Where Were You on 9-11-2001?

John Kennedy once said he could remember exactly where he was when Pearl Harbor was attacked and when President Franklin Roosevelt died.

A few weeks later Kennedy was killed and another generation suddenly had new images seared into memory.

The same is true for many of us who recall minute details of September 11^th, 2001.  At the time I was the News Director at a TV station in Burlington, Vermont.  I was in a morning managers meeting when someone came in from Master Control with questions about staying with ABC.  Apparently a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers in New York City.

As my day unfolded I had a bank of 18 TV monitors in front of me.  Fifteen carried various feeds from ABC and CNN.  You may have seen many horrible things at home.  I was witness to some pictures most people never saw.  It was horrifying.  For some time until much later in the day I believed we were approaching Armageddon.

What struck me most was the drive to the office September 12^th.  The sky was cloudless.  Not even a contrail as all air traffic was grounded.  The leaves in Vermont were beginning the change to fall colors.  It was surreal.