story1224.xml
Title
story1224.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-08-19
911DA Story: Story
The night of 9/10/01 I wrote a note to my daughter's school stating I was picking her up around 10am on 9/11/01. I was off on 9/11 and was driving down the road listening to the radio when they announced a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I had previously planned to stop by my job and noticed the TV monitors which carried Bloomberg News when I walked in. They showed the building burning but I didn't think that much of it.
Driving home the DJ announced the second building had been hit. I called the radio station and asked the announcer if he had ever read Tom Clancy and told him about the storyline in "Debt of Honor" where a plane crashes into Capitol. He said no but also that this was no book - it was real.
When I got home I watched in horror the replay of the planes crashing. I called my mom, a government employee and asked if she knew what was happened. Mom said they were aware and her co-workers were monitoring the internet for information.
When they started talking about a plane crashing into a building in Washington DC I called Mom again. She asked me to tell her what I had heard and I told her I wished she would come home. She said "no" because she said she was "essential" personnel and thought she would be needed if they closed the DC branch offices because she was in Jacksonville FL, far away from the tradegies. When they confirmed it was the Pentagon I called Mom again but since she didn't answer I left a message. It was time to pick up my daughter from school.
It was a madhouse because many parents were pulling their kids out of school. One person told me they were taking the kids home because the other parent was in the military. The parent felt like they would be immediately called to active duty and wanted to see the children before leaving.
I didn't let my 12 year old daughter watch a lot of tv that day but I saw the buildings fall live and it just didn't seem real. It was like watching a movie but one just couldn't comprehend this was real. Mom finally came home at noon because they closed all the federal buildings. I did make sure my dauhgter listened to President Bush because this was living history.
Driving home the DJ announced the second building had been hit. I called the radio station and asked the announcer if he had ever read Tom Clancy and told him about the storyline in "Debt of Honor" where a plane crashes into Capitol. He said no but also that this was no book - it was real.
When I got home I watched in horror the replay of the planes crashing. I called my mom, a government employee and asked if she knew what was happened. Mom said they were aware and her co-workers were monitoring the internet for information.
When they started talking about a plane crashing into a building in Washington DC I called Mom again. She asked me to tell her what I had heard and I told her I wished she would come home. She said "no" because she said she was "essential" personnel and thought she would be needed if they closed the DC branch offices because she was in Jacksonville FL, far away from the tradegies. When they confirmed it was the Pentagon I called Mom again but since she didn't answer I left a message. It was time to pick up my daughter from school.
It was a madhouse because many parents were pulling their kids out of school. One person told me they were taking the kids home because the other parent was in the military. The parent felt like they would be immediately called to active duty and wanted to see the children before leaving.
I didn't let my 12 year old daughter watch a lot of tv that day but I saw the buildings fall live and it just didn't seem real. It was like watching a movie but one just couldn't comprehend this was real. Mom finally came home at noon because they closed all the federal buildings. I did make sure my dauhgter listened to President Bush because this was living history.
Collection
Citation
“story1224.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 26, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/11236.