9-11 - Where were You? What were You Doing?

Trauma Columnist · Sep 12, 2016

For those of you on the East Coast - so very sorry you had a frontline view of this. How horrible...

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

My husband and I have been together for 16 years (we were not married in 2001) and that day remains one of three times that I have seen him cry.

Me too. We got married in 2000.

On 12 September, I called my mom again, and she was telling the story of the priest for the firefighters that was carried out dead (Father Tom? I can't remember but the picture of the four men carrying him out is iconic)...one of the chiefs had said that at least he'd be there to greet the other guys when they got to Heaven...I couldn't take it and just burst into tears and I saw my husband wipe his eyes as he reached to hug me.

compassionresearcher · Sep 13, 2016

I was a school nurse living in Manhattan at the time. It was a beautiful clear, crisp, sunny day. I got out of the subway on 23rd street and Lexington and heard sirens and saw tons of emergency vehicles heading downtown, but we didn't know what was happening. Then a guy talking on his cell phone turned to everyone on the sidewalk and said a plane hit the WTC. We thought it was an accident. I got to the school and several staff members were watching the news in the principal's office. Then we saw the second plane hit and thought the world was about to end. There were rumors that things were blowing up all over the city, which thankfully were false. Teachers and students in the classes didn't know for hours what had happened until parents started showing up at school and pulling their kids out one by one. But we had to stay open until the end of the school day because some parents couldn't get there sooner. There were no trains running, every store was closed, everyone had to walk to get to where they lived. It was so scary. Luckily I lived 2 miles from the school. My friend's boyfriend was a firefighter and she hadn't heard from him for 24 hours and she stayed at my apartment while we stayed glued to the news. I swore the world was about to end. Luckily her boyfriend was alive, but working and unable to get word out that he was safe (now they're married).

Being from NY and living and working in the city at the time makes my memories focus on the WTC, but all of the death and sorrow that came from that day is equally tragic.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Sep 13, 2016

On 12 September, I called my mom again, and she was telling the story of the priest for the firefighters that was carried out dead (Father Tom? I can't remember but the picture of the four men carrying him out is iconic)...one of the chiefs had said that at least he'd be there to greet the other guys when they got to Heaven...I couldn't take it and just burst into tears and I saw my husband wipe his eyes as he reached to hug me.

Ah yes. Father Mychal Judge. My grandma kept a picture of him and one of his quotes in her Bible until she died in 2008.

Diane1025, LPN · Sep 13, 2016

I was working in Human Resources at a local Connecticut community college. It was warm and sunny. A co-worker who came in later than we did told us about this tragedy. Unbelievable. Professors were turning on televisions in classrooms. A few had relatives in New York. Security jumped into action. We were all told to leave the college under security, as we didn't know if state buildings were next. I can remember employees and students walking to our cars, single file, in shock, nobody saying anything, driving home numb. I remember sitting in my living room in my rocking chair the rest of the day glued to the television, knitting needles in hand (nervous energy) in a total state of shock. Interestingly, I can even remember what I wore that day.............can't tell you what scrubs I wore yesterday tho! For the longest time afterward, I sobbed every time I saw an American flag waving in the wind.

SapphireKitten, CNA · Sep 13, 2016

I think I'm part of the youngest group that actually remembers that day. I was in first grade. Although I was only 6, I have a pretty awesome memory. At my school, all of the kids would sit in the hallway by their classroom before class started. My mom was actually one of the first grade teachers, and her best friend was the other first grade teacher (who was also my teacher). I remember them coming out of the classroom and looking at each other just saying "Oh my God." They called us into class and explained what happened. Of course we were a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds, so the seriousness and horror didn't really strike us. I didn't get emotional by the day's remembrance until I was older and understood. A lot of people my age don't even remember actually living through that day.

dec2007 · Sep 13, 2016

I was at work giving report to the oncoming shift. Someone came out to the desk and said a plane had hit one of the twin towers. Our heart surgeon looked up and said "what a horrible accident!" Another nurse came out of her patient's room and said that another plane hit the second tower. The surgeon said "Oh my God! It wasn't an accident at all!"

Almost exactly a year prior to 09/11 I was getting off of the night shift when I heard on the radio that a US Naval destroyer was bombed in the Port of Aden in Yeman, and the side had been blown out of the ship. That ship was the USS Cole, and my son was on board. It was also my husband's 40th birthday. My son was 20. He lived, but spent the next 14 days cutting thru the ship's twisted metal to find the bodies of his shipmates. That task took nearly two weeks in the sweltering 130 degree heat. Seventeen of those young sailors perished in that attack. The thing I will never forget is that when my son told us about the aftermath, and about finding the body of his best friend, he said "I reached down to touch his face, but my hand went right through his face like it was gelatin." My husband has never had another birthday. That day has a different meaning now. One month from today will be the 16th anniversary of the attack on the USS Cole. A lot of people either haven't ever heard about the Cole, or they don't remember it at all. Please take a moment on October 12 to think of those lost sailors and their families. Thank you for keeping them in your hearts.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2016

I was at work giving report to the oncoming shift. Someone came out to the desk and said a plane had hit one of the twin towers. Our heart surgeon looked up and said "what a horrible accident!" Another nurse came out of her patient's room and said that another plane hit the second tower. The surgeon said "Oh my God! It wasn't an accident at all!"
Almost exactly a year prior to 09/11 I was getting off of the night shift when I heard on the radio that a US Naval destroyer was bombed in the Port of Aden in Yeman, and the side had been blown out of the ship. That ship was the USS Cole, and my son was on board. It was also my husband's 40th birthday. My son was 20. He lived, but spent the next 14 days cutting thru the ship's twisted metal to find the bodies of his shipmates. That task took nearly two weeks in the sweltering 130 degree heat. Seventeen of those young sailors perished in that attack. The thing I will never forget is that when my son told us about the aftermath, and about finding the body of his best friend, he said "I reached down to touch his face, but my hand went right through his face like it was gelatin." My husband has never had another birthday. That day has a different meaning now. One month from today will be the 16th anniversary of the attack on the USS Cole. A lot of people either haven't ever heard about the Cole, or they don't remember it at all. Please take a moment on October 12 to think of those lost sailors and their families. Thank you for keeping them in your hearts.

I remember the USS Cole. I had moved to Riyadh that June and thought how odd it was - I had seen her in dock in Bahrain just a couple of months before. Please know that those sailors are not forgotten and thank your son for his bravery, heroism, and service.

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 13, 2016

I was eleven years old and in the 6th grade. I remember being told to go outside - the entire school gathered in the parking lot. I went to school in Maryland which is relatively close to the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania where flight 93 crashed. I knew something big had happened but didn't know what. I had never heard of the Twin Towers until 9/11. We wanted to watch the news on TV but my parents didn't let. My brother picked up a Time magazine from school and it showed the hour to hour collapse of the tunnels and people jumping to their deaths. Our old neighbor's brother died in the attack.

VegGal, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2016

I was in my 20s in nursing school at a community college. We were in Biology lab and someone received a text message and started crying loudly in class. She then walked out and a couple other people with her, and the other people rushed back in to say that the college was closed for the day. We still had no idea of what was going on, but as I walked out of the classroom and into the foyer, there was a crowd of people watching 2 large TVs on the wall and I stood there speechless, watching in horror as a second airplane crashed into the World Trade Center.

I was the only non-white student apart from 2 AA students in in Psych class, and the very next school day during Psych class people were giving me strange looks and whispering as I walked in. The instructor started the lesson by asking what we thought should be done about the attacks and one student said "Just kill them all." She responded, "You want to kill ALL of them?" Several students, including the Black students, said yes. People kept turning around to look at me, and they continued to whisper and stare. One person said "She's Indian, not Middle Eastern" and someone else said "They're all the same" and a few of them laughed. After a couple days of this, and more unfriendly comments and looks as I walked around campus over the next few days, I decided to leave the college and never returned. Thankfully, I did return to nursing school several years later, but not that college of course.

Eman A · Sep 13, 2016

I was in second grade. We were watching a movie on the TV when the teacher just turned on the news and we all watched it happen in silence. I was a bit too young to fully comprehend the situation, but I will never forget the silence that hit.

dec2007 · Sep 13, 2016

I remember the USS Cole. I had moved to Riyadh that June and thought how odd it was - I had seen her in dock in Bahrain just a couple of months before. Please know that those sailors are not forgotten and thank your son for his bravery, heroism, and service.

Thank you! That means a lot!!