story6198.xml

story6198.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I work for the Secretary of the Army and was standing in our office (which is in the E ring) when the plane impacted the building. The solid wood doors (connecting the office I was standing in to other offices) blew open like feathers from the wall of wind that came ripping through the building, our floor shook and the loud, surround-sounding noise that came flying along with the wind seemed almost deafening. I grabbed my backpack and headed out to the center courtyard where, after just a few short moments, we were directed to move through a corridor leading to South Parking and get away from the building as quickly as possible. After walking over to the Navy Annex, I realized that the part of the building that had been struck was the newly renovated part...a part that almost every day, I would walk through at or about 0900 (to handcarry documents). That morning, I didn't complete the documents I normally handcarry due to the overload of incoming telephone calls. I remember grabbing the cross around my neck and thanking God that I was able to walk out of the building.