Experiences from Brothers – September 11, 2001

I was a hired gun to help with decontamination of personnel, transports, and equipment at Ground Zero. We also were tasked to recover/remove any hazardous materials from the hole and surrounding areas.

I was on site from late September through May of 2002. We had a great crew who worked everyday for the better part of 9 months with very few days off.

I was in Washington, DC attending a meeting of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC). We were suddenly ushered into a lower, below-ground level meeting room where the news was on big tv screens. The news was saying that a plane was headed to DC and we were all quite alarmed. No one was allowed to leave the building for hours. When we were finally cleared to leave, late that afternoon, I think I must have been the first to get out. The streets were deserted except for armed National Guard troops on every corner. As I headed past the Pentagon, I could see smoke coming from the building, and on the side of the road in a large grassy area there were children’s beds and cribs that had been moved from the day care center.

On September 11 I was assigned as an F.B.I. Assistant Legal Attache for Terrorism matters at our embassy in Ottawa, Canada. I was in my office working and noticed several coworkers hurriedly passing my door heading to the LEGAT’s (Legal Attache) office where our office news television was located. I walked in and saw the live feed beginning immediately after the first plane hit. I am a former USAF Pilot and noticed low on the far horizon another airliner and concluded this was a second attach plane. It passed right to left from the television feed and then reappeared left to right in the foreground striking the second tower.

Communication to/from Washington D.C. was nonexistent, all the networks were overloaded so we used alternate means. The threat stream world wide was overflowing, with an attack on our Canadian embassy a possibility. The Canadians were wonderful. The RCMP stood up a very healthy security network around the embassy and neighborhood. I recall being escorted by a Marine to a clandestine exit then walking to the front of the building watching hundreds of Canadians placing flowers into the security gates.

I was at work when the news came in and it was total disbelief. We wondered how such a thing could happen in this country. Since we worked in a high rise building, we were all told to go home in fear that other such buildings and cities could be targeted. I was (and still am) in Atlanta, Georgia.

I was inside the D C Beltway in Hyattsville, MD when we heard the Pentagon was on fire. I was on active duty with my Maryland National Guard unit by 1900 (7 PM). After I put on my uniform my wife grabbed me before I left the house and asked me outside the earshot of our children not to volunteer for anything. I was so mad and a bit scared and I told her, “I am not making any promises.” We had become engaged years earlier at the KA House in Ashland, Virginia, so she knew what she was dealing with. Less than four years later I returned from Afghanistan with a Bronze Star having done my small part to try and track down the evil people who attacked us. She did her part at home with our two kids. 9/11/2001 the first night of many nights for both of us with little or no sleep.

I was a Junior that year and serving as Number 2. I was driving to campus when the first plane hit the trade towers. I heard the news break on the Lex and Terry show over the radio. I thought it was some joke as they were always playing games. Per my normal routine, I popped in the KA house before my first class and was surprised to find it full with all the brothers and sorority girls glued to the TV. We watched in disbelief as the second plane hit the towers. I remember all the emotions from that day. We had several brothers in ROTC at the time and 1 of our active brothers had a dad working in the Pentagon. Additionally 1 of our brothers had a sister working in the towers. Thankfully she didn’t go into the office that day. I remember how we all pulled together that day and our first thought as a chapter, was how do we show support. One of our Sorority friends got us a huge American Flag, that flew at her dad’s car dealership and we hung it on the back of the house. I feel like it covered the whole house. It was very scary indeed but I’m thankful for my chapter, we all leaned on each other during that turbulent time.

Age 34, I took the day off to go to a Perdomo Cigar event in Chesapeake. I was awakened at 10am by a phone call that morning about what was going on, and I turned on the TV; both Towers were already down. I showered, dressed, and hopped on my motorcycle to make the 27-mile trek to the cigar event. There were no planes in the sky coming into the local airports or Norfolk International, skies all clear, unusually light traffic on the roads, no police cars to be seen anywhere. When I got there all the current and ex-military friends of mine who hang out there were drawing heavily, discussing what should have been done, and what needed to be done, especially the Marine members. Yes, the world’s problems can be solved over a cigar, be it peace or war. The event was on a totally different course than what Nick Perdomo and his two Nicaraguan lady cigar-rollers planned. A friend came in from his new car sales job and told everyone that he and other dealership employees were waiting for an early sales meeting and watching the F-14 Tomcats roll by one by one taking off and landing into Oceana NAS (to keep their skills up every 3 days) when two went into full zone-5 afterburner pulling straight up, inverted, headed north FAST! It was not long after folks inside ran out yelling to get inside and see the TV. I never served in the military due to a 3 size shorter right foot and slightly shorter right leg, however, I was never the same “Chris” after that day and haven’t been since. For nearly 3,000 Americans, they couldn’t see what was coming, for most, no time to take the free keys of salvation out of the hand of Christ, life ended in a tenth of a second. In March 2002, I gave my life over to Jesus. That was the day I learned to improvise, adapt, overcome, crash through barriers and break new ground in my life, my work, and most everything I do.

I do not have a story; I have memories of the day and the weeks following. I will always remember hearing about the first plane. I saw a good friend in a hallway at work who called to me and asked, “Did you hear that a plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers?” I was thinking of a small plane that somehow got off course and had a mechanical or other issue. I could not fathom a passenger jet.

Once I learned what happened and the magnitude of the situation, I felt sick and suddenly had so many thoughts running through my mind. My first child was a month shy of his first birthday, what kind of world was he going to grow up in? I had been on the observation deck a couple of years earlier, were there already people up there? How many people were in the building? Then the second plane hit. How could someone do this intentionally? How many people were in the buildings and can they get everyone out of those buildings? The reality set in quickly that this was a coordinated attack on the country, but what was going to happen next was such a great unknown.

That sick feeling continued for weeks.

I am forever grateful to the men and women who died trying to get people out of the buildings. I am forever indebted to the men and women who went to war, many of whom lost their lives to root out evil and prevent something like 9/11 from ever happening again.

I arrived at the chapter house that morning for my early morning class. One of the brothers was sitting in the living room, talking about a plane that had crashed into the Trade Tower. They thought it was an accident, so I went to class. My professor walked in and had it live-streaming on the big screen and said, “This is devastating, and we’re too upset to have class. Everybody go pray for our nation and for the people on that plane.” Class was dismissed, so I went back to the chapter house. We were sitting and talking with the guys as we all watched the second plane hit the tower. We were all in shock and enraged at how dare someone do that to us. We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know how to deal with our emotions as young adults. At that time, several of us went out immediately and purchased new flags to hang up to show our support for the nation. I had a Jeep at the time with a rear flagpole. I went home, got the flag, stuck it in the back of my Jeep, and proudly drove around campus, reminding everybody of how great our nation is. The rest of the afternoon, we all just watched and talked about what was going on. The next morning, we were all shocked to see a picture of my Jeep flying the American flag with KA on the front, on the front cover of the Helmsman newspaper for the University of Memphis, saying, “Young fraternity member shows his patriotism.” Every generation has a moment they remember — where they were when these things happened, whether it was the assassination of Kennedy or Martin Luther King, or, for my generation, 9/11. In the months and years to come, over half of my fraternity members ended up joining one branch of the armed forces or another, and several of us did what we could to give back and never forget — coming together not only as brothers, but also as a nation.

I retired in 2000, and we relocated from urban Tampa to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Just 17 months later, we watched the events of 9/11/2001 unfold on TV, like millions of others, and it was unsettling, to say the least. We didn’t know if our country was being invaded or if so what that would mean for us. By mid-afternoon, we felt the need for corporate prayer at our church, but the prayer service there had already been held. We learned that a community prayer service was scheduled for 6:00pm at the local high school football stadium in this rural county of just 30,000 people, and we decided to go, though we were unsure exactly where the stadium was. When we arrived, we found nearly 5,000 people already there. Men in overalls, ladies with aprons and squalling babies, working people. We knew not a single one of them. The service began with a speech by the mayor, followed by a prayer by a local Baptist preacher. There was not a sound in the whole stadium. When the preacher finished his prayer, he told this story:
“I don’t know how many of you were here in this county in nineteen and forty-one, but we heard on the radio that the Japanese had bummed Pearl Harbor. The next morning at the train depot, over 200 men showed up on mules or horseback with their rifles, ready to catch a train to Washington to go fight. Nobody ordered them. Nobody drafted them. They just knew that our country was under attack and that they needed to defend it. …….Now, I don”t know what will happen tomorrow morning, September 12th. But If I was you, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the train depot!”
After another prayer, candles were lit and the light was passed from hand to hand among the 5,000. When the service ended, the crowd left silently, returning to their rusty, mud-smeared pickup trucks and tractors. The mood was somber.
As my wife and I found our car and headed home, I said to her “You know, we didn’t know a single soul in that crowd of 5,000 people. Few of them had the education we had. Even fewer of them dressed as we do. But these are good people. They have lived in these mountains and hollows for over 200 years, helping each other to raise barns, repair roofs, and to bring in their crops. They would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. I am glad we moved here. And I know that somehow, our country will be all right, because we have God to watch over us and people like these on our side.

Was on the phone with another KA planning some work at his house when I saw the second plane hit on TV, did not make it to his house. Watched the whole thing on TV, a different morning indeed… walked/paced many miles in my living room that day…

My Baltimore office was hosting a meeting of the Technology Risk practice of our Big 5 firm. We had partners and managers in from New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Baltimore, set to start at 9am. As I drove in, I heard on the radio that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. I entered the building, and mentioned to a partner that I just heard that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. “Wow, that’s crazy.” The meeting began at 9. After an hour or more of typical strategy presentations, the most junior person, from the back of the room, interrupted. Highly irregular. He said, “We have to stop this meeting, right now. Two planes hit the World Trade Center, the buildings collapsed, the Pentagon has been hit with another airplane, and all air traffic has been grounded. They don’t know if there are other hijacked planes out there.” Evidently the folks in the back of the room had their laptops open and were following the news.
Obviously, surprise and panic ensued. People had to get home somehow. Being close to BWI airport, some of us locals took people to BWI so they could rent a car and drive home to Connecticut. I remember getting out my Maryland map and giving it to our HR director, who had to get back to Northern Virginia, and didn’t want to risk the usual bridges over the Potomac. I showed her how to take I-70 West, then cross at Point-of-Rocks to get back to Leesburg and McLean.  Once all the guests were safely departed, I went home to the family and to watch the news.

My daughter (6th grade) was told that it was a snow day and everyone was to go home on the bus. I had called my wife to tell her to turn on the news, and she and my son (3rd grade) saw the second plane strike, before he went to school. Once at school, his class were told that planes had crashed in New York, and everyone was being sent home for safety.

On 9-11-01, I was the volunteer Chairman of the Missouri Red Cross. On that day, as I had a trial settle that week and no appointments, I was taking my time getting up and ready. I had a TV on in the background but was not paying attention. I remember seeing from the corner of my eye, a plane crashing into a building but thought it was some movie.

Right about then I got the call from the State Emergency Management Agency to report to the Missouri Emergency Operations Center which is underground beneath the Missouri National Guard Building in Jefferson City, the state capital, as I was the designated person to report to the EOC for the Red Cross in any emergency. The EOC in action reminds you of a “war room” you see in movies with the massive TV projections and tables, phones and computers for all of the different departments and agencies. I was in the EOC for about the next 48 hours taking a few naps on cots they had set up.

I had two main jobs: 1) to provide the governor’s office about the situation on the ground in NYC from the Red Cross’s perspective and advise them on the immediate relief efforts that were taking place and what resources Missouri might be able to provide, as well as giving out items for press releases and such, and 2) to set up temporary shelters and transportation for passengers that were stranded in St. Louis and Kansas City who were stuck at the airports when the airlines shut down. This was a particular problem in St. Louis as there were several conventions going on at the time and were almost no hotel rooms available and the rental cars were all taken up very quickly. Also, we were told the train from St. Louis to Kansas City was going to be stopped halfway through the state, so arrangements needed to be made to handle the passengers.

Of course, the major memory is being in the EOC seeing the replays on the big screens of the attacks over and over and saying to someone next to me, “Everything has just changed and its not going to be good.”

I was on an early flight from Jackson MS to Dallas, upon landing passengers started getting messages from friends and relatives that a plane had hit one of the Towers. After getting off the plane there was chaos in the Terminal. I had a car reserved so proceeded to the cars. Again chaos. I went to my rented car I drove to a restaurant and watched as the Towers fell from the bar. I drank one beer and started the long drive back to Mississippi. Listening to as much radio as possible.

I was in NY on 911 seven blocks from the WTC. My story: https://www.jotform.com/uploads/kappaalphaorder/262505686381059/6647105873412919162/9_11%20.doc

I was a senior at WTAMU. I had just finished an 8:00am bowling class and was parking at the student center when I heard Mike and Mike on ESPN radio say ‘We can’t talk about sports right now, we’re hearing reports of the Pentagon being bombed?!’

I rushed inside to find a group gathered around the big screen TV in the Student Center (where most sorority girls watched soap operas). We all watched the first tower burn silently, then we watched the second plane hit the tower on live TV. A collective gasp went through the crowd. A gentleman next to me uttered ‘Oh my God’ and spun on his heels and walked away quickly. It was our Dean of Students.

Nobody knew what was going on. I remember my pregnant wife was traveling with a group from the Denton State School to Houston and cell service was all jammed up. I couldn’t reach her, we didn’t know what the targets were or why. All I could think is if they were trying to cripple us, Houston would be a prime target with all the refineries.

She finally called that afternoon and we talked through the events. I still didn’t sleep well until we were back together days later.

Unfortunately, like a lot of people, our kids never knew the world before 9/11.

I was in the US Navy serving overseas in NAS Sigonella, Sicily, IT. Everyone called Sigonella the “Hub of the Med” due to our central location in the Mediterranean. It was good duty. Other than supporting NATO operations in Kosovo, things were pretty quiet, with lots of time to enjoy Europe.

I was assigned to the Security Department where I was on the protective service detail for distinguished visitors and high ranking officers visiting the base.

At around 1530 on 9/11, I was in our office working on the computer when the base XO poked his head in and mentioned that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that someone must have been way off course and damn near blind to not be able to avoid the towers. I also remembered how a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building during WWII.

I finished up and strolled down to the Command suite which led to the Skipper’s and XO’s offices. There was a group standing at the XO’s door watching the tv he had tuned to CNN. When I saw the amount of damage, I knew this was no small Cessna.

Then, as we watched live, the second plane hit. After the initial shock, the announcer stated they were receiving word that yet another plane had hit the Pentagon.

My wife and I were in San Francisco. I had a business conference and my wife and I made it a fun weekend. She flew out very early that morning to return to Charleston. When I went to the hotel lobby, a fellow worker came straight to me to show me what had unfolded. My wife was in the air and I had no way to contact her. She had no idea either until she landed in Charleston. My father met her at the Charleston airport and they watched what had taken place. I finally got word she was safe and on the ground. Soon after she landed is when the FAA grounded all aircraft. I had a hard time getting out of San Francisco. The airport was packed. I almost rented a car but finally got a flight out. One flight was cancelled because the crew refused to fly because they didn’t feel safe that the plane had not been inspected.

I guess all in all it wasn’t nearly as bad as some.

I remember the initial shock on hearing what was happening and then the developing horror as the 2nd tower was hit, then the Pentagon and the downed flight in Pennsylvania. Most indelible in my mind is seeing the 2nd tower being struck on live tv, then a long distance tv shot from New Jersey showing the burning towers of the NYC skyline. Then memories of towers crumbling, panic in the streets, bodies falling, and incredible bravery and service by all those responders, men and women.
My daughter’s friend, an airline attendant, perished in that 2nd tower strike.

I have not been to the NYC Memorial or the Pentagon. The Shanksville Memorial at the United Flight 93 site is very comprehensive in the interpretation of what occurred there. Absolutely spellbinding portrayal. We shall never forget.

I was in the Army with Recruiting Command in Raleigh, NC. That morning I was driving to Greensboro NC, I heard on the radio about one, then two planes hitting the towers in NYC. As I arrived in Greensboro, I got a call to return to Raleigh. Went to the hotel to cancel my reservation and there were 30-40 people in the lobby watching TV. We all stood there watching the towers burn and shortly after I arrived, the first tower fell. A woman turned to me (I’m in uniform) and said “what’s going to happen now?”. I said, “I don’t know, but we’re going to war with somebody!” Afterwards I went home, hugged my wife and children and spent the evening talking with neighbors and watching the news. I eventually deployed to the Middle East twice to fight the war.

I was a Special Agent with the FBI during the events surrounding 9/11. I was attending a conference at our Jacksonville, Florida office that morning. Someone alerted us that a plane flew into the World Trade Center (WTC). We turned on a TV in the conference and saw the second plane hit, then witnessed both towers of the WTC collapse. We were ordered back to our offices to await further instructions. I sped back to my office in Daytona Beach, Florida. Shortly after arriving there, I received a phone call from FBIHQ in Washington advising me that one of the hijackers who commandeered American Airlines Flight 77 attended Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach for flight training. I was immediately dispatched there to verify if the information was accurate. We determined that it was not. A student by the same name attended ERAU, not the hijacker. However, information was disseminated all around the world that one of the hijackers went to ERAU. We had to field inquiries from all over the world about any pilot with an Arabic name whether or not they attended ERAU. It was chaotic and consumed our limited resources for weeks on end. Add to that the continuous calls from the public with information regarding “terrorist sightings” in the seven counties our four agent office covered. The information from the public did not pan out, but it kept us busy. We also had to continue investigating cases we already had in progress. I actually had to sleep in my office for a period of time putting in 18 hour days, seven days a week. Things finally settled down after a few months, but the FBI’s priorities changed overnight. Counterterrorism became the number one priority, and for good reasons.

After a few years, I was deemed an expert in counterterrorism investigations. This led to two deployments to Iraq teaching the Iraqi police and military in counterterrorism measures, and participating in the investigation and trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity and genocide. During one deployment, I was able to see my son, Mike Bonner, Gamma Eta, Florida State University, who was serving in the Marines in Iraq. This was a unique father-son reunion. This was certainly the highlight of my 28 year career with the FBI.

I was on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Kansas City for work. I noticed that the plane made an abrupt turn and started heading south midflight. A couple of minutes later, the captain spoke to us and said there had been an emergency in New York, that we were returning to Dallas, and that we should stay in our seats. Shortly after that, the captain got back on the overhead and told us, “The World Trade Center towers have collapsed, and it is believed to be a terrorist attack. We have been ordered to be on the ground in the next five to fifteen minutes, or U.S. military fighters will take action.”

I served in the first Gulf War before college, and I was still in the Army National Guard as a medic. I knew two things at the time: that my wife of three months was going to be panicked, and I was going back to war for a second time, this time for payback.

On September 11, 2001, I was on the 81st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, working for a telecommunications company called Network Plus. Every one of my colleagues made it out. My boss, Michael Benfante, carried a woman in a wheelchair down sixty-eight flights of stairs and out of the building minutes before it came down. He later wrote about it in his book, Reluctant Hero.

I got out just before the South Tower fell. When the debris came, I took cover under a Verizon van, then ran across the Brooklyn Bridge to safety.

I am lucky to be here, and I know it. Today I live in Berwyn, Pennsylvania with my wife and our four children.

The TV and radio were not turned on at our house that morning. The phone rang and when we answered was when we learned what happened. It was a friend from Oklahoma who warned us that other landmarks were likely targets. At the time, our house was just a few minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our daughter was only six months old. A torrent of emotions poured over me. How were my acquaintances who worked in those towers? What about my buddy from Staten Island who had multiple friends and relatives that were NYC firemen and police officers? How to protect my family in case the bridge did come under attack? I remember having to check my emotions and think clearly. While I had to deal with the immediacy of the situation–it took weeks. months and years to process all of this. Because it was a reminder that we live in a dangerous world, our family made a decision that hate was not the answer. Looking back on it, as terrible as it was, the country did seem to come together for a while.

I was getting ready for work with one 2-year-old and my wife. I remember seeing the first plane hit on TV and saying how tragic it was. Then, as I was putting on my tie, I saw the second plane hit, and I knew it wasn’t an accident. I was mad. I drove to my office, and as several of my company district managers were in the parking lot, one of them shouted out that they just hit the Pentagon, and we all went inside to see the news. Only then did we see the towers fall. I was worried because my little KA brother, Kurt, lived across the street from the UN building in NYC, and we finally got word from him and his wife that they were okay, but in shock of what they saw. They said hundreds of people were walking out covered in white dust. I am writing this while out of town, but I saved the letter his wife wrote that day describing it, and I will send it in next week. Last year, I toured the 9/11 museum in NYC, and seeing it in person was so overwhelming. The loss of so many people and the bravery of the firefighters, police, and rescue workers who saved many lives made my heart proud, but also hurt, for the red, white, and blue. We shall never forget them, and we must protect our freedom at any cost. One Nation Under God. God bless our heroes, their families, and the USA. Beta Eta ’88, University of Oklahoma.

My memory was related to this event, but not the day itself. I was a VP of Engineering for Cisco Systems that was responsible for the Ethernet switches that ran the trading floors for Wall Street. On 9/11 Wall Street was destroyed and stock trading suspended. My team air shipped literally tons of gear to New York to repair the networks and get Wall Street operational again. We were running traffic across competitor networks, we had fiber run across flooded streets, we had generators running 24×7 while pumps were pumping out neck high water from basement data centers.

It was the U.S. being challenged as to how quickly we could get wall street operational and we got it done in record time. Took us years to reconcile what we did,  knowing who had what gear etc…

Staunch competitors were helping each other make the systems work.

On that date, I was the Lieutenant on the 7am-3pm Shift at the West Precinct of the Birmingham, Alabama Police Department. I had just returned from Breakfast with two of my Sergeants. A friend of mine of nearly 20 years was the Officer assigned to work the desk. As I approached her on my way to my office, she stated a plane had struck one of the World Trade Towers. There was a tv on her desk and I saw the first Tower with smoke coming out of it. This touched me, because my Father who had passed away by that time, worked for a Company whose National Office was in one of the Towers. He visited there several times a year when he worked for them. Within a minute we watched as another plane hit the 2nd Tower. Jackie looked at me with a shocked look. I told her, “That’s not an accident Jackie!”. Having been assigned to the Birmingham Tactical Unit for 12 years before being promoted to Lieutenant I knew our World just changed! Shortly thereafter a list of possible targets in and around Birmingham was comprised. Higher level (Captains and above, representatives of the Tactical Unit, Detectives, local elected Officials and others) took place throughout the day. It was a Terrorist Act against my Country. I think often of those innocent victims on the planes who spoke their last words to their friends and families; those in the Towers who burned to death or were crushed when the buildings collapsed; those who chose to fall to their deaths rather than burn to death; the families who suffered the loss of their loved ones. I think of our Soldiers who lost their lives in the Pentagon! I think of the passengers of Flight 93 who rose up and fought with the hijackers which stopped another attack on one of our Federal Buildings. It was planned and carried out by absolute cowards! And lastly, I think of the Police Officers, and Firemen, and ordinary citizens who chose to go into the buildings in attempts to save people and lost their lives in truly heroic acts of compassion!

I served as an Army Aviator and Armor Officer from 1969-1994 flying mostly Cobra Attack Helicopters. In October 1989 I was assigned to the Army Aviation Office in the Pentagon in the 1st floor “A” Ring (1A873) overlooking the Pentagon Center Courtyard. My job was Chief of Scout-Attacker helicopters which included the Apache, Comanche, Cobra, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, Hellfire Missiles, Rockets, all the merging technologies and Special Programs and as the Army Aviation Rep for Joint Staff Programs. I personally managed the Long Bow Apache and Hellfire missile programs plus the Special Programs and emerging technologies plus the Joint Staff Army Rep for Aviation . Other team members managed the remainder. I spent 4.5 years there as an active duty officer. Upon retirement in Feb 1994, I stayed in the Pentagon as the Aviation rep for the emerging Digital Battlefield. After a total of 7.5 years in the Pentagon I departed the Pentagon to do other work. In January 2001 I was asked to come back and manage the Hellfire Missiles, Rockets and the emerging Precision Rocket Program. I said I would stay until the budget is locked and then depart again. On 29 August the Army budget was locked. I departed on a vacation and returned to my Pentagon Office on 10 September 2001 to finish up my work since I was moving to another state on 16 September. On Tuesday 11 September 2001 I was planning on attending a meeting with the Army Logistics group in the part of the Pentagon that was hit by the plane. I did not attend the meeting due to watching the NY events essentially saving my life. Shortly after 8:00 AM I was called to make sure our Conference Room TV was turned on. The Staff that was present was watching the results of the 1st building being hit and we all knew we were being attacked when we saw the 2nd plane hit the WTC. Most of the staff departed the office except myself and 2 other Retirees. Shortly after this I walked into the hallway to go to the restroom. When I walked out, there were people running down the hallways screaming. I walked back into the office and the 2 other guys were standing at the window looking at the smoke across the courtyard. They stated that we were car bombed. We were always expecting some kind of terrorist threat believing that either a car bomb or a nerve agent near the front entrance was the main threat. The building was so strongly built that I never heard any explosion nor felt any shock even though the total distance was only about 100 yards. The other 2 guys departed and I figured since I was departing the job at the end of the week and my computer was still working I decided to stay and finish up. About an hour later there was a knock on the office door, all doors are locked in the Pentagon. When I answered the door a Security Guard looked at me and said what are you doing here. I answered that “I’m Working”! He said to evacuate and leave. Point: The Pentagon was being modernized but there was no Fire Alarm and no intercom. I was no longer watching the TV and had no knowledge of the plane strike. I walked out the back door and many people were standing around and I immediately heard a plane breaking the sound barrier. I assume this was the jet flying towards Pennsylvania. Due to total blockage of the DC area highways, I arrived at home around 1:00 AM. During the evening prior we were told to be back in the office the next morning. I arrived back in the office around 8:00 AM on 12 September. The building continued to burn for several days. I called the company that I was going to go to and stated that I cannot leave this job right now due to this attack. I eventually moved in January 2002 to New Hampshire. In the meantime the Pentagon was on complete lock down. They used the center court to lay out the victims in body bags reminding me of my Vietnam Experience. Our office was used as a bigger office to our division. An office that would comfortably house 15 people now housed about 50 staff officers. Being in the Pentagon was just another hazardous day in my life after my Vietnam flying career. I spent nearly 9 years inside the Pentagon and after 9-11 I revisited that building maybe about 5-6 days total. I no longer wish to enter that building. I could have stayed in that position if I chose but working in the Pentagon is a grueling experience, generally 5:30 AM to 9:00 PM everyday even on many week-ends. I chose to move on to another position. In Aviation the term “Bought the Farm” means you crashed into Mother Earth. However, I literally bought the Farm and I am quietly living on Ferrell’s Liberty Hill Farm of West Virginia rescuing dogs and planting trees as part of my conservation work for the NRCS.

I was working in a high rise office building in downtown Atlanta and I got news announcements from CNN via e-mail. The e-mail from CNN was how I heard about the first plane hitting the WTC. I knew a plane had hit the Empire State Building during WWII during a storm and wondered if it was an accident. We went downstairs to Peachtree Center to find a TV to see the footage. That’s when I noticed the skies were completely clear so weather could not have been a factor. We then watched the second plane hit and that’s when the announcers explained this was no accident and appeared to be intentional. We didn’t know what was going to happen next and even feared downtown Atlanta high rises might be next so we were all ordered to go home. Once I got home, I got a call from a friend and learned my childhood friend, Sara Low, from Batesville, Arkansas was killed while working as a flight attendant for America Airlines – the first plane to crash. I’ve attached her photo. I was in the Marine Reserves at the time and we all volunteered to go help with the clean-up effort. After seeing footage of people jumping from the WTC to avoid being burned alive, I wanted revenge in a bad way. I don’t know a Marine who didn’t want to deploy immediately for pay back. I was activated in January of 2003 and went to California to help with the invasion of Iraq and was activated again in 2013-2014 to serve in Afghanistan. Sara Low’s needless death was all the motivation I needed.

As a retired firefighter paramedic September 11 has a very significant meaning to me.
I watched all of it unfold like that morning. When the towers collapsed I knew I had lost many brothers.

One of the most haunting sounds of that day were all of the pass devices going off. If you didn’t know what it was, you just heard a loud chirp. If you did know, it signified so much loss. To this day I still learn and watch what I can about that day. The heores of that day can’t be forgotten. Where they wore a set of fire gear or a suit & tie.

The memory of 9/11/01 should be held with as much reverence as December 7, 1942.

I was a Colonel in the United States Air Force and the Director of Operations and Requirements (AF/REO) on the Air Staff at the Pentagon. About 8:15am on the morning of September 11, 2001, it was a crisp, clear, cold morning. I was taking my staff from the Pentagon for a team building exercise via chartered bus to Gettysburg National Park. We had just arrived at Gettysburg, about an hour north of Washington DC, when our beepers and cell phone received emergency messages reference the World Trade Center and the Pentagon attack. At that time I contacted my senior leadership and we returned to the local Pentagon area. That evening, I entered the Pentagon and my office spaces, and each hallway and stairway that I transited was covered in black soot with a pungent, acrid odor throughout the complex. On September 12, 2001, approximately 4:00pm, I was working with the USAF crisis action team which had already been activated in the basement of the Pentagon working preparation, mobilization and responses. We are fortunate that none of my staff was injured, but for several months to a year after we ran a 24/7 operations support from the Pentagon. My wife was a Senior Master Sergeant in the Air Force Reserves, and was recalled to active duty and served in the immediate aftermath at Headquarters Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa performing bomb damage assessment (BDA).

I was an Air Traffic Controller at Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center working the morning shift. I was on break and a colleague advised me about a plane hitting the world trade center building. I decided to see if the news had any info on TV. Just as I started to view the tv, the second airplane flew into the other twin tower. I hurried back into the control room, grabbed my headset and my supervisor was just as confused about the situation. We are a radar only facility and handle the “highways” in the sky. I told him what I had just witnessed and look around to see who needed help as the supervisor had to answer the phone. I plugged in to help the radar controller talking to over 15 airplanes keep them separated along with taking and making calls to Memphis Center, Shreveport and Longview approach control. The supervisor advised me we had to land all airplanes and for them to advise us of airport they requested within a 200 mile range. That lasted maybe 5 minutes and was difficult because the frequency was getting congested due to too many requests and questions. Memphis Center called me and advised that Little Rock airport was running out of ramp space. I had to tell my radar controller not to issue anymore clearances for Little Rock arrivals. Next came Longview and then Shreveport, advising of no more ramp space. I had to look up airport information on length and weight for runways that could handle the airplanes still transitioning our airspace. Then I had to methodically point & tell my radar controller which airport, identifier, information on runway for several different airplanes. Finally we landed all airplanes in our sector. What seemed like 30 minutes was more like an hour and a half. Adrenaline was running higher than a usual push or thunderstorm situation because the need to put all airplanes on the ground immediately had never occurred. We were landing airplanes from 3000 feet above the ground to 40,000 feet. The ability of midair collisions was extremely high due to the volume and complexity of descending all at once.

Once we had all airplanes on the ground, president Bush flew into Shreveport/Barksdale Air Force base but not under the usual Air Force One call sign.
The most intense day of my career but I am glad I was working and able to assist.
I am proud of my fellow controllers who also insured the safe landing of all the other airplanes.

On 9/11 I was the Managing Director for NYC of my firm. We had 2 offices, one in the MetLife building in midtown and one at 2 WTC. When the first plane hit, I called my GM and asked him to bring the staff to midtown and we would figure out next steps. Later that evening we discovered we couldn’t account for two of our staff members.

After multiple visits to ground zero and much searching, we discovered one had fallen coming down the steps hit his head and was in the hospital with amnesia. He would later be interviewed by Larry King to tell his story.

The second missing staff member was Jasper Baxter who was in a client’s office on the 93rd floor and was killed. The most prestigious award the firm gives is now in his name.

My wife, Jean, and I were in Washington that day with a group of Automobile Dealers from Tennessee calling on our Congressman and Senators for the auto business. We had just left Sen. Frist’s office and were crossing the Capital Plaza heading to one of our Congressman’s office when the 3rd plane came over the City. We made it to his office just as the plane hit the Pentagon. We were instructed to evacuate immediately because the 4th plane was also heading our way. As we exited the Rayburn Office building we could see the black smoke and immediate aftermath of the explosion. From our elevated position we could watch the whole scene unfold. One of our dealers commented that it looked like someone kicked an ant hill. People were running and screaming in all directions. We witnessed an incredible scene of emergency personnel, military vehicles, deafening sirens, multiple helicopters, Fighter Jets patrolling the skies, and just mass chaos. Cell service was jammed so there was no way to call my wife to check on her. She and other wives had scheduled a shopping trip to Pentagon City that morning. Not knowing where she was and no way to reach her or any of the others wives, the group headed on foot to the Hilton Hotel. Problem was we had to head towards the Washington monument and to the White House where rumor had it that the 4th plane was targeting the White House. After zig zagging around we did make it back to find our wives safe. They had cancelled their excursion at the last moment. Fast forward. With planes grounded and rental cars non existent, a Chevrolet dealer in our group found and purchased a new Suburban from a dealer in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We loaded up with 2 other couples and headed out asap. We did make it home safely after a 12 hour road trip. I have relived that day every year since.

I was living in Boston at the time with my wife. We had just transitioned off of active duty (Air Force Officer) and moved to Boston in Nov 2000 to start with my current firm, PwC. I was in Newark NJ at training and was suppose to fly back to Boston on September 10, 2001 when a fire on the runway had halted flights. I stayed in a hotel, one where one of the hijackers stayed, and flew out early morning on September 11, 2001. A beautiful, bluebird day. I was on a US Air flight and was seated on the left side of the plane, window seat. We flew low and right over the World Trade Center building and I recall how low we were and how gorgeous of morning it was. I landed in Boston around 8 am and was in my office at One International Place by 8:30. I had just logged in when the first plane hit. There were conflicting news reports at first as to what size plane, etc. When the second plane hit, I turned to a Marine colleague and said, we’re under attack. Both of us were in reserve units so we reached out to see status and recall protocol. It wasn’t very organized in those days for reservists.

I had left work and gone to a local bar to watch the news with many others. As the morning progressed, another plane went down and then we received the evacuation order. Boston was shutting down and evacuating the population. They felt they were a target particularly with one of the Federal Reserve Banks in the city. It was noticeable when they started grounding flights; odd not to see planes flying over Boston. When they gave the evacuation order, I was able to jump a train from South Station and work my way home but leaving Boston was chaotic. People were panicking and literally holding on to the train hanging outside as it slowly rolled out of the station. It was madness. To this day, I still recall the face of a man, in a suit holding on until he let go; his eyes were sheer panic. These were the infant days of the cell phone so cell towers were overloaded. My wife was a teacher in our town and all she knew was that I was flying that morning out of Newark and planes were going down; one was out of Newark. It wasn’t until I got home that she knew I was not on that plane.

We, PwC, lost five colleagues that day, several from the Boston office. One of my close friends was suppose to fly, was on the manifest but ended up being sick and didn’t make the flight.

On September 11th, 2001, I was working at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. We were having a typical meeting about expanding parking facilities to accommodate the significant growth we had been experiencing. We were pulled out of the meeting after the first aircraft and huddled around a TV trying to make sense of what was going on. We have a feeling that this was intentional.
Having been a pilot for 14 years and with as clear as it was in New York we knew it wasn’t accidental. Soon after the second plane hit and the airspace was closed for the first time in history. Aircraft began arriving at the nearest airport and we parked them anywhere we could. 27 extra aircraft in total, and very few passengers intended to land in Raleigh. Teams eventually found them places to stay. We placed concrete barriers across the entrance road and began sweeping for bombs. This was all surreal.

The leadership of most major US airports was in Toronto for a conference. With the borders closed and aircraft grounded, it would be days before they returned, so we had to improvise and were in constant contact with the FAA and our leadership. No one knew what the plan was, as there was no plan for this scenario.

I had family working in Manhattan, and of course, no calls were coming in or out. Our industry was also used as a weapon of mass destruction, war about to be declared against an enemy that had invaded our shores, and our livelihood was at risk. The psychological turmoil was real.
One positive element was the outpouring of patriotism. We were all Americans, and our differences disappeared, if even for only a few weeks. That was a defining day in our industry, in our lives, and visiting ground zero several years later, it hit again. Father Mychal Judge is listed as the first victim; he was also one of my wife’s priests growing up. This event touched everyone and we must not forget.

It was only my second day as a sheriff’s deputy, and everything still felt new—the routines, the faces, the sense of stepping into a larger responsibility. That morning I was sitting in a conference room, about to learn all the policy and procedures of the department.

Then another deputy came in, looking unsettled. He didn’t say much at first, just reached for the TV mounted in the corner and switched it on. He told us a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We all thought it must have been some kind of tragic accident.

We gathered around the screen, watching live coverage unfold. The smoke was already rising from the first tower. The reporters sounded confused, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. As we watched, another plane appeared on the screen—coming in low, too low.
We thought it was a replay.

But then it hit the second tower, and the realization washed over the room all at once. This wasn’t an accident, and this wasn’t over. The mood changed instantly. No one spoke for several seconds; we just watched the impossible happen live.
In those moments, on my second day in uniform, the world outside the conference room felt like it had tilted. The job I had just stepped into suddenly carried a new weight. Everything felt different after that.

One year later, on October 11, 2002, when Arlen & Gayle returned to Manhattan after a Mediterranean Repositioning cruise, their cruise ship was escorted by four U.S. Coast Guard Cutters, with numerous Guardsmen on deck, with rifles drawn!

 We will NEVER FORGET!!

The silence…

We flew into Las Vegas at about 10:30 AM on 9-11. We found out what was going on when we got into the terminal and every soul was just staring at the tv’s. Or they were trying to get a rental car to get back home.

We confirmed our meeting was cancelled while getting a car. We started back to Seattle mid day 9-12. The thing I remember was the silence. 4 of us drove back in pretty much silence. The Casinos were deserted and silent. The hotels we stayed at on the drive back were silent. Everyone was silent. Wondering what is next.