Replies: 22
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Ultimate Tiger [38429]
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Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
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Sep 11, 2024, 1:35 PM
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On 9/11 I was at a National PepsiCo meeting in Dallas, TX. We had about 800 people in to do consolidated training of Frito, Quaker, Gatorade and Tropicana. That morning we had entered an opening general session there was some rumblings in the crowd as cell phones started to ping with voicemails and a few folks had texts I believe, but no one really could check their VM.
The speaker was quietly interrupted by the then President of Gatorade and with a whisper the speaker went visibly pale. The older gentlemen then gave a very brief comment about the Twin Towers being stuck by aircraft. We were all released to check phones etc. for an hour and then came back to the room for a more formal brief saying essentially all of us were stuck at the hotel, a mega Marriott property, and our global mobility group was working on transport solutions to get everyone back to their home cities. We had over 400 people from the Northeast, many of whom had family and friends at the WTC.
The meeting group then reworked reservations so all of us could stay as long as we needed and they shifted to 100% buffet style meals. The hotel set up recreation areas outdoors and indoors bringing in everything from ping pong and pool tables to soccer nets, bikes, board games, tv rooms etc. Also, PepsiCo did not cut off company paid for booze, a few of us abused that privilege. I had a rental car as I was in the middle of relocating from Cranbury, NJ to Dallas so I could house hunt etc. As every rental car in DFW dried up immediately after airports shut down, I was very lucky to have a car.
Within a few days, a fleet of rented busses, cars, SUVs, Limos pretty much shuttled everyone back to home station. I stuck around for a few days, did house hunting and then was eventually able to fly back to Philadelphia to be back with the wife. Our neighborhood of 70 homes ended up losing around 7 people to the terrorist attack and it was an odd time to sell our home, in a neighborhood wracked by loss. Interestingly, my wife and I met Todd Beamer (The "Let's Roll" guy who led the cockpit assault on the PA flight headed for DC) the weekend before at the Cranbury, NJ fall festival. I distinctly remember him, his wife and kids as they all were strikingly attractive people.
We did finally sell our home and move to Dallas but still remember this day always. God rest the souls of those lost and those who still suffer the loss of family and friends.
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Clemson Sports Icon [52380]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
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Sep 11, 2024, 1:38 PM
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I have a 9/10 memory. My home burned two years ago yesterday.
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Ultimate Tiger [38429]
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Was It The Taliban Who Burned It Down? Did The News Not Cover It?
Sep 11, 2024, 2:36 PM
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What did you do to pisz them off?
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TigerNet Elite [76627]
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My connection with 9/11 was that my older brother was actually (unknown to us
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Sep 11, 2024, 1:46 PM
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at the time) attending a meeting in the Pentagon when the plane hit it. He was on lockdown for several hours before he could get out and make contact with us. I knew that he worked in the Washington area at times, but as it was all hush hush, never really knew where or when. Thankfully, he was a ring away from where the plane hit. Several thousand families were not nearly so lucky that day.
I was at work at the chemical plant, when word started to filter in via phone calls to several people from home about the planes hitting their targets. I cannot adequately describe the feeling of rage that hit me when I realized it was a coordinated terrorist attack. Justice will never truly be served, but at least, over ten years later, Osama Bin Laden got to feel a little of that same terror when Seal Team Six came knocking on his door. He deserved to die, his victims did not.
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110%er [3992]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 1:59 PM
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I wish I could tell you everything but it's not the day to do it and don't know when it will be
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CU Guru [1510]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 2:33 PM
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I was in Salt Lake City Utah (2 hours behind) facilitating a scheduled collaboration meeting between my firm, the Utah DOT, and the contractor. We started early (6 am, 8 am eastern) because we were having issues on a project, and wanted to work them out before work ramped up for the day.
Things were going well, but people's phones starting going off, as spouses were calling to let them know what was happening. No one had smart phones. We ended the meeting, tried to start work, but after a few hours, the Director for the Design/Build firm said "No, people need to be with their families today" and we sent everyone home with pay.
the SLC airport was southwest of us, and Hill Air Force Base was due north of us. We were well conditioned to airlines coming into the airport all day, and it was odd when it stopped. It was soon replaced by military planes of all sorts flying at incredible speeds up and down the valley.
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Campus Hero [13955]
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I,actually, have photos from a visit to the top of the towers from 1983,
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Sep 11, 2024, 2:34 PM
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and to just fathom something that traumatic and devastating happening there is just beyond me! God Bless the souls lost that day!!
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TigerNet Champion [116938]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
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Sep 11, 2024, 2:37 PM
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nobody cares, today is not about you.
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Ultimate Tiger [38429]
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Your Mum Cares***
Sep 11, 2024, 11:23 PM
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All-Pro [765]
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I was walking between classes
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Sep 11, 2024, 2:52 PM
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I was a sophomore at Clemson, walking between classes. When I arrived in class, shortly after the second plane struck, the professor (like the students) was confused about what was going on. None of us knew the intention of what happened or how to react. The classroom was quiet. So quiet. After several awkward minutes, the professor dismissed us. Shortly after walking out of class my dad called and said the country was under attack and this was no accident. At the same time, my mom was onboard a plane from ATL to NYC and he couldn't reach her.
We were all frantically trying to reach mom. Obviously they shut down and diverted all flights after the second tower was hit. They diverted mom's flight halfway to NYC and returned to ATL. My Uncle was the first to reach her and called all of us to let us know she was ok. This is pre-iPhones, so texting was tedious and there was no Twitter or phone browser to figure out what was going on. When I got back to my apartment I called mom, watched the news, and wept. God bless all who suffered or lost life. Never forget.
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Scout Team [162]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
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Sep 11, 2024, 2:53 PM
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I was a young tank company commander at Fort Hood, TX and we had just completed an all night gunnery qualification out at one of the main tank ranges that morning on 9/11.
We were all tired but excited because the entire company qualified that night before. That morning, 1SG and I were walking down the tank line greeting and joking around with the team as everyone was doing final maintenance and chow. My BN Cdr's HUMVEE pulled up to me and driver asked me to go with him, that the BN commander wanted me to come up to the tower on top of the hill.
When I got up there, everyone looked to be in total shock as I shifted towards the one small TV in the tower which was showing live coverage of the attack on the WTC. I had a nauseous feeling - that I would experience several times again over the years. I realized my wife (fiancé at the time) was a flight attendant based out of Boston and was supposed to have been flying at this time. Later that day I was able to get a hold of her and to my relief found out she had decided to drop her trip the day before. We got married 11 days later.
I went back down to the company and by that time the guys were buzzing as they had all heard what had happened and all were trying to call their families and others were talking to my 1SG. There was such an intensity as we gathered around, so many unknowns at that time. My 1SG's sister worked in the same area as the WTC and I remember our anxiousness as he tried to get word on her safety.
Our road march back to main post was surreal. The company radio was quite the whole way back, not one transmission, everyone was wondering what would be next - are we going to war?
Many good men from this company did in fact go on to war in Iraq and AFG (numerous times with numerous units) over the years. Many of those men made the ultimate sacrifice.
I hope we as a Nation never take our advancements, technology, and prosperity for granted. I hope also we never fail to fully appreciate our freedom and our National Treasure (our men and women) suffered to uphold it. Never underestimate those who may wish to do harm upon us. It happened so suddenly and unexpectantly.
Message was edited by: Oddball®
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Clemson Icon [24031]
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Worked in a high rise in center city Philly
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Sep 11, 2024, 3:08 PM
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They very quickly exited everybody from the building not knowing if all cities/towers would be targeted.
Friend from Baltimore called to tell me the WTC building in Baltimore was attacked. Told him to go study a map. Thankfully everyone I know from NYC was safe.
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Campus Hero [13530]
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Sophomore year at Clemson
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Sep 11, 2024, 3:20 PM
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My roommate (who rarely spoke) woke me up a little after 9 to show me what was going on. Both towers had already been hit by that point. We watched them collapse which is probably still the most stunning thing I've ever seen in my life.
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Tiger Spirit [9466]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 3:28 PM
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I was in a non profit board meeting in Anderson and one of our members was a pilot who lived at the lake. He got a call and went out to take it and when he came back in with news of what was going on, he left and we adjourned the meeting and turned on the tv. I never knew what the pilot was told but it was clear he knew it was not an accident the plane hit the tower.
When I got to work after the meeting, the tv was on and of course we watched between customers and everyone who came in stayed longer than usual and watched with us. I will never forget the feeling when the first tower came down, knowing so many people would lose their lives and then just absolute fear of what was next after the second tower came down. The emotions of that day will never be forgotten and I pray I never have them again.
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Orange Immortal [66704]
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I was sitting at my desk in Greenville working...
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Sep 11, 2024, 3:30 PM
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when a friend called and told me to pull-up the news on my computer. The first plane had just hit the North tower and I was watching live when the second plan struck the South tower. That's when this became abundantly clear to everyone this was no accident.
Eerily...I had been standing right at ground zero just a few days earlier while in NY for business.
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1st Rounder [629]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 10:10 PM
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I was scheduled to fly Maui to San Francisco on 14SEP.
I flew on my flight as scheduled. Getting boarding passes was super strange. I stepped over folks who were prone on the floor at the Maui Airport … some of them had been there for days. I don’t mean that I stepped over one or two … every step I took was over someone.
At San Francisco the terminal was essentially vacant. Out at the parking structure were maybe five cars. Too strange.
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Tiger Spirit [9687]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 10:15 PM
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I was in charge of large group of salesmen covering NC, SC, and southern GA. Every Monday morning was a sales week kickoff and I was VP of Sales. One of my Monday kickoffs was "Let's Roll!" and I explained the Flight 93 transcript. I remember a lot of my guys were mid 50"s and I was around 30, several guys out of around 35 were former military. Anyway, I remember few guys getting slightly emotional and after my motivational speech, several guys thanked me for a great message and sharing the story.
I was a about 20yrs younger than my entire group average but I think I gained a lot of respect for making the meetings more than a "Rah-Rah!" and giving it more meaning.
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Clemson Icon [26377]
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I was only in 5th grade
Sep 11, 2024, 10:17 PM
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and the teachers at my school did not tell us anything. In the last period of the day they simply told us that school was cancelled for the next day because of a tragedy in the USA and they let our parents decide what to tell us.
Of course some kids knew somehow from phone calls or something so we started to hear rumors in the last period of the day. I remember one of my classmates freaking out and worrying about his grandparents in Ohio to which the teacher assured him they were ok.
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Orange Immortal [65030]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 11, 2024, 10:49 PM
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I was testing an elementary school child and my secretary came to the door and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We were thinking that it was a small plane and was an accident. A few minutes later she came back and said a second plane had done the same thing. When I said “We need to blow Afghanistan off the map!” , she looked at me like I was crazy.
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Orange Blooded [2575]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 12, 2024, 2:55 AM
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I was teaching at a public high school, but on a military base . . .nuff said
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CU Guru [1510]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 13, 2024, 3:17 PM
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I have another one I'll never forget. A year later (2002), my company scheduled our annual manager's meeting for September 12 to 14 in Charleston SC. Our corporate group made all our travel arrangements and I was still working in Salt Lake City UT. They booked us on flights (cross country, then regional) the day before, September 11. The flights were about 10 to 20 percent full, no food or drink service, and almost no one spoke. It was very strange.
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Head Coach [939]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 13, 2024, 5:41 PM
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I owned my own company (textiles) and was an equal partner in an Air Charter company. We had 6 planes in our fleet. No jets. All were twin turbos (King Airs etc) and 2 piston cabin class twins (Cessna 340). On 9-11 we had 5 planes on charter off our local field. One in Richmond, VA had dropped off one pax going to next airport. FAA grounded all non military aircraft.
One plane was in FLT to Ohio and was diverted. Another plane was taking 3 guys going golfing at Myrtle Beach. Grounded.
Our workhorse was the Kingaire 200. Our biggest client had charterd and was taking a 10 peeps to Louisina to hunt ducks/birds ( I don;t know) Plane was loaded with shotguns/ammo etc and was cruising at about 18.000 feet when a radio call came into the pilot (my partner) "Kingair you descend and maintain 12k feet. You will "squak @@@@@" and report to DoThan, AL on this freq. You will do this wihout delay. And, do not contact FAA on this frequency again.
Dothan directed our plane in and there was almost no place to park. FAA was clearing the skies.
No one in the air new the towers had been hit. For our small company. it was a great day $$ wise.
I just thought my small air charter biz was hurt, Dang both towers went down.
WT
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Head Coach [959]
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Re: Post Your 9/11 Memory Here (LONG)
Sep 13, 2024, 6:50 PM
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Was working for BellSouth and we had a job at Cola Metro Airport to began pulling in more fiber optic. We got there, it was awfully quiet, absolutely no air traffic. Airport vehicles were riding on the runways. We gathered at our staging area to start and noticed several people huddled around a taxi. Someone called us over. Driver had a tv in his car. They told us what was going on. Very eerie! Very sad. Our children were in elementary school at the time. Wife couldn’t wait for them to get off the bus that afternoon. God Bless America!!
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Replies: 22
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