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In honour of all those who died on 9/11 we are going silent for the day to remember all the lives that were lost.  We will not be tweeting or updating the site.

Edit Made by @DreamySim1

It’s been ten years since September 11th 2001. Ten years, 3,652 days. Somehow it seems as though it happened only yesterday… If you close your eyes, I’m sure you can see the images that were clearly imprinted on our collective minds 10 years ago today.

This post is dedicated to all the people who lost their lives on September 11th, to all the heroes who sacrificed their lives to save others, to all the family members and loved one who lost someone dear and still grieve today and to those who survived. This post is dedicated to the NYPD, the FDNY, the Port Authority, the Paramedics and to the regular people who risked their lives to save others and still wonder why they survived and others didn’t. This post is also dedicated to all the men and women, of all countries, who have fought and still fight in Iraq and Afghanistan today and to those who didn’t make it home… You truly are heroes. 

It’s been ten years. Ten years ago we promised we would never forget… and we haven’t… we never will. 

This post is also dedicated to Battalion Chief Orio Palmer  who lost his life saving others on 9/11. It is our contribution to the 9/11 Tribute Movement. Please also take a moment to remember Robert E. Pattison, who died in the North Tower on 9/11. His family members have contacted us and you can find his story here. 

Here are our collective stories and pictures of 9-11. 

Read them after the jump!

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GIF made by @FmeRob

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories and pictures with us. 

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Danielle

Location: New York City

My name is Danielle. I was born in New York City in 1994, I was raised here. This city truly is my home. I’ve lived in the same neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan. I thought NYC was just invincible. I believed nothing can touch it. Nothing can bring it down. The first time I stepped foot inside the World Trade Center, it was 1997. The South Tower was beautiful. The observation deck was on the roof. You really feel like you are an angel when you’re up there. You not only see the greatest city in America. You see the greatest city in the world. I was standing on the tallest building of this beautiful city. I would have never thought that four years later, this building, along with its twin and the beautiful people working inside, would be gone forever.

I visited more times after that; however, the one experience I will never forget was when I went one last time the weekend before 9/11. It was a Saturday evening, September 8, 2001. I ate at the Windows on the World restaurant on the 106th floor of the North Tower. Every single corner of New York City could be seen from that restaurant, including the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. I was 7 years old. The waitress told my parents that they had a beautiful child. I couldn’t help but notice how warm and friendly she was. As we were leaving, the waitress took my hand and shook it. I did not realize that I was shaking the hand of a woman who was killed 3 days later along with 3000 other beautiful people.

On Tuesday, September 11th, I was sitting in my 2nd grade classroom. I could see faculty members rushing through the hallways with the most horrifying looks on their faces. I did not quite understand what was going on. The phone rang, it was my mother calling to pick me up. Now, I knew there was something wrong. Once I met up with my mom downstairs, the New York streets were filled with people watching in despair. Some had their mouths open, others had tears streaming down their faces. I was only 7 so I did not understand it. I finally looked at what everyone was looking at, and it was a plane hitting the South Tower while the North Tower was burning. It was definitely horrifying for a little girl to see as my mom told me not to look and said everything was going to be fine. I overheard people around me saying that the Pentagon was on fire, as well.

Almost an hour later, the South Tower with its amazing observation deck collapsed into a field of debris, ashes, and smoke. Now the streets were chaotic. People covered in ashes and blood from head to toe were running towards me. At that point, I just could not watch this anymore. My mother and I walked back home. The TV was turned on. It was said that the North Tower collapsed. New York City was brought down. It was no longer invincible. For months, it was filled with sorrow, emptiness, and loss.

Over 300 of the bravest firefighters in the country perished. However. as years passed, I was lucky enough to watch my home grow from being broken to being even stronger than it ever was before. I will forever be proud to be a New Yorker.

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Mikkaa

September 11th started out as a normal day for me. I got up at 0600 turned on the tv waiting for the Today show to come on. I made coffee, and then went and got my year old up. I got my husband up made breakfast and got him on his way to work by 0700.

I talked to a friend I cared about very much. He had a law internship interview that morning and was so so nervous. He was on the train on his way. I said for heavens sakes, you just started your second year at Harvard law. You are 4th in your class. They would be insane not to have you!!! We laughed and joked. He was coming to see my for the weekend and I reminded him to stop and get my corned beef before heading to JFK to get his flight. I told him that I loved him and to call me as soon as he was finished so that he could tell me how the interview. I could hear the subway audio in the background. It said World Trade Center Tower Two Station. He said “this is my stop. Gotta jet! Love you too. Bye” He got out and got on the elevator to the 89th floor. He texted me and said I hate elevators but I wasnt going to take the stairs. ha ha. 15 minutes later I got another text from him that said, I hate waiting in line. 🙂 It’s now 0815 and I set Ethan up on my bed to watch Teletubbies on PBS.

I walk back in the living room and sit down with my cup of coffee to relax and watch tv for a half an hour before Ethan and I go to the park. I’m watching and they cut in with national news coverage… They say that it appears that a plane has crashed into the world trade center tower. So I grabbed my phone and started dialling. I kept getting all circuits are busy. That went on for 10 minutes. At about 0900 the second plane crashed in to Tower 2 as I’m still dialing. Then I sat my phone down and started to cry. At that moment I KNEW that I was never going to see him again. He had been my friend since I was 6 and he was going to die if he hadn’t already. He was just so close to where the plane crashed at.

In the coming days I can’t describe the numbness that I felt. I was angry as well. Not just for my personal loss but because of all the loss. I started to feel guilty. I was one of the lucky ones. Even though I didn’t know it was goodbye I got to tell him that I loved him and that ment so much. But he was young. He had so much life left to live.

I want to close this out by saying this. To the families of the brave men and women that were on flight 93 that were brave enough to try to breach a cockpit with armed terrorists in it. They are the REAL HEROES in all this. Their sacrifice saved hundreds more lives and while I know that you miss them everyday just know that their bravery will never be forgotten. 9/11 Remember
Mikkaa

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Pic Edit Made by @awwakemysoul

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Julie

Location: Hawaii

The ringing of the phone woke me up and I glanced at the bedside clock. It was 3:45 in the morning in Hawaii. I let it go to voicemail.

But since I had many international clients who always forgot what time zone Hawaii was in, I finally got up to check the message, and then I would go back to bed.

I listened as my sister, resident of New York City for thirty plus years, frantically screamed,

“Julie, turn on CNN right now. New York City is under attack! The United States is being attacked! The world is coming to an end and you’re asleep! Call me but you may not get through. I’m going to try to find Tessa.” Tessa was our niece, also a resident of NYC. I tried calling all day and could not get through.

My heart pounding, I turned on the television. At that time the South Tower had just collapsed, the other was smoldering. The news feed had the first tower falling in a continual loop. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then, as I was watching in stunned silence, the North tower fell. What!? Is that a replay from a different angle? No. Oh my god, the remaining tower had also fallen. It was too much.

I ended up going to two memorial services. One for a high school classmate of my friend. She died in the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The second, and most heart-wrenching for me, was to the service of Heather Ho, the vibrant daughter of our family friend. She was a “rising star” in the culinary world and had just moved from San Francisco to the Windows on the World Restaurant as their new Executive Pastry Chef. The restaurant was on the 107th floor of the North Tower. Heather was thirty-two.
One light of many, snuffed out that day.

I’ve been to Ground Zero several times on or around September 11. I plan to go to the Memorial and look for Heather’s name.

Hug your loved ones and never forget.

AlohaSD

Screencap of Heather's Ho's Name

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Marie aka FP

Location: Ottawa, ON

September 11th 2001 started out like any other day for me. I was 22, working in a small office in what used to be a house in downtown Ottawa. It was quiet at the office that day, there was only 3 of us. I was alone on the 1st floor and 2 ladies were working on the second floor. I was starting  my work day off slowly when I received an e-mail from one of my friends Jeff telling me: “Did you see the news?! A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center!” I ran up the flight of stairs to go tell the ladies and we turned on the radio. We tried looking on the internet for information but all the sites were overloaded. We heard the second plane hit the towers on the radio and then we heard that one of the towers had fallen. We were in total shock and couldn’t even begin to comprehend the horror. How could this be happening in North America? In New York City of all places, which was only a 7 hour drive from us (practically right next door in North American standards).

As we were listening to the news our boss called us and told us to get the heck out the office, that they were evacuating downtown Ottawa. Two planes over Canadian territory weren’t responding and they were scared the Parliament would be a target. They closed down all the major streets in downtown Ottawa, Rideau Street, the Rideau Centre and Slater street. In total shock I tried to make my way home. These two streets were the streets where all the buses passed on. It took me 4 hours to get home.

When I got home and finally saw the images on TV I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It looked like something right out of a movie. The most horrible thing for me was watching people jump. What kind of hell was going on up there that people were forced to jump? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. So many people had died… My heart was simply broken.

The next morning as I was making my way to work you could see American flags  everywhere in the city. After work that day I picked up some flowers in a flower shop and headed to the American embassy. I dropped my flowers off at the Embassy, so many people were there dropping flowers and holding vigils. I also remember seeing a firefighter’s jacket hanging from the fence with “You rushed in so others could rush out.” written on it.

As North Americans we were raised to think that nothing could really touch us. September 11th 2011 was the day our bubble was burst and we could no longer live in a false sense of security. We knew then that we were no longer as safe as we thought…. September 11th is the day the world changed forever…

Here are some pics from the American Embassy in Ottawa following September 11th. The pics are not mine and you can check out the rest here. I actually found a picture of the jacket hanging on the fence at the American Embassy.

I’ve also added some of my pics of Ground Zero that I took when we went to the WFE Premiere in NYC in April in the gallery below.

Firefighter jacket at the US Embassy in Ottawa

Flower at the US Embassy in Ottawa

Here’s a tribute video I made 

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“Keep Calm and Carry On, Right?”
By Erica Lee
Santa Cruz, California
Age 21

My name is Erica Lee. And I was eleven-years-old and in the fifth grade when 9/11 happened. I can still remember standing in front of the television, getting ready for school and brushing out my long, unruly hair, absolutely shocked by what was going on. I couldn’t gauge the full severity of the situation (‘someone would have escaped, right’ was my first thought). I was only a kid. This was the first traumatic event that me, or hell, any kid would have experienced.

I went to school anyway. Keep calm and carry on, right? My teachers did their best to make the school day feel like any other. Near lunch, there was a special assembly for all the grade levels. Because my class were the oldest, the ‘seniors’ of our suburban elementary school, my principal didn’t treat us like kindergartener when she told us what happened. Terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center. They collapsed. And a lot of people died. There was another plane that crashed into the Pentagon and another that flew into a field in Pennsylvania. There were even more deaths. For my classmates and me, we couldn’t imagine the situation. New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania were a million miles away for a group of fifth graders from Southern California. It felt so far away.

Things hit home for me when my mum was crying on the couch later that night. She had a friend from back when she was a banker in Los Angeles in the 1980’s who had since moved to New York and was now working in the World Trade Center. My mum had found out that the friend and her husband were killed in the attacks, leaving behind two orphaned daughters. Another friend, my sister’s godfather, was lucky. He was supposed to be at the WTC for a meeting, but realized that he was going to be late and decided to spend the day playing hooky instead. He was at the Starbucks closest to the WTC when the first plane hit. The ensuing chaos that he had to go through in order to get back home in Staten Island would make Cloverfield look like a shitty Godzilla-ripoff.

To this day though, whenever I even think of 9/11 I go into shock. This can not be happening. I haven’t heard a word about the two daughters of my mother’s late friend. I just hope that they are doing ok despite the tragedy that hit them. My sister’s godfather is doing well though. He recently retired and he and his wife are looking to sell their house on Staten Island and move to Hawaii. He hasn’t talked about his experiences on that day in several years, but if you talked to him, you can tell that he’s grateful to have escaped. And for that, I know my answer to that question I had all those years ago. Someone would have escaped, right? Yes, people did escape, and one of them was my sister’s godfather, Richard McKeever.

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Carol

Location: New Jersey

It was a beautiful Tuesday in September. I was home, because I had recently lost my job and decided to take some time for me. I was in my kitchen and the television was on. I had just finished breakfast. The news was on and the newscaster was saying something about a plane hitting a World Trade Center building in New York. I remember sitting at the counter in my kitchen horrified as I watched the events developing. I stopped to call my husband at work. He was already watching it. Reports just kept coming in. I watched as a plane hit the second tower and I remember crying. It was unfathomable that something like this could happen. That television was not turned off the whole day. I didn’t go anywhere. I watched those towers fall to the ground. Then the reports of the crashes in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon came on and I was speechless. My son was in the Navy at the time and I was a nervous wreck waiting for a call from him. He was confined to his ship. I felt so devastated and helpless for the whole situation. I remember thinking, terrorism, here in New York, how could this happen. The next day there was a mass held for the victims and my friend and I went. I couldn’t stop sobbing through the whole thing. Everyone was just so emotional. I watched that damn television for days.

I remember Mayor Guiliani telling people not to stop coming to the city. Now was the time to show your support. Two weeks after, my friend and I decided we needed to go into the city. We usually drove, but the thought of driving through the tunnel didn’t sit well with either of us. So we took the ferry. There were pictures of people missing posted all over the station. It was heartbreaking. The skyline looked so odd with the towers not there.

As were rode across the river to the city, I couldn’t help being choked up. We went to the site. I was astonished by the amount of people there. We walked around the streets and looked at all the memorials to the victims on the fences. The amount of damage was just unbelievable. We walked the back streets through ash and debris. We watched truck after truck take parts of the building away. I’m definitely glad I made that trip even though it was so emotional to be there. The patriotism and camaraderie were something I will never forget. The whole atmosphere of the city was something indescribable.

We made another trip into the city that year at Christmas time just to show our support. I don’t think I can love that city more. Just last year we made another trip to the site. It was still very hard to go into the memorial at the church there.

Carol's Scrapbook

Carol's Scrapbook

Carol's Scrapbook

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Penny

Location: Labadieville, Louisiana

As a volunteer firefighter and rescue member, 9/11 really hit home for me. I wanted to be there to help with the recovery. But since I couldn’t go to New York I did what I could from Labadieville Louisiana. We had a can shake and raised over $5,000.00 to help with replacing a fire truck for NYFD. Louisiana raised enough money to replace two trucks.

We have a firefighters convention every year hosted by different fire departments at the 2002 convention the fire truck along with New York firefighters were there and the 2nd truck was uncovered to our surprise. I never felt as proud as I did at that moment!! The conventions start on Thursdays and end on Saturday. The following Monday I had to have a kidney removed but I was not missing that convention!!!! After my kidney was removed on August 13th I started walking right away and was released to go back to firefighting and rescue on September 6, not even a month later!! I missed a total of 13 calls and it killed me to miss those calls.

As a female I received every award I could as a volunteer and joined because no one was around during the day. I responded to many calls alone, even in the not so good neighborhoods. Everybody knew me and watched my back. In 2007 I had to give it up after 14 years due to back and leg problems. I cried worse than a baby when I had to turn in my firefighting and rescue gear. I will always have the memory of that special convention and recorded it in my heart.

Thanks for doing this, Penny.

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Keye

I remember being at work on 9/11. Somebody called in and told us to turn the television on. What we saw was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. It almost didn’t look real. I mean, who could have thought that something like that could happen here? It was so disturbing…everyone was crying. Nobody really knew what to do. We prayed a lot. I was sickened. It was the worse day ever.

I cannot imagine those people who were there and lost family members in the most tragic and despicable event that took place on US soil. My heart went out to them then and it goes out to them now. May those that perished, RIP.

May there be a special place in Hell for those responsible for taking mommies and daddies away from their children for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Keye

Pentagon Memorial

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Cristina

Location: Chicago, IL

That day I will never forget.

A clear Tuesday morning in Chicago, IL. I was getting ready for school as my mom turned the tv on and we saw the North tower on fire. We didn’t know what was happening or how the fire started. I skipped school as my aunt was talking on her cell with her friends who were trying to get a hold of my uncle who worked in the south tower on the 56th floor. My grandma saw the news and panicked. My other aunt ran to our house to see if we could get ahold of my uncle. No luck. 9:03 we saw the second plane hit the tower. I lost it. I thought I lost him. When the plane hit the pentagon I remembered my cousin worked there but he didn’t go in that day. We watched TV all day when the towers came down. My mom and I broke down crying knowing we lost my uncle/her brother. Hours later he called, he was safe and not hurt. He managed to save a few people himself. He lost 15 of his friends that day. This is my 9/11 story. my uncle is my hero.

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MelbieToast

Location: Washington DC

MY MEMORIES OF THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 – by MelbieToast

On the morning of 9/11/2001, I am working for the US Government in the Ronald Reagan Building (RRB) on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., two blocks from the White House. My cubicle faces a large floor-to-ceiling set of windows looking out onto 14th Street. (The RRB is the 2nd largest government building in the United States, 2nd only to the Pentagon, and is the World Trade Center in Washington D.C).

It’s a normal morning, and I’m busy at my computer while sipping my coffee. A friend and colleague (Donna) interrupts me and tells me that she just overhead on her radio that a plane has hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City (NYC). She said she tried to get to CNN.com and find out more information, but could not access it on her PC. Since I’m known by many as the “digital diva” of the office, she’s wants to see if I can find out anymore information online. I try CNN.com and also can’t get access.

By this time a few other co-workers have gathered behind me as I try to find out more information, to no avail. However, I have a co-worker friend (George) who works for our department’s TV production studio in the basement, and he will have access to televised reports; so I call him. George answers his phone and I ask him what the hell is going on…that we hear a plane has hit one of the WTC towers. (Me and my co-workers behind me are all assuming this “plane” is a small plane, at the most a small private jet.)

George is watching the CNN News feed live on TV – and with dread in his voice, he tells me that one of the towers is engulfed in black smoke, and it was NOT a small plane that hit the tower, but a commercial airliner jet. As he is relaying what he is seeing to me and my co-workers, he exclaims, Oh My God! Another plane just hit the other tower!!” As he is telling us this, I finally get access to CNN.com on my computer and the images come up – and we all gasp, in shock.

We have a sister-office at the World Trade Center 7 building, next to the Twin Towers, and also employees of our government agency who work inside the towers, and we are sick with worry for their safety and survival. Horrendous black smoke and flames are engulfing the upper floors of both WTC towers.

By this time there are several of my co-workers behind me watching events unfold on my computer, and we are realizing that this is not an accident, that we are under attack. Then we all turn around suddenly when we hear a loud exclamation from behind us, where the windows face 14th Street, and the Pentagon across the Potomac River.

“OH GOD! The Pentagon has been hit!! OH No!” I quickly run to the windows behind me and we all look out and see huge black billowing smoke coming from the Pentagon across the river from us! Immediately we realize that it is not only New York City that is under attack, but Washington D.C. as well. What is the next target? The White House two blocks from us? The Capitol Building at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue? The Washington Monument 1 block away? Even our own Ronald Reagan Building?

So far there has been no building evacuation announcement, but we don’t care… we decide to get the heck out of this building and out of Washington D.C. Most of thousands of Washington D.C. workers make the exact same decision at the same time.

I quickly gather my things and run for the elevators down to the plaza off of Pennsylvania Avenue that includes the Federal Triangle Metro (subway) station. The automobile traffic out on Pennsylvania Avenue is absolutely crazy, thousands trying to get out of the city – honking horns, traffic jams, and I’m sure some panic as mothers and fathers try to get to their children in day care centers. I am worried about what I’ll find down below in the underground metro station, but relieved I am not driving a car today.

The metro station platforms are thick with people waiting for trains, and although there is much worried conversation, there is no panic. I quickly board my train to Maryland, and all the cars are packed with people, standing room only. Normally, train passengers are quiet and keep to themselves, honoring an unwritten rule to respect others’ privacy, no matter how crowded the tain is, but on the morning of 9/11, my car is abuzz with conversations, but not panic. Speculations and rumors abound, “I heard that the U.N. was hit…”, “Oh God I hope the White House is not hit.” We are all in the dark (literally), and scared, nervously traveling the underground tunnels out of the city.

Relieved, I finally arrive at my stop in Maryland, run to my car, and drive home, where I immediately tune my TV to CNN… and soon after watch aghast as the first tower of the World Trade Center suddenly falls to the ground. I can’t believe it… and tears fall down my cheeks freely.

The Pentagon continues to burn.

I am glued to the CNN news feed and many more tears fall when I watch the 2nd tower also fall the ground.

It is reported that a 4th hi-jacked passenger jet, most likely headed for the White House, has crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Friends and family are trying to reach me on my cell phone and land-line, but the circuits are all tied up. A few hours later they finally get through and we cry together on the phone.

I stay up most of the night, watching CNN and the dreadful aftermath of the attacks on our country. I am in shock, I am so filled with grief, and sadness, and I am so angry.

In defiance of the terrorist attacks, President Bush orders all government employees to report to work the next morning, September 12th. It is a very difficult and long day… we are all nervous, jumpy, in shock, and the air-space above Washington DC is being patrolled by military jets and Black Hawk helicopters. It almost feels like we are at war, all our senses on high alert.

We hear of the loss of several of our agency’s employees at the WTC’s Twin Towers. We hear of harrowing experiences by the survivors of our agency’s sister office at WTC 7, now totally destroyed by the falling towers.

As the horrendous impact and loss of thousands of innocent lives this despicable terrorist attack has caused our country, I begin to realize that as Americans, our lives will never be the same, and nor will the lives of freedom-loving people the world over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 3, 2004

Before I retire from my long-time career and move back to the West Coast, I am determined to visit New York City, and I finally make it to “the city that never sleeps” in early October 2004. I am staying with my cousin at a hotel in Manhattan only 3 blocks from “Ground Zero”, where the World Trade Center Towers once stood, and we reserve one entire day to visit the site.

When I first walk up to the tall fence beginning at the corner of Liberty and Church streets, thousands of names etched into a temporary memorial along the fence, and look down, into the huge hole in the ground where the towers once stood, tears fill my eyes. My eyes remain wet for the entire visit to Ground Zero.

The humongous size of Ground Zero overwhelms me…

There is active construction going on, and I can clearly see the slurry wall that held back the Hudson River from flooding Manhattan on that fateful day. I take photos as we slowly walk the entire circumference of Ground Zero, starting at the corner of Liberty and Church Streets, turning left at Vesey Street, another left at West Street, and finally Liberty Street – a long and tearful walk I will never forget. Until that day, I had not fully understood the vast size of the destruction and tremendous loss of lives lost that horrible day.

Pic of Ground Zeron taken in 2004 by Melbie Toast

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Cathy

Location: Midwest

I live in the midwest so we are just an hour behind the east coast. Every morning, my radio alarm wakes us up and every morning I listen to the local “morning show” on the radio on my way to work.

The morning of September 11th, though, the radio alarm clock clicked off at 7:40 a.m. (8:40 a.m.) and I decided to listen to Madonna’s “Ray of Light” on my way to work. I was 5 months pregnant with my first child and remember singing “Little Star” to my tummy as I drove.

When I walked into the office and sat down at the front desk, my supervisor was panicking and said “I can’t believe it! Can you believe it?!” I looked at her like she was crazy. I had no clue what she (who is usually very calm) was talking about. She then took me into her office and showed me what was on the TV.

By that time it was almost 10 a.m. eastern time. I stared. I felt numb. I had no idea how to react. I kept feeling like someone was playing a really horrible practical joke. It felt so surreal.

I walked back to my desk to email my husband at work. Before I could, I got an email from him saying “have you seen this? This is serious.” My husband doesn’t take ANYTHING seriously. That’s when I was really scared. I remember thinking “my child will NEVER know the world we lived in”. I also remember thinking about the many (I’m sure) pregnant women in the towers….

I have relatives that lived near the WTC, but fortunately within a day we had heard from all of them and all were safe. It still didn’t take the sting away. There is one image still burned in my mind 10 years later…. a man jumping (falling?) from the towers before they went down. I hadn’t seen that image since that week in 2001, but it came up in the yahoo gallery yesterday and it still horrifies me.

I still get nervous even going to large cities or going into tall buildings to this day.

(just a side note: The first time I watched Remember Me… at the end when I realized what had happened, I had the same dread come over me.)

Cat

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Flight 93 Memorial - Shanksville

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Sylvia

Location: Belgium

I was at work when at noon someone who went home for lunch came back and said she heard on the news that 2 planes flew through the Twin Towers. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was like frozen. Then when I came back home at 5pm the telly was still on and my hubby and daughter had been  following,  the whole afternoon what was happening in NY. I was shocked when I heard the news. Still every year when the date is there I get tears for what happend back then. This was a terrible day and my thought are still with the people who lost their loved ones.
Sylvia from Belgium

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Stefania

Location: Italy

I remember very well the 9-11. I was working into a military base in Italy. When the first text message said that one of the two towers had been hit by a plane I immediately thought it was a mistake. But when the second was hit, everyone had already guessed that something was wrong. I still remember the anguish and dismay of people, most American soldiers around me, and even more images that still leaves me speechless.

Stefania, Italia.

———-

Jade

I have a friend that lives on Long Island, their father works right across the street from the towers and a sister who worked further up in Manhattan. I was beyond worried for them. I actually got through when I called my friend on the phone. She, of course was screaming in hysteric’s. They got one call from their father and he was watching people jump from the towers.After that one call they didn’t hear from him until he got home, after having to walk the whole distance something like a 6 hour or more walk. He found his daughter on the walk. As he was leaving the building, bodies were falling all around him. They stopped showing that on American news..

I am a fan of Rick Springfield’s and our fan base if very close. WE lost one in our fandom to 9/11, her name was Marnie. There is a page dedicated to her, to keep her memory alive. We all post to her memory every year about this time.

I think it’s so wonderful that you are doing this…. the individuals that passed that day must never be forgotten. The firefighters and all the workers who helped should never be forgotten. (my hubby is a volunteer fireman as well, and $$ was raised and sent out) Those families and friends left behind.. never forgotten.

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Tribute in Light

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Ali

Location: Minnesota

On 9/11 I was at home with my mom and daughter – who was 1. I remember my mom getting a phone call and started freaking out afer she turned on the television. We turned it on our NBC station and didn’t turn it off for a week. I remember watching them fall and sobbing, so many innocent lives were taken. My heart ached for the families. I was also terrified at what the attacks meant. Would there be more? If so, where?

We live in Minnesota, and I remember people saying The Mall of America was a target and started getting even more scared because that mall was only 30 minutes from my house. 9/11 was also the day I was supposed to register for college. I didn’t want to leave my mom or daughter because I was afraid something would happen, but I did go. Looking up in the sky, I realized how quiet it was. Even in the days that followed – it was so quiet in the sky – no airplanes.

Then when the Pentagon was struck and the plane went down – I knew this was something big. I did not realize how life-altering it would be – even thousands of miles away. That day changed everything about the way we lived. I don’ remember how many days after the attacks it was, but I remember everyone going outside for a memorial all around the states. So I gathered my neighbors, got some candles and wend down to the corner – across the street from the Armory. Not long after, a news crew appeared and interviewed us. We lived in a very bad part of town, so it was amazing to see the out poor of love and support from everyone.

Every anniversary, I watch the recap of that day’s event and cry. It still affects me so. So many more people could have died – and so many died that shouldn’t have. And why? Because we believe in different things? I still don’t understand the reasons, and I don’t think I ever will. All I know is that those people who lost their lives on 9/11/01 are true heroes. It doesn’t matter to me if they fought with the hijackers or not. They gave their lives. I just hope future generations never forget them. I know I won’t.

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Burntcore

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

I was working that day in a factory doing assembly work. We didn’t have access to any tv or radios on the line but someone off the line had a radio on his work bench. He heard the reports and word travelled through the plant. We were all in disbelief, surely this was just an accident. During our lunch break, we heard the truth – it was no accident, and not one but four planes had been hijacked. I tried calling my boyfriend who was working near an Air Force base that day but I wasn’t able to reach him – cell phone towers were maxed out with people making phone calls. I eventually reached him, he was fine.

My roommate was at work that day too, he was on a conference call with another branch of his company in NYC. That company’s NYC office was in the World Trade Center. While in the middle of the early morning call, the line suddenly disconnected and they heard in Ohio was static. No one from the WTC office was heard from again.

Later that day, I was driving home from work and everything seemed normal except the sky. My commute took me near the local airport, which is a fairly large international airport. On any given day, you’d see half a dozen planes in the air along with several on the tarmacs either taking off or landing. On 9/11 and for several days afterward, the skies over Cleveland were empty. It was the eeriest thing I have ever seen.

I still can’t believe it’s been ten years. While I didn’t personally lose anyone on 9/11, I have friends that did … and I think the United States as a whole lost her innocence. My thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those who lost someone from the attacks – as long as we remember, they will never be forgotten.

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9/11 10th Anniversary Ad

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Jan

Location: New Zealand

There are some moments in life that pass you by, and even though they seem significant at the time, they barely register in your memory a few years later. The day that 9/11 happened, I can remember with near crystal clarity. It’s bizarre, because I was in no way personally affected by it, living in New Zealand, but it was so surreal, and changed so much in the world. It was a tragedy that can’t be described in words.

It started out as a regular first-year-at-university morning. Basically I was sleeping in because I didn’t have classes early in the morning. I was woken up by the phone ringing, and I begrudgingly got up to answer it. My 15 year old brother was on the other end of the phone, and he basically straight up said, “The Twin Towers have been destroyed by terrorists”. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. What Twin Towers? When he then said, “The World Trade Centre”, I think the shock began to register. I was then bombarding him with questions. What happened? When did it happen? How did he find out?

I was quickly off the phone to get dressed and race down to the dorm lounge. A couple of people were already there watching as image after image, video after video came up on the news. I could never have imagined the destruction that had taken place, or how it had happened. I was glued to the screen as the video of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers was played for our small nation to see. I was horrified to see people jumping from them from dozens of stories up. Devastated for the US and its victims as the Twin Towers collapsed upon thousands of rescue workers trying to save the injured, and those still trapped in the buildings.

The lounge was silent over the hours as we watched and waited for more and more news, and watched as the horrific number of deaths crept up. I left only to shower and to quickly eat lunch and dinner, but otherwise I was there from the time I found out until late in the evening while I watched new information come through from the US as they woke up the following morning. Sometimes someone would come in for updates before they left again for university lectures. I skipped mine that day. I think there were three lectures that I didn’t go to. It seemed like such a small sacrifice to make when thousands of people had lost their lives; brave rescue workers worked around the clock to try and save as many people as they still could, while grieving over lost comrades, and families grieved for the loved ones they lost. I could recover the information that I missed from my lectures, the people that died couldn’t get their lives back.

Even for those of us elsewhere in the world; those of us not directly affected by 9/11, it is a day that we will never forget, whether it is written in history books or not.

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Larissa LaFavor

I may have been only five on September 11, 2001, but one memory from that day has stuck with me for a whole decade. My kindergarten teacher was unsure how to explain the events on that morning, so she drew two rectangles on the black board and asked us if any of us knew where New York City was. She then told my confused kindergarten class that the two rectangles – skyscrapers – in New York City had collapsed because the airplane she was drawing at the moment had crashed into the big buildings. None of us really knew how to respond, they were just two buildings, so what? Later my mother told me that people had died, and then I think it actually hit me. This was a sad thing that had happened. Now, ten years later, I get how it affected our country. I absolutely bawled during Remember Me, not only because Rob’s character was killed, but for all those people. A five-year old couldn’t understand the magnitude of a problem this great, but a decade later, I get it.
Larissa LaFavor

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Source: Tumblr

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Bronwyn

Location: Australia

I remember that on that day, at the time the planes hit the towers I proposed to my husband and he accepted, it wasn’t till the next morning when I was in yahoo chat feeling all happy and everyone was talking about what happened and I searched and found out what happened to the towers, what time it was and converted it to OZ time to realize that the crash was the same time I proposed.

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twmmy

We had a student visitor fom Finland, he was here with a group. Some afternoon the children were in a pub, they talked, played, drank some. Late noon the teacher who was with them, said, she got a phone from home, the Twin Towers in NY were attacked. First nobody believed, the second everybody started crying, how will they go home from Hungary to Finland if the airports would be closed. When my son and his friend came home, they said what happened. Then I switched on the TV, and just stood in front of the tv frozen and cried.It was very-very sad evening, though America is so far from here. But the monstrosity is monstrosity wherever it happens. I thought the innocent victims, the brave passangers on airplanes so much. And later WF made Remember Me. It is a beautiful memorial.

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Memorial Flag With the Names of All the Victims Taken By @Mumager

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Momena Kayed
Location: Amman ,Jordan

I remember I was on my way home and all the streets were empty I told my friend “This is not normal”. When I reached home my mom and all my sisters were in shock I asked them “What happened ? Why do you all look terrified?” my big sister answered me “The doors of hell have been opened” I looked to the TV and all I knew was  that something bad  happened at that moment. Dust and people running scared for their life. I asked why this had happened ? What did these people deserved to die this way? Nothing at all. I started to cry for all who lost a moms,  dads and friends. It’s not right and one day God will do justice and will come for all the killers of this shocking day .

I’m from an Arabic country and a Muslim. I don’t agree with killing people in any way.  Those who did these horrible things  must go to hell. Buildings and cars can be re-built but can you bring people back from the dead? No we can’t. May all the people who die on that day rest in peace and we know they’re now in a better place.
Momena Kayed
Amman ,Jordan

Photo From The New York Times

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CB

At that time, I was the graphic designer for an upscale local magazine. I would always go to work early. One of my co-workers came in and said she heard on the radio there had been an airplane that hit a building in NY. I turned on the TV and watched as the horror unravelled.

I know it affected millions of people that day, but I will never forget the feeling I had. i KNEW my life had just changed.

My son was in the National Guard and I just knew he was going somewhere. This unit had NEVER been sent out of the state unless it was to train at their 2 week summer duty. But I knew.

As it turns out, he did get sent to literally live at a nuclear plant near New Orleans. He was there for months. We were able to visit at Christmas. There he met his future wife, who was also in the National Guard. They married a few months later and had a son the next year.

When my grandson was 5 months old, they were BOTH sent to Iraq. They were gone 18 months, including training. Their son lived with me from that time until they returned, when he was 2. She volunteered to go back to Iraq 2 years later but not before announcing she wanted a divorce.

My son has domicile custody. I still care for my grandson before and after school while his dad works. Much pain came from that day, for millions of people, for years following and in many different ways. Some good did come of it for me. My grandson.

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Sharon

Location: Michigan

I was at work. A friend came in and said we had to put on Howard Stern because he was talking about a plane accident in New York. We thought it was a prank. Clearly it wasn’t. I have never heard Howard Stern so serious.

We did not have the Internet where I worked but we had tv so we all just stood around the tv in silence. I will never forget it and to think I heard it first from Howard Stern.

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DreamySim1

Location: Netherlands

I just started my job as an art director at a new graphic design agency. We had a conference room with a tv in it and I was listening to the local radio on my computer. Nothing seemed wrong, until the program was interupted with the message that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers in New York…. My day was coming to an end and all my coworkers were shocked. We turned on the tv and watched in horror how the smoke was coming out of the building in huge plumes… Everyone knew this was massive but when the second plane hit, we knew nothing would be the same… Even though it was on the other side of the world we knew this was life changing for everyone around the globe. Work was forgotten and we were glued to the tv. When it was time to go home I raced home and my boyfriend and I were glued to the tv…. Just in shock when everything came down. I’ll never ever forget those images…. they changed the way I thought and felt…. still do.

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Source: Tumblr

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CG

Actually, I do not have a story to post, I just wanted to share an e-mail that I sent out this morning to my friends and co-workers. I felt this went along with the theme of this thread.

Good Morning,
I decided to change the wallpaper on my computer, in memoriam as we approach the 10-year anniversary of one of the most infamous acts of violence ever committed on American soil.

I am not really sure why I felt compelled to update my wallpaper from my standard island landscape, but I did, overwhelmingly so. Let’s be honest, I have two 17” monitors at work and I only see my wallpaper for about 1.5 minutes a day, but for those lovely 1.5 minutes I get to lounge on some magnificent white sand beach, on some tropical island with a name I probably cannot pronounce, whilst a very attractive man brings me an endless supply of frosty daiquiris and Little Debbie Zebra Cakes. (Hey, don’t judge me, it’s my daydream!)

I googled ‘9/11 memorial wallpaper’ and looked for something that would… I don’t know… provide some resolve?? Or maybe inspire me?? Or pay tribute to those who fell and to those who overcame?? Maybe, with the passing of time coupled with more maturity as an older and more experienced individual, maybe I could realize some newfound clarity or perspective?? I’m not sure what exactly I was looking for, but what I found was so… so simple. After viewing several of the familiar heart-breaking images, amid all of the horror and destruction and unity and loss and love and courage, I was… reminded.

Reminded of the promises I made myself so many years ago. Reminded of my personal promise to be a better mother… a better wife… a better daughter… a better friend… a better employee … in general, just to be a better human being. Reminded that every day is a gift. Reminded that life’s daily inconveniences or difficulties or hard times, more often than not, pale in comparison to what they could be. And that our strife and our struggles, big or small, they too, should be considered gifts. For without them, we could never truly appreciate the beauty, the wonderment and the love in all that surrounds us. Without them, we could never be grateful for all that we have. Without them, we could not dare to dream of a better life and be bold enough to attempt something truly noble. Without them we could never be inspired… we could never be awed. (It’s almost comical how the word “awe” is such a small word, yet embodies so much meaning.)

I thought I would share some of the images I found. They are very sad, very inspiring and filled me with a deep hope for a better future for the world as a whole.

Click here to view the pics.

I hope all of you are inspired to see life and everything it has to offer a little differently every once in a while, just as I did today. I was lucky enough to blindly stumble upon this blissful moment of clarity and I can hope to do so again. Soon.

Very Humbled, Truly Inspired and Thankfully Yours,
CG

9/01/11 ~ Never forget.
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” — Nelson Mandela
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela

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Nicole Shaw

Location: England

Hello,
My name is Nicole Shaw and i am from England and i remember 9/11 as if it was yesterday not 10 years ago, i had not long been at secondary school and i used to get the bus to and from school. On September 11th 2001 on my way Home from school my dad met me off the bus at about half 3 and we are about 9 hours in front of New York and i had not heard a thing about the attacks.

So my dad met me and He said “Hey Cole, have you heard about them buildings that have fell down this Morning in New York City.” I said “Really fell down, no i have not heard a thing.” We discussed it all the way home. Then when we got Home my Mom had the news on, the 9/11 attacks were on every channel and we could not believe it my whole family had no words. It was terrible and i was so relived i had no family or friends in New York at that time. I remember going to school the next day and loads of people in my year was talking about it and saying things like “My moms mate is in New York and we don’t know if she is OK.” We even had an assembly about the attacks at school.

It was on the news for ages. Then when Remember Me came out i was blown away buy the ending and also the part in the Film where the teacher writes the Date on the Board my heart always sinks and always reminds me of the day my Dad met me off the school bus and we talked about it in till we got in. Remember Me has given them people in the attacks a voice they are not just statistic they were real people.

The Film also humbled Me, My Mom went to New York a few years ago and visited Ground Zero and she found it very upsetting, i am also going to New York in February and i also plan to visit Ground Zero.

I always think about that Day when September 11th is near, even though i am not an American i can never get over that attack.

Nicole Shaw

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Pic Edit Made By MelbieToast

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Cintia  Figueiredo

Location: Brazil

I remember that day as it was yesterday and even after 10 years it still seems like a bad movie! I teach English and I was waiting for my little students to come to their 10 o’clock AM class. One of the little girls arrived and told me that there has been an accident in the US. Something like “Ms. Figueiredo, an airplane hit a building in the US”.

I really didn’t think anything out of that. It was an accident, right?

When I got home, at 11:30, I turned on the TV, and then reality crashed on me. It wasn’t an accident. I remember the images on TV and the desperate feelings that hit me.

I returned to school for my 1:30 PM class with a group of teenagers and it was impossible to teach anything. They were so nervous, so desperate, so anxious and mainly, so afraid something like that could happen here in Brazil.

I tried to calm them down but it was useless. We watched CNN for hours that day.

September 11 is my baby brother’s birthday and all the family would get together for dinner at his home that night. We did. But it was the most silent birthday party ever.

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Becky

I was at work. I had on a radio when the news came on about the tragedy. I went out to tell co-workers to turn on the tv. This was also my youngest sons 12th birthday, & my husbands birthday. My son will never forget that birthday…

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Barbora

Location: Germany

I was on my way home when I’ve heard that something bad happened, but no one could tell me what exactly happened. Back home, my mom and sister told me about the World Trade Center and I couldn’t believe it and then I saw it on TV: the plane, the fire, the people who tried to escape. We were in shocked and I feel so helpless, because I was safe home.

Our gardener made this after the 9/11 and every year we light a candle to remember and honour all the people, heroes who died on 9/11. We will never forget.

Barbora's Memorial

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Jen aka Elusive Koolaid

I remember that day as most people do.

I remember putting on my shoes while Good Morning America blared from a TV I had bought that summer at a yard sale before being shipped off to college to pursue my clinical psychology degree.

I remember Matt Lauer saying someone had accidently crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York…

The following events of that day were more than traumatizing.

But it was the days and weeks after that which continued to resonate. I remember riding the shuttle home from campus, and on the radio they were playing that REM song, Everybody Hurts. But it had voice clips throughout from news broadcasts during 9/11, and exerpts from various people who had been interviewed during the day. Even listening to it today…I can’t even make it through the first ten seconds without welling up.

(this is not my personal video, but this is the only recording of the version I remember online)

I’m always reminded of that quote from John Donne during any great tragedy, but 9/11 always brings it to mind:

No man is an island,
entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were:
any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore
never send to know for whom the bells tolls;
it tolls for thee.

As an American, I feel like we lost a bit of the naivete that we had. However, for the first time in a very long time, we were unified. I was more than proud to be an American, I was proud OF my fellow Americans.

God bless America. My home sweet home.

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Ivonne 

I was 6 at the time, and even though I’m now sixteen and it’s been ten years already. To me feels like yesterday. I remember my first grade teacher telling us before we got dismissed Something really bad had happened and we needed to help our parents feel better.

I remember my mother crying at the television screen and my father in complete shock.

I was a young child and didn’t realize the magnitude of what happened and when I did I felt denial, I was scared,and I didn’t believe it until I had full understanding of how so many people suffered.

I think that it’s something that scared everyone.

Not just the United States.

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Peggi

Location: Texas 

Hope I’m not too late to submit this – I debated whether to write something for your post, but I want to let those more directly impacted know that we haven’t forgotten out here in the heartland either. I saw the horror on a TV in Texas, and worried about friends in the Pentagon where I’d been stationed years before. I called my loved ones as we all wept and watched, stunned in our sadness and concern.

A month later, I was on a half-empty plane to Italy, where the outpouring of sympathy choked me up – kind-hearted comments from nearly everyone we met, a poster of the Twin Towers in a shop in Venice, and a poem in my friend’s shop in Tuscany (photo attached – not very clear, sorry.) I wish we could hold onto that sense of community and be nicer to one another after such a tragedy. Thanks for the opportunity to share and my heart goes out to those who lost anyone or are still affected by the terrible events on this day 10 years ago.

Peggi

Poem - Pic Taken by Peggi

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Today, we are all New Yorkers…

We will never forget…

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Reflection Pool / 9-11 Memorial

Reflection Pool / 9-11 Memorial

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Here are some tribute videos

This is one of the most heartbreaking 9/11 video ever made

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Links

The Towers’ Rise and Fall (Image gallery by The New York Times) 

Join the 9/11 Tribute Movement by posting a tribute here. 

9/11 Memorial 

Our Pics