Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. My husband and I had stopped for the night at a hotel in Minneapolis MN on our way home from a golf vacation with his sister and brother in law. I had stayed behind to watch the weather report while the others went down for breakfast. I had just turned on the news when a report of a plane hitting the WTC was announced. Then, as I watched the second plane fly as I thought by the building as the news reporter had just said that it was not an area where planes generally fly over, I yelled at the tv that there was another plane!! I panicked as I work for an affiliate of Morgan Stanley (Van Kampen Investments). In fact I was on their "Contingency Planning Committee" and I had left town knowing that two of my bosses were supposed to leave for New York that morning for meetings with Morgan Stanley. I immediately tried to call Van Kampen in Kansas City, only to find out that they didn't know what was happening, as one of the administrative assistants said "oh it's just a little plane and nothing major". I told her that I was watching on the tv at that very moment and that it was something VERY major! I tried to page my bosses but the nation wide pager did not go thru for about 12 hours. I finally located another associate who told me that my bosses did not leave that day for NY. Our plans were to stop at the Mall of America, but before we headed out of town, we heard that it was closed. We immediately headed south towards Kansas City watching the skies as we passed the airports. We were still in Iowa when we got a cell call from my mother in law to tell us to buy gas before we got into Missouri because they were hiking gas up to $5 a gallon. We stopped at the very next exit and purchased gas at a fairly reasonable rate. The lines were just starting when we left. The next few exits showed that everyone had the same idea. The lines were out onto the expressway. We made it home with a very sinking feeling. I returned to work the next day hoping for good news about the Morgan Stanley people that were in the WTC. I called our office in NJ and left a message on phone mail of the administrative assistant that I knew well, telling her that I hoped she was safe and that my prayers were with all of them. Later I learned that the NJ office watched the planes hit from their conference room meeting. Unfortunately 6 people from MS were lost. Thank God for Chuck Monroe just one of many of the contingency planning committtee who prepared over and over for Y2K. NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. Life will never be the same.... I still remember being in 2nd grade when it was announced that JFK was killed, we put our heads down on our desks and prayed. Now I have a second horrible experience to remember where I was. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? That we as Americans have taken our security for granted. We need to be prepared, not frightened, but prepared. NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Yes I did. In fact I burned two candles in my front yard for weeks, in memory of the twin towers. The candles are still there, maybe not burned daily like before, but still in my front yard reminding me of why I burned them. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource nmah177.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.158.154.124