The Daily asked our readers to remember where they were and what they went through on 9/11. We took the audio comments they recorded on their iPads and made the above video with some of their voices narrating the day's events. Below are some of their written comments.
SHOCK AND DISBELIEF
“I am a flight attendant for American Airlines. I lost two friends that day. They were on Flight 11, the first plane the struck the WTC!! May they RIP along with all who were lost that terrible day!!” — Dennis9295
“I was at my office in midtown Manhattan. I didn’t know anything was happening until my girlfriend told me on the phone. Along with so many others, I tried to get out of Manhattan. I must’ve caught the last subway train to Brooklyn. When I got by my house, I saw bits of burned paper on the ground. I saw a company’s header on one showing it’s address at the World Trade Center. The wind carried the burned paper from the WTC into the middle of Brooklyn. For some reason, that really hit me.” — RickFriedman
“My husband and I were in Sydney Australia, staying at a hotel. We woke up and he went out to get the paper they left at our door. Headlines, ”America Under Attack“! Our hearts sank as we turned on the news. The next 4 days were surreal but the Australians were fantastic. There were 18 wheeler flat beds with movie sized screens dispersed through Sydney, playing CNN day and night. There were homemade signs everywhere., stating the Aussie’s support of America. People would stop you and ask if you were American and then they would say, ”God Bless you and God Bless America“. We felt so supported but also so alone at the great distance from home.” — Alaska
“My office was torn out with the first plane, I was home late to work that day.” — The News Snipes
“We live in Dallas, Texas. I was on my way to DFW to put my 11 year old son on an American plane to see his father. While we were pulling into the parking spot, the first building fell. I started crying, my son asked what was wrong so I tried to explain that thousands of people just died. As we walked into the airport I noticed the silence. No planes were flying and no one was talking, the silence was deafening, it was a day that changed our world. My son was supposed to be on a 10:00 am flight that morning. I am so grateful he was not in the air when the terror started. He was going to be flying alone.” —Tstarns
“9/11/01 was my husbands (at the time boyfriend) first day on the floor at the fire station. I remember turning on the television and seeing the city I love so much being attacked (although we live in CA my dad is from NYC and I spent every summer there visiting Aunts and Uncles). It made me appreciate my husbands profession so much. It was because of 9/11/01 we got engaged. You never know what tomorrow may bring.” — Fugitt
“I watched events unfold on TV–lived on the West Coast at the time. I remember thinking that this was going to change my life since I was then in the National Guard. Three combat tours and one son KIA (Afghanistan) later, ”normal“ has been lost, shaped and lost again many times. We tend to worry about some truly petty things ...” — Spartacus
“I was working as a pharmaceutical rep and had just walked into a physician’s office. The receptionist told me that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. At first, no one realized that it was not just a small plane, but a huge jetliner. When I left the office and got back to my car, I saw that I had 15 missed messages on my cell phone. It was my husband. I called him back and he told me what was happening. I grew up overseas and lived in Iran for 7 years. I never thought that I would experience terrorism in this country, but when he told me that a second plane had hit, I knew we were under attack. I began driving home and one of my strongest memories is of how beautiful that morning was. The skies were clear and crisp and the sun was out, but it was cool and beautiful. Once home, we picked up our daughter from school and then just set in front of the TV, completely numb.” — Ponche
“We don’t talk about it. Not in the weeks or months after, and not ten years after. I don’t watch the documentaries, I don’t read the books, I wasn’t even going to do this. When you live in new York, it becomes a part of you. It’s not just the place where you live, it’s an integral part of who you are and who you hope to become. I wasn’t born in new York city, but i feel homesick for it in a way I never felt for anywhere else when I leave. I have a love and hate relationship with this city like I would with a person. It represents all my hopes and triumphs, my heartbreak and challenges, my past, my future, my personality, and I know everyone else here loves it in the same way that i do. When they took those buildings and those people it was like they took a piece of each of us, and it’s personal. I think that’s why we don’t talk about it.” — AliNYC
“I was in temporary duty status at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, with USAF civil service on that fateful day. Myself and about 20 others were taking a class on the operation of a new software program. There were no television in the classroom and we were very busy getting to know the new info. It was about 1:00 pm when we broke for lunch. I called my wife in Florida and was filled in on the circumstances of the morning. At first, it was disbelief and then the realization of the horror which happened. Instead of getting back to Florida that evening, it took four days.” — lajes62
“Just turned on the tv before my work out. Thought I was watching a movie... Then I seen a second plane, yelled for my husband to come see. We both stood in shock.... I didn’t know what to do.. Frozen in time!!! We both can up stairs and turned on the other tv... It felt like the whole world just died... We both went to work. I worked retail and people started coming in after flags, by the next morning. We were out of everything red,white, and blue.. Everyone that worked there just left me... I never felt that lost.... My prayers go out to people that lost their love one or child.... What a mean world we live it.... And it’s getting worse...” — Blue Dog House
“It was the day our innocence was taken away, and it’s something we will never get back.” — Wayne007
“A friend and I were at a photo shoot trying to smile after the second plane hit the towers. It seemed so trivial and useless. We pasted them on and then commandeered a TV for the faculty and students on duty in the clinic. I keep that magazine cover as my memory of that day. No burning buildings, just people moving forward.” — Shock Me
“After watching the disaster unfold live while getting ready for work, I had to send my kids off to 2 different schools, my husband off to work, and go teach young children. My heart was breaking, I tasted bile in my throat, and I had to put up a brave front for 25 young children, one of whom was celebrating his birthday. I just wanted to hold all my dear ones, all the students, and all the children in NY in my arms and protect them from this evil.” — Allwearesaying
“I have always been more than thankful that both of my nieces quit Windows of the World Catering and tours within one (1) to two (2) weeks of the attack. They both would have been starting work at the time of the event. They both are still affected by the loss of so many friends and the number of funerals attended. Hopefully never again!” — SteveB
“I grew up and worked in NYC. I moved to Atlanta for work just before 9-11, but I lost friends, and had frequented the Trade Center often eating at The Top of the World Resturant, and when ever I had business there, I would stand at the windows and look down and had that rush of fear since the glass was floor to ceiling. I couldn’t believe my friends, some who jumped, had to make that decision, and I get sick. Every 9-11, I look at a graphic book of the events, cry over the kist of the dead, and pray for all the lost souls. It is something that many go through every year. I wind up hating the terrorists more and more each year. And then I experience all the visuals from the day and get sad all over again, just like any New Yorker does, like most other folks, just lucky to be alive, but Lmost wishing I could have stoppedit, but I know I couldn’t. My father was a Dentist in the Empire State Bldg, and as a kid, I would open the windows and fly paper airplanes. And I ALWAYS contrast the two buildings, the people, and the airplanes, and feel very lucky that I AM alive.” — Tripljz
“My first September being a high school principal in Georgia. A few minutes after the first plane hit, my secretary said she thought I’d better turn on the small tv in my office. For a few minutes, I sat mesmerized, with the rest of America. Then the phone calls started. The first was from my superintendent who had sent an email...unread to this point...telling the principals of our small district (4 schools at the time) to tell the teachers in the building to turn off their televisions in an effort to keep things relatively normal. By this time, the second plane had hit, and every classroom in my high school was watching the events in New York. I explained that the horse was out of the barn, and that I felt high schoolers needed to see the events shaping their world. And the towers fell. And for the only time since living near Atlanta, the skies were quiet for three days...quite a change for folks living in a flight path to the busiest airport in the world. And for ten years, we have sent our graduates off to war.” — duanekline
“We as Fathers,mothers,sons and daughters will never forget that day we lost so many. I’m very proud to live and raise my family in the greatest country on earth the United States of America. God bless our troops and god bless America.” — Brian.D
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