It’s been 15 years since radical Islamic terrorists hijacked four airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center complex in New York and another into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane plowed into the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as brave passengers and crew members tried to wrest control away from the hijackers. All told, 2,996 people died that day and more than 6,000 others were injured.
While teachers try to explain 9/11 to a generation of students who weren’t yet born when it happened, millions of people around the world have the events of the day seared into their minds. U.S. News & World Report asked readers to share their memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. You can read more of their thoughts on Facebook.
I was a sophomore in high school… sitting in math class when another teacher rushed in saying to turn on the news. Within three years, nearly half of my friends had enlisted. #NeverForget — Jessica Bennett Anderson, Sparks, Nevada
I was sitting in my boss’ office in the Library of Congress Madison building, watching on TV images of the twin towers falling and the Pentagon burning. The news reported that a plane was missing and presumed to have been hijacked. We looked at each other. What is the next high value target? The Capitol. How would a plane approach it? Down the Mall. What would happen if it hit the dome a glancing blow? It would deflect left to the Hart Building or right to the Madison Building. In the latter case, it would likely hit the building corner where we were sitting. Everybody go home, my boss said. We all left the building and gradually other offices did as well. There was never an evacuation order, though, from Library security office or the Librarian. Happily or sadly, that missing aircraft later crashed in Pennsylvania. Driving home, I remarked to myself how calm and polite the other drivers were on those crowded streets around the Capitol and how cell phones were so oversubscribed that there was no signal. — Jonathan Sanford, Washington, D.C.
I was a stay at home mom at the time. Katie Couric was on TV, and I was catching a few minutes of news while the kids were watching “Sesame Street.” I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center and called my dad. He started crying, saying, “We’re at war.” I was transfixed with horror watching the coverage. The kids were allowed to watch PBS kids’ shows all morning long while I watched cable news coverage. — Robyn Harrison Alexander
Stuck on the D train on the Manhattan Bridge. Luckily, things weren’t like they are today, with everyone having a smartphone. None of us knew what was going on and no one panicked. It was just another delay on the morning commute. — Melanie Ali, Fairfax, Virginia
I was living in a guest house in Brussels on an internship without access to TV. It was an incredibly weird experience to learn of perhaps the defining TV-broadcast event of our lifetimes through still images on newspaper front pages the morning after. — Mark Smith, Manassas, Virginia
I was in 8th grade, just a few weeks into the school year. We basically had no idea during the day. When the last bell rang, that was the first time I realized something was wrong. Normally students milled around the hallways before slowly making their way outside, while most teachers stayed in their rooms working. That day every teacher was in the halls or outside, telling us all the get home as quickly as possible. I asked our social studies teacher what was going on, and with tears in his eyes he just told us to get home and talk to our parents. The teachers knew all day, but they held it together to give us one last day of our old lives. They knew, as a commuter town for NYC, that some of our neighbors would not be coming home. We lost 12 people from our town that day. — Hannah Carson, Perth, Australia
Sitting in an emergency operations center in Florida talking about wildfire mitigation. I remember someone’s pager going off and him coming back to say a plane had hit one of the WTC. We went back to the discussion (thinking it was some small plane) until the pagers all started going off. — Jane Sibley Frantz
I was at my desk at work. I worked as a technician for Verizon at the time. All of our phones started going off. We turned on the TV and saw it all happen right before our eyes. Went outside to get some air and heard the explosion from the plane hitting the Pentagon. Told my boss I had to go home. Drove directly to my son’s school and demanded that they let him out of class. Drove home and gathered all my family near. Hubby went in to work to go down to the Pentagon to fix the phone lines. — Sharon Srednicki Simpson
I was in 8th grade. I walked into my U.S. history classroom and the television was [showing] the tower burning. I asked my teacher what movie we were watching. She said it was real life. We watched in horror that entire period. A day I will never forget… — Andrew Flores, Scottsdale, Arizona
I had just walked in from grocery shopping, was going to have a friend for lunch, flipped on the TV, panicked when the plane hit the Pentagon, since hubs had mentioned that he had meeting at the Pentagon that day. Mother then called in a panic, saying she needed me to come get her from work; she worked near the Pentagon and watched the plane go into the side of the building. Hubs called to tell me that the meeting had been canceled because the guy he was suppose to meet with was sick. The plane hit where they would have met. — Marilyn Spector Morrison, Springfield, Virginia
My daughters and I were at the doctor’s office watching the TV. We watched it as it happened and couldn’t believe what was happening right before our eyes. The kids wanted to go and get lunch and I said, ‘No, we have to go home because your dad is going to have to leave.’ When we got to the driveway he was there with all of his gear, ready to go. He was part of the first response to NYC with the USCG PSU. He was gone 3 months and then went to GITMO. — Sondra Foote, Paw Paw, West Virginia
I was home sick with a bad migraine. When I turned on the news one tower had already been hit and I watched as the second tower was hit and then they went down. I lost a friend that worked in one of the towers. — Dale Mentnech Baker, Suffolk County, New York
I was headed to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx to kick off a Learning Leaders mentor program. We canceled it of course as the hospital was standing by for the injured. Our instructor was stuck in a subway but did get out when transportation started moving again. We all thought a small plane hit the tower. News traveled a bit slower then. We watched the smoke from the parking garage and were ready to push beds to rooms. We had a few walk-ins with smoke in their eyes and five firemen. One had bad smoke in his lungs but he survived. We never did revive the mentor program but I was proud to be working at a hospital that was poised with thousands of employees to help the injured. — Maureen E. Simmons, New Rochelle, New York
At that time I was working at a rail-yard next to Metro airport in Michigan. Before I left for work I had seen the first plane hit on TV. It didn’t become real in my mind until I got to work, there was not a plane in the sky. I found out later that the United States had grounded all flights in the U.S. That is when it hit home. — George Wetzel, Richardson, Texas
I was living and working in Brooklyn and was waiting to meet a colleague coming from Manhattan. She called saying she couldn’t get down the West Side Highway and that she had heard a plane flew into a building downtown. She was turning around and going back uptown. I turned on the news in the car and heard it was the World Trade Center. I drove a few blocks West and saw the first tower on fire with my own eyes from across the river. I drove home, and minutes later I saw the first building fall on the TV and eventually the second tower. I lived so close that there was smoke and paperwork and ash drifting into our street. I’ll never forget that smell. It smelled like that for weeks. It was a very surreal time. The days and weeks that followed brought news of friends and of friend’s families who were unaccounted for. My home town, a Long Island commuter town, was hit very hard with loss. — Kat Driscoll Barlow, Springfield, Virginia
I was at home working when it came on TV. It seemed surreal. I walked outside and it was eerily quiet. Not even a bird chirping. I will never forget it. — Janet Oney, Ore City, Texas
I was driving to work and just when I got off the Pentagon exit from 395 I saw an airplane crash right into Pentagon building before my eyes. Then I heard the loud noise and big fire from the building. I felt the heat from my dashboard. I opened the door and got out and every other driver did the same. I was stuck at the exit for six hours and could not move my car forward or backward. Finally I could move forward and just made it to the office in D.C. and found out about the disaster. Took me another 10 hours to go back home in Virginia. Throughout the day we were trying to get in touch with the family to make sure everyone were safe, etc… This was the time when I was so scared of missing loved ones. –Lucy Van, Virginia
I was under the elevated section of the BQE. Making a delivery. Just below the southern tip of Manhattan. Saw and heard much more than I wanted to. My company had contracts with FEMA and I told them, “If we go, it has to be me.” Went back two days later, was there for three weeks working as a driver doing USAR support for FEMA. Horrible event, but it changed my life. — Jesse Bailey
I worked for a money manager in San Diego. I arrived at work to find all employees standing up at their desks, watching the small TVs we each had. No one said a word as we watched the news. About after 30 minutes, we were all told to go home and be with our families. We were in one of the tallest buildings in the city. I made it home before the towers fell. I remember realizing that this day would forever change all Americans and our future. That day I realized the United States was not “safe” or immune from our enemies. Prior to that day, I had always believed no one on the planet would even think of attacking us on our own soil. — Shannon Robinson
I was teaching in a NYC public elementary school. It was my daughter’s first day of Pre-K. Sadly, many of our friends perished that horrible day. Many were 1st responders. “All gave some, some gave all.” I do believe that our world changed forever that day and that all the departed will never be forgotten! — Kerri Ann O’Connor
I was an 8th grader in Rockland, Maine, a tiny coastal town. Picturesque. Sublime. Isolated. As the class bell rang and I heading to Social Studies I passed through a classroom with the TV on. I heard classmates ask what movie we were watching. The teachers didn’t answer. They couldn’t answer. I remember for many days and weeks after, they couldn’t answer our questions. We watched the live news coverage all that next class period until the first tower fell. I recall my teacher quickly rising from her chair, switching off the television power, and making the sign of the cross in a silent prayer. At lunch it was the talk of “World War III,” “This is crazy,” “What the hell happened” that kept my head spinning. My sister was away at a boarding high school. I was sure she was safe. My dad was a high school teacher just on the other side of town. He was fine. My mom worked for a U.S. senator. She traveled to the Jetport and occasionally to D.C. for work with the senator. Was she safe? Thankfully she was, but what else had happened? Who else was hurt? Did I know anyone in New York? Pennsylvania? D.C.? I remember watching the news that night and for many nights after, sitting with my parents, trying to understand what had happened, what would happen. 15 years later, I now live in D.C., right in the heart of the city on Capitol Hill. I sometime wonder what I would do if there was another terrorist attack of that magnitude in this city. But I do not live in fear. We are a stronger country because of the experiences we have had. We will never forget, but will will continue to live our lives to the fullest. — Alexandra Linn, Washington, D.C.
These comments have been lightly edited for clarity.
More from U.S. News
Video: 15 Years After 9/11 the Wounds Are Fresh
Where Were You on 9/11? originally appeared on usnews.com
