Where were you on 9/11?

PS My father had died a few days previously, and I remember being glad he didn’t know about it.

Eerily, I was watching a neighbours funeral cortege set off just as Steve Wright on Radio 2 was announcing that it seemed a plane had flown into a skyscraper in New York.

I imagined it was one of his routine unfunny 'jokes'.

My sister and I walked into her house after collecting our Mums death certificate just as it came on the TV. She had died three days before. It was odd, I didn’t feel I had the right to grieve until much later as so many had died so young and so violently whereas my Mum died peacefully and with the hope of heaven.

I was at home when I got a phone call from my son, who was driving hastily out of London. At that stage it was thought there could be similar attacks in any major city. He just told me to switch on the television. I remember wishing passionately that my offspring lived in some obscure village rather than the capital.

Both of my sons had worked briefly at the World Trade Centre, but mercifully were not there that day. They easily could have been.

In the evening I'd arranged to meet a good friend in a pub and although I was still reeling from the event and not feeling at all sociable I met her and was amazed that she didn't react at all to the news. Months later she told me that she can't feel empathy but doesn't know why.

I was at home, I had taken a year off work, can’t recall why the TV was on, I flicked channels to see the appalling footage everywhere.
MrJ was working at Swindon hospital (new building), the site shut down, he came home, lots from our village congregated in our local, hushed voices.
I had seen that skyline so many times driving on business from JFK airport to Westchester.

DH and I had just finished a thirteen mile bike ride round Derwent and Howden reservoirs and had stopped for a coffee at the visitor centre. There was a small portable tv on the wall and everyone there thought they were watching a disaster movie until we all realised what it was. We drove home in total shock and put our tv on. Sat there in floods of tears.

I watched a tv programme recently on Netflix about it. It was as shocking then as it had been at the time and left a generation of young Americans in total disarray.

I was at work and my husband was on a business trip in New York. Someone came down from another department and said they had heard on his car radio about the attacks. I was horrified, we had no mobile phones in those days. Somehow he managed to get a message to one of our sons to say he was ok. In fact he was in an office on the other side of the river and saw the second tower come down.

I was 41 working in the metro centre Gateshead and was just coming out of work. I got into my car and had radio two on and they were saying about a plane crash that’s what I heard. I switched the television on when I got home and just sat watching it unbelievable.

Heard on my car radio as I drove to visit my Mum in her nursing home.
Something none of us will ever forget.

My father had recently died and I was spending a couple of days with my mother helping her sort paperwork and other matters. I remember going into a shop and unusually the news was on and someone was saying a light airctaft had flown into one of the towers. The full magnitude of that horror became apparent later. I remember calls to my husband, like everyone we just couldn't believe it. My youngest had just gone into year 7 and was on a residential school trip, he also rang me with "have you heard"

Just getting ready to start my shift at the local hospital. My brother (then fireman) called me into the living room as the first plane hit.
It was surreal & shocking!
Saw the second plane hit, that’s when he realised it was a terrorist attack.
Every night this week I have watched some documentary/ old news clip on this attack as I do every year.
I feel incredibly sad for the many workers, passengers on those planes. Especially those emergency workers all killed helping people. The bravery of those fire & rescue running into those burning, half collapsed buildings.
People are still dying all these years later due to breathing in all those materials.
We must never forget this tragedy & what those monsters tried to accomplish.
The strong people of New York & America will never allow that to happen.

I was at work, on the counter at the bank.

A customer came in and said that there had been this huge plane crash in the USA. We had no access to any more information, not the mobile phones like now.

I only found out the true horror when I had got home and put the tv on.

Still picture George Bush’s face as he was told about it, looked completely in shock and disbelief.

With some Americans at a meeting. I said it was barbaric.

I was visiting my Dad in the UK driving back from one of the Kent historic houses At first we thought it was pilot error, couldn’t grasp it.

I was in a cafe with friends, away from home on business. My daughter called me on my mobile and we asked the cafe owner to put the tv on. Everyone at the conference had trouble travelling home later in the week.

My D and her H and two year old were due to fly home from Antigua that day after living there for 3 years.
They did fly , the last flight out before the tight security was put in place.
The horror will never leave those who lived through it, the families, the brave rescue teams, the colleagues .
The stories were harrowing.

I was alone working on my allotment and listening to French radio when the first reports started to be broadcast.
It was not until the second plane struck that awful realisation that this was no dreadful, tragic accident became obvious, at which point I turned to English radio instead, and headed home in shock!

We were arriving home having just collected my daughter from the airport back from working in Japan , my son was glued to the small tv on the kitchen counter and I scolded him for watching horror movies !
We couldn’t believe what was happening
She had left her Japanese friend in Heathrow waiting for her flight to NewYork

I worked in a medical establishment, so none of us were aware until someone who lived in the building told us. On the way home, it seemed as though every shop window had an outward facing television so that people passing by could watch events unfold. When news came through that a third plane had crashed at the Pentagon, and a fourth plane, believed to be heading for the White House, but diverted by passengers and had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, the enormity of what was happening that day was terrifying.

I was at work, at a childrens home, the children were at school. The TV was on in the background. Gradually every time a member of the team walked past the TV they stopped until we were all gathered around the TV.
A terrible terrible day.

I was in school, expecting a meeting with another teacher. When she arrived she was gabbling about a plane having crashed into the Twin Towers and another plane was missing; we had no idea what she talking about, so as soon as possible found the school television, switched on the news, and the full horror was revealed.

Glued to the tv. My husband had several colleagues based in the towers - a company called Cantor, I think.
It was almost unbelievable.

I was at hospital with my Mum ... she was having her first chemo appointment. I went over to the waiting area and watched the TV whilst waiting for her. Thought I was watching a film until I realised what was happening.

I was in the bedroom putting away the laundry. I had the tv on for background noise. At first glance I thought the programme had switched to a new film review, but then realised it was a live news report.
I rang my (then) fiance at work and told him to find a tv and watch the news! I then sat on the bed in tears and watched the horror unfolding. I still get shivers when I think of it, such unbelievable evil.
We flew to Paris 2 days later for my birthday treat, and the security was unbelievable.
xxx