Topic: 9/11

[JLFC]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/08/nyregion/911-tapes.html?hp

Hard to listen to this, particularly the calmness of the Flight Attendant - then the dawning horror of the ATC's as they realise what's happening - just released by the Authorities in time for the tenth anniversary,,,,

Just listened to that now, very very distressing sent shivers down my spine and its very upsetting too....RIP all victims of 9/11 YNWA

[Harinder]

Mods - please move if desired to be in a seperate thread. Didn't want to start a new one. I guess with the anniversary coming closer and also the findings from the panel on the 12th brought old memories closer and that much sharper about both

There. A block or two away at most. The most trying day of my life to date. I was in NY with about 20 others from the UK on the graduate training programme for Goldman Sachs. I lived on John Street and our training was at Maiden Lane which is a very short walk for us. The week before the attack we were in the bar at the twin towers planning a get together drinks with all the others from who had joined the programme from other regions. Had the date down for the 12th and all confirmed

On the morning of the 11th we could see the smoke. Between us we joked about a cigarette fire caused by a cleaner and how we hoped the 12th was still on. Time was around 8.50am. No one really thought much of it and the news coverage was just picking up. By the time we got into the lifts the other people in it were just as clueless as to what had actually happened. One saying a helicopter crash. The other going on about a system failure

As we entered the training rooms we had CNN on the large screens and Fox on the other. The left side window gave us a clear view of both towers and the fire. At this point we all agreed how the fire service were great at getting there and the firemen who must be on the scene. The tutor for the day had also turned up and was echoing our comments respective to the cause.

I said, admittedly flippantly and with sarcasm, that there must be a really eager news reporter as there is another news helicopter/plane of sorts getting close to the scene. An American colleague laughed about how her nations news channels are always doing messed up things. I said like OJ? The laughter then turned to muted shock and then shrills from the room as the second plane hit. Time stood still.

The next thing I recall so vividly was the stupidity flying around. Some wanted to run out of the building we were in. Others wanted to head towards One New York Plaza (main Goldman building). All I could think of was the people still inside and the blaring sirens of black 4x4's charging into the area. The news channels were at this point a blur. Others on our scheme had friends and family in other schemes such as the one at Morgan Stanley who were based in the twin towers. Internal phone systems had taken a very bad hit. Getting through to people was tough. My phone, which I kept post for a long time, had just one bar of battery life and how it lasted the next 3/4 hours I'll never know. I rang my mum. I asked her if she was watching the news. She said yes and where was I? I replied the other side of town so nowhere near it. My older sister had got married in the
ladt week of july and so I still had relatives visiting in the UK. One set, from NY, had my great aunt still over and her husband had returned. My mum told me how my great aunt was hysterical. Her husband worked in the twin towers and no-one could get through to him. My heart sank. I rang my cousins. They hadn't heard from him either.

When the first tower collapsed an internal tannoy asked us to evacuate. 2 mins later this advice was rescinded and we were told to stay put. When the second tower went we were grateful for staying put. Around 1pm we were allowed to leave and return to our corporate apartments on John St. I was dreading this. The dust had settled somewhat but I knew I'd opened my window that morning to air my room as I was a bit sick of the aircon. So I duly returned to a room covered in dust/debris and set about cleaning. Realizing the lack of resourcefulness amongst some around me, a few of us headed towards china town to get groceries so that no one went hungry. The path took as past the hospital where we instinctively offered help...even blood. We were told to move on though by authorities.

I'll never forget what happened next for as long as I live. A lady, extremely distressed asked as if we knew anything about the 89th floor. She went on about it being the second tower hit and how they were trying to get hold of someone. Emotionally I knew there was no way I could answer without her breaking apart if we stated to assume the worst. The response went along the lines of believing the second tower was evacuated and all got out prior as a precaution. It gave her hope. False or otherwise I will never know. We only know that the for a period after none of us could bring ourselves to talk about it or mention it.

Around 4pm power in our building had gone. Most of us had congregated into 1 room. A couple were unaccounted for but we were told by Goldmans they had been in touch and were safe. Couldnt work out if it was selfish or clever for them to think of themselves and not the others that had been a little worried dare I say panicked about them but that is life I guess. We asked the police and authorities outside as to whether power would come back. We were told, in no uncertain terms, to expect it in the next few hours. They just wanted to be sure everything was safe. Come 9pm it hadnt

My great uncle was safe. I'd got through to home in the UK to echo this. The relief was overwhelming. When I spoke to him he told me that when the first plane hit he was on the first floor of the second building. As he'd been through the bombing in the early 90's he knew something was bad. Very bad. He just left everything where it was and ran out. By the time he'd walked home to Lefferts Boulevard he was covered from top to toe in debris and dust.

With no hope on the power front we'd been offered my great uncles basement. He said he had space for at least 16-20 people and that it didn't matter if there were more...he just wanted everyone to be safe. I asked those around me. Two others understood being in a safe place with food, water, power, comms and human compassion meant a lot. There were a few twats who wanted to rough it out as they were scared of the outside and better to know their current surroundings. Same people who were considered such dicks that 3/6 months later they were dismissed from the firm for not being able to keep pace with the technology based role they were in. I shouldn't be bitter now 10 years on but it's hard not to be when those who stayed regretted being railroaded by this idiot.

3 of us crossed over the bridge at 10pm. We had heard the metro was running so took the chance and got to my great uncles place. He just cried. I remember him kissing my forehead and thanking god we were safe. I was honestly relieved to just be away from the area. The smell, and there was one, of the debris mixed with that feeling of death and despair still haunts me now. I can even recall it passing Columbus a few days later when we returned to Manhattan and the upper East side to join the all the other now exiled grads in a hotel just off 77th.

The next morning a few of us dropped of crates of beer at the first fire depot we saw. Just something, anything, to show some appreciation to these folks was necessary. They lost loved ones, they wore the scars and even now carry the toll. Much more than I or others can imagine.

I got looks as my background as a turban wearing Sikh with a full beard would in such circumstances but I didn't care. What is most poignant is the free taxis I would get due to the fear of me being a victim of reprisals. As one taxi driver put it "he didn't kill anyone or support those who did, he just wanted to ensure no-one else died".

Each year post had been hard. Some more than others. This one will be made easier due to my lovely and beautiful soon to be 1 week old daughter. She's come into a world where atrocities like this are only an imagination and then perverse actions away. Like Die Hard I was in the wrong place at the wrong time for 7/7 too which made the recalling of the above twice as hard. We can only hope and pray that the roots of the evils that cause this go away.

Edit 8th Sept 2012.
My daughter is now one. She plays, she giggles, I forget for a while. She sleeps and I remember all the others who've lost loved ones. Kids who don't have a parent(s) any more. Fathers/Mothers/Grandparents who now have a hollow where once there was a voice or a smell. I think of the lady who was so desperate for news that any hope for her was a hope. I always pray that whoever she was looking for pulled through or should she have suffered a loss that time has eased that pain.

[Alan_X]

That's fine Harinder. A very powerful account.

Usual rules apply - no conspiracy shite.

[weebroalan]

Yeah incredible stuff Harinder. My mate was there, at one of the towers a few days before it was hit and it's just incredible to think how close some people came to it.

Just watching it now and some of those guys on United 93 were amazing. Very moving and sobering.

[Mirra]

Remember watching all this on the tele as it was happening and my nephew asking me why is it happening, didnt know what to tell him, still dont. Horrible day, R.I.P all those who lost their lives.

[Pheeny]

Thanks for posting that Harinder.

[Yorkykopite]

One of the most shocking events in my lifetime. Perhaps the most shocking.

[AriGold]

11 years on. RIP to all that lost their lives that day.

[rafathegaffa83]

I'll always remember being at a computer lab in school. It was the lead story on Yahoo, but it sounded like it was just a small light airplane like a Cesna had hit them. Then we moved to a different classroom and they had the TVs out. Shocking and saddening. RIP to all those who died.

[jerseyhoya]

11 years. I'm getting old.

RIP

[red_lfc_costello]

RIP

[Cochise]

R.I.P

[Matt S]

Can't believe it's 11 years, and yet watching it back now it doesn't seem real. It's like a disaster movie more than something that could have actually happened. I only really knew what the towers were because we'd been up them 3 months previously - and I remember it was the last day of summer holidays, the day before I started college. It came on the news after Neighbours, and shortly afterwards the second plane hit live on air.

Not a day you'd ever forget, for all the wrong reasons. RIP.

[sinnermichael]

RIP

[PhilV]

R.I.P

Crazy, crazy day... I remember exactly what I was doing, every year, it's one of those moments isn't it, this is it for "my" generation anyway I suppose, it's a shame it's such a tragedy!

I was in year 10... doing work experience for a design company and was sitting next to the person I was shadowing, his name was Steve and he always had two monitors, one with CNN always running (I used to find it weird as who the hell cares about CNN? Why not BBC but whatever...) the news broke.. something about the WTC... we turned on the telly... and about 10 seconds later the second plane hit...

I don't think anyone spoke a work for the next 30 minutes. I was just shocked, no one knew what the hell was going on.

What a crazy day.

[Upinsmoke]

I was on work experience. It was so far fetched in my eyes at the time i couldnt believe what i was watching.

RIP.

[Yiannis]

I was playing Championship Manager at the time and remember my father was calling me to come over and see the breaking news.

RIP.

[LanceLink!!!!!]

The most surreal day in my life....RIP.

[S7ARZ]

I remember most of this day. I was 9 and had just finished school, my friends mum was talking about some big towers that a plane had just crashed into in the US. I just remember being glued to the TV for the rest of that night. As soon as I got home from school BBC news channel went straight on and within about 15 minutes the second plane hit. The whole thing happened so fast and there was so much footage on a constant stream.

An extremely sad day. RIP.

[Mashy-rawr!nooo]

R.I.P

[Crosby Nick]

Just the most surreal day. I was in Sydney so it happened very late at night Australian time but sat up most of the night watching it all unfold and worrying about a mate who was working in downtown Manhattan.

RIP.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

RIP

[elbow]

Terrible day. I was in New York exactly one week before. I was reminded of this a few weeks later when I got some photos developed, and there's me on Ellis Island on a beautiful sunny day with the two towers in the background. I don't think I've brought myself to look at that photo since.

RIP

[Azi]

RIP to all those that lost lives not only on the fateful day but to those that were affected by it after and all those innocent lives that were killed as a result of this tragedy

[El_Capitán]

11 years. I was only 10 at the time but can remember the day quite well, such was the scale of the tragedy.

RIP.

[Snail]

Remember it like it was yesterday.

RIP.

[planet-terror]

RIP

[andymanlfc]

Still get the shock factor when you watch the planes hit now.

RIP.

[GlenJohnson2]

Biggest tragedy in my lifetime. Still can't believe it happened.

RIP.

[SP]

Biggest tragedy in my lifetime. Still can't believe it happened.

RIP.

Sadly, it is not even close.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

[LanceLink!!!!!]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake

[Aido LFC]

Remember this like it was yesterday, mam picked me up from school and telling me that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers and by the time we got home the 2nd tower was hit. Everybody was in the sitting room just glued to the telly and nobody could believe what was happening, such a tragedy.

RIP

[Barneylfc∗]

RIP

[The Fletcher Memorial]

Great, disaster tennis!

[GlenJohnson2]

Sadly, it is not even close.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

 

[JohnHobbes]

RIP. Wasn't working that day and randomly was switching channels and caught it between the planes hitting. Watched the tragedy unfold for the rest of the day. Horrific and remember the towers falling so clearly.

[Harinder]

RIP. I still can recall the day so vividly. It's strange but the exact timings of things when they happened and my day post is hazy i.e. you couldnt say the time but you'd know its the morning/afternoon/evening and the order

Getting ready to leave the apartment and meet the others in the lobby and head over to training classes on Maiden Lane. Really bright and crisp morning and I thought to myself "open the window slightly to air the room". Was a bit sick of the AC feel of the place. I knew it was 08.30 in the morning at this point as my second alarm had gone off to ensure I didn't miss the lobby meet up daily.

The rest is tough going as previous posts.

Hope the day is not tough on anyone who lost someone or went through this.

[Dave Whelans Mouth]

RIP

[...]

Shouldn't have happened.

RIP

[MidwestWool]

Never forget.

RIP, still missed. x