VIRGINIA
"Where were you on 9/11?" as remembered by those in Virginia that day.
Former Pentagon employee Steve remember his experience evacuating one of the most secure locations on Earth after it was attacked on September 11th.
1. "On September 11 I was supposed to be out of town on a business trip! On Monday the 10th I started out on a trip to Albuquerque for a meeting only to find out after the plane had left for Dallas that the meeting had been cancelled. So I turned around and got back to Washington late Monday evening and made it in to the Pentagon bright and early on Tuesday.
At 9:00 that morning about nine of us met in our boss’s office for our usual staff meeting, not knowing that the first plane had already struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Shortly after the meeting began my boss’s phone rang. He picked it up, listened for a moment, and then turned on CNN. By that time, both towers had been struck. We sat transfixed until about 9:30 when I remember my boss saying,
'If any of you need to get back to work, feel free to leave.'
None of us did.
Very shortly thereafter a coworker sitting next to me asked,
'Did you hear that, did you feel that?'
I heard and felt nothing! She somehow sensed some slight vibration and rumble. Ironically our first real indication that something had happened came a few minutes later when CNN switched from a picture of the Trade Towers burning to a picture of the Pentagon burning; alarms only started to sound in the hallway afterwards! As we now know, American Airlines Flight 77 had just flown into the western side of the building.
It should be noted that my office was approximately 1000 feet away from the impact and the five-story Pentagon was built using many massive concrete pillars which withstood the impact incredibly well. Most of the aircraft therefore disintegrated before penetrating too far past the C ring on the other side of the building from me. As such, I did not hear, see, or smell anything until I was outside the building.
Once we heard the alarms we knew it was time to go. Walking out of the building was calm, orderly, and prompt. There are many entrances and exits and the main hallways are very wide which helped in evacuating 20,000 of us. At that time we did not have any procedures in place for what to do in a situation like this so everyone dispersed on their own. Outside I could easily see a plume of smoke rising over the building and decided that the best thing I could do was to leave the area. At that time no one yet knew what exactly had happened or whether something more was about to!
At 9:00 that morning about nine of us met in our boss’s office for our usual staff meeting, not knowing that the first plane had already struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Shortly after the meeting began my boss’s phone rang. He picked it up, listened for a moment, and then turned on CNN. By that time, both towers had been struck. We sat transfixed until about 9:30 when I remember my boss saying,
'If any of you need to get back to work, feel free to leave.'
None of us did.
Very shortly thereafter a coworker sitting next to me asked,
'Did you hear that, did you feel that?'
I heard and felt nothing! She somehow sensed some slight vibration and rumble. Ironically our first real indication that something had happened came a few minutes later when CNN switched from a picture of the Trade Towers burning to a picture of the Pentagon burning; alarms only started to sound in the hallway afterwards! As we now know, American Airlines Flight 77 had just flown into the western side of the building.
It should be noted that my office was approximately 1000 feet away from the impact and the five-story Pentagon was built using many massive concrete pillars which withstood the impact incredibly well. Most of the aircraft therefore disintegrated before penetrating too far past the C ring on the other side of the building from me. As such, I did not hear, see, or smell anything until I was outside the building.
Once we heard the alarms we knew it was time to go. Walking out of the building was calm, orderly, and prompt. There are many entrances and exits and the main hallways are very wide which helped in evacuating 20,000 of us. At that time we did not have any procedures in place for what to do in a situation like this so everyone dispersed on their own. Outside I could easily see a plume of smoke rising over the building and decided that the best thing I could do was to leave the area. At that time no one yet knew what exactly had happened or whether something more was about to!
I therefore headed under Interstate 395 towards Pentagon City where I got on the Blue Line Metro going south. One vivid memory was seeing hundreds of people up on the freeway embankment all on their cell phones! As I did not have one, I called my wife at the King’s Street Metro stop on a payphone and she quickly picked me up at the Franconia-Springfield stop. I spent the rest of the day sitting in front of the television watching the Trade Towers collapse again and again. While bad, the Pentagon was nothing like New York! I don’t remember feeling particularly frightened during the event but do remember feeling angry as the facts slowly emerged, something I still feel now.
On Wednesday, Donald Rumsfeld declared the Pentagon open for business in a show of resolve. I would have never chosen the distinction of being there the day before but would not have missed being there Wednesday for anything! It was surreal, however, as I stood at a window on the inner A ring of the building at lunchtime and looked up at flames rising from the roof between the fourth and fifth corridors across the courtyard before going back to work. Things were a bit tense that day; a report of a suspicious aircraft flying nearby sent the cafeteria workers fleeing at one point. I had to laugh, though, when I found out that my parent organization, Sandia, had closed for the day back in Albuquerque. I did spend part of the day standing in line to give blood only to be turned away when more than enough had been collected.
There were many changes afterwards. The Pentagon Metro stop closed for a long period and the direct entrance into the building was actually sealed off from the subway line. The large bus terminal also closed for three months causing hundreds of riders to have to walk over from Pentagon City. I remember the glow sticks my boss hung beside each of our offices in case a future attack caused a loss of power and the sledge hammer he positioned inside our front door which he felt might help get us out through a back way if the main hallway was blocked. Much of my work over the next six months was spent on committees evaluating security and safety upgrades to various federal facilities.
Unfortunately, 9/11 wasn’t the only terrorist event that occurred during my two years in Washington.
- One week after 9/11 anthrax-laden letters were received by media and federal organizations killing five people and shutting down the Pentagon mail room.
- A year later the DC sniper shootings started, randomly killing 10 in the metropolitan area.
I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse,
'May you live in interesting times.'"
- Steve H.
There were many changes afterwards. The Pentagon Metro stop closed for a long period and the direct entrance into the building was actually sealed off from the subway line. The large bus terminal also closed for three months causing hundreds of riders to have to walk over from Pentagon City. I remember the glow sticks my boss hung beside each of our offices in case a future attack caused a loss of power and the sledge hammer he positioned inside our front door which he felt might help get us out through a back way if the main hallway was blocked. Much of my work over the next six months was spent on committees evaluating security and safety upgrades to various federal facilities.
Unfortunately, 9/11 wasn’t the only terrorist event that occurred during my two years in Washington.
- One week after 9/11 anthrax-laden letters were received by media and federal organizations killing five people and shutting down the Pentagon mail room.
- A year later the DC sniper shootings started, randomly killing 10 in the metropolitan area.
I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse,
'May you live in interesting times.'"
- Steve H.
Written Stories
2. "I was an enlistee in the USAF assigned to work at the Pentagon as a computer specialist when a horrendous explosion startled everyone and shook the windows of our office. Soon the PA system ordered everyone to evacuate the building. When I did, I could see a part of a plane sticking out one side of the building. It took a while to get home because of a horrendous traffic jam that resulted.
As soon as I got home, I called family in Hawaii to let them know that I was okay."
- H. I.
As soon as I got home, I called family in Hawaii to let them know that I was okay."
- H. I.
3. "It was my junior year of high school I had drama first period, our teacher asked a few of us to walk around the school and hang up flyers for the spring production of Bye Bye Birdie.
I was on the 2nd floor hall when I heard the sound of steps slapping against the stairs. it echoed down the hallway, sounded like gunshots, how quick they were coming. Columbine was not so long ago then, I remember my heart racing, I dropped my stack of flyers, they scattered across the floor.
My cross country coach came flying out of the stairwell. His face red and panicked. He yelled at me to get back to class. I asked what he said,
'Someone has flown a plane into the World Trade Center.'
I went back to class. They rolled out the TV on the cart, it only got three channels, but it didn't matter because the coverage was on all of them by then.
I was on the 2nd floor hall when I heard the sound of steps slapping against the stairs. it echoed down the hallway, sounded like gunshots, how quick they were coming. Columbine was not so long ago then, I remember my heart racing, I dropped my stack of flyers, they scattered across the floor.
My cross country coach came flying out of the stairwell. His face red and panicked. He yelled at me to get back to class. I asked what he said,
'Someone has flown a plane into the World Trade Center.'
I went back to class. They rolled out the TV on the cart, it only got three channels, but it didn't matter because the coverage was on all of them by then.
We watched and wondered if it was an accident or if something had gone wrong with the plane. We were all sitting, watching. Some of us solemn, already beneath the gravity of the moment, others just happy for any excuse not to have to do work. I'll never forget the collective quick inhale of breath as we watched the second plane hit. Something reverberated, all the way from New York to a small school in rural Virginia.
It silenced the room. no one spoke not even our teacher. We all just sat there slacked, hands over mouth, trying to understand what was happening. The shrill bell ringing, indicating the ends of classes, went by two or three times, but no one moved. Our day was now dedicated to watching that screen.
I remember hearing this echoing from the TV, not understanding what it was at first. The producers and anchors seemed as confused as we were. Just this constant heavy thud, again and again. It took them two or three to realize it was people jumping. I remember watching the camera follow one woman all the way down, pulling up the shot just before her body hit the ground.
I remember when the first Tower fell the smoke and dust it seemed to cover everything.
When the second tower fell, I left.
A group of us gathered at a friend's place near school. We sat on her porch mostly in silence. Smoking cigarettes we were too young to buy. No one had the words to explain how we all felt. We were bonding by the sorrow, Becoming adults all at once together. We kept waiting for someone to say something. For some grown-up to come along and make it all make sense. We still believed it would happen then. That things would be okay, that we would go back to normal.
Maybe, it never would."
- Megan R.
It silenced the room. no one spoke not even our teacher. We all just sat there slacked, hands over mouth, trying to understand what was happening. The shrill bell ringing, indicating the ends of classes, went by two or three times, but no one moved. Our day was now dedicated to watching that screen.
I remember hearing this echoing from the TV, not understanding what it was at first. The producers and anchors seemed as confused as we were. Just this constant heavy thud, again and again. It took them two or three to realize it was people jumping. I remember watching the camera follow one woman all the way down, pulling up the shot just before her body hit the ground.
I remember when the first Tower fell the smoke and dust it seemed to cover everything.
When the second tower fell, I left.
A group of us gathered at a friend's place near school. We sat on her porch mostly in silence. Smoking cigarettes we were too young to buy. No one had the words to explain how we all felt. We were bonding by the sorrow, Becoming adults all at once together. We kept waiting for someone to say something. For some grown-up to come along and make it all make sense. We still believed it would happen then. That things would be okay, that we would go back to normal.
Maybe, it never would."
- Megan R.
4. "I was in 9th grade, walking to class in a very busy hallway. I overheard someone say there had been a small plane or helicopter crash in NYC and it hit a building. It wasn't until later on that I was in my world history class that things started to turn odd. Runners from the school's front office started coming into classes asking for students to come with them and it turns out my mother had sent my brother to school to pick me up and take me home. He drove me straight to the local ice cream place and bought me an ice cream cone. After we finished it in the car, we continued on home.
I walked into the kitchen where I saw my mother looking very worriedly at the TV. She turned to me with tears in her eyes, not saying a word. I looked at the TV and saw a building on fire with smoke pouring out of it. Whether I knew what it was I can't say, but I walked over to her and hugged her.
She explained to me what was going on. I saw a replay of the second plane hitting and then I too broke down. The rest of the day is a blur to me."
- Brett P.
I walked into the kitchen where I saw my mother looking very worriedly at the TV. She turned to me with tears in her eyes, not saying a word. I looked at the TV and saw a building on fire with smoke pouring out of it. Whether I knew what it was I can't say, but I walked over to her and hugged her.
She explained to me what was going on. I saw a replay of the second plane hitting and then I too broke down. The rest of the day is a blur to me."
- Brett P.
5. "Kenmore Middle School, Arlington. A lot of students had parents who worked at the Pentagon and everyone was worried for them. We all just wanted to watch the news, but none of our teachers wanted to put it on.
They kept teaching like it was a normal day."
- B. D.
They kept teaching like it was a normal day."
- B. D.
6. "I was in the juvenile court building waiting to be arraigned on an assault charge. I looked over the dockets on all the court rooms and my name wasn't listed so my dad, older brother and I went to the clerk's office to figure out why. As she was explaining to us that the arresting officer had filed the wrong paperwork, her phone rang and she picked it up and said,
'...Wait what? really? Ok there's a TV in the next office, I'll go see what's going on.'
She told us that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center and that we should go home and wait for the court to contact us about my arraignment. While we were driving home, the radio news made an announcement about the second tower."
- J. A.
'...Wait what? really? Ok there's a TV in the next office, I'll go see what's going on.'
She told us that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center and that we should go home and wait for the court to contact us about my arraignment. While we were driving home, the radio news made an announcement about the second tower."
- J. A.
7. "I was in high school and had stayed behind after my first class to talk to my math teacher. While we were talking the center secretary stepped into the classroom and said,
'A plane crashed into the World Trade Center.'
I walked to my history class in this sort of numb disbelief. No one seemed to know what had happened and when I asked our teacher if we could turn on the news and she said,
'The Principal doesn't want you to watch.'
She went about class like it was a normal day. My next class the teacher already had the news on and we watched the towers fall over and over. The dust smeared faces of survivors had started to roll in, splashing their shock across the screen like a bad movie.
We didn’t do anything in that class except watch the horror on repeat.
I don’t remember much detail from the rest of the day other than fear and watching my parents make phone call after phone call to see if anyone we knew was dead. My father had worked in the Pentagon at one time, and I thanked God repeatedly that he didn’t have that job anymore.
'A plane crashed into the World Trade Center.'
I walked to my history class in this sort of numb disbelief. No one seemed to know what had happened and when I asked our teacher if we could turn on the news and she said,
'The Principal doesn't want you to watch.'
She went about class like it was a normal day. My next class the teacher already had the news on and we watched the towers fall over and over. The dust smeared faces of survivors had started to roll in, splashing their shock across the screen like a bad movie.
We didn’t do anything in that class except watch the horror on repeat.
I don’t remember much detail from the rest of the day other than fear and watching my parents make phone call after phone call to see if anyone we knew was dead. My father had worked in the Pentagon at one time, and I thanked God repeatedly that he didn’t have that job anymore.
We waited to see if there would be an attack in Richmond, both inflating the city’s importance and desperately trying to convince ourselves that it wasn’t important enough.
I slept and woke. My world kept turning. I noticed the purple morning glories had bloomed on my walk to the bus stop, they weren’t blooming the day before.
To this day, morning glories remind me of September 11th."
- D. C.
I slept and woke. My world kept turning. I noticed the purple morning glories had bloomed on my walk to the bus stop, they weren’t blooming the day before.
To this day, morning glories remind me of September 11th."
- D. C.
8. "I was working in a Network Operations Center for a large credit company in Richmond. I was monitoring the network, when someone came in and said that a plane flew into the World Trade Center. We thought it was a sick joke, but the look on their face showed it wasn't and we all rushed to the televisions and watched live as the second plane hit.
Then everything became surreal.
We were still gearing up for the busy day, but then we heard about the Pentagon attack and the fourth plane supposedly still in the air. Suddenly everyone realized the entire US was a target. Schools were shutting down and many coworkers worried for their spouses downtown, which is not far from DC, where the Federal Reserve is a known target. People left without asking, just disappeared to get their kids and make sure downtown was evacuated.
Those of us who stayed had to call almost three thousand people to let them know to stop business except to keep the computers running. We were just doing everything we could to get through the day to go home. In my time in war, things like this were expected and trained for. In civilian life, it was not, and shook most people.
The world did change, though America still still has the ability to come together in the worst of times."
- Matthew B.
Then everything became surreal.
We were still gearing up for the busy day, but then we heard about the Pentagon attack and the fourth plane supposedly still in the air. Suddenly everyone realized the entire US was a target. Schools were shutting down and many coworkers worried for their spouses downtown, which is not far from DC, where the Federal Reserve is a known target. People left without asking, just disappeared to get their kids and make sure downtown was evacuated.
Those of us who stayed had to call almost three thousand people to let them know to stop business except to keep the computers running. We were just doing everything we could to get through the day to go home. In my time in war, things like this were expected and trained for. In civilian life, it was not, and shook most people.
The world did change, though America still still has the ability to come together in the worst of times."
- Matthew B.
9. "I was in Fairfax County, a few miles from the Pentagon, and neck-deep in classwork for college. I had no idea what was happening, until I drove to my job at a health food store and saw fighter jets passing extremely close overhead. I noticed everyone at my job was looking very grim and asked what was going on. Needless to say, no one came in to buy any health food that day."
-G. B.
-G. B.
10. "I was 32 in Richmond, had just dropped off my two children at preschool. The local radio announcer, who I'd heard for years and years, had a totally different tone. Very grim and serious. I knew immediately something was wrong from his tone because he was usually jovial and joking on the morning show. That's when I heard about the first plane.
I immediately drove to my husband's office a few miles away and everyone was gathered around the TV. We all watched the second plane hit in real time. It was awful, I'll never forget it.
I immediately left and went to pick up my children. I wanted them with me and safe. I wasn't alone in my thinking; all the parents were at the preschool, picking up their children."
- I. P. D.
I immediately drove to my husband's office a few miles away and everyone was gathered around the TV. We all watched the second plane hit in real time. It was awful, I'll never forget it.
I immediately left and went to pick up my children. I wanted them with me and safe. I wasn't alone in my thinking; all the parents were at the preschool, picking up their children."
- I. P. D.
11. "I had just started senior year of high school in Charlottesville and my first period was orchestra. Our director, Ms. Thomas had an interview with the local NPR station so we had a substitute. Class began at 9 AM and the first thing indicated on the substitute's instructions was to watch the journalism club's morning announcement program. Our school had campus-wide cable TV and the journalism studio could broadcast on channel 4, which is the local NBC station. Of course, the Today Show would always be on, but this time instead of Matt and Katie talking in an upbeat tone there was a live shot of the World Trade Center, with smoke billowing out the North Tower. For a few minutes, we watched them talk about a plane hitting and speculate what was going on.
Then, the morning announcement program cut in, lasting about 5 minutes. When it ended, the NBC station came back on and the image of both towers burning came on the screen. It was immediately obvious what was happening was no accident. The substitute, looked down at his instructions and said,
'Now it says here that after the announcements end, I'm supposed to cut off the TV...' and a bunch of us said,
'No!"
Thankfully, the substitute agreed and left the TV on throughout the whole period. We saw the collapse of both towers live and heard about the Pentagon attack as well as the crash in Pennsylvania. Once I left that class, the rest of the day was like any other day. Although some teachers were allowing students to watch the ongoing events, all of my classes went over our normal curriculum. We also didn't get dismissed early or have any other impact to the school schedule."
- Ivan Herndon
Then, the morning announcement program cut in, lasting about 5 minutes. When it ended, the NBC station came back on and the image of both towers burning came on the screen. It was immediately obvious what was happening was no accident. The substitute, looked down at his instructions and said,
'Now it says here that after the announcements end, I'm supposed to cut off the TV...' and a bunch of us said,
'No!"
Thankfully, the substitute agreed and left the TV on throughout the whole period. We saw the collapse of both towers live and heard about the Pentagon attack as well as the crash in Pennsylvania. Once I left that class, the rest of the day was like any other day. Although some teachers were allowing students to watch the ongoing events, all of my classes went over our normal curriculum. We also didn't get dismissed early or have any other impact to the school schedule."
- Ivan Herndon
12. "I was a sophomore in college, studying journalism. My Tuesday schedule consisted of back-to-back classes in the journalism school, at 9 and 11 am.
I 'overslept' missing my 9 am class and headed to the 11 not knowing what had happened a couple hours prior. I walked upstairs to the classroom, where a sign on the door directed us downstairs to the main studio. There, Dan Rather was on TV delivering a Special Report.
For some reason, it took me a minute to comprehend everything that happened. My mind kept going back to the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center. But why were we watching THAT particular video? Was it a lesson on how to report a disaster? As I kept watching and seeing classmates in tears, I realized we were witnessing the horrors that happened in New York, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, all in real time. It is still surreal to think about all these years later."
- Brandon G.
I 'overslept' missing my 9 am class and headed to the 11 not knowing what had happened a couple hours prior. I walked upstairs to the classroom, where a sign on the door directed us downstairs to the main studio. There, Dan Rather was on TV delivering a Special Report.
For some reason, it took me a minute to comprehend everything that happened. My mind kept going back to the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center. But why were we watching THAT particular video? Was it a lesson on how to report a disaster? As I kept watching and seeing classmates in tears, I realized we were witnessing the horrors that happened in New York, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, all in real time. It is still surreal to think about all these years later."
- Brandon G.
13. "I was in 7th grade, and home sick when I woke up and went into the den to turn on the TV. I was flipping through channels, trying to find something to watch and I quickly realized all the channels were showing the same thing.
'What is this horrible movie, and why is it on every channel?'
Then I started paying attention to what was on the screen, only to see the reports change as the second plane hit. I called my mom, a preschool teacher, and the first thing she said was,
'Are you scared? Do you want me to come get you?'
She came and picked me up and took me back to work with her. I will never forget how quiet everything seemed outside. We went inside and I played with her students and tried to let their childhood innocence and joy soothe my fears.
- Ginny Hundley
'What is this horrible movie, and why is it on every channel?'
Then I started paying attention to what was on the screen, only to see the reports change as the second plane hit. I called my mom, a preschool teacher, and the first thing she said was,
'Are you scared? Do you want me to come get you?'
She came and picked me up and took me back to work with her. I will never forget how quiet everything seemed outside. We went inside and I played with her students and tried to let their childhood innocence and joy soothe my fears.
- Ginny Hundley
14. "I was a Jehovah's Witness working in an office where most, if not all, of the employee's were JW's. The president of the company had a TV in his office and when the second plane hit, everyone seemed ecstatic as it was seen as the beginning of Armageddon.
For JW's, Armageddon is essentially God destroying Satan and his 'world', which includes everyone who is not a JW leaving only the righteous to take care of the Earth and return it to the paradise it was back before Adam and Eve sinned.
I still remember that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach... I left Jehovah's Witness over 10 years ago."
- David Gonzalez
For JW's, Armageddon is essentially God destroying Satan and his 'world', which includes everyone who is not a JW leaving only the righteous to take care of the Earth and return it to the paradise it was back before Adam and Eve sinned.
I still remember that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach... I left Jehovah's Witness over 10 years ago."
- David Gonzalez
15. "I was 19, working at my first job in the advertising department of the local newspaper in Norfolk. I had walked down to the building's cafeteria and saw news coverage of the first plane on their TV. I ran back to the office and told my coworkers they had to come check out the news because someone had accidentally crashed a plane into the World Trade Center. I remember saying it was an accident - it didn't even occur to me that someone would do such a thing intentionally.
We got back to the cafeteria just in time to see the second plane hit live, and all simultaneously realized it wasn't an accident. Due to our office's proximity to the Navy base, which some thought was a possible target, and the fact that nobody in advertising was going to get anything done that day anyway, they told us to go home if we wanted. I spent the rest of the day watching the news in my living room with tears rolling down my face."
- D.B.
We got back to the cafeteria just in time to see the second plane hit live, and all simultaneously realized it wasn't an accident. Due to our office's proximity to the Navy base, which some thought was a possible target, and the fact that nobody in advertising was going to get anything done that day anyway, they told us to go home if we wanted. I spent the rest of the day watching the news in my living room with tears rolling down my face."
- D.B.
16. "I was in school. Wasn't a good student at all, I was actually on my way to skip and leave the building. Security came running, I figured for me, blew by and locked the doors. I ended up back in class and we got an announcement over the PA that a plane hit the WTC in a presumed terrorist attack. Students were freaking out and it all felt pretty surreal. Everyone kept asking if it was over."
- Z. L.
- Z. L.
17. "September 11, 2001 was a gorgeous day, and my final one in the office before a week long vacation. I drove to the metro parking lot, like thousands of other commuters. I was the webmaster for a non-profit in downtown DC, just two blocks from the White House and that afternoon I was scheduled to videotape an event on e-learning at the US Capitol. At the office, I was looking over the video equipment I’d need for the e-learning event and just before 9 am, the secretary called me to the TV lounge.
'Michael, you gotta see this.'
I reluctantly went into the lounge expecting to see crazy talk show guests. Instead, I see the reports of the first jet hitting the World Trade Center. As other staff began showing up, the growing crowd attracted many of them and we moved our prep work for the e-learning event into the lounge so we could continue watching.
I called my wife Laura to let her know that at this point my event was still going to happen. She had no idea what I was talking about, she hadn't heard about attacks. That's when we started hearing reports of a fire at the Pentagon and a car bomb at the State Department. The event was cancelled and all of the staff is told to go home. Before I left, I went into my office and put a notice on my site’s home page that let my family know I am trying to get home. I’m going to try and catch the Metro for the Vienna station, which is closer to me than my car at the Franconia-Springfield station
As I’m waiting for the elevator to leave the office, a friend tells me that the other tower has collapsed. That's was when I started to get scared. People were just beginning to arrive in the stations and the rumors ran rampant. Most people were concerned, yet calm, but there were a few people very scared for loved ones. I’ll never forget the young lady crying because she couldn’t reach her father at the Pentagon. Transit Authority didn’t turn off the down escalators, so people were running up them to get away from crowds on the platform. After a while, I started getting claustrophobic from the growing crowds with no trains running and a friend and I worked our way up the escalator and returned to the surface.
'Michael, you gotta see this.'
I reluctantly went into the lounge expecting to see crazy talk show guests. Instead, I see the reports of the first jet hitting the World Trade Center. As other staff began showing up, the growing crowd attracted many of them and we moved our prep work for the e-learning event into the lounge so we could continue watching.
I called my wife Laura to let her know that at this point my event was still going to happen. She had no idea what I was talking about, she hadn't heard about attacks. That's when we started hearing reports of a fire at the Pentagon and a car bomb at the State Department. The event was cancelled and all of the staff is told to go home. Before I left, I went into my office and put a notice on my site’s home page that let my family know I am trying to get home. I’m going to try and catch the Metro for the Vienna station, which is closer to me than my car at the Franconia-Springfield station
As I’m waiting for the elevator to leave the office, a friend tells me that the other tower has collapsed. That's was when I started to get scared. People were just beginning to arrive in the stations and the rumors ran rampant. Most people were concerned, yet calm, but there were a few people very scared for loved ones. I’ll never forget the young lady crying because she couldn’t reach her father at the Pentagon. Transit Authority didn’t turn off the down escalators, so people were running up them to get away from crowds on the platform. After a while, I started getting claustrophobic from the growing crowds with no trains running and a friend and I worked our way up the escalator and returned to the surface.
We were greeted by fighter jets flying overhead and as we walked down the crowded streets of Rosslyn, we could see the smoke from the Pentagon just over two miles away. I remarked how surreal everything feels, that it just doesn’t seem real, is it really happening? We hike 1.5 miles down Wilson Boulevard to the Clarendon Station where I force my way onto a crowded train.
The car isn’t silent, but it is quiet. I arrive at the Vienna station, and walk to the parking lot to wait. I get in line to use the payphone to call and while I’m in line I keep trying my cell phone. Eventually I get through to my parents and wife. Laura's dad arrives and we go to their home where Laura and I spend the night. On the afternoon of the 12th, we were driven back to the Metro lot to get our car and go home. I was very lucky to be on vacation over the next week. While we weren’t planning on going anywhere, it was very nice to not have to go into DC immediately after the attacks." - Michael Clark [Unedited story link: https://www.michaelclark.name/where-was-i-on-9-11] |
18. "I stopped for gas on the way to class at a small college, the mom & pop filling station had the news on the wall-mounted TV the clerk usually watched. I went in to pay and stood there stunned, there wasn't much talking from anyone. When the second plane hit I was absolutely shaking with rage. I wanted to make the people who had done this pay.
I almost drive straight to the military recruitment office, but I wanted to see what would happen next and I had a deep distrust of the Bush administration’s leadership. It was going to take some convincing for me to really believe he would send us the right place for the right reasons."
- D. N.
I almost drive straight to the military recruitment office, but I wanted to see what would happen next and I had a deep distrust of the Bush administration’s leadership. It was going to take some convincing for me to really believe he would send us the right place for the right reasons."
- D. N.
19. "I spent that summer doing an internship in Japan with plans of spending a few weeks traveling the country before I started an exchange program there for my sophomore year of college. Those plans fell through so I ended up flying back Virginia in late August. I had to return the last week of September so I thought it would be a great opportunity to travel around and visit some friends at schools across the state for a few weeks.
My best friend was living in the New River Valley with his parents so I started there. He'd gotten up to go to class and I was doing my best to sleep until he got back around lunch time. His dad, a minister with a penchant for pranks, rolled a TV into my room and turned it on saying he thought I'd want to see this. Newscasts were talking about a plane that had hit the tower. He'd gotten me like this once before with a movie about a tidal wave or something so I was pretty sure this was a War of the Worlds thing. A little bit groggy I half listened to things and walked out to the living room to let him know he had me for a second. Then I realized he had the same thing on and his wife was in tears.
I sat there with them and watched the rest of it unfold. We knew we were at war, but we weren't sure with who. I tried to call my mom who lived outside of DC, but phones didn't work. Most of the day after the second impact is kind of a blur. I remember emotions. Panic, fear, anger, sadness. Lots of powerful emotions competing and leaving us all feeling, above all, helpless.
My buddy came back from school to pack his bags because he was going to drive to DC to join the army or help in some way. He wanted to act. We were overtaken with helplessness, but he was driven to do something. I talked him down, told him it didn't make sense to go right away since we didn't know what they needed. We knew that they needed blood though so we called the Red Cross set up an appointment. It felt a lot better to have some kind of plan.
I talked to my mom later that night. Her neighbor's husband worked at the Pentagon so she had been with her all day. They didn't hear from him all day and she was, of course, upset. She got a call from him late that night fortunately. After I gave blood the next morning I got in my car and drove back up to my mom's. The next couple of weeks were a total blur. I didn't know if I was going back to Japan. Didn't know if I could and didn't know if I wanted to. I spent a lot of time on the phone, but within two weeks I was pulling into Dulles with my giant bags and a one way ticket to Tokyo that had been purchased less than a month before. I arrived at 3 AM since I was told to be at least four hours early for international flights and sat there for three hours before anyone actually showed up at the ticketing counter. I was made to unpack my entire suitcase in front of some officers which is not an easy feat when you're packing for a year. I arrived in Japan to an international community full of wonderful people who talked to us about the effect it had on them in Europe, Australia, and Asia. I was really glad I made the decision to go and not let the incident fundamentally change the way I approached the world."
- M. D.
My best friend was living in the New River Valley with his parents so I started there. He'd gotten up to go to class and I was doing my best to sleep until he got back around lunch time. His dad, a minister with a penchant for pranks, rolled a TV into my room and turned it on saying he thought I'd want to see this. Newscasts were talking about a plane that had hit the tower. He'd gotten me like this once before with a movie about a tidal wave or something so I was pretty sure this was a War of the Worlds thing. A little bit groggy I half listened to things and walked out to the living room to let him know he had me for a second. Then I realized he had the same thing on and his wife was in tears.
I sat there with them and watched the rest of it unfold. We knew we were at war, but we weren't sure with who. I tried to call my mom who lived outside of DC, but phones didn't work. Most of the day after the second impact is kind of a blur. I remember emotions. Panic, fear, anger, sadness. Lots of powerful emotions competing and leaving us all feeling, above all, helpless.
My buddy came back from school to pack his bags because he was going to drive to DC to join the army or help in some way. He wanted to act. We were overtaken with helplessness, but he was driven to do something. I talked him down, told him it didn't make sense to go right away since we didn't know what they needed. We knew that they needed blood though so we called the Red Cross set up an appointment. It felt a lot better to have some kind of plan.
I talked to my mom later that night. Her neighbor's husband worked at the Pentagon so she had been with her all day. They didn't hear from him all day and she was, of course, upset. She got a call from him late that night fortunately. After I gave blood the next morning I got in my car and drove back up to my mom's. The next couple of weeks were a total blur. I didn't know if I was going back to Japan. Didn't know if I could and didn't know if I wanted to. I spent a lot of time on the phone, but within two weeks I was pulling into Dulles with my giant bags and a one way ticket to Tokyo that had been purchased less than a month before. I arrived at 3 AM since I was told to be at least four hours early for international flights and sat there for three hours before anyone actually showed up at the ticketing counter. I was made to unpack my entire suitcase in front of some officers which is not an easy feat when you're packing for a year. I arrived in Japan to an international community full of wonderful people who talked to us about the effect it had on them in Europe, Australia, and Asia. I was really glad I made the decision to go and not let the incident fundamentally change the way I approached the world."
- M. D.
20. "I had just dropped my kids at preschool when I heard on the car radio about the first plane. Got home and turned on the TV and saw the second plane, then the Pentagon! CNN ran a graphic saying [falsely] that there had been attacks at the Capitol Building and that the National Mall was 'on fire.'
My kids’ preschool was in Langley VA, just down the street from the CIA.
I ran back to my car! Drove fast, and left the engine running as I ran onto the preschool playground to grab my kids. I asked if I could take some of the other kids, as many as would fit in the car. No. As I got back in my car, two more cars pulled up and parents ran for their kids.
I pleaded with my husband to come home from work so we could evacuate the area. He wouldn’t leave because he was on the phone awaiting word about his sister who worked in one of the Trade Center buildings.The days and weeks that followed were terrifying, but that’s another round of stories."
- M. K.
My kids’ preschool was in Langley VA, just down the street from the CIA.
I ran back to my car! Drove fast, and left the engine running as I ran onto the preschool playground to grab my kids. I asked if I could take some of the other kids, as many as would fit in the car. No. As I got back in my car, two more cars pulled up and parents ran for their kids.
I pleaded with my husband to come home from work so we could evacuate the area. He wouldn’t leave because he was on the phone awaiting word about his sister who worked in one of the Trade Center buildings.The days and weeks that followed were terrifying, but that’s another round of stories."
- M. K.
21. "I was running late for class at a small community college in semi-rural Virginia and had on a morning radio show called 'Elliot in the Morning'. The hosts were laughing over something, when one of them broke in and said something about a plane hitting a building. Gradually the laughing stopped as information began coming in.
It hadn’t quite sunk into my skull yet how important this would end up being so I listened for another minute and then hustled into the building, partially on autopilot to get to class and partially to see what everyone else thought about this news.
People in the cafeteria didn't behave any different from normal, ditto for the people in my class. I stood in the doorway for a sec, confused. It’s like what I heard on the radio finally started registering and it was weird to see people so calm. I shouted,
'A plane hit a building in New York!'
And then turned and bolted from the room.
Back in my car I turned the radio back on, feeling the fear and panic from the hosts as they relayed information. I drove straight home.
My father worked for FEMA and he called the house telling me in no uncertain terms to stay home, reiterating the location of our emergency kit, how to secure the house, etc.
I disregarded most everything he said as moments later, I got a call from my best friend...
Her mother had a meeting at the Pentagon that morning and couldn’t be reached.
I got back in my car and sped like a demon straight to my friend. Turns out her mom was less than five minutes from the Pentagon when it was hit, and yes, her meeting was scheduled to take place in the part of the building that was destroyed.
I don’t remember much of the rest of that day. Lots of crying, being huddled around the TV, countless calls to family members. My dad being almost apoplectic with rage that I left the safety of the house.
I’ve never felt that kind of helplessness and fear before or since, and I hope I never do again.
It also brought home a very scary realization about the nature of my father's work. He didn’t handle things like hurricanes, floods, or fires. His job was focused on scarier disasters - for behind closed doors because regular people don’t want to acknowledge just how awful humans can be to each other. It was abstract, after that I started looking at the world, and what he did, differently."
- Anonymous
It hadn’t quite sunk into my skull yet how important this would end up being so I listened for another minute and then hustled into the building, partially on autopilot to get to class and partially to see what everyone else thought about this news.
People in the cafeteria didn't behave any different from normal, ditto for the people in my class. I stood in the doorway for a sec, confused. It’s like what I heard on the radio finally started registering and it was weird to see people so calm. I shouted,
'A plane hit a building in New York!'
And then turned and bolted from the room.
Back in my car I turned the radio back on, feeling the fear and panic from the hosts as they relayed information. I drove straight home.
My father worked for FEMA and he called the house telling me in no uncertain terms to stay home, reiterating the location of our emergency kit, how to secure the house, etc.
I disregarded most everything he said as moments later, I got a call from my best friend...
Her mother had a meeting at the Pentagon that morning and couldn’t be reached.
I got back in my car and sped like a demon straight to my friend. Turns out her mom was less than five minutes from the Pentagon when it was hit, and yes, her meeting was scheduled to take place in the part of the building that was destroyed.
I don’t remember much of the rest of that day. Lots of crying, being huddled around the TV, countless calls to family members. My dad being almost apoplectic with rage that I left the safety of the house.
I’ve never felt that kind of helplessness and fear before or since, and I hope I never do again.
It also brought home a very scary realization about the nature of my father's work. He didn’t handle things like hurricanes, floods, or fires. His job was focused on scarier disasters - for behind closed doors because regular people don’t want to acknowledge just how awful humans can be to each other. It was abstract, after that I started looking at the world, and what he did, differently."
- Anonymous
22. "I was 16 years old, in English class in Norfolk. My teacher was pulled out of class by another teacher and she ran back into room to turn on the TV mounted in the corner. We watched in horror as they played footage of the Trade Center over and over. After a while, the principal started to walk the halls and told everyone to turn off their TVs. I remember thinking,
'This only happens in movies, this isn’t real! Why is this happening?'
It just did not compute. I left class to call my dad, but couldn’t get a hold of him. It wasn’t until a school counselor took me aside and explained to me through tears what was happening that I understood. I remember people being concerned about something happening in Norfolk because of the huge naval base/shipyard. My dad found out later that a man he served with was killed at the Pentagon that day. He had only started a job there a month or so before the attack. We visited the memorial and found his name."
- K. P.
'This only happens in movies, this isn’t real! Why is this happening?'
It just did not compute. I left class to call my dad, but couldn’t get a hold of him. It wasn’t until a school counselor took me aside and explained to me through tears what was happening that I understood. I remember people being concerned about something happening in Norfolk because of the huge naval base/shipyard. My dad found out later that a man he served with was killed at the Pentagon that day. He had only started a job there a month or so before the attack. We visited the memorial and found his name."
- K. P.
23. "It happened while I was in gym class. When I went to my drama class, a girl ran in screaming,
'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'
The teacher told her to shut up and explained what was happening. He took us to another classroom to watch on TV... and the second plane hit.
We were let out of school early since we were in the DC suburbs and a lot of kids have parents working for the government. My mom ended up not coming home until hours and hours later because she worked a block away from the White House and had to walk all the way back to her car in Arlington since the metro was shut down.
I was only 12 so I don't remember having adult thoughts about it except being worried for my mom because we couldn't call her with all the cell phones were tied up."
- D. T.
'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'
The teacher told her to shut up and explained what was happening. He took us to another classroom to watch on TV... and the second plane hit.
We were let out of school early since we were in the DC suburbs and a lot of kids have parents working for the government. My mom ended up not coming home until hours and hours later because she worked a block away from the White House and had to walk all the way back to her car in Arlington since the metro was shut down.
I was only 12 so I don't remember having adult thoughts about it except being worried for my mom because we couldn't call her with all the cell phones were tied up."
- D. T.
24. "I was 18 on 9/11, in my first few weeks at Northern Virginia Community College (Alexandria campus). I lived in Arlington with my uncle which was maybe four miles from the Pentagon, as the crow flies. Woke up that morning and when we saw the reports of the first plane, he joked,
'Probably a drunk pilot.'
My Uncle got in the shower while I watched, and I jumped up yelling when the second plane hit. He stood in the living room, in only a soaking wet towel as we watched the replay.
He drove me to the college and then went work in DC. I was in class and we felt more than heard a big boom. They had a TV in the hall playing the news and they said the Pentagon got hit by a plane! I went outside and over the trees there was a huge rolling black smoke cloud.
'F*ck school, I'm taking my ass to the house.'
And I started walking home. While I was walking I kept hearing what I thought were car bombs. Everybody was paranoid because it was now obvious we were under attack. I later found out the sounds I heard were fighter jets breaking the sound barrier.
'Probably a drunk pilot.'
My Uncle got in the shower while I watched, and I jumped up yelling when the second plane hit. He stood in the living room, in only a soaking wet towel as we watched the replay.
He drove me to the college and then went work in DC. I was in class and we felt more than heard a big boom. They had a TV in the hall playing the news and they said the Pentagon got hit by a plane! I went outside and over the trees there was a huge rolling black smoke cloud.
'F*ck school, I'm taking my ass to the house.'
And I started walking home. While I was walking I kept hearing what I thought were car bombs. Everybody was paranoid because it was now obvious we were under attack. I later found out the sounds I heard were fighter jets breaking the sound barrier.
I got home and called a few of my friends who live over in Crystal City and Pentagon row. They came and picked me up and we headed to this tall hill in the neighborhood called Prospect Hill Park which overlooks the Pentagon where I saw the firetrucks, police, and the flames and smoke. I could see the floor that collapsed as well.
There were thousands upon thousands of people coming across the bridge and interstate on foot. It was insanity. Anybody who has been to DC knows the traffic through there and there was nothing moving, just people on foot running for their lives as more crazy reports hit the news.
Car bombs- More planes coming- Everything's a target. Fear fear fear!
There were thousands upon thousands of people coming across the bridge and interstate on foot. It was insanity. Anybody who has been to DC knows the traffic through there and there was nothing moving, just people on foot running for their lives as more crazy reports hit the news.
Car bombs- More planes coming- Everything's a target. Fear fear fear!
After he dropped me off that morning, my uncle drove up south Washington Blvd which is one of the roads the Pentagon sits on. He was in the morning rush hour and watched this plane come over the road super fast and low. It hit a light post, knocking it down into traffic and exploded into the Pentagon. He had front row seats to the Pearl Harbor of the 21st century. He had nightmares for months.
A friend's mom worked in the Pentagon and received 3rd degree burns to both arms. My uncle has passed away now, he was in the Air Force. He was the guy that steered the boom for in-flight refueling jets. I ended up in the army for eight years in the 82nd airborne and deployed to Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan."
- A. M.
A friend's mom worked in the Pentagon and received 3rd degree burns to both arms. My uncle has passed away now, he was in the Air Force. He was the guy that steered the boom for in-flight refueling jets. I ended up in the army for eight years in the 82nd airborne and deployed to Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan."
- A. M.
25. "I was in 3rd grade on 9/11, it was like any other day.
I was a 3rd grader in my 3rd grade class doing 3rd grade things.
Then, over the intercom, the front office called for a student to come down for early dismissal. Then another student got called down - And another - And another! Finally, I got called down.
'What? Mom didn’t tell me I had an appointment today.'
I gathered my backpack and went to the front office where I saw my mom among the other parents, doing the exact same thing she was. Normally if I’m picked up early, my mom gives me a huge hug accompanied with a smile. There was no smile this time. Very sternly, all she said was,
'We need to get your brother.'
My younger brother was in daycare so we went and got him. We didn’t go to the doctor, we went straight home. Weird, no one was telling me anything but I was only 8 years old after all. Hours go by and my dad, who worked in the Pentagon, comes home. I started watching TV on one end of the L couch with my dad on the other and I got up to go to my room and play. As I’m walking past my dad, he stops me, puts his hands on my shoulder, and starts crying. My father, my stoic hero, was crying on my shoulder. For an 8 year old, this was a terrifying experience. It wasn’t until I was older when I realized my dad lost friends that morning. I also didn’t find out until later that my dad should have perished alongside his friends. He missed the shuttle from the parking lot because he was on the phone arguing with my mom."
- Samantha West
I was a 3rd grader in my 3rd grade class doing 3rd grade things.
Then, over the intercom, the front office called for a student to come down for early dismissal. Then another student got called down - And another - And another! Finally, I got called down.
'What? Mom didn’t tell me I had an appointment today.'
I gathered my backpack and went to the front office where I saw my mom among the other parents, doing the exact same thing she was. Normally if I’m picked up early, my mom gives me a huge hug accompanied with a smile. There was no smile this time. Very sternly, all she said was,
'We need to get your brother.'
My younger brother was in daycare so we went and got him. We didn’t go to the doctor, we went straight home. Weird, no one was telling me anything but I was only 8 years old after all. Hours go by and my dad, who worked in the Pentagon, comes home. I started watching TV on one end of the L couch with my dad on the other and I got up to go to my room and play. As I’m walking past my dad, he stops me, puts his hands on my shoulder, and starts crying. My father, my stoic hero, was crying on my shoulder. For an 8 year old, this was a terrifying experience. It wasn’t until I was older when I realized my dad lost friends that morning. I also didn’t find out until later that my dad should have perished alongside his friends. He missed the shuttle from the parking lot because he was on the phone arguing with my mom."
- Samantha West
26. "I was a 4th grader, about 30 miles from the Pentagon. My classmates and I started to realize that something was wrong. At one point, the teacher next door to us came in our room and started whispering something to my teacher. They looked so serious and very concerned about something. Not long after, kids started being called to the office for early dismissal as parents were coming and picking them up. One by one, probably more than half of my class went home and I was one of the few left.
Nobody would tell us what was going on all day, the teachers tried to continue like it was a normal day even though they were obviously upset. I rode the bus home that afternoon, and found both my parents in front of the TV when I got to my house. My mom told me she decided against picking me up early as she thought I was plenty safe in the school, and she didn't want to make me scared. We just watched the news coverage in sadness and disbelief, and my parents had to explain what had happened and what 'terrorists' were. It was quite traumatic having the Pentagon attack happen so close to home, and also seeing those tall, beautiful buildings in New York be completely destroyed and knowing that people were inside. It's a day I'll definitely never forget."
- Hannah Roberts
Nobody would tell us what was going on all day, the teachers tried to continue like it was a normal day even though they were obviously upset. I rode the bus home that afternoon, and found both my parents in front of the TV when I got to my house. My mom told me she decided against picking me up early as she thought I was plenty safe in the school, and she didn't want to make me scared. We just watched the news coverage in sadness and disbelief, and my parents had to explain what had happened and what 'terrorists' were. It was quite traumatic having the Pentagon attack happen so close to home, and also seeing those tall, beautiful buildings in New York be completely destroyed and knowing that people were inside. It's a day I'll definitely never forget."
- Hannah Roberts
27. "I was a 17-year-old high school senior from Waynesboro, Virginia. The morning was, as most people say, shockingly beautiful. As I was walking out the door for school, I had the TV turned to our local NBC affiliate, WVIR out of Charlottesville. I'd been watching Today, but it was a local cut-in. The meteorologist was going over the expected beautiful weather and I distinctly remember him saying at the end of his forecast,
'It's all the ingredients for a perfect day.'
Classes started at 8:45, right as the attacks were beginning. My high school was undergoing renovations at the time, so half the building didn't have cable. My first period was photography and I was in the darkroom almost the entire period, so I went the entire first hour or so of the attacks without even knowing they were happening.
With half the school completely unaware of what was happening, I started walking to my next period, AP Government. As I was rounding the corner, my friend Rachel ran up to me, grabbed me by the collar of the shirt, jerked my head down to head level with her, and screamed,
'We're under fucking attack! The Twin Towers, the Pentagon, they're being bombed!'
This came out of nowhere. She was on the verge of tears and was like,
'Let me get my books and I'll see you in class.'
My locker was directly across the hall from my government class, so I was usually the first person in there. My teacher, Mr. Dennis, was glued to his computer screen. Mr. Dennis had only started teaching a couple years prior. Before that, he'd worked for 25 years at the Pentagon. I asked, 'What's this about some bombings?'
'Planes, planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon about an hour ago. And now I'm hearing about car bombings at the State Department and the National Mall.'
There were a lot of rumors and misinformation going around that day. The internet was so slammed with traffic, it wasn't loading up. Before I could ask anymore, other students entered the classroom and began asking the same questions.
We had a big test scheduled for that day. Being in yet another classroom without cable, Mr. Dennis told us there was nothing else we could do right now, so we were still taking the test. I remember looking around the room and everyone was super-uneasy. In my mind, I still wasn't picturing anything crazy. Some fires from a small aircraft. No one had said anything about them being airliners.
About five minutes into the test, my best friend got called down to the office. My friend stood up, a bit confused, and left. Mr. Dennis, in what had to have been one of the first 9/11 jokes ever muttered, said,
'Wow, they brought the draft back fast for this one.'
No one laughed.
At some point during the test, Mr. Dennis left to find out more. When we were done, he filled us in about the scale of the attacks and that the towers had collapsed. We talked some more about what was going on, but without cable and news sites coming to a complete halt, there wasn't much else we could do. He had us do some reading until the end of class.
My friend who'd been called out came back, his face was pale. He sat behind me and started working on his test he'd had to abandon earlier, but not before passing me a note.
'It looks like a volcano went off in the middle of New York. It's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.'
He drew a rough skyline underneath with a bunch of scribbled smoke over it to show me what he saw on TV.
Turns out he'd been called by his grandma. His grandpa was a WWII vet and when the attacks started, he freaked out and she called the school asking if my friend could come over to help her calm him down.
I finally got to see my first images of the attacks in choir. That side of the building DID have cable, so we sat and watched for most of the class. It didn't even hit me until then, but I knew my uncle and aunt worked in the city, though I was pretty sure not in the towers, but I started wondering if they were safe.
The rest of the school day was a bit of a muted blur as the devastation sank in. After school I drove to my mom's work and asked if she'd heard anything about my uncle and aunt. My aunt was still on maternity leave from giving birth to my cousin a few months prior. My uncle's law firm was just a block from the towers. His building was evacuated and he witnessed the second plane fly in. My aunt's family lived uptown, so he made it there eventually on foot. He was somehow able to get a call out to my aunt, who called my grandma, who called my parents to let us know he was okay. To this day, he's had some pretty bad mental issues as a result of what he saw.
After leaving my mom's workplace, I went to go look for my dad, who was a mailman and usually delivering mail at that time. However, I didn't see him on his route and realized they may have called them all in early because of the attacks, and was right. When I got home, he was watching the news with my younger sister, and the first image I saw on our TV was of a jumper.
We ordered out that night. Subs from a local Italian place. Being a high school senior, my thoughts about Mr. Dennis' draft joke bounced around in my head. That following weekend, I was going to be filling out some college applications, and I wondered if I'd be forced to fight in some war instead. I eventually slipped away to my room and played some video games to try and take my mind off of the day. My mom came in and asked me how I was doing. I really didn't have an answer for her. I was angry and ready for revenge like most Americans, but I had a hard time putting it into words.
The thing I remember about the next day was the sky. I was just over the mountain from West Virginia, a couple hours from the coast, and a couple hours south of DC. Despite there being no commercial flights, the sky was streaked with contrails of military and government aircraft flying between all the military bases. Knowing those were all military aircraft flying overhead just added to the uneasiness of the following days.
I'll finish my story on 9/13, the evening I had my first car accident because of 9/11. After-school activities had been cancelled on 9/11 and 9/12. They were back that Thursday, and there was a volleyball game scheduled for that night. For extra credit, members of the choir could sing the national anthem at most sporting events. Being just two days after the attacks, everyone was in patriot mode, so of course I was going to go sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' I think practically everyone was.
On my way to the school, a block away from my house, a woman driving in the opposite direction turned left right in front of me, causing me to t-bone her car. All I could think was,
'I wouldn't have been there on any other Thursday night.'
Considering what had happened to so many other people across the country and world, this was just a minor blip."
- Aric Berg
'It's all the ingredients for a perfect day.'
Classes started at 8:45, right as the attacks were beginning. My high school was undergoing renovations at the time, so half the building didn't have cable. My first period was photography and I was in the darkroom almost the entire period, so I went the entire first hour or so of the attacks without even knowing they were happening.
With half the school completely unaware of what was happening, I started walking to my next period, AP Government. As I was rounding the corner, my friend Rachel ran up to me, grabbed me by the collar of the shirt, jerked my head down to head level with her, and screamed,
'We're under fucking attack! The Twin Towers, the Pentagon, they're being bombed!'
This came out of nowhere. She was on the verge of tears and was like,
'Let me get my books and I'll see you in class.'
My locker was directly across the hall from my government class, so I was usually the first person in there. My teacher, Mr. Dennis, was glued to his computer screen. Mr. Dennis had only started teaching a couple years prior. Before that, he'd worked for 25 years at the Pentagon. I asked, 'What's this about some bombings?'
'Planes, planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon about an hour ago. And now I'm hearing about car bombings at the State Department and the National Mall.'
There were a lot of rumors and misinformation going around that day. The internet was so slammed with traffic, it wasn't loading up. Before I could ask anymore, other students entered the classroom and began asking the same questions.
We had a big test scheduled for that day. Being in yet another classroom without cable, Mr. Dennis told us there was nothing else we could do right now, so we were still taking the test. I remember looking around the room and everyone was super-uneasy. In my mind, I still wasn't picturing anything crazy. Some fires from a small aircraft. No one had said anything about them being airliners.
About five minutes into the test, my best friend got called down to the office. My friend stood up, a bit confused, and left. Mr. Dennis, in what had to have been one of the first 9/11 jokes ever muttered, said,
'Wow, they brought the draft back fast for this one.'
No one laughed.
At some point during the test, Mr. Dennis left to find out more. When we were done, he filled us in about the scale of the attacks and that the towers had collapsed. We talked some more about what was going on, but without cable and news sites coming to a complete halt, there wasn't much else we could do. He had us do some reading until the end of class.
My friend who'd been called out came back, his face was pale. He sat behind me and started working on his test he'd had to abandon earlier, but not before passing me a note.
'It looks like a volcano went off in the middle of New York. It's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.'
He drew a rough skyline underneath with a bunch of scribbled smoke over it to show me what he saw on TV.
Turns out he'd been called by his grandma. His grandpa was a WWII vet and when the attacks started, he freaked out and she called the school asking if my friend could come over to help her calm him down.
I finally got to see my first images of the attacks in choir. That side of the building DID have cable, so we sat and watched for most of the class. It didn't even hit me until then, but I knew my uncle and aunt worked in the city, though I was pretty sure not in the towers, but I started wondering if they were safe.
The rest of the school day was a bit of a muted blur as the devastation sank in. After school I drove to my mom's work and asked if she'd heard anything about my uncle and aunt. My aunt was still on maternity leave from giving birth to my cousin a few months prior. My uncle's law firm was just a block from the towers. His building was evacuated and he witnessed the second plane fly in. My aunt's family lived uptown, so he made it there eventually on foot. He was somehow able to get a call out to my aunt, who called my grandma, who called my parents to let us know he was okay. To this day, he's had some pretty bad mental issues as a result of what he saw.
After leaving my mom's workplace, I went to go look for my dad, who was a mailman and usually delivering mail at that time. However, I didn't see him on his route and realized they may have called them all in early because of the attacks, and was right. When I got home, he was watching the news with my younger sister, and the first image I saw on our TV was of a jumper.
We ordered out that night. Subs from a local Italian place. Being a high school senior, my thoughts about Mr. Dennis' draft joke bounced around in my head. That following weekend, I was going to be filling out some college applications, and I wondered if I'd be forced to fight in some war instead. I eventually slipped away to my room and played some video games to try and take my mind off of the day. My mom came in and asked me how I was doing. I really didn't have an answer for her. I was angry and ready for revenge like most Americans, but I had a hard time putting it into words.
The thing I remember about the next day was the sky. I was just over the mountain from West Virginia, a couple hours from the coast, and a couple hours south of DC. Despite there being no commercial flights, the sky was streaked with contrails of military and government aircraft flying between all the military bases. Knowing those were all military aircraft flying overhead just added to the uneasiness of the following days.
I'll finish my story on 9/13, the evening I had my first car accident because of 9/11. After-school activities had been cancelled on 9/11 and 9/12. They were back that Thursday, and there was a volleyball game scheduled for that night. For extra credit, members of the choir could sing the national anthem at most sporting events. Being just two days after the attacks, everyone was in patriot mode, so of course I was going to go sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' I think practically everyone was.
On my way to the school, a block away from my house, a woman driving in the opposite direction turned left right in front of me, causing me to t-bone her car. All I could think was,
'I wouldn't have been there on any other Thursday night.'
Considering what had happened to so many other people across the country and world, this was just a minor blip."
- Aric Berg
28. "When the Twin Towers were hit, I was sitting in my office at the Pentagon. I called my mother and father immediately. I never talked to my dad, and only got through to his voice mail. I was calling to make sure they were watching TV. Initially, when I finally got through to my mother she hung up quickly, so I assumed she was watching TV. She called me back, but again it was a brief conversation. I remember being thankful that my husband, son, and daughter were in a protected air space.
At the office, we were going to leave for coffee but hadn't left yet. I don't remember the start of my day, like the waking up part or dropping the kids off at the babysitter part, or riding the Metro to work. What I remember thinking was,
'Wow it's too bad I have to go to work today because I've never seen a sky so blue.'
Since then, looking at the sky, I often think 'if that cloud wasn't there it would be as pretty as September 11th.' The color of the sky has always been my favorite color, blue.
I remember that I was wearing khaki pants and a short-sleeved brown and tan sweater. It was not cold enough to wear a jacket yet. I went to work like normal at about 7:30 a.m., a regular morning for me. I had a radio on my desk. I was working (on whatever project I was working on) with DC 101 on the radio. DC 101 is the local radio station, with the local shock jock on the radio. I had it on for the white noise. Elliott in the Morning... that was his name. His voice changed from usual banter with his staff to something different. The tone of his voice had changed. He was saying that a plane had flown into one of the trade center towers. The only reason I started listening was that his tone of voice changed. I thought, "Huh I wonder what that was all about." I went to MSNBC.com on the computer. Fox News wasn't popular on the Internet yet. CNN and MSNBC were the dot com sites at that time. The MSNBC site wouldn't even load. "That's weird," I thought and I went to CNN, but it wouldn't load either. Fox News wouldn't load. So many people were trying to load the web sites that it was crashing the servers.
Because my co-workers and I had just moved into the newly renovated wing of the Pentagon, we had televisions up but no cable connection. We still had boxes to unpack due to the move from the older section. A couple of other people and I walked to our Admiral's office, which was the next hallway over because his TV was working. Five or six of us were watching the replay of the first tower. Watching . . . watching. . . The Admiral came back to his office and said, "Ok, ok, that's it; go back to work now." Walking back down the hallway, I said to one of my co-workers, "I'm glad we're in a restricted air space. We're in the Pentagon, only five stories high, not high enough to be a target." I went to my desk, wanting to hear the news, still no MSNBC. I was getting antsy, and I couldn't concentrate.
I guess the second tower was hit then and heard it on the radio. I stood up, and said, "Oh my God! The second tower was hit by a plane." The Navy Captain said, "No way, are you sure? " At that point, since we couldn't concentrate, my friend Stephen said that we should get a cup of coffee. I remember that I grabbed $1.67 to get a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in the Pentagon. I put it in my pocket and we started to head out. While we were talking about what coffee to get, the building was hit. It was so odd, it was like watching something in slow motion but having it sped up at the same time. The building shook, and I could smell the fire. I had a window behind my cubicle, which was nice, but normally what I saw was a brick wall and the next corridor ring. I could see the next ring with paper floating past. I remember thinking, "I always wondered if debris really looked like that." I could see it out of my window. It looked like a movie. You know how a camera follows the ashes or paper out of the sky in a movie? That's what it looked like to me. It was a random thought. Surreal. To look out of the window and see the flames and the fire and be caught off guard. I looked around at everyone and I was like, "This is bad, we need to get out of here."
Everyone was standing still, not knowing what to do. We have the nation's Best in our offices and we're all looking at each other like, "Whoa... Is this really happening?" We're not at war, this is peacetime. It didn't make sense. I picked up my phone and called my husband Will's office. I knew you could see the Pentagon from Boling Air Force Base. I knew they would be able to see the building on fire. I wanted somebody to know that I was alive at this moment in time. I had no doubt that I would not be alive by the end of the day. I didn't think I could get out of the building. My friend Josh, one of Will's co-workers at Boling, answered the phone. I talked to Josh long enough to say, "It's Melanie. We've been hit and we are evacuating the building." At that point, I lost it a little bit. The repeated thoughts in my mind. This is not normal. This shouldn't be happening. We are in the Pentagon. How did a plane get here? Why is the building on fire? How is this possible? How are we getting out of here? Watching as these military people - full bird Colonels, Navy high-ranking officers – the looks on their faces told me everything. The worst look ever. No one was prepared for this or ever expected it to happen.
The fire alarm was going off. It was a new fire alarm with an automated system. We had new firewalls because the space had just been renovated (because we were in the newly renovated part I believe this saved our lives. The older part that we moved from went up like kindling). We had state of the art fire alarm systems, sprinklers, brand new everything. The fire alarm was saying, "This is not a drill, exit at your closest emergency exit." Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Flashing strobe lights. Sprinklers were not going off yet, because the fire and heat hadn't reached our section yet.
We were trying to get out. What you need to understand is that when you are assigned to the Pentagon, it's like moving into a new house in a new neighborhood. You must learn the streets and how to get there. You go to work in the Pentagon the same way, because, in theory, your office is like having an address. You learn the most efficient way to get from the outside to your office. But just like outside of the Pentagon, you should be able to get from point A to point B with familiarity, but it doesn't mean there aren't bridges missing or roads closed at times. So you learn the quickest way to your office and that's the way you go. If you go the wrong way, you can't simply keep going. You can't do a complete circle. If you look at the Pentagon from above, there are five rings. Yet you can't start in the A ring and walk all the way around. You get to your office by the access you have learned. That made evacuating really hard. When the firewalls started dropping, there is a whole new kind of panic, like "Oh crap! That's how I knew how to get out. I need to go to the end of the hallway and turn left, then right, then left!" It was like evacuating from a maze. As the firewalls closed down, an all-new panic set in because everyone had a different way of going to and from their own office. When options close, different panic sets in. Yes, there were signs on how to get out. But your country is under attack and your building has been bombed. (At this point we didn't know it was a plane) We got on the escalators, which were not working, and walked down to try to get out. It was like a controlled mob. Close together, pushing to get out. We evacuated to the nearest outdoor exit. Because of where we were located, it was the center courtyard. Now there are hundreds of people standing in the center courtyard because that was the fastest way out. Like being in the middle of a big bull's eye.
So now I found myself outside, and yet completely surrounded now by the building. How do we get from here, to the actual outside the building? While talking to the people, I was trying to call my mom. No one had phone access because the system was overloaded. I wanted somebody to know I was alive. I remember looking up at the amazing blue-sky thinking, "Do you see the actual bomb drop? If you are on the ground do you see a bomb? Would it look like when you watch a movie? Can you actually see the shape of it? Can you see what's going to happen? Do you have time to prepare?" All of us still thinking it was a bomb, not a plane. The only way my mind could make this scenario work would be a bomb coming from the air. During this time, with all of these thoughts - which was probably only about 30 seconds - the plane's fuselage exploded. New panic. No screaming or yelling but definitely panic in the air. A Pentagon DOD officer announced that the parking lot tunnel was open and we were able to evacuate to the outside of the building. We got out through the tunnel and it came out on the other side of the building.
I remember seeing the Honor Guard Team, my husband's co-workers, had met at their evacuation point as I was on my way to my coworker's Stephen's car. It was a long walk to the parking lot because we were definitely not taking the most direct route. There were news crews there already in the parking lot. Weird. How did they get there so fast? Walking around to the parking lot on our side of the building was the point we started seeing the triage areas and medical was set up, the Pentagon Child Care Center had evacuated here as well. The triage area was not comfortable for me to see. There was a man who came out of the building - an older gentleman, losing his hair, he looked like a typical government employee. A Normal Government Employee except that the skin on his arm was sliding off. He was so badly burned.
We were being told to get out of the way. "If you aren't medical, go on your way." There was smoke pouring out of the building, people coming out, that's when you heard crying and upset sounds. Where do we go? How do we get home? The Metro was shut down. People were in shock and just looking for direction. We made it to Stephen's car and onto the road. The roads were crowded like a normal traffic rush hour, but even weirder was the foot traffic. People were walking on the bridges. You just didn't see this. We were listening to the radio, but it was regurgitating the news to this point. Stephen wanted to drop me off at the base and then go home. It took forever to get to the base. We got to the "first" gate at Boling, which was considered the "Navy side of the base." We approached the gate and I swear, the kid at the gate had to have turned 18 the day before. He was the youngest person I had ever seen in Kevlar gear and fully armed up. He turned us away and told us to go to the main gait. So we left and headed to the main gate. Not only was the main gate closed, but it was closed almost half a block before the gate. I got out of the car and approached the gate. Weapons were actually drawn on me and I was told to get back in the car. So. Not a good idea to go to the main gate. At the third gate, I knew someone personally. This security forces person was able to do personal recognition and let me in. I still had to get past the main gate to get to Will's squadron.
It was like driving through a ghost town. The door was locked to the armory where Will worked. I knocked, was buzzed in and that's when I started feeling sick. I had made it from Point A to Point B. Now I wanted to go from Point B to Point C, which was where my children were with the babysitter. Overwhelmed by what had happened, I hugged Will, briefly explained what and whom I had seen. I told him I saw these eight people, the honor guard people. one of the women working with Will said, "You didn't see my husband did you?" No, I'm sorry, I didn't see him.
The main goal of getting to Will was that we only had one car, he had it at work and I wanted to get home. I waited long enough for the decision that non-essential personnel could leave. I drove to the house in Summerfield. I remember that at every stoplight, every turn, the steering wheel felt like lead. The feeling started behind my ears. It was like I could no longer move. By the time I drove the 8-10 miles to the house and turned into the neighborhood I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to turn into my parking lot. My head and shoulders and jaw hurt. Pain was radiating down my arms and it was hard to sit. I pulled into the housing area and there was a security forces guy checking IDs to go into housing.
I lost it. I had no ID. Everything was at the Pentagon. No driver's license. No debit card. No military ID. I had my Pentagon lanyard around my neck. "Ma'am, I need to see your driver's license and military ID card." I thought I was going to throw up. I was this close to the kids and couldn't get there. I looked at the security forces guy, held up my Pentagon lanyard and said, "This is all I have," and held up my Pentagon badge.
"Glad you made it out," he said, and then he let me go through.
I went to get Ryan and Zoe at the babysitter's house. Deidre had been trying to call me, for all these hours while babysitting these kids who might not have a mom anymore. When I got the kids from Deidre's house, she said, "I love you very much and I'm glad you're here, but you need to leave now because I didn't think you were going to make it out alive." The stress on her face from having kids, watching the news, not knowing if I was coming home had exhausted her. Zoe was 16 months old and Ryan was 2. I happily got them and started to walk to our home. When we got downstairs from Deidre's house, the jets from Andrews had been scrambled, were flying overhead, and it scared them. Where we lived, the living quarters have concrete steps with open spaces in between them. I had Zoe under my left arm, Ryan by his hand, and pushed them to the bottom stairs and into the corner of the building. They were both crying. Zoe was crying because the jets were so loud. Ryan was crying because I had smacked his head on the stairs trying to get them under. Were these our jets or somebody else's? I realized they were the Andrews jets scrambling so we continued on and went inside. I began to realize just how tired and sore I was and how much I didn't know what to do. It was terrible.
In the days that followed, I attended 11 memorial services. Two were for people I worked with in my office. The other nine were Navy affiliated families, friends of friends, or coworkers. Brady Howell died that day. He sat in the cubicle across from me for nine months and had just been moved to the Navy Watch Office where the plane hit. His wife Elizabeth carried the Olympic torch when it traveled through Washington D.C. and handed it off to President Bush. Ryan Moss had three small children under the age of ten and a wife under age 30. It was one of the worst funerals ever. The funeral was held in the same chapel at Arlington National Cemetery where I was married.
Weeks later, we were allowed to return to the Pentagon to retrieve any personal belongings we left. In my office space, my phone cord had melted into the desk. It was very sobering.
I don't want to disappoint my family by not remembering September 11 clearly. It is important for me to give value to what their feelings are. For a long time I could only think of how this affected me, and yet it touched everyone around me. Why have we never talked about this in detail before? Because it sucks."
- Melanie
At the office, we were going to leave for coffee but hadn't left yet. I don't remember the start of my day, like the waking up part or dropping the kids off at the babysitter part, or riding the Metro to work. What I remember thinking was,
'Wow it's too bad I have to go to work today because I've never seen a sky so blue.'
Since then, looking at the sky, I often think 'if that cloud wasn't there it would be as pretty as September 11th.' The color of the sky has always been my favorite color, blue.
I remember that I was wearing khaki pants and a short-sleeved brown and tan sweater. It was not cold enough to wear a jacket yet. I went to work like normal at about 7:30 a.m., a regular morning for me. I had a radio on my desk. I was working (on whatever project I was working on) with DC 101 on the radio. DC 101 is the local radio station, with the local shock jock on the radio. I had it on for the white noise. Elliott in the Morning... that was his name. His voice changed from usual banter with his staff to something different. The tone of his voice had changed. He was saying that a plane had flown into one of the trade center towers. The only reason I started listening was that his tone of voice changed. I thought, "Huh I wonder what that was all about." I went to MSNBC.com on the computer. Fox News wasn't popular on the Internet yet. CNN and MSNBC were the dot com sites at that time. The MSNBC site wouldn't even load. "That's weird," I thought and I went to CNN, but it wouldn't load either. Fox News wouldn't load. So many people were trying to load the web sites that it was crashing the servers.
Because my co-workers and I had just moved into the newly renovated wing of the Pentagon, we had televisions up but no cable connection. We still had boxes to unpack due to the move from the older section. A couple of other people and I walked to our Admiral's office, which was the next hallway over because his TV was working. Five or six of us were watching the replay of the first tower. Watching . . . watching. . . The Admiral came back to his office and said, "Ok, ok, that's it; go back to work now." Walking back down the hallway, I said to one of my co-workers, "I'm glad we're in a restricted air space. We're in the Pentagon, only five stories high, not high enough to be a target." I went to my desk, wanting to hear the news, still no MSNBC. I was getting antsy, and I couldn't concentrate.
I guess the second tower was hit then and heard it on the radio. I stood up, and said, "Oh my God! The second tower was hit by a plane." The Navy Captain said, "No way, are you sure? " At that point, since we couldn't concentrate, my friend Stephen said that we should get a cup of coffee. I remember that I grabbed $1.67 to get a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in the Pentagon. I put it in my pocket and we started to head out. While we were talking about what coffee to get, the building was hit. It was so odd, it was like watching something in slow motion but having it sped up at the same time. The building shook, and I could smell the fire. I had a window behind my cubicle, which was nice, but normally what I saw was a brick wall and the next corridor ring. I could see the next ring with paper floating past. I remember thinking, "I always wondered if debris really looked like that." I could see it out of my window. It looked like a movie. You know how a camera follows the ashes or paper out of the sky in a movie? That's what it looked like to me. It was a random thought. Surreal. To look out of the window and see the flames and the fire and be caught off guard. I looked around at everyone and I was like, "This is bad, we need to get out of here."
Everyone was standing still, not knowing what to do. We have the nation's Best in our offices and we're all looking at each other like, "Whoa... Is this really happening?" We're not at war, this is peacetime. It didn't make sense. I picked up my phone and called my husband Will's office. I knew you could see the Pentagon from Boling Air Force Base. I knew they would be able to see the building on fire. I wanted somebody to know that I was alive at this moment in time. I had no doubt that I would not be alive by the end of the day. I didn't think I could get out of the building. My friend Josh, one of Will's co-workers at Boling, answered the phone. I talked to Josh long enough to say, "It's Melanie. We've been hit and we are evacuating the building." At that point, I lost it a little bit. The repeated thoughts in my mind. This is not normal. This shouldn't be happening. We are in the Pentagon. How did a plane get here? Why is the building on fire? How is this possible? How are we getting out of here? Watching as these military people - full bird Colonels, Navy high-ranking officers – the looks on their faces told me everything. The worst look ever. No one was prepared for this or ever expected it to happen.
The fire alarm was going off. It was a new fire alarm with an automated system. We had new firewalls because the space had just been renovated (because we were in the newly renovated part I believe this saved our lives. The older part that we moved from went up like kindling). We had state of the art fire alarm systems, sprinklers, brand new everything. The fire alarm was saying, "This is not a drill, exit at your closest emergency exit." Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Flashing strobe lights. Sprinklers were not going off yet, because the fire and heat hadn't reached our section yet.
We were trying to get out. What you need to understand is that when you are assigned to the Pentagon, it's like moving into a new house in a new neighborhood. You must learn the streets and how to get there. You go to work in the Pentagon the same way, because, in theory, your office is like having an address. You learn the most efficient way to get from the outside to your office. But just like outside of the Pentagon, you should be able to get from point A to point B with familiarity, but it doesn't mean there aren't bridges missing or roads closed at times. So you learn the quickest way to your office and that's the way you go. If you go the wrong way, you can't simply keep going. You can't do a complete circle. If you look at the Pentagon from above, there are five rings. Yet you can't start in the A ring and walk all the way around. You get to your office by the access you have learned. That made evacuating really hard. When the firewalls started dropping, there is a whole new kind of panic, like "Oh crap! That's how I knew how to get out. I need to go to the end of the hallway and turn left, then right, then left!" It was like evacuating from a maze. As the firewalls closed down, an all-new panic set in because everyone had a different way of going to and from their own office. When options close, different panic sets in. Yes, there were signs on how to get out. But your country is under attack and your building has been bombed. (At this point we didn't know it was a plane) We got on the escalators, which were not working, and walked down to try to get out. It was like a controlled mob. Close together, pushing to get out. We evacuated to the nearest outdoor exit. Because of where we were located, it was the center courtyard. Now there are hundreds of people standing in the center courtyard because that was the fastest way out. Like being in the middle of a big bull's eye.
So now I found myself outside, and yet completely surrounded now by the building. How do we get from here, to the actual outside the building? While talking to the people, I was trying to call my mom. No one had phone access because the system was overloaded. I wanted somebody to know I was alive. I remember looking up at the amazing blue-sky thinking, "Do you see the actual bomb drop? If you are on the ground do you see a bomb? Would it look like when you watch a movie? Can you actually see the shape of it? Can you see what's going to happen? Do you have time to prepare?" All of us still thinking it was a bomb, not a plane. The only way my mind could make this scenario work would be a bomb coming from the air. During this time, with all of these thoughts - which was probably only about 30 seconds - the plane's fuselage exploded. New panic. No screaming or yelling but definitely panic in the air. A Pentagon DOD officer announced that the parking lot tunnel was open and we were able to evacuate to the outside of the building. We got out through the tunnel and it came out on the other side of the building.
I remember seeing the Honor Guard Team, my husband's co-workers, had met at their evacuation point as I was on my way to my coworker's Stephen's car. It was a long walk to the parking lot because we were definitely not taking the most direct route. There were news crews there already in the parking lot. Weird. How did they get there so fast? Walking around to the parking lot on our side of the building was the point we started seeing the triage areas and medical was set up, the Pentagon Child Care Center had evacuated here as well. The triage area was not comfortable for me to see. There was a man who came out of the building - an older gentleman, losing his hair, he looked like a typical government employee. A Normal Government Employee except that the skin on his arm was sliding off. He was so badly burned.
We were being told to get out of the way. "If you aren't medical, go on your way." There was smoke pouring out of the building, people coming out, that's when you heard crying and upset sounds. Where do we go? How do we get home? The Metro was shut down. People were in shock and just looking for direction. We made it to Stephen's car and onto the road. The roads were crowded like a normal traffic rush hour, but even weirder was the foot traffic. People were walking on the bridges. You just didn't see this. We were listening to the radio, but it was regurgitating the news to this point. Stephen wanted to drop me off at the base and then go home. It took forever to get to the base. We got to the "first" gate at Boling, which was considered the "Navy side of the base." We approached the gate and I swear, the kid at the gate had to have turned 18 the day before. He was the youngest person I had ever seen in Kevlar gear and fully armed up. He turned us away and told us to go to the main gait. So we left and headed to the main gate. Not only was the main gate closed, but it was closed almost half a block before the gate. I got out of the car and approached the gate. Weapons were actually drawn on me and I was told to get back in the car. So. Not a good idea to go to the main gate. At the third gate, I knew someone personally. This security forces person was able to do personal recognition and let me in. I still had to get past the main gate to get to Will's squadron.
It was like driving through a ghost town. The door was locked to the armory where Will worked. I knocked, was buzzed in and that's when I started feeling sick. I had made it from Point A to Point B. Now I wanted to go from Point B to Point C, which was where my children were with the babysitter. Overwhelmed by what had happened, I hugged Will, briefly explained what and whom I had seen. I told him I saw these eight people, the honor guard people. one of the women working with Will said, "You didn't see my husband did you?" No, I'm sorry, I didn't see him.
The main goal of getting to Will was that we only had one car, he had it at work and I wanted to get home. I waited long enough for the decision that non-essential personnel could leave. I drove to the house in Summerfield. I remember that at every stoplight, every turn, the steering wheel felt like lead. The feeling started behind my ears. It was like I could no longer move. By the time I drove the 8-10 miles to the house and turned into the neighborhood I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to turn into my parking lot. My head and shoulders and jaw hurt. Pain was radiating down my arms and it was hard to sit. I pulled into the housing area and there was a security forces guy checking IDs to go into housing.
I lost it. I had no ID. Everything was at the Pentagon. No driver's license. No debit card. No military ID. I had my Pentagon lanyard around my neck. "Ma'am, I need to see your driver's license and military ID card." I thought I was going to throw up. I was this close to the kids and couldn't get there. I looked at the security forces guy, held up my Pentagon lanyard and said, "This is all I have," and held up my Pentagon badge.
"Glad you made it out," he said, and then he let me go through.
I went to get Ryan and Zoe at the babysitter's house. Deidre had been trying to call me, for all these hours while babysitting these kids who might not have a mom anymore. When I got the kids from Deidre's house, she said, "I love you very much and I'm glad you're here, but you need to leave now because I didn't think you were going to make it out alive." The stress on her face from having kids, watching the news, not knowing if I was coming home had exhausted her. Zoe was 16 months old and Ryan was 2. I happily got them and started to walk to our home. When we got downstairs from Deidre's house, the jets from Andrews had been scrambled, were flying overhead, and it scared them. Where we lived, the living quarters have concrete steps with open spaces in between them. I had Zoe under my left arm, Ryan by his hand, and pushed them to the bottom stairs and into the corner of the building. They were both crying. Zoe was crying because the jets were so loud. Ryan was crying because I had smacked his head on the stairs trying to get them under. Were these our jets or somebody else's? I realized they were the Andrews jets scrambling so we continued on and went inside. I began to realize just how tired and sore I was and how much I didn't know what to do. It was terrible.
In the days that followed, I attended 11 memorial services. Two were for people I worked with in my office. The other nine were Navy affiliated families, friends of friends, or coworkers. Brady Howell died that day. He sat in the cubicle across from me for nine months and had just been moved to the Navy Watch Office where the plane hit. His wife Elizabeth carried the Olympic torch when it traveled through Washington D.C. and handed it off to President Bush. Ryan Moss had three small children under the age of ten and a wife under age 30. It was one of the worst funerals ever. The funeral was held in the same chapel at Arlington National Cemetery where I was married.
Weeks later, we were allowed to return to the Pentagon to retrieve any personal belongings we left. In my office space, my phone cord had melted into the desk. It was very sobering.
I don't want to disappoint my family by not remembering September 11 clearly. It is important for me to give value to what their feelings are. For a long time I could only think of how this affected me, and yet it touched everyone around me. Why have we never talked about this in detail before? Because it sucks."
- Melanie
29. "I was a freshman at Bridgewater College in Virginia, and it was my second or third week of school. I left the dining hall around 9 am to head to my first class of the day, and I heard someone mention that there'd been a plane crash in NY. There was a big projector television in our classroom, so someone turned it on to see the special report. At this point, it wasn't clear yet if it had been an accident or what. Then we saw the second plane hit. Everyone in the class was horrified. We stayed glued to the report, silent, occasionally looking around at each other, as the reality of it sunk in.
I remember some of the students laughed a little as the news kept getting worse and worse, but it wasn't sadistic laughter at all. It was more like an involuntary expression of terror.
My older brother lived in New York, and I knew that he was scheduled to fly out that day, but I didn't know what flight. I spent hours trying to reach him, but phone lines weren't connecting. I finally talked to my parents in the afternoon, who let me know that my brother was safe. I'd had a big fight with my dad earlier in the summer, and hadn't spoken to him for three months. That anger disappeared in an instant, and I was so grateful to talk to him that day.
At some point, we were able to turn off the news and start to think about other things. Metal detectors, TSA, and war became the new normal. While most people around me embraced the ideas of 'God Bless America,' 'Support Our Troops,' and 'United We Stand,' I started to feel like I lived in a paradox. My school was officially affiliated with the the Church of the Brethren -- a pacifist denomination -- and everyone around me was hungry for war and vengeance."
- Meg C.
I remember some of the students laughed a little as the news kept getting worse and worse, but it wasn't sadistic laughter at all. It was more like an involuntary expression of terror.
My older brother lived in New York, and I knew that he was scheduled to fly out that day, but I didn't know what flight. I spent hours trying to reach him, but phone lines weren't connecting. I finally talked to my parents in the afternoon, who let me know that my brother was safe. I'd had a big fight with my dad earlier in the summer, and hadn't spoken to him for three months. That anger disappeared in an instant, and I was so grateful to talk to him that day.
At some point, we were able to turn off the news and start to think about other things. Metal detectors, TSA, and war became the new normal. While most people around me embraced the ideas of 'God Bless America,' 'Support Our Troops,' and 'United We Stand,' I started to feel like I lived in a paradox. My school was officially affiliated with the the Church of the Brethren -- a pacifist denomination -- and everyone around me was hungry for war and vengeance."
- Meg C.