I had a cousin in one of the towers, he was late for work and just getting to the lobby. But he knew what it was a soon as the first plane hit having been there for the previous attack, and took off. He had to walk off of Manhattan. We didn’t find out until that night he had survived. He saw some stuff though. A coworker lost a child on flight 175, my dad lost a friend on the same flight. The building I was in was a quasi government building, directly across the street from what we all always assumed was a secret government building (lots of those in the DC suburbs). But we were asked to stay at work the whole day. I remember after the first plane hit I assumed it was bad weather, but when I saw the clear skies I knew, then the second plane left little doubt. It was when the pentagon got hit though that my heart truly dropped, and the full story of what was happening that day hit me. One last tale, Admiral Bennis, the coast guard admiral who coordinated the evacuation of Manhattan by water, the largest evacuation in world history, passed away from cancer a number of years ago. But his son, who also passed away, was a friend of mine and went to UF for several years. The admiral has a piece of Charleston Harbor named after him now (where he lived in his later years), so if you’re ever going through Bennis Reach, know who it was for and his service to the country.
I was working alone in my lab. I had finally stopped procrastinating and made airline reservations for a conference in DC the following week. My brother, who worked in Manhattan, called me. I could hear sirens in the background. I still remember our conversation. How you doing? - “OK under the circumstances.” Oh, having a bad day? - “You haven’t heard? An airplane flew into one of the World Trade Center towers.” Whoa! - “A second plane flew into the other tower.” No way. -“And one has crashed into the Pentagon.” Now you’re pulling my leg. That’s a Hollywood movie script. It can’t be real. But it was real. I then went into the lobby of the building where my lab was and they had set up TVs for people to watch. I was stunned. My brother lived in New Jersey, but worked in Manhattan. Initially, the bridges and tunnels were closed, and he thought he would have to find a place to crash in the city. Late that evening they finally opened up the bridges and he got home.
At work, saw the internet replay on my computer screen , initially thought it was just a terrible accident and that the tower would not collapse. Quickly determined I was wrong on both counts. Thankfully, we didn't know anyone directly impacted. I recall our entire neighborhood having flags on our mailboxes and elsewhere. That was before flags became so political. Pretty much stayed that way until the WMD controversy in Iraq.
I was the Ops Officer at a training squadron in Texas. Went into our wardroom after the first plane hit and wondered "how does some idiot hit a skyscraper while CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited). Little did I know. I will tell you that being one of the few people in the air over the US soon after was eerie as hell. No real ATC comms, most of the comms were similar to what I heard flying in the Persian gulf.
I remember the SEC was the last conference to postpone the next Saturday’s games. Which was the right move. Waaaaaaay down on the list, but the attacks arguably cost the Gators a 2nd Natty under Spurrier. We win that game if it’s played in September that year….
I think ESPN did a special on that and Derek Jeter's advice to the President, "you have to throw it from the mound, and don't bounce it, they will boo you." The President practiced and wearing a bullet proof vest, threw it from the mound and didn't bounce it.
