9/11 is such a sad day of remembrance in America. Do you remember where you were when you first heard the news?

Yep.  I was just on my way to work, when they announced the first hit.  I remember thinking "No way that's an accident".  When they announced the second, I was passing the USCG base in Astoria - and all their aircraft were prepping on the runways.  That had NEVER happened, even in drills. 

The local USCG cutters and buoy tender were also being prepped - and guards posted at the piers.  Which they NEVER have guarded.

So yeah ... lots of local excitement, even though we're on the other side of the country.

Yes, I was off work that day and was sitting at the kitchen table having coffee and watching the news when the first plane struck. I seen it on TV as it was happening. A Very Sad Day.

I had just gotten out of bed and was getting dressed and I heard my wife crying hysterically. I ran to the living room and all she could do was point to the TV. At first, I thought it was a movie and then realized what was happening.

Yes, I was at work and heard about it on the radio. We all went home to watch and see just exactly what happened. A very sad day for America and all of those who lost their lives that day.

Yes I sure do, I was at work in a patient's room, the tv happened to be on, and we watched....coulda heard a pin drop.

I was getting ready for work and had the morning news on television.  I remember that first hit and thinking what a horrible "accident" it was .... Then came the next, and my heart dropped.  I drove to work, but the university closed shortly after I arrived.  The heartache just kept increasing as the news unfolded.

I walked into work and was told by a co-worker. I was working at a school. So, I went to the teachers lounge which had a T.V. I was absolutely chilled to the bone. I could not get warm for the rest of the day. I could not concentrate, and wondered why we weren't cancelling school. Turns out it was for the best, we needed to appear as normal as possible for the kids.

There is one memory that will haunt me for the rest of my life. My best friend of 30 years lives in a beautiful canyon. On a good day we can see Catalina Island from her house. From her house I can see a big chunk of L.A. Including downtown. I have been hanging out watching the sun set there for years. That evening and for days after nothing was allowed to fly. We sat on her porch for hours that night drinking bottles of wine watching dead air space over Los Angeles. That's when the enormity of what happened hit home for me. As I sat there I knew that the world that I once knew was never going to be the same.

Watching the morning news then they cut in.  I cried and I'm crying today.

Yep. I was in  training for a new job at Social Security. Since we were away from everyone else we didn't hear anything until after the second tower had been hit and it wasn't not long before the collapse. I immediately called my husband because I knew our lives had just changed. He was an Army reservist at the time and I knew they would be calling before long. (It took two days. They said to start getting paperwork in order, and his unit was on standby. It was a few months before he went active duty, but volunteered to stay on until he was told he had to retire. That was 7 years later.)

Also I had a friend whose husband was stationed at the Pentagon. It took days before I heard from her. Her husband was safe. It was his day off so he wasn't there at the time, but his office was hit and destroyed. They lost 8 friends that day.

I am not an nervous or anxious person, but that day that is all I was. And every anniversary of it brings those feeling right back up.

i was in grade 5 a the time... Getting ready for school when i heard the news. (about a month in a half before my 11th birthday)

We were in a hotel/casino in the US (Idaho) and I went down to the bar to get a coffee. Everyone was watching the bar TV. The announcer let it be known that air traffic was stopped and that the borders would be closed. We left the hotel immediately, and headed for the Canadian border. It was closed and then reopened just as we got there. We got through, and the border was closed again.  Half the people driving across the border did not know anything was going on.

I was about 16 and getting home schooled. 9- 11 was a terrible day.

My husband and I lived in Key West.  Please don't read paradise into this location or the dramatic actions that followed.  It was anything but that in those moments of time.

I was at Billy's Restaurant and Bar.  It was a local joint where we all hung out.  Every working day I would meet my husband there.  He worked on an island off Key West.... Sunset Key.  It's a private island.  I stayed on Key West while he took a skiff to work 6 days a week. Everyone went to Billy's and waited for the skiff to come back.  Billy's  was a rambunctious sort of lively place, normally.  We all shared in laughter, stories, buckets of beer and long, hot, working days on the islands.

The boat ride between Key West and Sunset Key was about 5 minutes. On 9/11, I think time actually slowed down on Key West and sped up on Sunset Key. 

I remember vividly someone at Billy's whistling.  It was that strong, loud and piercing whistle... Like a guy has at a baseball game.  Shaaww-eewww-uuuuu-weehip!

All of Billy's shut up. 

Silence.  No laughing.  No dogs even moving.  No beers popping or iced tea being poured.  No nothing.  I really don't think anybody took a breath.

All of us looked up at the T.V.'s above the bar. 

The next moment Don was behind me.  How he got from Sunset Key to Key West on that skiff that fast, I'll never know.  He spun me around and said, " Hunney, the Twin Towers have been hit by 2 planes.  We need to grab Chance and see what we can do to help the Coast Guard."

Even though we weren't able to help to coast guard or anybody in the Continental United States at that time, I'll never forget that moment or feeling.  What happened?  What happened to the people in the Towers?  What happened?  Why?

For that freak moment, I truly felt everything I was raised to know and believe in... Was taken away from everyone in the US of A.

I remember 9/11 very well in my heart and soul.