Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. The morning of September 11, 2001, I was at my job in the Bethesda Naval Hospital complex where I worked as a data quality department head for the Naval Medical Information Management Center. I was in the tower of the hospital which was built under FDR, visiting my colleague, a data quality manager for the National Naval Medical Center, LCDR Robert Doyle, with a senior colleague from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. We were about to sit down to discuss a new program to revolutionize what we were doing based on LCDR Doyle's efforts. In our conference room, there was an old Zenith console color TV, 20", and LCDR Doyle turned it on to CNN. He, my colleague from BUMED, and I were all from New Jersey. LCDR said: "The World Trade center is on TV and it's burning. It was hit by a plane." No one knew what was going on. I was brand new at my job in the Navy. We watched in horror, completely diverted from the task at hand, as the second airplane hit. My colleague from BUMED asked me, "Who do you think hit them?" I said I guessed it was Bin Laden. I'd heard the good leader of the opposition in Afghanistan had been slain just a week earlier. The meeting was cancelled. People asked me to use my cell phone to contact people during the crisis. Loved ones, family members. The first person I called was my friend who lived in Arlington that I knew from the Peace Corps in Africa. He was OK. He said he could hear the Pentagon get hit. He worked in downtown Arlington in Ballston for the BBB. I called my wife. She had just lost her job a week before and was at home. We waited anxiously for our boy to come home from school. My colleague from BUMED took over my cell phone to call downtown Washington. We began to search work for bombs. Then, one of my employees drove me home. The metro might have gas in it, he said. That employee retired less than four months following the incident. He drove me to a Perkins restaurant where I waited for my wife to come out in our all wheel drive vehicle. That Perkins had a big flag flying from it. I just told him to drop me there because of the flag. I wanted to be near one. My wife came out from our house a few minutes later and drove me home. We didn't live far from the interstate. We then just went out on our deck. It was a gorgeous day, warm and clear skiied, except for the Marine Two helicopter that passed overhead and the fighter planes that were scrambled making low flying runs and engines piercing the sky with their distinctive vapor trails. I just fell asleep. The day was so quiet. That night, I sat around watching TV and staying in the house, and the next day, I went to work early. The skies overhead were criss crossed with vapor trails, and that morning, I developed a rash. I had to be seen by a doctor a few days later. He was an old Greek American physician who gave me a course of prednisolone tablets for it. He said I was probably allergic to terror. "Now," he said,"America will have to learn to deal with the same kind of terror I grew up with in Greece." NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. Yes, I am much fatter and considerably more anxious. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? How beautiful it was that so many Americans cared about their nation, flying the flags from anything that would hold it. NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Yes, considerably. They have deepened to where it comforts me almost as much as Christ's image. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource nmah5348.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-12-28 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.187.112.105