9/11 is a moment forever etched in people’s minds. We asked our Irish Central readers for memories of where they were when they heard the news.
Jean MacCoy: “ I was In a classroom with 26 eight-year-olds. As panicked parents came to collect their children, we had to explain what had happened and what was happening. Very difficult thing to do--you have to find a way that doesn't scare the children. When I think now those children have grown, graduated and some are working/some at university--I wonder if we "got it right", explained it so they understood but weren't scared.
Nancy Kelley: “I was working at a client site in Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland. One of the clients sitting near me was listening to the radio using ear buds when he heard the news. He went to the BBC website and there was already a photo of the first tower that was hit. He immediately called me over to see the website. I was the only American at the client site and the only American in the hotel. My co-workers in the states could not call me on my cell phone that day because the satellites were all jammed, so they texted my cell via the T-Mobile website to see whether or not I had heard.”
Harriette Majoros: “Getting ready to leave work to fly to Scotland for a 10 day vacation. Devastated when I saw the 2nd plane hit. Then a bit later my mom called from No. Royalton, OH about a plane flying low and slow over their house. It was the one that went down in PA. Called Dtr in college in NC to talk with her and she told me about a book that had been written about this very scenario. To this day, I cannot watch even the beginning of the films without breaking down into tears and depression. This is the 2nd day that lives in infamy.”
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Barbara Repko: “I was living in Pittsburgh. I saw the news early that morning on TV and rushed to my daughter's high school and brought her home.”
Cathy Stanlick: “At work. We all stopped and I went home to get my TV so we could see what was going on. It was not till later that day that I found out my friend Mark Bavis was on the plane that hit the second tower. I find this time of year very difficult remembering how a wonderful young man would never fulfill the promise of a wonderful future. RIP Mark, we still miss you.”
Alan Hennessy: “I was working at IBM in Mulhuddart, watching the news after the first plane hit and then live as the 2nd one hit the Tower,I ran upstairs to tell my American wife who worked with me. Just stared at the news cast in shock after that in the canteen. Called relatives in the States shortly after that and went home early, never forget a day like that, it got so hard to watch the news as the day went on.”
Colleen Stanley: “I will never forget it...my mother and I were watching the Today Show when they switched to video of a plane crashing into the tower...we continued to watch, and then a second plane hit the other tower...we watched it happen live, and then I knew it was terrorists. Just 15 minutes earlier I was on line with my friend who worked in the Towers, and she never got back to me.....RIP Kathy Smith!”
Bridget Connors: “I was at work listening to the radio when the news first hit...we turned on the TV in our break room & I saw the second plane hit. A girl in our office was in a panic most of the day because her mother worked in one of the towers & she wasn't able to get hold of her on the phone. She called her brother who worked for MTV at the time & they both tried to get her on the phone until close to the end of the day when she finally got hold of her mom, she had gotten out ok, but the cell towers on top of the buildings were destroyed when the buildings came down & that had tied up the lines. Later on that day, I also heard that Fr. Mike had been killed & I felt like I had been punched.”
Kathy McDonnell: I was at work in PA but my husband and son were fishing near the Verazanno Bridge and saw the whole thing! It changed both their lives, forever!
Pat Keoughan: “I was home from work sick with vertigo watching Good Morning America in NYC when they told about the first plane and not knowing what had happened. A while later, as I was watching the NY skyline on the TV we all saw the second plane, and watched in disbelief as it went straight into the South Tower. The fear in me has never been matched!
Richard Kerry Johnson: “Working in Ellsworth Maine I didn't have a TV at the time so when I walked into work it was just stone quiet. In the shop everyone was watching TV and they weren't talking it was spooky until they explained to me what had happened.”
Johnny Mc: “I was working in Dell Europe at the time. I was walking through the canteen and just over a minute after the first plane hit I sat down for the day and watched Sky News. Dell being an American company the canteen was full. I will never forget it sad sad day.”
Mal Rodgers: “I was in Turkey on vacation when I heard the news. I remember getting to the airport the next day and there being a two day delay.”
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