♪ >> this year marks the 20th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. join us for live coverage from new york, the pentagon, and pennsylvania, starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, on c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. ♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television companies and more, including charter communication. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. that is why charter invested billions building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities they can small. charter is connecting us. -- in communities big and small.

charter is connecting us. >> giving you a front rosita democracy. -- front row seat to democracy. it at ground zero. this was the first caller of our september 12, 2001 program on c-span talking to c-span. founder brian lamb. >> our first call comes from new york city, good morning you are on the air. what would you like to say? >> i didn't think i would get through. on rector street when the first plane hit i was there. >> where is that? >> it was two blocks from the world trade center. >> two blocks south? what were you doing there? >> believe it or not, i was meeting a deputy commissioner of the tlc which is the limit -- limousine commissioner to get a job as an instructor. it was amazing.

everybody was looking up and i didn't see what was at first. that looked up and i saw what looked like a huge hole in the world trade center. i was trained as a paramedic and i my currently licensed but i started walking toward the world trade center on greenwich street. i saw arms and legs and pieces of bodies and a lot of bad stuff. i put on my latex gloves and i walked up i got to the front door and there is this guy from fema who was -- i said i'm not license but i'm trained as a paramedic and he said that doesn't matter now, come on in. we went in and went under the basement to the other side of the building and basically, people were coming down the stairs in the fire department was arriving in groups they were going up the stairs. there was a group of us and people were leaving out the exit

and they were getting killed by debris that was falling. we would corel people and groups of 50 or 100 and go out the door and look for debris. and we would tell them go and they would run out in groups we did that maybe 15 or 20 times when the second plane hit. at that point i started cursing i turned to the fbi agent. i said we are supposed to be prepared for this. two guys in the bomb squad cayman and i said are we looking for secondaries? my first thought was that they missed the first time and they will definitely bring it down. my thought was that the planes were just a distraction and they probably had bombs in the garage or whatever and that's what their main intention was. it was during the low - l andu i

turned tol one of the fbi agentl and i looked him in the eye and i said you know these things will come down, don't you? he said yeah, they are. none of the federal agents knew the building was going to come down and they just stay. i don't think the fireman, the looks on their faces, i don't think they thought they were going to get out either. we were just trying to get out. >> how did you get out? >> there was an nypd captain with intelligence and he came up to me and said you're a paramedic? and i said yeah. he said this is for police and paramedics are at church and fulton. that's the very east entrance to the trade center. he said go there and help. i said i will stay with you. he said no, go.

i went out the door and across the street i came up to the paramedics who were there i said do you guys need help? they said are you kidding? we startedtriage peopleing and then there was an explosion. i looked up and it was falling on us, the whole thing was coming down on us and we all ran. host: that call on c-span from september 12 of 2001. 20 years later, we are spending the rest of our program hearing your memories from september 11, 2001 on the terror attack from washington to bc and pennsylvania and wondering what you remember from that day. here are the phone numbers.

out of dover plains, new york, jan where were you 20 years ago tomorrow. >> let me you my teething. i was working in an elementary school right outside the new york metropolitan area. my daughter was attending dutchess county community college and her class was scheduled to go down to the towers that day. i found out at 2:00 in the afternoon that she had missed the bus and nobody could get any communication through. it turns out that the bus broke down off the taconic parkway and

everybody was fine. i found out and she called my school and left a message at 2:00 p.m., saying she was ok. on a secondhand personal note, my future husband was working in the -- on the 110th floor for a tv station out of new york city and he was scheduled to go down and work on that. this is pre-cell phone. he got a call the night before saying that the meeting was canceled. he was supposed to meet with his employer and the tv executives. there was a crew there and two of them got the message and two of them did not.they went down in the towers. it was very emotional for him. i did not meet him until a few

leaders later but it was extremely emotional for him and he had a rough time of it. subsequently, he went with his boss -- even thinking about it, to look for people, possible survivors in the rubble, he was there for three days and his boss stay there for i don't know how long. kathy later ended up with medical problems -- and he later and up of medical problems that i'm sure were related to it. host: thanks for sharing your family story from that day. jack in california, your next. caller: hi there, i was born in 1997. september 11 happened when i was barely four years old. i don't really remember a whole lot about it. everyone i talked to, remembered

the exact time and place where they were. nowadays, i feel there is a generation and the generation before me that will not grow up with the severity of what happened because they themselves did not really experience it. i would urge people to do their research and find out what happened because it's a crazy thing. i'm sure it's more intense for people who saw it live on television. i don't think it's as severe for people who didn't really experience it themselves. i thought it was an interesting point that we are seeing generations now growing up without the 9/11 experience. we can sort of remind people what happened that day and remember the sacrifices that people made. from that day and 20 years later

to keep ourselves safe. thank you. host: jerry also in california, you are next. caller: good morning, yes, i remember when it happened. it was kind of strange because the way that they had done it in anyways, the morning i came into work, the person i was relieving when i stopped to tell him i was here, he said a plane just ran into the world trade center he said go park and hurry and come in because we had cable tv. when i went and parked and when i finally came in, i said is this it?

he said no, this is something different. it must be a different plane. i'm like no way so we watched the second plane run into the second building live on tv. we couldn't believe what we were -- and we were just in shock. right away, we were like no, this is crazy. the field that we are in a security and the next thing you know, we started getting calls like that and down the hatches and everything. it was weird because it happened in new york but affected all of us throughout the united states. host: where did your security job take you in the years afterwards? caller: i am still in the same spot. i am still doing it but not in the same account but still here in california.

i -- it did kind of make me realize different things especially common sense wise. i kind of knew things and i put two and two together. we had one of our residents who had a company and they had over 100 -- the people who work for no money? what are they called? the kids that work for money out of college. host: interns? caller: there were over 100 interns up there and they were going to funerals almost every weekend for that stuff another

guy that lived there, his brother was one of the copilots on the plane that went into the ditch. host: that was jerry in california. here is the timeline from that day, september 11, 2001. 9:59 a.m., the south tower collapsed and it 3:00 a.m. come united flight 93 crashed in shanksville, pennsylvania and then the north tower collapses. the deaths at the world trade center at the pentagon, 125 deaths of 59 additional abort american

flight 77 and in shanksville, pennsylvania, the 40 men and women aboard united flight 93. the front-page newspapers from that day, here is a few of them for you and putting the reprint this morning from the wall street journal of their front-page the next day on september 12, 2001. from the chicago tribune from the next day this is the herald sun front page. also the boston globe. several more newspapers we will show you through this last hour and 15 minutes ofthe "washington journal" but we want

to hear from you. along with hearing your stories, we want to show you a few interviews we have done with long time members of congress in washington on september 11, 2001 in their views from that day. among them, congresswoman jan schakowsky. here are some of her memories from capitol hill that day. [video clip] >> i remember being in the capital jim and one of the office buildings. i was working out and the woman who is in charge called me and said you have to look at the television. i came over and i saw the first plane hit the twin towers and i thought to myself, what a horrible accident that was. then we continue to watch and saw the second plane hit. that was the second tower and we knew this was an attack on the

united states. this was no accident. i quickly got dressed and ran back to my office and looked out the window of my office and saw smoke rising from the direction of the pentagon step that was the other hit. we didn't know at the time about that plane that had landed, that had crashed in pennsylvania and the incredibly brave people who took that plane down. we did hear that a plane might be heading for the capital but at first we didn't hear anything. we didn't know what to do. we began to have a discussion -- do you think we will have hearings? should i go to the financial services subcommittee hearing? and there was nothing from the capitol police until there were voices running down the hall and

it was the capitol police thing get out of here evacuate, leave now. the staff ran out of the building and i said we need to leave the capital complex. let's get in a car and we went to the apartment of my chief of staff's mother. we all stayed there for a while. there was very little communication. this is the days before blackberries. communications improved as a result of 9/11 and we all got blackberries and mitigation devices. i did hear about the meeting on the capital steps were members joined and sang loud and clear, god bless america. it wasit was such an incredibly traumatic and stirring day.

host: congresswoman jan schakowsky from a week ago. that last moment she talked about that meeting of members on the steps of the capitol, the singing of "god bless america." here is that moment from september 11, 2001, starting with the moment of silence asked for by dennis has to. [video] >> our thoughts and was injured and those who are casualties of today's attacks. we asked now we all bow our heads for a moment of silence in remembrance.

thank you. [crowd talking] >> are you ok? >> ♪ land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans god bless america my home, sweet home god bless america my home, sweet home ♪ ♪ [applause]

host: members of congress on the steps of the u.s. from september 11, 2001. taking your phone calls this morning, getting your stories and memories from that day. carrollton, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i -- it was my freshman year of college. i was working at a local grocery store. in carrollton. , and i started my day around 8:00 that morning. everything was normal. then about 9:00 i was walking in

the back. i saw the receiving clerk in the back. she was crying, like bawling her eyes out. what is going on? she is like, america is under attack. i was confused. we did not have tv's. we did not have -- she had a radio that she listened to music. it was playing news at the time, which was kind of unusual. she said america is under attack. she had already been told her son, who was in the military, had been put on standby. so, what was interesting about that day is while everything started out normal, the rest of

the day it was like we at the grocery store, like the business just completely dropped off. no one was coming into the store. people, the other employees, we were all like -- no one could speak to each other. we were all there. we did not really know what was going on. it wasn't until i got home or got back to my dorm at about 4:00, 4:30 that afternoon i actually saw the videos of the planes hitting the towers. i can remember looking at my roommate and saying, oh my gosh. because i did not realize how bad it was until i got back that

day. it still is burned in my memory, the first time i actually saw that video once i got back to my dorm and turned on the tv. host: kevin in georgia. this is petra out of virginia. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have lived in virginia for 30 years. i love this country so very much. on september 11, i was greeting some customers, some guests. a lady went to the phone and she came back and said something happened in new york. an airplane just flew into the twin towers. i was shocked. the only thing i said was if that is true, there will be a war. over 17 years, almost every time

i was driving by the most beautiful flag of the world, the american flag, constantly i was contemplating what happened to the world. i am an artist. a friend of mine who is an artist as well, we created a video which is at the september 11 memorial in new york. everybody globally can see it. the title of it is, "remember 9/11." if it comes to the end of august, september, my heart is beating every time so badly because emotionally it is too much for all of us and for me as well. we hope we can share this video. i'm not sure if i'm allowed to mention it here. we hope we can share and people can look at this nice,

beautiful, healing and meaningful video and ask for contemplation. thank you very much. host: drake from maryland, you are next. caller: hello. host: go ahead, drake. caller: 9/11. it is significant in my life. i was active duty, stationed overseas that day. i was a boatswain's mate in the united states navy. i got off early that day. it was significant. boatswain's mate's never get up early. it was significant. i remember getting off around 2:00. going through them all. , called the -- going through the mall area, the ginza.

it was filled with military police. master at arms. u.s. navy. it would -- that would never be the case on an ordinary day they would never be there at 2:00. i was buying beer. i was going to go up to a mountain, the top of a mountain to my buddy's apartment. i recall someone tagging me and following me up the mountain on that day. you know, by the time it happened, because of the fact japan is 12 hours ahead, it was about 9:00 at night. i beat my friend at madden. the tv turned off because he got mad. we thought it was a movie. we saw the planes hit. it was all in kamji, -- kanji, in japanese. we did on the what was going on.

host: how long did you stay in the military after 9/11? caller: about three years. the people came to get us from there. nobody knew we were up there. ever since that day, even though it was 20 years ago, it has been that shaving with the jet mechanic school to figure this thing out. can jets do that? i don't know. is that possible? i have completely -- not lost my mind. i just wanted to figure things out on my own. host: that is drake in maryland. robin in california, you are next. caller: good morning. i was in africa, in kenya. i had taken a group of women on safari. 50 of them. most were from new york. i decided to rest and catch up

on paperwork. people came out of a ten. they said america has been attacked. how do you know it is not a joke? i listened to the radio. then i went to the the lodge manager. they had on -- they had a television, not for the people but in the back. it had been attacked. they came back from safari. i had a meeting. i said to them, i know you think i'm telling you a joke but i'm not. i'm not kidding. the united states has been attacked. it was like [gasp]. something had come from the state department about the attacks. that is what happened. the first thing we did was they had one telephone.

we lined up people to see if they could call back to the states. some of the people did get through. they lined up and called for about six hours. we could not get back. the state department ordered us to go on. we went on to my boss a -- mumbasa. you cannot fly back for days. we spent the next few days trying to get our people to amsterdam. later we got them to answer dam. then they went -- the amsterdam. then they went back to new york. how do you tell them it has been attacked? so many of them were from there. it is the hardest thing i have ever done. host: this morning just getting your memories of september 11, 2001. 20 years later. plenty more coverage of the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

most of the day tomorrow here on c-span, our live coverage starts at 7:00 a.m.. you can watch it here on c-span, c-span.org, and listen to coverage of the memorial ceremony from the twin towers site, the pentagon memorial outside of washington across the potomac river in arlington, virginia, and from shanksville, pennsylvania. your calls as well. our covers going well into the afternoon. we hope you join us on c-span. this is virginia in waldorf, maryland. good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing well, virginia. caller: my daughter is in new york, right down from the twin towers. so was her apartment actually. the devastation was really bad. after the towers fell it put

them down in the basement of the building until the air could clear out. unfortunately, i'm in d.c. i worked at 1710h, right across from the white house. we lost one employee. we had employees that came out of the pentagon with their hands on their knees. you could feel the repercussion of the building, the pentagon when he got hit. our building in d.c. it was just a devastating day for anybody that has to experience it. the city was locked down. the buses could not come in. you had to ride the subway, and only certain lines. it was mass chaos. we had sharpshooters on top of our building. we had -- with the white house is, they blocked it off. you cannot get anywhere from vermont avenue to the white

house, over to about g street, i guess. almost 21st. it was mass chaos. it was terrible. host: thank you virginia. from twitter, howard morton digging into the archives. looking at the scene in d.c. what traffic was like trying to lead capitol hill. take a look here. [video] >> irs. did they evacuate the building? >> [indiscernible] >> what did they say? >> get out of the building. >> do you know if they are evacuating other government buildings? >> [indiscernible] >> ok. are you trying to head home? >> driving out to virginia. >> thanks.

where are you coming from? >> maryland. >> not coming from work? >> [indiscernible] >> you are trying to get home? where do you work? >> [indiscernible] >> what did amtrak do? >> they evacuated. >> is the whole thing evacuated? >> i last i saw people were going to the train. i think it is still operating but i don't know. >> you are heading to maryland? >> yes. >> thanks. [bells ringing] where you guys heading? >> maryland. >> you are in the capito,? >> we work at the u.s. senate building.

there was an explosion at the capitol. they let us go. >> they evacuated all the office buildings? >> after we left the building, that's when it went off. >> there actually was an explosion? >> yes. they said it was a false statement about a car bombing. >> they did? >> the state department. >> when did you hear that? >> [indiscernible] >> the thank you. -- thank you. host: seen scene from the c-span archives. the last caller talked about feeling the vibrations in her office and washington, d.c. of the airplane hitting the pentagon. usa today wrap up of september 11 by the numbers with some of

the numbers about that tragic day. the south tower of the world trade center collapsed at a magnitude of 2.1 on a seismograph. the north tower for the magnitude of 2.3 according to columbia university. the san francisco bay area earthquake in 1989 had a magnitude of 7.1. some of the other tragic numbers from that wrap up. the youngest passenger on the hijacked jets with christine hansen on united airlines 175. she was two on her first trip to disneyland. the oldest passenger was robert norton, an american airlines flight 11. he was 82. there were some 2000 children who lost a parent. 146 lost a parent at the pentagon. nancy from altoona, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call.

i was working at a local hospital. i can remember that there was such disbelief that is happened. what could it be? the feeling that started to spread word-of-mouth. the tv was on whether patients gather on our floor. somewhere watching it. what could this be? the feeling was disbelief at first. could it be an accident? it is something we have never experienced. the tv was on and things were developing. then the disbelief turned to the second attack knowing it was an

attack. how could this happen was the feeling. these are the feelings that everybody experienced in different ways. some people started crying and some people just stared like, what is going to happen next? it put a heavy heart into that whole day. how could this have happened stop helplessness for america. how we are experiencing such a thing that sort of woke us up to how precious our freedom is and our way of life that we just have it. we always feel we don't

experience things like this. host: how long did that feeling last of the preciousness of life and what it means to be an american? is that something that continues to last two today? t -- to today? caller: we need to spread it more. the ones that did not live it. the helplessness. i just wanted to buy -- i went and i got -- that said "we will never forget." it had 9/11. he lived with you, that you are an american. we have that vulnerability.

we should treasure our way of life and our freedom. it never leaves you. it is history. we have to pass it on, because it keeps that alive. that there is too much fighting amongst ourselves right now. this attack brought to life that we don't allow things like this to happen. we all stuck together. host: you said you had a connection to flight 93? caller: no, it was not any kind of family member. right away i just knew how brave the -- he felt that feeling of the people on that plane trying to stop it from going somewhere else. they had their cell phones, talking to people and letting

some things known. it did not happen until afterwards. that feeling of those brave people. that is what america stands for. that just as well sticks in my mind, that flight 93. host: thanks for that call. george and whiteside, missouri. your next. caller: good morning. i was not in the -- i wasn't around it but i seen it on tv. that was 20 years ago. the united states better once again what's happened. that guy down it mar-a-lago, he has caused all this stuff and it will happen again. just keep it up and keep it up and keep it up.

they better do something about that man. i'm telling you, it's going to happen again. host: hank from south carolina. where were you on september 11? caller: thanks for taking my call. i was fixing to go to work. i have been told to come in a little late that morning because we were going to work late to work on some equipment. hi did not have things to do so i was just watching television. i saw the first plane hit. i did not know. i kept watching. when i seen the second plane, you know, i can't remember exactly what was going on. i just kind of lost it. i remember going to work. when i got there my supervisor and my other bus jumped all over

me. what are you doing late? you were supposed to come in here. man, turn on the radio. we are at war. i don't want to hear it. just turn on the radio. then they came down and apologized to me after they found out what was going on. i will never forget that, as long as i live. watching and listening on tv today brings back all those memories. host: plenty of programs throughout the week that have already happened touching on the 20th anniversary this year of september 11. it was yesterday at the national press club that home into kitty secretary may august -- homeland security secretary talked about the survivor tree that came from the attack on 9/11. what it means now for the folks who work at the department of homeland security. this is his remarks from

yesterday. [video] >> shortly after 9/11 in the aftermath of that tragic day, amidst the rubble a tree was found that was struggling but still alive. it was a pear tree. the new york city department of parks and recreation took us to the tree and rehabilitated it over the ensuing weeks and months and years. it was termed the survivor tree. when it produced a seed, a seed would be distributed to a community or town that had unfortunately also suffered tremendous tragedy and loss.

sadly, there are many of them. the seeds have been distributed to them. whether it be orlando, newtown, boston, las vegas, and many others. the seeds of that survivor tree have also been distributed to places of tribute and honor and memory. we in the department of homeland security for extorting of the privileged to receive a seed and plant it yesterday. it speaks to the resilience of our country and to the fact that that resilience is born of the work and dedication of people across the country, including those in the department of homeland security. at this time in our country, two days from 9/11, we think of

course of the lives that were lost on 9/11, 2001 as a result of the tragedy. we really doubled down in our commitment to ensure that this country, our american way of life, our principles are everlasting. we dedicate ourselves to that. host: homeland security 60 me -- secretary mejorcas yesterday . about a half-hour love to hear your memories of september 11, 2001. also looking for your comments on social media as well. this was lucian. i was watching washington journal. they had a segment with the secretary of education.

i had an eight-year-old daughter. i changed the channel to cnn and they were talking about the world trade center burning. jersey girl. my partner was a social worker and spent weeks working downtown. so glad he has not had physical health problems but her mental health has never been the same. diana says her husband saw the attack. the next day these union guys answer the call to help with the wreckage. thank god he has not gotten sick. the air was toxic, we have learned. i was in florida. it was my birthday. i was listening to the radio at work. i thought it was a remake of the war the world's radio show, then realized it was real. it was the worst birthday present ever. taking your phone calls. we will show you some more of the front pages from september 12, 2001. what it looked like on the front

pages of america's newspapers next day. ann is new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. i love retiree for united airlines. i was on my way to the office where i would meet up with another associate. we had a 10:00 meeting at the same building, building number 2. building 7. it was with a big company i will not name. it had been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. as i went into the elevator to go up to my office another person joined me and said it seems like a little plane has flown into one of the towers. i replied, i hope it is not going to be catastrophic. i have a meeting there at 10:00 a.m. i really don't want that to be canceled. when i walked into the office

there were people standing around looking at this -- the earth had just fallen from underneath their feet. did you hear about the plane that ran into the tower? they said yes, but we can't find one of our flights out of boston. we cannot locate it and we don't know what happened to it. the rest of the day was -- i cannot even describe how sad it was to see what happened to our company and our country. in particular, flight 93. i knew the captain. i had flung with him from new york to l.a. in august. what a gentleman he was to all the corporate people that i was accompanying to l.a. so sad. i will never forget. i am grateful i did not go down to the world trade center, because my life would have been taken.

i thank you for the time. host: how long did you stay with united after that? how long did it take for you to get on an airplane again? caller: i went right back. i was in sales. i had to travel quite a bit. my total years was 30 years. later after that i was supposed -- closed to retirement. it was not because of 9/11. it was just time to retire. no, i have no fear of flying. as a matter of fact, united airlines employees, the captains, they were excellent. i have been all over the world. i really put a lot of pride into the company and what we stood for. host: was flying different after 9/11 then before 9/11, the experience of flying?

caller: yeah. security was different. the airlines did not have security. that was not the reason this happened. after that everything changed. it definitely made a change. host: thank you for sharing your memories. scott, seattle. you are next. caller: good morning. i was thinking about that 20 years ago. we had a small television. seattle is a long way from new york city. i worked at the main seattle tacoma airport. we had this little 13-inch little magnavox tv. sometimes we would watch it. as a mechanic there was a deafening, super loud noise on all the time. it was eerily quiet when they started shutting down the airspace around the whole state.

every once in a while he would see some national guard playing flying close to supersonic across the sky. as far as normal civilian air traffic it was completely shut down. it was so strange and eerily quiet. drive around the airport. no planes taxiing. nothing landing or taking off. we had some mechanics across the border up in canada working on a broken plane. they were stranded for five or six days. it was a hassle for them. but nothing like what the people in new york experienced. thanks for taking michael. host: it is the quiet you were never the most? caller: you could hear birds chirping. it's funny how fatiguing having noise around you -- it can be tiring.

it was so weird. after the first plane hit, we were discussing it. this is like a blue sky day. no american airlines pilot is going to have that problem with that building in the middle of the city. the second one hit and we knew it was obviously a terrorist attack. i saw the second plane hit. i did not see the first one on tv. we were gathered around this little tv, this maintenance area with a small crew of mechanics. we just kind of -- the planes on the ground stayed there for like the next five or six days as all the airspace was closed down. we would go and check the oil on them. yeah, did some paperwork on them. >> will be leaving this recorded og