Tribute Remembering 9/11, 20 Years Later

[EdJovanovski]

I’m too young to remember but I’m sure many of you guys from NY were personally affected or knew people who were. Share any stories you have

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[and 99 others]

Very random but I distinctly remember watching the MSG broadcast of that first game back in the garden. I don't remember anything about the game, but during one of the stoppages the arena dj's queued up Sugar Ray's 'Answer the Phone', which wasn't a very popular song at the time but was one of my favorites because it was the first song on the first CD I ever purchased with my own money. So I'm singing along to it and Sam and JD throw it down to whoever the on-ice analyst was at the time (maybe Micheletti?) and ask him what the atmosphere was like in the arena. And I remember the analyst saying something like, "well its a little quieter than normal for a home opener and they're playing this slow and somber music."

Sugar Ray are legends Joe, come on man. That song still slaps and is quintessential 00's alt-rock.

 

[egelband]

I’m too young to remember but I’m sure many of you guys from NY were personally affected or knew people who were. Share any stories you have

Great to hear Bob Sheppard.

 

[SML2]

I wish the mods could access the threads from that day. To read what was happening in real time would be amazing right now.

 

[duhmetreE]

It's crazy how vividly l remember that day.

 

[Leonardo87]

9/11 brought this country together, didn’t matter what differences or opinions you had, now our country has become so far apart. Truly sad.

 

[Alicat]

Thinking of all those impacted on that terrible day 20 years ago.

I will never forget.

Despite the rivalry, we stood with you and you stood with us years later. I will forever be grateful for that unity.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

I was 11 on that fateful day, but I remember it quite well. Just started 6th grade and my class went to Central Park because it was such a gorgeous day outside. When we got back to school, the whole school was called down to the gym and told what happened. Then our whole lives changed forever.

I lost my uncle that day in the WTC. He was a big time Rangers fan.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

I was in lower Manhattan that day. I worked a few blocks away from the trade center. It was a very tough day. I remember everything like it was yesterday even though sometimes I wish I could forget. I didn't see the planes hit the buildings but I heard them. My suit and shoes were covered in ash and soot. It was like a nuclear bomb went off in lower Manhattan. The sun was blocked out and you had to wear a wet rag over your face to walk outside. I made it home about 7pm that day but I was one of the lucky ones. My prayers go out to the innocent people who lost their lives and their families who suffer to this day. Never forget.

 

[NYSPORTS]

Thought i was going to die. Lot of stories. Buildings collapsing, paper flying everywhere, multiple explosions (or sounds of), stop and go stampedes of people, cell phone service was all down, mass transit shut down anticipating who knows what? Another plane, a bomb?

 

[EdJovanovski]

Thought i was going to die. Lot of stories. Buildings collapsing, paper flying everywhere, multiple explosions (or sounds of), stop and go stampedes of people, cell phone service was all down, mass transit shut down anticipating who knows what? Another plane, a bomb?

Whaaat?? How close were you to it?

 

[romba]

My friends and I watched in astonishment both buildings leak smoke from our school roof once we heard what happened. I left class and came back up myself an hour or so later and could only see lots of dust. I assumed it was too smokey to see them anymore...

Half burnt bank papers were flying around everywhere that evening.

For years, anytime you heard more than one siren everyone kind of looked at each other in fear wondering if it was happening again.

 

[NYSPORTS]

Whaaat?? How close were you to it?

One Liberty Plaza. You?

 

[Daves a mess]

I was on the pile for 2 days following the attack on the Towers.

To this day the smell of jet fuel is still with me.

 

[will1066]

I worked at 100 William St. during that time but was habitually late to work. Even though my work day began at 9 a.m., publishing wasn't like financial, where you had to get in early and on time every day. I tended to get in around 10 a.m. I remember being at DeKalb Ave., the last stop on my line before crossing Manahattan Bridge when I started hearing people rumbling about what was happening. Then, crossing the bridge, I saw the Towers and decided to head further north to the bank where my mom worked at. When the subway resumed limited service, we were able to catch a train back to Brooklyn, and I remember seeing the empty skyline while crossing the bridge. We were extremely lucky that day.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Very random but I distinctly remember watching the MSG broadcast of that first game back in the garden. I don't remember anything about the game, but during one of the stoppages the arena dj's queued up Sugar Ray's 'Answer the Phone', which wasn't a very popular song at the time but was one of my favorites because it was the first song on the first CD I ever purchased with my own money. So I'm singing along to it and Sam and JD throw it down to whoever the on-ice analyst was at the time (maybe Micheletti?) and ask him what the atmosphere was like in the arena. And I remember the analyst saying something like, "well its a little quieter than normal for a home opener and they're playing this slow and somber music."

Sugar Ray are legends Joe, come on man. That song still slaps and is quintessential 00's alt-rock.

No way was it Joe, I'm 99% sure Joe was with the Islanders at the time.

 

[Fitzy]

I don't think we will see the country with quite such a unified purpose ever again.

It feels like the divisions in this country are much deeper today than 20 years ago.

WW2 and 9/11 were the two great coming togethers for this country.

 

[will1066]

No way was it Joe, I'm 99% sure Joe was with the Islanders at the time.

It was Giannone.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

I don't think we will see the country with quite such a unified purpose ever again.

It feels like the divisions in this country are much deeper today than 20 years ago.

For sure. It feels like most people forgot the lessons we learned that day, especially the most important lesson of all: we're all Americans.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

It was Giannone.

I thought Giannone was working with Curt Menefee at that time. I didn't know he was an on-ice personality at that time. Maybe it was Trautwig or Sal Messina? Was Deb Kaufman still with the Rangers at that time or did she already move to the Devils?

 

[SML2]

Whaaat?? How close were you to it?

A friend of mine worked in a building very close. I got through to him on the phone that day. He said it was like a ticker tape parade except all of the confetti was paperwork from the WTC.

 

[aufheben]

I consider myself lucky to not have much of a story about that day, but I still remember it vividly.

I was in 7th grade, and although my hometown is only 30 miles N/W of Manhattan, to a kid growing up tucked away in a mountainous, rural region of North Jersey, the City felt like another planet.

During what was probably my 3rd class of the day, our teacher rolled out a TV stand from the corner of the room, and simply put on the news. I could tell it was not good news, but I had no frame of reference for the gravity of it.

Both my parents were working, so my mom had our neighbor’s mom scoop up her daughter, my sister, and myself, immediately—and when I say “immediately,” I mean it literally. I remember walking out of class, through the school, and into her minivan; all the other kids were still in class.

I’ll always love my moms for that…for being that protective. It seemed like an overreaction to me, but what 7th grader is going to complain about getting out early, riding a VIP Ford Windstar no less?

The thing was, although I felt a million miles away from the City, in reality it was incredibly close. The main road in and out of my town was a long, winding drive uphill, from the top of which you could see the entire skyline of Manhattan with incomprehensible clarity (the road was and is still called “Skyline Drive”.) I’ve driven up and down that road a thousand times in my life, and every time after 9/11, I’ve tried to imagine what the skyline would have looked like on that day.

Several years later, I’d be spending all of my young-adulthood going to college around lower Manhattan. I used to wander around the Empire State Building staring up, wondering how it was possible I could see this object, this man-made creation from so far away. I went to a concert by the South Street Seaport during fall of freshman year, and we took a path around the site first, and all I remember being there was…nothing.

Where ever I am in life, Manhattan will always be The City to me. It treated me so kindly, showed me everything about life. I fell in love with it the moment I was first shot out of the Lincoln Tunnel into blinding light, and felt air hit my lungs that was unlike anywhere else.

My heart goes out to anyone who was living there at the time, had any attachment to NYC, or was simply old enough to really feel what was happening. I still struggle to imagine what it must have been like, and how the City managed to survive it.

 

[bluesXwinXtheXcup]

That day changed my life.

I was stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. It's the hub for F/A-18's for the East coast. I was working in the Deceptive Electronic Counter Measures avionics shop that had no windows and was accessible to no one that didn't need to know. So all I knew was what a co-worker heard while on break, that a plane hit the WTC.

We ate lunch early in the service, so by 10:30am I was in line at the galley. That's when I saw what was happening.

You could hear our fighter jets taking off at military power. The base immediately went into lock down. Essentially personnel only.

8 days later I joined the USS Roosevelt as we departed Norfolk, destination payback. We flew the flag from the WTC from our mast as we entered the Persian Gulf. We revered that flag. Our Captain played NY, NY as we left port. We knew what our mission was. And we accomplished it IMHO.

Ended up doing three combat tours to the Gulf.

That day changed the world to me. But it wasn't all negative.

I remember coming home to a heroes welcome. I couldn't get over the number of houses that had American flags. The country was incredibly patriotic at that point.

 

[Machinehead]

You could see the skyline from my classroom and I watched it happen in front of me. I was 10 which is a rough age. I was old enough to process it but young enough that it broke the plastic lining on my innocence.

I go down there every year unless I'm working all day. I stay out of the memorial on 9/11 because I didn't lose anybody and I choose to let the families have their space. I just sit by the new tower and vibe. It's cathartic for me.

The new WTC1 has grown on me. It used to make me sad but not seeing it fills me with nothing but joy. It's some piece of work and I'm immensely proud of how it represents the city.

That's why when I recently got a New York inspired tattoo I made the decision to feature the new tower in the skyline. I love this city so much. I was born here and I'll die here. Coming down here is still somber but allows me to connect on a spiritual level with my home.

 

[Primary Assist]

God bless America and God bless New York City, from this hockey fan in New Jersey