lc_story79.xml

lc_story79.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-16

I was working on an Army installation and a group of us were getting ready to leave to perform some charity work (painting a playground). I was getting ready to shut down my computer when an email from my supervisor came in saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. At the momement we turned on our black and white portable TV, we saw the second plane hit.

I believe that the person in charge of our "painting group" was in shock because she wanted to leave and board the bus like nothing happened. We had to switch buses because of a glitch and while waiting for the new bus I heard that the Pentagon had been hit. It took all of us to convince our team leader that we needed to go back to our offices and wait for some official word to come from our headquarters.

My strongest memory of the day actually happened that evening. We had beautiful clear skies and I remember going outside (I live in a rural area) and seeing no aircraft in the skies. The stars were so beautiful and undisturbed, and here we were on the ground that September 11th evening still not knowing about survivors at the WTC, if another attack was pending, etc.

Sadly, most Americans will forget the lessons of September 11th. On that day and for weeks later, I heard all these comparisons to December 7, 1941.

This past year, I've heard more about December 7th than September 11th.