a 9/11 story from another

[Todd A. Raffensperger]

     This may not be much of a 9/11 story to most of you, but it's mine.

     Fifteen years ago, I was into my first hour of work at the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, PA.  I had just returned from the snack bar with a small bag of Rold Gold pretzel thins, when someone told me, more out of astonishment than horror, that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

     I at first thought this was a freak accident.  It's happened before over 65 years ago when a B-25 bomber hit the Empire State building.  So I called my sister to see what was happening.  

     From the time I picked up the receiver to the time that my sister picked up on the other end, the second plane hit the second tower.  She told me this while it happened, and there was no more doubt from there.  

     There was a big screen TV in the adjacent office where most of us crammed into to watch the string of tragedies unfold.  Flight 93's crash, the hit on the Pentagon, and so forth.  

     The office closed early, and I took some extra time to go to the church that was next to our building, and prayed.  Then I went to the park, sat on the bench, and just sat there trying to take in what had happened.

     The Amtrak station was shut down, so I had no immediate means to get home.  Luckily I found a cab that took me back to Elizabethtown, a thirty minute drive.  The cab fare was twenty five dollars; I have him a fifty and told him to keep the change.  I wasn't really giving much of a crap about anything at that time.  

     And so ended my experience of 9/11.

 

[Mike Charlie November]

Can I ask other MCN'ers to share their memories and show their respect here? Thank you...

[Lenny]

I was a Police Photographer / Scene of Crime Officer back then. I was just having a coffee at the office before heading out on my jobs. A few of us were standing around when one of the cops put the TV on in our muster room.

Even back then, I was no stranger to blood, guts and gore and it was my job to document it. I'd photographed many a car/plane/train crash but what I was about to see struck me speechless.

I just couldn't believe what I was seeing, it didn't seem real, it was like a really bad disaster movie. I just couldn't believe it was happening. We all just stood there, riveted to the TV screens...

My brother-in-law was in Manhattan at the time, so it was a bit worrying until I eventually got hold of him.

The world changed that day, and my thoughts and prayers still go out to those who lost loved ones.

I don't know what else to say, even to this day I still can't believe what I saw, and later visiting ground zero will stay with me forever. Post 9/11 I did extra training and took on extra duties which I won't go into, but the fear that it would happen in our area was real. We then went onto having our own terrorist attacks in Glasgow, and albeit on a much smaller scale, it was scary at the time....

We shall never forget...

[Davejb]

I watched it live as it happened from start to finish. I was on the set of Bad Girls ready to go on set for a take,, Filming almost stopped immediately and the actors and extras were huddled around the TV set . We were in utter shock, some of the women extras and actresses were crying openly, I think all the guys were just too stunned to show any reaction, but then anger crept in and it got to a stage where revenge was the talk of the day. We then received a warning from the local police that Canary Wharf was being evacuated. We could see it from where the studio was based, basically across the Thames. Because of our proximity to the Wharf we were told to vacate the area, most of us stayed , even the actors. I think it was a case of defiance more than anything else, and the other studios followed suit, even the one where they were filming Hitlers Assassination attempt at Wolfs lair. It became a strange scene, Actors and extras all dressed differently in costume of different periods  and the German troops and Generals and Hitler all finding TV sets to see what was happening next. I then realised that my Son in Law was in one of the Towers a week before all this happened. He is a stock Broker and visited the Towers every few months. He knew quite a few people up near the top of the towers in the various companies that he helped in their shares. He lost good friends that day and to remember them we bought him a large picture of the Twin Towers which is proudly displayed in his hallway

[Norrie]

I was off work on holiday that day, and was working in the garden with the wife, when my daughter came running out to tell me a wee plane had crashed into a building in New York....we went in to see what was happening on the news, and that was it for us..., ...I could'nt tear myself from the set.....we all just sat there aghast at what was happening, we just couldn't believe it all....RIP. 

 

 10 years later, in early May 2011.. The wife and I  were in San Diego on holiday, and one of my cousins best friends, Mikey an ex Navy Seal came to have a beer with us......his bro was one of the leaders of ST6, and the assault on Bin Ladens compound.......I saw the photos he sent to Mikey of Bin Laden, lying dead in his home after being shot...the ones that were circulating of him at the time , were NOT like the real ones...it still sticks in my mind, but nothing like the day of the Towers going down...

 

Sad times, but America def felt better for Bin laden being taken down....

Edited September 11, 2016 by Norrie

[Todd A. Raffensperger]

By all means, do so.  I invite everyone to share what they experienced.

[Guest Fred Karno's Army]

At the time I worked for Blackpool transport as a driver supervisor  and remember as I entered the depot on foot bieng asked had I seen what was happening in New York ?.I was totally oblivious when they said an aircraft had hit the world trade centre,I just assumed something like a Cessna 172 had pranged due to pilot error or mechanical failure or similar.

Upon entering the staff canteen I gathered around the group of maybe 20/30 folks watching the television we had in the corner and suddenly realised this was no 172,or similar sized light aircraft.

And within 10/15 seconds of watching the live feed we witnessed the second aircraft striking the second tower,you could have heard a pin drop,everyone was speechless.

As the day's events unfolded around the tragedy I remember driving home several hours later after my shift had finished and thinking how many lives would change that day and an uncertainty of what retribution lay ahead once the perpetrators had been identified.

For me at that moment in time I could have never envisaged that it would make a huge difference in my own personal life.And lead me to spend three years in Iraq directly supporting  the coalition forces.

  Pray the world should never witness any horrific terrorist atrocities on that scale again.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Fred Karno's Army

[Bil4338]

I was relaxing on my sofa reading a newspaper as I was only working part time when my girlfriend (now my wife) phoned me from her work.'turn the tv on NOW, there's been a 'plane crash in New York, a planes crashed into a building'. Well, casually I did so, thinking she's overplaying a minor incident.I couldn't believe my eyes, watching I think the second aircraft ploughing into the tower.I was transfixed, couldn't quite take it all in, thinking about the poor folk who lost their lives, and the aftermath, the suffering, the horror of it all.....just wouldn't sink in fully.

when she returned home, we talked about it, and the next shift I worked, everyone was still talking about every aspect of such a momentous episode in Western society.

we visited NY in 2012.Ground Zero was a must see, even if only to pay our respects.once seen, never forgotten.

RIP 

[Waffenamt]

For me,i first heard when the first plane went in when i was taking a break near Stafford on a job.

I was on way back to Manchester area when the second hit. As soon as i got to the major install at The Church Inn,Droylesden. I immediatly told the then young team to down tools and watch the live coverage on the pub large screen. I told them to job can wait as the world changed that morning for the worst.

The ariel on the second tower when it collapsed sticks in my mind. I see it over and over again when i think of that horrible day.

RIP

 

[Garron]

Got in from school about 3.30pm (I'd have been 12 at the time) it was all over by then both towers had collapsed but I saw repeats of the footage of planes crashing into the towers, I remember asking what film is on TV was not knowing what had happened and the shock of my mother saying it isnt a film, still amazed not a single teacher mentioned it.

a follow on is I remember a teacher walking into my class a month later saying the invasion of Afghanistan has started

 

[pylon1357]

The morning of September 11, 2001, I was staying at my (then) ex-wife's place due to me having to go from Ottawa to Montreal to have an MRI done at a private clinic (being medicated pretty heavy she was driving me). She came into the spare room and told me a plane had flown in to the WTC. I asked what kind of plane? I was thinking that maybe a little private plane had a mishap. 

 

A few minutes later she came back into the room, by this time I was more mobile and less foggy. She said, another plane hit the WTC, then added 'what the heck is going on'. Without hesitation I told her it seemed to me the yanks are being attacked. No damned way 2 planes could hit the WTC accidentally.  They took out the WTC which is the financial head, they are going to hit the Pentagon, the heads of the military, and the White House for the President. She had the most bizarre look on her face and asked me how the hell I could possibly know this. My reply was simply that, If I was right and the US was being attacked, that is the way I would do it. Financial, Military Reply and Head of State. Unfortunately, it seems I was right.

By this point, we only knew about the two planes that hit the WTC. We were running late for Montreal so we jumped in the car and headed for Montreal. We listened to the local radio station as long as we could. The commentator (Lowel Green) was keeping people advised of the events as they unfolded. He was discussing the fact that schools in our area were going to remain open and that NO state of emergency had been declared in our area. Flights to the US etc were grounded.

As we were nearing Montreal, we started hearing reports of a possible "Montreal Connection". I was pretty selfish at this time as I was thinking, oh yeah great, now Montreal is going to be shut down and I will be stuck there. 

After finally returning from Montreal, I had been pretty much in bubble most of the day. I turned on the TV at around 9:00pm, I stood there totally dumbfounded at what I was seeing on the screen. Honestly I had never grasped the depth of the events until I saw the scenes on the television. I stood there until well after midnight just trying to process everything. 

 

[pylon1357]

Hello everyone. Please take a moment and read this. Gates was a Vandoo, but on task to the 2nd Bn Irish Regiment of Canada. Not a day goes by he is not thought of. He was killed 2 days before I left for AFG. I almost didn't go as I wanted so much to attend his Repatriation Ceremony in Trenton. I had many a conversation with him at the Memorial in NSE HQ KAF.

 

FIOR GO BAS my friend. 

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/OzZK6