nmah5640.xml

nmah5640.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-05

I happened to see the towers on 8 Sep 01 (for the first time)from the Jersey turnpike. My husband, an Air Force member was stationed at Dover AFB and this was the first time we had lived on the East Coast and were on vacation to Massachusetts. We came home early on 10 Sep 01. My husband and I were still on leave on 11 Sep, but my daughter was at work at the Public Affairs office on the base. I had been using the telephone and as soon as I hung up, about 9 a.m., she called and told us to turn on the TV. It was unbelievable. Although our base was on high alert,reality hit hard when we entered the checkpoints at Andrews AFB a couple of nights later. It was so dark, but spotlights were on us and our vehicle. After initial ID checks we went approx. 200 feet more into the base and there was a soldier holding a rifle pointed right at us. a little farther and there was an armoured vehicle with its guns pointed right at us. I thought, Oh my God, this is really real! My husband, daughter and I worked at Dover AFB and in the afternoon helicopters would come in bringing remains from the Pentagon, since we have the large morgue at the base. The press would come outside the base when the remains started arriving, which I thought was bizarre. Active duty military were asked to volunteer to unload the remains, and it was all very depressing. In the evening around 5 p.m., for about a week or more, helicopters would fly past our house bringing more remains.

My life has not changed so much. But for the first year after 9/11 I felt that I might die soon and I wasn't ready. I thought too much about death. But finally, I told myself just live every moment and thank God for that moment that you are alive. My husband's mission in the Air Force and mine and my daughter's (we are civil service) has changed to supporting the Air Force members who are deployed.

We must never forget the people who died that day and we must never forget that we have joined the ranks of all those other nations who have to live with terror on a daily basis. We don't need to "freak out" but we must be cautious.

My family and I are not "flag-waving" patriots. We have lived overseas many many times and have been trained to stay "low profile" Americans. Even though we were in the states at the time, we felt we did not have to prove our patriotism by flying the flag. After all, we were all serving the country by our military and civil service jobs. I