The Z Takes A Look Back At 9/11

It was a day that many will never forget. Chances are anyone old enough to remember the events of that day can tell you exactly where they were when they heard the news.

With nearly 3,000 lives lost that day, between the Twin Towers, The Pentagon, and Shanksville, Penn., for many, it was one of the most devastating things they'd ever witnessed. And thanks to the wonders of technology, and broadcast news, we were, as a nation, literally watching it unfold before our eyes.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Then at 9:03, United Airlines Flight 175 hits the South Tower.

At 9:37,  American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.

And at 10:07 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93, crashes into a field in Pennsylvania.

While the destructive events took less than an hour and a half to unfold before our eyes, the residual damage of that day still lasts almost 20 years later.

The New York has skyline changed. The way we travel has changed. Life has changed.

We took a minute to go back to where we were on that fateful day. And while we were all in different places, the feeling those memories bring back are very much the same.

Kid: I wish i had a memorable story, i literary woke up and turned on the today show about 30 minutes after it happened. I was doing afternoon drive at the time. I think we did updates at the top and bottom of the hour. My impression of it was that it was hard to talk about it without being super emotional especially when you are playing upbeat top 40 music.

Sarah: I was in my first period class at school- band at Hampden Academy with Mr. Michaud- starting my sophomore year in high school.

When I first heard that something was going on I was with my band members in the middle of playing a song.   Some of noticed that overhead an announcement was trying to come through over the school speakers, trying to come through over the noise of the band.  It happened like that sometimes, where an announcement would be made but it was usually ignored during the playing of a song.   What was peculiar this time, and noticed by the kids but not by Mr. Michaud, was that the overhead announcement just kept going on and on while we continued to play the song.  There came a point when kids stopped playing their instruments and attempted to get Mr. Michaud's attention.

Once we all stopped, we listened to the tail end of what was being announced over the system but, it didn't really clarify the purpose of the announcement other than asking teachers to turn on their TVs if they had them in their classroom.

I can't remember exactly what happened next but I do remember sitting with other students while we watched, for the first time, the playback of the video of the planes hitting the world trade center as well as forthcoming news of subsequent plane incidents in D.C. and Pennsylvania.  The rest of the day was spent around TVs throughout the school, quiet and solemn and surreal.  No other event had disrupted a day of school like that before- where everything stopped being taught, people gathered, people shocked en masse.

Cori: I was in the waiting lobby of a local doctor’s office getting ready to be seen for a severe sunburn. I had taken the day off from the radio station so I could have the burns looked at. It was about 8:30, when they opened, and the receptionist came out from behind the desk to turn on the TV in the lobby, so we could all watch it. When the first plane hit that tower, everything in the office came to a halt, and the doctors from the back came out to join the patients in the lobby. We all watched in horror. My mom lived near the office, and had cable, so after getting special burn cream, I rushed over to her house and we were all glued to the television for the rest of the day. I remember calling in to the radio station to see if they needed my help. I knew that the content of that day would be emotionally heavy, and felt that even in my messed up state, I wanted to help. It was surreal, and devastating all in the same breath.