AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Monday is the 22nd anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on our country. All across America today, people will pause to remember the tragic events.

The wounds of that day are still fresh years later. the events on that day burned into the memories of those who were old enough to remember.

Americans watched in shock and disbelief as 3 planes flew into buildings in New York and Washington D.C. and as brave passengers took down a 4th plane in Pennsylvania to prevent more lives from being lost.

We all likely remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when those planes crashed and the World Trade Centers fell.

Most of the country watched it all unfold on TV, but NewsChannel 6 spoke to one Augusta woman who was headed into New York and watched it all happen in person.

“And you could see smoke coming from the Hudson River area,” said Krystina Carrino.

Carrino lived in New Jersey but worked in New York City at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

She was on her way to work that morning when traffic stopped at Lincoln Tunnel. That’s when she saw something she says she will never forget.

“And then three minutes later you just saw an explosion at the second tower. Everybody got out of their cars. I mean we were stopped. We were dead stopped. The tunnel got shut down. And no one realized what just went into that tower. Was that…seriously, was that an airplane?” Carrino said.

From where she was Carrino and the other drivers watched as the twin towers collapsed, killing thousands.

She said she lived 17 minutes away and it took her 5 hours to get home that day.

As soon as she got home she began calling friends to make sure everyone was ok. Unfortunately the news wasn’t good, and a close friend of Carrino’s was one of nearly three thousand people that died that day.

“A couple of my girlfriends whose husbands were firemen and police officers. I’m like ‘Have you heard from your husband?’ And they’re like ‘No.’ The next day they didn’t come home,” Carrino said. “And, you know, when I couldn’t get in touch with Bobby in 48 hours, I just knew that he was one of them.”

Carrino said she went to 34 funerals in the weeks that followed and many of her friends didn’t have remains to bury. She tells NewsChannel 6 that the things she witnessed have haunted her ever since and the anniversaries of the September 11th attacks never get easier.

“I always, you know, since Facebook has been around, I always post a ‘I miss you Bobby.’ It’s just a day that I try not to be around people.”

Misty Mitchell was living in Vermont when the attacks happened. She worked at IBM and was watching Don Imus as the events unfolded live.

“And the next thing I knew Don’s like ‘Wait. There’s a plane. A plane hit one of the twin towers.’ Then he says ‘Oh my goodness! A plane crashed,'” said Mitchell. “And everybody’s thinking it was just an off the radar kind of thing and then the next thing you know, he goes ‘Wait. The other tower is going down too.'”

Mitchell explained that she will never forget that day, or the American unity in the days and weeks that followed.

“We were American and we stood together. And it didn’t matter if we disagreed with each other.”