Where Were You on Sept. 11, 2001?

Last year, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Lacey Patch readers shared their experiences.

What is your story? Where were you on this dark day? Share in the comments.

Carol Bania: I was working at my desk in a real estate office when the wife of one our tenants rushed in saying that a plane had crashed into one of the Towers. We immediately turned on the TV for news coverage in time to watch the second plane hit the second Tower.  People from other offices stopped in to watch and listen for details. Then came news of the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. The offices were uncharacteristically quiet. The phones had stopped ringing. Everyone was shocked. Hardly any work was done that day. Driving home through our small town pass the train station, an eerie feeling was prevalent. No activity! The trains were not running. For days after, the station was vacant except for the cars of the victims - friends, neighbors, children you had watched grow into adults with families of their own. No airplanes in the sky except for the fighter jets. The TV was a life-line. We grieved as a town and as a nation.

Kim Smith LeCras: I had just started teaching fourth grade in Old Bridge. My school was right across the waters from the Towers and we could see the smoke from our school. I'll never forget the military jets flying past our school, thinking it was another plane. I had my students write letters to future students, telling them what that day was like and how they felt. I still share those letters with students today.

Mike Brinson: Home sick and watched it on TV.

Iman Mustafa: I was in the office sitting next to my boss. I couldn't believe what he was showing me and broken down crying uncontrollably. That was the only year I didn't wish my mom a happy birthday the next.

Kathy Ryan: My two year old Ryan was playing a game on the computer and I was nursing Dylan who was an infant and just had decided to wacth a tape. And my mom called from the doctors and told me to watch the TV. Never, ever, forget that moment!

Linda Pisano-Haythorn: I had just put my son on the kindergarten bus and came inside to do laundry from my weekend in NYC for my tenth wedding anniversary. We were the last visitors to be at the tower on Monday night, Sept. 10. It was not our destiny.

Monique Polese DeLuca: I was driving to work and put the radio on and heard a plane had hit the Tower. I thought it was some dumb morning radio BS and thought "that's not even funny" and put a cd on! By the time I got to work I heard a second one hit. Realized then the United States was in a bad situation! God Bless America!

Jennifer Localio: I was at work when our very loud and busy office suddenly became silent. The phones did not ring as we listened and watched intensely to each word coming out the the news reporters mouth. I cried at my desk, filled with thoughts that since they were to use Monmouth Medical at a triage unit they were closing the roads and I could not get out of Long Branch, but also for the victims and their families and friends. What an incrediable tragedy.

John Speranza: I heard and had a picture in my mind of a small prop plane. You know, like in King Kong. Never thought it was a passenger plane.

Tracey Brinson: The Empire State Building, working.

Krystle Damion: ‎Eight grade in Florida. First class of the day.

Maryann Pietruska: At Bayonne High School, teaching and watching the towers come down. Then the city was locked in. Couldn't go over the turnpike or Bayonne Bridges.

Allison Kreitz Parrino: Senior year history class.

Laura Eden: I was at work in Lacey. We didn't have internet at the office at the time so all we knew was what the radio was telling us. I went home for lunch and when I turned on the TV, I was speechless and scared and confused just like everyone else. I will never forget that day.

Rachel Marcus: Sitting on the beach in Lavallette. You could actually see smoke from the distance. I had no idea what it was from. There were a bunch of people staring in that direction and I asked what was going on. An older man said to me, "We were attacked." He had tears in his eyes. I will never forget that awful moment.

Raquel Pulido: I was at work at Land of Oz, we have no TV, no radio (at the time), so the only way we were getting our info was from people calling in. Had no idea how bad it was untill I went home and put the tv on. Absolutely terrifying.

Bob Surtees: I was on active duty in the USMC in Florida. We had finished a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) mission around 6 a.m. and I went to bed. Then my Staff Sgt. woke me up and told me to pack my stuff, we were leaving. I remember looking at the picture of my six month old son thinking that I was never going to see him again. Fortunately, I was home within a week. But Three months later, began the longest two years of my life. Thats too long not to see your boy.

Michael Warzybuk: In my office at Rutgers University trying to figure out why I couldn’t make any phone calls. I soon realized why.

Colleen Desmond Brandt: I was driving to work when I heard on the radio about the first plane flying into the towers. I called my husband and he told me about the second plane. We knew instantly it was an attack. I drove to the office where everyone was huddled in the conference room around the TV. There was supposed to be a deposition. Even though the attorneys and court reporter arrived, it never went forward. The other attorneys stayed to watch the news coverage. Shortly after the firs tower fell, one of the attorneys, who I knew because I used to work with him when I interned in law school, went running out of the office screamng that he just remembered that his brother-in-law (sister's husband) worked at the Trade Center. I found out later that his brother-in-law was killed.