The Big Picture by Lennie Peterson for April 01, 2023

Laying in the bed sleeping after taking our kid to school after the second plane hit I went and brought her home.

Unfortunately it was also her birthday that day.

I was at work, a Post Office in New Jersey, listening to the Howard Stern Show. When I had only heard of the first plane hitting I thought it was only a horrible accident then the second plane hit.

Sleeping on the couch after working third shift. Then my husband called & told me to turn the television on…….

Sleeping. I was a little surprised when I woke up the next morning.

I was at the Institut für Deutsche Sprache, I was showing my thesis to my teacher. For some reason she told me I could stay a bit, while somebody else came. I developed the worst headache, so I went home. On my way home I was stopped by someone I knew from my previous college who wanted to take me to the school’s yearly festival, but I said no, because of my headache. At home, my husband told me to sit down, and then He turned on the TV. It was a terrible day.

I was at my daughter’s school that morning, helping kindergartners get off the buses and to the right place in school. Got in the car to go home around 9am. Spent the rest of the day watching the news.

I was at an advertising/newspaper sales meeting in the suburbs on NYC. The editor came in to do a presentation on a new feature we were launching. He prefaced his presentation by CASUALLY mentioning that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, as though it was an everyday occurrence. He proceeded with his presentation, but none of us was listening…we were all looking at each other as if to say, WHAT? WTH? One by one, we got up and left the conference room and went back to our desks. Being a newspaper, we had TVs all over the wall. We stood there watching as events unfolded, freaking out. Many of us left for the day as we had spouses or loved ones working in the trade center or nearby. Came home, called my husband who worked in NJ and told him what was happening and to come home before the bridges were closed, too. After that, we just watched TV all day and cried.

I was trying to call city offices in Cambridge and Somerville (Boston area) to pay overdue excise taxes I hadn’t known about until I got pulled over and towed the night before (I had moved there from Florida where we didn’t have them). I couldn’t get through because none lines were tied up, and I had no idea what was going on. Finally put down the phone for a minute and my mom called, screaming. Once I understood what was happening I had to contain my own grief and horror to dash out to get my 6th grader from school, worried they would be bullied as a Muslim kid with an Arabic name. The school reassured me it was fine, they weren’t telling the kids, and they wouldn’t tolerate bullying. But the kids found out anyway and so by the end of the day my sweet kid was confused and scared about terrorism like so many kids but also confused and scared of their classmates who were suddenly vicious and blaming them as if they had anything to do with it. That whole year was hell and it changed our lives in many ways. We were grieving and fearful and angry like everyone else, but I was also having to worry about whether my kids and I were safe in our community.

I was working in an international airline call center 60 miles from NYC. The lady behind me said OMG. I turned around and asked her what was wrong? She told me the lady on the phone told her about the plane hitting the tower. I didn’t really hear anything else until I went on lunch at 9:30. The TVs were on showing what was happening. I then learned about the 2nd plane and while I was on break the Pentagon happened and the 1st tower collapsed. We were all glued to the TV and in shock. Many of us knew people who worked there or close by. The rest of the day was surreal with taking phone calls from people who didn’t know what to do.

I was at work. At that time i was working on a golf course. I was probably finishing up mowing the greens.

I was driving to work and heard the news on radio……I started to pray for the people in the buildings!

I was standing in my living room ironing clothes. The TV was on and I watched as the planes hit the towers. I immediately thought of a friend who was supposed to fly home from New York that day. I had no idea of her flight information. I tried calling for 3 days before I was able to get a hold of her. She had a later flight and was on her way to the airport when the planes hit the towers. She was terrified and ended up taking a bus all the way from New York to Michigan.

I was at the ER with my second husband, Tom, waiting for him to be examined and admitted. He looked at me and said that he didn’t want to live any more. Six weeks later, he was dead.

Saddest day of my life. I was watching TV and just could not believe my eyes. A few days later I drove over the Whitestone bridge and saw the horrific change to the skyline.

I was at work in Houston, TX. The news filtered in and we quickly commandeered the only TV in the office. We watched in horror as the second plane hit the second tower. There were gasps and then silence. Then news came in about a plane that skidded into the Pentagon. A women on our team broke down crying as her boyfriend was working there. (He survived unhurt.) Four of our co-worker were in the World Trade Center that day while making a presentation to a client. They all were killed. (Some might say “murdered”.) After an hour or so we all went home to hug our families.

I was fixing breakfast, turned on the TV, as I walked past it I heard the reporter starting to talk about the first tower being hit. Stood there and watched the second plane heading for it. I kept saying turn away, turn away. I thought the pilot was so stunned by the first crash that he could not concentrate.

Saw the jumpers. What a gut wrenching decision. Die quickly. Burn to death. How do you say good bye to loved ones?

LIke all watching, I could not turn away from it.

Why today and tomorrow?

I had driven up to my office in Connecticut from Long Island very early that morning. We were supposed to be have a cold call marathon to help the sales team. While the guy in the next cubicle was making his first call, the first plane hit. The person he was talking to had a clear view of the World Trade Center and described what he saw. We all stopped what we were doing and set up a TV in the office so we could see what was happening. I ended up stranded in CT because all the bridges and tunnels were closed and I couldn’t get home. I spent a good part of the day on the phone with my best friend whose husband was in second tower. Fortunately, he made it out OK but it was really scary for several hours until he was able to call her.

I will always remember the incredible blue of the sky that day, going to Walmart to get a few things so I could stay overnight at a co-worker’s house. All the monitors over the cashiers were tuned to the coverage and it all seemed so surreal. I remember the silence of that night, because all of the white noise we’re so used to was stilled. I got calls from friends and former co-workers around the world who were worried because I had been working on an IT project in Tower 1 for months (but had just finished it). Even my brother called and he didn’t ask for money.

I was working at a family company at the time. When hubby arrived at work and told me about the first plane, I thought some air traffic controller had some explaining to do. Then the second plane hit. What a horrible day that was.

Wow. So many stories I wanted to hit the like button. But it just didn’t sit right for what I felt after reading each one.

I was working at a school district office out side of Chicago. We got calls about the first tower being hit and turned on a small back and white tv we had in time to see the second tower. We put the schools on lock down for the rest of the day. I believe students were only released to parents that day. I remember there were fears the tall towers In Chicago were also going to be hit.

The other strange part was we worked in an area that many planes flew into and out of O’hare airport. It was strange to see no planes for days. Except the occasional sonic booms of fighter jets.

I was living in Pennsylvania then. I remember watching in horror as the events were reported on television. RIP to all who were lost that day.

I was working in an office, not far from DC. (I’d had various contracts at the Pentagon but not one at that time.) A friend from Long Island called and asked if I saw the news and suggested I do so.

After the Pentagon hit, they closed the office and sent us all home.

I was at work. They had a small tv in the computer room. Everybody saw the second plane hit. No real work got done that day. That evening, I was shaking. I stopped at a church that was on the way home, and I prayed for half an hour.

What a horrible day for all of us. We all remember where we were ~ can’t ‘like’ any of the post. I was watching the news before going to work and saw the reporter talking about the first plane when the second plane hit. The reporter was oblivious ~ I kept yelling for him to turn around. A lady where I worked in California lost her brother that day. This affected the lives of us all!

I was working as a I.T. programming contractor at the MA RMV in the Copley Place tower. Not a whole lot of work got done that day as we went back and forth to a TV and discussed what was going on, in shock and disbelief.

Kenora, NW Ontario. My day off. I had the news running on the wee dish prior to leaving for a morning coffee and newspaper at McDonalds. The news showed the plane having hit the first tower. I was wow but not surprised. I read the story of the plane that hit the Empire State in the late 40’s from my granp’s collection of 30’s to 50’s Popular Science/ Mechanics. I continued to watch as the rest unfolded.

I dunno, I was one years old at the time

On the West Coast getting ready for work. Did not hear a thing until I turned on the car radio.

Lennie, thank you for this opportunity to remember what we swore we’d never forget…I was making my first delivery to a factory by Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The news and the sirens were just beginning their assault to our deepest fears. Absolutely staggering, especially when all air traffic stopped. The blanketing silence was even harder to process.We will never forget, hard stop…

We were living in Los Angeles with 2 young kids. We were oblivious at 8:46AM ET because of the time difference. After we put the kids in the car, my husband left to take them to school and turned on the radio. He called me from the end of the driveway and said “Turn on the television. The World Trade Center has been hit by a plane.” I then gave him a hysterical moment-by-moment of what I saw on TV – including the tower collapsing – over the phone until he got to work. I decided I had to go to work, even though I didn’t want to at all. We were all there, but no one worked all day. We just were hitting Refresh on our computers all day long. Management didn’t care. They did the same thing.

I was at home but I don’t watch TV during the day. I had no idea it was happening until my husband called me and told me to turn on the television. After, I spent every waking moment glued to the news (as many of us did) sobbing. So many lives lost! It is still unfathomable to me how anyone can carry so much hate in their heart.

I was working as a Federal contractor about 10 miles outside the DC beltway. I opened my Internet Explorer to the default portal (Yahoo) and clicked on the headline which simply said “Airplane crashes into World Trade Center.” The content merely repeated the headline with an additional sentence “This article will by updated.” At first I didn’t think much of it, for some reason my mind had envisioned something small like a Cesna had hit the WTC, so I went about my business. As I did, I picked up details through coworker chatter and realized I had greatly underestimated the event, and of course events escalated from there. Shortly after the Pentagon was struck, the Federal government closed and we were dismissed.

Not many comments can top that one. I got up heard about the first plane and then watched as the second plane hit.

Driving to work in Boise at my ANG job I was listening to the news of the first plane that hit the Towers on NPR. Entered my office building where everyone in a crowd standing by the receptionist’s desk was staring at a tv that had been placed on a wall shelf. Just as I passed that wall, turned my head, and could see the television screen where the damaged tower stood next to the other undamaged one, the second airliner entered the screen and flew into it.

I had dropped off my kids at school and turned the radio on. Stopped at a red light, I found myself stunned, then staring around at the other drivers, like, Did you HEAR that?!! Clearly they had not yet. Meantime, my brother called the folks to say his subway had been late, he was okay. Uh, why wouldn’t you be? Turn on the TV, Mom…

I was in a training class at one of the satellite uplinks for what was at the time Turner Broadcasting. I had to leave and go home to get some sleep so I could come back that night to cover the shift of one of the engineers that had to leave with one of the remote satellite trucks to New York. My wife couldn’t believe what happened when I got home and told her.

That was Tuesday. The next Sunday I took a train from DC to Boston. (I already had the ticket— just as well, since all the planes were grounded.) As the train neared NYC, it got very quiet. Smoke was still rising from lower Manhattan where the twin towers had been.

I was workking at an aviation insurance agency (small aircraft).

I was in a teleconference which started at 8:00a.m. When we were done at 9:00 and came back out of the conference room into the main office area, everyone was staring at the T.V. I was living in CT at the time and our company’s headquarters were in NYC. We knew families of the deceased. A few months later at a conference, there was a booth with women (widows of some of those who lost their lives) giving out red, white, and blue ribbons asking people to wear them in memory of all those who lost their lives. The only time I take that ribbon off of my coat is when I have to wash the coat, then the ribbon goes right back on.

I was in Missoula, MT, heard the news on the radio and we turned on the tv. It was surreal to watch. I was getting an accounting degree at UM at the time and going to class later there was some guy in a jacked up pickup flying a huge American flag racing around town, and I thought at the time, that this is going to very, very bad for the country.

I was at a conference in Scottsdale. I woke up happy to sleep in. Turned the TV on to Good Morning America. It looked like they were showing a clip from a new movie; one of the towers was burning. I reached for my glasses and turned up the volume and realized it wasn’t a movie clip. And just then the second plane hit the building. Watched TV for as long as I could and then went down to the conference for breakfast. Everyone was stunned. The CEO hosting the conference said the morning meetings were cancelled. I went back and watched TV. Called home to my sister. It was scary being so far away from home (I live in Oregon) and not knowing what else would happen. The conference continued. People were renting cars to drive home (all over the country). 9/11 was a Tuesday. I was to have flown home on Thursday. Because flights were cancelled I could not get home until Saturday. Stuck at a posh resort all I did was watch the news, rotating through CNN, Fox and MSNBC. I remember on the flight home it was the quietest I had ever experienced flying. You could tell everyone relieved to be going home. When I stepped off the plane the first person I saw was my sister. We hugged for what seemed like forever. And that was probably the last time I flew where family could greet you at the gate. I became hooked on the news. Had it on constantly at home. And then after a year I realized that things moved slowly; that the same stories were repeated over and over. I gave it up cold turkey for a month and realized I didn’t need it. Now I only catch the headlines.

On September 10, I was at work and could hear screaming coming from somewhere. I looked for the source and asked others if they heard it, but of course, they couldn’t. When I heard the screaming, I had a vision of the WTC and obscuring smoke. I dismissed the thought from my head, hoping it wasn’t a premonition. It was…

I was teaching in a grade 4 classroom.

So interesting to hear these stories of a day we will never forget

I was an internal medicine hospitalist at a large academic hospital in Ann Arbor, MI. All the patient rooms had TVs. Everyone was in shock. We would stare at the TVs. Patient care still needed to go on but the silence was deafening.

At home, listening to my favorite radio station news (KFOG, Peter Finch). He said something about it, so I turned on the TV in time to watch the broadcast of the second plane.

I was working in the County Courthouse here in East TN. We were in complete shock of course from the WTC crashes, then the Pentagon. Then we heard about the plane in Shanksville and I freaked out. Somerset County PA is my home county. Two of my uncles were painting an aunt’s house that morning, and Flight 92 came over the house. This got their attention because “my people” are not within any flight pattern. As the crow flies, the plane crashed 10-15 miles away. They probably saw it a minute or two before it crashed. Another uncle had a hunting camp in the woods next to the crash site.

I was working at the time as a carpenter and laborer in upstate NY. My boss sent me from the site to the local lumber yard to pick up some materials. The first plane hit during the 10 minute drive. By the time I got to the yard, there was only one guy left working, and he was still clueless. He and I loaded up the truck, wondering where everyone went. When I got back to the job site, it was deserted. I finally found the guys in the main house, watching the owner’s TV. The second plane had hit a few moments before.

My boss n(Adam) told us that we should all go home and be with our families and we’d figure out what to do next. Without any coordination, Adam, me and one other guy all showed up to work the next morning. There was a sense for us that, in a small way, we were ‘rebuilding’ by not letting what happened shut down our work, or our livelihoods. I’ve got a cool picture of the three of us standing in the back of our work truck holding an American flag the morning of Sept 12.

After. I was on one of the 1st Southwest Airline flights out of Midway Airport in Chicago. I was headed to Providence RI to be with my daughter as she was going through some difficulty with her first pregnancy. There were 10 passengers on the flight out of Chicago. No one spoke. No smiles or plesantries. We were somber. Just this/close to terrified. I could feel the white noise of the plane. Daughter’s update: She’s fine and granddaughter turned 21 on March 7th.

Reading My Pet Goat to children in Florida…..wait, no that was someone else