UPSers. Your Stories From September 11, 2001 Attack On The USA!

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anonymous6

Guest
every year we watch the 9-11 specials on tv. we never want to forget.

my sister was supposed to be on the hijacked flight out of Boston but she was late and missed it.

I was about 5 miles from the hub on an all night feeder run when the news on the radio said " a private plane just crashed into the side of the World Trade Center in NY." i laughed thinking of the visual of a small plane hitting that huge building. while fueling my tractor another driver told me what really happened and that another commercial airliner hit the second tower.

when i got home, my wife and I were clued to the tv as we watched one and then the other tower collapse. i then had to go to bed so i could work that night.


I remember a couple days later when more details were known how angry I was and how everyone wanted to bomb the whole middle east and wipe them all from the face of the earth. even though there was so much uncertainty about the world in those first few days everyone still came to work.

We did not lose anyone personally but one of our drivers lost his son over there and we still have Upsers whose sons and daughters have served or are still serving over there so we can have our pizza and beer and watch football games.

God Bless Them All ( and those who lost their lives on 9-11 and since.)
 

texan

Well-Known Member
I remember a lot of details on that day.

I can not share all as I want to keep myself somewhat anonymous.

It is a day and time I will never forget. People's faces, reactions, their demeanor, the TV, the word of
mouth reports from others.

The fighter jets in the skys and no other aircraft to be seen.

The people leaping to their death from the burning twin towers.

May all never forget.
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menotyou

bella amicizia
I was sitting at Southwicks listening to Imus. Warner Wolf called in to say that someone had flown into the towers. All hell broke loose after that. At 1pm, they closed the entire park system.
 

Johney

Well-Known Member
There is one thing I have noticed since 9/11 is that people on planes will not just sit back and take it. If there is some type of problem with a passenger people will stand up and if necessary kick their *****. Much like flight 93 those people got messages from family members about what was going on and they fought back. I don't think anyone could take over a plane nowadays with a box-cutter.
 
I remember being so angry I couldn't stand it. I also remember shedding a tear or two. I remember a ton of specific details to that day but sad and angry is all I want to share.
 
I remember being devastated by the senseless loss of life and overwhelmed with sorrow for those who perished and those they left behind. Most of all, I remember the people who chose to leap to their deaths from the towers rather than burning. What a horrendous choice to be forced to make, and yet they had the courage to make that very decision. One photographer said they chose to meet death on their own terms. Unbelievable tragedy and courage at the same time. How could anyone forget that?
 

Shifting Contents

Most Help Needed
In the military. Went from strolling around the post like another 18 year old kid walking around town to Kevlar, flack vest and M-16s every where I went. Just looking for a shady character to fill with lead. And this was a state side post.
 

Leftinbuilding

Well-Known Member
I remember the surreal feeling of looking up into a sky that normally would be crisscrossed with live flights and/or contrails, and seeing nothing. It seemed as if the world was holding it's breath.
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
Out delivering and listening to terrestrial radio and the local morning show mentioned the first plane kind of in passing. Then when the second plane hit the host had a bit more panic and worry in his voice. When I got to the local horse race track they had the news on up in the control room. Three guys sitting in there glued to 6 different news channels. I became the 4th guy for about a half hour. Then kind of just carried on with my day. A little bit of wow in the back of my head the rest of the day.
 

Ms.PacMan

Well-Known Member
Second bulk stop. I park at a dock and walk into an empty warehouse. I look around and everyone is in the warehouse office standing around an AV cart with a TV on top.

What struck me was the warehouse supervisor. He wore an eye patch to conceal a missing eye and the patch was pushed up on his forehead. It was startling to see his eye socket exposed. The second plane had just hit the South tower and it was so unbelievable that he had pushed the eye patch up as if he needed two eyes to comprehend what was happening.
 

bluehdmc

Well-Known Member
Was driving a school bus then, had just come back from showing another driver a route. Got back to dispatch, heard about the first plane and thought it might have been accidental. (A plane had flown into the Empire State building once.)

When I heard about the 2nd plane, I said it was no accident. Went home between runs and watched the news and the tower collapse. They called us all in early and dismissed students, if I recall correctly there were some bomb scares or something at the schools. Had a second job I went to in the evening and sat outside on break with a co-worker and remarked about not seeing any planes in the air. Everyone's mood seemed subdued for quite a while, would go past commuter lots late at night and see cars there and wondered if their owners were every coming back.........
 

iruhnman630

Well-Known Member
I was commuting 45 minutes each way between school and sleeping at my parents/working preload at the time...it was a morning with no classes scheduled so I was waiting in the building to try and pick up some air work when the rumors started flying, and center manager's went looking for any tv they could tune in...one of our nat'l guard guys showed a nervous excitement about going to war...

....I went home, told my dad to get up because 'I think world war 3 just started.'..

...almost throwing up when the tower came down...

Strange thing was, I didn't want to be home. Despite classes cancelling, and the uncertainty of even being able to make the drive back home, or social chaos breaking out, I went down to school anyway to get some work done. The campus was surreal, especially when at least one of the networks began mentioning our aviation school on the bottom line...

The next day, some idiot decided to pull a fire alarm, sending fear and panic through the lecture hall.
 

iruhnman630

Well-Known Member
Obviously none of us ever want to see anything like it happen again. But one thing I fear most is being expected to stay out and finish our routes. Knowing how I felt that day, I would want to shut it down and rtb immediately. Highly doubt that would happen.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Obviously none of us ever want to see anything like it happen again. But one thing I fear most is being expected to stay out and finish our routes. Knowing how I felt that day, I would want to shut it down and rtb immediately. Highly doubt that would happen.

That's understandable, you are only hnman.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I was getting out of the shower and preparing to drop my son off at school on my way to work when my wife called me crying from her car to tell me what she was hearing on the radio. I turned the TV on and watched for a few minutes and tried to explain to my son what was going on. That day, Sept 11th of 2001, was his 10th birthday, and we had gotten a box of cupcakes and some balloons for him to share at school during their lunch break. It felt bizarre and wrong to walk in to school with him carrying balloons and cupcakes while the whole fuc&%ing world seemed to be falling apart, but I really didnt know what else to do. We wound up still having a party for him that night but it was a rather subdued affair.
 
A

anonymous6

Guest
i remember calling the army recruiter and he said I was too old and that got me mad. they said they were inundated with calls to join.
 

Thebrownstreak

Well-Known Member
I was asleep after having PT in the morning for ROTC. My roommate came into my room to wake me up saying that we were at war. I was like get the friend out of my room. Then he said look at me. I saw the seriousness in his eyes. We went into the living room and watched as the 2nd plane hit. I remember just feeling the floor drop out. I immediately called my exgirlfriend bc she worked in a building across the street from the WTC. she thankfully answered and said that she had a meeting uptown and wasn't there. Immediatel after that my mom and dad called and I don't remember what was talked about. The rest of the day was a blur.

What I am still amazed at after all these years how emotional it still is. I've been a lucky man who married an amazing woman, had 3 beautiful and healthy children. I truly feel as I am a blessed man. Just the other day my wife and I watched "Extremely loud and incredibly close". We both cried alot. This is our Pearl Harbor moment. This is our assassination of JFK moment. This was the day that a sort of innocence was taken from the USA. This was the moment that touched us collectively as a nation. This is where everything changed.

And now I have the extremely difficult job of trying to explain this to my 9 yr old son. He said that he hates the people who did this. And although we try not to teach our children hate, I cannot disagree with him. I too hate those people. What have we learned from all this. What do we do to make a better world. How do we treat each other as human beings. These are all questions that are very hard to answer.
 

MaceFremonti

Well-Known Member
I was running the Union Station route that day which is on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Before you went to the loading docks at the Station you had to drop a large bulk stop at an electric company on Penn Street right off of New York Ave. The guys at the dock there were talking about a small commuter plane hitting the WTC. Their dock is below street level so when you leave you literally are looking up at the sky above the south part of the city. When I pulled out I could see the smoke billowing up from the Pentagon. I remember thinking WTF maybe they meant a plane had crashed at National Airport!

When I pulled into the docks under Union Station 5 minutes later hundreds of people were literally running out of both Union Station and Amtrak's corporate offices as well as from the Admin Office of US Courts building next door. One of DC's finest told me what was going on and that all buildings on Capitol Hill were being evacuated. Within ten minutes UPS brought everyone back in. Although we did have one driver in upper NW whose route was 200 resi stops everyday back then say friend-it and stayed out and ran his route.

I never saw it reported anywhere but I was told by the management company that owns Union Station that four middle eastern guys were caught that day in the tunnels under the station with complete and detailed floor plans of the whole building.....
 
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