9/11 Sometime lofty towers

[ouch]

I watched the buildings fall from the roof of my office across the river. Two days later I had to go to what was then our world headquarters, shown standing here, to assess the damage.

Here's part of 7 WTC, the Rosie O'Donnell "fire can't melt steel" building, laying against our building.

I'll never forget this view.

 

[luvmysuper]

It's easy to say "Never Forget". Talk about it. Don't let this happen.

 

[Doc4]

I'll never forget this view.

Once you spot the van in the middle, you get a wake-up call on the scale of the thing!

 

[ouch]

Once you spot the van in the middle, you get a wake-up call on the scale of the thing!

Amazingly, that's not a child's toy.

 

[MrLara]

I remember walking into my ceramics/pottery class that morning. A few minutes later, the teacher turned on the tv and we started watching. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. And then later when the second tower got hit, the whole room went quiet. One of those silences where you could probably hear a single grain of sand hit the floor.

As a young 17 year old kid, that footage will forever remain in my brain. I had never witnessed anything like that in my life before. God Bless those brave Firefighters and Police who answered the call that day. My thoughts and Prayers go out to their families.

 

[August West]

I remember walking into my ceramics/pottery class that morning. A few minutes later, the teacher turned on the tv and we started watching. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. And then later when the second tower got hit, the whole room went quiet. One of those silences where you could probably hear a single grain of sand hit the floor.

As a young 17 year old kid, that footage will forever remain in my brain. I had never witnessed anything like that in my life before. God Bless those brave Firefighters and Police who answered the call that day. My thoughts and Prayers go out to their families.

Well said.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I was at work, preflighting a sim for the day's training. A coworker called and said "come check it out. Someone just flew into the WTC". I went to the TV where everyone else was. They said there was an accident that they had no footage of. Then I see the second plane come in and said "I thought they didn't have footage". It took a few seconds to sink in, because it didn't seem possible.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I work in flight simulation. We try very hard to mimic reality, whether it is aircraft systems, visual presentations, etc. we must present "reality" to the pilots. A few hours after the shock wore off, I realized the visual database for NYC was no longer realistic. So, I had to go to our visual database modeling computer and remove the towers from the NYC skyline. It seemed very surreal, using a mouse and keyboard to remove something that was removed at the expense of thousands of lives. It had to be done, but I still feel weird that I had to do it. I think maybe I was being too technical, but that is my safe zone, plus I thought seeing them would trouble some pilots. I really don't know what to think of that day, even now.

 

[BSAGuy]

Wow. That video is stunning.

I was at the WTC on 9/11. Ran for my life. I am profoundly grateful every day to be here to be with my wife and see my children grow up.

It's easy to say "Never Forget". Talk about it. Don't let this happen.

 

[Usascot]

Wow. That video is stunning.

I was at the WTC on 9/11. Ran for my life. I am profoundly grateful every day to be here to be with my wife and see my children grow up.

I was in the WTC at the first bombing in 1993. I was in our uptown office on Madison Avenue on 9/11.

My wife's brother was a Deputy Chief NYFD and a first responder. He spent weeks at the site thereafter.

 

[ouch]

Here's a pic that hits close to home- my then boss's brother, FDNY Assistant Deputy Chief Gerard Barbara, moments before entering a building from which he would not emerge.

 

[noahpictures]

I was in university when 9/11 happened. They kept showing the towers getting hit on a loop. I kept thinking about the brave officers and firemen that were trapped in those buildings, sacrificing their lives to save others.
I couldn't understand why anyone would do something so evil. Why use civilian airplanes? It's evil. It's wrong. Everyone on TV, journalists older than me were trying to figure the same question, Why? Then the great Tim Russert explained something about jet fuel. I immediately thought, We are the innocent and things will never be the same. I wanted vengeance.
9/11 forever changed my life.

 

[ouch]

Here's the Marriott hotel that member BSA stayed in the night before, as viewed by my then boss's brother, FDNY Assistant Chief Gerard Barbara, moments before entering a building he would never exit.

Feel free to share your reflections on this fifteenth anniversary.

 

[dangerousdon]

I read Sonnet 64 again and it is fitting in many ways for me right now. I think what can be said about September 11th has been said a million times and more. We need to keep saying it lest future generations forget the importance of our way of life...of freedom...of the American Spirit...and the importance of what makes us human.

They say Never Forget...

My response is...I promise you I will not!

 

[jrp316]

I remember the exact spot where I was when I heard about the tragedy. I was in college, on my way back from a biology test that didn't go so well. I was on the third floor catwalk of my dorm when I saw two boys sitting outside their room. They looked at me and said, "You know it's the end of the world, right? You know the end of the world is coming?" I'd heard similar statements and said something to the effect of, "Yup, it's been coming for a while now, only God knows when it'll actually happen though." Their expressions changed, and one of them said, "Seriously, it's the end of the world. Right now. Go check the TV if you don't believe me."

I went into my suite and every guy in there was glued to the television. I came in and looked just as the second plane struck. The air was sucked out of the room at that point, replaced by a thick layer of stress and awe. I wouldn't make book that anyone even blinked during this time. One of my roommates who I knew to be in the Army (my running buddy at the time) was particularly struck. I couldn't tell if he was about to cry or put his fist through the TV set. I heard him later calling what I assumed to be one of his Army superiors and telling them he wanted to go active.

For my part, I'm not sure that I had a reaction one way or the other. I think I just froze on the spot, my mind shut a lot of itself off and didn't process a lot of the happenings until much later. I remember it though, clear as yesterday.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

Here's the Marriott hotel that member BSA stayed in the night before, as viewed by my then boss's brother, FDNY Assistant Chief Gerard Barbara, moments before entering a building he would never exit.

Feel free to share your reflections on this fifteenth anniversary.

I don't have the words to describe that picture. Certainly a terrible day in history. I remember getting ready for school in Oz when the news started with live coverage of this atrocity.

Those that sacrificed their lives to save others, that ran into the towers knowing they wouldn't come back out. Again words fail me to describe this truly selfless attitude.

 

[BigJoe]

View attachment 687776

 

[Graybeard57]

Like Pearl Harbor, we should never forget...

A very solemn day for our nation.

 

[ackvil]

One of the days I will never forget.

I was working in the Woolworth Building only a few blocks away when the first bombing took place. I changed jobs and was working in CT when the second one happened. On that day I was driving from CT to Manhattan for a court hearing when the airplanes hit the Twin Towers. I never made it to the court which was obliterated in lower Manhattan. A colleague who worked in a brokerage house, Cantor Fitzgerald, was one of 658 people who lost his life. They never found his body.

 

[Alacrity59]

Tragic and still shocking all these years later. The world will never be the same.