story1163.xml

story1163.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

The morning of September 11, 2001 started as normal as any other day of the week. I had just transfered to the Pentagon about 3 weeks prior to this date and was elated to not only being in the newly renovate wedge but to be able to work in a place that I had only dreamed of working. I was sitting at my desk in the Pentagon (3D450 to be precise) when an Army Colonel told everyone that the World Trade Towers had been hit by planes and to come and watch the tv in his office. After about 5 minutes of watching, one of the Lt. Col made a remark I will never forget, "we may as well paint a large red X on this building because we are next." I went back to my desk to print a copy of a briefing that was due at 11 that morning. Immediately after I hit the print button, I heard the most deafing noise. It sounded like an earthquake combined with a tornado; being from Texas I knew the latter sound. The lights went off and the ceiling tiles began fall. Our computer screens starting to break and then I turned around. There was a massive ball of fire outside of the window and everyone started screaming and running. I fell to the ground, not knowing what to do. One of the Lt. Col picked me up and carried me out of the corridor until we got to the courtyard. There were a lot of injured people lying on the ground. When I looked around, I saw huge black clouds rising out of the offices where I had just come, hundreds of people crying, frantically dialing their cell phones and yelling out people's names. After about 20 min, everyone was rushed through a tunnel and into the South Parking lot where we tried to reconvene with our divisions. It was then that we were informed that another plane was inbound and we needed to move farther away and eventually ended up at Pentagon City Mall.
During this entire ordeal, all I could think of were my friends who worked 2 corridors away and where they were at that moment. Since I had not grabbed my purse, I was without a cell phone. Thankfully, several people volunteered to call my family and friends and let them know I was okay. With the phone lines being jammed and the uncertainty of our coworkers and the other plane, we were forced to stay together and not leave until 4 hours later.
I quickly ran to a friend's house which was 5 min away and saw his car. I ran into the house and was scanning the room when one of our friends said that he and my best friend had gone back to check the body list for me since they knew where the plane had hit. It was about 30 min later that I saw then running toward the house and I was reunited. I called my parents, who couldn't speak through the tears and told them I was okay and I loved them. I attended the prayer service at the Pentagon on Sept. 14 and did not return to work there.
I came to Washington, DC from a small city in Texas to live out my dreams of influencing foreign policy and making a difference in this world. I attended a religious, liberal arts university where the conversations and discussions in class never left the USA and only mentioned in passing about hatred towards our country. When I came here, I never could have imagined that I, in part, would be the object of that hatred and would see firsthand what freedom and patriotism really mean. I have learned more about this country and myself from the events of 9/11 than I ever thought. The months following the attacks are very blurred and vague in my mind, as I never believed they happened. Whenever friends or coworkers would call and ask how I was, I didn't know what to say except that I was okay. It wasn't until the 6th month anniversary that I began to think and feel things concerning that day. The one year anniversary is less than a month away and all of my thoughts circle around that day, mainly sadness and fear of what will happen next. Most importantly, I worry about what it will be like to go back to the Pentagon for the memorial service on September 11, 2002. God Bless America and all we stand for. We will never FORGET!