small plane accident until i got to a computer and saw the damage 2 planes caused.

    i lived near washington dc at the time and a rumor was out the state department was hit. i heard the unmistakable sound of fighter jets in the skies. ti was in a parking lot trying to go home, as was everyone else in the parking lot. it took over an hour to exit the lot via a light to a major road it empties into. apparently we were the only ones in the area going home all at once. this taught me one thing: in the event of nuclear war or natural disaster, the people in any kind of populated area are dead where they are. the best escape is dirt bike to ocean going ship. you can't manage that, just stay home and turn off the tv. find a way to enjoy your last moments

    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
  • USSID18
    USSID18 Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
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    @MsMorrisine said:
    driving and listening to the radio: "getting some news hat a plane has hit the wtc"

    i thought it was a small plane accident until i got to a computer and saw the damage 2 planes caused.

    i lived near washington dc at the time and a rumor was out the state department was hit. i heard the unmistakable sound of fighter jets in the skies. ti was in a parking lot trying to go home, as was everyone else in the parking lot. it took over an hour to exit the lot via a light to a major road it empties into. apparently we were the only ones in the area going home all at once. this taught me one thing: in the event of nuclear war or natural disaster, the people in any kind of populated area are dead where they are. the best escape is dirt bike to ocean going ship. you can't manage that, just stay home and turn off the tv. find a way to enjoy your last moments

    I worked for a DoD agency outside DC. Like the rest of DC, the four star General that ran the agency, released nonessential personal. The parking lots and surrounding roads were total gridlock!! No one was moving!

    This 4 star had an open door policy with the workforce. Employees could call him, email me or or go to his office. All correspondence between the General and workforce employees were made public to the workforce.

    The next day September 12, 2001, a junior enlisted PFC, email this 4 star General. The PFC asked the General... Why was the majority of this DoD agency workforce released, when our country was under attack and we were at war???

    The 4 star released this kids email to the workforce with his reply. The General stated this PFC was absolutely correct! The workforce should not have been release and he apologized to the essential workers and the PFC!!

  • MsMorrisine
    MsMorrisine Posts: 40,084 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    good general, brave pfc. i like them both

    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
  • SurfinxHI
    SurfinxHI Posts: 2,705 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I was in PNG, doing an excavation looking for missing US Service Personnel.

    Dead people tell interesting tales.
  • USSID18
    USSID18 Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
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    @SurfinxHI said:
    I was in PNG, doing an excavation looking for missing US Service Personnel.

    Did you find any?

  • Goob
    Goob Posts: 577 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 4, 2026 7:43AM
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    I wasn't born yet (a little under 9 years later), but as for my dad he was in basic training during 9/11. He finished basic training 10 days later.

    "Another day, another Collectors Universe forum scrolling session."
    - Someone, probably

  • SurfinxHI
    SurfinxHI Posts: 2,705 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @USSID18 said:

    @SurfinxHI said:
    I was in PNG, doing an excavation looking for missing US Service Personnel.

    Did you find any?

    yup. got the fighter pilot.

    Dead people tell interesting tales.
  • USSID18
    USSID18 Posts: 655 ✭✭✭✭
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    @SurfinxHI said:

    @USSID18 said:

    @SurfinxHI said:
    I was in PNG, doing an excavation looking for missing US Service Personnel.

    Did you find any?

    yup. got the fighter pilot.

    👍 👍 🇺🇸

  • FHC
    FHC Posts: 333 ✭✭✭
    edited September 5, 2026 6:02AM
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    I was at home. I had just started my homeschooling for 6th grade with my mom. My mom's friend called and said to turn on the TV. The first plane had already hit. I remember watching the news and didn't really understand what was happening. I thought it was just an accident. Then, my mom and I watched as the second plane hit. And I realized that this was something more then an accident. Watching the news was the rest of my school work for that day.

  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,108 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I remember asking my parents if they knw what happened yet. Thier faces drained coler having been thru the depression and ww 2. It was a moving day for all 😳

  • BLUEJAYWAY
    BLUEJAYWAY Posts: 11,798 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Just was waking up, turned on the TV and saw the disaster. Took awhile to absorb the shock of it all.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • Teecee
    Teecee Posts: 9 ✭✭
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    I was at my desk downtown (Wall Street) when a coworker walked in. I teased her about being "late" (she wasn't) and asked why she came in late. She said that a plane had flown into the WTC. I thought she was joking until we went to the internet and saw the picture of the tower with the hole in it. While we looked at each other wondering what it meant, our building shook as the second plane hit. My manager and I walked down Broadway and looked up at both towers burning...he then turned and asked if that sound we heard was what he thought it was...I told him yes, it was the sound of people hitting the ground after jumping out of their office windows. While we watched, the first tower collapsed and we were engulfed by that horrible cloud.

  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,108 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Teecee said:
    I was at my desk downtown (Wall Street) when a coworker walked in. I teased her about being "late" (she wasn't) and asked why she came in late. She said that a plane had flown into the WTC. I thought she was joking until we went to the internet and saw the picture of the tower with the hole in it. While we looked at each other wondering what it meant, our building shook as the second plane hit. My manager and I walked down Broadway and looked up at both towers burning...he then turned and asked if that sound we heard was what he thought it was...I told him yes, it was the sound of people hitting the ground after jumping out of their office windows. While we watched, the first tower collapsed and we were engulfed by that horrible cloud.

    A somber day for many of us 👍☝️

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