Where were you on September 11th?

**mtburb** · September-11-14, 07:38 AM

Basically, this is a thread to discuss where you were the moment the September 11th attacks were taking place.

I had just moved into a house on Lafayette between Springwells and Woodmere and that day, I was riding in a carpool to my new job at the Ford Woodhaven Stamping Plant [[which forced me to move back into the Detroit area from Ogemaw County) and I was on I-75 between Outer Drive and Southfield in Lincoln Park when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center. At first, I thought that a small Cessna had crashed into the RenCen [[but of course, that would be false).

I did arrive at the stamping plant, but no one was working there then, instead, they were all confined to television screens across the plant. I went to one of them and we all watched the second plane hit the WTC live.

It was not long after that that we were all sent home. Right away, I stopped at the Amoco across I-75 at West and Hall Roads to prepare for any shortages that would follow and from there, went right back on I-75 home, where I instantly turned the TV on and watched the news unfold for the rest of the day-in fact, when the first WTC tower was collapsing, I initially thought they were reusing old footage of the Hudson's implosion.

Since then, probably due to post-attack repercussions, I lost my job early in 2002 and I have since moved to three different homes.

And here's what the Freep looked like the next day.

**stasu1213** · September-11-14, 08:06 AM

I was sitting at my desk when my team leader had informed us that two planes had ran into the trade centerd

**MizMotown** · September-11-14, 10:44 AM

I was home and just got out of the shower. My apt. manager called and said, "the world is ending!" and told me to turn on the news. Seen the second plane hit on TV. Went into work and remember how quiet the drive was and empty the skys were. Very surreal day!

**mtburb** · September-11-14, 10:47 AM

From the Internet Archive, here's a screenshot of what the News-Herald's site looked like a few days after 9/11. Notice the headlines, still obvious several days later. The website then looked a lot more like one of these Google Sites-hosted websites than today.

And here's what the News looked like on the 12th:

**Danny** · September-11-14, 12:54 PM

I was in Cody High School when I heard the news.

**gazhekwe** · September-11-14, 01:32 PM

On the streets of downtown Traverse City off a Great Lakes cruise ship with my two moms. I found out when a lady came flying sobbing out of a store and ran smack into my arms.

When we went back to the ship, they had everything shut down except for one TV. They would not allow any hot food or entertainment of any kind the rest of the trip out of respect. The entertainers were disappointed as they had prepared a special program. All we had the next 24 hours was the news over and over on TV,and quiet, small group gatherings.

We had quite a time the next day waiting to get into Chicago. We all had to be bomb checked. The ship said they would be at dock until every passenger was able to get safely out of Chicago with no planes, trains, buses or rental cars available. Luckily the next morning we had train tickets out already booked. It was hard getting there, long lines everywhere and no one knowing what was going on.

**Jimaz** · September-11-14, 01:47 PM

I was in Phoenix at work.

I always started early at 5 AM to serve as the liaison with our London and Moscow colleagues. I was in deep concentration when a friend arrived later and mentioned something about aircraft hitting the WTC.

I thought he was just giving me a heads up to expect another black box from this accident. One of the things we did was analyze such things. [[They're not colored black, BTW.)

But no, he said there was a second aircraft that hit the other tower. That's when the horror hit me. It wasn't accidental. It felt surreal, as if it were a movie.

Outdoors the sky was eerily void of the air traffic that was usually heavy at that location.

**Zacha341** · September-11-14, 06:01 PM

At a computer working in an office cubicle. I always had a radio nearby and immediately turned on AM for the coverage, the items online. We were sent home early around 2:00.

**MikeM** · September-11-14, 07:19 PM

Newark until 6 a.m., then Detroit after 730 a.m.

**lpg** · September-11-14, 08:01 PM

Just finished painting the living room. Went downstairs to wash out the paint roller and flipped on the TV.

**mtburb** · September-11-14, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Newark until 6 a.m., then Detroit after 730 a.m.

Your flight path must've taken you very close to the Trade Center before turning towards Metro Airport.

**oladub** · September-11-14, 08:35 PM

I had been on the road and heard on the radio that a plane, presumably a small plane, had flown into one of the Towers. When I got back to the office, people there knew more and were getting calls from relatives at home who had tv's on. When I heard that a second plane had flown into the other Tower, I knew there was intent but still had no idea whose intent, for what reason, and the extent of what was going on.

**jackie5275** · September-12-14, 12:28 PM

I was in an area by my staff's cubicles using one of the printers for a big print job. I was standing by the printer when on my staff, who always has the radio on, said a plane had just hit a WTC building. This was the report of the first plane hit. I thought it was some bad accident. Then it seemed all at once all the televisions at my workplace came in with the breaking news. Once that happened, everyone seemed to stop working & watched the news or followed it on the internet. My husband happened to be at home that day & called me crying about it. Another one of my staff was on vacation in Vegas. Because you couldn't fly, she had to rent a car & drive back to Detroit from Vegas. My brother was on business in Hungary. I called his employer to ask them what they were going to do about getting him home. I kind of put them on the spot as his supervisor's response was "Ooooh hell! I don't know. We'll figure out something". He everntually got back a week later, just fine I was glad to know.

**pkbroch** · September-12-14, 01:15 PM

My son was working and living in Israel at the time. He was sitting in a Pub in
Tel Aviv watching english language news and heard about the first plane. He called us here in Detroit we had been watching another cable program. I think he was watching BBC and Skynews.

We all watched in horror and couldn't believe it. I will remember that day forever it seemed to move in slow motion.

**ggores** · September-14-14, 11:11 AM

was at work. beautiful, cloudless sky that morning. the night before I heard a bunch of yelling and hoola coming from the street. Looked outside and there was a group of about 6 or 7 arab kids walking down the middle of the street as if celebrating. A real head-scratcher and afterwards, I had thought to actually call the fed and report this because the first couple weeks following 9/11, and all of the traces that led back to the D, people were being asked to contribute any info that might be useful. Anyways, so I'm at work and the then-wife called. Said something freaky just happened and she was watching GMA or something. So we chatted on the phone a bit as I went onto the internet to see for updates. Then BAM!!!!! ANOTHER plane just hit. Immediately knew what this meant. I immediately left for home, as we lived in E Dearborn at the time. Well, driving out of the business park [[Fairlane), I was pulled over by an Allen Park cop and given a ticket for "rolling thru a stop sign". That was a very strange and tense day. Finally, maybe around 6 or 7sh, was when No. 7 was imploded [[I think it was No.7). And that capped the events for the day, which was THAT day. And I did not get out of that ticket a few weeks later. Damn thing ran me like 150 bucks!