Got up around 6am that morning. Grabbed a nice hot shower because it was kinda chilly that morning. It was a gorgeous day. Had my plane in the car, ready to go out and do some playing that day. I'll NEVER EVER forget how crystal clear the sky was that day. Unlimited visibility that morning. Driving in to work, Spike O'Dell on WGN Radio said "Man, there's just nothin' going on today, nothin in the news, nothin goin' on at Capitol Hill...just kinda quiet today, so enjoy it, folks."

I pulled into work and sat down at my desk and started joking with some of my co-workers about some goofball that left us a voicemail the night before when someone came running upstairs talking about some idiot that crashed a plane into the World Trade Center. We figured it was some yayhoo in a Cessna lost orientation and clipped the building. In the office, we listened to a morning show here in Chicago called Mancow. He had Fox News Channel audio playing and he said "A jumbo jet just crashed into the building!" I started laughing and said outloud "What a moron, he's really going a little overboard, don't ya think?"

Some of our employees noticed that there were lots of airplanes landing at our airport and pulling onto our ramp. Like 2 or 3 at a time! That's unusual since we're a fairly small airport. Pilot's were coming in asking what was going on. I ran up to the Pilot's lounge where the only TV in the building was, and just as I came up the stairs, I saw the second plane in the tower. First words out of my mouth were "Turn that movie off and turn on the news, what are you guys watching?" My boss turned to me and said "Uh, Mike, this is Fox News Channel....that's live video, brotha..."

I didn't know what to say or do. I just stood there...I was completely helpless. I wanted so desperately to do something but I just couldn't function. I remember that we were incredibly busy at work that week and the phones had been ringing off the hook, and at about 9am CST the phones stopped and never rang again that day other than our families calling us to tell us what they were seeing. My mother called crying asking me if this was real or some sick joke...I didn't know what to say except that I thought it was real. She thought there'd be no person sick enough to fly a jet intentionally into a building like that...she was wrong.

I'll never forget going home and thinking that the day's events were going to change the world forever. I went to our local flying field which is underneath the approach path of one of the runways at O'Hare. We're about 20 miles away, but airliners are seen over our heads all day long. Not ONE SINGLE AIRPLANE was flying. I remember taking my pocket knife and engraving "9/11/01" Into the picnic table at the field. It's still there today. As I turned to go away from the field and head to the parking lot, two F-16's went screaming by in a left hand turn as if they were circling the city of Chicago...they were FULLY LOADED with armament...again, something I'll NEVER FORGET.

Where were you that day?

I was on a trip with my unit to Kunsan Air Base, Korea. We had just evacuated our planes from Okinawa due to a Typhoon. So, that night (about 10pm there) we were out on the town (A-town for all that know), drinks/dinner, etc... I remember being in a club and an armed Security Forces troop came running into the club and grabbed the DJ's mic thereafter telling us "all US servicemen are to return to your billets (hotels, barracks, etc...)". We thought it was a routine bomb scare, so we lazily exited the bar and waited for a cab to take us back to where we were staying just outside the base. When we walked in, the lounge in the hotel had the TV on. We were just in time to see the second plane hit. We just looked at each other in disbelief. We were moved on to the base and spent the next 72 hours on lock-down. Nothing was moving. We eventually got back to Okinawa. Needless to say, you all can guess where I spend the last part of 2001 and most of 2002.

Very very sad day. WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

I was at work that day and I too remember how absolutely beautiful the sky was that morning. I'm kinda cut off from news and information at work so I had to rely on what other people told me (you know how that can be). It wasn't until I got home that it really hit me what had happened. I spent the next few weeks watching and reading everything I could about what was happening in New York.

The outpouring of genuine kindness and decency after the attacks was completely overwhelming and it didn't just happen here in the states. I know a woman who was on a flight back to the states from Europe and was re-routed to Canada. There were no vacant hotel rooms so she was stuck at the airport until she could fly out. Dozens of local Canadians came to the airport and took people stranded there into their homes and provided shelter, food and company for these people. There were fund raisers immediately set up for victims and rescue workers everytime you turned around.

Will and I went to an IMAC several weeks later in Chatham Ontario Canada and every house that had a Canadian flag flying was also flying an American flag.

It started out just an ordinary day but the events of that ordinary changed everyone's lives

At that time I was working in a group home in Evansville, IN. I was driving to work for a staff meeting. When I walked in the staff meeting had been canceled and everyone was sitting around the TV. Even the kids in the group home were watching the news of the events unfolding. It was a few min after I got there that the second plane hit the towers. I sat at the home for the rest of the day watching the events. Still every time I think about that day the emotions come flooding back.

My thoughts and prayers are still with the families and friends of those lost that day.

There were true heroes lost that day. The firefighters, police, and medical personnel, and even civilians that put their lives on the line to help their fellow man. The acts of those brave men and women saved countless lives and reduced the number of families to feel the sorrow of loss.

It was a world changing day. I want to express my gratitude to those that have committed to keeping the Country and world a safer place since that day.

There have been few days in the last 50 years that stand out in the minds of the nation. The day that Kennedy was shot was just a few weeks before I was born, I know many that can tell you exactly where there were and what they were doing when they heard. The ones that I will always remember were these, the final day of the Apollo 13 mission, the day that the Challenger exploded.

I was leaving work. I was working midnight-8 shift, but had stayed a little late that morning. Someone heard the news, so we turned on the only TV we had in the lab. There was no antenna (we only used it as a monitor) so I fashioned something out of wire. I figured the crash was an accident of some sort.

I went home and turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit. Then there was the report about the pentagon. I knew then that our country was under attack. My first thought was to get my son out of school and get him far away from any population center, since I had no idea how far this situation was going to spread.

In the days afterwards, everyone flew flags. I hung a flag on my front porch, it is still there. When it gets too worn or faded, I will take it down and replace it, but I will also fold it up and save it.

I remember the benefit concert on TV with all the stars and musicians raising money for the victims. The one performance that sticks in my mind was Tom Petty singing "Won't back down". That song took on a whole new meaning for me after that.

Well I wont back down, no I wont back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I wont back down

Gonna stand my ground, wont be turned around
And Ill keep this world from draggin me down
Gonna stand my ground and I wont back down

Hey baby, there aint no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I wont back down.

Well I know whats right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin me around
But Ill stand my ground and I wont back down

Hey baby there aint no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I wont back down
No, I wont back down

I was off that day, at home. Watched on TV. Later that night, my neighbor who worked in one of the towers made it home. In the next few days I found out that I lost a relative.

In the following months, there were countless funerals around the NY metro area.

The people that are responsible need to be hunted down and slaughtered like the animals they are.

-
Bob