Where were you September 11, 2001?

(FOX 13) - Almost anyone born 1996 or later can immediately summon the memory of where they were the morning the Twin Towers fell.

On the 18th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, FOX 13 News asked folks around the Bay Area where they were when they heard the news.

Their responses amount to a typical day in American life – and the moment that redefined ‘typical' from then on.

I was working overseas for the Department of Defense in schools in Germany and when I came home from school, I put the news on and there it was…. It was just astounding.

It's like the day JFK was killed. I mean, there are things that are stamped in your mind and that was one.

That night, I remember thinking about all our planes going out. You could hear them because I lived next to the base.

I think we've gotten stronger and I know our people are stronger. But the world is a different place now, a very different place. ~ Rosemary Degavage

We were in Vegas and sleeping and my son called and, three-hour time difference, we were still in bed.

It was kind of amazing, all the casinos just had the American flags as their neon thing outside.

Just amazement and fear and couldn't believe it happened. ~ Kathy Traina

I actually remember I was with a client of mine over in Lakeland. I was a countertop salesman and I was standing in their office and I had a TV on and I watched it on TV and just couldn't believe it.

It was a very traumatic time.

I think everybody would remember where they were at that time. ~ Roger Atherton

How horrific it was. Just horrific.

I was with my mom and my sons and we heard the broadcast over the radio about something had hit the tower.

We were just glued to the television and just in awe. We just couldn't believe the tragedy and what was happening. ~ Liz Dixon

I was doing a seminar, a safety seminar, down in Boca Raton and happened to walk down in the lobby. They had a huge TV down there and didn't see the first aircraft hit, but saw the second one come in.

Unbelievable. Just absolutely unbelievable. To see the towers fall was beyond belief.

People that are still living remember where they were the exact time Pearl Harbor was bombed in the same way. ~ Gary Thirion

We went back up to our room and watched. We couldn't leave. We couldn't make the drive back. We had to just watch.

It's hard to believe it's been 18 years. Every year it seems like it was just yesterday. ~ Cheri Thirion

I was at home. I was at home in the morning and having breakfast.

I seen the first airplane and then afterwards the second one and it was hard. ~ Wilton Burgos, Tampa

I was actually living in Washington D.C., working for the Smithsonian and… all the alarms went off and I think I was on the, like, 20th floor of that building and had to walk out and there was just complete chaos where you just thought the world was ending that particular day.

A couple days later, driving through Arlington, Virginia, to see the Pentagon how the damage happened there with the plane going through the building, it was just very terrifying.

Seeing people from all different walks of life all pull together. This is America. We should not be divided based on our economic status or color or anything of that nature. We all are one. ~ Art Nelson, Tampa

I was in fifth grade and I remember the teacher turning on the TV and telling us that this tragedy had happened.

I just thought about all the people who lost their lives at such a young age. I didn't really understand fully what was going on and the gravity of the situation but now I definitely do.

I saw my teacher crying and I knew that it was very tragic and it just was heartbreaking, even that young. ~ Aisha Belluccia, Tampa

I was at work and I'm from New Jersey, so it was pretty emotional.

I was at work, so I remember getting a call from my husband and telling me to go get our kids and go home and they didn't know what was going on, so it was really something. Because when you grow up in that area, it hits you pretty hard. ~ Diane Bratz, Tampa

I'm from New York and I was actually an employee at USF.

I was actually at work sitting at my desk and somebody ran in and said, 'they're blowing up your city.'

I saw that first tower get hit.

My sister worked in a building down the block, so I ran and called, didn't get any answer.

And then I ran back into the conference room and saw the plane fly in, the second plane, and I just lost it.

I worked in Tower 2 back in the first, the original bombing in '93, where they bombed the garage. So yeah, it was very, stressful for me. I can never, ever forget that day.

I took the Number 1 train every day into that basement where the towers went down. I used to ride that escalator every day for years. ~ Donna Nowlin, Tampa

A kid was running down the hall and they said, 'New York's on fire! New York's on fire!'

As I was going to back to my history class, I saw my English teacher's TV out of the window and I saw them play the first plane going into the building. ~ Angela Simmons, Tampa

Each memory marks the moment everything changed for citizens of the United States and people around the world. These memories might give those who were too young, or born into the post-9/11 world, a sense of what life was like the day the towers fell and changed the world as it was known.