story1202.xml

story1202.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

I work for Simmons Co. Makers of the Beautyrest Mattress. I was at work on Sept 11. It was a georgous day that day. Blue skies and really nice. I was working and one of our maintenance men came back and said a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I thought that was bad but remembered the plane that hit the Empire State building in the 40's. I thought the lose of life was bad but it could have been worse. I know the airspace in that area can get quiet congested and thought it was a simple accident. A bit later he came back and said it was a twin engine plane. Again a tragedy. Then someone else said it was an airliner. That got me to go to the break room and I saw it. Horrific scene. In a little bit someone else came back and said a second plane had hit the other building. We turned on a radio and caught little bits of the news as we still had to work. As the morning continued we heard of the crash in Pa and the plane hitting the Pentagon. We were under attack. I cannot really describe the feelings I had. It was patriotic, anger and a sense of witnessing history. I am 40 yrs old and dont remember JFK's death but remember hearing people say they remember where they were and what they were doing when it happened. I thought of that right away. I made a mental note to look around and take in as much of the day as I could. I know we were scheduled to work 12 hours that day and we worked the entire 12. I remember when I got off work and was going home I noticed very long lines at the gas pumps. I thought "what is going on?" Then I heard on the radio that gas prices were expected to skyrocket. I figured that if the prices were going up then I better fill up. I bought 2 locking gas caps for my cars and filled them up. The prices were normal at that time. It was around 7:30 in the evening. Downtown Columbus, Ohio was shut down. There was a sense of disbelief in the air. People were talking with each other like never before. People seemed to want to know each other. There was a calm in the air. It was eerie. I cannot fully describe it but I was so totally aware of everything. I was saddened by the deaths of so many people and felt so much pride in the actions of the NYPD, FDNY and all the other agencies that responded.

It was a beautiful day in Columbus, Ohio...

Gary Kuhlen
gkuhlen@columbus.rr.com