September 11, 2001 attacks
On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower, resulting in the collapse of both buildings soon afterward and extensive damage to nearby buildings.
The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died as an immediate result of the attacks. The victims were predominantly civilians.
Michael Karmanos
Michael was 24 years old and working for a printing company at the time.
I remember I was out on a delivery and It came over the radio that a plane had just flown into the Trade Center. Everyone on the radio thought it was just an accident at first, I stopped by my dad's house on my way back to the shop and watched on television as the second plane was flown into the tower. I tried to call some friends that I went to school with who lived in the city but couldn't get through to any of them. The next day I was able to get a hold of one of my friends and make sure everyone was alright."
Denise Duggan
Denise was working for a software development firm at the time.
I remember about that time everything just stopped and we were all over the net trying to get information. Of course, many websites were jammed.
I went to Buck Lake Elementary school that day for lunch with my youngest as September 11 is his birthday. As I came in the office staff informed me they were trying to keep the information from the younger students (he was in first grade I believe) so their parent could handle it with them. I remember it being a very surreal feeling having lunch with a bunch of cheery first graders and yet feeling so terrible about what had happened and yet having to keep a smile on my face. For years after that, when someone asked my son when his birthday was, he'd say "September 11th" and then he'd get a sad look and say "the sad day" but then his face would brighten and he'd say "but a happy day too becuase it's my birthday."
Kevin McNulty
Kevin was 37 years old and by now a father of two with his youngest just having started kindergarten. He was working for CompUSA in the training department when an employee rushed out of the breakroom.
"A plane just flew into the World Trade Center!"
Kevin rushed back in after her to see the report on the television in the break room. He knew that in the 40s a plane had accidentally flown into the Empire State Building, and at first he thought that might be what had happened here. He got to the television only a couple of minutes before the second plane hit the other tower. He knew then that it was no accident.
At first, all I could think about was the daunting task that faced the fire fighters rushing in to the WTC. Then the first tower collapsed. At some point, the news broke about the Pentagon. Then, news reports started frantically coming in from all over. It was chaos. There was talk about a bomb at the State Department and lord knows what else. I remember thinking that the world had gone crazy. All I wanted to do was go home and check on my kids. After a couple of hours of CNN, that's just what I did. The store basically closed down for the rest of the day. At that point we had no idea what the extent of the attacks were or if or when they were going to end. I remember just wanting to hold my family until all the noise stopped.
A few days later, with no apprent provocation, I just started crying. Thinking about all the people who'd died only because they had gone to work that day. Thinking about how it could have been any of us. I cried for a long time.
To this day, I still can't watch the footage of the plane hitting the second tower without looking away.
George Sumpter
George was 30 years old, married and a father of 2. He was working for a computer installation company in Los Angeles, CA.
I heard the news of the first plane hitting while driving from Pasadena to Los Angeles. At first the radio DJ thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit. One DJ asked the other if they were watching a replay. A few minutes later they confirmed that it was a second crash and that downtown Los Angeles was being locked down. Unfortunately I was already inside the police lines and was not allowed to leave. I went to my company's warehouse and immediately called Grace. After talking for a while we decided that she would stay at home with the boys and I would come home as soon as the police opened the barricades. A co-worker and I tried to use a dial-up connection in the new warehouse to get some news or video from the web. Every site we went to was so slammed with traffic that we only got one picture of the first plane hitting the tower. It was more than enough. I remember feeling helpless and wondering if everyone in Florida was ok. I called my mom as soon as the phone lines cleared and she told me about the FAA shutting down all flights. We agreeded to try and call one another later that night. I think it was the most terrified I've been in my entire life.
Michael Creamer
Michael was 28 years old. He was working at WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida.
I had just gotten ready for work and was watching Sports Center when the phone rang. It was my mom calling to ask if I saw what happened. About that time, for the first and only time I have seen this, ESPN broke away from their programming to cover the crashes. I knew this was serious from the first bits of video I saw. Still on the phone with my mom, I told her I had to go. I immediately called work to see if they needed me in early. Working for a television station during this time was interesting. We went to wall to wall coverage and most of us sat in shock as we watched all of the angles and footage available. I also remember Jeb Bush being the governor at the time, so there were concerns an attack would take place in Tallahassee, Jeb's brother George was president
