Country Stars Remember 9/11 – Part 3 of 3

"I was at home in bed when it happened. Angie and I woke up to the event unfolding on the news, and we were just in shock. Like most people, we thought it was just an airline mishap until the second plane hit. I had a sick feeling in my stomach knowing people were trapped and might not make it out. This is an event that I will never forget as long as I live."

"I was in my apartment and my roommate had come up and said, 'Hey man, I think you're gonna wanna watch this.' And I didn't really grasp what was going on. The ironic thing is that day is the very first day I was to go in and sing on my first record that I ever made in Nashville. I'm 21-years-old, I'm so excited, thinking about that as I was driving to the studio, and it wasn't until I got to the studio and walked in the door and there was 15 people sitting around a television, some crying, jaws dropped to the floor. I just realized the significance of what had happened. I remember just looking at my producer and saying, 'I think that we're gonna have to come back and do this tomorrow,' and he looked at me and said, 'Absolutely.' It's very surreal to think that it has been 10 years now. And it's something that I think we'll never forget." [Quote courtesy of KFROG]

"I was in the Marine Corps stationed on Camp Pendleton out in the field doing combat training on 9/11. I was actually firing a 50 caliber down range when we were brought to the bleachers and told that terrorists attacked the U.S."

"My memory of 9/11 was I was in school -- the natural resources program at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin -- and was just between classes, and there’s this great big screen in the commons area, and it was on the news. It was all over, and we just kind of all stopped what we were doing and watched. And you know, the rest of the day, all the classes, we all just spent watching the news and kind of not believing what was goin’ on. And I remember one of the teachers said then that our lives are about to change drastically, and he was right."

"I was working an office job in Nashville at the time and was on a conference call when I first heard of the attacks. I went to high school in Manhattan and had commuted through the World Trade Center almost every day, so to see those buildings fall to the ground was overwhelming. Like many people, I spent most of the day waiting to hear from my family and friends and I remember never feeling as far away from them as I did that day. Every time I fly into Newark Liberty Airport and see the New York skyline without the Twin Towers, my heart breaks for my hometown."

"I remember I was in fifth grade. I was in class. And what's weird about it is not knowing. They didn't tell us. The teachers knew, and something was weird but the teachers didn't tell us anything was going on. I said something weird like I thought just maybe everybody was in a bad mood or something. But nobody said a word, none of the teachers said anything and I remember when I got in the car my mom told me what happened and I didn't believe it, it didn't register … So for a while, even after I got home and watched the news, it took a little while to sink in what had happened and it was hard to believe even after watching the video." [Quote courtesy of KFROG]

"I was driving into work, the Shop at Home Network. I was listening to Gerry House, I remember that, and the news broke. [I] really couldn’t grasp what had happened until I got to work and saw it for myself on television. I remember I watched the second plane hit the tower in real time. I had just moved to Nashville earlier that year, and all I remember is wanting to go home and be with those I loved. I’ll never forget that feeling."

"I was a freshman in college and was headed off to class when I saw on TV that the first plane had hit the tower ... I just dropped my books and sat there for the next couple hours and watched. I remember not being able to comprehend how many people had just died."

"I was on my tour bus in Virginia, heading home to do a show and some of the guys came running in beating on the door saying, 'Hey man, you gotta see this!' So we ran up to the front and saw that this plane had run into the tower, and then of course we saw the next one come in and it was like, 'Holy smoke, what's going on?' It was the weirdest day. I just remember it was beautiful. It was a beautiful day in Virginia, and there was not a single plane in the sky. I thought it was odd, and we were right next to an airport." [Quote courtesy of KFROG]

"I was actually doing maintenance up at some shops. And I came out of the building and I just had this eerie feeling, you know. I just felt like something happened. I wasn't around any radio or any TV or anything like that and probably about five minutes after I thought that, my wife called. She goes, 'Have you seen what has happened?' and I said, 'No, I don't even have a clue what's going on.' I was cutting grass and doing a little bit of everything. And when she told me what had happened about the planes flying into the tower, I couldn't believe it." [Quote courtesy of KFROG]

"I remember I was working at Great Lakes Steel on Zug Island in River Rouge, Michigan. I heard when I was on hold calling my boss. I decided it was time to get off that island because I had no idea what they would be destroying next. I went home to be with my family for the next few days."