omg six, gripping story.
Where were you?
by joannadandy 45 Replies latest jw friends
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Prisca
I was asleep.
The first plane hit the WTC at approximately 10.47pm Wed night Australian time. I normally don't go to bed until later, but I was especially tired that night and I went to bed about 5 mins before the first plane struck.
So I didn't know anything about it until my alarm went off the next morning. I could hear someone on the radio talking about the huge dust cloud, and how it tunneled down the city streets. At first I thought maybe a building in the CBD of Sydney had caught on fire. I got up and immediately turned on the TV. And I never watch TV in the morning, but I knew something big was up.
That was when I could see what had happened. At first it seemed like I was watching a Arnie Schwarznegger movie. But seeing visions of the Pentagon burning as well as the two buildings, it was all too surreal.
Last night I stayed up until 1.30am to watch the live coverage of the Memorial services in NY and at the Pentagon.
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Mac
Running late for work, wife called me to the TV, second plane hit, pentagon hit! Never made it to work.
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outnfree
I was sitting in the waiting room of the local hospital while my husband was undergoing a heart catheterization. Adding to my stress was that an ex-elder of mine was in the waiting room also, and I had DA'd myself in March. We were all quietly reading when a hospital employee came in and turned on the TV. He told us that a plane had crashed in New York, he'd just gotten word. As I switched seats to have a better look at the TV and all the speculation, there came the second jet crashing into the second WTC tower right before our very eyes! It was horrific! The ex-elder didn't shun me, but treated me as he would any worlding as we commented back and forth over the immensity of the disaster(s) -- including the Pentagon crash and the news about UA Flight 93.
Around 10? the cardiologist came to get me and as we went into the examining room, he told me he had good news and bad news for me. The bad news was that my husband had four clogged arteries. The good news was that he hadn't dropped dead yet. He was a walking time bomb. They were going to transfer him by ambulance to a better hospital for by-pass surgery.
So as I was already freaking out over the terrorist attacks, I was personally falling apart worried that I might be a widow by midnight! With 4 kids! With no relatives living in the same state! I phoned my friend Jann and asked her to be at the house when the two youngest kids got off the bus. I phoned my daughter's friend's mom and asked her if she'd break the news to the two older girls AFTER the swim meet that afternoon (which wound up being cancelled anyway). Jann would feed the kids as I fully expected the open heart surgery to last several hours and couldn't see myself getting home until I was sure my husband had woken up.
I went home to let the dog out, called the family doctors to let them know what had been the diagnosis, ate something, packed a suitcase for hubby, and called my sister-in-law the nurse on my cell phone as I drove back to the hospital. I didn't want to attempt to tell my mother-in-law -- who does not speak English -- what was going on for fear of miscommunication which would make her even more upset! I think I called my mother, too. I can't remember if that was then or later in the day. The ambulance still hadn't arrived, so, like millions of others in America that day, we were glued to the television watching events unfold.
When the ambulance finally came, I followed news reports on my car radio as I followed. Upon arrival at the hospital, security was out in full force, most doors were locked and bags were being searched! Unheard of hours before!!!
A few hours later, the doctor explained that my husband would NOT have surgery on 9-11 because the hospital we were in was a designated National Trauma Center. This meant that only emergency surgery was being done as all blood was being reserved for the casualties of the terrorist attacks, some of whom would have been airlifted to the hospital in Michigan for treatment. My husband's situation was grave, but not life-threatening at the moment. Poor guy had a stent in his leg from the catheterization which they didn't want to remove as it would be useful for surgery and they didn't want to have to redo it. Trouble was, they didn't know how long it would be before the surgery could be performed.
Sadly, the surgery was able to be performed on 9-13. By then it was clear that massive amounts of blood and surgical talent would NOT be needed. Most 9-11 victims were either dead or alive, relatively few were wounded.
Edited to add: At least physcially.
Edited by - outnfree on 11 September 2002 23:3:51
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hemp lover
My 10-year-old daughter and I were on vacation in NYC, staying in a hotel about 25 blocks uptown. I was awakened by what I thought was thunder, looked out the window and saw blue sky, and then the sirens started. There are always sirens in Manhattan but this was different. Turned on the TV and everything from that moment through the next three days was surreal.
Walking through the city with jet fighters doing fly bys overhead
Standing outside CBS with hundreds of people and watching the news on giant TV screens while "It's a Small World" was playing at FAO Schwarz right next door
Trying every f***ing pay phone in the city to get through to my ex and let him know we were okay
Going into my first church ever (St. Patrick's Cathedral) and sitting in the old wooden pew and feeling relief and peace
Getting caught in the middle of bomb threats where cops are literally screaming "Run for your lives!" with people stampeding out of buildings (once in a restaurant the next day, twice at Penn Station while trying to buy a bus ticket home)
Finally getting out two days later, leaving the driving to Greyhound all the way back to Texas
Looking back one last time at the ruined, still smoking skyline as we crossed into New Jersey
My parents actually called me in the hotel on 9/11, guess this qualified as an emergency. One of the first things my mom said was "14 JW's died in the towers today." I responded, "THOUSANDS OF HUMAN BEINGS DIED TODAY." She dropped that line of conversation pretty quickly.
I wish I had gone back this week. I wish I could have stood in Manhattan and listened to the bells tolling this morning.
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Xandria
My husband and I were at the doctors for his RSD and xrays. As we were waiting we watched the first plane hit and as they were showing the footage of that the second hit. I kept saying omg omg!... then it hit me. We had friends who worked across from the WTC and another that worked right in a building where you could see the White House and Pentagon in the distance.
We tried to call them frantically...then we went to the lawyers to drop by a piece of paper work. (As we continued to try to call through my cell phone.)Then the Police shut down Charlotte and masses of people were driving home. I tried and tried calling my work and finally when I got through my boss told me they are sending people home. But to be on call if they need extra help.. the cell towers on the WTC were down and they were picking up the slack to get cell working in the city. That we were sending c.o.w.s. out to the sites to boost signal. C.o.w.s are mobile towers that can be placed anywhere to pick up signal strength and reduce dropping of calls during high useage or if a tower goes out.
We could not get home b/c of all the traffic so we stopped at a Sports Bar.. which all channels were news at that point. I said to my husband as I watched people celebrating the deaths of all these innocent people, "They won't be celebrating for long, we will strike back!". I had such tears in my eyes watching all this and people jumping out of the windows. I so wished more got out alive. Many friends lost many people.
Xandria