Where were you on 9/11? Readers invited to share stories

With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaching, The Times is asking readers to share their stories about that day.

I still recall Diane Pucin's column several days after the attacks. She wrote that she'd had a seat on the American Airlines flight that hit one of the World Trade Center Towers, but she changed her flight to later in the day. It still gives me chills.

I was scheduled to fly that day, too, on a United Airlines flight from Manchester, N.H., back to Los Angeles. It was Sept. 17 before I was able to get home, on a Boston-to-L.A. flight. The ticket counters at Logan Airport, from which two of the doomed flights had departed, carried sympathy bouquets.

Where were you? What were you doing?

Share your story, and The Times will publish some of them on latimes.com.

-- Deirdre Edgar

Photo: Twin beams of light represent the World Trade Center's towers on the fifth anniversary of the attacks. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

 

Comments

[arthurrrr]

I was in my Loft on Bowery and Houston Street, a few miles from ground zero. My friend called me to tell me the World Trade center had gotten hit by a plane. I could see the smoke from my window. Thousands of people were walking North on Bowery up from the Trade center. Only ambulances and Police cars were on the street going South.
I actually was packing to move to California, which i did for two years. The feeling and Spirit of the moment and the time after was really beyond the scope of most people. When i moved to California, Watsonville to be specific, the people i met didn't seem to 'get it'. The smoke from the buildings continued to burn for weeks and weeks. It smelled like burning plastic mixed with burning bodies, and feces. The footage of people leaping to their deaths was not released till later. You can view them now on You Tube. NYC, USA and the World will never be the same.

[Phineas]

I was on my 10 minute drive to work in Seattle, trying to find a radio station with a song, unaware of why every station was all talk and no music. When I arrived at the office, 15 floors overlooking the University of Washington, I heard the buzz of radios on the floor, so I took out my portable television and tuned into the news. The first words I heard was: "They've hit both towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Camp David (which turned out to be false), and they may not be done yet." I recall thinking: "Who is 'they'?"

[roovialk]

I was at home in LA and a friend called and said "Turn on the television". I did and was stunned by the fire and smoke from Tower One, The North Tower. I remember thinking that "Man that is a big fire" I also remember noting how clear and blue the sky was. Then out of the right corner of the screen there was a blur and the second plane hit. The reporter Gibson on ABC News almost cursed on the air. I was just stunned for a few seconds. Then I realized that something big was happening and started to call all my friends to get them to turn on the television. My last call was to my son in New Mexico. And we together watched the events unfold for hours

[Zandar the space alien]

Orion's belt. Preparing to return. See you soon.
Get ready to build new pyramids. After the old ones release our pent-up ancestors into your ripe world.
Again. See you soooon.

[Ex-yankee]

I didn't normally turn on a TV or radio before work so that's where I found out. I was instructed to go home. Work was in a highrise near LAX so being somewhere else seemed like an excellent idea!

[El Guapo de la ciudad de Los Angeles]

I was on the West Coast , sleeping in bed.

[working graveyard shift]

I was working at a hospital in California, finishing up the graveyard shift. Then the day shift starting showing up to work around 6:30am- 7am (which was then 9:30am-10am in New York.) I was confused about what was happening. They were all ranting about the World Trade Center attacks. I was trying to finish up my shift, and honestly I didn't realize the magnitude of the attack until later in the day when I woke up from my daytime sleep and turned on the TV.

That night, I returned to work for another graveyard shift at the hospital, and the whole night I thought about it. I kept myself updated on the internet (only one computer in my department had internet access!) I realized that the world as we knew it had changed forever.

[Michael Chasin]

I was on the north side of the 73 floor of the WTC North Tower when the plane came in on the 83 floor. The building shook enough so that bookcases fell over and ceiling tiles fell. The stairways down were lit, but crowded as we tried to leave and firemen were going up. From the 6th floor down, the stairs were running with about 2-3 inches of water from broken pipes. When we reached the plaza level you had to change staircases as the upper ones didnt go to the lower level and you had to go under the plaza as you couldnt walk there due to falling debris and bodies. Everyone tried to walk out of the area, but you tried to avoid "named" area like the Brooklyn Bridge, as these might also be targeted. Cellphones didnt work even before the tower on the Trade Center fell. There was panic in the streets.

[Paloma]

I was on jury duty and was getting ready in the morning (I live in So. Cal). As I was getting ready I was watching the news when they had breaking news that a plane had hit the WTC. It was first thought that maybe this was an accident. While I was watching, the second plane hit. The newscasters were nearly hysterical at this point claiming "this is no accident"!! I was hearing that government buildings were be closed due to possible security issues. I called the courthouse where I was serving on jury duty to see if I needed to report. I did. When I got there, the judge asked us (the jury) that in light of the circumstances of the day, could we still be impartial?

Everyone said yes. For the next couple of the days, I noticed security at the courthouse was beefed up.

[Ray]

I left LAX on September 10th, I arrived in Europe on September 11th. When I got back to LAX, nobody could come to pick us up at the airport, we had to take a shuttle bus to a parking lot a mile away and herded around like POW's in Nazi Germany. I realized the world would never be the same again.

[Justin]

I remember watching the morning news getting ready for work and gasping as I saw the second plane hit. Yet I still drove into work. Once there, everyone in the office was in the breakroom watching the news. I remember everyone being confused, nervous, and numb. It just seemed surreal. This stuff happened in movies, not in real life. Finally, it was announced that the office was shutting down for the day and everyone was to go home. As I drove home, I noticed that the streets of DTLA were unusually empty, and that LAPD SWAT had started setting up roadblocks around City Hall. I remember looking into the sky for the rumored rouge planes reported by the news stations on the freeway drive home. The memory that stays with me the most is feeling I had in the pit of my stomach, that for the first time in my life I genuinely felt scared.

[Robert]

I was at home getting ready for work. I turned on CNN and they were showing "breaking news" of what the described as a "small" plane that had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NYC. I watched as the second plane approached and I said to myself, "Oh, a Rescue Plane coming to check on the damages" The next thing I see is that plane crashed into the other Tower. I called my wife who was comming out of the shower to come into the room and see what was going on. I decided to come to work and I hurried to the Metrolink station in Montclair. Everyone on the train was either listening or watching what was unfolding on the news. We saw the plane crash into the Pentagon and suddenly we all were afraid. I got Downtown and went to my job in the Hall of Administration. The Court House on 1st and Hill was emptying out and when I got inside my building my supervisor just said "Go Home". I went back to Union Station to catch the train back to the IE. The train was packed and all of us were either praying, crying or both. This was one of the saddest days of my life and obviously a day I will never, ever forget.

[Georgette]

I was in NY to screen a film I had worked on at the NY Film Festival. The LA crew and I were staying at a hotel across from Central Park and were glued to our T.V.'s. Outside our windows we watched ghosts of people, silently and in shock walking past the hotel on their way home as all the trains had stopped service.

We ran an got cash out of the ATM's before they were empty and got some food and water from the local Bodega next door in case the hotel ran short.

That evening as we got together for dinner at a restaurant with open sidewalk seatin on the East side of Manhattan, we were all in shock and commiserating. Before we knew it, a car covered in dust was stalled at the light and the driver left it there. There was a panic that is had a bomb. The restuarant was cleared of all patrons. It was scary.

No one could fly home for another couple of days. I stayed to go to a friend's wedding - they went thru with the ceremony and it lifted everyone's spirits.

Bitter sweet.

[dennis livingston]

From Melbourne Australia.....10 45 pm. In bed. Switched on TV and saw plane in vicinity of a tower. One tower was on fire and I thought the plane was there taking photos beaming down to the TV networks.

Then it ploughed into the tower......I remember saying to my (half asleep) wife that this was no accident.

[jose]

I was going to work listening to a hip hop radio sation in L.A. with Steve Harvey (92.3 The Beat) and I first heard it from him. I wasn' t shocked by the news as I always know what's going on around the world especially in the middle east. I had just flown in from Chicago a day before, and I had recently had 2 dreams that we had gotten attacked by Iraq. Both dreams were very similar and all I saw in my dreams were Iraqi airplanes bombarding the San Gabriel Mountains over by Burbank. The CFO of our company Edmund Glazer (MRV Communications in Chatsworth) was on one of those planes. I can't believe it's been 10 years.

[GH]

I was in Vacaville California where I lived. I was running in early mornings and came home to see on the bedroom TV live reporting of the carnage. I watched and saw the second plane go into the tower and later the Towers fall. It was shocking, mind numbing and it was not until several hours later the anger welled up. I had come home that Saturday from work in Romania via Chicago, I remember seeing the lax security at O'Hare but I travelled a lot and it was nothing new. I had taken Flight 93 on several occasions. It was like I had been personally violated. I felt as one with all Americans. I even was behind Bush to catch these criminals.
I live in New Zealand now and was angered again when the local Anglican bishops blasted Americans for celebrating getting Bin laden.-Sanctimonious talk from a safe place. Its 10 years and it seems so recent. I watched a documentary on TV on the weekend and all the feelings came back. God Bless America and god bless the families of those who died. May Bin laden rot in hell.

[Lawrence L.]

I was at Stuyvesant High School, 2 blocks away. It was my first week of high school and we had to evacuate the building. Initially, they wanted us to stay put. I could see the smoke coming out from the hole on the side of the tower. After the first tower fell, they had us evacuate. The ground shook and everything was covered in dust. While we were walking northbound on the West Side Highway, the second tower fell and we ran. I will never forget that moment.

[travelinbruin]

I was living in Whittier and just waking up when the first tower was hit, turned on CNN and saw the second tower hit. Was glued to the TV all morning.

[Mark]

I live in the Midwest, Illinois/Iowa border. I remember this day and days to follow vividly, having worked an overnight shift from 6pm to 6 am, I was most likely sleeping when the first action occured, but when I awoke and went outside and visisted with an elderly neighbor- I got the news. I think she was in some disbelief, fear and misunderstanding, for her life had been very involved in nursing and the military. I do believe I went back inside to 'check the story out', well as we all know-basically hell broke loose for a few hours on the morning of 9-1-2001. The only reason still is Stupidity, Ignorance and a complete disregard to the human race's quest to survive.
.... MOST memory... The quiet skies, that was my only connection to knowing it was real, it happened, we were at a pause.

[2bits]

Buried with my eyes stuck in the TV for days........

[Douglas]

I was in LA getting ready for work listening to the radio as I usually do. Something was very different this time and I turned on the TV to see the second plane and then the collapse. Unbelievable. When I got to work, a co-worker causally said something about a plane going into a building and I turned to her and said, "This is a very big thing". All day watching TV at work. Later in the day driving, I remember the DJ's on KXLU saying "we can't say anything more" so they played some music. Much appreciated.

[Bill Sardi]

I was in NY on business. I had my picture taken on a boat on the Hudson River with the Twin Towers in the background two days prior to 9-11. I was just coming out of the bathroom in my hotel on Long Island and the TV was on in my room showing the eerie outline of an airplane in the side of one of the towers. I wondered how the TV crew got in place so fast from a nearby building. I wondered how the buildings came down as if I was watching a building demolition. I wondered why the buildings were crashing down after the fires had been doused. None of it made sense. The next evening CNN was airing a live view of Kabul Afghanistan and the assassination of a leader there and I wondered what that had to do with the Twin Tower attack. There were no connections between Afghanistan and the hijack airplane attacks on the Twin Towers at the time. I wondered why CNN had been airing a documentary for the past month entitled Beneath The Veil about mistreatment of women in Afghanistan (a propaganda film?). Was the news media in on all this and softening up the people for some reason? I wondered how the second plane hit Tower #2 an hour after the first and there were radar systems at LaGuardia, Kennedy, Boston, Newark airports that could see it coming, but no warnings were issued. No air defense in the sky even though the Twin Towers had certainly been the target of an earlier terrorist attack seemed strange. The plane that hit the Pentagon left no bodies, personal items of the passengers and it hit an unoccupied portion of the Pentagon. I wondered if the American people would catch on that this seemed like a staged event just like Pearl Harbor was over 50 years prior. I wondered in the aftermath why the FBI issued a video film of hijacker Mohammed Atta in a pharmacy in Florida obtaining medication allegedly for a skin infection that might have been anthrax, but the anthrax was traced to a US Army lab. I wondered why an anthrax terrorist would target the news media (Florida tabloid paper, NBC) and Congressmen's offices of the opposing party), as if to hush the news media. I wondered.

[Carlos Garcia]

I was onboard the USS Boxer as a US Marine and we had just pulled in to the Californai coast after 6 month deployment. We awoke to the Capt of the ship inforrming us of the attacks. Two days later we diembarked to a bitter sweet reunion with our families..

[kevin allman]

I was on the last airplane allowed to land in the US when the airspace was shut down the morning of 9/11. We were in flight when the twin towers were hit. It was a QANTAS long haul flight from Sydney to LAX. After the 14 hour flight there was insufficient fuel to divert to non US air space to land in Canada. On landing people made cell phone calls and were told what had happened. FBI agents boarded the plane and we were rapidly escorted off and processed by immigration as they thought the last of the 4 hijacked planes was headed for LAX to crash into it. I spent the next week in an airport hotel waiting for a return flight to Sydney. The convention I had been going to attend in Boston was cancelled. One of the terrorists has been staying in the Boston hotel where I had a reservation.