I was at GE in Lynn and it was surreal when the updates kept coming in.I will never forget that day.--charliezap

[mickey]

I heard it on the radio at work in England.
The factory stood still as the updates were being announced.
It was all a bit hard to imagine the real horror...that was until I got home and saw the images on the news.
Really unbelievable, and that complete feeling of helplessness.

I was in Tokyo when the big quake happened last year, and even though that was a real experience for me, that feeling of helplessness returned as I watched the tsunami in the north east later at night and on the news the next day.

[bluestringer]

I was working as a Highway Maintenance Foreman for the Georgia DOT in charge of about 100 miles of highway in a South Georgia County. We got a call and orders to pull all people and equipment off the job and be on standby the rest of the day in case emergency operations came into effect. My way of life at work changed that day, and it also changed the way I went about my personal life. Foremen were enrolled into the Highway Watch Program, and we went through a training program by Homeland Security. We were trained to recognize terrorist and had to patrol our assigned County everyday for about a year checking bridges and gas lines, etc. on State Routes for any out of place people or activity, and preparing a report for the District Office. Funding for the Highway Watch program has since stopped and as far as I know it has been disbanded. Today the training for that program would probably be considered as profiling and would not be tolerated by the PC people.

[dcmsox2004]

i remember sitting at my desk at work, listening/watching the today show on our small tv in our waiting room....
mesmerized by the unfolding events.... nice remembrance...dave m

[magkelly]

I was home at my parents house recovering from a bad accident. I turned on the computer and there it was ongoing on the news. Took me back instantly to the PATH bombing and what happened that day. FYI, I missed being blown up in that one by sheer dumb luck. I used to work in the WTC, in the WFC. People on 9-11 they went crashing down through the glass where I used to eat my lunch every day. They've repaired that building and the garden is what it used to be, but I don't think I'll ever be able to go there again and not think of blood and body parts on the floor.

I doesn't matter that I'd left NYC by then. I had nightmares for months after 9-11, horrifying "Day of the Dead" dream visions. As much as I love NYC I don't think I can go back there ever. The whole area down there, it may be built up and new again, but to me it's one huge mass grave now. Probably it would feel horrible to be there.

I'm sensitive to a degree. I've actually seen a few spirits. Laugh at that statement if you want, but it's nonetheless true. I usually stay away from places where a lot of people have died tragically. Places like that have a bad effect on me. It's a total mental overload. I'd get physically sick probably trying to walk around the place....

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Last edited by magkelly; 09-12-2012 at 08:33 AM.

[scatron]

We were on an airplane.

My grandfather died on September 10, 2001 in my hometown in SE Wisconsin. We had made arrangements to fly from Salt Lake City to Milwaukee via Phoenix the next day. So my wife, our (then) 4-month old little girl and I arrived at the Salt Lake City airport about 6:30 am for a 7:22 am flight.

We had no idea anything was going on at the time. From the time we arrived at the airport to the time we took off, both towers had been hit. Fifteen minutes after we took off, the Pentagon was hit.

About 20 minutes into the flight the co-pilot informs us over the intercom that two planes had crashed into the WTC and that all planes in the US are to land immediately. We were being diverted to Las Vegas.

After landing, we called family members to let them know our status, then start to figure out what do do: Where will we stay? How will we get to Wisconsin for the funeral? Should we just go home?

My company has a branch in LV, so we start there. We get a ride from a co-worker to the general manager's apartment where we call a friend of mine from grad school who's a professor at UNLV and has 2 little kids. We finally get that arranged and end up staying at their place until we figure out if planes will be flying again soon so we can make the funeral. Grandma is worried about us and her great-granddaughter on a plane and told us not to fly and just find a way to get home. Planes weren't going to be in the air in time anyway, so we start to work on getting home.

It just so happened we knew our neighbor was at a convention in Mesquite, about 90 minutes away from LV. So we call her cell phone, and she knew someone who had rented a minivan to drive back to Salt Lake City. It was perfect for us - plenty of room for all our luggage and baby stuff - including an extra child's car seat we were taking back to my brother.

So on Thursday, the day of the funeral, our friends we've been staying with in Vegas drive us to Mesquite, we meet up with our neighbor and the person with the minivan, and head out for the 5-hour drive back to the Salt Lake area.