11th September 2001

I know there's already another discussion going, but it's too tainted with cynicism and conspiracy theories for my taste. Here's a list of victims with profiles and some with pictures for anyone who's interested. I think one of the things that stood out most in my mind on that day and the days following was the firemen.

I was there when it happened. And this day still fills me with horror each time it comes around.

I was supposed to be at a breakfast briefing for one of my clients in the windows in the world restaurant but slept in. My client and his investors were some of the first confirmed dead and I will never forget the surreal horror of that day as long as I live.

That is freaky.

Was watching this happen on CNN live at Dornier in Munich when it happened and remember being really scared cos i thought i was witnessing the start of the third World War, within minutes there were armed police at the gates of our site.

I think I saw an ad on TV about CNN replaying their original 9/11/2001 broadcast on their website starting at 8:30am.

At the time I was working at Microsoft Consulting Services - I got a call from a pal at Lufthansa Flight Network telling me to go online immediately. Once I saw what was happening, I called my parents and told them to turn on the news.

What was eerie was that I could hear people phoning pals and former colleagues all around the open plan office.

Some former work contacts of mine from my days in the City died in the WTC - surreal horror is a good way of describing the day.

It is like the man on the moon or when Kennedy was shot - everyone old enough can remember exactly where they were.

Great link JennyL - bought a tear to my eye.

At the time I didn't know anything about it until the next day, must have been the only person on the planet. I was in Germany at the time and didn't speak any German whatsoever. Hadn't been out that day and didn't have a TV so it wasn't until I went to work the next day that I heard anything.

Scogs called me at work and said an airplane had crashed into the WTC - I asked what kind of plane, he said they didn't know. I was thinking maybe a private plane getting lost or so. He didn't tell me about the second one, so when I came home the whole event just slammed me in the face.

The pictures that stay with me most are the dust-covered people walking out of the immense cloud like fugitives from Hades.

I was at work and my then-boyfriend called to tell me what had happened. I went and sat in my car in the parking lot and listened to the radio. I didn't leave my car for an hour; I couldn't go back in the office, couldn't even drive home.

I was at work here (just returned back to Munich) and my secretary told me, I went running upstairs to the waiting room with the TV, the room was full of patients and staff... all sitting in shock. I was in shock, thinking it was not real, but some sort of special effects. Then I looked at the time, it was 9am in Toronto, and I knew my mom was flying to TO to arrive in the morning.

Well, I did get hold of my dad saying she did land in TO, then they closed the airports in the US, just landing all the planes that were in the air into Canada. My mom said they were walking thru the airport and there were police everywhere, but couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was later that day when they were driving to my Aunt's that they heard on the radio. Kind of freaked them all out.

I see the old footage, and still for me it seem so, unreal. I know it happened, and am saddened by it, but I guess I cannot understand having that much hate in a person to do such a thing.

I was working in a Japanese bank in London at the time and was 'lucky' enough to be down in the trading room that day, the only place in the bank where there were multiple TVs, even if the sound was off/ very low.

I think the first thing we remembered was seeing that famous shot of the plane crashing into the tower and I honestly thought I was watching some kind of movie, no one was paying much attention for the first few minutes, but we slowly came to the realisation that it was real and horrible... and attention became focused on the live shot of the second tower being crashed into.

Later on that afternoon, we heard rumours of bombs in the city. A lot of the tube stations around Bank were closed and I became quite scared and left work around 5 and walked home, luckily it was only a 40 minute walk. There was a lot of panic in London that day and the following. There was anticipation that a tandem attack would have been planned there too. Talk of Anthrax gas etc made me very afraid to leave my home the next day.

Hard to believe it was five years ago.

I remember I was at the WTC less than two months before it all happened. I was in the US in July 2001 to attend this stupid youth leadership conference/Model UN that was being held in Washington DC and New York City. It was the last day of the conference and that morning we had just finished our session at the UN general assembly (yeah the real UN general assembly) passing all sorts of idealistic and optimistic resolutions thinking we were making some sort of difference... I guess it's not hard to feel that way when you're dressed up in suits and loaded with cash right?

Anyway, 1 1/2 months later, I was at school, and on that particular day I had to stay back late because I was interviewing to be an 'ambassador' for my MUN delegation...I found out when my dad picked me up and was like oh apparently there's been a huge terrorist attack in NYC... we got home, flipped on CNN just moments before the 2nd aircraft hit... and basically just kept watching for the next 4 hours.

The week before, I had been watching a programme about the Empire State building and they showed pictures of a plane that crashed into the side of it, in the 50s I think, so when I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the WTC I thought, oh! that's a coincidence. Of course a few minutes later they announced that a second one had crashed I realised that this was something else entirely. When I got home I turned on SKY news and just sat watching for the next hour.

Shortly after the second plane hit the WTC, I strolled into the office of a colleague who had just heard the news and told me: "Two planes just crashed into the WTC". I thought, "two planes?" How could that happen? Navigation error? A crash in mid-air?
Then I managed to find a news web site that wasn't already totally overloaded, and followed the news as it came in. The most horrifying thing that sticks in my mind were some images shown there of people leaping from the tower to escape the flames, and falling to certain death.

But the most spine-chilling thing on that day for me was not the WTC events, but the news that a third plane had scored a hit on the Pentagon and a fourth had nearly made it to the White House. The realisation that someone would, and more frighteningly could, attack the centres of power of the world's most powerful nation, was unnerving to say the least.

Yeah, I think it's like Dave said earlier- we sat there nearly expecting World War III to break out. We were at the local airport by my hometown and I was arguing with the girl at the Budget rental car desk about something and saw them show the first plane hit the tower. The volume was off, so we thought it was just a smaller plane, an accident. Then when we realized it was 2 planes- plus the one at the Pentagon and the other headed for Washington, it was really kinda spooky. We went to a cafe near the airport and everyone was just stood there, eyes glued to the tv. It was like everyone was holding their breath waiting to see what would happen next. I think also watching the people jumping from the buildings is one of the images that's burnt in my memory as well.

impressions / memories from that day? oh, boy...

- the smell of strawberrys and strawberry fields
- clear blue sky, like never seen before - not a single jet trail in the sky
- the endless drone of news channels
- an airplane on the runway at Cleveland airport
- hospitals miles from NYC preparing for massive number of casualties / injured, which never appeared
- calls for blood donations, which were not needed
- farmers in rural Ohio honestly believing that they were the next targets
- bars full of people, but strangely quiet, but for the endless voices from the TVs
- a strange calmness during calls to friends and family
- flags appearing everywhere
- farm families sitting in their (recently harvested) fields next to the highway waving flags at the passing cars
- a near complete disappearance of confederate (rebel) flags
- a brief moment in time when race didn't matter
- attempting to explain that terrorism has been an everyday fact in other countries for decades already
- a concern that the reaction of the US would go too far
- jogging thru empty urban streets under clear blue skies and then a night sky with more stars than I had seen in a very, very long time - nor since.

Funny you should mention that - these are two of the main memories I have of the Lockerbie disaster - for those that don't know me well, I have family in and close to Lockerbie, we're all Doonhamers - Lockerbie, Lochmaben, Locharbriggs, Dumfries...
Another one is seeing a air hostess scarf draped on a garden hedge, as if it had been tossed off in a hurry while the lady wearer rushed to work.
Even though I was only a kid, those kind of things stick with you.

Well one of the problems I have with Amis (stateside ones) is that there is usually a large degree of separation amongst them. You know the tendency to be reluctant to talk to a stranger. On that day I saw all those walls of comfort brought down, but replaced with support from total strangers. Social as well economic barriers were lifted so other could find a safe haven amongst their peers...