The memories of today are clearer than any other day. It was a beautiful Tuesday and I got to work early. Was in the train yard in Canarsie about 5 miles away from the towers as the crow flies.

I finished going through the train yard and decided to take a break. I head to the crew room and the tv was static. I said to a motormen what happened to the tv. They said a small plane hit the WTC and it knocked the tv signal out.

I immediately knew it was a terrorist attack. Years of living by JFK I know that no plane is ever gonna hit a building, a pilot would put it in the water first.
Lower Manhattan is like a no fly zone because of a few reasons but the approach to Laguardia and Newark being so close it is rare a jet or a small plane would be flying there. The exception is the tourist helicopters and small planes but they fly over the river.

The guys say to me you can look out the bathroom window and see the smoke. I go there and watched the second plane hit.

My first thought was to call home and let my family know where in the subway I was working since I bounced around a lot. Called Mom and she told me that my brother Eddie was working in the towers and they were waiting to hear from him.

Within a few minutes they shut down the subway trains from heading to Manhattan. I called the main office and they told me to go home.

I took the train to work and now they weren't running. Had to start walking. Luckily caught a bus down to Canarsie Pier. The Belt parkway was jammed going to Manhattan. Very strange to see Long Island fire trucks in Brooklyn heading towards the city. No traffic at all going towards Long Island. Walked about 5 miles to Howard Beach and my brother Bobby picked me up.

He let me know they heard from Eddie and he was ok. Covered in dust when the building fell but he was on his way to Brooklyn walking over the Brooklyn bridge to my sister in laws job.

Lost 3 friends that day. Could have been a lot more since our town ambulance went there and got crushed when the buildings fell. The 4 guys on the ambulance were missing for hours. 2 guys got cancer and one has passed at around 45 years old. This attack is still killing people and that makes me sad.

One of the first photos I ever took was me standing between the two towers looking up. Little did I know I would be taking photos later on in life. Speaking of photos, the iconic one of the 3 firemen carrying the flag. One of them is George Johnson. He was on one of the softball teams I played on. Kind of a different perspective when you know one of the guys in the photo. Makes it much closer to home.

I wrote this Narrative for a Writing Class I was taking in October 2001. One month after 9-11-2001 was still fresh in my mind. I just re-read this 10 years later and thought it would be something to share with all of you. I know we all have our stories to share for this terrible day. My instructor told me to save this so I could share it with my children one day. I did save it and I’m happy I did. I will share this with my children later when they get home from school.

The Morning of September 11, 2001 by Ann A. Ricketts

The date of September 11, 2001 will live forever in my memory. It was a day of great sadness and horror. As I think back to that day, I remember how it all started.

I arrived at work at 8:15 A.M. ready to start another typical day at work. I turned on my computer and went to fetch coffee and breakfast. I chatted with some co-workers about current events then returned to my desk. I had some free time before I started work so I logged onto AOL to check my e-mail. There was nothing new, just more junk mail that I deleted. At approximately 8:45 A.M. I saw my sister log on and we started chatting. Suddenly an e-mail popped up on my work e-mail from CNN. It was breaking news stating that a plane had just hit the one of the Twin Towers, details to come later. I cut and paste the e-mail into an instant message and sent it to my sister who responded in disbelief. I looked around the office to see other co-workers discussing something about the towers. I logged off with my sister and went over to talk with them; apparently they had received similar e-mails. “Let’s go out on the roof and check it out”, I said. We walked over and pulled open one of the windows.
[Read more…]

You have all read stories of 9-11 told by civilians. Here is 9-11 as seen thru the eyes of a soldeir.

–Where were You? It is a little before eight a.m. in the DIVARTY headquarters on Fort Hood, Texas as I follow my buddy, Chief Warrant Officer-3 Bob Kerley, into Colonel Ramirez’s office where several other soldiers are watching CNN. We have just heard a report that an aircraft has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. We speculate that it must be a small Cessna sight-seeing aircraft that made a mistake. Several of us laugh at the stupidity of the pilot. I tell Bob, “Hey, it’s happened before. Back in the 1940s, a World War II bomber crashed into the Empire State Building during a thick fog. I wonder if there is a thick fog in New York City this morning?” The Sergeant Major overhears me and speaks up, “It doesn’t matter what the weather is – no fixed-wing aircraft should be flying that close to buildings. They’re supposed to fly in the middle of the Hudson River – something just doesn’t sound right.” As we watch smoke billowing out of one of two tall buildings on the TV, I say, “Well, I hope not too many people were hurt.” Suddenly, from the corner of the TV screen, another aircraft – much larger than a small Cessna – enters the frame and slams into the second tower. A hush falls over the group. Then several whisper, “We’re under attack!”…..

………………………….… [Read more…]

From Franklin Ross:

I remember going to school that warm September day. I remember my first class was economics. I remember a sudden urge to go to the snack shop halfway through class. I remember leaving class and heading up the stairs to the main student hall. As I walked towards the snack shop I remember the radio. First I heard the noise, and then I heard the news: A plane had just hit the World Trade
Center, and then a second one. I did not realize at the time but my life had changed forever. It took me about ten minutes before I remembered that my father had taken a plane that morning to California, and then the possibility hit me.

The clarity of what had become of my father came to me an hour later in a conversation with my uncle:
[Read more…]

From Claudia Keenan:

A clear blue sky arched over Kansas on the morning of September 11, 2001. I know that, can still see it, because driving home from an early trip to the grocery I glanced up at the white paths of exhaust left by planes curving back toward the airport.

We were expatriate New Yorkers living with our two sons in suburban Johnson County, where fields of hay bales and meandering horses lay incongruously across the road from supermarkets, high schools, and corporate headquarters with their vast parking lots.

Leaving New York had made us unhappy. Since that first relocation, we have moved on though never back. But in my memory Kansas is always becoming a fonder place. I am trying to say that I am glad we lived there, especially on 9/11.
[Read more…]

From Glenn E. Huiett Jr.:

We were sitting in our bedroom preparing to go to work. Our son entered the room and told us that a commercial jet had just flown into one of the world trade center towers. Not sure of what he had just told us we tuned the t.v to KATU news, just in time to see the second plane hit the other tower. We were caught between shock,extreme sadness,and eventually anger.

Myself being a prior service member my first response was,something needs to be done and done right NOW. I called the ARMY recruiter and requested to re-enlist A.S.A.P.. only to be told I was to old to go. But that does not mean that I gave up, I salute every military troop that I cross paths with and thank them for their dedication to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!

From Beverly:

I worked at an embroidery business located on the edge of Davenport, Iowa. My mother-in-law and my youngest son also worked there. We were busy running machines and trimming garments when my 20 year old son arrived. He asked urgently, “Haven’t you heard?” I smiled at him he always made me smile, and asked what news. “A plan flew into the twin towers.’ At that moment I thought that a small plane had flight problems and had crashed into the towers & I couldn’t remember where or what the towers were.

“Was anyone hurt?” I could see he was frustrated by my answer and said that it was a passenger airplane and didn’t I know that was where the United Nations were in New York. We turned the radio on and listened in horror to the unfolding events. We continued to do our job but it was a solemn and surreal day. So many things were going through my mind, that we would soon be at war, I didn’t want to loose a son to war and that the economy would suffer, maybe I should grow a victory garden. I felt what could I do and I knew that the way we perceived our world would be changed.

Friday, September 9, 2011 I called my son to remind him to call his grandmother’s Sunday because it is Grandparent’s Day and to tell him that when I think of 911 I think of him and how he came into work without saying hello and told us the news.

From Lynda M:

I was working at the school in the early am. I teach 2nd grade. We were all in the office making copies and preparing for the day. One of the other teachers came in and told us what had happened. We weren’t sure what was going on. We were called into the lounge and given safety procedures and were told to hold our emotions intact. One of the teachers had a break and was watching when the 2nd plane hit. She emailed us all. I was scared to death. Where were my own children? My husband was out of town. I was screaming in my head. I wanted to go home and hug my own family. I knew I had to maintain and stay with the kids. I had to be strong. I later thought there were many brave people that day. I saw a lot of strong women working hard to not run out of that building to their own families.

Later on that night my mom came over. She worked for the border patrol and knew way too much. She withdrew a lot of money and gave me half of it. I panicked a little and put water and canned goods, blankets and extra clothes in my car. (seems silly now but at the time it was what I had to do.) I skipped dinner that night and was glued to the t.v. I knew the world as we knew it had just changed before my eyes. I thought of the quote from Isoroku Yamamoto of the Pearl Harbor bombing. “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” I prayed it wouldn’t happen again what happened in Hiroshima. Isoroku Yamamoto