Where were you on September 11th 2001 at 08:30?

[Old Ironmaker]

"A date that will live on in infamy". That's what FDR said when addressing the nation after the Pearl Harbor attack. My wife called me about 8:30 or so on her brick Motorola shoe phone as she drove to her job in Hamilton. She told me to turn on CNN because Q 107 broke in programming with news that a small plane accidently crashed into the World Trade Center. The first thing I did was look outside and saw Blue Bird skies. Maybe in NY it was fogged in. What I saw on TV for the next 3 days was what everyone else saw. In the next few hours I tried to call my 1st cousin in New Jersey as well as relatives in NY state only to hear the nert, nert, nert of a busy signal. My family was under attack. My US born Mother answered in Hamilton just after 9 AM when the first tower collapsed. She said it was the same feeling she had as a 10 year old listening to the radio after Pearl Harbor on the radio. I shared her feeling. A feeling I never thought I would have. She was in a panic as she couldn't reach any of my Uncles and Aunts.

 

About 1 PM I went into town to return a DVD still in a surreal mental fog. The town is sleepy on any day but it was empty that afternoon. The lady at the "In and Out" store in Selkirk had no idea what had happened 4 hours latter as she was doing what she does at the store with her Mom. When I told her what had happened she broke into tears. Her husband had just gone to NY city the day before and she wondered why she didn't hear from him that morning. Bruce was fine but she waited a day to hear from him, she didn't know if he was in Manhattan or not, he was. I think we might all have that 6 degrees of separation from someone that was there. I have a distant cousin I never met that was in Tower 2 and broke his leg escaping. He was originally from Stoney Creek moved to NYC and did all the morning shows in Ontario some weeks latter. No way to get notoriety.

 

Prayers still go out to those souls that died and those still dying of complications from being exposed to all those cancer causing building materials as well as the trauma of those that survived as well as those that mourn loved ones lost that dreadful day in our history.

 

Where were you? Can history repeat itself?

 

 

[Rich Clemens]

I was in a meeting at work. After a while one of the other employees stopped in and said something like. "You guys have no idea what's going on, do you ?" Thus ended the meeting. I had a three hour ride home that day. Very strange not seeing any jet trails at all in the sky. Hardly any traffic,on the interstate.

[Terry]

I was at work

I was listening to Q107, Stern was Joking that he was going to be the new anchorman for WNBC news

he made a couple of pretend news announcements to show he would be good at it. then he announced a plane just hit the tower

I thought he was kidding

he said it again and I switch to another station and they said it too

I told others and we found a tv and everyone watched when I saw the second plane hit I knew it was a terrorist act and said the world will never be the same again.....

[leaf4]

Grade 6, class was just getting in and my teacher turned on the radio after hearing about it from another teacher, don't really remember what the rest of the day was like, but an interesting fact I heard the other day is the current grade 9 students are learning of 9/11 as a history lesson in school now as they were either just born, or not born yet

[pics]

I was right where I am today.. at work.. back then we had to crowd around the radio to hear what was going on (in between charging and tapping heats) along with updates from the guys in the cranes ... I didn't see any television coverage until 7:30 that night... I can only imagine the shock of someone coming out of the bush after a week and hearing the news days after it happened..

[dave524]

Grade 6, you're making me feel old, think it was grade 6 I was in when Kennedy was shot, the principal put the radio over the PA from his office. 911 was a day off work, was at home , parents called and told the wife and I to turn the News on.

[Garnet]

I was on afternoons doing routine boat maintenance walked in the house for something and watch the whole thing unfold.

[Steve]

21 years old.

In "college" - which meant I was at home.

 

Watching CH Morning News when the first plane hit. Followed it all morning.

 

The world sure has changed.

[npt1]

Was at work in Stelco, co-worker told me a plane just hit on the Towers in New York.

I thought it was probably a small Cessna or somethng like that, maybe it was foggy in

The Big Apple.

Back in the 1940's , An Air Force Bomber hit the Empire State building and I thought

history is repeating itself.

A short time later, when the secong plane hit the other tower, I knew something was very wrong.

The entire shop went quiet, no crane movement, no machines running, total silence.

Pulled out our contraband 5 inch TV and watched what we could on the screen.

May God Bless all those who passed away that day and the ones who responded to face

the uncertainty of the future.

[jjcanoe]

I was in bed when my wife called me from work and told me to turn the TV on. I had just returned from New York city at about 2am from my regular tomato run to Hunts Point produce terminal. I was back in NYC a few days later after they re-opened the borders. You could still see the smoke rising from the towers for nearly a week afterwards. Nearly every person I talked to at the market had a story about someone they knew in the towers, either a firefighter, neighbor, or relative.

[Shloim]

I was wiring a house in Barrie and my wife is a radio reporter who was working at Q107 at the time. So she called in between crashes. The conversation went something like this. Holy crap! You won't believe what just happened! A plane just crashed into the WTC. Then mid sentence, holy crap, another one just hit! I gotta go....

[OhioFisherman]

I was in my garage doing some things before going to work with the garage TV on CNN and heard the report of the first plane hitting. Like npt mentioned about the plane hitting the Empire State building, it's NYC, lots of plane and helicopter traffic, there was a lot of uncertainty in the reporting, the second plane hitting ended that.

 

I drove an 18 wheeler at the time, when I got to work they had a meeting to establish security and safety procedures. Don't stop for anyone that isn't law enforcement, beware of people following you, especially if you have a placarded load, unless you are in a customer's dock? don't leave your truck anywhere you can't see it. Shaky day, at every stop that day a tv or radio was on!

 

My now ex wife had a lot of family in the Somerset PA area where one plane went down, she got and made a lot of calls that day. A tragedy, and wingnuts here think it was a government conspiracy!

Edited September 11, 2016 by OhioFisherman

[Pigeontroller]

Was at work, first day with a new company. My wife was 8 months pregnant with my Son....Sad day for sure. Has had a huge trickle down effect of hatred and violence....

[Meegs]

I was on the Beaver river in Thornbury. One of the gents i was fishing with had just flown in the day before from new york. Took him over a week to get a flight back home. He got the first call and said a plane crashed into the one tower... wasnt till the 2nd call about the 2nd plane when we realized it wasnt an accident.

[Sinker]

I was building a roof on a custom home at bathurst and steels area. We had q107 blasting when the announcement came. I will never forget that day.

 

S.

[DRIFTER_016]

I was working @ the Ministry of Finance in Oshawa replacing their computers.

[muskymatt]

Was out in the country framing a house for a client. No radio on, I went into town to get some coffees and everyone in the store was standing around a TV watching it unfold. Was shocking, I went back and shut down the site for the day thinking that the guys would want to get in touch with their families and relatives.

Brutal day for sure.

[lew]

I'd been retired from the Fire Dept. in Toronto for about a year so when I happened to see the fire on TV it caught my attention right away. When I heard it was a plane that hit the building I called my wife and while we were talking the other plane hit and of course right away realized it was no accident.

 

My son was an iron worker and the day after the attack him and a bunch of his buds chartered a bus to get to NYC.

 

Steel girders is what they worked on and knew more about than just about anyone so they hoped they could offer any assistance needed to move the steel beams to help find anyone trapped. They got to the site and found whoever was in charge and identified themselves but were thanked VERY much and told they already had more workers than they could handle.

 

Lousy day for 1000's of good people, that's for sure.

Edited September 11, 2016 by lew

[tb4me]

I was at work

I was listening to Q107, Stern was Joking that he was going to be the new anchorman for WNBC news

he made a couple of pretend news announcements to show he would be good at it. then he announced a plane just hit the tower

I thought he was kidding

he said it again and I switch to another station and they said it too

I told others and we found a tv and everyone watched when I saw the second plane hit I knew it was a terrorist act and said the world will never be the same again.....

I too was listening to Stern when it went down..Sad thats for sure..There was one thing that Stern was going on about was the witnesses that called in saying they seen fighter jet shoot down the other plane that crashed. Was it flight 93 from united airlines..I remember Stern and Robbin talking about the pilot that had to shoot that plane down... Interesting how that was never mentioned again.. What happened to the 2 witnesses that called into the show that day..

[GBW]

When the first plane hit we cut our cable internet at work and plugged in a TV as we had Q107 on at the time as well. Next thing I did was call my sister and wished her a happy birthday and as I did so I said "this is one nobody will ever forget". My office at the time was very close to the Bottonville Airport and it was creepy for the next few days to say the least...

[PUMP KNOWS]

I was in highschool and I remember skipping first period. When I was on my way to school, my friend who also skipped told me what had happened.

[Old Ironmaker]

Many of the Ironworkers from the Hamilton local (765?) that I know very well went down to ground zero and were put to work for as long as they could stay. They volunteered at zero wages. Hindsight is 20/20, the thousands of tons of drywall dust which is laden with Silica has and still is taking the lives of individuals that were part of the recovery and clean up. As well we remember the images of those covered in an inch of drywall and concrete dust running from and for the Cops and Firefighters running into ground zero. Those are the real heroes of our society including every volunteer from the Red Cross to our Ironworker, not ball players making 20 million a year or the celebrities that do nothing other than pretend they are someone else. I remember then seeing workers with only bandanas wrapped around their mouths for breathing protection and screaming at the TV to get those workers proper protection when my Health and Safety training kicked in. It came but for many too late. If you look at a individual specimen of Silica under a microscope it looks exactly like a miniature Skill Saw blade. Once in the lung it never leaves. As one breaths those saw blades cut into the soft tissue and cause irreparable damage. Silicosis is the disease.

 

I cringe when I see young and old workers exposed to basic beach sand or stone dust etc. commonly referred to in the industry as "Free Airborne Silica" without the proper basic protective equipment. Don't get me going when I see babies playing in a sand box, same stuff if you stop and think about it really.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Old Ironmaker

[MJL]

High school - First period microeconomics class. A teacher from another class came into the room and said a plane hit the world trade center. Most of us thought it was an accident. Didn't think much about it till the last class of the day when we were all watching it on TV.

[Rodbender]

I was in a bucket truck hooking up temp. power for a construction site just off Dixie road near the end of the runway. I saw a plane do what they are not supposed to do. Take off and land in opposite directions it did a U turn yet the wind didn't change.

I told my ground guy something is wrong with that plane. At break time I turned the radio in the truck on and couldn't believe what I heard. A few minutes later my sister called and a girl we went to school with was in the first building she got out OK just to see the second plane hit.

 

and to this I'll play

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk

[crappieperchhunter]

On holidays in Bobcaygeon. Got up early and went fishing. Not sure when I came off the water but I needed something for my boat...can't remember what... so I popped into Buckeye Marine. When I walked in there was NO ONE within sight in the whole place. Generally always someone out on the floor or someone at the service desk. Heard some talking and popped my head into one of the sales offices. EVERYONE was in the sales office eyes glued to the TV watching it all unfold.

 

I just heard on the weekend that there are still over 1,000 officially unidentified victims from that day.

 

A sad day all around.