The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Where were you when you first heard about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and what were your first thoughts when you saw what happened?
Talk about it….
Getting ready to leave for work…was not a very productive day for any of us.
Hadn’t retired yet and was driving into work for the day.
Hearing the onset on the radio, then arrived to work.
Work had a new; for the time, satellite dish.
It was set to the live feed of the Towers…
I walked in just as the 2nd jet went in…
Very disturbing… Speechless at the time…
Getting ready for work. I would wake up to morning news radio and they were talking about a plane crash hitting one of the twin towers. I turned on the TV and saw the second tower get hit. They said we would always remember where we were and what we were doing. Like the generation before us knowing what they were doing when JFK was shot. I also remember the Challenger disaster the same way. They are right. But on the good side I vividly remember the first lunar landing and I was just a kid.
I’m old enough to remember these terrible tragedies in details, where I was what was being said and how I and my friends reacted. The assisinations of JFK, MLK, RFK and of course 9/11. Yes, I remember the Challenger as well. However, the assisinations and 9/11 had more of an impact on politics and world events, that is not to minimize the tragedy of The Challenger.
Well … speaking of the Challenger … one positive outcome from that tradgedy … it opened new doors for minority astronauts … yes, I wrote that joke …
I’m sure we were asked this last year as well. However, as it is such an important point in our history it is appropriate to ask again. Probably no one will remember the anwers from last year.
I was in my condo in Benicia. I was selling insurance and had planned on spending most of the day doing paperwork and making phone calls from my home office. I woke up around 7:30 a.m. and as usual turned on KGO radio. I think it was Ed Baxter and aa co host (forgot who) that was on. I heard something about schools being closed and thought there had been a school shooting. It soon became apparent it was something entirely different. Just some seconds into the newscast, I understood some of what was going on, can’t remember exactly what was said. However, I jumped out of bed and went to my living room and turned on the TV, the rest of the day I either sat glued to the TV or to KGO radio, save for calling a girl friend and trying to call my girl friend in New York (Brooklyn) I couldn’t get through of course. I wanted to broil some chicken for lunch and put it in the oven. only to realize some time later I had not turned on the oven. After turning on the oven and walking back to my living room I was so focused on the TV had i walked right into a dining room chair, I was barefooted and really hurt my little toe. My neighbor was a nurse, she came over, said I probably broke it, but to just leave it alone. I was living in New York when the towers were being built, to see them just disingrate into dust and realize how many people were trapped inside is a feeling I will never forget. Over the years I have watched several documentaries about 9/11, most fascinating The Hamburg connection is one. Others where you hear the voices of Betty Ong (a San Fransisco native) and Amy Sweeney , flight attendants calling air traffic control, is just heart breaking.
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As a project development manager, I was attending a day-long seminar in Sacramento for then-newly adopted Clean Water Act requirements (those bio-swales/bio-filtration basins you see in parking lots).
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Televisions were rolled out so we could watch the coverage. The seminar ended early at 1 PM.
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“NEVER FORGET”
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I was at home, getting ready to go work at William-Sonoma (Sunvalley Mall). Catching the news on T.V. about the Trade Center. Saw the second Plane hit second building and I got weak in the knees from shock. I went to work, opened the store, then I got a call from Corporate to shut down and send everyone home. We lost two William-Sonoma employees trapped at Trade Center 1 …. they didn’t have a chance. Stayed home glued to the T.V. and numb the whole thing happening. Worried about other places hit by planes. Sadness of the people who died. Wonder if there was going to be more to come.
On the BART enroute to San Francisco and someone in our compartment said a plane had just flown into the Twin Towers just as we were heading into the Tube from the West Oakland Station. I didn’t really think too much of it until I arrived in our office and a group of coworkers were gathered around a TV watching smoke pouring from both towers. My heart sank and the feeling of helplessness, anger, sorrow and frustration stayed with me and many others for a long time.
Training with an artillery battalion at Camp Fuji, Japan … I woke up and everyone was huddled around the TV … at first we thought it was a new movie … then, in just a few minutes … we went numb … nobody spoke … then, it was like … ok, time to put on your war faces boys … for sure we will be fighting for real … real soon … and we have been ever since … the Long War … sad though, cause most of us bought into the whole Bin Laden propaganda … for sure that was a mistake … oh and FYI … here’s a factoid the news hides so well … since 9/11 … more than 800k USA military members and veterans have died from suicide … which is just fine by the government bean counters … for every dead vet, they save about $3million in benefits costs … real scumbags … RIP heros. Sigh.
I already knew about the suicides. Thank you for sharing as I’m sure there are those who don’t know that is one of the after affects.
meant “after effects.
Sitting in my living room here in the Claycord area. Mother-in-law called me and my wife and asked if we saw the tv. Turned it on, and it was very surreal, sad and angering. When I saw that plane fly into the tower, it was very clear to me we were under attack.
I was at work and had the radio on when they announced that a plane flew into the World Trade Center. At first, I thought it was some kind of accident. A few minutes later, they reported that another plane hit the south tower, and I knew it was a terrorist attack. We turned on the TV in the break room, and everybody at work stopped what they were doing, and gathered around the TV.
Pleasant Hill. A couple of guys had just arrived to install my new kitchen floor. We ended up watching the news all day.
Driving to BART to go to work. Went to the office anyhow. Didn’t get much done.
I was in my carpool approaching the entrance to the NASA Ames Research Center when we heard it on the radio. We got into our offices and were told to go home until further notice, as NASA was considered to be a prime terrorist target. A couple of the other engineers I worked with were at a meeting at the Kennedy Space Center and after a couple of days it appeared that it might be a long time until they could fly home, so they drove their rental car back to the Bay Area. Another engineer that I was working with on my project, who worked at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, was flying in a NASA airplane. They were directed to land as soon as possible and as soon as they stopped, to get off of the airplane as fast as possible and run away from it as fast as they could, as it was deemed to be a “high value target.”
Was at home in Concord getting ready to drive to San Jose to work on our account at Adobe. When I got there, they had closed down the building so turned around and drove back home.
I was here on the west coast & I can prove it!
I had nothing to do with it!
… just got to work… turned on our CC TV …thought its WW3 – went on immediate lockdown at my work – those in the building not allowed to leave, those arriving not allowed in except under higher management referral ….. closed all entrances but one and got armed guard… managers to instructed to maintain and test perimeter against unapproved entry 24/7 …. data & phone network for the entire east bay was in our basement… one of the few CD locations around… Then the F16’s flying low along the 680 corridor convinced me “this is it” …. Never Forget
I was driving to Suisun City to open the doors to the small United Airlines reservations and ticket office to the employees when I heard that a plane crashed into a Manhattan building. When I arrived at the office, I received faxes from world headquarters but we still did not know the full story. I opened the door to the employees at 0600 and read the faxes to them. We hugged, cried, sang “We are the world,” then the reservations agents went to their phones to answer calls from concerned passengers and families. We had one TV in the break room. My operations center was at the front of the office, across from those working the “help desk.” I wheeled the small TV into the space between my office and the help desk agents, turning it toward them. I could not see the TV screen or hear the broadcasts. I had no time for a break to see the broadcasts. I received calls and faxes from World Headquarters all day, and my boss was on the phone with World Headquarters all day, sharing info with me to share with the employees. It wasn’t until I got home to Concord and turned on my TV that I saw the devastation.