story785.xml

story785.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-06-14

On September 11, 2001 I was sitting at my desk where I work for PEPCO doing the Overhead Lines budget, when my husband, Roy called me from home to tell me that a plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. I told him I would call him back I wanted to tell my boss so he could turn the TV on. We turned on the TV and watched in disbelief that a plane had just hit the building. I called my husband back and we discussed that it must have been an accident, maybe the pilot had a heart attack, something like that and I told him I would call him back. I continued to watch the TV when the second plane hit the next tower and I called my husband again, crying that someone had to be crazy to do this kind of thing. We sat and talked for a few minutes, while he tried to calm me down and I told him I would get back with him in a little bit. I went back to the TV when my boss's wife called from the Pentagon and said that her building had just been hit by a plane. I ran to my office and called Roy to tell him, and he replied, Oh God Babe, Romeo. Romeo Bishundat was a childhood friend of my son, Roy Jr. and had practically grew up at our house for the last 10 years along with about 20 other kids. See we had closed in our garage and put a TV, refrigerator, computer games, pool table and stereo in there for the kids to have a place to hang out instead of on the streets getting in trouble, and it worked well. These kids are now 25, 26 years old, doing good and starting families, etc. Anyway, I assured my husband that Romeo was ok and that I would call his Mom now and get back with him. I called his home and got his sister, Danita who was very upset telling me her Mom was at work and couldn't get hold of Romeo and was going crazy. The rest of the day, I was talking to my husband, paging our son, Roy Jr. to make sure he was okay, and my daughter Lisa calling me from Daytona, Florida scared because I worked just minutes from Andrews Air Force Base and she was thinking they would be next. So now I was trying to get hold of another one of the kids who worked at the Pentagon, Zack Zimmerman. I got hold of Zack and he told me that he had a couple of voice mail messages from Romeo asking him to go on a smoke break, but Zack couldn't get back with him yet and then the plane hit. Zack was trying to find out something and promised to get back with me. Several more calls to Romeo's home and my husband, just kept me on edge wondering why Romeo had not called someone yet. But then I knew, either he was helping other people get out or get help or he was hurt and in the hospital, and because I knew Romeo did not wear his ID badge then they didn't know who he was yet. That was all. He was ok, he had to be ok. Then around 5:00 PM, I called his house again and his Mom was crying and telling me that the Navy had just called her and asked him she had heard from Romeo yet. I told her that I was leaving work and would be there shortly. I went by my house to get my husband and son and to go over to Romeo's.
As I got there my house had several of the friends gathering, wondering what had happened. We all ended up at Romeo's and stayed there until after 1:00am. The Navy confirmed that Romeo had just being moved to the new section just three weeks earlier. He had only been relocated to the Pentagon, three months earlier. We called every hospital, we called everybody we knew. Then the Navy personnel arrived to tell us that Romeo was confirmed missing. I knew that Romeo wasn't dead, he had gotten to one of those tunnels in the Pentagon and was holding up waiting for the flames to stop so he could get out. I had to believe that with my family until September 21 when it was confirmed that Romeo was dead. They had located his remains and made a positive ID. It's funny, all this happened on September 11 and Romeo would have been 24 on Friday, September 14. That Friday night my family, and his friends gathered at his parents house with his Mom, Dad and two sisters and we celebrated his birthday, just knowing he was coming home. We lit candles, we prayed, we cried, then we sang Happy Birthday, and God Bless America. The next month was a total nightmare dealing with the waiting for his remains to come home for a burial. Then on October 17th there was a 5 hour visitation at the Jay Cee Hall for Romeo where over 700 people attended. My huband and son had put a video together of Romeo and his family and friends from the time he was born until just a week before his death. The video played continously throughout the visitation. The next day there was a funeral procession from Huntt Funeral Home in Waldorf, Maryland to Arlington National Cemetery, where over a 5 mile procession took place closing down Route 228, Route 210, and several more highways to accomodate the funeral procession without disturbance. He was buried with full military honors after serving 6 years in the Navy. A career he decided to start 2 days before his 18th birthday. He was on the Sheveport of Norfolk, Virginia and traveled to California, Spain, Turkey and several other countries, where he would call our house, wanting to catch up with the guys "The Crew" or getting the latest gossip from either me or my husband. He was declared Sailor of the Year in 2001, and after his death the named the Learning Computer Center after him for all his hard work while on ship. There was even times when Romeo would call telling us when to expect him so that I could have a pot of Chili ready for him when he would get in. Whenever he walked into our house, he would stand and look at himself in the mirror for several minutes, flexing his muscles and smiling at himself, so I put a 5X7 photo of him there. It seemed to be a fitting place to see his smiling face.

Since September 11, my family, and his family and his friends are always going to some function in his honor and the others lost that day. I don't believe my husband and I will ever get over it, we still get with his parents weekly to help them get through it. And most of all we are doing what Romeo insisted on doing all the time and that was watch the guys keeping in touch, being there for each other and showing them that they are and will be a very special group of friends after being out of school 7/8 years. They are still "The Crew", but now they have a Angel watching over them.

I still look up at the sky whenever I see a plane and never in a million years can I believe that a plane hit a building in the United States and killed Romeo. There is never a day he doesn't cross our minds and make our heart ache and make us shed tears thinking about him. This September 11, we will all be together at his parents house to give support to each other and on what would have been his 25th birthday, we will all be in a 5K race/walk in his honor, donating all to Children's Hospital.