Where Were You on September 11, 2001?

Most of us can probably  remember where we were and what we were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. We also remember the feelings and emotions of those moments. I was less than three weeks away from returning to my  radio job, after taking a year away to work  for Townsend Tree Service in Indiana. That day is a blur, except for the morning.

I was a Herbicide Spray Foreman.My job was to kill  trees that were growing underneath power lines. Each morning began  by finding water to pump into the 300 gallon tank on back of the truck, and then mixing in the poison. We had just filled the tank and were headed to our first destination, and as usual listening to country station giant  WTHI - Hi 99 out of Terre Haute.

The report came across the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Initially there was no indication or suggestion that it was an act of terrorism. It seemed to be some sort of freak accident. When the report came across a short time later that a second plane had hit the towers, the reality of the situation became alarmingly clear - America was under attack.

As alarming as it was, we still didn't realize the magnitude of what was happening. That really didn't happen until the announcer came on to report that the  twin towers had collapsed. They were gone. I was stunned.

We did our best to get our work done, but found it difficult to leave the radio as reports continued to trickle in with details surrounding the shocking events of the day. I was anxious to get home and see for myself the horror that had been described on the radio. It just didn't seem real until I actually saw the television images of destruction, devastation, and loss of life.

We didn't really realize it at the moment, but our lives in America would never ever be the same again.