246 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The Emergency Operations Center was up and running. I was at my desk at Fort Totten, NY when someone came to our office and said a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. Remembering the bombing in Oklahoma City I needed to see the extent of the damage. I proceeded to the TV located in the emergency operations center in the next office. (The TV is kept on a news channel during duty hours just in case an emergency arises.) The reports coming over the news channel were that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. I went back to my office and said to a co-worker "Doesn't your brother work there"? She said no it was her cousin. "You had better call him and tell him to get out of there". So she picked up her cell phone and called him. To both of our surprise he answered the phone. She said "A plane just hit your building you had better get out of there". He replied that it was the other building that was hit and he was waiting for his friend and would leave shortly. She said "You better leave now"! (She was in NYC during the first bombing) (Her cousin did make it out.) I went back to watch the TV and saw the second plane strike. At that very moment, I knew that the first plane hit was no accident. An environmental hazard class was being conducted on the second floor in our building. I was the host of the class so I raced to tell them two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. The class was on break but the instructor was there. The instructor and I proceeded to the emergency operations center where a group had gathered to watch the news reports. In less than two minutes from our return and about seven minutes total from when the second plane hit the world trade center, the civilian in charge told all non essential personnel to depart the office. "We are going to open the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for life saving coordination". The primary staff was called to report to the EOC. The banks of computers were turned on and the phones checked. I remember the Medical Section was determining what military units had the mobile X-Ray machines and blood transfusion units. The engineers were checking to see what facilities were close to the WTC. The Logistics section was checking on vehicles and heavy equipment. The Emergency Operations Center was up and running. And then-the phones started to ring. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5143.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.114.60.25 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 On September 11 I woke up at 6:30 a.m. in the morning and got ready for school. I got on the bus at 7:10 a.m. and I arrived at school at 7:30 a.m. I was sleeping in first period and when I woke up I heard my friend say something about planes crashing I buildings. I did not think it was a big deal because I thought it was in another country. Everyone in my class wanted to go in the classroom next to us because our classroom did not have a television. So we went next door and we started watching the news. I saw the World Trade Centers on fire but I did not think it was serious so I fell back a sleep. And when I woke up I saw the first Twin Tower falling down and everyone was running down the street and dust and dirt filled the streets. It looked like it was a movie I could not believe it, and at first I thought it was an accident and not a terrorist attack. I did not think the other twin tower was going to fall but it did. After a little while we had to go to our other classes. While I was in art my mom came and picked my up and we went home and watched the news. Later in that week I could not turn on my TV with out seeing Osama Bin Ladin's face. I think they should rebuild the Twin Towers and make a couple of floors in each building a memorial for the people who died in the buildings, on the street, and the firemen and policemen. It is very important for all of us to support the people's families who died. I think they were cowards for flying the planes into the World Trade Centers and killing themselves and all those innocent people. It took about 9 months to clean the whole mess up. We still don't know if Bin Ladin is dead or not, I think he is still hiding. We should blow up all of Afghanistan to make sure he is dead. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story730.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-06-06 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 168.169.8.39 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I remember waking up that Tuesday morning and looking out the window, remarking on what a beautiful late-summer day it was. I immediately put on the news so I could follow the New York City Mayoral election while I ate breakfast and dressed for work. I was excited to see who would end up winning--the billionaire businessman or the politician. I left the house around 8:45 AM, turning the TV off as Jim Ryan, the Fox Morning News anchorman joked around about candidates Green and Bloomberg. I got on the F train in Brooklyn and it was a typical morning commute. I transferred at Jay Street to the A train. As we were going under water to Manhattan, the train slowed down and the conductor announced, "Due to a fire at the World Trade Center, this train will be delayed. Please use alternative routes if you can." I decided to get off at Chambers Street instead of Canal Street (my office was pretty much in between these two subway stops), because that stop came first and I could get out of the delayed train sooner. I was trying to make a 9:30 AM staff meeting at my office on 99 Hudson Street in Tribeca. When we got through the tunnel, the first stop we made was Broadway-Nassau. People rushed into the train looking and acting shaken up. They were all talking about wanting to get out of there, away from the WTC disaster. I was reading and still only half awake, and didn't pay much attention to these conversations. When I got out at the next stop, I was not prepared for what I saw on Chambers Street. It was about 9:20 AM. People were running past me uptown, occasionally turning back with a look of pure fear and amazement in their eyes, before returning their attention forward and away. Still unclear on what was going on, I turned around, southwest, and saw one tower in flames, the other in smoke. I stood there on the corner of Church and Chambers for a minute staring in disbelief, unsure of what happened. Then I saw specks of movement falling from the towers, which I later learned were bodies that had jumped for a less painful and quicker end. I decided to get to work. I was unsure of how to process this sight. But I knew that I could get a better sense of what was going on if I just got to the office. Maybe someone there had heard about this. I didn't understand why I hadn't, since I watched the news. "Stupid Fox 5 News," I thought, "More interested in making bad jokes then reporting on what is actually happening in the world." I started to make my way to Hudson Street. I occasionally turned around to look, as if thinking maybe I had seen wrong before, maybe everything's okay. I walked past amateur photographers and people on the street standing in groups just staring up. I finally got to the office and heard that a plane had crashed into the WTC. We went into the Conference Room and turned on our TV and saw the coverage. We learned that there had been two planes, they were hijacked American passenger aircraft, and it was probably terrorist activity. Just then there was breaking news that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. That's when we all got scared. That's when we understood that there was an attack on America going on, and who knew where it would end. We still don't, to be sure. I appreciated that I had my co-workers there with me, especially since they're historians and helped give me a context for understanding this surprise attack. Although no one could really talk smartly about it, we were reacting more emotionally. There was some discussion about what we should do--should we have our staff meeting? should we go to our other office at 34th Street far from the WTC? should we go home? We finally accepted the severity of the situation and decided to all walk uptown together. We decided to leave the office. On our way out, I tried to call my parents in Boston to let them know I was okay, but I couldn't get through. I just got an automated message that said all lines were busy. Normal phone service, in fact, didn't resume in NY for weeks. My uncle somehow got through to see if I was okay. I told him I was. I did manage to email my mom and tell her I was okay but was leaving the office, and would get back to her later in the day when I got home. We left the office and joined a mass exodus of people, some covered in sut, walking north from downtown. We walked along Hudson Street. At first we walked as a full staff, but within a few blocks we were separated. I stayed with some of my closest coworkers. Of this group, only one of us lived in Manhattan. I live in Brooklyn, and the two others live in New Jersey and Long Island respectively. We decided we should walk to the Manhattan coworker's apartment and rest there for a while before deciding what to do next. The subways were out, it wasn't clear whether we could walk across the bridges. The police just pointed us in the direction of north. As we walked along Hudson, Eighth Ave., and Central Park West, all pretty much the same street but with different names at different points, to 110th Street and Cathedral Parkway, the towers went down, one, then less than an hour later, the other. We heard a thunderous noise, then we all turned around, the mass of people who I walked amongst, and saw them crumble down to the ground, bringing up a cloud of smoke and dirt where there once stood an emblem of Americana. I ended up walking 8 1/2 miles to Harlem, to my coworkers apartment. It took about 2 hours to get to his house. My feet were blistered and I was starving. Along the way, I spoke to some other survivors, updating them on the Pentagon situation in case they hadn't had access to a TV or radio before they started walking. When we got to the apartment, my coworker's step-father was there watching the news. He was very hospitable to us. He was concerned that his son's best friend was in those towers and would have died. We sat around the TV as the expected death toll climbed and as guesses were made at who was responsible. We also heard about a fourth hijacked passenger plane that had crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Two of my coworkers went to the market and brought back lunch food. While we waited, I managed to get through to my parents and tell them I was okay. We made sandwiches and ate them. By then it was around 2 and the news announced that limited subway service had resumed. Myself and the New Jersey and Long Island residents of the group decided to try commuting home. I managed to get on the F and get back to Brooklyn. When I got home at around 3, I tried to call my mom again, but all lines were busy. I tried for hours. I finally got through late in the evening. My mom was furious that I didn't call sooner, but I explained I couldn't get through. My boss emailed me and said that the next day we should report to work, but Thursday we should all meet at our 34th street office. We all went on Thursday, but agreed that it was hard to concentrate. And, although less so, it still is. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story16.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-29 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 199.219.180.4 Annotation Annotations to this item. Politics and politicians Struggle to get home Telephones and Cell Phones Television Coverage Terrorism Tribeca NY:2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was a normal day just like any other day. But I had noticed that in all of my class' that 4 or 5 people were leaving, they were being called down by the nurse because one of their parents had come to pick them up. I thought it was weird but I didn't really think anything of it and just went on doing whatever I was doing.After 5th period I had lunch which was around 12 0' clock. I went through my usual ruitine;go to locker, buy lunch, sit with friends, eat and do home work. Then the bell rang,....(not even knowing it i was about to find out something that would change my life forever)I walked into my 6th period class and talked to my friend Lindsay until the 2nd bell rang.My teacher Dr. Schrader said that we needed to be quiet because he had something extremely important to tell us. We all were imeadiatly quiet. He said that their had been terrorist attacks on the United States. That they had high-jacked a bunch of planes and had already flown some of them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon,I will never forget when he said that the Twin Towers were gone , that they no longer existed. I just couldnt grasp the concept of why some one would do something like that. For the rest of the period I sat their in amazement and shock, I was angry and sad and holding back tears, because the 1st thing that had come to my mind was that my dad was in the city. He is a court officer in lower manhatten. Dr schrader had told us that the city was in total lock down and no one was allowed in or out. During the period everyone asked questions and Dr. Schrader anwsered the best that he could. The bell rang, my next clas room was only a couple of doors down , I went to wait for my best friend Shanza as I always did except I looked at all the people passing every one was in a state of shock, the hallways were much quieter then they usually were , every one was just hugging eachother and crying, trying to help comfort eachother in the best way they knew how. My friend Shanza was already there though, she looked at me and saw that I was holdind back tears she asked me if I was ok and I was just frozen I tried hard not to cry, I finally said that my dad was in the city she said I know so is my my mom.A teacher saw me crying and escorted me down to the guidance office where alot of other people were trying to get in contact with thier family.My guidance councler ms.McQuade took me into an office and tried to call my house. After a couple of times she got through. She said hi this is your daughters guidance councler and she is in my office upset who am I speaking with?, Then she said oh I think I have someone you would like to talk to Kerri. I took the phone and said hello, my dad anwsered. I asked what he was doing home, he said that he had stayed home to get the car fixed because he had gotten into a little acident the night before. I was absolutly realieved that he was ok but I was still so upset that I was crying and shaking I told him that I loved him and that I had to go but I would see him soon. When I got home from school I sat with my older brother and watched the news.For the 1st time I saw the towers get hit and later them collapsing, I found out that another plane had crashed in Pennsalvania after a while I just had to shut the T.V off because I just couldn't handle it any more. I went to bed that night thinking that we were going to have a world war 3 that is starting to become true now and I am scared to death, but I know that my country, the best country, the country that stands for freedom, is going to get through it no matter what. I would like to say thank you to any fire fighters or police men or rescue teams that went into those buildings that day, they are the bravest people I have ever seen and I will never ever forget how brave they were that day, I would also like to say that I am sorry and that my hearts are with the families who lost someone that day.I LOVE NEW YORK!THESE COLORS DONT RUN! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8428.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.186.165.48 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was in study hall when the principal of my high school came on over the PA system and told the teachers to turn on the TV. I had no idea what was going on when I saw the first building. Terrorists didn't even cross my mind. I thought it was an accident or something happened in the building. I sat there and watched for a moment and turned away for a second. When I looked back, I watched the second plane hit. My heart and jaw completely dropped. I stayed glued to the TV for another half an hour. The school board decided not to let us watch it because of some "graphic scenes". Our nation's history, which we have to study anyways was sugar-coated and banned from our sight. As soon as I got out of school, I went to work as a waitress at a local cafe. We had maybe two customers in that day and the radio at full volume as we listened to our nation under attack. I can't begin to describe what I felt that day but I know every other American felt the same exact way. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story921.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-07-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.73.178.158 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I didn't realize that this day would bring such profound feelings of sorrow, but it has. I want to send my deepest sympathy to all those individuals who lost loved ones, especially the children who have lost parents. On 9/11 I received a phone call from my mother who sounded extremely frantic. She explained that my dad, who works for Empire Blue Cross Blue Sheild which occupied a number of floors in World One called her and said" there was a bomb in the building I'm running out right now". Then he quickly hung up. As I turned on the news I said, "mom there looks like there is just a fire in the building maybe they are just evacuating everyone". I rememeber after I said those words the second plane hit Tower 2, and I could feel the chills to this day witnessing that horrific scene. I remember saying" mom , oooh my a plane just crashed into the building". I knew something was wrong from that moment on. She rushed home, and we sat comforting each other with hopes my dad would phone us again. My 2 best friends who I love very much came over and spent time with my mother and I. All I could think is, look outside, what a beautiful sunny day, then reality would hit, and behind the beautiful scenic veiw, we faced dispair and destruction in the city which I so proudly said I was from. At 8pm that night my father walked through the door. He had holes in his shoes, no t-shirt, and was sun burned. He looked blank in the face, shocked. He said "I saw people, people my god, throwing themselves out of the windows, it was inexplicable. I thanked the Lord that my dad was ok, and prayed for the lord to be w/ those who I knew from that moment on lost loved ones. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2880.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 141.155.84.227 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was in my us history class at Shortridge Middle School. Mrs.Henderson was my teacher at the time when it happen. she was talking to kid in the class room when the phon rang and she aked me to get it, i told her yes i would. when i picked it up it was are assistant princcipal Mrs. Lewis ask me why was i geting the the phone not the teacher. She told me to tale the teacher to turne on the tv to chanle fox 59 that something had happen in New York. By that time the frist plane had hit the frist tower. We all thought we were looking at move untal the 2nd plane hit the tower. Are school was put on lock-down along with all IPS Schools that day. my mom came to the school and got me told me on the way home that my coune was in the frist on that got hit and knowone could get a hold of her to see if she was ok or not. We called her mom and she did not anything to. That week my mom and I what down there to help out when we got there we found out that she had not made it out. Every year i have what down there, but not this year. I miss her a lot and so dose the hole Hammond and page famliy. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story20440.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.123.17.179 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 11, 2001 I was at my home in Florida. My mother who lives with us came to my bedroom door crying "Michelle, Michelle we are under attack." That was the most horrifying awakening I have ever had. Not only was I awoken from my physical sleep, but from my slumber of denial that this could really happen to us... to Americans...to innocent people. Since then I have had an awakening in my patriotism, and also learned never to take anything for granted because one morning it could be here in Florida... Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5360.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 161.15.50.1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My story is not so much about the day of September 11th, but my entire experience of that tradgedy. I was at school on 9/11. Our high school in east central Missouri did not call off school, nor did it allow many of us to watch the news or listen to the radio. I did not find out the whole story until I arrived home about 4pm Central time. I was completely shocked. Our family did what most families did the next few days. We went to our churches memorial and prayer service, we proudly put out our flag, and we constantly watched the television for new reports. Our church is of the Southern Baptist denomination, and one of the only churches in the area that has many active members of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Our area was hit very hard in the floods of '93, '94, '95, '00 . . . I suppose you get the picture. We have responded locally and around the world. Our job most times is to provide food for victims and/or those who work in shelters or, in case of natural disasters, cleaning out homes and other buildings. Our reputation is superb, due to our insistence on cleanliness and correct sanitation. My dad, my mom, and I are all trained members of the Missouri Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. When the rescue operations began at Ground Zero, the need for food became evident. The EPA tent was set up, the Salvation Army was called in, and the firefighters, police officers, construction crews, and many, many others who worked 12 or 16 hour shifts were provided with hot food, air-conditioning or heat, and a place to rest. The Southern Baptists were called in by state to work week shifts. Missouri was first called in November. Two members of our church, along with several other people from around the state requested to go, and they were approved. They worked for a week, bringing back heartbreaking stories and a description of what was going on. I had wanted to go very badly. I wanted to do what I could to help. But it wasn't time for me to go--I had a lot going at school, and frankly, my relationship with God was not what it needed to be. The other Disaster Relief member in my church who was close to my age, Tony, agreed with my assessment of why neither of us got to go?our spiritual walk. We resigned ourselves that we would not get another chance, but were determined to be ready for the next thing God wanted us to do. I was on Christmas break. It was December 28, 2001 when I got a call. Jenny (one of the people who'd gone in November) asked me how old I was. I told her that I was 17?only four months away from 18. She informed me that I could go if my mom or dad agreed to go along, as the Salvation Army did not allow those under 18 without a parent along. My mom agreed to go. We left the 30th with a 15 man (and woman) team. We drove to our headquarters in Marshall, MO where we got a quick briefing. We spent the night there and left early in the morning to catch a flight to LaGuardia from Kansas City. We went straight from the airport to the Salvation Army HQ, where we got another, more detailed briefing, complete with the does and don'ts, and what would be our job description. We also got IDs that would let us into the tent. Because of the contamination near Ground Zero, we were not allowed to fix our own food. Instead, restaurants from all over the area provided food. We would either cook it or keep it heated, and keep the serving lines full. Mostly, the Salvation Army would actually serve the food, but occasionally we did. We divided into three shifts with five people on each team. My mom, three others, Warren, Phyllis, and Bob, and I, got the 3-11 pm shift (the third watch, as I discovered when I got hooked on the TV show of the same name this year). Warren was our team leader. We would begin work at 3 o'clock on the 1st of January. We went to the tent to get oriented and relieve the Louisiana team (which, incidentally consisted of many people we had made good friends with in '93 when they'd come up to Missouri to help us clean and rebuild). After we saw how things worked at the tent, our team went back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel on W. Broadway, I believe, and went to bed. That was the first New Year's Eve that I hadn't stayed up at least until the ball dropped that I can remember. I actually totally forgot about it. We went down to the tent to eat breakfast (as we did almost every day) where we found the first watch eating and the second working. We visited with the first watch, which included my friend, Tony. They looked very tired, as they'd been up the whole day before and began to work at midnight. They told us of the people they'd met and how it worked. We were under the direction of a professional chef and a supervisor from Whitson's Food Services, or something similar to that name. They worked in three shifts also that were staggered from ours by an hour. They also warned us of one of the Salvation Army volunteers, Desiree. We took acknowledged the warning, but did not give it much thought. I don't remember too much about any particular day . . . just incidents. I honestly don't know how long this will be, especially since I will keep remembering as I write, I'm sure. Our normal chef was a very tall African American man named Peter. He always wore a chef hat, except for once, and it took me a while to actually recognize him. He was an absolutely great guy, and acknowledged our expertise. Many other chefs considered us layman who knew nothing about serving food, but while they were experts, we were professionals. Serving 10,000 meals a day was common for us. Peter accepted that, and for his respect, we asked his advice on many things. Our team in particular liked to create our own dishes out of those that came in, and Peter would help us with that. Our Whitson's supervisor was a man named Ross. He and I became very good friends and talked quite a bit. He'd been down here when the Towers had gone down, and it was a hard time for him. He did, however, maintain a cheerful attitude, and we liked teasing each other. He had a very strong New York accent (yes, New Yorkers, you do have an accent to us Missourians) and he and other native New Yorkers would tease us for our "y'all" while we attempted to figure out exactly how New Yorkers twist their faces to say carrots and water (we finally figured it out). When they accused us (teasingly of course) of being hicks, we just smiled smugly and told them to wait until Alabama relieved us. We told them that one of us would have to stay so they'd have a translator. I don't think they believed us until they showed up (no offense, southerners :)). We also became acquainted with several Salvation Army workers. One of them, coincidentally, was Desiree. For some reason, the first watch had not so great relations with Desiree, but to us she was a godsend and a great person to work with. She kept the serving tables and the rest of the kitchen spotless. She worked constantly, playfully admonishing us when we made messes for her to clean up. She was a vital part of our team, and we enjoyed working with her. Elijah Prophet (yes, his real name) was a small African-American man from (if I remember correctly) somewhere in Indiana or Ohio, or something. He had vowed to God that he would work for two years in New York, living in the YMCA. He cleaned dishes for us, almost before we got them dirty. He commented that our last name (Gladden) described us very well, that we were always cheerful and willing to give people a smile. I talked with him a lot, about God, about life, about why we were there. He was a sweet man, and one who loved people because they were God's creation. He had what one would consider an inglorious job, but every time he washed a dish, he did it for God, and he did it because he loved the people at Ground Zero. Though we did try to maintain a cheerful demeanor for the crews, it was hard. Every once and a while, they would need someone out at the different comfort stations. Us three women on the team each went out at least once: my mom went three times, I went twice, and Phyllis went once. We went out, closer to Ground Zero and would restock the tents, make sure there was plenty of hot water, and sometimes just talk with the men. I remember talking with a construction worker who's cousin had died in one of the towers (the North, I believe). His construction crew was working on Staten Island and watched the whole thing. He was very close to his cousin, and cried when he told us this story. We also spoke to one of the medical examiners. He began telling us stories. I remember wanting to just tell him to stop, but I didn't. I realized that because he was surrounded by this, this was normal to him. He didn't think that it wasn't normal to us. It was hard, watching him stare out into the Pit and unemotionally tell us these stories. Another man, a police officer, I believe, told us how his wife had taken his kids and left him because he was never home. He was always here, or working elsewhere when he was rotated out. He told us a little about his kids and how much he missed them. One thing I remember about being down at those sites was first of all, the air. It was almost gritty. We did not wear masks, as we were not right down in the Pit, but it was still dusty and harder to breathe. I also remember the lights and the sounds of the trucks. I still get the chills when I see and hear night construction. I also remember the silence when they brought bodies out. I remember the lines they formed. One of the first nights we were there, they found a pocket of thirteen. Many were firefighters. The rest of the night, the mood was subdued in the tent. I also remember that people were tense and nervous about any sort of unusual incidents: accidents or possible terrorist attacks. It was still fairly early on and it would be just like bin Laden to attack an already suffering city. One night near the end, we were serving food. The tent was full of the low murmurs of people talking. Suddenly, there was a huge boom from the direction of the Pit. Everyone froze. All the firefighters, police officers, and OSHA got up and left the tent. We found out that a truck had turned a corner too sharply and hit something, causing his tire to blow out. When we found out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, laughing a bit to blow of the tension. I had heard about the rescue dogs, but had never seen one until they brought Nike into the tent. He was a large Golden Retriever and had his own little apartment in the back of the EPA tent. People would visit him, petting him and loving on him. He was exhausted and probably depressed, but he provided as much comfort to those who visited him as they tried to do for him. His trainer told us that many dogs did get depressed because they didn?t find very many people alive and none at that point. So they would hide from him and let him find them, so he would feel like he?d done his job. It was very heart-wrenching and echoed the frustrations and sorrow those rescue workers had in the Pit. Sometimes when the line was slower and we weren?t very busy, I would go out to the tables and visit with the workers. They seemed to enjoy talking, though they were tired. At first, I, like the rest of the nation, thought that the only people who worked at the Pit were firefighters and police officers. I discovered that this was very untrue. Dock workers were there, keeping the walls from collapsing. If not for the dock workers, it is very possible that the entire south end of Manhattan could have just fallen off into the Bay. The construction workers operated the enormous cranes and machinery, invaluable to the work. OSHA was there, supervising and making sure we did not lose more of our men and women to the Pit. There were even people there from a phone company (I can?t remember which one) who were trying to get communications back up from Ground Zero. Medical examiners spent a great deal of time there, obviously and the work was hard. There are so many more kinds of people who worked there. Some I didn?t meet but knew about and some I talked to at great length. Many times we talked about their families, their children. Sometimes we talked about the work they did in the Pit, when they wanted to. Some needed to talk about it to be able to cope with it. Others didn?t want to talk at all. We respected that and were just there for them when they needed it. That is the main job of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Food is important, but secondary. We listen and provide a shoulder to cry on if needed. We try to help people cope with a tragedy, whether that tragedy be a flood that wiped out their homes, a tornado that ripped apart a town, or a terrorist attack that unjustly took the lives of 2,792 people. When we had arrived back, school had started for Tony and me. We were seniors at a large high school in mid-Missouri. People would ask us ?how was it?? like we?d been on a vacation. We struggled with what to say. There were no words to describe it. Painful. Interesting. Sad. Inspiring. Depressing. All of these words could illustrate a certain moment, but none were good answers for a one-word explanation. People were going around and about their lives, without the constant thought of the people lost and the people left at Ground Zero. It was how I?d been before I went and I understood it. But it didn?t make it any easier. Probably the event that most illustrated this was at our Superbowl party in 2002. Our church youth group gathered at our house for the celebrations. I remember seeing the Budweiser commercial where the Clydesdales honored the Twin Towers and tears coming to my eyes. The three of us: Mom, Tony, and I exchanged looks while everyone else was talking and being normal. It was almost as if we were in a separate world. I wanted to go back. I felt such a connection with those down at the Pit, that I didn?t feel right back home. I had not been there very long, but I felt as if I?d known those I worked with for years. I longed to be down there in the trenches with them for as long as they needed me. If I could, I?ve stayed, like two twin college students my mom met and befriended. They came to help for a short while, and stayed for the duration. It?s hard to leave and impossible to forget. I started this almost a year ago and stopped about half way through. On this second September 11 after that tragic Tuesday, I decided to finish it. I will probably have to add things as I remember them, but this is the essence of my experience at Ground Zero. I will always recall the times shared with the men and women who worked down there. I will remember the two cops from the 10th Precinct who talked for an hour with me my first day, making me feel welcome. I won?t forget the man from Ecuador who was working construction. I laugh every time I recall the walks from the serving line to the restroom, when the men would catch my eye and say ?Howyadoin??? in that inimitable accent. I won?t forget Ross, Peter, Elijah, Desiree, Alicia, Captain David, or Raheem. There are so many others that I think of all the time and wish I could see again. Some, I hope I will. But forever will I remember everyone from Ground Zero and honor those who lost their lives for being American. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story9940.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 128.206.192.172 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I will never forget september 11,2001. It was sad and frighting. I think it will never end. I whish the wouldn't celabreate it because it was very touching Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6847.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 141.149.207.36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My name is Rosemary Janssen and on September 11, 2001 I was at work when the world turned ugly. I was at my desk when someone came out and said a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center and we all just watched thinking it was just a bad accident. Then in a matter of minutes all of us which is about 20 or so employees of Loma Systems, Inc. watched as the next plane crashed into the other tower. I remember standing there in shock and then my next thought was we are under attack but by who. and what about my daughter Jessica and my granddaughter Angel, Are they safe? can I get to them? They live near Ohare Airport. Where is my boyfriend John Michelberger, oh my god he works downtown in Chicago, is he alive will I ever see him? I have 7 brothers and sisters and we all fight will I ever be able to tell them I am sorry and that I love them? My Mom will I ever tell her how much I love her. That day Bin Laden and his group took away my control, my safety and my security. But today I am strong as I believe all Americans are and hold my head up high and if given the opportunity, I would KILL!! Bin Laden myself. I would do this because of what he did to me and my fellow countrymen and women. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to get this off my mind. Today is a day I hope no one will forget and I also hope we all stay strong and believe together as one union we can defeat anyone or anything! Rosemary Janssen Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2788.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.217.70.211 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Marc Aiello Modern World History Section 1 9/10/02 How did you witness history on September 11, 2001? September 11th, 2001, seemed like a normal day from the start. If someone had told me that there would be planes flying into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon later that day I would have laughed at them and thought they were nutty. That day, I woke up, took a shower, and did all my morning activities in preparation for school. I went to school, where my classmates and I worked through the day normally. Although the teachers knew of the tragedy that occurred, none had been instructed to tell the students. It wasn?t until three o?clock, when a boy in my class, who was sick, came to the school just after the last bell to get his books and homework. He started talking of these planes crashing into buildings and how thousands of people died. We all thought he was a little too sick and didn?t believe these far fetched stories. It wasn?t until I was picked up after school sports that I realized what Matt Unger had said was true. Planes did hit the Towers and the Pentagon, and September 11th , 2001 is a day that will forever be remembered. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2140.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.62.52.135 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a lecturer at UCLA and a freelance workshop leader. My husband Tim works for a major LA radio station not far from our home. We live in Culver City, only 10 minutes away from the Los Angeles International Airport. On September 11, I was scheduled to make an 8:30AM presentation at the Energy Center in Downey (LA suburb) and so got up earlier than usual. This was the first day we had awaken in our own bed after spending the weekend in hotels while our bathroom was being remodeled. I was bathing in our ?new? shower when Tim came in saying that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. Surely it was a small Cessna that had gone off-course. I told him to put on CNN. I dried off and joined him in front of the television. Since the reporters knew little more than we did about the incident, I turned to go into the bedroom. Suddenly Tim was yelling, ?Jesus Christ! Another plane just flew into the World Trade Center! Babe, come quick and see this!? I ran into the living room just as the scene was being replayed. I couldn?t believe my eyes as I watched possibly the most horrific thing I have ever seen. What on earth was going on? Had an air traffic controller gone berserk? A few moments later the phone rang. The radio station was on alert. Tim had to go into work immediately. Stunned, I proceeded to get ready for the workshop while keeping an eye on CNN. Soon enough the TV was reporting two more plane crashes?one at the Pentagon and one in a field in Pennsylvania. Obviously the east coast was under attack. The telephone rang. ?Are you watching TV?? Tim asked incredulously. ?Yes,? I said and started to cry. ?I?m scared. I don?t know what to do about the workshop.? ?Don?t go if you?re scared.? I agreed and hung-up. I called the Energy Center. A distraught voice answered. I asked if, in light of the ?national crisis,? the workshop was canceled. The woman on the other end said yes. I then grappled with whether I should call my mom. At 6:30AM, I knew she and her husband Norm would be asleep. I decided to call anyway. They needed to be awake if the ?unthinkable? were to happen here next. I called and immediately burst into tears. ?Mom, something bad has happened in New York,? I sobbed. ?You need to put on the TV.? In a groggy voice she told Norm to put on the TV. ?CNN,? I told her. ?Put on CNN,? she told Norm and hung-up. I then called Tim to tell him I wasn?t going to Downey. He told me to fill-up the cars with gas. I complied, understanding?without being told?that the cars had to be ready in case we needed to evacuate. I composed myself and calmly walked outside. No airplanes crashing into buildings, no nuclear bombs falling?just our innocent street looking very much like it does every weekday morning. It was hard to believe that devastation was occurring 3000 miles away in NYC. While getting gas I decided to buy some ?provisions? in case war did indeed break-out here. Astoundingly, the market was ?business as usual? as people shopped. I did notice, however, that almost everyone was buying one or two large containers of water. In addition, a dazed-looking woman was going from person to person explaining how she and her daughter had stood under the World Trade Center just the week before. She apparently was trying to cope. I paid for my water, cheese, crackers, cat food, and litter, and went home to wait. The rest of the day was a blur of TV images and tears. Reporters, who began with measured accounts of the day?s events, eventually succumbed to speculation and sensationalism. It was a relief to return to work the next day, even though we were all in an emotional state of shock. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1523.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-28 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 164.67.26.179 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: WHEN THAT HAPENNED I WAS AT HOME BUT I WILL TELL THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING AND HERE IT GOES:ON THAT FATIDIC DAY I WENT TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL TO HAVE COMPUTER LESSONS AND AFTER THAT I ARRIVED HOME AND I WENT TO SLEEP FOR A WHILE BUT WHEN I WAS JUST GOING TO DO IT A NEIGBOUR THAT I HAVE NEAR MY HOUSE CAMED IN AND SAID:?ALCINDA COME TO MY HOUSE QUICKLY TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON THE TWO TWIN TOWERS IN NEW YORK IN U.S.A.?MY MOM LEFT EVERYTHING THAT SHE WAS DOING AND SHE WENT TO SEE IT.SHE WENT HOME AND I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP BUT I COULDN`T BECAUSE I WAS WITH A BAD FEELING ABOUT THAT DAY AND I WAS RIGHT .MY MOM CAMED AT HOME AND AWAKED ME AND SHE SAID:?PATRICIA TURN ON THE TV AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE TWO TWIN TOWERS IN NEW YORK IN U.S.A.?I DID IT.I TURN ON THE TV AND WHEN I`VE SEEN THE TWO AEROCRAFTS GOING INTO THEM I STARTED TO CRY AND I DIDN?T WANTED TO SPEAK WITH ANYONE OR EAT.I WENT TO WORK SAD AND I WAS CRYING ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.I`M NOT FROM U.S.A BUT I FEEL MY HEART BELONGS THERE.TWO WEEKS LATER AFTER THAT HAPENNED I HAD AN ACCIDENT ON A BUS AND THE DAY WAS:24 SEPTEMBER 2001. I CAN?T NOT FORGET IT.THOSE TWO DAYS WERE THE MOST NIGHTMARE IN MY LIFE.GOD BLESS AMERICA. GOOD LUCK FOR YOU ALL. PATRICIA-FUNCHAL-MADEIRA-PORTUGAL Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8972.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-01-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 213.190.192.123 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My name is Joshua F. Schwartz. I am stationed on the USS Peleliu home ported in San Diego, California. My rank is E/4, Aviation Structural Mechanic Third Class Petty Officer in the United States Navy. My ship was in Darwin, Australia for a port visit before we transited over to the Arabian Gulf. My night was forever changed. It was about 11:30 pm in Darwin and a few buddies of mine and I were having a drink at the local taveren when all of a sudden on the TV, a special announcement came up saying that the World Trade Center had just been rammed into by a civilian airliner. We were all shocked. At first we just thought that it was a movie. It cound't be happening. Not when we were over seas. Well it did happened. And all 3,000 sailors and Marines were recalled back to the ship to ship out in a few hours. From there we headed straight to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Endurance Freedom. We spent four months off of the coast. The Marines from the USS Peleliu (13 MEU) took over the air strip at Kandhar. It was Scary. I also helped to take care of the Northern alliance when the friendly fire incident happened. A total of ten were brought to the ship for treatment. Johnny Walker was taken prisoner on board also. During the whole time we were over seas in Support of Operation Endurance Freedom, people from all over the United States, people were emailing the ship and telling us how proud of us they are. And the best thing about that was that we could reply back to the people who wrote us. I actually met the love of my life this way. We wrote each other snail mail and emails for about 3 months. Then when we pulled back into San Diego; we met for the first time and we have been dating ever since. It has been six wonderful months for the two of us. My life has changed for ever and I have someone to share with it because of what happened on the treacherous day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5613.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.13.102.132 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of 9/11/01, just after the second plane had hit the World Trade Center, I was rushed to Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Lansdowne, PA. I was diagnosed with Meningitis, along with Chicken Pox (something I did not have as a child). I had a very high fever and my vital sounds were extremely high. Needless to say, time was running out for me. I am very grateful to the Doctors and Nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (Lansdowne) for saving my life. I am also grateful to my daughter Pamela for encouraging me to have the Spinal Tap (which I was totally against), without having the procedure performed, the doctor informed me that it could be fatal. I also thank my brother Michael, who came to my rescue, despite the heavy traffic that morning he had to battle just to get to me. If I had not gone to the Emergency Room on 9/11/01, I would not be alive today to share my story. So today (9/11/02), I celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am deeply saddened for those that lost their lives that day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6405.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.106.131.122 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was getting ready for work and turned on the TV to check the stock market. There was an image of a burning building and I thought I was on the wrong channel, but I wasn't. I turned up the volume and learned a plane had crashed into the WTC. I was stunned, but assumed it was a horrible accident. A woman was on the street talking when she basically went hysterical. A second plane had hit the other building. I was stunned. I couldn't take it in, I started actually getting physical ill as the reality sunk in. Someone had declared war on us and was using our own planes as weapons. I frantically tried to calculate how many planes were over the US at any given moment, a hundred? a thousand? more? I called my mother and told her to turn on her television. Then the Pentagon was hit. I started to cry. My daughter was in the suburbs of NYC, was she OK? The phone lines were busy. People were jumping from the WTC buildings. I saw their falling lives that had mere seconds of life left. Everything was spinning out of control. And then they collapsed. Something inside me turned off. If I took in any more I would not be able to withstand the pain. I filled every container in my house with water and mechanically went to work and did my job. It was something to do. Anything not to have to deal with reality. A plane had crashed in Pennsylvania came the frantic whispers from co-workers. Oh God, I prayed, please make it stop. That night I was glued to the TV as the videos played the nightmare over and over again. And I did have nightmares. Every night for two weeks. My daughter was OK, but America would never be the same. I am thankful for the safety of my family. I mourn the loss of all those magnificent lives lost that day. I can never say thank you enough for all the people that risked their lives to save others that day. I still look up whenever a plane goes overhead, but we survived. God bless the USA. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4667.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.81.17.154 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Before September 11, 2001, the fact that my mom worked for the government was not a big danger issue to me. She works across the street from the Pentagon for the Defense Department. Up until then, I never thought that her life might be endangered because of whom my mom worked for. That day I went to school and my mom went to work. It seems like another ordinary day for my family. However, that was about to change. I was sitting in my fourth period class reading something for AP Lang when I heard what had happened. Another English teacher came running into our room announcing that airplanes had struck the Twin Towers. I immediately turned to my friend Christina and said, "At least they haven't hit the Pentagon". Less than five minutes after I said that, our assistant principal's voice came over the P.A. system and announced that the Pentagon had also been a target. Rumors were beginning to circulate that these were terrorist actions being taken against the United States and who was behind these sorts of actions. My thoughts were far from that. They were focused on, "Where is my mom"? and "Is she ok"? Since her office is across from the Pentagon, I kept looking at the TV for a glimpse of her office in the background. I had no luck succeeding in this before I realized that my mom was out of her office and up at Capitol Hill for the day. I went to Mrs. McDowell's room and called my mom's office, hoping to get in contact with anyone. I was still calm until I heard her voice on the answering machine and I immediately broke down. I then went to lunch in Mrs. Owens' room and called my dad. I asked him where my mom was and he answered me with, "I don't know. Where is she"? A lot of help my dad was. I then went through the rest of the day thinking and worrying if my mom was ok. I got home and there were five messages on my answering machine; most of them from my step-grandma informing me that my mom was ok. She had spoken to her earlier and wanted to let me know that my mom's cell phone wasn't working in her area, but that she was ok and would be home as soon as the mess and traffic calmed down. A huge sigh of relief went over me and I was able to calm down. My next concern was dealing with my friend, Tim, who is a member of the United States Marine Corps. I was worried that he would be sent away before I could get a chance to say good-bye. He, however, was only assigned to stay within the barracks of Camp Lejeune, and would not be sent out immediately. This caused another wave of relief to come over me. It's been a year and six days since the attacks and my life has gone back to normal. My mom still works across the street from the Pentagon, in the same office as before. Security is a little bit stricter at her office, but no drastic changes have occurred. My friend Tim was recently sent overseas for a six-month float in the Mediterranean Sea. My family is more patriotic now, which in a sense is sad. It's sad that it has taken an event like 9-11 to cause people to realize how lucky we are to be living in a country like the United States and that we really aren't an invincible as we think we are. It took the attacks on the WTC, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania to cause a surge of American pride to go through the country and for us to recognize that we are just as vulnerable as any other country. However, I am still honored to say that I am a proud American. God Bless the USA! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story7763.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.17.4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of September 11, I had class. Music theory. The 20 of us sat through the class, having no idea what had happened. Once the class was over, we went downstairs to the commons area as we always did. I'm a music major, and most of the music majors at my university hang around in an area known as the 4-point. So, like always, that's where I headed. Once I got there, one of my friends, Ed looked at me and said, "Have you heard what happened?" "No." I replied. "A plane crashed in to the world trade center." My first thought was that a small few person plane accidentlly crashed into the building. So I looked at him and said, "Well, that's weird. How didn't they see the building? Was it just like a small plane?" My friend said, "Alison, it wasn't a small plane. And actually another one crashed into the second tower as well." This may be the most naiive moment of my life, but I really looked at him and said, "Well, isn't that weird. How do you think two planes crashed into the buildings on the same day? They must have just been small planes, right?" "No, they were two passanger jets. Someone hijacked them and crashed them into the world trade center." I remember it was like something cold spread through me. I realize now, that it may not have been something spreading, but something leaving. I now think this was part of my faith in other people rushing out of me. I went back to my dorm and starred at CNN. An hour later I had another class. I walked in, and everyone sat down and was eeriely quiet. The professor walked infront of the class and very quietly said, "I'm sorry. I can't teach class today. If you haven't heard about what happened, I can't be the one to tell you. I'm sorry. Go home." Just a few hours later the university closed for the day. I went back to my dorm again, and sat and watched TV again. The door to my room was open and I remember a guy walked in and sat down next to me. I don't remember his name, but I do remember that he was in our ROTC program. He said hey, joined me on the couch and we just sat in silence that was only occasionally puncuated by "But, why?" and "I can't believe..." I know I will never forget what I did that day and all of the strange emotions that were running through everyone. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story10822.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.42.117.223 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Terrorist Attack On America Many things changed on 9/11/01 when we were attacked by the Al Queda. That horrifying day when nothing went well. The twin towers in New York fell, a part of the pentagon destroyed and a plane crash about 100 miles outside Pittsburgh. That day went to school like any other day but this day would be like any other day. In math class that day which was third period I remember someone came over the intercom and said there was an attack on the world trade center in New York and an attack on the pentagon in Washington DC. That day I remember the teachers having the internet on and in science there was a clip of the towers falling but was hard to make out. When I went home that day my mom was already home from work and I asked why she was home so early. She told me that her work sent all the workers home. That?s when I started to realize it was a big deal. Over dinner that night we described how we felt and how we could believe that something this would happen. Then for like the next week in school I don?t remember learning that much well what was supposed to be on the agenda. We talked about what had happened and if you new anybody that was evolved. Then for then next week I think I only watched the news 24/7. I think everybody was affected one way or another even if they didn?t even know anybody that was killed. I know that I felt sorry for all the victims and their families and so did the rest of America. Now with the one year aneversery I thought of all the victims and what happened on 9-11. I know that I will not forget the attacks on America. Like the president said in a speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor this day will live infany, and longer then that! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6546.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.103.166.40