‘This can’t be real.’ 20 years later, SLO County residents recall where they were on 9/11
Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?
Many San Luis Obispo County residents can recall exactly where they were when they first learned that an airplane had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
They remember hearing the news from friends, from family, from coworkers. They remember watching on live television as a second commercial airliner made impact with the South Tower. They remember the confusion as another hijacked plane flew into the Pentagon in Virginia, and a final plane crashed on a field in Pennsylvania.
Some San Luis Obispo County residents were in New York City at the time, caught up in the chaos and fear of those deadly terrorist attacks. Others witnessed them via video footage.
On that day 20 years ago, 2,996 people died in attacks that left an indelible mark on millions of others. Those events remain relevant to this day, especially in light of the United States’ recent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, here are San Luis Obispo County residents’ recollections of that fateful day.
(Editor’s note: The following responses have been edited for clarity and length.)
‘’Even though I was safe, my family was panicking all day.’
“I was in a midtown Manhattan office, arriving the night before for work. I was going through emails when someone asked to look out my south-facing window. I asked why, and he said a plane hit the World Trade Center.
“No one knew what type of plane, and nothing could be seen. We turned to a radio for more news. The remainder of the day was spent in a conference room watching the growing plume of smoke to the south and TV news. One person hid under the table all day. Everyone stayed in their buildings.
“There was nowhere to go, as subways and bridges leaving Manhattan were closed and only first responders could come in. Eventually, subways and bridges opened. At 6 p.m. my cell phone started working and I had a flood of messages. My only call/voicemail by landline that morning was not received, so even though I was safe, my family was panicking all day.
“I left Manhattan by airplane on Sept. 15. I returned two weeks later. The landing path took us right over Ground Zero that night.”
Greg Steinberger, Arroyo Grande
‘Your brother is going to war’
“I was watching the morning news while getting ready for work. When the second plane hit the towers, I turned to my daughter and said, ‘Your brother is going to war.’ My son was a member of the 82nd Airborne stationed at Fort Bragg.”
Susan Hall, Morro Bay
‘By the time I walked out of my meeting, the world had changed’
“I was living and working in Manhattan at the time. My office was three blocks from the World Trade Center, but I had a business meeting in midtown (about 5 miles away) on the morning of 9/11. I walked into my meeting having heard about a plane that had crashed into one of the WTC towers. My colleagues and I all thought it was likely an inexperienced private pilot who had made a fatal error.
“By the time I walked out of my meeting, the world had changed. The second tower had been hit, and minutes after we walked out of the conference room (where nobody came to update us), we heard on the radio someone had turned on that one of the towers had collapsed. After the second tower collapsed, we all left the office for our respective homes. For me, it was a short walk.
“I then sat in my apartment anxiously waiting to hear from my then-boyfriend (now husband), who worked just a block away from the WTC. He showed up some time later, having seen the second plane fly over his head, as he started the 5-mile walk/escape to my apartment (which was closer than his).”
Jodie Steele, San Luis Obispo
‘It was the most surreal day I spent in a 31-year hospital career’
“I was in the locker room after a workout at the Santa Monica YMCA. A friend was at his locker and asked if I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Just then, another friend walked in and said a second plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. I remember asking my friends if they had been listening to Orson Welles’ ‘War of the Worlds.’ Once I got to the hospital I was working at, I had heard what had happened, and it was the most surreal day I spent in a 31-year hospital career.”
Ron Yukelson, San Luis Obispo
‘Uncertain whether we were witnessing the beginning of World War III’
“During the third year of my first term on (the San Luis Obispo) City Council, I was the council liaison to the Downtown Association. Early in the morning on Sept. 11, 2001, I drove to SLO City Hall to attend their board meeting. I was surprised to see them — not chatting and reviewing the agenda — but all clustered around the television, watching a plane crash into a New York skyscraper. Why were they watching the TV instead of meeting? I had no idea what was going on.
“As I too watched, I realized this was real, happening in real time, and the devastating enormity of the attack suddenly struck me. I started crying. We all hugged and cried together, uncertain whether we were witnessing the beginning of World War III.”
Jan Marx, San Luis Obispo
‘This can’t be real’
“On the morning of Sept. 11, I woke up in a hotel room in Sacramento. Having applied for a staff position with the state of California, I was scheduled to take a test for it that morning. While getting ready, I switched on the TV and saw a plane crashing into a building. At first I assumed it was a scene from an upcoming movie. This can’t be real.
“While in a state of shock, I managed to get dressed and make my way over to the testing location. There were other people there standing outside the door waiting to be tested. Some had gotten the news earlier, and others were hearing it for the first time. We looked at each other in disbelief, and I would describe the overall mood as somber. Eventually someone opened the door to the office and made an announcement. The gist of it was that out of an abundance of caution, all testing for the day would be canceled.
“Needless to say, the long drive from Sacramento back home to San Luis Obispo was thought-provoking.”
Vic Montalban, Arroyo Grande
‘We spent the next week flying combat air patrols over the East Coast’
“I was on active duty in the Navy, stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia as commander of Carrier Air Wing Seven. On Sept. 11, I was driving our 3-year-old daughter to preschool on my way to work, when my wife called to tell me a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. While we were talking, she saw the second plane hit the tower on CNN.
“I dropped off my daughter, headed out to the base, and soon received a phone call from my boss, Commander Naval Air Forces Atlantic, that I was to divide my air wing and send eight armed FA-18 Hornets to the USS George Washington and eight armed F-14 Tomcats to the USS John F. Kennedy by 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, along with the rest of Air Wing Seven.
“We spent the next week flying combat air patrols over the East Coast, from New York south to Jacksonville, Florida. It was very surreal being the only aircraft airborne as we stood guard in case of a follow-on attack.”
George Dom, San Luis Obispo
‘All day, we listening to the news, overwhelmed’
“I was on the way to work at Cal Poly, listening to KCBX and what I was hearing wasn’t processing in my brain. I parked and ran to my office as everyone was turning on the TV in our break room to comprehend what was happening. It was difficult to not leave and pick up my children from school; I was a department manager and needed to stay with our staff, so I remained.
“All day, we listening to the news, overwhelmed. We lived near the train and airport and we were used to the noise; the weeks afterward with NO transportation sounds were unnerving.”
Susan Sparling, Atascadero
‘I was a young mom’
“I was in French Hospital with a 1-day-old baby and a 12-month-old. My second daughter was born Sept. 10, 2001. I was a young mom and my father-in-law kept turning on the TV in my hospital room in order to access the events of that day. I was sad, but I was excited about my second daughter being born and joining her sister.
“How can you be happy to have a healthy newborn, and at the same time apprehensive about what was happening in our world?”
Kristin Barneich, Arroyo Grande
‘I was too close to 9/11 to teach it well’
“I was teaching history at Arroyo Grande High School and first heard the news from another teacher. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I remembered that the Empire State Building had survived the impact of a World War II bomber. But as the enormity of it became more apparent, the day’s lesson would be dropped in favor of CNN. Their correspondent, Aaron Brown, was superb. I later knew how deep it hit my family when a Newsweek cover appeared with images of victims — tiny but unmistakably human — falling from the towers. My then-11-year-old, who has a big heart, burst into tears. I hid the magazine from him in a bottom dresser drawer. It’s still there.
“In 2003, one of my former students came to school, ramrod straight and in desert camouflage. He was about to deploy to Iraq. He promised to get a bad guy for me. I didn’t know what to say to him. We shook hands and I held onto his for awhile. I hope that today he’s surrounded by a bunch of little good guys — his children.
“In my teaching, I’d use another war — the First World War and its disastrous peace, the Versailles Treaty — to try to draw the line between 1919 and 2001. I don’t know that I ever succeeded. I was too close to 9/11 to teach it well.”
Jim Gregory, Arroyo Grande
‘Both towers just vanished’
“We were on a tour of Germany at the time 9/11 happened. Our bus driver told the tour guide, who told us that both towers just vanished. It was hard to believe, and as it unfolded we ended up being escorted by flanks of troops back to our ships. Since no airplanes were allowed to fly for some time after that, we were simply left to finish our tour of the Baltic Sea and St. Petersburg, but our heart was hardly in it because of what happened back home.
“On the way home from Europe, we were de-planed in Edmonton, Canada, due to a bomb threat which turned out to be false. The new airport had nobody but us in it, and we finished our return to San Francisco.”
Jim Carlisle and Patricia Cairns, Atascadero
‘All I could do was stare at the screen, at the images’
“The day began like most Tuesday mornings at Dick’s Sporting Goods. The company was growing fast. We had recently moved into our new corporate headquarters near the Pittsburgh (International) Airport. My office window overlooked the airport.
“Todd, one of my co-workers, came over to me and said, ‘You gotta go down to the fitness room and watch what’s going on. Some airplane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.’ I headed downstairs into the fitness room, where we had several TV monitors overhead above the treadmills. There were several other co-workers in the room.
“We were mesmerized, confused about what we were witnessing. All CNN could tell us was that an airplane had crashed into the WTC. I went back upstairs to my desk to work. The weekly business recap report was due that morning.
“A while later, a swell of my co-workers started heading back downstairs to the TVs. I followed. This time, the fitness room was packed with people. ... We were mortified with what was transpiring. The first tower had collapsed. Reports were coming in about the Pentagon. Then the second tower collapsed.
“I witnessed that live, as it was happening. I couldn’t fathom what I was seeing. Was it the death of tens of thousands of people? Who did this. Why? Why was this happening? Were we next? Was this the start of a war? Nothing in my years of education and experience could have prepared me for this. For the first time in my life, I was rendered speechless. I just couldn’t think. All I could do was stare at the screen, at the images.”
Kenny McCarthy, San Luis Obispo
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