The day of Sept. 11, 2001 is one no one in the United States will forget. Most of us remember where we were the moment we heard the news about the attacks in New York City. There are annual ceremonies that memorialize the heroes and victims. This gallery shows a collection of photos from Getty Images capturing the 9/11 Memorial and gatherings throughout the years since that fateful day.
In that same spirit, throughout the day today, we'll share stories from News Talk 830 WCCO staff about where they were on 9/11.
Cory Hepola was a sophomore at Concordia College in Moorehead:
"I remember going to my class, which is a morning class and just having no idea. The teacher didn't even really address us. We walked in and the TV was on and we just kept watching TV. No one really had any idea how to act or what to say to each other. Certainly, no one was laughing. It was just a very somber day. And then the days went like that for a few days as we tried to try to figure out what had happened.
And, over the years now, I think it's a day that we all remember, but I think we also need to remember what that day was like just because we really did unite as a country at that point. We were in it together and we never want to forget those brave people who lost their lives."
Reporter Susie Jones remembers rushing over to the IDS tower in downtown Minneapolis as it was evaculated:
"I went over to the newsroom and I said, what can I do to help? And they said they're evacuating the IDS Tower... So I headed over and people were streaming out of that building. Not too much panic, but some concern on people's faces. And I started interviewing people, as I do, asking them what they heard and why they were asked to leave. And then a guard said to me, 'You can't talk to people. They're having a press conference in 15 minutes on the 39th floor.. And I tell you what, I remember vividly getting on the elevator because right at that time we had just heard about Pennsylvania. And I thought, 'Man, if this is going to be a series of attacks, right across the country, and I'm going to the 39th floor of the Mary Tyler Moore building.' It stopped me for a minute."
Dave Harrigan, producer of "Hey, It's Cory Hepola," was a senior in high school:
"I was at a meeting actually out of my first hour class, but then returned to class and news started filtering in and it wasn't until I got to my next class where we actually had the TV on... and that was the end of learning pretty much. We mostly just stared at the TV screens as I went from class to class the rest of the day, just mouth wide open, couldn't believe what was happening. Couldn't believe that terrorism was this real frankly."
Dan Cook, producer of The Chad Hartman show, was working the overnight shift during 9/11:
"I also remember coming into work that night, we had blown out all the commercials and was just wall-to-wall news coverage and calls and just hearing all the people that were so uncertain about what in the world was going on and what was going to happen next. And just needing to talk to somebody. It was a unique moment in the history of my career.
I'll never, ever forget it. We'd never experienced anything like that. And, you know, in a way, you hope you never obviously never experienced anything like that tragedy again, but the way that people reacted to it inspired you and gave you faith in the human condition."
Chad Hartman was getting his kids ready for school:
"So I was watching television the morning, getting ready to do my talk show later in the day. And I see covers, I think it was NBC, The Today Show and they show that a plane has hit the first tower. And I just thought like, everybody that had been an awful accident and started wondering about was anybody injured? Were there fatalities, but at the same time, I did get my kids off to school and so I'm taking my kids to school. And then I was, I was driving, I was listening here to CCO, and they reported that the second tower had been hit.
We knew something dramatically was taken place... And I started thinking, what exactly is taking place and how is that gonna affect the day and how is it gonna affect the world going forward with no idea what would take place over the next 18 years? As we sit here today."
News anchor Adam Carter reported on the story, but he was so rushed he didn't see an image of what had happened until later in the day. It was a moment that stuck with him:
"I had moved from Eau Claire, Wisconsin and my girlfriend still lived in Eau Claire, so I was in Eau Claire. And she woke me up and said that they wanted to be back at work because America was under attack and I couldn't believe it. And I immediately got into my car.
And the thing that hit me first is every radio station had news coverage of what was happening. So, I drove back from Eau Claire, which is an hour and a half drive, and the entire drive, I'm just listening to news coverage, having not seen images or anything. It's unusual because September 11th for many people was all about the horrific images of the day... I didn't see any images of what had happened until, well late in the afternoon on that day because I came downtown Minneapolis and was immediately instructed to go cover...
The Star Tribune actually came out with an extra addition like in the 40s, and the Star Tribune truck came down the street and threw out copies of the extra edition. I grabbed one of those and it had a still image of one of the planes going into the towers. And that's the first image of 9/11 that I saw."I'd heard a bunch of coverage, but that was the first photographic image images I've seen of the day. And I just remember finally coming back to the station then starting to watch the TV coverage on it. And, to this is the day that changed not only the country, but certainly altered the way we covered news and just everything from that day forward was at least in the months after, it was immediately how it related to the attacks, the September 11th attacks, even locally local stories that we've covered."
