#NeverForget: Where Were You on 9/11?

This is a view of Freedom Tower from Patch Headquarters in New York City.

Tonight, New Yorkers will see the 1,776-foot-tall tower light up, accompanied by two beams of light shooting into the sky in remembrance of those lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Patch’s Chairman of the Board, Charles Hale, was in the World Trade Center Courtyard during the attacks. He remembers seeing a plane coming right at him, saw the belly of the 767 overhead.

“It was the clearest, crispest day,” he said.

He ran across the street during the chaos, was almost hit by a car and saw an explosion behind him. When Hale finally made it onto a train, no one knew what had happened.

“Someone asked. I explained. Got a hug,” Hale wrote in an email.

• Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001? Tell us in the comments section.

Today’s middle school students weren’t born until after 2001. For them, 9/11 has become a part of history, an event to be learned from a textbook and talked about in class.

But the memories — of a jet plunging into the Pentagon, two planes striking the World Trade Center, the subsequent collapse of the towers, people jumping out of burning buildings and the passengers who fought back on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania — those are ingrained into a generational memory.

Patch asked our editors in the field across the country where they were on 9/11 and what they remember:

Charles Hale, Chairman of the Board

Next to the WTC courtyard, seeing plane coming right at me. Could see the 767 on the belly. It was the clearest, crispest day. Ran across street. Almost hit by a car. Saw explosion blast from behind to in front of me. Sheltered in Century 21 entryway. Paper everywhere. Scraped holes in suit arms and legs from diving into shelter. Went to N/R asap past the landing gear, and left. On the train, no one knew what had happened. Someone asked. I explained. Got a hug.

Autumn Johnson, ACE Editor for California

I was a police officer in California at the time and I woke up from sleeping for my night shift when I heard the news on TV. Our department, like all departments, was put on high alert to brace for any further attacks. It was a very surreal day for all of us. The thing I remember most, besides the pictures of the destruction and loss, was the overwhelming sadness and fear in every corner of our community on that day and the days following. It was palpable.

When I visited the 9/11 memorial in April of 2011, I was with my cousin whose husband is a firefighter and I remember standing by the pools reading the names and listening to the sound of utter silence around us. It is virtually impossible to put those kinds of feelings into words but I can say that standing in that spot.... Where all of those lives were lost was more than just humbling... It changed my life.

Beth Dalbey, ACE Editor for Michigan

I was working at a business journal, where many of the companies we covered had a presence at the World Trade Center. So we cranked out localized stories for an electronic newsletter and sent out updates at least once an hour. The discipline was good, because it occupied my mind and I didn’t have to think too deeply how much the world had changed in a few moments in that clear, crisp and otherwise made-to-order early fall day.

The emotion I most remember was fear about what we, as Americans, would look like on the other side of 9/11. I feared greatly for a country I love, not so much from more attacks from the outside – we had the goodwill of most of the rest of the world in our palms at that time – but from division from within and the culture of hate and suspicion that would develop. Sadly, those fears don’t appear to have been without merit.

Sherri Lonon, ACE Editor for Florida

I was getting ready for work and had my 2-year-old daughter in her playpen in my room. My husband called and told me to turn on the news. I remember watching as the tragedy unfolded, picking up Chelsea and holding her tight, wondering just what kind of world my little girl was going to inherit. I also recall covering the immediate outpouring of support from Tampa Bay area residents and thinking just how proud I was to be an American and how humbled I was by the acts of kindness, generosity, selflessness and heroism that echoed across the country that day and in the days that followed.

Kara Seymour, ACE Editor for Pennsylvania

I was in a creative writing class at James Madison University, when another teacher burst in the door to say the Twin Towers were under attack. I spent the rest of the day glued to the television, stunned, saddened and confused.

Caitlyn Fitzpatrick, Editorial Intern

I remember driving to school and seeing all of the smoke from the towers... all the way from New Jersey! I was only 9 so I didn’t completely understand the magnitude of what happened. But I knew that my aunt worked a couple of blocks from the towers and we were worried because we couldn’t reach her for a few hours.

Tony Schinella, ACE Editor for New Hampshire

I was stuck in commuter traffic in Boston, taking my wife to work before covering the special election for the 9th Congressional District seat, after U.S. Rep. Joe Moakley passed away. It was supposed to be an ordinary day but it turned out not to be.

Matt Ford, Reporter

I was in fourth grade, still in Alabama. I remember calling home to my mom to make sure she was OK, even though she was in the same city as me and the attack was across the country. As a little kid, I just saw the adults freaking out and knew something horrible had happened. My first instinct was to check on my family.

Jason Koestenblatt, ACE Editor for New Jersey

I was a college freshman at Kutztown University. I had just hopped back into bed after a very early morning class when my dorm neighbor beat on my door. He told me to turn the TV on immediately. The first image I saw was the second plane crashing into the South Tower, live. It stopped us all in our tracks and the rest of the day became a chaotic blur. Not a moment of that day will ever be forgotten.

Deb Belt, ACE Editor for Maryland/Georgia

I was working at the Des Moines Register to produce extra newspaper editions sold on the streets, a flashback to a bygone era. And, I checked with friends I knew who had family in NYC that day, and was relieved -- and at the same time guilty to feel relief in the midst of such heartbreak -- to learn they were all OK.

Paige McAtee, Editorial Intern

One of the girls in my fifth-grade class said a plane hit one of the Twin Towers, but I didn’t find out what really happened until I went home. I went to watch my regular television show, but instead of 7th Heaven, the television was broadcasting news updates on the terrorist attack.

Adina Genn, ACE Editor in New York

I was working from home on the North Shore of Long Island. My husband and daughter, who was in elementary school at the time, were on a field trip at a nearby beach, and they could see the smoke from the shore. Just before school let out I and a bunch of other parents showed up at the school to collect our kids rather than put them on the bus, and it was a deep relief to learn that these particular families were okay. Later, we would learn how many perished, including the father of a little boy in my son’s class.

• Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001? Tell us in the comments section.

>>A view of Freedom Tower and Avenue of the Americas from outside Patch Headquarters. Credit: Sydney Wu