On Sept. 11, 2001, I was sleeping about 9 that morning when I received a call from a reporter at The Times in Gainesville, Ga., to turn on the TV. I was the metro editor at the then Gannett-owned newspaper, but we were waiting for a new chief editor to start in two weeks, so I was the acting editor.
      I switched on NBC and saw one of the two towers from the World Trade Center in New York City on fire near the top of the 110-story building. I was a little groggy after working until 2:30 a.m. as the reporter told me they weren't sure what happened - a plane had, by accident it was believed, hit the tower and the upper floors were on fire.
      As we continued talking, we both watched as another plane hit the second tower, a ball of flame erupting from the structure. Almost at the same time, we said: "That was no accident!"
      On that Tuesday morning nearly 10 years ago, the United States was shaken to its core by the terrorist attacks that left 2,977 people, not including the 19 hijackers of the four airplanes used in the attacks, dead. Like Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, 9/11 became an event seared into the national consciousness. Everyone remembers what they were doing when they first heard about the attacks and how they spent that fateful day.
      With Sept. 11, 2011 marking 10 years, we are asking you, our readers, to go back to that day and share with us how you first became aware of the attacks and what you recall most vividly about that day.
      What actually shook me more than anything was watching the first World Trade Center tower crumble. I remember sitting in my office watching the towers on fire and thinking how are they going to put those fires out being up so high. Like most people, I imagine, I wasn't sure what was happening watching the plume of dust get bigger and bigger as the tower first began to crumble.
      It never occurred to me that was even a possibility.
      Again, like most people, I watched and waited for the same horrific fate to befall the second tower.
      I was stunned sitting there as an American knowing our country was under attack and wondering how many thousands of people were dead. But I also knew I had a job to do as head of our newsroom to organize the professional journalists on our staff and cover a story unlike any other. Looking around, I could see that, like me, everyone was dealing with their own personal shock.
      A quick meeting mobilized the staff and assignments were handed out all during the day. I believe we all felt that doing the best job we could reporting on what happened from a local and national perspective was our small part of helping our community cope with the tragedy.
      So, please take a few moments and send yourself back 10 years to that dark day and put your thoughts on paper or in an email or on Facebook and share it with us. We will publish as many as we can in print and even more on statesboroherald.com.
      September 11, 2001 is a day no American will ever forget.