9/11 Attacks, September 11, 2001, by Anonymous

From MemoryArchive

Who: Anonymous
What: 9/11 attacks
When: September 11,2001
Where: Viewpoint from Los Angeles, California

On September 11th, I was the Security Director for a hotel in the LAX area. I had stayed up late the previous nite and was sound asleep when I receive a call in the morning, waking me up, saying "You're not at the hotel? Didn't they call you in? Don't you know what's going on? Turn on the TV!" I sat and stared, completely numb. I couldn't believe it. My first instinct was to call the hotel. Everything's ok I was told, you don't have to come in early. I sat glued to the television for a whole five minutes when I was called by the hotel and told, "get in here right away". The adrenaline started to kick in and as I drove down Lincoln Blvd. past the airport, I saw the eerie sight of absolutley no air traffic. Becaue I barely had time to watch tv, I didn't know they had stopped all air traffic. That was the first thing I heard from the staff as I entered the hotel. Oh my God, I thought, we have airline crew who stay here........and I wondered. One of the flights crew (details withheld out of respect) had indeed stayed at our hotel, and the Front Desk staff was pretty traumatized. Then the realization hit that everyone who was due to depart that day wouldn't be able to, including the crews from 4 different airlines. In the hotel lounge, the TV was glued to CNN. Groups of guests and airline crews were huddled in little groups. We tried to help them as best we could.......free phone calls, giving them cell phone chargers left in lost & found, communicating with the airlines. They were clearly in shock, many were crying. We had a manager's meeting and found out that one of the hotels destroyed in Manhattan was from our company. Fellow employees were missing. An announcement was made that they were closing the airport. I will never in my life forget the images of passengers walking down Century Blvd, suitcases in tow, looking for hotels with rooms. Several employees now could not get to work because they were closing all roads leading into and out of the airport area. It was going to be a long day. Now the trouble started. The media was swarming all over the place. We made the decision to restrict hotel access to employees and guests only. Tons of reporters were trying to get in. I had the unpleasant task of telling them they had to leave. I was called more than a few names, told I was infringing on constitutional rights, and other such garbage. I was just trying to protect our guests. A reporter then snuck in, found her way to the bar, then pulled a video camera out of her coat, (no one wears a coat in LA in Sept) and shoves the camera in the face of an obviously distraught airline employee. I informed the reporter that I would physically remove her if she didn't leave. All together, we had to remove almost 30 reporters that day. Now, in Aug. of 05, I still dream about Sept. 11, but as if it is happening in LA. What I don't understand, is that the dreams are becoming more vivid and more frequent. I always wonder why I would be having more nightmares, not less. A portention of the future? I had another dream last night. I am going to Manhattan on a trip next week. My heart goes out to the people of New York . I wonder how they survived such trauma, and feel guilty that I am bothered by my nightmares. -- August, 2005

Co-opted from Wikipedia's Personal Experiences Page