story983.xml

story983.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-07

I was boarding a flight at National Airport in Washington to attend the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Miami. We were just about to board when an announcement was made that all flights out of the Washington area were grounded. Then the television showing the CNN Airport Network went dead. I could tell something bad had happened because the airline personnel looked noticeably shaken. Suddenly there was a muffled rumble and we saw a large plume of fire and smoke rise from the direction of the Pentagon, less than a mile away. A few minutes later the announcement was made to evacuate the airport; I overheard some people saying that New York was under attack. I was scared and confused and wasn?t sure where to go, so I went to the parking garage across the street from the airport.

As I stood on the roof of the parking garage with a few other people, watching the smoke drift our way and fighter jets patrolling the skies, I grabbed my Walkman radio out of my luggage and tuned into the news unfolding along the East Coast. I told the others I was with of the World Trade Center attack and the subsequent collapse of the towers. Shocked and bewildered, we all tried to call loved ones to tell them we were OK and to check on their safety, but the lines were all tied up.

Soon the smell of burning fuel drifted over the airport and we saw papers and other small debris carried by the wind begin to fall from the sky. Soon after, we began to walk toward Arlington, following the crowds of other displaced air travelers and airport employees. Five hours after the east side of the Pentagon exploded I made it home.