2 things I cant forget.

Sept. 11th 2001 was a beautiful day in DC  Not a cloud in the sky and perfect temperature.  I was waiting for a meeting in a reception area of an office on 4th St N.E. and a TV was on behind the receptionist. Images from the 1st plane hitting the tower appeared and I assumed a light aircraft had gone astray and hit it . It didnt look to bad at first. Just a few floors on fire. And then the absolute horror of seeing the 2nd plane hit. We knew then that this was something deliberate. I moved quickly down 4th street towards my car. Drivers passing by had their windows open and were playing WTOP loudly so people could hear.  The announcer was saying that a plane was possibly heading for DC. I was  panicked as I was only 4 blocks from the Capitol Building.  Needless to say I drove pretty fast to get out of DC and to my home in College Park.

The 2 other things that stand out for me are seeing two low flying war planes passing over as I neared home. They were travelling at a very fast pace.

The 2nd thing that stands out for me- and I will finish up after this because it is very very hard to type-  the 2nd thing was realizing - as I watched the 2 towers burning on TV  before they fell - was the periodic thumping I was hearing as the camera filimed the towers was the sound of bodies hitting the pavement. These were the people who were jumping to their  deaths rather than dying in the inferno above and I cannot get rid of that sound from my memory. I think the cameraman was deliberately not showing footage of the bodies hitting the ground but they definitely told us what it was.