Readers reflect: Raw memories of 9/11, 15 years later

It’s been 15 years, but ask anyone where they were on 9/11, and the memories come flashing back to them.

They were at the office, or at home getting ready for work, or at school.

They immediately stopped what they were doing and turned on the TV—there was no Twitter to jump onto, no smartphone to text the ones they loved and make sure they were okay.

That day was surreal, for everyone, whether you knew someone in the towers or had never even been to New York City. The remainder of the week passed in a blur.

On the 15^th anniversary of 9/11, we invited our readers to remember with us how they found out and what happened in the minutes, the hours and the days after the twin towers fell.

We received many thoughtful responses, and we’ve put together a sampling of our readers’ experiences below, as our own remembrance of the 15^th anniversary of the tragedy, which comes Sunday.

Want to share a memory of your own? Please leave us a comment below, tweet us (@MediaLifeMag or #ML911) or reach out to us on Facebook.

Here are our readers’ 9/11 memories:

“I was getting ready for work, and my mom came pounding on my door yelling that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I ran out to the living room and watched the aftermath of the second plane hitting the tower.

“I remember looking at her, not comprehending what had just happened and asking repeatedly, ‘What did they bomb?’ I watched TV for about an hour and went to the office.

“As I was driving, I remember looking around and seeing almost no cars on the road and no planes in the sky. I live in Vegas. There’s always planes in the sky. As I was approaching my exit, a small private plane was speeding toward the executive airport.

“It flew over my car and I ducked my head instinctively and wondered if it was going to land or crash into something on the strip.

“When I got to the office, my boss was there. I had forgotten she and the marketing team had been at the airport supposed to fly to Arizona for a client meeting. She was aggravated I was late. I remember thinking, ‘Seriously?’

“I was instructed to call all of our TV stations and make sure our spots were pulled. I had a couple of reps laugh at me and say something like, ‘You’re kidding, right? Nothing is airing but news.’

“The rest of the day was a blur-I remember I just wanted to get home and be with my family.”

***

“I had just walked out of the subway at 34th and 6^th, and saw a bunch of people stopped, looking downtown. I didn’t think anything of it until I walked into the office and someone said a second plane had just hit the towers.

“I walked back outside and could see the towers on fire. We were in a new office and huddled around a small black and white TV and watched everything from there.

“A little after noon, we were all told we could go home if we wanted to or stay in the office if you felt safer there. Walking back to my apartment on the Upper East Side was the most surreal experience of my life. People covered in ash, police cars whizzing by, cars trying to get out of Manhattan.

“That night, all the bars and restaurants on the UES were packed. I guess nobody wanted to be alone.”

***

“I was at work in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was numb when I first heard, especially having grown-up in New York. It held my wife when I got home and cried and was down for about a week until my 1st child was born a week to the day of the attack.

“She helped bring me back.”

***

“I was at work. Our corporate American Express branch office shared our suite, and the head of the branch came in to say we had two employees from the Boston office on one of the planes.”

***

“Woke up late after an all-nighter working on a plan. Within in a few hours I was frantically trying to cancel a couple dozen markets of TV that had military-themed copy.”

***

“My boyfriend called me to tell me that his sister had been watching television when there was an announcement that a plane had just struck one of the World Trade Center towers. I turned on the television in my office and listened to conflicting reports about the type of plane that had struck the North Tower.

“As I watched, I saw a small black dot in the sky behind the burning tower. At the moment the second plane hit the South Tower, I knew we’d suffered a terrible terrorist attack.

“But I didn’t imagine that I’d see both towers collapse later that day.”

***

“I was on the West Coast, so we were just waking up, and we heard it on the radio.”

***

“I lived in Dallas and listened to Howard Stern in the morning, but his program was on a two- to three-hour delay. I never watched TV in the mornings.

“While driving to work, I switched to another station just as Peter Jennings said, ‘The twin towers are no more.’ I didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about.

“I sat in parking garage at work and learned what was going in. When I got into the office building, almost all employees were gathered in the large company dining area watching large screens.

“When I saw the video of the second plane flying into the tower, I turned to person next to me and asked, ‘Did I see that correctly?’ Took a long time to process that image.”

***

“I was in the office early when I got a call from my boss.

“He told me what was happening, and the next several hours was spent canceling media for our largest client, which was an online travel agent.”

***

“I was brushing my teeth, watching a very confused Matt Lauer.

“I lived with my grandmother at the time, and as I was leaving for work, she told me that it wasn’t as bad as Pearl Harbor.

“Got to work in Omaha, Nebraska. Nobody really did anything all day. We saw the president fly in to Offutt Air Force Base [in Nebraska]. We likely were told we could leave early that day (can’t remember).

“My grandma retracted her statement upon my return home.”

***

“Was simply in my office typing an email with Howard Stern on in the background when I heard him start talking about a plane hitting the WTC.

“At the time no one knew if it was a large or small plane, but obviously when the second plane hit everyone knew this was no accident and the world as we knew it was changing. I remember going from conference room to conference room where people were gathered around televisions trying to comprehend what was happening.

“After 93 went down about an hour east of us, we were told that we could leave if we wanted. No one wanted to be alone, so I had about three or four people in my group meet at my house, where we did what we did at the office, we sat there and watched everything unfold.”

***

“I was in school. My dad was traveling for business a lot, and I was worried that he was on one of those planes.

“School wouldn’t let us watch or make phone calls. As a defiant senior, I left.”

***

“I was in our weekly Sales meeting at WRC in Washington, D.C., when our GSM came in to tell us the first tower had been hit. We disbanded and basically watched the events unfold from various TVs around the office.

“When the Pentagon was hit, the station became a war zone with the news crew hitting the street. Cameras and make-shift interview rooms were set up. The halls were lined with equipment.

“Our NSM was on a plane to New York that morning but was re-routed to BWI. His car was stuck at Reagan Airport for almost a week before he could get it out.

“We eventually all went home in sales, and I remember the weather being so beautiful that you just couldn’t believe what had happened.

“Our station was wall to wall probably longer than most stations around the country. An NBC employee with WNBC had been killed in the attack.”

***

“A memory that sticks with me is the night of 9/11 taking our Saint Bernard ‘Malachi’ for his walk.  It was cool and the sky was clear to seemingly every star known.  It was also eerily quiet; no planes, no cars, no people, no animals.  We walked alone.

“Our Saint seemed to know something was off.  He heeled for the walk never more than a foot away when usually he would drift a few feet away.  Also hung with the family at home; did not go to his bed until we went to ours.”

***

“Live in Hawaii, 6 hours from New York. I remember getting up that morning and turning on the Morning News as I got ready for work.

“Was walking in and out of the room, when I noticed the images of the smoke and devastated buildings, I thought it was a movie and asked my daughter, a sixth grader at the time, why she changed the station. When she said she didn’t touch the remote, the audio on the television began to sink in…this was real…this was happening…EVERYTHING was changing!”

 

Tags: 911, reflecting on 9/11, reflecting on september 11, sept. 11, september 11