Remembering 9/11/2001

[Tramp]

I beg the indulgence of my forum friends for an old, overbearing ex-Marine who is compelled to dedicate a thread to contemplate the events of September 11th, 2001. In your own way of marking 6 months since, please take a moment to write down in this thread your thoughts of that day, 6 months ago...

 

[Tramp]

This post is dedicated to the families who lost loved ones that day especially to the many children who have since been born without their Dad.

 

[Tramp]

Finally....please remember who it is that stands between US and the animals who perpetrated the horrific events of September 11th....some of our kids will make the ultimate sacrifice and not return home to see their families again and tonight they stand in vigilant guard in our defense...
I pray that God will watch over them.

 

[Tramp]

...recollection:

Shortly after the two planes struck the WTC, I found myself in this forum relaying information realtime to my British friends as events unfolded here in the US. I remember the horror as I witnessed the collapse of the Twin Towers and a denial of what my eyes were witnessing. I remember the stress of learning other hijacked planes were in the air heading for unknown targets... and then the Pentagon was struck and we learned of the plane crash in Pennsylvania.
While a good portion of my day was consumed with calmly assuring my family that all would be well, I have to admit that I nearly lost it about 12 noon when two American warplanes flew over my house. It occured to me that warplanes have never found it necessary to fly over our nation in it's defense and the thought that these planes might be forced to shoot down one of our own passenger planes gave me the willies that I hadn't experienced since Viet Nam.
For a good portion of the day and most of that night, I found a comfort level here in this forum talking with many of you about these events...The attack galvanized all of us worldwide and many of us became real good friends after that, for which I am grateful. It was nothing short of a blessing that we had each other to lean on....God Bless all of you.

PS: Thank YOU to all my friends here in the forum who are not Americans and have put up with this bluster of Yankee patriotism....:sohappy:

 

[Maria]

I can´t believe it has already been six months.... I still get chills when I think about it. It was like watching a horror movie but in the real life and live.
I watched a CNN special last night about the widows who had kids after 9/11 and couldn´t help but cry thinking of how many innocent people are suffering because of it. A prayer for them and for the many innocents who died on that date. And another prayer for the world.... for tragedies like this never happen again. Let´s hope...

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by Tramp
[color=darkblue
[color=red]PS: Thank YOU to all my friends here in the forum who are not Americans and have put up with this bluster of Yankee patriotism....:sohappy: [/color]

It´s not like we had to put up with it, Tramp... The whole world was shocked with this. It was a nightmare. I remember that my best friend was in Chicago on a businness trip and as soon as I understood that the first crash was not an accident, I called him and warned him not to go near the Sears Tower. I was terryfied. I went to work late, and we turned a tv on there and followed the reports. Kleenex tissues were common around us. We didn´t want to imagine the magnitude of the problem and it is still hard to believe that someone could be so evil to plan it. It is still frightenning to think that this is not over yet, and rather not think about it.

I do admire americans for the patriotism they always show in everything, and with the facts of 9/11, I wasn´t expecting less! Well done!! :sohappy:

 

[mickeyfan]

I was in shock as I watched the planes fly into the WTC towers on the morning of September 11th. I watched on the TV set in my office after a friend called me when the first one hit. I saw the second one live and then saw the pentagon. Total shock and disbelief consumed everyone where I work. I turned on the TV set in our main entrance way as well. I work for a school district that has a large military population. I fielded phone calls all day and all week regarding what we were going to do about the schools and children. We sent out extra personnel to help monitor the schools to insure the children's safety. The saddest part is that many of our children's families have been disrupted because of this act of terror. Service men have been deployed and the spouses or children are not allowed to know their exact whereabouts. Security reasons. My heart aches for the families of all the victims of this terrorism. But actually we are all victims. Our lives and the way we view it will forever be changed. We go on with our everyday lives, but the thought of someone invading our land scares the hell out of me!!

The friday after the attack we held a prayer vigil around the flag pole in front of our complex. As we stood in silent prayer, a fighter jet from Eglin Air Force Base flew over..........we all knew they were headed for a mission of unknown consequences. The tears flowed for the lives lost and the uncertainty for those sent to defend our great country. We truly do live in the home of the free and land of the brave!!

May God Bless Us All!!

 

[WDW-Imagineer]

September 11th marked Day One of the worst year of my 18 years of existance on this earth.

I sat in health class, a sunny, warm September day of what I thought was a great Senior year so far. My principal came over the loud speaker to announce that 2 planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, apparently intentional. In my mind, I imagined 2 small, 6-8 passenger planes crashing into the huge buildings... figuring it was no big deal.

As I went to my next period class, more details began to unfold. As we listened to the radio, I found out that the 2 Cessna planes in my head were actually Boeing 767s. In the broadcast we heard mentions of collapse, we thought nothing of the towers coming down. The principal came back on to announce that the pentagon had been struck and at this point the mood completely changed. Now I was beginning to wonder, "what's next?" As the class went on, one of my gym teachers came into the room and announced that the South Tower had completely collapsed (making a pancaking motion with his hands). The feeling I got from this news, I can't even begin to explain what it was like. As we went to lunch, we heard that the 2nd tower collapsed and at this point I was just in complete shock.

I cut the rest of my afternoon classes and retired to the woodshop where I continued to listen to the radio. As school ended, I went to the parking lot and got on line to get out of the school. I drove 3 of my friends home. We listened to the radio in the car and the entire 10 minute drive home, we said absolutely nothing. The ride home was silent, just the radio on. It was the strangest and eeriest feeling I have ever experienced.

As the days after 9/11 went on, especially at nights, I was actually scared. I have never been scared about the events of the world around me. I feared that perhaps some terrorist was gonna just jump out and get me in the dark. It sounds juvenile now, but at that time it was very real.


For as long as I can remember (probably about 1st grade), I have wanted to be a firefighter. For 50 years, my grandfather has been a volunteer firefighter right here in my community. For 25 years my father and my uncle have done the same. For 5 years my brother continued the 3rd generation of my family to be volunteer firefighters. Countless other family members have also been involved in the FD as well as the ladies auxiliary. September 11th only increased my desire to follow the footsteps of my grandfather, father, and brother. I finally turned 18 last week and I look forward to finally being able to join the FD this week. Finally I will be able to call the men & women of FDNY who lost their lives at the world trade center, my brothers & sisters.

In lieu of 9/11 instead of military service, I look forward to serving my country in an equally important way; public safety. I can't wait to finally call myself a firefighter and know deep down inside that I will be doing a huge service to my country. I have been wanting to do this all of my life and now I will finally be able to do it and I can't wait.

I thank you all for reading this and I dedicate my service to the country to all the firefighters, police, ems, military and all others who have been killed in the horrific events of 9/11 & our military operations across the globe. God bless you all & god bless america.

 

[Fievel]

9/11 was a unique day for me also. I had separated my shoulder the day before, so i woke up in a lot of pain....little did I know that my pain would soon seem minor.

I actually went to work that morning, arm in a sling. I sat in the receiving docks of the Target I work at, listening to the radio as I checked in our pop/soda vendors. Suddenly the radio cut out of the middle of a song, with the morning DJ's saying that a plane had just hit the WTC tower. Looking like an accident, I didn't think much of it...All of a sudden they both started shouting as they were watching the footage on a small TV in the studio....they said they were going to go back to music and they would come back with info as it became available.....not satisfied with that I flipped the dial to AM and picked up Peter Jennings on ABC radio. I then stood in the docks right next to the stereo with 3 vendors from different places. As the unreal became even moreso, I couldn't believe what was happening....The mall that the target was connected to announced they were closing immediately, and we all had about 20 min to get out of the building. I went down to the small store in the mall my fiancee worked at and we quickly hopped in the car and left. On the way home, I called my father, who is a volunteer firefighter, EMT, and police officer. He was almost speechless, and i read his voice as he told me about all the firefighters that were killed in the collapse of the building.

I then came home and quickly jumped online, where i spent the day in the WDWMagic chatroom with mom and a select few others....not saying much, but saying enough that nothing else was needed......I was in there longer than I ever thought I'd be...talked to many people who just needed to vent.

I watched replays until about 3 AM...when i finally went to bed...I took the next 3 days off of work (shoulder) and spent a lot of time on the boards talking things out with people.

Times like this make me greatful you are all my friends....Tramp I cannot tell you how much respect I gained on top of everything I already thought of you those days...you became our leader when we were down, and I thank you.

 

[Main Street USA]

I unfortunately was not a member of these boards at that time. I certainly wish I would have been.

I worked at Best Buy at the time and was expecting to be called off of work that day. I wasn't. Best Buy, however, is a pretty good place to work when something like this happens. I was able to watch it all day on the hundreds of TVs, all turned to news stations, all of the volume turned down exept one, which was turned up all the way and could be heard throughout the store. For the most part the store was deserted, exept for a few people actually wanting to ask questions about buying new electronics. They would go on about the size of their entertainment center at home, wondering if this TV or that one would fit. I just stood and stared at them thinking "what are you doing here?" I was absolutely shocked that people would see these things happening and then think, "I think I'll go buy some new electronics."

My main feelings that day started out as anger, although I didnt know who to be angry at. Then those feelings later turned to sadness. It is incredible how different I felt that day than I do at this moment. Almost as if I had stepped outside of myself and become someone different for a while. I remember saying things that day that I would never comprehend thinking today, although foolish at the time, they seemed so reasonable to me, and to everyone around me as well. Words can't truly describe anything I felt that day, or anything that happened.....

 

[Lhriangel]

I was also not a member when this happened.

I was actually on my college program when this happened. I woke up to the events on TV. My roommates and I were all shocked. None of us knew quite what to think. Because I had lived in New York just 3 months before I was shocked that this was happened. I desperately tried to get ahold of my friends in Brooklyn and Staten Island (like the rest of the world). I had a friend that is a psych nurse that luckily did NOT go into work that day or would have been right under the WTC when this happened if the train was on time. It wasn't until I was able to get to online that I actually did get ahold of my old roommate to make sure that my friends that were still attending school in Brooklyn were okay.

Many of my friends on the College Program had family or friends that lived in the area. Our apartment had always been the place where everyone got together so we soon had an apartment full of girls sitting on the couch, chairs and floor watching the events unfold. One of my roommate's lives in the DC area.. her father watched the plane crash into the Pentagon, my old roommate back at school has a brooklyn apartment that overlooks the NY skyline... My friend's apartment in New Jeresy did as well. Two of our apartment's friends that were supposed to check in on the program the next day couldnt' get their flights.

I remember the shock when we heard that the parks were closing ... (from watching the TV not from any other source)... Then we had calls from our managers telling us not to come in, but that if we could they needed help at the resorts. It was so.. deadly quiet except for a few disrespectful people at Vista who thought it was jsut a day off. I believe that bothered me the most. The people who thought.. well it's not here and it couldn't happen to me so it's not important to me. It hurt me even more when my mother gave me the impression that that was how she felt.. I found out later that she felt differently.

Needless to say that 9/11 was very ... emotional to me... But I'm glad the country pulled together the way it did in light of the occurances.

 

[Maria]

I can´t imagine how people were so stupid to think as that day as another day off... If I were at Disney then, I would be so scared thinking it could be such an easy next spot! I actually thought about it, and was afraid it could happen, and I thank God it didn´t.

 

[Lhriangel]

*nods* My dad actually wanted me to come home.. but I was afraid to fly. We all thought about disney being the next target. Luckily I had the next few days off to .... try and ... just calm down. It was very scary for me though, maybe I just take things too deeply... I don't know.

 

[markymark]

I was sat in work and just scanning the forums, when suddenly someone started a thread entitled "This Is Terrible" stating that 2 planes had hit the WTC. I don't think I can properly put into words what happened in the following few hours.
ALL the news websites practically locked down, and I was only getting relatively vague updates from the radio. The only place I was able to actually find anything out, was on here, via the friends I had already made, but in the space of a few hours, those people just felt so much closer to me. It sounds strange to say it, but that is how it was. Mightyduck, Tramp, DisneyFreak, Mr Promey and of course The Mom, were all advising each other, and everyone who was there at the time, what was going on. It was so frightening to think what had happened, but seeing described in such detail by those guys really REALLY brought it home, and for all I was 5,000 or so miles away, I really felt like I was living it with them. Infact, all my work colleagues where calling me and asking what was happening, as they knew I was online on this forum, and was getting more info than the radio.
Since that terrible day, I feel that the people I have known for a "long" time on this site have become even stronger friends, and stronger people, just about everyone I was "chatting" with on that day has since had to face some other form of adversity, and as a guage to how we feel about each other, certain members have chosen to share those times with certain of us. This may have happened anyway, but I just feel that events on September 11th put a lot of things into perspective for a lot of people, and has forged new friendships, or cemented those already made.
I travelled to WDW on 27th September, and all I can say is that I was absolutely amazed by what I saw once I arrived in Florida. I have never seen such a show of a united country, just about every car and building was proudly showing the stars and stripes in some way or other, and I could just tell them every American I spoke to was so proud to be an American.
I know what happened was awful and on a scale that I hope we never see again, and whilst so many people lost their lives, and others lost loved ones, the basic feeling I get from the USA is of such solidarity and strength, that despite the terrible human cost, those b a s t a r d s that did this have failed.

 

[mightyduck]

As many of you know, my parents were in WDW when this happened and I was home alone dogsitting. Much love and thanks to so many of you, especially Tramp, who made sure I was holding it all together.

Tramp, I think of you every time I hear the jets over my house--and I remember you telling me not to be afraid because that means they are protecting me.... Those jets still fly over every three hours...

 

[disney_nutter]

I was sitting in class at that time and i was listening to my pocket radio when it came on the radio. at that moment i felt for all the american people growing up here in n.ireland we have a good share of trouble due to to terrorism i lost my parents due to an ira bomb blast i know what is like to grow up in fear. Still here i am thretened in every day life because im protestant who is being brought up by catholic adopted parents.

 

[Al]

I came out of school at approx 3.40 GMT and my mum told me. I really couldnt contemplate what had happened until i saw pictures on the television. My heart went out, - and still does to all Americans.


God Bless America

 

[OldKeyWest24]

That day is somthing I will never forget. It happened when i was in second period history. didnt find out until 6th period math. I didnt belive the rumors going around school. I thought it was someone trying to be funny. Then my teacher told us. I remember my heart just sinking into my stomach. Than everyone started going home to be with there families. Lots of kids lost ther parents. At the end of the day the played God Bless the USA on the loud speaker. And i started to cry. People where laughing, but i didnt care it was a tragic thing.
My aunt went that day to see LIVE with Regis and Kelly. My mom was watching waiting for her to come on the screen and she saw the plane hit the tower and she screamed so loud she woke up my father.
being a kid going through all this i will never forget my heart goes out to all!!

God Bless our great nation
Susan

 

[kal1484]

I had just gotten out of Spanish class. I walked into algebra, and saw the tv on, at first I thought it was a movie. We watched and I went to talk to someone, and the expression on her face i will never forget. She had just seen the second plane crash. The whole class was silent. On my way to third hour, the first tower fell, by 5 minutes into British Lit, the second collapsed. The rest of the day was just like a dream, going from class to class. Sixth hour, we didn't watch it. We all needed a break. At band practice, I actually forgot what had happened earlier. But, then, a plane flew overhead, you could feel the fear in all our hearts. I remember sitting in 5th hour wondering what would happen. Would we go to war? Would all my guy friends be drafted? what about me, there is equal opportunity now, would I be drafted? I will never forget this day. None of us will. I was only 16, 3 days before my 17th birthday. Never will I forget.

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

The one thing I will never forget is how weird it was when all the planes were grounded and airports were shut down. It was weird to look in the sky and see no planes flying. I live close to an airport so it was very obvious. One night i went outside on a cloudless night and stared at the stars and was amazed how quiet it was with no plane noise or plane lights. It was then that I realized that our nation was held hostage.