nmah4847.xml

nmah4847.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I was sitting in my living room in Pentagon City that morning, eating a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich for breakfast, watching Good Morning America as I did most mornings before heading to school. As Charlie Gibson broke in with the news of the first tower, Jack Hyman called to make sure I was up. We discussed what happened as he worried about people he knew that lived in NYC. I remember speaking with my mom who said get out of DC. We hung up about five minutes after the second attack.

I just sat and continued to watch and try to comprehend what happened. All of the sudden I heard a loud noise, looked out the living room window to see the image that I still can see clearly today --- the fireball. I broke down, tried to call out and get my mom who got my grandparents and dad on three-way as they all claimed I was delirious. My mom was trying to convince me it didn't happen. About six minutes after the impact, ABC News reported there was an attack somewhere in Washington --- at that point they realized I was telling the truth.

After about 15 minutes I kind of regained my composure, and called Kevin Malecek who lives two buildings from me, and across from the Pentagon itself. He said that it woke him up. We met in front of my building trying to figure out what to do. Pentagon employees were being evacuated to our parking lots. As we talked with some of them, they said another plane is on its way. They were in tears. The first one I spoke with said his wife worked in the section that was hit and was trying to find her.

In between listening to the stories and talking with Kevin, I noticed the Military Police that took over the place I called home. Pentagon City was no longer just a place I lived; it was now the Command Center for the operation. Our streets were closed, guns were everywhere, but throughout all of this, the skies were still blue.

About four hours later, I found a way to get to American University to try to help out as much as I could with what become an amazing testament of the University at its best --- Student Services and the SC working together. That night, I will never forget standing in front of Kay, holding a candle and singing songs that reminded us that we are the greatest country on the planet.

Five specific images from that day remain in my mind: the fireball, the faces of the Pentagon employees, the guns, the candlelight vigil, and the scene that I saw from my rooftop that night when I got home around 10:30 pm. James, Trevor, and I went to our roof and just stared at the glow of the fire that still burned within the Pentagon. What the previous day was just a common scene I noticed everyday driving by the Pentagon on I-395 was now the site of a mass grave.