story3009.xml

story3009.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

It started as a normal day . . . I work as the Director of Administration for the VA/DC Sales office of WorldCom. At that time our office was located in Pentagon City. Move the DEA Building and we could see the Pentagon from our floor. When the plane hit I was in a meeting with one of my managers when all of the sudden we felt the building shake. Nothing major mind you but enough. At first I didn't think anything of it because us being in an urban area with construction going on all around sometimes our building does tremble like that. It wasn't until we looked out the windows on the side facing the Pentagon and saw the smoke that we realized what was going on. We of course evacuated and the area was in pandemonium. I think for myself the scariest part was not being able to reach my mom and dad because the circuits were busy. Not being able to reach my boyfriend to let him know I was alright. ( He lives in Richmond but being able to hear his voice FINALLY was very comforting.) We also couldn't get home. Our cars were parked at the Residence Inn Pentagon City and they weren't letting any cars out or in. We stayed there for awhile but then left as they needed the space for the triage unit they were setting up. We ended up at the Sheraton Inn in Crystal City and they gave us a room for free. Let us make as many calls as we wanted in order to reach our loved ones and gave us a meal. They were our heros that day as they took us in when we had nowhere to go. When we finally got home we just thanked God that were were safe and our loved ones were safe. We watched a lot of news that day on into the night. Finally, on the 12th we couldn't watch anymore and watched Sesame Street where there isn't terror attacks and the biggest problem is somebody bothering Oscar. When we finally got back to work on the 13th we could see the damage on our way in (395)and you could smell the smoke in the air. When all was said and done there was a lot of anger, a lot of tears, and a lot of questions. No one will forget that day ever.