Watching 9/11 Attacks Unfold From Miles Away: Bill Weir of ‘Nightline’ Remembers

By Bill Weir September 8, 2011

I write this with honest chagrin, because so many of my colleagues waded into the mayhem and ash that morning while I witnessed the horror unfold from the comfort of a living room in Los Angeles.

My wife and I were dozing in the wee hours when my sister-in-law called to inform us that “they are flying planes into the World Trade Center … ON PURPOSE!” And we sat in our robes, gape-jawed, watching the towers fall.

It wasn’t until the next day, after giving blood and buying the requisite flag, that a brief televised interview with a New York father posting fliers of his missing daughter sent me to the laundry room to sob. I’ll never forget the spontaneous candlelight vigils along Wilshire Boulevard or the neighbor who drove cross-country to help search “the pile.”

A sportscaster at the time, I called my station and volunteered to report in any capacity but was told to take the week off, a moment that sealed the decision to quit a job I secretly loathed.

Before long, we were loading the moving truck for a chance to cover the world for ABC News, and today we have the honor of calling Lower Manhattan our neighborhood and 9/11 survivors our friends. We watch the Freedom Tower rise from the kitchen window, a daily reminder of how much was lost and how far we’ve come.

Remembering 9/11: Share your memories with ABC News HERE