Your memories of 9/11

We asked you to send us your recollections of what you were doing when you learned of the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001.

Here are some of your memories:

AP

I was picking my son up from primary school. I'd heard from the lollypop lady that there had been two plane crashes in New York. I felt scared and knew immediately this was no accident. I rushed home to put the news on and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like watching a movie, only this was real-life stuff. My son was eight at the time, and he really did freak out, especially at the thought of terrorists being involved. We have never flown since.
- Janette Rose

I was working in RAF Menwith Hill early warning centre in Harrogate. It is predominately a USA-occupied base. We didn't know what was going on till we were ushered to our cars, searched and removed from the base. It was quite scary actually.
- Andrew Swales

My wife and I were on our first holiday abroad on the Greek island of Zakynthos. At first we thought the hotel had put a film on the big screen with such realistic special effects, and we sat down to watch. To our horror, it was real and we wept with such sadness I can't remember the rest of our stay.
- John Lockson

I was at a ready-mix plant at Grantham in Lincolnshire. I had a small portable black-and-white TV in my office with the news on, and just happened to look up as the first plane hit. I called my boss and we watched the whole thing unfold. We could not believe what we were seeing was real. It is something I will never forget.
- Pam Todkill

I was in my first year of comprehensive school when the event occured. I saw it on a TV and thought it was a scheduled film in a English class. This was the same day as my fathers birthday. He was 51.
- Laura Marsh

I was in hospital, giving birth to my second daughter. As my first visitors arrived to see my newborn baby, I was conscious of parts of conversation between them about a plane crash in America, but I had no idea what they were talking about. It was very surreal. I had to stay in hospital for five days, and when I got home and got myself and baby settled in, I managed to read the newspapers. I had had no idea it was so bad. A strange time in my life: celebrating the birth of my second daughter, yet knowing there were thousands of people who had died on that same morning.
- Elaine Clemo, Derby

I was working on Shop TV in Liverpool so I shared the experience with a large number of people. We had the TV screens on all over the office and no one could believe what was happening. My saddest memory of 9/11 is that my mother in law never understood what the phrase meant. She always asked, what is this 9/11 everyone keeps talking about. She must have been in the first stages of Alzheimer's. She never understood the horror of what happened that day, and in many ways she was lucky as 9/11 took so much from the world.
- Jackie Waters, Liverpool

AP

I was a field sales rep and was walking through a town shopping centre in Kent. I came past a store with TVs in the front window, and suddenly noticed the picture of the twin towers with smoke coming out of one of them. I naturally stopped in confusion and watched as other TV screens started changing over to the same picture. I was one of the first members of public to look, but obviously as I did, I could hear the footsteps of other suddenly stopping and coming up behind me. It was not until I got home and switched on the telly that I saw the footage of the second plane. I sat on the floor in the middle of our living room staggered and utterly shocked, until my housemates came home and just sat with me. That day plays back in my mind like a movie scene about the end of the world. It was truly horrible. May all those innocent souls who died that day always rest in peace and never be forgotten.
- Neil Stevens

I was in a meeting on a construction site in Copenhagen. Someone came in to tell us a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre. We left the meeting and went to look at the news on his computer. By the time we got there, the second plane had flown in. We just couldn't believe it. Later that day I had to fly back to Birmingham. When we arrived at Copenhagen it was packed with slow-moving queues in almost silence. As you might expect planes were delayed as additional checks were made on everyone's luggage and once on the plane you could feel the tension which was only fully relieved when we had landed safely back in Birmingham. At that time I was making regular flights to and from Copenhagen, but the feeling that day was something never experienced before or thankfully since. However, I came close to it later when my wife and I were flying from Liverpool to Belfast for a weekend break. This was the Friday just a few days later and we were in the air at 11am for the minutes silence. A very poignant moment.
- Jim Campbell, Birmingham

I was working at Comet at the time. The news was on the display of TVs at the back of the building. It had been quite a dull dark and quiet day but suddenly people started to come into the store just so they could watch it unfold on the screens. There was no talking. People were just standing there in dismay at what they were watching.
- Leah Jeffery, Suffolk

I was at the northern-most point of Majorca, the lighthouse at Formentor, when my mother called me, but as the reception was so bad I couldn't hear her properly. I used to work at the World Trade Centre and was meant to be there that week, however had opted to go later in the year for Thanksgiving and some Christmas shopping with my fiancée. I still think how lucky we were and thankful that we were not there, as I lost friends and colleagues in the tragic events.
- Griff Durbridge, St Albans

I was a serving soldier over in Kosovo when the attack happened. The team I was leading had just got in from a routine patrol to see the planes smash into the Towers. As we stood there, still tired from the eight-hour patrol in the city centre, we recieved orders to go back out and get a feel from the locals on what they thought as we were in the middle of a very strong Muslim community and had a Mosque in the rear compound of the police station we were based in. I remember having to help audit buisnesses and offices of countries that may have links; all this as a normal squaddie on the ground.
- Graeme McKie

AP

I'd just got off a helicopter for my two-week stint on the rigs. One of my colleagues said there was a horror film on the television where two planes went into the twin towers. It did not take long before we were informed that it wasn't a film. I could not believe it.
- Robert Warburton

I was in Birkenhead sitting in my son's car on the way to look for a new cooker. Steve Wright announced that a plane had hit the World Trade Centre. We thought it was a light plane until Steve announced that a second plane had hit. We then realised that this was serious, maybe terrorists. On arriving home we put on the TV and watched in stunned silence as the first twin tower fell to the ground followed by the second one.
- Marjorie Kendall

It was my 12th birthday. I was at school and the whole school just stopped and watched it on TV. After getting home at 3pm mum had it on the news. We just sat there, shocked. I was on a school trip to New York in February 2006, and we visited Ground Zero. It was a very eerie place and was surronded by tremendous sadness. I still get chills seeing pictures.
- Jessica F

I was on a military training exercise. Around a dozen of us watched it on a very small portable mini-TV in black and white at the back of my MCV80 vehicle. We then we got word to be prepared to be re-tasked to protect Heathrow! I could not believe what we were seeing late at night on Salisbury Plain.
- Andrew McCormick

I had driven down from Cambridgeshire to Surrey that morning to deliver a Diversity Lesson to senior police officers at Bramshill. My car radio was broken and I had no idea that anything had happened. When I arrived at reception a notice stated that the facility was on Amber Alert. This meant nothing to me at all. It wasn't until I entered the meeting room that I had any idea that there was a problem. Some of the officers were Assistant Chief Constables and Chief Superintendents. I had no idea that in times of war, their responsibilities change completely and they were all on tenterhooks not knowing what their own status would be. Every time we had a break, they would all start talking on their mobiles. It was quite surreal but I delivered my part and left. It wasn't until I arrived back at home that I saw anything on the television. The images of people throwing themselves off those buildings and then the collapse of the towers will live vividly in my mind until the day I die.
- Brian Gascoyne

I was on desk duty at Okehampton training camp. I was watching the news as the second plane hit the towers. Even though I was involved in a bombing incident myself, while serving in the forces when our lorry was bombed, watching this put cold shivers down my spine.
- Brian Sweeney

AP

We were on holiday in Bulgaria. We had been caught in a thunderstorm and had run back to our hotel soaking wet. We switched the TV on and because it was in Bulgarian we at first thought it was a film. We had just figured out it was real when the power went off. It was not until we were in the bar later that day that the power returned and we saw the CNN news. For those few hours we couldn't find anyone who could tell us what was happening and I don't think I have ever been so scared.
- Ann Newey

I was sitting on a plane on the runway at Stansted waiting to fly to Amsterdam. I then experienced the fastest take-off ever in all my years of air travel. I later learned that ours was the last plane allowed to depart before the airport was closed to all traffic. It was only on landing that we were told by a steward what had happened in New York.
- Douglas Bergh

I was presenting an IT training course in Salford, Manchester that week. Someone came in during a break and said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre. We all assumed it was a light plane accidental collision. When I arrived back at my hotel later that day, I saw the news feed on the hotel reception TV and assumed initially that it was a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster. When I realised it was for real, I just stood there stunned watching the scenes over and over again. By the time I went up to my room I was in tears and unable to phone anyone for hours
- Samuel Trenchard

I was at the airport in Cyprus, waiting for our flight home. The army was there as normal but within minutes it was more like an army base than an airport. Everyone carrying a bag or with a suitcase had to empty it on the floor for inspection. The army were heavily armed as well. Everyone had their hand luggage tipped up and emptied and everyone had to be patted down before getting on the plane, and you had to go through a metal detector as you stepped on the plane. Eventually when we did fly, no one was allowed up. If you wanted the loo you had to call a stewardess and you were escorted. You were not allowed anywhere near the front of the plane unless you were sat there.
- Trevor Richardson

I was in the UK sending emails to my then-boyfriend of one month. He was heading for New York on the QE2 with his parents on a holiday that had been arranged long before we met. It was due to dock in New York on 9/11. As the drama unfolded on worldwide TV screens, he knew little; it would seem the ship was protecting people on board, many of whom were US citizens going to see family and friends, holidaying, or just going home. My last email told him he was in a media bubble, then email communication with the ship and his mobile phone was lost. He phoned me from Boston, to where the QE2 was diverted. He said that as they approached New York, there were SWAT boats with armed officers around the ship as it diverted and docked at Boston. Clearly it would have been seen as another possible target for the terrorists. Our anniversary of being together 10 years is also a reminder of that sad day only one month after we met.
- Jan

(MSN News)