A look back at 9-11 - 09/10/2002 5:01 PM
Feel free to share your story of the events of a year ago.
9-11: I was at my office working, when a co-worker said that a plane hit the trade center. At first I thought it was a small plane and was an accident. I turned on the radio and searched some of the newswires where I found out that it was indeed not a small plane. I remember posting on here shortly after hearing the news.
When the second plane hit, people in the office were shocked. Someone had moved a television set into the lunch room where a large portion of the staff watched in bewilderment as the towers burned, then fell. From the south side of the building you could see the smoke billowing in the sky. Sirens were screaming not stop. We were all in shock.
After listening to the news broadcasts for a while, we decided to leave the city. Police had locked down the mass transit system, so the only way to leave the island was to try to walk across one of the bridges. Not knowing whether or not we would even be able to, my wife and I began what would be about a 7 miles walk across the Queensboro Bridge into Queens. I remember walking across the bridge, with thousands of other people. People were hanging off of the backs/sides of trucks in order to try to hitch a ride. People stopping at the railing to look back, take pictures, or catch their breath.
The mob moved slowly, as you could only walk as fast as the people in front of you. We stopped a couple times for water, gatorade, granola bars. We tried to find a pay phone, but none were working and still had lines of people hoping to get through. I had a small portable radio, and my wife and I shared listening to the events, updates and news.
We had no idea how to get home, but figured out best bet was to see if we could find a train running out of Queens. We finally were able to use a phone at a car dealership and get in touch with family, who told us they would try to come pick us up, not knowing which roads were open. After waiting another 3 hours, we were picked up by my brother-in law, who worked across the street from the WTC. He was on the subway heading downtown, when the planes hit, and had to evacuate the train. He walked across a bridge into Brooklyn where he was able to get a train to Queens, then home.
We were fortunate to not have been directly affected. Although it took us 7 hours to get home, we did get home that day...not everyone did.
God Bless America
9-11: I was at my office working, when a co-worker said that a plane hit the trade center. At first I thought it was a small plane and was an accident. I turned on the radio and searched some of the newswires where I found out that it was indeed not a small plane. I remember posting on here shortly after hearing the news.
When the second plane hit, people in the office were shocked. Someone had moved a television set into the lunch room where a large portion of the staff watched in bewilderment as the towers burned, then fell. From the south side of the building you could see the smoke billowing in the sky. Sirens were screaming not stop. We were all in shock.
After listening to the news broadcasts for a while, we decided to leave the city. Police had locked down the mass transit system, so the only way to leave the island was to try to walk across one of the bridges. Not knowing whether or not we would even be able to, my wife and I began what would be about a 7 miles walk across the Queensboro Bridge into Queens. I remember walking across the bridge, with thousands of other people. People were hanging off of the backs/sides of trucks in order to try to hitch a ride. People stopping at the railing to look back, take pictures, or catch their breath.
The mob moved slowly, as you could only walk as fast as the people in front of you. We stopped a couple times for water, gatorade, granola bars. We tried to find a pay phone, but none were working and still had lines of people hoping to get through. I had a small portable radio, and my wife and I shared listening to the events, updates and news.
We had no idea how to get home, but figured out best bet was to see if we could find a train running out of Queens. We finally were able to use a phone at a car dealership and get in touch with family, who told us they would try to come pick us up, not knowing which roads were open. After waiting another 3 hours, we were picked up by my brother-in law, who worked across the street from the WTC. He was on the subway heading downtown, when the planes hit, and had to evacuate the train. He walked across a bridge into Brooklyn where he was able to get a train to Queens, then home.
We were fortunate to not have been directly affected. Although it took us 7 hours to get home, we did get home that day...not everyone did.
God Bless America