Check out the story of Rick Rescorla, a British guy who served in Vietnam and was a security specialist at the WTC. He personally escorted nearly 3000 people to safety on 9/11, singing Cornish folk songs to keep people’s spirits up. He was last seen climbing the stairs of one of the towers, still singing.
Cornish people are tough - the land is tough and it makes for tough people. It so fits that he stepped up to help - even though it was not his country of birth. He claimed them as his people and he led them to a place of safety. God bless him, and those that died with him.
It is not swimmable in that current . Lower.Manhattan is where the East River and Hudson River empty into the bay. The evacuation by boat was to take people from NYC mainly to NJ and Staten Island
No matter how many times I watch that, never fails that I bust out in tears. Absolutely horrific day that day was. I was born and raised on the westcoast and in the south, but you didn't have to be from New York to feel the effects of this. My heart always will go out to those who lost family members and loved ones. As we come up on 20 years, I pray for all those affected that day. May God Bless you and all my New York brothers and sisters 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I sometimes think how many more could they have saved if they had modern boats used here as well as the distance of the Hudson River compared to the English Channel.
@@hrussell9677 I think you miss read my comment. I meant how many more live could have been saved at Dunkirk in WW2 if they had modern boats while also taking into account the difference in distance of both the English Channel and the Hudson River.
9/11 is often seen as an American Tragedy, yet we must never forget that among the thousands that died that day were hundreds of individuals who who were citizens of other nations. 9/11 was indeed an international tragedy yet it was also one of the greatest examples of human compassion and courage in human history. Out of Tragedy came Triumph. Never Forget.
Hey man no disrespect but 9/11 was and still is an American tragedy it was our country and our people that came under attack now I’m not unsympathetic to those that died from other nations what so ever but unfortunately they like many others were in the wrong place at the wrong time and the World Trade Center and the pentagon were symbols of American triumph and America itself and flight 93 was headed to Washington where there are many American landmarks until it was stopped by those brave heroes, and while others around the world like to dismiss how impactful and how hurt and fearful we were here at home it still doesn’t dismiss the fact that it was America and the American people that were attacked that day so no matter how people around the world may have felt can’t compare to how we felt here at home since us and our country were the ones under attack so yes it was in fact an American tragedy hope you can understand my point here man again no disrespect
Ummm...my parents (prior) to their marriage both lived on the west coast of the United States during the Pearl Harbor attack. You don't think they weren't afraid? San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego were all vulnerable and all had military installations. The only difference was that Pearl had most of our Navy. Just as many people were lost at both. What made 9/11 so horrible was that it was a civilian attack. But so was London, all of France, Austria and so many more. That was WW2. My father enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor. Once the US joined the war, my father and both of my uncles joined. It didn't matter which front they were stationed on. They fought not only for the US but against those who would harm our allies. And, yes. We should have joined in sooner, but there was that whole Japan oil thing. The attack on our country in 1941 was unprovoked. We were in negotiations with the Empire of Japan at the time. They bit us, we ripped their necks out. Not because we could at the time, but because we were determined to not fail. But a lot of Japanese families who lived were devastated with our biased approach.
That moment when one of the coast guard captain made that call on the radio and all the other boats came rushing in , it was literally an Avengers assemble moment . Just amazing.
So many are taken aback that Americans are so proud to be American. And they can't understand it. It's this. It is moments like this that make us so very proud to be Americans. To know that despite our differences, we CAN be one people....
I always recommend the video about a town called Gander in Newfoundland but it's a small town that landed a huge amount of the planes turned away from US airspace on 9/11 and fed and took care of all those people who had no where to go! It's pretty amazing also!
Not many know but one off the victims of 93 was a woman who was 7 months pregnant she gave her life and her unborn child’s life the power of a mother protecting her child’s life and many others children’s life as well god speed and see you on the other side
The Hudson River is about a half mile wide with tidal currents. Low tide that morning was at 8:44am, so the tide would have started coming in fast and hard. Attempting to swim it would be almost impossible for anyone but the most fit, most capable swimmer. Add in the risk of getting run over by a boat and even they would be almost certainly doomed. A lot of people were fast acting and got out on the subway and by car before everything closed. A friend of mine, the second the second plane hit, hightailed it out of there and got on the last train to Brooklyn. She worked in building 7. After that 100s of thousands walked out. Crossing the bridges on foot to get to the adjoining borough. But if you wanted/needed to get to NJ or Staten Island, the only way was by boat.
The water was also between 50 to 60 degrees and would have made people go into hypothermia in about an hour or less. Children and elderly would have died in way less time than that.
I’m really late to this video, but no way could anyone swim the Hudson River. Tom Hanks gave the best narrative: we did the best we could. It was impossible to save everyone.
I got a phone call from my aunt, I turned on my TV just in time to see the second plane hit the tower live on New York City TV. . I was at the Jersey Shore about 48 miles away. I instantly knew it was no accident. It was terrorism and I knew life would never be the same. When the US Coast Guard calls, any mariner with the ability will drop whatever they are doing, GO, and HELP. You do not refuse the Coast guard out of respect, and on that day the marinas donated free fuel, the commercial tug boats of the mighty Port of New York/ New Jersey just went and did whatever they could. Average people in restaurants, stores, helped however they could with water, towels, food etc on both NY & NJ. Boats from Maryland to Boston arrived later in the day to help. The boat culture in the area is big and varied. They all came to help. What this does not mention is that most of those office workers fleeing do not live in Manhatten but commute into Manhatten using rail, bus, and car. They needed out of Manhatten to go home to safety. Big Metropolitan area.
My uncle died on 9/11. I was in 8th grade in a school in upstate, NY. Our teacher brought the television in to the classroom after the first plane hit as it was already a tragedy - even if we only thought an accident at first. I remember watching live as the second plane came in and turned upwards to try and hit as much belly to building as it could... and I will never forget that feeling. Like my heart was in my gut, and my skin was crawling down to my feet. Because I knew my uncle was in that 2nd tower, somewhere around where it had hit. He was one of the many never found.
I actually had to be sent home that day because of how distraught I was. I was always an even-keeled kid in school and never made much trouble, but within seconds of the impact I burst in to tears and when my teacher tried to calm me down I pushed her out of the way and kind of blindly made my way out in to the hallway screaming. Not many kids in my school had such close relatives in NYC so they didn't quite know why I was so upset. They actually had to have the school resource officers (who are genuine NYS police) come find me and let me know that my mother was on her way from work to come pick me up. My uncle was always one of my favorite people in the world, and he had just been up for his annual summer visit not even 2 weeks prior. He was actually the one who encouraged me most to follow my dream in the sciences. I was pretty much numb for the next 3 or 4 months. Didn't talk to anyone in school. I just kind of quietly existed and handed my assignments in. I stopped sitting with my friends at lunch. Didn't participate in gym class. The only people I socialized with were my lifelong friends from my neighborhood (who I am still friends with at 33 years of age) and even that was increasingly rare. I kind of just isolated myself for a while and let the dread consume me. I know that this moment in time was monumental for everyone in the U.S. - but I promise they can't even understand what it meant to New Yorkers - even those who didn't suffer loss on that day. It just doesn't carry the same weight for someone in Alabama, as it does for someone in Suffolk county, or someone from Long Island, much less Manhattan. Or someone who lost a loved one in the tragedy. It simply doesn't.
I normally watch your videos immediately as they come out, but I had to give myself some time to watch this one because I am genuinely interested in your reaction to this, but I just had to pull some parts of me together to even get the courage to watch it.
I worked about 1.5 km away from the towers and was there on 9/11. The second plane flew right past our tower which was on State Street near the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. My office mates and I were out on the street when the first tower came down and scattered like bugs to avoid that debris cloud. I ran BACK to our office tower and got the security guards to open the doors to the sub-basement and dozens of people took shelter under ground. Several of my coworkers ran the other way and were on some of those boats that went across the river to NJ. The most awful part was that we had walked CLOSER to the buildings to see if the emergency workers could put out the fire and even though we were just a few streets away we could hear the horrible THUDS of the bodies hitting the ground from the people who were leaping out of windows 90+ floors up before the building actually fell...The "Pit" was smoldering for almost a week after the attack and there was a strange odor in the air walking to and from the subway each day near my office ...My wife is a physician and said that this was the smell of smoldering human flesh....Around 6pm I came out of the office bunker and was walking through about a 1 inch deep powder of debris. A taxi pulls up with doctors and nurses in scrubs who jump out and he calls to me and says "come" I'll take you and these other people up to Penn Station" (to get the train to Long Island where I live). The driver is MUSLIM and tells us that there is no charge and as soon as we get off he picked up more emergency workers near the train station and just drove off....all he said during the drive was that if you truly believe in the Koran that killing any life is like killing the whole world and he was weeping
I remember a story from 9/11 from one of the survivors. A Muslim man named Usman Farman was running from one of the towers, and he was incredibly exhausted. As the South Tower came down a few blocks from where he was, he tripped & fell and was unable to pick himself up. At that moment, a Jewish man ran up to him, read the Islamic pendant on his neck (Which had an Islamic prayer written in Arabic on it) and said "Brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab my hand, let's get the hell out of here!" They both survived, although Farman was unable to locate the Jewish man who had saved his life.
This video show what Americans are really made of. We might bicker among ourselves, but not unlike siblings, who picked on each other but never allow anyone else to do so; we come together when we need to. #ProudToBeAmerican #NeverForget
@@williamg7267 just commenting on the American reaction to the event. Very good job done there once again. Triggered the migrant crisis in Europe, for one.
Actor Steve Buscemi was a former firefighter. When he learned of 9/11 he arrived on the 12th and worked 12 hour days searching the rubble with his old fire company. He kept this secret but it came to light a few years ago.
As a New Yorker who was in 7th grade when this happened, this is hard to watch. I still remember almost every detail of that day. The teachers kept us completely in the dark until school was out, but kids kept getting pulled out of class and rumors of a bomb started going around. Teachers randomly started crying during class and we had no idea why. It wasn't until I got home and both my parents were home (usually they would be at work) and I saw F-16 fighter jets flying overhead that I knew something horrible happened.
I was a 3rd grader in PA at the time and the same happened in my school. I still remember the mounting fear as the third kid was called out, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth... It was just such an oddity that you knew _something_ had happened. My mother was in NY and NJ that day job searching, by the time she was able to make it back around noon and call me out I was one of just a few kids left in the entire 3rd grade.
New Yorker here, I was in 2nd grade. Us little kids were excited to go home early, not knowing why and me and my siblings were put into our rooms while our parents watched the TV. I didnt understand when it happened but now that I'm an adult it hits harder each year. Real proud of what New Yorkers and what Americans did to support each other after this horrific event. Couldnt help but get emotional when I visited the OWTC, but I'm glad I went. Hoping to go again one day
I think overall they handled it amazingly. The icing on the cake was when the final period of school ended and they announced over the speakers "All afterschool activities are cancelled." It was literally the most beautiful Tuesday in Summer you could imagine. Not too hot, not too cold, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect. But a handful of my friends had lost their parents that day and we had no idea...
We heard rumers for a couple hours after it started, was in 6th grade. (Some bombing, or aliens attacking, ext, dumb kid rumers) But being i. Oklahoma we had been tought about bombings pretty extensively due to okc attack. So we understude something simular had happened. After PE, rhe principle(ret. Vet) ordered all tvs on and to have all the school watch the news for the rest if the day. Was really surreal.
I was in the 3rd grade in Florida. My teacher got a call and turned the TV on in the classroom, so I got to see the first tower in smoke. I've never seen a school evacuate so fast and we weren't even near NY. The worry that the coast was being targeted was a rational fear. There were so many parents leaving work to come and pick up their kids.
Like Daz, I was in New Jersey that day. I remember that day, and what people tend to forget now is that when the planes hit the WTC, we didn't know what was happening or whether there was more to come. Were there going to be more planes slamming into things? Were we going to be bombed? When was the next shoe going to drop? So when you think of that fear and uncertainty at the time, you can understand why everyone was so desperate to get out of Manhattan, and also how brave it was for those people to take their boats across that open harbor to Manhattan, not knowing if they were going to become targets of some later attack.
I remember watching this on TV as a teenager and specifically the feeling everyone had after the first plane hit of "what happened? Did the pilot mess up? This is a horrible accident" turn into "oh God, this is intentional" after the 2nd hit. You're 100% correct about the paranoia that sets in after you realize someone out there is trying to get you.
I was 19 living in Queens at the time of this. It still feels like a dream. The country really came together then. Unfortunate how it is now. Seems to be more divided than ever.
I wish it didn’t seem real for me. I was born and raised am remain in NYC. I don’t live very far from ground zero. Close enough that I could smell the air for weeks but far enough that I didn’t need to evacuate. Everyone walked around Manhattan for weeks looking like zombies. There were pictures of the missing (actually dead) on the walls of buildings all around the city and you would find yourself staring at them. It will be 20 years next month but it feels like yesterday. There were many heroes in NYC that day and these people who joined in the boat lift are included in that group.
I'm glad you were ok and didn't have to evacuate. I was safely in Westchester. I've tried to explain the zombie thing to people. That everyone was rotating in and out of shock for seve weeks. ❤️
I was on lower Broadway in early November of 2001, and I smelled that weird smell, it was weirdly sweet and sour and horrible at the same time. Was it still decomposing flesh? I've never smelled anything like that before or since.
@@msdarby515 Honestly, I don't want to know exactly what the smell was. I don't want to know that I spent weeks breathing in human decomposition. I feel better knowing it was just some cancer causing crap from inside the walls of the WTC. lol.
As an American, this always cuts to the bone. But I didn't know this story until a few years ago. It was definitely an untold story. As hard as it is to watch, I still wanted to watch it with you. Thank you!
I never heard this story and I will admit, it made me cry. The heroism on that day was unbelievable. Amazing people. 9/11 was such a tragedy. Great reaction. Rest peacefully victims of 9/11.
Just got off work from nightshift at 8am got home, got out of the shower and mom said turn on the tv. I watched for a few mins and the 2nd plane hit. My first thought was, “ somebody, some country or group, is about to have hell rain down on them” I had friends in the military at the time and just knew they were gearing up to go kick someone’s ass. Little did we know til years later all the heroes that went unnoticed such as they people driving boats to evacuate people. God Bless America
Some of us here in America have a saying...”I never want another 9/11...but I’d give anything for another 9/12”! Cause that day after was a moment in history that we were 1 and United and loved each other no matter what!
I was 6 years old when this happened. I will never forget that whole morning, it's one of my earliest complex memories. I watched it on the news in my house before school with my mom but then when I got to class the teachers moved all the desks out of the center of the classroom and had us all stand in a circle while holding hands. The teachers then went on to read short hopeful prayers from every major religion. I remember all of us were just standing there showing no emotion until the first kid started to cry. Four other kids started to cry right after that, while the other kids became concerned and confused. I felt like a fly in the room that day, just observing everyone and how they were reacting - I obviously wasn't having some "deep" thoughts about it, I just remember it like it was yesterday.
This wasn't the only time the boatmen of New York showed their best. in 2009 a US Airways slight was forced to land in the Hudson river after losing both its engines in a bird strike nearby shipping and ferry boats saw what happened and called it in then set off to help soon after two ferry boats arrived and began taking the passengers on board. Soon after other boats including official rescue craft arrived to assist and they managed to get all the passengers on the boats within 25 minutes which was good because the temperature was in the minus's and many of the passengers were wet and not wearing warm cloths so hypothermia was a real danger. But thanks to the actions of the rescuer's, the flight's crew and particularly there absolute legend of a captain Chester "Sully"Sullenberger who managed to land a plane in a river all 150 passengers and 5 crew survived. Mad respect to all of them.
@@LadyGator1983 The US military took over the trade and the elites took over most of the banks. It’s called the New World Order and everything is going as planned.
So many heroes on that day. I miss that America. How far we've fallen from this kind of united in 20 years. I'm proud to be an American and I love my Country. May God shed His grace on thee.
I was in Manhattan on 9/11, and I never knew this story. And that boat The Amberjack is a fishing boat from Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn, where I grew up. I've walked past it dozens of times. Amazing stories in this vid.
I have a funny little story to go along with this. About 2 years after 9/11, I was in New York for a class and I went out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry was fairly empty and the captain stopped by and said hi. We started talking and I asked him about 9/11 as I had been a paramedic at the Pentagon. He said that when it happened, he heard the call for “all boats” and responded despite having tourists on board. He made an announcement and everyone on board was ok with responding. He said that he had never pushed his boat that hard before but had to come to a sudden slowdown as right in front of him was a man in a rowboat rowing his heart out. He had heard the call for all boats and figured he could carry a couple of people so responded with his rowboat. 🙂
*He had heard the call for all boats and figured he could carry a couple of people so responded with his rowboat* OK, that just brought tears to my eyes...
As a lifelong NYer, this never leaves my mind. Not 1 day. It's amazing how many good things were done that day. Let's keep this day in our hearts and minds and continue to support those who are sick from the cleanup.
That day showed the absolute worst of mankind and then the very best of mankind. I was working in Washington, DC that day. My office wasn't near enough to the Pentagon to be in any danger, but I had friends and family who didn't know how close I was. I got so many phone calls to check on me. I also saw remarkable attitudes among those in my workplace. I worked for a military medical research lab. Most of the researchers were medical doctors. Their reaction was humbling as their immediate response was to organized a relief effort. When everyone else was shocked and uncertain by what was going on, these people first thought to help.
I can't wrap my hand around the fact that you did not know that story. In Germany it was all over the news and reports about 9/11. What baffles me is how the USA could go from this much neighbourly love and helping each other as much as possible to the USA you have now, divided by lies and conspiracies no one should believe because they are crazy. What happened on 9/11, not the attacks, but the way everybody did what they could to help each other, THAT is the USA I love.
America and other countries have always been divided to some extent, sometimes more sometimes less, but America always proves to be the land of opportunity and when people truly need help nobody steps in like Americans do the world can say whatever they want about America, but if something were to happen, there would be no other country I would want to be in then America.
No matter the conspiracy theories it’s always important to remember that people did die that day some instantly some took the choice to take their own lives so they wouldn’t burn, that will always live on in our minds
Thank you Blokes, I cannot believe I never knew this side-story of 9/11 and thanks for sharing your reactions with us. From USA. (Edit) I'm glad you mentioned the Dunkirk rescue mission.
I love this video. This demonstrates the love we have for one another as Americans. It may not seem like it right now but when it comes down to it, we are all Americans and in times of need, we will have each others back. This is American pride
A lot of Manhattan’s strongest cell phone towers were at the top of the Twin Towers, made the phone situation even worse as everyone trying to get in contact with their loved ones but add to it, a huge chunk of our serviceable cell towers were demolished.
I’ve seen this video sooo many times and EVERY time, even though I know it’s coming, as soon as they put the call out and you see the boats start coming it brings tears to my eyes.
It's been almost 20 years and I was 5, about to be 6 when this happened AND I've seen this particular video a few times before but I still get emotional. We might not always be supportive as a country, but that was a time where support and love was strong. Love for my state NY strong ❤
I felt so proud to be an American that day! I remember being afraid and then going outside to see nothing but our Fighter Jets in the air. My fear turned into pride and everyone I know became ready to fight.
There was a 4th plane that went down 45 minutes from where I live in Pennsylvania. It was headed for the white house. When the people on the plane realized this they called their loved ones to say goodbye and took over the plane crashed it in a field so that no more lives or american iconic buildings would be taken out!
I was 21 and working as an EMT in Orlando, Fl..I remember being at the station and people talking about a plane hitting and I figured it was some horrible accident..I walked into the Dayton to get some coffee and watched as the second plane hit live…All the hospitals went into lock down and once the pentagon was hit we thought the whole country was under attack…Being in Orlando with all the tourists stuff we thought we’d be hit next so everyone stocked up the trucks with extra supplies and waited for the call.
I've seen this video a number of times since it first came out and I have the same reaction each and every time I watch it - I find tears streaming down my face as I remember watching that whole day unfold live before us. It is one of those days in your life that you will forever remember all of the details, all of the pictures, everything that was going on around you. It still after 20 years hurts my heart. How can it already be 20 years ago?
I was in 4th grade when 9/11 happened, i just remember the whole school going silent then just being evacuated. My parents were crying and just seeing the names scroll on the Tv not understanding, being 30 now, this hits so much harder.
I remember news coverage of boats transporting people off of Manattan on the day, but never knew the sheer scale of the evacuation until this video. Chaos and fear of the unknown ruled the day on 9/11. All landline and cellular phone service was overwhelmed. Even the newscasters were being forced to make assumptions. Only in hindsight do we know that no more planes were going to hit targets in NY that day. But none of those people knew that during the events of the day, so both they and those boat operators were evacuating under the assumption that they were a moving target. Also, the river has a strong current during tides so it would not have been particularly swimmable.
My family friend worked in the daycare of one of the towers. She wasn’t working that day but it still took 5 to 6days before we heard from her. A girl in my high school’s dad was on flight 93. Everyone wanted to do something. There’s a reason my generation has a very ww2 like response post Pearl Harbor. Everyone was touched in some way. God bless these heroes.
I was ten blocks north of all of this and saw it from start to finish. My buddy Christian Regenhard was FDNY and he died that day. I cannot express to you the horror of witnessing 9/11 in person.
So many people that work in NY live in NJ. They were trying to get home . I live in the area and it’s a reminder every day of that September day . The New York skyline is forever changed.
As a native New Yorker who lost someone in the World Trade Center, I hate seeing the first tower collapse because I know that is the moment my family member died. That day was hell because I was unable to contact anyone while living overseas.
I’m sorry for your loss! I’m from Chicago but I was just a baby when that happened when I got older and asked my dad about that event and he explained to me that he was heading to his family’s shop and went Subway to buy lunch for later but as he was about to open the door the restaurant’s manager locked it and tells him to go back home right away as other people around staring to run towards their cars until my mom calls him on the phone telling him to come back home quickly and said there’s something really terrible going on in New York City and said that a two planes both crashed in the Twin Towers then my dad immediately went to his car and drives back home he told me it was a very strange and scary day for him and I’m sorry for all the people who lost their love ones!
The bridges, subways and rail lines were all shut down until around 5pm. Initially people did cross into Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge and Queens via the 59th street bridge but the fear of a followup attack that would kill thousands more lead the whole city to be shut down until the Air Force had air control over the entire city area. You could hear fighter aircraft circling above for hours before they reopened various types of transport
@@maciedixon3983 I'm 55, but was 35 at the time. My supervisor was a woman and was several months pregnant and got on one of those boats. Our Office Manager/Head Secretary was caught in that cloud and even though she is African American she was totally white covered from head to toe in debris dust. One of my wife's friends husband was an iron worker and he and his friends went to the Pit and spent 3 weeks inside digging people's remains out. He found human body parts and about 5 years later he committed sucide....several of his friends came down with strange lung problems form breathing in the debris which was full of powdered glass, sheet rock and asbestos. Luckily I got inside without breathing any of that stuff....
" Boatlift 9/11" actually as a verb has more rights to be labeled as a verb. We Americans do not try to outdo others. We just do spontaneously. sometimes often. Uniquely. 500,000 in 9 hours the same day done by Citizens who own Private Vessels. No state sponsorship required. Wow.
Thank you for sharing this with us. That’s the first time this American viewed the documentary. It’s very emotional, and it was nice seeing it with my cousins across the pond. Cheers.
Amazing story I’ve watched this so many time and cry every time. I was in high school when this happened. We lived in Detroit, Michigan and that whole day the school was the quietist I have even seen or heard in my life. All we did was watch the news from class to class, I don’t even think I heard kids talking during lunch. It was shocked and sad, and scary, all at the same time. This is something that Americans don’t need to forget, it’s history and should be talked about in schools. It’s sad that I have to teach my kids about this, they don’t learn it in history at all.
I was born a few months after 9/11 and I’m absolutely chilled by the videos and history that we learned about 9/11. I cannot image the devastation and desperation. It’s sad but I’m also amazed by the union-ship it brought people, because I’ve never experienced it
I was in the WTC Tower with the restaurants and the observation deck on top on a school class Trip. South Tower I think. Spent a lot of time looking down out where the glass met the floor sitting on one of the benches. I remember how people on the ground looked like ants. Second place I have been to visit that later had a tragedy. I got a funny foreboding in both places and a tingle. I never ignore that feeling. It has saved my life a few times.
I was living near San Francisco at the time. I remember the next few days hearing fighter jets flying overhead doing patrols. All private and commercial airplanes were grounded for three days.
I will never forget that day, from anxiety to the smell to the sky (it was so quiet yet so blue). The only plane in the air was Air Force One with the President I remember seeing it from my backyard in Nebraska. He was on his way to a bunker at Offit Airforce Base I worked at a day care and literally everyone came to get their kids early. I left an went to get my kid I remember no cars on the road people left work and went straight home. We had no clue who was next and having the Airforce Base and the President in a bunker here was terrifying. That whole day I sat cried with my baby and watched hours of news coverage 😢
8th September 2021, 4:20pm ... that's the moment I learned that Dunkirk isn't the largest sea-born rescue in the history of man. That 9/11 actually beat an event I never thought possible to beat. And in far less time too, which is an amazing fact alone. What an amazing story! I adore stories like this, that showcase the TRUE humanity side of us and what we're really capable of if we just put our differences aside for a moment and all focus on a single goal. Makes me kind of sad that we can't act that way ALL the time, and makes me wonder what we could have achieved already if we did.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York is one of the most moving experiences as an American of my life. Thank you for showing a review of this video- showing the best of the American 🇺🇸 spirit in action. God bless the USA 🇺🇸.
I’m from Long Island, only an hour away from the city. I was in 1st grade at the time, it was beautiful out and I was jealous of my classmates who were being pulled out one by one until less than half the students were present. I’ll never forget how confused my teacher looked as her classroom emptied. It wasn’t until my mom came and pulled me out of class that I saw what was happening on the tv. Then i understood horrible terrifying things were happening. My dad almost died in the original attack on the towers in 93. He lived only because he left to grab a cup of coffee with a co worker. They were working in the parking garage where the bomb went off. The work van that they had just been in was destroyed. My uncle John is one of the brave police heroes who helped evacuate the towers. My aunt Tara who worked only 2 blocks away from the trade center was missing for almost 7 hours before she finally made it home. This changed my entire life and I will never forget this horrific day. I would also like to mention that the bridges were absolutely shut down, they did this so LI emergency services were able to get to the trade center as quickly as possible. Thank you for covering this incredible story.
I was on one of the tugboats that helped evacuate Manhattan. Sad day as of this anniversary day 21 yrs later i still remember everything from planes hitting the towers. To people jumping into the river. 😭
Nice reaction. I love this amazing story. People coming together to help each other is what I remember most about that horrific day. Thanks for watching this.
6:20 The East River is anywhere from 600ft. to 4,000 ft. Not exactly the English Channel but has very rough water with lots of boat traffic. Even without the boats, the average person would struggle a lot, I also think plenty of people fleeing a situation wouldn't think to strip before jumping in which would weigh them down/cause drag quite a bit.
As so many have said, this moves me to tears. We were nowhere near NY, and it was as real as could be. I recall wishing I could do something to help. I couldn't even donate blood because of my health, and my spouse was unemployed so our family had no money. Two months later my husband was hired as a temp to go to help with the cleanup. It impacted him for the rest of his life. I loved seeing the new superhero toys come out in the ensuing weeks and months because they were firefighters, police, and other first responders, real superheroes instead of the usual. We waved the flag more in those days than I had ever seen. I asked my dad, who was in the navy in WWII, if that was what it was like when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He said it was, except there were far fewer people waving flags and having them on their cars.
I was 10 and in school when this happened. Our teacher got a call from a family member and told us that a plane had hit the WTC, and I will never forget a student in my class asking what the WTC was. After that teachers were told not to tell us or show us anything. It wasn’t until a few hours after our teacher got the phone call, when kids were pulled out of class and all after school activities were canceled that we started to realize there was more to the story then what we already knew.
I was about 8 and live on the west coast so I watched it on TV at home before I had to go to school. It was so insane. Once I got there, everyone was in a panic. Teachers were talking about their missing family members. The whole school went out to the field and stood around it and had a long moment of silence. We stayed the whole day but it mostly felt like a comfort thing.
I grew up and lived in Southern New Jersey. About 20-25 mins outside of Philadelphia. At night I could look up in the sky and see at least 10 to 15 planes in the night sky at any point in time. I remember going out for a night swim in my pool that night and taking notice of how absolutely quiet and empty the sky was, since they had grounded all flights. It was very strange and eerie. A group of us actually talking about going up to the City and seeing if we could help, but the local News was reporting that the authorities didn't want any more people coming into New York City. As far as swimming from Manhattan to NJ, the actual distance straight across is probably about a mile and swimmers have done this. However, keep in mind that this is the Hudson River and it is moving water that eventually flows out into the Atlantic Ocean. So while a seasoned swimmer can do this, depending on the time of day a swimmer is in the water they will also need to be fighting the flow of the water for the entire mile swim otherwise the moving water will take them out into the harbor. It would not be recommended that a normal person, who is not a seasoned swimmer, attempt to make this crossing.
There are so many untold experiences that happened on 9/11. They all made such a difference even if they only saved 1 person or none the efforts that everyday people made to help were incredible.
I feel people of America forgotten what we are. We’re so focused on little things and the dumb shit that we think is important is nothing. But this…. Was the only day I saw America was actually America. I felt this day and will never forget …. This day was what Americans is. Where are we leading America now?
There were literally hundreds of boats running for 9 hours straight! There was one boat that could fit about 60 people but was over heating after making so many trips. Two smaller fishing boats tied up to him and just kept owing him back and forth. People helping people.
Another really good one to check out from that day is the story of Welles Crowther, "The Man in the Red Bandana." ESPN produced a short film about this, as he had recently graduated from Boston College where he played La Crosse. 9/11 has been designated as a day of service as a way to honor countless people like him who stepped up and did the right thing. Boston College holds the Welles Crowther Red Bandana 5k every year to support the charitable trust established in his name. It's a sad, but inspirational story!
I worked six blocks away from the World Trade Center. As soon as I hit the street I walked uptown. I was around 40th street when the Twin Towers came down. I was able to get home to Queens.on an express bus. The next week the aftermath started of smells, no phones and worst the pictures of missing people on walls and such. It was sad seeing the young smiling faces of people you knew were deceased. I have not forgotten but most Americans have.
Yall should look up the fire boat john j Harvey it was a retired fire boat that was to be scraped but some people bought it and saved it it they where called to brink the boat to the towers to pump water as new york only had 2 or 3 fire boats but they could not pump the amount the john j Harvey could
As far as swimmig goes, its probably about a mile to land in brooklyn, but the waterway is treacherous. The hudson river meets the atlantic ocean in NY harbor and half thw time the tides are opposing. The water just swirls, even voat props have trouble getting "traction." You'd have to be a hell of a swimmer
67 Brits and 17 foreign nationals associated with the UK died there that day. I'd like to think some were rescued by boat. God bless these brave souls and our countries.
Thanks for showing this, guys. I’m an American from Florida, 50 years old at that time and though I was glued to my TV atI day, I didn’t know anything about these brave boat owners. Good bless them all. 💙
He’s right about the river, it’s very much swimmable for any decent swimmer in decent shape. Most people wouldn’t make it. However, that’s up by the GW, at the southern tip of the island, it gets way too wide for even the best, and the strong currents would likely wash you out to sea. It’s so deep there is literally an aircraft carrier parked up the river.
i love seeing/hearing about 9/11. I clearly don't mean that in a negative way, it's just always been interesting to me. I was only 4 when it happened and seeing it on the news with my mom. Every day after school on 9/11, i'd watch the documentaries. Chokes me up when hearing people's personal recollections of it all. And the sound of the bodies collapsing on the cement is probably the most surreal thing i've ever heard
East river and Hudson river are cold, fast currents and wider than most think, it would take an extremely high quality swimmer to cross it. I watched this all happen from exchange place in Jersey city. still doesnt compute
Vincent Ardolino passed in August 2018 at age 65. May that hero Rest In Peace 🙏🏼.
May that good brave man rest in peace.
Rest in peace brave soul.
Omg that breaks my heart to hear 😥 RIP hero
Rest in peace and with honor, brave hero.
RIP. Hate to lose the brave ones.
Check out the story of Rick Rescorla, a British guy who served in Vietnam and was a security specialist at the WTC. He personally escorted nearly 3000 people to safety on 9/11, singing Cornish folk songs to keep people’s spirits up. He was last seen climbing the stairs of one of the towers, still singing.
Thank you for mentioning him. I hadn't heard anything about his story, but have already pulled up a few stories to read. This American thanks you!
Definitely gonna look him up and read/watch what i can about him
thank you for posting
I never heard his story. I'm going to check it out. Thanks.
Cornish people are tough - the land is tough and it makes for tough people. It so fits that he stepped up to help - even though it was not his country of birth. He claimed them as his people and he led them to a place of safety. God bless him, and those that died with him.
There were a couple of marinas on the NJ side and they fueled every boat for free, no matter how many times they needed fuel.
I never knew that. They're heroes in their own way. Thanks.
It is not swimmable in that current .
Lower.Manhattan is where the East River and Hudson River empty into the bay.
The evacuation by boat was to take people from NYC mainly to NJ and Staten Island
I've seen the original video a number of times. Always wondered what the New Jersey side was doing.
My God chills!
@@debbiesims138 Question: "Always wondered what the New Jersey side was doing?" Answer: Sending boats, receiving evacuees."
No matter how many times I watch that, never fails that I bust out in tears. Absolutely horrific day that day was. I was born and raised on the westcoast and in the south, but you didn't have to be from New York to feel the effects of this. My heart always will go out to those who lost family members and loved ones. As we come up on 20 years, I pray for all those affected that day. May God Bless you and all my New York brothers and sisters 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Same here... I just go right back to that day.. feeling all the horror and sorrow.. the anxiety.. you're not alone.
No sorrows for the innocent civilians killed by the US military in the Middle East over a fake war.
@@trjegulbygul2415 Shut up, tool.
@@OddBallPerformance
Bahhhh bahhh bahhhh
@@OddBallPerformance
Watch this video and read the comments and maybe you too will think differently ruclips.net/video/_XgJ1h-gbo8/видео.html
Dunkirk: 393,000 evacuated over nine days. Manhattan: 500,000 in less than 10 hrs. Amazing.
I sometimes think how many more could they have saved if they had modern boats used here as well as the distance of the Hudson River compared to the English Channel.
Roll Tide! 🐘🇺🇸
My thought's exactly
@@cesarsalazar8618 I don’t think anyone died from not making it on a boat.
@@hrussell9677 I think you miss read my comment. I meant how many more live could have been saved at Dunkirk in WW2 if they had modern boats while also taking into account the difference in distance of both the English Channel and the Hudson River.
9/11 is often seen as an American Tragedy, yet we must never forget that among the thousands that died that day were hundreds of individuals who who were citizens of other nations. 9/11 was indeed an international tragedy yet it was also one of the greatest examples of human compassion and courage in human history. Out of Tragedy came Triumph. Never Forget.
Hey man no disrespect but 9/11 was and still is an American tragedy it was our country and our people that came under attack now I’m not unsympathetic to those that died from other nations what so ever but unfortunately they like many others were in the wrong place at the wrong time and the World Trade Center and the pentagon were symbols of American triumph and America itself and flight 93 was headed to Washington where there are many American landmarks until it was stopped by those brave heroes, and while others around the world like to dismiss how impactful and how hurt and fearful we were here at home it still doesn’t dismiss the fact that it was America and the American people that were attacked that day so no matter how people around the world may have felt can’t compare to how we felt here at home since us and our country were the ones under attack so yes it was in fact an American tragedy hope you can understand my point here man again no disrespect
Ummm...my parents (prior) to their marriage both lived on the west coast of the United States during the Pearl Harbor attack. You don't think they weren't afraid? San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego were all vulnerable and all had military installations. The only difference was that Pearl had most of our Navy. Just as many people were lost at both. What made 9/11 so horrible was that it was a civilian attack. But so was London, all of France, Austria and so many more. That was WW2. My father enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor. Once the US joined the war, my father and both of my uncles joined. It didn't matter which front they were stationed on. They fought not only for the US but against those who would harm our allies. And, yes. We should have joined in sooner, but there was that whole Japan oil thing. The attack on our country in 1941 was unprovoked. We were in negotiations with the Empire of Japan at the time. They bit us, we ripped their necks out. Not because we could at the time, but because we were determined to not fail. But a lot of Japanese families who lived were devastated with our biased approach.
That moment when one of the coast guard captain made that call on the radio and all the other boats came rushing in , it was literally an Avengers assemble moment . Just amazing.
So many are taken aback that Americans are so proud to be American. And they can't understand it. It's this. It is moments like this that make us so very proud to be Americans. To know that despite our differences, we CAN be one people....
I always recommend the video about a town called Gander in Newfoundland but it's a small town that landed a huge amount of the planes turned away from US airspace on 9/11 and fed and took care of all those people who had no where to go! It's pretty amazing also!
Gander, Newfoundland. It's quite the story. A musical was even produced about it.
There's a musical play about that story called Come From Away
Yes, another fantastic story!
Ah yes, I seen an of episode about that on Discovery channel. I didn't knew about Gander till I saw that episode last year.
@@Talius10 Newfoundland thank you so much.
The story of the heros on Flight 93 is amazing as well.
Not many know but one off the victims of 93 was a woman who was 7 months pregnant she gave her life and her unborn child’s life the power of a mother protecting her child’s life and many others children’s life as well god speed and see you on the other side
The Hudson River is about a half mile wide with tidal currents. Low tide that morning was at 8:44am, so the tide would have started coming in fast and hard. Attempting to swim it would be almost impossible for anyone but the most fit, most capable swimmer. Add in the risk of getting run over by a boat and even they would be almost certainly doomed.
A lot of people were fast acting and got out on the subway and by car before everything closed. A friend of mine, the second the second plane hit, hightailed it out of there and got on the last train to Brooklyn. She worked in building 7.
After that 100s of thousands walked out. Crossing the bridges on foot to get to the adjoining borough. But if you wanted/needed to get to NJ or Staten Island, the only way was by boat.
The water was also between 50 to 60 degrees and would have made people go into hypothermia in about an hour or less. Children and elderly would have died in way less time than that.
I’m really late to this video, but no way could anyone swim the Hudson River.
Tom Hanks gave the best narrative: we did the best we could. It was impossible to save everyone.
I got a phone call from my aunt, I turned on my TV just in time to see the second plane hit the tower live on New York City TV. .
I was at the Jersey Shore about 48 miles away. I instantly knew it was no accident. It was terrorism and I knew life would never be the same.
When the US Coast Guard calls, any mariner with the ability will drop whatever they are doing, GO, and HELP.
You do not refuse the Coast guard out of respect, and on that day the marinas donated free fuel, the commercial tug boats of the mighty Port of New York/ New Jersey just went and did whatever they could.
Average people in restaurants, stores, helped however they could with water, towels, food etc on both NY & NJ.
Boats from Maryland to Boston arrived later in the day to help. The boat culture in the area is big and varied. They all came to help.
What this does not mention is that most of those office workers fleeing do not live in Manhatten but commute into Manhatten using rail, bus, and car. They needed out of Manhatten to go home to safety. Big Metropolitan area.
My uncle died on 9/11.
I was in 8th grade in a school in upstate, NY. Our teacher brought the television in to the classroom after the first plane hit as it was already a tragedy - even if we only thought an accident at first. I remember watching live as the second plane came in and turned upwards to try and hit as much belly to building as it could... and I will never forget that feeling. Like my heart was in my gut, and my skin was crawling down to my feet. Because I knew my uncle was in that 2nd tower, somewhere around where it had hit. He was one of the many never found.
I actually had to be sent home that day because of how distraught I was. I was always an even-keeled kid in school and never made much trouble, but within seconds of the impact I burst in to tears and when my teacher tried to calm me down I pushed her out of the way and kind of blindly made my way out in to the hallway screaming. Not many kids in my school had such close relatives in NYC so they didn't quite know why I was so upset. They actually had to have the school resource officers (who are genuine NYS police) come find me and let me know that my mother was on her way from work to come pick me up.
My uncle was always one of my favorite people in the world, and he had just been up for his annual summer visit not even 2 weeks prior. He was actually the one who encouraged me most to follow my dream in the sciences.
I was pretty much numb for the next 3 or 4 months. Didn't talk to anyone in school. I just kind of quietly existed and handed my assignments in. I stopped sitting with my friends at lunch. Didn't participate in gym class. The only people I socialized with were my lifelong friends from my neighborhood (who I am still friends with at 33 years of age) and even that was increasingly rare. I kind of just isolated myself for a while and let the dread consume me.
I know that this moment in time was monumental for everyone in the U.S. - but I promise they can't even understand what it meant to New Yorkers - even those who didn't suffer loss on that day. It just doesn't carry the same weight for someone in Alabama, as it does for someone in Suffolk county, or someone from Long Island, much less Manhattan. Or someone who lost a loved one in the tragedy. It simply doesn't.
I normally watch your videos immediately as they come out, but I had to give myself some time to watch this one because I am genuinely interested in your reaction to this, but I just had to pull some parts of me together to even get the courage to watch it.
Shout out to the Brits that died during 911 as well. RIP
I worked about 1.5 km away from the towers and was there on 9/11. The second plane flew right past our tower which was on State Street near the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. My office mates and I were out on the street when the first tower came down and scattered like bugs to avoid that debris cloud. I ran BACK to our office tower and got the security guards to open the doors to the sub-basement and dozens of people took shelter under ground. Several of my coworkers ran the other way and were on some of those boats that went across the river to NJ. The most awful part was that we had walked CLOSER to the buildings to see if the emergency workers could put out the fire and even though we were just a few streets away we could hear the horrible THUDS of the bodies hitting the ground from the people who were leaping out of windows 90+ floors up before the building actually fell...The "Pit" was smoldering for almost a week after the attack and there was a strange odor in the air walking to and from the subway each day near my office ...My wife is a physician and said that this was the smell of smoldering human flesh....Around 6pm I came out of the office bunker and was walking through about a 1 inch deep powder of debris. A taxi pulls up with doctors and nurses in scrubs who jump out and he calls to me and says "come" I'll take you and these other people up to Penn Station" (to get the train to Long Island where I live). The driver is MUSLIM and tells us that there is no charge and as soon as we get off he picked up more emergency workers near the train station and just drove off....all he said during the drive was that if you truly believe in the Koran that killing any life is like killing the whole world and he was weeping
❤️💯🇺🇸
I remember a story from 9/11 from one of the survivors. A Muslim man named Usman Farman was running from one of the towers, and he was incredibly exhausted. As the South Tower came down a few blocks from where he was, he tripped & fell and was unable to pick himself up. At that moment, a Jewish man ran up to him, read the Islamic pendant on his neck (Which had an Islamic prayer written in Arabic on it) and said "Brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab my hand, let's get the hell out of here!" They both survived, although Farman was unable to locate the Jewish man who had saved his life.
This video show what Americans are really made of. We might bicker among ourselves, but not unlike siblings, who picked on each other but never allow anyone else to do so; we come together when we need to. #ProudToBeAmerican
#NeverForget
Exactly!
Good job in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Vietnam.
@@vaahtobileet Thank you, what would the world do without us.
@@vaahtobileet what’s your point? To be an Internet Troll?
@@williamg7267 just commenting on the American reaction to the event. Very good job done there once again. Triggered the migrant crisis in Europe, for one.
Actor Steve Buscemi was a former firefighter. When he learned of 9/11 he arrived on the 12th and worked 12 hour days searching the rubble with his old fire company. He kept this secret but it came to light a few years ago.
Wow, that's interesting!
As a New Yorker who was in 7th grade when this happened, this is hard to watch.
I still remember almost every detail of that day. The teachers kept us completely in the dark until school was out, but kids kept getting pulled out of class and rumors of a bomb started going around. Teachers randomly started crying during class and we had no idea why. It wasn't until I got home and both my parents were home (usually they would be at work) and I saw F-16 fighter jets flying overhead that I knew something horrible happened.
I was a 3rd grader in PA at the time and the same happened in my school. I still remember the mounting fear as the third kid was called out, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth... It was just such an oddity that you knew _something_ had happened.
My mother was in NY and NJ that day job searching, by the time she was able to make it back around noon and call me out I was one of just a few kids left in the entire 3rd grade.
New Yorker here, I was in 2nd grade. Us little kids were excited to go home early, not knowing why and me and my siblings were put into our rooms while our parents watched the TV. I didnt understand when it happened but now that I'm an adult it hits harder each year. Real proud of what New Yorkers and what Americans did to support each other after this horrific event. Couldnt help but get emotional when I visited the OWTC, but I'm glad I went. Hoping to go again one day
I think overall they handled it amazingly. The icing on the cake was when the final period of school ended and they announced over the speakers "All afterschool activities are cancelled."
It was literally the most beautiful Tuesday in Summer you could imagine. Not too hot, not too cold, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect. But a handful of my friends had lost their parents that day and we had no idea...
We heard rumers for a couple hours after it started, was in 6th grade. (Some bombing, or aliens attacking, ext, dumb kid rumers) But being i. Oklahoma we had been tought about bombings pretty extensively due to okc attack. So we understude something simular had happened. After PE, rhe principle(ret. Vet) ordered all tvs on and to have all the school watch the news for the rest if the day. Was really surreal.
I was in the 3rd grade in Florida. My teacher got a call and turned the TV on in the classroom, so I got to see the first tower in smoke. I've never seen a school evacuate so fast and we weren't even near NY. The worry that the coast was being targeted was a rational fear. There were so many parents leaving work to come and pick up their kids.
Like Daz, I was in New Jersey that day. I remember that day, and what people tend to forget now is that when the planes hit the WTC, we didn't know what was happening or whether there was more to come. Were there going to be more planes slamming into things? Were we going to be bombed? When was the next shoe going to drop? So when you think of that fear and uncertainty at the time, you can understand why everyone was so desperate to get out of Manhattan, and also how brave it was for those people to take their boats across that open harbor to Manhattan, not knowing if they were going to become targets of some later attack.
I remember watching this on TV as a teenager and specifically the feeling everyone had after the first plane hit of "what happened? Did the pilot mess up? This is a horrible accident" turn into "oh God, this is intentional" after the 2nd hit. You're 100% correct about the paranoia that sets in after you realize someone out there is trying to get you.
I was 19 living in Queens at the time of this. It still feels like a dream. The country really came together then. Unfortunate how it is now. Seems to be more divided than ever.
I wish it didn’t seem real for me. I was born and raised am remain in NYC. I don’t live very far from ground zero. Close enough that I could smell the air for weeks but far enough that I didn’t need to evacuate. Everyone walked around Manhattan for weeks looking like zombies. There were pictures of the missing (actually dead) on the walls of buildings all around the city and you would find yourself staring at them. It will be 20 years next month but it feels like yesterday. There were many heroes in NYC that day and these people who joined in the boat lift are included in that group.
I'm glad you were ok and didn't have to evacuate. I was safely in Westchester.
I've tried to explain the zombie thing to people. That everyone was rotating in and out of shock for seve weeks. ❤️
I was on lower Broadway in early November of 2001, and I smelled that weird smell, it was weirdly sweet and sour and horrible at the same time. Was it still decomposing flesh? I've never smelled anything like that before or since.
@@msdarby515 Honestly, I don't want to know exactly what the smell was. I don't want to know that I spent weeks breathing in human decomposition. I feel better knowing it was just some cancer causing crap from inside the walls of the WTC. lol.
I’ve seen this multiple times and it still makes me cry.
Still does
It's aww inspiring! 🇺🇸
As an American, this always cuts to the bone. But I didn't know this story until a few years ago. It was definitely an untold story. As hard as it is to watch, I still wanted to watch it with you. Thank you!
I never heard this story and I will admit, it made me cry. The heroism on that day was unbelievable. Amazing people. 9/11 was such a tragedy. Great reaction. Rest peacefully victims of 9/11.
Just got off work from nightshift at 8am got home, got out of the shower and mom said turn on the tv. I watched for a few mins and the 2nd plane hit. My first thought was, “ somebody, some country or group, is about to have hell rain down on them” I had friends in the military at the time and just knew they were gearing up to go kick someone’s ass. Little did we know til years later all the heroes that went unnoticed such as they people driving boats to evacuate people. God Bless America
Some of us here in America have a saying...”I never want another 9/11...but I’d give anything for another 9/12”! Cause that day after was a moment in history that we were 1 and United and loved each other no matter what!
Amazing. Bridges and tunnels were shutdown to car traffic. You could see thousands walking over the Brooklyn bridge home
@Matthew Harrup 🤡
My mom was one of those who walked over the Brooklyn Bridge.
I was 6 years old when this happened. I will never forget that whole morning, it's one of my earliest complex memories. I watched it on the news in my house before school with my mom but then when I got to class the teachers moved all the desks out of the center of the classroom and had us all stand in a circle while holding hands. The teachers then went on to read short hopeful prayers from every major religion. I remember all of us were just standing there showing no emotion until the first kid started to cry. Four other kids started to cry right after that, while the other kids became concerned and confused.
I felt like a fly in the room that day, just observing everyone and how they were reacting - I obviously wasn't having some "deep" thoughts about it, I just remember it like it was yesterday.
I was 6 years old as well; watching it on t.v. before school was so strange...
I was in High School when it happened 😭😭😭
This wasn't the only time the boatmen of New York showed their best. in 2009 a US Airways slight was forced to land in the Hudson river after losing both its engines in a bird strike nearby shipping and ferry boats saw what happened and called it in then set off to help soon after two ferry boats arrived and began taking the passengers on board. Soon after other boats including official rescue craft arrived to assist and they managed to get all the passengers on the boats within 25 minutes which was good because the temperature was in the minus's and many of the passengers were wet and not wearing warm cloths so hypothermia was a real danger. But thanks to the actions of the rescuer's, the flight's crew and particularly there absolute legend of a captain Chester "Sully"Sullenberger who managed to land a plane in a river all 150 passengers and 5 crew survived. Mad respect to all of them.
This video is always so sad and inspirational ♥️ I wish it didn’t take a national tragedy for us to come together.
Come together and take over the opium trade in the Middle East.
Carrie, I’m so with you on this!!!
@@trjegulbygul2415 Really???
That day was one of the most uniting days we've ever had.
@@LadyGator1983
The US military took over the trade and the elites took over most of the banks.
It’s called the New World Order and everything is going as planned.
So many heroes on that day. I miss that America. How far we've fallen from this kind of united in 20 years. I'm proud to be an American and I love my Country. May God shed His grace on thee.
I’ve never seen this, and I’m an American. How have I never seen this? Wow! Thank you for this. Honestly. You guys are genuine, and I appreciate it.
There aren’t many days in my life I can remember what happened minute by minute but this was one I’ll never forget. ❤️💔❤️💔❤️💔
I remember the smell in the morning air and the sun light beaming through the trees outside my house.
I was in Manhattan on 9/11, and I never knew this story. And that boat The Amberjack is a fishing boat from Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn, where I grew up. I've walked past it dozens of times. Amazing stories in this vid.
I have a funny little story to go along with this. About 2 years after 9/11, I was in New York for a class and I went out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry was fairly empty and the captain stopped by and said hi. We started talking and I asked him about 9/11 as I had been a paramedic at the Pentagon. He said that when it happened, he heard the call for “all boats” and responded despite having tourists on board. He made an announcement and everyone on board was ok with responding. He said that he had never pushed his boat that hard before but had to come to a sudden slowdown as right in front of him was a man in a rowboat rowing his heart out. He had heard the call for all boats and figured he could carry a couple of people so responded with his rowboat. 🙂
*He had heard the call for all boats and figured he could carry a couple of people so responded with his rowboat* OK, that just brought tears to my eyes...
As a lifelong NYer, this never leaves my mind. Not 1 day. It's amazing how many good things were done that day. Let's keep this day in our hearts and minds and continue to support those who are sick from the cleanup.
That day showed the absolute worst of mankind and then the very best of mankind.
I was working in Washington, DC that day. My office wasn't near enough to the Pentagon to be in any danger, but I had friends and family who didn't know how close I was. I got so many phone calls to check on me.
I also saw remarkable attitudes among those in my workplace. I worked for a military medical research lab. Most of the researchers were medical doctors. Their reaction was humbling as their immediate response was to organized a relief effort. When everyone else was shocked and uncertain by what was going on, these people first thought to help.
I can't wrap my hand around the fact that you did not know that story. In Germany it was all over the news and reports about 9/11. What baffles me is how the USA could go from this much neighbourly love and helping each other as much as possible to the USA you have now, divided by lies and conspiracies no one should believe because they are crazy. What happened on 9/11, not the attacks, but the way everybody did what they could to help each other, THAT is the USA I love.
America and other countries have always been divided to some extent, sometimes more sometimes less, but America always proves to be the land of opportunity and when people truly need help nobody steps in like Americans do the world can say whatever they want about America, but if something were to happen, there would be no other country I would want to be in then America.
No matter the conspiracy theories it’s always important to remember that people did die that day some instantly some took the choice to take their own lives so they wouldn’t burn, that will always live on in our minds
The images of people jumping from the buildings still shakes me to my core
Agreed....seeing the ppl jumping out of the buildings hit your gut hard 😓
Thank you Blokes, I cannot believe I never knew this side-story of 9/11 and thanks for sharing your reactions with us. From USA.
(Edit) I'm glad you mentioned the Dunkirk rescue mission.
One of the boat angel's saved my cousin.
Thank you to all the boats who answered the call that day💗
I love this video. This demonstrates the love we have for one another as Americans. It may not seem like it right now but when it comes down to it, we are all Americans and in times of need, we will have each others back. This is American pride
A lot of Manhattan’s strongest cell phone towers were at the top of the Twin Towers, made the phone situation even worse as everyone trying to get in contact with their loved ones but add to it, a huge chunk of our serviceable cell towers were demolished.
I’ve seen this video sooo many times and EVERY time, even though I know it’s coming, as soon as they put the call out and you see the boats start coming it brings tears to my eyes.
Thanks for watching and i am loving your reactions and comments to "Boatlift"!!❤❤
It's been almost 20 years and I was 5, about to be 6 when this happened AND I've seen this particular video a few times before but I still get emotional. We might not always be supportive as a country, but that was a time where support and love was strong. Love for my state NY strong ❤
I'm from NY and I've never seen this perspective on the day. How amazing to see people help each other like that. Just amazing.
Even after all these years, it still seems like a movie, so hard to believe that it actually happened
I felt so proud to be an American that day! I remember being afraid and then going outside to see nothing but our Fighter Jets in the air. My fear turned into pride and everyone I know became ready to fight.
It is amazing that there were no collisions or capsized boats. This is such an amazing story. I wonder why it hasn’t been made into a movie.
There was a 4th plane that went down 45 minutes from where I live in Pennsylvania. It was headed for the white house. When the people on the plane realized this they called their loved ones to say goodbye and took over the plane crashed it in a field so that no more lives or american iconic buildings would be taken out!
I was 21 and working as an EMT in Orlando, Fl..I remember being at the station and people talking about a plane hitting and I figured it was some horrible accident..I walked into the Dayton to get some coffee and watched as the second plane hit live…All the hospitals went into lock down and once the pentagon was hit we thought the whole country was under attack…Being in Orlando with all the tourists stuff we thought we’d be hit next so everyone stocked up the trucks with extra supplies and waited for the call.
I've seen this video a number of times since it first came out and I have the same reaction each and every time I watch it - I find tears streaming down my face as I remember watching that whole day unfold live before us. It is one of those days in your life that you will forever remember all of the details, all of the pictures, everything that was going on around you. It still after 20 years hurts my heart. How can it already be 20 years ago?
I was in 4th grade when 9/11 happened, i just remember the whole school going silent then just being evacuated. My parents were crying and just seeing the names scroll on the Tv not understanding, being 30 now, this hits so much harder.
So glad you guys watched this, such an important part of that day that often goes unnoticed.
I remember news coverage of boats transporting people off of Manattan on the day, but never knew the sheer scale of the evacuation until this video. Chaos and fear of the unknown ruled the day on 9/11. All landline and cellular phone service was overwhelmed. Even the newscasters were being forced to make assumptions. Only in hindsight do we know that no more planes were going to hit targets in NY that day. But none of those people knew that during the events of the day, so both they and those boat operators were evacuating under the assumption that they were a moving target.
Also, the river has a strong current during tides so it would not have been particularly swimmable.
By far, this is my favorite story about the best of Americans. I can never get enough of it.
My family friend worked in the daycare of one of the towers. She wasn’t working that day but it still took 5 to 6days before we heard from her. A girl in my high school’s dad was on flight 93. Everyone wanted to do something. There’s a reason my generation has a very ww2 like response post Pearl Harbor. Everyone was touched in some way. God bless these heroes.
I was ten blocks north of all of this and saw it from start to finish. My buddy Christian Regenhard was FDNY and he died that day. I cannot express to you the horror of witnessing 9/11 in person.
I'm American and I had no idea of this until recently. Thanks for the reaction. This needs to be known.
I can't believe next month will be 20 years. This still makes me cry today 😢.
So many people that work in NY live in NJ. They were trying to get home . I live in the area and it’s a reminder every day of that September day . The New York skyline is forever changed.
As a native New Yorker who lost someone in the World Trade Center, I hate seeing the first tower collapse because I know that is the moment my family member died. That day was hell because I was unable to contact anyone while living overseas.
I’m sorry for your loss! I’m from Chicago but I was just a baby when that happened when I got older and asked my dad about that event and he explained to me that he was heading to his family’s shop and went Subway to buy lunch for later but as he was about to open the door the restaurant’s manager locked it and tells him to go back home right away as other people around staring to run towards their cars until my mom calls him on the phone telling him to come back home quickly and said there’s something really terrible going on in New York City and said that a two planes both crashed in the Twin Towers then my dad immediately went to his car and drives back home he told me it was a very strange and scary day for him and I’m sorry for all the people who lost their love ones!
@@robertcisneros2303 Thank you.
The bridges, subways and rail lines were all shut down until around 5pm. Initially people did cross into Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge and Queens via the 59th street bridge but the fear of a followup attack that would kill thousands more lead the whole city to be shut down until the Air Force had air control over the entire city area. You could hear fighter aircraft circling above for hours before they reopened various types of transport
Terrifying. I was only 3 and my only memory is hearing my mom scream and cry bloody murder as she watched it live.
@@maciedixon3983 I'm 55, but was 35 at the time. My supervisor was a woman and was several months pregnant and got on one of those boats. Our Office Manager/Head Secretary was caught in that cloud and even though she is African American she was totally white covered from head to toe in debris dust. One of my wife's friends husband was an iron worker and he and his friends went to the Pit and spent 3 weeks inside digging people's remains out. He found human body parts and about 5 years later he committed sucide....several of his friends came down with strange lung problems form breathing in the debris which was full of powdered glass, sheet rock and asbestos. Luckily I got inside without breathing any of that stuff....
Can Dunkirk be a verb? Because humans will always Dunkirk when we have to Dunkirk. /salute
" Boatlift 9/11" actually as a verb has more rights to be labeled as a verb. We Americans do not try to outdo others. We just do spontaneously. sometimes often. Uniquely. 500,000 in 9 hours the same day done by Citizens who own Private Vessels. No state sponsorship required. Wow.
Thank you for sharing this with us. That’s the first time this American viewed the documentary. It’s very emotional, and it was nice seeing it with my cousins across the pond.
Cheers.
Rest easy, Vincent. You're a good man. ❤
Amazing story I’ve watched this so many time and cry every time. I was in high school when this happened. We lived in Detroit, Michigan and that whole day the school was the quietist I have even seen or heard in my life. All we did was watch the news from class to class, I don’t even think I heard kids talking during lunch. It was shocked and sad, and scary, all at the same time. This is something that Americans don’t need to forget, it’s history and should be talked about in schools. It’s sad that I have to teach my kids about this, they don’t learn it in history at all.
I was born a few months after 9/11 and I’m absolutely chilled by the videos and history that we learned about 9/11. I cannot image the devastation and desperation. It’s sad but I’m also amazed by the union-ship it brought people, because I’ve never experienced it
I was in the WTC Tower with the restaurants and the observation deck on top on a school class Trip. South Tower I think. Spent a lot of time looking down out where the glass met the floor sitting on one of the benches. I remember how people on the ground looked like ants.
Second place I have been to visit that later had a tragedy.
I got a funny foreboding in both places and a tingle. I never ignore that feeling. It has saved my life a few times.
I was living near San Francisco at the time. I remember the next few days hearing fighter jets flying overhead doing patrols.
All private and commercial airplanes were grounded for three days.
I will never forget that day, from anxiety to the smell to the sky (it was so quiet yet so blue). The only plane in the air was Air Force One with the President I remember seeing it from my backyard in Nebraska. He was on his way to a bunker at Offit Airforce Base I worked at a day care and literally everyone came to get their kids early. I left an went to get my kid I remember no cars on the road people left work and went straight home. We had no clue who was next and having the Airforce Base and the President in a bunker here was terrifying. That whole day I sat cried with my baby and watched hours of news coverage 😢
8th September 2021, 4:20pm ... that's the moment I learned that Dunkirk isn't the largest sea-born rescue in the history of man. That 9/11 actually beat an event I never thought possible to beat. And in far less time too, which is an amazing fact alone. What an amazing story! I adore stories like this, that showcase the TRUE humanity side of us and what we're really capable of if we just put our differences aside for a moment and all focus on a single goal. Makes me kind of sad that we can't act that way ALL the time, and makes me wonder what we could have achieved already if we did.
I had never seen this... thank you so much for bringing it to my attention. This made me cry like a baby
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York is one of the most moving experiences as an American of my life. Thank you for showing a review of this video- showing the best of the American 🇺🇸 spirit in action. God bless the USA 🇺🇸.
I’m from Long Island, only an hour away from the city. I was in 1st grade at the time, it was beautiful out and I was jealous of my classmates who were being pulled out one by one until less than half the students were present. I’ll never forget how confused my teacher looked as her classroom emptied. It wasn’t until my mom came and pulled me out of class that I saw what was happening on the tv. Then i understood horrible terrifying things were happening.
My dad almost died in the original attack on the towers in 93. He lived only because he left to grab a cup of coffee with a co worker. They were working in the parking garage where the bomb went off. The work van that they had just been in was destroyed. My uncle John is one of the brave police heroes who helped evacuate the towers. My aunt Tara who worked only 2 blocks away from the trade center was missing for almost 7 hours before she finally made it home. This changed my entire life and I will never forget this horrific day. I would also like to mention that the bridges were absolutely shut down, they did this so LI emergency services were able to get to the trade center as quickly as possible. Thank you for covering this incredible story.
I watched it live on TV. Twenty years ago and it still choked me up.
I was on one of the tugboats that helped evacuate Manhattan. Sad day as of this anniversary day 21 yrs later i still remember everything from planes hitting the towers. To people jumping into the river. 😭
Nice reaction. I love this amazing story. People coming together to help each other is what I remember most about that horrific day. Thanks for watching this.
I remember 9/11 vividly. I started tearing up 15 seconds in
6:20 The East River is anywhere from 600ft. to 4,000 ft. Not exactly the English Channel but has very rough water with lots of boat traffic.
Even without the boats, the average person would struggle a lot, I also think plenty of people fleeing a situation wouldn't think to strip before jumping in which would weigh them down/cause drag quite a bit.
As so many have said, this moves me to tears. We were nowhere near NY, and it was as real as could be. I recall wishing I could do something to help. I couldn't even donate blood because of my health, and my spouse was unemployed so our family had no money. Two months later my husband was hired as a temp to go to help with the cleanup. It impacted him for the rest of his life. I loved seeing the new superhero toys come out in the ensuing weeks and months because they were firefighters, police, and other first responders, real superheroes instead of the usual. We waved the flag more in those days than I had ever seen. I asked my dad, who was in the navy in WWII, if that was what it was like when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He said it was, except there were far fewer people waving flags and having them on their cars.
I was 10 and in school when this happened. Our teacher got a call from a family member and told us that a plane had hit the WTC, and I will never forget a student in my class asking what the WTC was. After that teachers were told not to tell us or show us anything. It wasn’t until a few hours after our teacher got the phone call, when kids were pulled out of class and all after school activities were canceled that we started to realize there was more to the story then what we already knew.
I was about 8 and live on the west coast so I watched it on TV at home before I had to go to school. It was so insane. Once I got there, everyone was in a panic. Teachers were talking about their missing family members. The whole school went out to the field and stood around it and had a long moment of silence. We stayed the whole day but it mostly felt like a comfort thing.
I grew up and lived in Southern New Jersey. About 20-25 mins outside of Philadelphia. At night I could look up in the sky and see at least 10 to 15 planes in the night sky at any point in time. I remember going out for a night swim in my pool that night and taking notice of how absolutely quiet and empty the sky was, since they had grounded all flights. It was very strange and eerie. A group of us actually talking about going up to the City and seeing if we could help, but the local News was reporting that the authorities didn't want any more people coming into New York City.
As far as swimming from Manhattan to NJ, the actual distance straight across is probably about a mile and swimmers have done this. However, keep in mind that this is the Hudson River and it is moving water that eventually flows out into the Atlantic Ocean. So while a seasoned swimmer can do this, depending on the time of day a swimmer is in the water they will also need to be fighting the flow of the water for the entire mile swim otherwise the moving water will take them out into the harbor. It would not be recommended that a normal person, who is not a seasoned swimmer, attempt to make this crossing.
There are so many untold experiences that happened on 9/11. They all made such a difference even if they only saved 1 person or none the efforts that everyday people made to help were incredible.
I feel people of America forgotten what we are. We’re so focused on little things and the dumb shit that we think is important is nothing. But this…. Was the only day I saw America was actually America. I felt this day and will never forget …. This day was what Americans is. Where are we leading America now?
There were literally hundreds of boats running for 9 hours straight! There was one boat that could fit about 60 people but was over heating after making so many trips. Two smaller fishing boats tied up to him and just kept owing him back and forth. People helping people.
Another really good one to check out from that day is the story of Welles Crowther, "The Man in the Red Bandana." ESPN produced a short film about this, as he had recently graduated from Boston College where he played La Crosse. 9/11 has been designated as a day of service as a way to honor countless people like him who stepped up and did the right thing. Boston College holds the Welles Crowther Red Bandana 5k every year to support the charitable trust established in his name. It's a sad, but inspirational story!
I worked six blocks away from the World Trade Center. As soon as I hit the street I walked uptown. I was around 40th street when the Twin Towers came down. I was able to get home to Queens.on an express bus. The next week the aftermath started of smells, no phones and worst the pictures of missing people on walls and such. It was sad seeing the young smiling faces of people you knew were deceased. I have not forgotten but most Americans have.
Yall should look up the fire boat john j Harvey it was a retired fire boat that was to be scraped but some people bought it and saved it it they where called to brink the boat to the towers to pump water as new york only had 2 or 3 fire boats but they could not pump the amount the john j Harvey could
As far as swimmig goes, its probably about a mile to land in brooklyn, but the waterway is treacherous. The hudson river meets the atlantic ocean in NY harbor and half thw time the tides are opposing. The water just swirls, even voat props have trouble getting "traction." You'd have to be a hell of a swimmer
67 Brits and 17 foreign nationals associated with the UK died there that day. I'd like to think some were rescued by boat. God bless these brave souls and our countries.
Thanks for showing this, guys. I’m an American from Florida, 50 years old at that time and though I was glued to my TV atI day, I didn’t know anything about these brave boat owners. Good bless them all. 💙
So hard to watch without tears! There are no words to describe the horror and sadness!
He’s right about the river, it’s very much swimmable for any decent swimmer in decent shape. Most people wouldn’t make it. However, that’s up by the GW, at the southern tip of the island, it gets way too wide for even the best, and the strong currents would likely wash you out to sea. It’s so deep there is literally an aircraft carrier parked up the river.
i love seeing/hearing about 9/11. I clearly don't mean that in a negative way, it's just always been interesting to me. I was only 4 when it happened and seeing it on the news with my mom.
Every day after school on 9/11, i'd watch the documentaries. Chokes me up when hearing people's personal recollections of it all.
And the sound of the bodies collapsing on the cement is probably the most surreal thing i've ever heard
I’ve watched this so many times and I still get choked up.
This still brings tears to my eyes. I am retired from the navy. We were asked to help watch the skies.
Ferries typically have 16 man Crews tugs 3-10 so on the low end over 300 risked their lives to evacuate their fellow countrymen.
East river and Hudson river are cold, fast currents and wider than most think, it would take an extremely high quality swimmer to cross it. I watched this all happen from exchange place in Jersey city. still doesnt compute