NF - 9/11 10th Anniversary...

[ccmtcanada]

With the 10th anniversary coming up this Sunday it got me thinking back to the day it all happened. Where were you when you first heard about it? What do you remember about that day?

 

For me, I was in a meeting with the VP of advertising. There was a knock at the door and another VP said to "turn on the TV". My boss said "what channel?". His reply was "Any channel". This was just after the first plane struck. That meeting ended and I headed back to my office, which had a TV in it. When I turned the corner it was mobbed...I pushed my way inside and a few minutes later the second plane hit the towers. It went deadly silent in there...then people started heading towards their phones.

 

It happened a day before my birthday and I had to renew my driver's license, so I left early for the day to get that done. The 401 was deserted and for the first time EVER there was not a single person in line at the MTO...seems everyone was glued to a TV set somewhere.

 

Hard to believe it's been 10 years...

[ctranter]

I had just started grade 9 and the 11th was only a few days into the new school year. My teacher had family in NYC and literally broke down in front of the entire class.

 

It still amazes me how conspiracy theorists still argue that the US government caused the attacks. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

[John]

I was in the UK with my family on the last few days of vacation. Needless to say that we gave up our return seats to some of our American freinds who needed to get home to loved ones via Canada. Got home 4 days later.

[ketchenany]

2200 Yonge Street (Y&E). Got an internal email and then my kids also alerted me. Located right over a major subway line security at ground level was more noticeable.

 

CCMT, I guess you have met the new VP of Marketing. Ten years after that meeting!

[Headhunter]

I was at work in downtown T.O..

At that time, my employer had just laid off the entire company, well everyone but me! So, there I am, in a huge office working by myself when my mother in law called me to tell me that a plane had just crashed into the tower.

I ran down to a coffee shop on the ground floor, just in time to see the 2nd plane hit. People were obviously very concerned. Rumours started that perhaps Toronto was going to be a target as well and company's began sending people home.

At around 11:30am I called my new boss to find out what my instructions were only to be told that they had shut the company down for the day and "geez, I completely forgot about you there by yerself!" "Get out of there as people are saying the First Canadian Place could be a target and you aer only half a block from there...". I really didn't want to have FCP and it's 72 stories land on my head, so I got outta there!

I was home by noon and like many others I'm sure, spent the rest of the day watching the news and wondering how our happy little world had gone to hell in a hand basket.

HH

[mike rousseau]

it was my high school spare... i went for pancake breakfast at my grandmothers house... and while walking back to school the plane hit...

 

when i walked in the school there was a lot of students heading towards the library... they said usa is under attack... then we watched the news in the library...

[Terry]

I was working in a school

 

I was listening to Howard Stern

 

He was talking about a news announcer retiring from Wnbc

 

and was saying that he was going to try out for the job...he did a few bits pretending he was a news announcer..

then he said live news just happening a plane crashed into one of the twin towers in New York

 

I truly believe it was Howard doing a bit...

 

Robin did some stuff about it too so I turned to another station to see if it was true..

 

 

I grabbed a TV and hooked it up in the staffroom just in time to see the second plane crash...I said at that moment our way of life was over...

it would be a whole new north america after that day

 

this whole Month has me thinking of that day

because I inspect things in a lot of schools and have to sign and date them..this month it's 9/11 month/ year which reminds me of 9 11 every single time I write it

[Pikeslayer8]

I think it would have crazy to have been in an outpost camp without a sat. phone.. Would be real spooky waiting for a plane that doesn't come and no planes in the skies for days.

[ccmtcanada]

"Get out of there as people are saying the First Canadian Place could be a target and you aer only half a block from there...". I really didn't want to have FCP and it's 72 stories land on my head, so I got outta there!

 

Rumours were flying here as well about Toronto being a potential target...the downtown core. So I hopped on the 401, switched on the news in the car, and heard the Pickering Nuke Plant may also be a target...perfect...as the MTO office I went to that day was literally a minute from there. I wasn't frightened by it...to be truthful, I was a bit numb from what I had seen on TV.

 

My building...a note went out saying that anyone who wanted to leave for the day could just go.

[Grimace]

I was just finishing up my crane apprenticeship doing a job at the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant. Horns went off, they threw us in busses, people were running around. No one knew what was going on except that all contractors were to be evacuated. I thought there was a meltdown as I was already apprehensive about working at a nuclear power plant in the first place. They bussed us out to our vehicles and we left. I turned the radio on and could not believe what I was hearing. I drove about a million miles an hour to our hotel room in Kincardine and turned on the T.V. and sat in disbelief with a few of my co-workers.

 

Edited to add:

They were going nuts at the power plant because they thought there might be a possibility of nuclear power plants being targets.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Grimace

[fishindevil]

i was salmon fishing on lake ontario,and i heard it over the marine radio !!! it was very upsetting,as i could also hear the united states coast guard telling everyone to take imediate headings to the nearest harbor,and kept repeating it nobody knew what was happening till i got back into port darlington harbor and listened to my radio in my vehicle !!!! was very scary

[Fishn Technishn]

I was fishing in the middle of Stoney Lake near Burleigh Falls. A bunch of buddies do this annual fishing trip and we were just meeting up to discuss the next area to target and a cell phone went off!! Being the smarta$$ that I am I said that line from the Labatt 50 commercial that was playing on TV that year....."AWWW, who brought a cell phone!?!?!?!" It was actually me who had the cell phone!! Imagine that , 8 guys and 1(one) cell phone. A lot has changed in 10 years.

We went back to the cottages after hearing the awful news and could not believe our eyes what we were seeing on TV!

I will likely be not far from the same location as the anniversary rolls over!

Edited September 8, 2011 by Fishn Technishn

[lew]

My son was an iron worker and the day after the buildings came down, Jim and a whole bunch of other iron workers from his union chartered a bus for New York City to help remove the girders and do whatever else they could to help in the rescue operation.

 

They were turned back at Ground Zero though as those in charge said they were overwhelmed with help from across the U.S.

 

The guys hung around NYC for a couple days incase they were needed but after that they just returned home again.

[Spiel]

This thread won't last long if the subject moves away from "where were you."

 

Take the speculation and rumours to more appropriate forums!

[cuzza]

I was in Saudi Arabia in Bin Laden's families hometown of Al Khobar - that was an interesting few days!

 

I flew home to the UK on Sept 13th on the emptiest plane I've ever been on.

[ccmtcanada]

This thread won't last long if the subject moves away from "where were you."

 

Take the speculation and rumours to more appropriate forums!

 

Was really hoping it wouldn't go there as well...but in hindsight maybe I shouldn't have started this thread!

Edited September 8, 2011 by ccmt

[Harrison]

I was drving listening to Howard Stern. I headed straight to the closest house which was my uncles in time to watch the second plane hit. When I heard the words "We are under Attack" on CNN, I had a really weird feeling, can't even explain it today. Can only imagine what those felt really close to the attacks.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Harrison

[Spiel]

Was really hoping it wouldn't go there as well...but in hindsight maybe I shouldn't have started this thread!

 

No worries Cliff.

 

For me I was driving crane at work, Howard Stern on the radio and like Terry at first I thought it was bunk. I won't ever forget that day!

[manitoubass2]

I slept over at my grandpas house the night before. I woke up and put on coffee and CNN which was our usual routine. As I made him his breakfast the commotion on the tv grabbed my attention and we began watching. This was just after the first plane hit. I really thought it was a movie or something at first, it was so surreal.

 

When the second plane hit, we quickly abandoned breakfast and coffee, and woke up my uncle to see as well. It was very odd experience, and as we started to watch people jumping from the towers it was such an akward, horrible feeling.

 

I stayed glued to the tv for the better part of three days, basically in shock.

 

I still shutter thinking about that day, and how it effected so many people. My heart goes out to all involved, and it was IMO a horrible day for humanity.

Edited September 8, 2011 by manitoubass2

[davis]

I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember how beautiful a day it was. At the time I worked for an ad agency at Bloor & Church. Saw the 1st report about a plane flying into the WTC tower on my way up in the elevator. Got into the office and most of the staff was gathering around the TV in the boss's office. People were coming and going thinking that some small plane had accidentally flow into the building. When the 2nd plane hit and then the first tower fell, the mood changed from wonder and awe to OMG, this is some serious crap. I remember that most high-rise office buildings uptown and downtown were evacuated by lunch time. I remember how mad I got at my girlfriend/now-wife because she couldn't understand the 'over reaction' and why people were being sent home early. She had only caught bits and pieces of the news and I remember her apologizing profusely later in the day when she really understood the magnitude of what happened. I was in full on panic mode thinking that we just witnessed the start of WW3 and the US was going to start dropping Nukes all over the middle east. I remember going to my friends house that night and watching the President address the nation. And I remember standing outside that night, amazed that for the first time in my lifetime, there were no planes in the sky.

 

On my last trip to NY in Sept, I visited Ground Zero for the 1st time and walked through the 9/11 memorial center. It was heart wrenching and overwhelming. I think i used up a half box of tissues myself. And to look over the site and imagine that two massive 100+ floor buildings came crashing to the ground was almost too much for me to comprehend if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

 

I'll never forget that day...

[tb4me]

isn't it interesting how many of us were touched by Howard Stern that day..

I was driving to work after sleeping in all stressed right out. I had just been to timmies to get my daily double double. I was stopped at a red light in Brantford when Howard and Robin were starting to totally freak out. I immediately turned around and went home to tell me wife what had just happened. We put it on CNN in time to see the first tower smoking. There was all kinds of speculation as to what was going on at that point.. Just then the second plane hit tower 2. My wife right then and there put her hands over mouth and began crying. I remember the feeling that this wasn't real and this must be some sort of movie footage. When the 3rd plane hit the pentagon and the 4th crashed I knew we were under attack. I right away went and picked the kids up from school. I didn't want to find out schools were on the agenda of terrorists that day, so i took no chances. Here's something that the Howard Stern listeners can confirm to me from that day...Did they not say that they had callers call in to report that they had seen that the 4th plane was shot down by US military? I distinctively remember Howard saying Oh my god , I couldn't imagine the pilot of the fighter jet that had to shoot that plane down. Then not another word in regard to that..I also remember Howard staying on the air till after 11:30 am as they were locked down in their building, reporting the entire time.

That day did change our way of life to some degree. However with the back bone that the New Yorkers had shown that day sure impressed the HELL out of me. It just goes to show how terror and fear brings us all together for the common good in us all..

[fishing n autograph]

I woke up at 8:30 and got ready for school. I was in my second year of university. When i got out of the shower my mother was watching the news and told me a plane had struck one of the world trade towers. That was the time when no one really knew what happened. So i left for school. When I got home three hours later my mother told me a second plane had struck the towers and they both came down. That night I had a class and my prof was from NYC and was in tears the whole lecture

[NAW]

I was on a spare in my last year of high school. When we herd the first plane hit, we went home and watched it in my living room.

 

A few friends and I watched the towers come down on live TV.

 

During all the commotion, we heard a loud bang..

 

Later found out (totally un-related) that it was my neighbour blowing his brains out with a high power hunting rifle..

 

We saw all the police cars there on our way back to school.

Edited September 8, 2011 by N.A.W

[Terry]

howard stern recording

 

 

 

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KCbmD1pGGZw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Garry2Rs]

On Sept 11th 2001 I was fishing the Grand River between Dunnville and Lake Eire.

No phone, no radio, just me in the boat until dark. I did notice one strange thing...Normally there were dozens of contrails from all the jets crossing the lake. That day there were none! I shrugged it off to some strange atmospheric condition.

 

That evening, when I started to drive home, I learned of the attack.

 

In a way, while it was still very tragic and shocking, it was somewhat easier to learn in that way. By then, most of the facts were known. I'm sure that folks who were watching all day must have struggled through the many conflicting reports, speculations and rumours.

 

I'm old enough to remember the day JFK was killed in Dallas. I was watching TV when the news broke...At first it was a report of shots fired at the motorcade, then confirmation of shots, but the President was unhurt, then that he had been taken to the Parkland Hospital, and finally Walter Cronkite took off his glasses, wiped his eyes and reported that the President was dead.

 

On 9-11 I was spared all that and basically got the whole story at once.

 

Of all the stories to come out of that day, one of the least told is of the skill of Canadian air traffic control and Transport Canada officials in landing about 250 unscheduled airliners on the East Coast. American air space was closed and the dession was made that it was too dangerous to reroute planes to cities like Montreal and Toronto. There might be Terrorist on board any of those flights. It's very moving to me, the way that local people pitch in to help take care of those thousands and thousands of travellers who were stranded in Canada for the next five days.

 

I recall that more than 6000 passengers landed in Gander Nfld, a town of only 10,000 people. Somehow they were fed, and housed. Things like transportation and showers were arranged, crated pets were cared for, prescriptions were filled, and all without cost...This is the type of generosity and quite heroism that gets lost in the retelling of the more dramatic events of that day and the days that followed.

 

One small sidebar is that Transport Canada fell back on the Y2K emergency plans that were not needed, but were still on file...

Garry2R's