September 11, 2001 (time is in Central time zone)
06:45 I arrived at work, unlocked the shop and started getting ready for a day of production at Craftmasters Powdercoating Co. In Mexia Tx.
0700 Jose and I start powder coating and stacking tractor panels.
0745 James arrives and informs us that a plane has hit the WTC! I said, "Oh no, that poor guy!" James informed me that it was a jumbo jet, not a private plane.
0800 Shane arrived and put a television on his desk and told us that we all, "had to see this!" On the television, reporters were showing footage of one tower engulfed in thick black smoke and asking how a commercial airliner couldn't have seen WTC and crashed directly into it. Work stopped just to see what had happened.
0803 The second plane is visible in the background banking into a turn and in seconds slams into the corner of the south tower. Suddenly everyone realized that this was a deliberate attack, not an accident. This was the OH SHIT! moment. They immediately started showing graphics displaying "America under attack!"
0815 They were reporting that other planes may have been hijacked.
0840 First reports that another plane had crashed into the pentagon.
0859 The south tower collapses. Shane immediately said, "Close up the shop guys, we're going home!"
0915 While driving back home, there are reports that another plane has crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
0928 The north tower collapses.
1720 WTC building number 7 also collapses. It was 47 stories tall and was never struck by a plane.
I'm not sure what time the FAA grounded all air traffic but that was amazing. Every plane in America had to land immediately and anyone not complying were subject to being shot down. Unprecedented. Learning that the people onboard one of the planes had fought back and crashed to protect others was terrible news, but I'm glad they stepped up and prevented even more deaths.
Today on this ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on American citizens, I'm reminded of the pain, shock and anger that I felt on that awful day. I wanted revenge and I wanted it to be swift and merciless. After watching both towers fall and knowing thousands had just died, I witnessed Palestinians dancing in the streets in celebration. I haven't forgotten those images either.
Watching the events of that fateful day unfurl on our television screens changed the lives of every American. Our sense of security, liberties and freedoms were reduced to a huge pile of rubble in NYC. Before that day I had never seen troops standing guard in airports. Songs have been written, stories are told, wars are being fought and memorials are built due to a few hours in American history.
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