Country Stars Remember 9/11 – Part 2 of 3

"I was playing golf with a friend early in the morning. Had an apartment in New York, and I lived in New York kind of at the time. If you looked out my bedroom window, we saw the World Trade Center. I was on my way back home. I was playing a 7 o’clock round of golf, and then I was catching a Noon flight, and when I was finishing up, we stopped in to get a drink and I looked and we saw the second tower come down. It was a vicious day."

"My alarm clock went off. I usually lay in bed for about five minutes and listen to the radio before I even get up, and I heard them talking about a tower in New York City that had been hit by a plane and I thought to myself, 'That's just too weird. As big as those towers are, how can someone not miss that? It has to be deliberate.' And I turned the television on, and as I'm watching the news reporter discussing the first building that had been hit, in the background I saw a plane hit the second building and I'm telling you, that got me out of bed. Music Row was a ghost town. There wasn't even a vehicle moving, there was no one walking around, there was no one in sight -- it was just like everyone was scared. Nothing else mattered. It was a scary, scary day. I'll never forget how I felt." [Quote courtesy of KFROG]

"I remember sitting at home with Jon, our bass player, after they canceled our classes that day and watching all of it happen on TV. Neither of us could comprehend the tragedy that was unfolding or the terrible loss our country was experiencing. It was our generation's first time to feel that amount of sorrow together."

"No event has been as philosophically jarring as 9/11. It grimly marks a profound turning point in my life. I was finishing up college at UGA and beginning my career as a social studies teacher. Smug with learning, idealistic, and eager to show the world what I knew, I was happily beginning my student teaching experience at a high school outside of Athens. As fate would have it, Sept. 11, 2001 was one of my first days at the head of the class. I turned on the classroom TV just before the second plane hit. In one foul swoop, my illusions were destroyed. Terrified, angry, heartbroken, and confused, I sat among my students, sadly aware that we were all wondering the same thing: Why?"

"I was in school. I was taking a critical reasoning and thinking class, right off of the Landis Green in Tallahassee at Florida State University. And I remember sittin’ down that morning in class, and on the big projector, he had the news on, and he was like, 'Ah, some idiot,’ our teacher said, ‘Some idiot just flew his plane into the World Trade Center.’ And everyone’s like, ‘What?’ We couldn’t believe that. And then, it was right then, man, where all of a sudden, they started saying it was a terrorist act, and the next thing you know, they said, ‘There’s another one coming! There’s another one coming!’ And it was just … man, to sit there and watch that was one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. He let us…obviously everyone got out early, and I was walkin’ around, and I mean, on a campus full of thousands and thousands of people that walk around every day, it was just silent. Everyone was silent. And they were just kind of walkin’ around lookin’ at each other, I think appreciating that we’re even still there."

"I was cutting grass that morning. I came inside to cool down and saw it on every TV station and was totally shocked! So proud of the way our country and troops rallied together to pull through such a tragic time."

"I was very nervous the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, simply because I had hardly studied for a high school algebra test, and knew I was about to fail it! I remember feeling like it was the end of the world and all I could see was my mother’s disappointed face when I showed her a big, circled 'F' on the paper. Then our teacher turned on the TV, and that’s when I saw the first tower in flames. Suddenly a little ol' math test didn’t even matter. In fact, I don’t even know if we finished the test. I remember every single student in the room had their eyes glued to the TV, all watching together, almost like a family, worried for their brothers and sisters who were going through something unimaginable ... I remember the hurt, the anger, and most of all, the unity that every one of us shared as we went through this together."

"I was in 10th grade ... I was actually on my way to history class, interestingly enough, and so we got to that class and turned the TV on, and we're just watching the footage and then ... we ended up having an assembly that day where the whole school went into the gym and our headmaster got up and explained kind of everything that was going on and what happened. It's one of those things that's forever ingrained in your memory. And I actually had a close friend of mine, it's actually my God sister's dad has been in the military and he's retired now. But he was on his way to the Pentagon and didn't get there. But so luckily before everything happened, but it's just, I think everyone has that personal connection to it no matter if you knew someone there or not. It's just ... and I think too not only is it a time to reflect on those lost in that tragedy, I think it's a time to really celebrate our military."

"I was laying on my mattress on the floor of my apartment in Nashville ... woke up to the morning news and just couldn't believe my eyes. I felt great sorrow. A few days later, John Rich and I got on a plane. We would not let fear invade our lives. Airports of course were in a state of emergency at that time. I am always reminded each day is a blessing, for sure."

"I had just finished painting a car and heard it on the radio. When the first plane hit, I thought it had to be an accident. When the second one hit, I thought, 'It's time to kick some a---!'"