On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.

The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East. Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Others had slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and acted as the "muscle" in the operation. The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary commuter jets into guided missiles.

As millions watched the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., and slammed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.

Less than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn for the worse when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel. At 10:30 a.m., the other Trade Center tower collapsed. Close to 3,000 people died in the World Trade Center and its vicinity, including a staggering 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. Almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.

Meanwhile, a fourth California-bound plane–United Flight 93–was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground. Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection. One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett Jr., told his wife over the phone that "I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey." Another passenger–Todd Beamer–was heard saying "Are you guys ready? Let's roll" over an open line. Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were "Everyone's running to first class. I've got to go. Bye."

The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of 500 miles per hour, crashing in a rural field in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m. All 45 people aboard were killed. Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard.

At 7 p.m., President George W. Bush, who had spent the day being shuttled around the country because of security concerns, returned to the White House. At 9 p.m., he delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, declaring, "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." In a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."

Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network based there, began on October 7. Within two months, U.S. forces had effectively removed the Taliban from operational power, but the war continued, as U.S. and coalition forces attempted to defeat a Taliban insurgency campaign based in neighboring Pakistan. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, remained at large until May 2, 2011, when he was finally tracked down and killed by U.S. forces at a hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In June 2011, President Barack Obama announced the beginning of large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, with a final withdrawal of U.S. forces tentatively scheduled for 2014.

this was my favorite memorial pic from 9/11, it is a picture composed of all the men,women, and children of that day that lost thier lives. They will never be forgotten!

I remember exactly what I was doing when someone told me i was at the local college taking an automotive class. I was under the hood of my pickup hooking up a sun machine. The rest of the day we all watch the tv. Even today it stirs a lot of emotion.


Thank you all that took the time to remember .

I was actually in art class when the principal announced over the intercom for ALL classes to go to the auditorium. She had the projecter hooked up to the t.v and we watched the whole thing unfold. I had nightmares for months after that.

Right now i am actually wearing my "TOGETHER WE STAND" 9/11 shirt. I still take long moments of silence and pray for the families. God only kbows what they went through watching that news story and seeing the towers collapse knowing that therefamily members r in there. Makes me cry every time i think of it.

I was working in a sheet metal fab shop in Orlando with several guys who had transferred through the union from NYC. They had friends that worked on crews that worked daily in the World Trade Center. I remember the horror on their faces and their emotion realizing that their old friends were in the situation that they were in. We closed and went home that morning...

I also have 2 family members that are high ranking Army officers (husband and wife) who work in the Pentagon. They were near the impact location and spent that morning rescuing people from the wreckage.

Not a good day at all, but that's life I guess. Hopefully we gave as good as we got. It just makes me sick that CIA spook Billy Waugh followed Bin Laden for years, and could have and would have taken him out at any time. Unfortunately, that order was never given.

I still have my old hard hat with one of these on the side of it.

I had just completed an Armoured Infantry gunnery exercise in North Yorkshire. My Battlegroup was at the top of its game. We were totally ready for the next big fight, perhaps in Eastern Europe, but it was theoretical only. The cold war was over. The first Gulf War was ten years past. We honestly believed that we were just training for training's sake - nothing to worry about. This was the British Army, under funded, poorly manned, withdrawing from empire and becoming less relevant.

So, we were taking an early afternoon break from live firing when somebody turned on his pocket FM radio. We listened to the whole thing unfold in astonished disbelief, in the back of a pristine Warrior armoured fighting vehicle that would soon be shipped to the Middle East to be scorched, dented and perforated by real battle.

I'm not American, but 9/11 struck me to the core and changed my life profoundly. Sometimes I feel a little scorched and dented myself, I have developed some quite pacifist tendancies as a result, and I feel that history will not be kind to the likes of me. But I would do it all again because, whatever you think of George Bush and the fucked up coalition, doing nothing was not an option.

I remember 9/11 every day.

Ronnie,

I'm proud of what you have done in serving the country and the free world. "doing nothing was not an option.
I remember 9/11 every day." I love this statement....may we never forget what would have happened if the "opposite occurred" and "nothing was done". Always remember Ronnie and may we all remember....lives were lost but many more would have been lost if nothing was done...let alone those that remained the tradgy of being under evil regimes that currently are not there.

We will never forget those who were injured and those who died that day. We changed that day, each of us in very different ways.

I had just boarded an early morning flight in San Diego, and we were backing away from the gate. The plane stopped, and waited midway to the taxiway. The pilot then announced that an incident in NYC had caused all planes to hold nationwide. We were all on our cell phones immediately. As mine powered on, a call came in from my client and he said that it didn't look like I would be flying up, and he briefly described what was happening. My wife called, and she gave me details. Eventually the plane pulled back up to the jetway and we all departed into the chaos of the airport terminal. My wife and I spent the rest of the day watching news coverage and linking up with friends and family.

I would also like to remember our people in Benghazi who were killed a year ago today, clearly a message from the killers in using this date.

As this is a memorial thread, I will hold my other thoughts and comments. Thank you Kes for starting this thread.

Manfred

I will never forget I wad actually only in 4th grade when my teacher come back in the room crying and hooking up the tv just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. Today it hits me a lot harder did it did then. I woke up this morning in tears thinking about the people who couldn't make it out and the firefighter, NYPD, and PAPD OFFICERS WHO gave the ultimate sacrifice that day. This is a big reason I am ff/paramedic today. I would like to say to my brother's who didn't make it out and the father, brothers, sisters, and mothers who didn't get to go home u will never be forgotten.

Ronnie Biggs wrote: I had just completed an Armoured Infantry gunnery exercise in North Yorkshire. My Battlegroup was at the top of its game. We were totally ready for the next big fight, perhaps in Eastern Europe, but it was theoretical only. The cold war was over. The first Gulf War was ten years past. We honestly believed that we were just training for training's sake - nothing to worry about. This was the British Army, under funded, poorly manned, withdrawing from empire and becoming less relevant.

So, we were taking an early afternoon break from live firing when somebody turned on his pocket FM radio. We listened to the whole thing unfold in astonished disbelief, in the back of a pristine Warrior armoured fighting vehicle that would soon be shipped to the Middle East to be scorched, dented and perforated by real battle.

I'm not American, but 9/11 struck me to the core and changed my life profoundly. Sometimes I feel a little scorched and dented myself, I have developed some quite pacifist tendancies as a result, and I feel that history will not be kind to the likes of me. But I would do it all again because, whatever you think of George Bush and the fucked up coalition, doing nothing was not an option.

I remember 9/11 every day.

Everyone hates a man who says "this is what I'm going to do", then actually does it.

Thank you VERY much for your contributions Ronnie.

I would hardly call the British Army irrelevant... Not when you produce the likes of Andy McNabb. I see you guys as a nation of tough fearless sons of ...... when the .... actually hits the fan.

I think of the events of that day often. When ever I see the American Flag my mind brings me back to that day.

I didnt know any of the victims, nor do I know anyone who knew any of the victims of that tragedy, but I have always felt that I lost brothers and sisters. I am still angry and hurt. I do not think Americans should stop hunting those who participated in and planned the attack until each of them are caught and brought to justice. I think that the consequence for them should be so horrible that all those who rejoiced that day, and those who would attack again, are scared to the heart of their very souls to even consider doing it again.

O agree J. I still feel anger over that day. I may only be 17 but ive aleays been a patriot to my country and seeing that unfold hurt. And i was so young it shouldnt have fased me. But it did and does still. I think they. Should be shot in the feet so they suffer and no matter which foot they stand on they r in pain. Thats a meer smack on the hand in my book, since these wackos arent afraid to die. Killing them would do no good. They need to suffer and understand the pain we wennt through.

Now i have nothing against arabs or jews or any of that stuff, i only hate the people that r so sick in the head to kill thousands of people and not think twice about it.

I will never forget those who died in that day. My prayers are with them and God bless the families and friends who lost people they care about to this attack.

NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE !