story61.xml
Title
story61.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-02-14
911DA Story: Story
THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT WAS WRITTEN BY SAM MYERS, JR. ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2001.
My wife Jennifer and I live in Washington, DC. We are very shaken up and still pretty scared after the attack on America on Tuesday. It is hard to put into words what Tuesday was like. It was unbelievable, something like watching a very scary movie. I still find myself thinking it was a dream and when I realize it wasn't, I can barely hold back the tears.
On Tuesday morning, I found out about the two planes hitting the towers and ran to the desk of a friend who had a cable accessed TV. After a large number of my coworkers and I had been standing in awe for twenty minutes or so, someone said, "look, the Pentagon has been hit." I then told him that someone was just reporting from the Pentagon and that is why the tag line read "the Pentagon." Then, to all our horrors, we realized that it had actually been hit. It felt as if World War III had begun.
I started for a dead sprint to my desk to find out if Jen was OK. Horrific thoughts rushed into my head. I was thinking about all of the friends I have in Manhattan who might have been in or around the towers. I remembered the two years that I worked in the Pentagon, how I could have been there and how I might know people who could be dead. However, the worst was the possibility that Jenny might be hurt, or worse.
I got to my desk and called home to make sure she was alright. Our house is about 10 blocks from the Pentagon, hence my terrible fear that something had happened to my wife. When she picked up the phone, I can't describe the relief I felt. Jen, with tears in her voice, told me that a very large jet had just flown so low to the house that it felt like an earthquake. As the house shook, she ran outside to find all of our neighbors looking to the sky and telling her that it was like you could reach out and touch the jet. The next thing she knew, the side of the Pentagon that faces our house was in flames and she was on the phone with me, both of us in tears.
What happened next is something that I will never be able to forget, as long as I live. After confirming that Jen was OK, and talking to my father to assure him that we were OK (I couldn?t find mom to tell her), news reports began to flood in about the destruction around DC. Although in retrospect, we all know that nothing outside of the pentagon was destroyed, at the time no one had any knowledge other than what was being reported on the news. Due to the reports from the Radio, the TV Networks and the internet, I and my co-workers believed that not only had the two towers and the Pentagon been hit, but also the Capital building, the USA Today building, the State Department and that the White House had been evacuated because there was a Jet on the way to crash into it. As these reports came in, the phones at work went dead and our cell phones stopped working.
Mass-hysteria is the only word I can find to describe what I could see around me at this point. Due to the fact that our office is two blocks from the White House and that we are located downtown, the next step was to immediately evacuate the building and head as far North as possible. My instinct was to go home to my wife, but the Pentagon is directly between downtown DC and our house. I could not get home! As horrible as this was, I knew Jenny was safe and I needed to get myself to a safe place as well.
With military like execution, a friend began grabbing our co-workers and I ran to the parking deck below to get my truck pulled to street level immediately. I'm still not sure how I managed to avoid hitting any of the cars in the garage while exiting at 40 miles an hour. There, on the sidewalk outside our building, stood about fifteen people and my truck. We piled nine into my vehicle and commandeered another co-worker's car in which we placed 5 more. Within seconds we were flying up the streets of DC at speeds sometimes exceeding 60 miles an hour. As I stated before, it is easy now to look back and realize that none of the buildings other than the Pentagon were hit, but at the time we believed a much more terrible reality to be true.
The sister of a friend and coworker lives in an area of North DC called Tinley Town. This was the location we were charging for. No red lights, alleyways, construction areas or traffic jams could stop us. We found the quickest way around each obstacle and headed north as fast as we could. No one is sure exactly how long it took us, but my best estimate is that we traveled 10 miles in about 15 minutes. On the rural highways of Virginia this is no great feat, but in Washington, DC, this is an accomplishment to say the least.
Once at my friend Frank?s sister?s house, even though we had no way of communicating with anyone outside of each other, we found a strange comfort in the fact that we were together and as safe as one could get within the confounds of the city limit. Although we contemplated going further north, between the possibility of the inner-harbor of Baltimore and Annapolis Naval Base being hit, we calculated that we were safer in Jen Lupo?s house than in any other place we could drive.
It was now around 12:30pm and news of the astonishing events was all over the news, on every channel. Within a few minutes, we realized that by using a calling card service, we could contact phone lines outside of DC. Being able to hear the voice of our significant others, our parents and our close friends was a comfort that brought tears of relief to our eyes. Although it still seemed that the world might be coming to an end, most of us had been able to speak to a few of the closest people in our lives, which made our situation much less dire.
At this point, the television networks were finally getting a handle on what exactly had happened, which gave us some insight into the dangers around the city. Although the bombing of the Pentagon was an unspeakable horror, we were relieved to find out that it was the only attack in DC. Although this did not at all diminish the danger of being in DC and especially downtown, it was a sense of relief just the same.
With this new information, very soon after the tears of relief came tears of rage and anger. Although we were all still frightened, the fear was countered by anger. We were now able to logically digest the actuality of what had happened to our land of freedom and home of bravery. This aggressive act of cowards angered me to a point I don?t think I have ever been. We realized there was not a thing we could do to change what had happened, but we sure as hell were not going to do what these faceless cowards assumed we would do. We were not going to sit on our buts and cry. We were not going to give into wallowing in our sorrow and hoping that we would stay alive. Rather, we decided to bathe in the fact that we were still alive and do just that, LIVE! We decided to pay tribute to our fallen Americans and not let our sorrows win. We were going to do the most logical and American thing we could think of?WE WERE GOING TO BAR-B-Q.
With a strut of courage that no Hollywood movie has ever been able to produce, we walked on the streets of DC with our heads held high to the nearest grocery store and proceeded to purchase a feast seen by the face of only the luckiest of Bar-B-Q grills. Once back at the house, a celebration of life ensued. We thanked God that our family, our friends and we were alive and that we were together in a safe place. Obviously the tone was not one of the average backyard Bar-B-Q. It was our strange way of saying to whoever did these horrible acts, ?You have not won and you will never win. We will not yield to our fears and we will never yield to you nor your aggression!?
We all were stricken with grief and fear that serrated our very souls, but we did our best to laugh in the face of our aggressors. Finally, around 6:00pm or so, although MD, DC and VA were still in a state of emergency, those of us who live in Virginia were not able to take waiting around anymore. Upon departure from Jen Lupo?s house, we were all still scared, but we had gained a strength for which I will forever be grateful to the all mighty God.
When I finally made it home around 7:00pm, I hugged my wife so hard I almost hurt her. The world has not seemed the same since Tuesday morning and I know that it never will. Even now as I?m writing this, I?m holding back tears. I can?t seem to stop tearing up for every single thing I see on the news, hear from my friends and remember from the last 48 hours. I do however thank God for the fact that I am alive, my family is alive and the closest people in my life are alive. I pray to God that those unaccounted friends and colleagues in the Pentagon and in NY are safe.
It does feel as though we woke up from our sleep to a nightmare. In fact, we did. A craving for Old Testament vengeance, a sorrow for all those lost and a fear for those who might be lost are all-consuming in my reality right now. However, the sun shall rise tomorrow. There are tears in my eyes and there are horrible memories that I will never forget. However, at the base of the pain is an uplifting chorus of Patriotic psalm, and it is getting louder. The psalm speaks words that are profound and true. It?s music is the essence of freedom, liberty and of what so proudly we hail. We will survive, we will prevail, we will never stop being the greatest nation on the face of this planet and that Star-Spangled Banner will wave! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
My wife Jennifer and I live in Washington, DC. We are very shaken up and still pretty scared after the attack on America on Tuesday. It is hard to put into words what Tuesday was like. It was unbelievable, something like watching a very scary movie. I still find myself thinking it was a dream and when I realize it wasn't, I can barely hold back the tears.
On Tuesday morning, I found out about the two planes hitting the towers and ran to the desk of a friend who had a cable accessed TV. After a large number of my coworkers and I had been standing in awe for twenty minutes or so, someone said, "look, the Pentagon has been hit." I then told him that someone was just reporting from the Pentagon and that is why the tag line read "the Pentagon." Then, to all our horrors, we realized that it had actually been hit. It felt as if World War III had begun.
I started for a dead sprint to my desk to find out if Jen was OK. Horrific thoughts rushed into my head. I was thinking about all of the friends I have in Manhattan who might have been in or around the towers. I remembered the two years that I worked in the Pentagon, how I could have been there and how I might know people who could be dead. However, the worst was the possibility that Jenny might be hurt, or worse.
I got to my desk and called home to make sure she was alright. Our house is about 10 blocks from the Pentagon, hence my terrible fear that something had happened to my wife. When she picked up the phone, I can't describe the relief I felt. Jen, with tears in her voice, told me that a very large jet had just flown so low to the house that it felt like an earthquake. As the house shook, she ran outside to find all of our neighbors looking to the sky and telling her that it was like you could reach out and touch the jet. The next thing she knew, the side of the Pentagon that faces our house was in flames and she was on the phone with me, both of us in tears.
What happened next is something that I will never be able to forget, as long as I live. After confirming that Jen was OK, and talking to my father to assure him that we were OK (I couldn?t find mom to tell her), news reports began to flood in about the destruction around DC. Although in retrospect, we all know that nothing outside of the pentagon was destroyed, at the time no one had any knowledge other than what was being reported on the news. Due to the reports from the Radio, the TV Networks and the internet, I and my co-workers believed that not only had the two towers and the Pentagon been hit, but also the Capital building, the USA Today building, the State Department and that the White House had been evacuated because there was a Jet on the way to crash into it. As these reports came in, the phones at work went dead and our cell phones stopped working.
Mass-hysteria is the only word I can find to describe what I could see around me at this point. Due to the fact that our office is two blocks from the White House and that we are located downtown, the next step was to immediately evacuate the building and head as far North as possible. My instinct was to go home to my wife, but the Pentagon is directly between downtown DC and our house. I could not get home! As horrible as this was, I knew Jenny was safe and I needed to get myself to a safe place as well.
With military like execution, a friend began grabbing our co-workers and I ran to the parking deck below to get my truck pulled to street level immediately. I'm still not sure how I managed to avoid hitting any of the cars in the garage while exiting at 40 miles an hour. There, on the sidewalk outside our building, stood about fifteen people and my truck. We piled nine into my vehicle and commandeered another co-worker's car in which we placed 5 more. Within seconds we were flying up the streets of DC at speeds sometimes exceeding 60 miles an hour. As I stated before, it is easy now to look back and realize that none of the buildings other than the Pentagon were hit, but at the time we believed a much more terrible reality to be true.
The sister of a friend and coworker lives in an area of North DC called Tinley Town. This was the location we were charging for. No red lights, alleyways, construction areas or traffic jams could stop us. We found the quickest way around each obstacle and headed north as fast as we could. No one is sure exactly how long it took us, but my best estimate is that we traveled 10 miles in about 15 minutes. On the rural highways of Virginia this is no great feat, but in Washington, DC, this is an accomplishment to say the least.
Once at my friend Frank?s sister?s house, even though we had no way of communicating with anyone outside of each other, we found a strange comfort in the fact that we were together and as safe as one could get within the confounds of the city limit. Although we contemplated going further north, between the possibility of the inner-harbor of Baltimore and Annapolis Naval Base being hit, we calculated that we were safer in Jen Lupo?s house than in any other place we could drive.
It was now around 12:30pm and news of the astonishing events was all over the news, on every channel. Within a few minutes, we realized that by using a calling card service, we could contact phone lines outside of DC. Being able to hear the voice of our significant others, our parents and our close friends was a comfort that brought tears of relief to our eyes. Although it still seemed that the world might be coming to an end, most of us had been able to speak to a few of the closest people in our lives, which made our situation much less dire.
At this point, the television networks were finally getting a handle on what exactly had happened, which gave us some insight into the dangers around the city. Although the bombing of the Pentagon was an unspeakable horror, we were relieved to find out that it was the only attack in DC. Although this did not at all diminish the danger of being in DC and especially downtown, it was a sense of relief just the same.
With this new information, very soon after the tears of relief came tears of rage and anger. Although we were all still frightened, the fear was countered by anger. We were now able to logically digest the actuality of what had happened to our land of freedom and home of bravery. This aggressive act of cowards angered me to a point I don?t think I have ever been. We realized there was not a thing we could do to change what had happened, but we sure as hell were not going to do what these faceless cowards assumed we would do. We were not going to sit on our buts and cry. We were not going to give into wallowing in our sorrow and hoping that we would stay alive. Rather, we decided to bathe in the fact that we were still alive and do just that, LIVE! We decided to pay tribute to our fallen Americans and not let our sorrows win. We were going to do the most logical and American thing we could think of?WE WERE GOING TO BAR-B-Q.
With a strut of courage that no Hollywood movie has ever been able to produce, we walked on the streets of DC with our heads held high to the nearest grocery store and proceeded to purchase a feast seen by the face of only the luckiest of Bar-B-Q grills. Once back at the house, a celebration of life ensued. We thanked God that our family, our friends and we were alive and that we were together in a safe place. Obviously the tone was not one of the average backyard Bar-B-Q. It was our strange way of saying to whoever did these horrible acts, ?You have not won and you will never win. We will not yield to our fears and we will never yield to you nor your aggression!?
We all were stricken with grief and fear that serrated our very souls, but we did our best to laugh in the face of our aggressors. Finally, around 6:00pm or so, although MD, DC and VA were still in a state of emergency, those of us who live in Virginia were not able to take waiting around anymore. Upon departure from Jen Lupo?s house, we were all still scared, but we had gained a strength for which I will forever be grateful to the all mighty God.
When I finally made it home around 7:00pm, I hugged my wife so hard I almost hurt her. The world has not seemed the same since Tuesday morning and I know that it never will. Even now as I?m writing this, I?m holding back tears. I can?t seem to stop tearing up for every single thing I see on the news, hear from my friends and remember from the last 48 hours. I do however thank God for the fact that I am alive, my family is alive and the closest people in my life are alive. I pray to God that those unaccounted friends and colleagues in the Pentagon and in NY are safe.
It does feel as though we woke up from our sleep to a nightmare. In fact, we did. A craving for Old Testament vengeance, a sorrow for all those lost and a fear for those who might be lost are all-consuming in my reality right now. However, the sun shall rise tomorrow. There are tears in my eyes and there are horrible memories that I will never forget. However, at the base of the pain is an uplifting chorus of Patriotic psalm, and it is getting louder. The psalm speaks words that are profound and true. It?s music is the essence of freedom, liberty and of what so proudly we hail. We will survive, we will prevail, we will never stop being the greatest nation on the face of this planet and that Star-Spangled Banner will wave! GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Collection
Citation
“story61.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 18, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/11851.