story10879.xml

story10879.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-09-10

I work for the Treasury Department (Financial Management Sevice) and I was supposed to attend a meeting at the General Accounting Office (GAO) (441 G. St. NW Washington DC) at 10 a.m. Since I was not able to arrange for a parking space at GAO, I drove to Pentagon City in Arlington VA and parked there and took the Metro (subway system) to the Gallery Place Metro stop near GAO. I arrived at Gallery Place aroung 8:45 and walked leisurely to GAO enjoying the nice weather. I arrived at GAO around 9 a.m. and bought a cup of coffee in the cafeteria to go with the sandwich I brought from home. I sat down near the TV and there were a few people watching and I saw the North Tower smoking. There was a guy near me saying over and over "it went right through the building." Then I saw a replay of the second plane hitting the South Tower.

I ate my sandwich and drank my coffee still intending to attend my 10 a.m. meeting. At around 9:45, it was announced that the Pentagon had been hit. I knew that I had to get home but I didn't think I could get to my car at Pentagon City. I tried calling my wife but she wasn't home.

I went back to the Gallery Place Metro stop and I heard an announcement that all subway trains were running normally. So I got on a train and headed for Pentagon City where my car was parked. The subway train (yellow line)was supposed to go over the Potomac River into Virginia but it stopped before going into Virginia across the Potomac. Trains were not allowed to go over the Potomac. I had to find another way home. I took another subway train (packed with people - everyone was trying to get home) to my office in Hyattsville MD. When I got to my building in Hyattsville, the security guards would not let me in even though I had identification - everyone was supposed to be out of the building. I said I had no place to go and I finally got in. I had been wearing a jacket and tie and I was all sweaty from chasing around.

When I got to my office I started to say something to my boss and before I could say anything he said "yeah, the planes hit the buildings and they collapsed." I didn't really understand what he was saying about the buildings collapsing until I got on the internet and saw what had happened.

I called my wife but she still wasn't home. Since the part of Treasury I'm with (the Financial Management Service) has responsibility for ensuring that funds are available to make the government's payments, many people including my boss (an Assistant Commissioner) were busy trying to keep the flow of funds working - much of this is based at the New York Federal Reserve Bank near the World Trade Center so work-arounds were being set up. We couldn't go home until all the arrangements had been made.

Around 2 p.m. I got a ride with my boss to my home in Annandale VA. Also in the car was the Commissioner of the Financial Management Sevice who had been in Hyattville MD(his office is in Washington DC).

I had been able to contact my wife before leaving for home. Later in the day we drove to Pentagon City to get my car. The highway (Route 395 to Washington DC) was completely deserted - I think it had just been re-opened when we got on it. The plane that hit the Pentagon had flown very low over Route 395 before hitting the Pentagon. We could see the Pentagon smoking as we drove to Pentagon City.

I paid $13 and got my car. I stayed home from work the next day to catch all the news about the attacks.