WHERE WERE YOU?
By Bob Chochola
On the morning of September 11th, 2001 my alarm clock beeped at 6:30amCDST and I got up for work like I had done every day since I moved to Texas in 1996. I put on a pot of coffee and grabbed the leash, because I knew the first drill of the day would be to walk Tazzy - my dog.
Fifteen minutes later our walk was complete and I poured a hot cup, played with the pooch for a while, and then slowly headed to the shower - still unaware that my life, that all of our lives, would be changed forever that day.
At just after 7:45amCDST I was dry, dressed, and ready for cup number two and a peek at the TV for some news. This was a habit I had been in since college - I worked in TV news and it was never a good idea to walk into a buzzing news room without knowing what the "story of the day" happened to be.
I punched up CNN at about 7:50amCDST and there in the middle of my TV screen was the World Trade Center with a huge gaping hole in it. The hole had black smoke billowing out of it and I was in shock. Through my utter disbelief I could barely hear what the anchor was saying and I only picked-up bits and pieces of the sketchy dialogue: "plane... hit tower... 8:46 eastern time... don't know what kind of plane... possible terror attack... maybe just a horrible accident..."
I could tell right away by the size of the hole in the building and the black smoke from burning jet fuel that this was no Sunday pilot in a Cessna who strayed too far and lost control. I also knew that this - most likely a large jet - was no accident either. Commercial pilots don't make errors like that - they just don't.
I picked up my telephone and called my Mother.
"Turn on your TV, I gotta go!" I said in a hurried voice.
"What's up?" She said.
"I don't have time - have to get to work. Turn your TV on."
"What channel?" She asked.
"Any channel!" I replied. I figured that even the cartoon network would have interrupted regularly scheduled programming for that picture.
I made it to the TV station at light speed - by 8:07amCDST - early for my normal 9amCDST start time. As I entered the doorway and looked at the wall of TV monitors - there normally to keep track of all of the competition - I saw the World Trade Center on every screen, except now I could see both towers and there were two holes spewing black smoke to the heavens.
I asked the news desk what had happened and heard just three words: "A second plane." This time it was clearly a commercial airliner that had hit the other tower at 9:03am Eastern time and everyone on Earth now knew exactly what was going on.
I grabbed a pen, a pad of paper, some blank tapes to roll on the live feed and to take notes for later. I entered the control room and saw our New York bureau reporter (on all 75 monitor screens with volume full up) standing in the lobby of the second tower that had just been hit a few minutes before I arrived at work. I guess they figured they were safe in there because the other tower was on fire when they got to the scene. The crew was trying to set a shot, but the audio kept getting disrupted by bone-chilling "bangs" overhead.
My most vivid memory of that awful day was not the horrible pictures the public saw, but the realization our crew and everyone in our control room came to nearly simultaneously: that those "bangs" we were hearing were the sounds of death - people jumping from windows high above and slamming down onto the roof over our camera crew's heads. A sound I will never forget as long as I live.
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In twelve years working in TV News leading up to 9-11 I had been on many job interviews and had spoken with many news people across the country. One question I heard many times over again at every interview and at just about every friendly gathering was, "What's the biggest story you have ever worked on?" I have not heard that question asked again post 9-11. Everyone knows the answer now, because we were all on the job that fateful day and no other story can top that one. Not yet anyway.
Take time right now to remember where you were on September 11th, 2001.
Remember the nearly 3000 lives lost in the towers. Remember the heroes who sacrificed to help others - many who gave their lives - like fire fighters, police, Port Authority personnel, and ordinary citizens that risked their lives to save others. Remember the citizen heroes who died aboard Flight 93 preventing further destruction and loss of life in Washington DC. Remember the soldiers who have served and especially those who have been killed or wounded fighting the War on Terror on battle fields around the world. Remember the victims of further terror attacks and homicide bombings around the world after 9-11. Remember that free people everywhere right now are still fighting that war and will be for years to come.
Never Forget.
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