On September 115th 2001 I had a 8am meeting for work that I left about 8:45am. I remember getting in my car and hearing the local talk radio station give a quick report of a possible small plain crash in NYC. About 5 minutes later they cut to ABC News coverage and I listened as the second plain crashed into the towers. I had to drive by my parents house so I stopped there to see it on the TV before I kept going to the office. I spent most of the day with the TV or radio on as I tried to get work done.

It will always be one of those days I can recount in vivid details.

---

i was woke up right after the first one hit seen the second one hit live on t.v. and was glued to the t.v. the rest of the day everytime i see the footage from it i still get sick to my stomach even after 12 yrs it still dont sit right

---

That is way I do what I do for the past 11 years.  When those building collapsed...I'll be wearing my class A's today.  We will never forget! Remember in your own way on this Patriot's Day. I should have that quote copyrighted.

I was in the playground at Chatsworth Park Elementary school when I heard of it. We were playing handball at our break... I was in the First Grade.

---

I was at work, when it happened.  We had sales people up in NYC and they got stuck there because they shut down all transportation in and out of the city.  We were actually sent home after the crash in western PA and the Pentagon.  I seriously thought we were under attack like in Red Dawn, I had my bug out bag and gear ready to go.

I was walking down to work in dowtown NYC when the first plane flew over me and I yelled out that it was too low (insert 4 letter words here) - and then I saw it hit the first tower. I thought it was an accident at first - tried to call the office downtown - but there was no cell service. Everyone was trying to call. I got down to our offices a few blocks from the WTC as the second plane hit. People were screaming that we were under attack. I was close enough to watch people waving out the windows.. waving shirts, arms, anything to try and let people know. There were jumpers. When the south building went down it was like the end of the world... you couldn't breath or see.  I don't usually say much about all this... there was a lot more to come. Moments, I guess, that are hard to understand unless you've seen death and destruction up close. It was so much worse than they showed on TV. Imagine that many bodies and burning wreckage in one place. The smell is something I will remember till I die. I went to funerals. I volunteered. I stood in line with the the New Yorkers waiting to give blood for casualties that never came in. I cried. I cleaned up endless amounts of dust.

I stopped going to the memorials a few years ago... but I try to stop at 9:59 and 10:28 every year for a moment of silence. This morning I stood with a group of iron workers around a flag at one of the many impromptu moments held all over the city. It reminds me of those months after when strangers were so kind to each other. You just hugged people you didn't know... One of the nice things I guess.

---

I was at work when another tech came rushing in to turn on the tv in the breakroom, we saw the second tower come down. As a volunteer fire fighter I was going to go up there with a few other guys but half way there we heard the closed all tunnels and bridges, so we came home.

---

I lost 3 friends that day. Friends I have known since I was 5 years old. RIP guys, I think of you often.

On the other side of the world Australia, it was around 10 pm Tuesday evening when it happened. I was asleep early so didnt hear the news till the next morning. Woke, switched the TV on for the early morning news and was absolutely gob-smacked. Changed stations as if to hope it was just a dream and all stations were the same. My two kids were 5 and 3 at the time and I just went and hugged them. May the souls of 9/11 rest in peace.

To quote Edmund Burke "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

---

That day lead to me being in the Air Force working on B-52s helping to take the fight back to the cowards.

I was at work. We had just finished breakfast and was going out to station 3 for training. Someone I dont remember who came in and turned on the tv and we watched as the first reports came in. Then I watched as the second plane hit the tower. At that point all the shift members were around the tv watching, training was forgotten. We all watched as the first tower fell too stunned and not wanting to say what we all knew; that all those people died. Then we waited because we knew if that one could fall so would the other. I saw the second fall then had to go on an EMS call. I remember that the rest of the shift was spend either making runs or sitting around the tv watching. The horrible feeling of all the people climbing on the pile looking for survivors but we looked at each other from time to time not wanting to say what we knew was probably true; that the likelyhood of any survivors was near impossible. Thinking what if we were the ones there, wishing we were. I can never forget that day but will always remember my brothers and sisters that stood fast and did their job in the face of such overwhelming obsacles and I can only hope that I will live up to that standard!

---

"Do or do not there is no try!"

I was stationed on Camp Lejeune at that time waiting to head to Cherry Point to fly out to Bridgeport California to visit MWTC (Mountain Warfare Training Center), when one of my marines burst threw my door saying that a plane just hit one of the towers. I remember looking at him in disbelief, as I left my room at a fast pace down the hallway to the rec room I was met by my 1st Sgt and Master Gunz I could tell right away something was wrong the look of confusion in two seasoned marines eyes was numbing. At that moment as I stood with my marines the second plane hit the other tower we all knew then that this was no accident that at some point this ment a high probability of going to war. Master Gunz  looked at me and said Dickie  looks like your gonna get the chance for some payback for losing your uncle in Beirut.( Master Gunz was stationed with my uncle in Beirut at the time of the barracks bombing.) I remember marines frantically making phone calls to family members in that area. I remember hearing our Chaplain over the intercom saying the Our Father and marines joining in prayer right where we were standing. One thing is certain for as long as I am on this planet I will never forget where I was that day.