[aceman67]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that only 17 years have passed since then, to me it feels like only three or four years. I remember exactly where I was on September 11th when the news broke. I was on the 66 Grant bus in Winnipeg on my way to school listening to "Enter Sandman" on Power 97 FM my CD-Player/Radio, when the DJ interrupted the song, something that I've never had happen before or since, and say in a distraught voice, you could picture his face by how he was saying it, that a plane had crashed in New York and that there wasn't much information at the time.

I spent the rest of the day in absolute shock watching the news on the TVs the school had set up in the library, where only a few students at first were watching, but by Noon, there were at least 40-50 students circled around the TVs, with more students on the computers just trying to get more information. This was around the time the towers fell, and after watching that I was sick to my stomach, so I went outside and sat on the school's field and watched as plane after plane after plane landed at Winnipeg International Airport (One of the primary flight paths passed right over my high school).

I also had a pit of dread in my gut. My father had just been posted in the Canadian military from working a Radar/Military Air-traffic/Communications station in Nova Scotia to Winnipeg where his unit was attached to the 2nd Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, a combat battalion.

My worries were only compounded when I got home and my Mom told me that Dad wasn't going to be home for the next few days because he had called earlier that day to get her to put his 'go bag' (his Rapid Deployment Kit) on the back porch. I found out much later that my dad was brought on as extra staff at the flight control centre of Winnipeg International to help land aircraft after the North American Airspace was shut down.

I knew my Dad was going off to war. I had lived through my Dad being deployed before, but those where Peacekeeping deployments with the UN, dangerous, yes, but not active combat.

There's an understanding that when you serve in the military that there is always the possibility that you could get hurt or killed. That's the risk you accept when you put on the uniform. But for those of us that don't put that uniform on, the Wives, Husbands, Children, while we also understand this, there's something else that just isn't talked about. When something happens on base, when someone is hurt or killed, either in training or overseas, word spreads pretty quickly. No one knows what's happened and the facts don't get out till next of kin is notified. There is the building dread and worry that comes with thinking that it could be your loved one, and when you find out that your loved one is ok, there's the huge sense of relief that comes with that. But there's also the quiet shame that you feel when you think about the family that was given the life-destroying news.

I felt that too when a few weeks (December 2001) before my Father's unit was to be deployed in Afganistan, while on a training march 'in full battle rattle', he stepped in a groundhog hole and tore the tendons and ligaments from the shin of his left leg. And that was that, my father would never be 'deployable' again. My father's war was over.

And I was glad.

But I never quite got over the shame, because several men from his unit weren't so lucky, and several more who my family knew personally or were acquaintances with. M.Cpl Gomez who my father went through basic training with and served along side for over twenty years, killed by a suicide bomber. Cpl. Davis, who I went to school with his sister, Killed when his LAVIII rolled over after being struck by a truck by accident, and Capt. Nichola Goddard, who was my Nephew's Cubscout leader, and so many more.

[Stormy]

I feel I was one of the lucky ones. I was working on a remote ranch in Colorado. I had no TV and only one radio station. Basically, I was insulated from a lot of it. Although I was aware of the events, I did not get constantly bombarded with images as most Americans so the shock factor was much less for me. I had time to process it.

No one in my immediate family was deployed. I had served in the Navy when I was younger but was not exactly military material then. My brother had served in the Army and the same could be said of him.

A young man I knew while covering high school sports for a newspaper was deployed shortly after the attacks and lost his life. I still try to do some sort of tribute on Memorial Day in his honor.

[WelshAvenger]

Point of view from the other side of the pond. I had recently left the RAF and completed my university degree and was working as a web designer and the internet was painfully slow so we couldn't do much more than graphics. We had the radio on in the background when it was interrupted and we were told that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. We knew then that the internet that we had at the time would be slowed down with people trying to get more news or information. So my boss made the decision to send us all home. We didn't go. We wheeled a tv into the office and spent the next few hours watching the horrific images until the towers fell. For hours, all of us had sat there completely silent, not a single word which was very unusual for us. I think we realised then what an impact it would have on the world stage. War was a certainty, there was no way that an attack like that could be ignored.

I got in touch with friends who were still in the military, some of whom had been put on alert. They were all unsure of what was going to happen, some were scared for their kids in case anything happened to them. I was still on the reserve forces list and didn't know if I would be called back to duty to fill in for those posted to the middle east. The forces rumour mill worked overtime on what would happen. I didn't end up being called back to the RAF and of my friends still in the military, a few were sent to fight, only one didn't come home.

What surprised me were the complete difference in reactions. Gander, a tiny town in Canada opened its airport to allow american planes to land and then they opened their homes so that people didn't have to sit in an airport. READ ABOUT IT HERE There were acts of kindness across the USA and Europe with people who were stranded being offered shelter, food and medicine. In stark contrast to all this, I noticed that there was a dark undercurrent creeping in with people I had known for years starting to show their true colours. Comments like, "Well, the yanks funded the IRA so they've had it coming for years." and "We put up with terrorist bombings for decades, why are they any different?" They were quickly cut out of my friends group.

The thing I always remember on this day is that for those four horrific acts of blind hatred, there were millions of acts of kindness and compassion.

[Josh Broughm]

Where was I?

Just starting my senior year at Sydney Academy. I was in the library at lunch when the VP cam in & asked to use the comp. I gave it up, wondering WTF was up. Then, we discussed it in my next class, as at that point, news had spread like wildfire.

[Sul-Matuul]

I was on my PC, i can recall the exact game and location in said game i was at. I got told by my mum to come and see what "they" had done and remember watching it all unfold live on the TV.
I knew we were thousands of miles away in another continent and safe right there from the horror going on but this just gave me that sinking feeling that the world was changing right there and now. I knew people were going to loose their way of life because of this one act. Honestly i was terrified that a world war was going to start right there and then, it was a so disturbing to be there seeing something so world-changing happening in real time.
It was a pretty sickening feeling actually because i was going to university that weekend to start my degree, somehow the future didn't feel quite so safe anymore.

That was the day when the whole world changed.

[Silynn]

I just hobbled down stairs, as I was on my very first day of three week medical leave (after work sports injury), got situated on the couch. Turn on the TV and was like, "What... an airplane hit the World Trade Center??!?! How did that happen..."

Then the very next moment, saw the 2nd jet slam into the 2nd tower... live... and was in disbelief and stunned. Terrible day.

[Josh Broughm]

I just hobbled down stairs, as I was on my very first day of three week medical leave (after work sports injury), got situated on the couch. Turn on the TV and was like, "What... an airplane hit the World Trade Center??!?! How did that happen..."

Then the very next moment, saw the 2nd jet slam into the 2nd tower... live... and was in disbelief and stunned. Terrible day.

Mom saw it live, as it happened. We had extended family thad an office in the WTC. Once the second plane hit, she went mental with worry & tried to get a hold of them. Thank god they weren't in NYC at the time.

[Raz Beraht]

I was at work when my boss called me up and told me to close the building if the police told me to, I didn't know what was happening so he just said "get a radio" and hung up. We had a really crappy radio laying around in an office somewhere so when I put batteries in it and turned it on, all I heard was the President saying basically that America was being attacked.... then static because the radio was so crappy. Nervous moment. I had to listen to the radio until my shift ended.

[jdcollins]

I was at work, a tower fabrication plant. (Electric Transmission Towers, Cell Phone and Radio towers to..even the huge 3,000 ft. ones). The C.A.D. guy in the floor office linked our PA system to one of the news radio networks within minutes of hearing the first reports. Then they turned the Training video TV on to ABC I think. For the next 2 or 3 hours nothing got done as far as work was concerned.

I still remember how weird it was to look up and not see a single contrail from any kind of aircraft over the next few days after it happened.. It was almost eerie.

[Leoferwic]

I had just started high school, it was the week after classes started for us. We had just got to math class and the teacher stopped teaching all of a sudden and turned the TV on mounted up on the wall. We watched on Global news as events progressed through the morning.

[Arno12]

It was my 8th grade year, I had just gotten out of bed and my parents were watching the news, since I lived on the west coast I didn't see the 2nd plane hit but I did see the towers fall, it was disheartening seeing those people run for their lives, one vivid image that stood out for me was two firefighters that managed to make it to safety and hug each other, relieved to be alive, same time I realized they were the fortunate ones.

[Supergrover]

Was working up at a skihill, Apex mountain Canada if anyone does googlefu, there was 4 of us heading up in one truck, no radio. We were getting setup for the day when the last guy to show up , showed and told us. We all called BS, then turned on the radio. 5 mins later the boss showed up, we didnt do a dam thing that day spent it all sitting around the site radio. One of the few times in 13 years that my boss actually wasnt a slave driver.
Got home at 5pm and saw the images, wife watched it all unfold.
My sister in law had gone into labor at 3am that morning, Bobby my nephew was born at 11am, no one told her what was going on until the next day.

[bmdefiant2069]

I was just off night shift when I got a call from a friend to switch on the tv. Due to being tired I was confused at first about what was going on but once the second tower was hit all doubts were gone.
I had come back from visiting friends in New Jersey earlier that May and could remember looking across the water at Manhattan and the Twin Towers and thinking next time I would visit them...alas that was not to be.

As an aside my now wife was in Dublin doing he midwifery course and was on duty that day looking after an American woman (from Manhattan) who was soon to deliver. My wife says there use to be a small TV in the Ward for the patients and as soon as word of the tragic events spread to her my wife ran in to tell the woman to phone home immediately...

[Scarlett]

I was working as a para-pro in a 6th grade Social Studies class when the principal alerted the school over the intercom. By that time both Towers had been hit. The kids were mesmerized and asked questions occasionally but were otherwise silent, even that mouthy brat in the corner.

But when we watched the South Tower fall, I was able to keep my composure, yet it was the kids crying that shattered my heart.