September 11 Digital Archive

story9856.xml

Title

story9856.xml

Source

born-digital

Media Type

story

Created by Author

yes

Described by Author

no

Date Entered

2003-09-11

911DA Story: Story

I was taking ISTEP tests at an alternative school program in southern Indiana at the time the planes hit the towers. I was exhausted after the testing, and had to be at work in a few hours, so I was planning on getting home to take a nap. I had turned the radio up as loud as I could stand it and President Bush's voice was blaring. Not knowing anything that was happening, my first thought was, what did he do now, and I immediately turned the station. When I again heard news coverage instead of music, I began to listen. There was a man on his cell phone in Washington D.C., talking about the attacks. He mentioned another airplane flying very low. Standing on his rooftop, he had an unobscured view of the capital. Suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, his voice cracked. You could hear his tears in his voice as he said, "Oh my God! A plane has just hit the Pentagon! The plane hit the Pentagon! Oh my God! The captial is under attack!" My blood ran cold, my heart stopped. I thought, this can't be happening. I was terrified, and angry as I listened to the coverage on the radio. By the time I reached the town I lived in, there were vehicles lined up at the gas station. There was panic and confusion. My first thought was of getting home to my children. Once home, I called into work, and stayed home, curled up on the couch with my kids, watching the towers fall repeatedly as the coverage was replayed. I am not religious, at least not in a Christian sense of the word, but that day, I prayed to God. And watched as the numbers escalated, flags were hung, and families searched for their loved ones. I will never forget the horror, the shock, in that man's voice though, as he told America that our beloved country's capital had been attacked.

Citation

“story9856.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/19802.