story1317.xml
Title
story1317.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-08-20
911DA Story: Story
On the evening September 10th, 2001, I had opened up my laptop and popped in Armageddon DVD starring Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, and Ben Affleck. I stopped watching the film right after the initial asteroids and meteors had impacted New York City. One of the last things I saw before I shut my laptop off was of a huge meteor blasting a wide, black, smoking hole in the North Tower of the World trade center.
My alarm was set to around 6:30. I had to get up to go to work. Instead of the local radio show, I heard Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw. My first memory of that day was the anchor asking an aviation expert why a plane could accidentally fly into a building...What the hell I thought?
As I awoke and wiped the cobwebs from my brain, I raced into the living room and turned on the TV to see two of the most famous buildings in America smoking and on fire. Debris fell from the buildings constantly. The anchors were in a near panic. I sat down on the couch to soak up the situation, then called my mom and dad over and woke up my two younger brothers. I examined the buildings on the TV. "That had to be a Cessna, or other small plane." Alas, I was wrong. Within 10-15 minutes, the networks started showing the tape of the second aircraft hitting the building.
It was an eerie feeling watching America under attack in such a fashion. Within a half hour, we had heard rumors of an attack at the Pentagon, a Car bombing at the State department and a crash in Pennsylvania. The local AM Radio station said that there were hijacked airplanes heading to Los Angeles to complete what the LAX/Millenium bomber in 1999/2000 had failed to do.
At this point, I was still thinking of going to work, not realizing that my office was going to be closed that day. I called my best friend (a Marine Corps reservist) and told him to wake up and turn on the tv. We were both shocked. I then took a shower, and right as I got out, the first tower collapsed. I was amazed and horrified. I'll never forget the anchor's tone of voice on CNN. It was the most horrific moment of my life, worse than the Challenger disaster that I also watched live as a 10 year old boy. My mom was in near tears, my dad dumbfounded, my brothers already wanting revenge. I was in complete shock.
As we continued watching the coverage, I started praying for people at the site. Then the second tower fell, and we finally saw some footage of the Pentagon.
I headed over to my best friend's place at about 11:30am PST. We watched the coverage for the rest of the day, wishing we could do something. By 4pm, I was emotionally and physically exhausted, and I sank into the spare bedroom of his and cried myself to sleep, wishing and hoping it was all a bad dream.
My alarm was set to around 6:30. I had to get up to go to work. Instead of the local radio show, I heard Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw. My first memory of that day was the anchor asking an aviation expert why a plane could accidentally fly into a building...What the hell I thought?
As I awoke and wiped the cobwebs from my brain, I raced into the living room and turned on the TV to see two of the most famous buildings in America smoking and on fire. Debris fell from the buildings constantly. The anchors were in a near panic. I sat down on the couch to soak up the situation, then called my mom and dad over and woke up my two younger brothers. I examined the buildings on the TV. "That had to be a Cessna, or other small plane." Alas, I was wrong. Within 10-15 minutes, the networks started showing the tape of the second aircraft hitting the building.
It was an eerie feeling watching America under attack in such a fashion. Within a half hour, we had heard rumors of an attack at the Pentagon, a Car bombing at the State department and a crash in Pennsylvania. The local AM Radio station said that there were hijacked airplanes heading to Los Angeles to complete what the LAX/Millenium bomber in 1999/2000 had failed to do.
At this point, I was still thinking of going to work, not realizing that my office was going to be closed that day. I called my best friend (a Marine Corps reservist) and told him to wake up and turn on the tv. We were both shocked. I then took a shower, and right as I got out, the first tower collapsed. I was amazed and horrified. I'll never forget the anchor's tone of voice on CNN. It was the most horrific moment of my life, worse than the Challenger disaster that I also watched live as a 10 year old boy. My mom was in near tears, my dad dumbfounded, my brothers already wanting revenge. I was in complete shock.
As we continued watching the coverage, I started praying for people at the site. Then the second tower fell, and we finally saw some footage of the Pentagon.
I headed over to my best friend's place at about 11:30am PST. We watched the coverage for the rest of the day, wishing we could do something. By 4pm, I was emotionally and physically exhausted, and I sank into the spare bedroom of his and cried myself to sleep, wishing and hoping it was all a bad dream.
Collection
Citation
“story1317.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 17, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/17329.