story5252.xml
Title
story5252.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I'm a biz reporter and was in DC, of all things, listing to FEMA talk about disaster insurance coverage.
AS the heads of FEMA spoke to a group of bored reporters, the head of the National Press Foundation came in and said a plane had hit the WTC. We thought he was pulling our chain.
He grimly flipped on CNN and we sat there stunned. Then we started discussing building insurance. The director then came in again and said the second tower had been hit. All the reporters froze and some started to cry.
Then came news of the Pentagon and we all grabbed our notebooks and ran out of the room.
As we left,. I caught a glimpse of something falling outof the corner of my eye on TV. Later, a woman I was interviewing said the WTC towers had collapsed. I was sure she was wrong.
The streets outside were jammed and the sidewalks packed with people trying to leave the city. When we were interviewing a family near the WH, a guard came screaming across the front lawn, shouting to run as fast as we could away from the WH. "The next plane is only 5 min. out" he yelled.
The crowd froze and then turned into the buildings. The family of six that a reporter and I were interviewing began to run. The adults figured if we heard the roar of engines, we'd each pick up a child and run like hell. No plane came. And the 3 year old in the group announced she had to go to the bathrooms, which were now being guarded by police with automatic rifles.
While walking toward the Pentagon, following the black plume of smoke, I kept trying to reach my brother in law, who was to have B-fast that day at the Pentagon. I found out later that the morning meeting was switched to Crystal City. So he was alive. Otherwise, he would have been having b-fast in the outer ring of the Pentagon, in the Navy section, which took most of the brunt of the impact. I'm sure he's alive now, because of that last-minute switch.
I'm also sure that many people, including myself, owe our lives to those who fought the terrorists on flight 93.
barbara clements, Kent Wa.
AS the heads of FEMA spoke to a group of bored reporters, the head of the National Press Foundation came in and said a plane had hit the WTC. We thought he was pulling our chain.
He grimly flipped on CNN and we sat there stunned. Then we started discussing building insurance. The director then came in again and said the second tower had been hit. All the reporters froze and some started to cry.
Then came news of the Pentagon and we all grabbed our notebooks and ran out of the room.
As we left,. I caught a glimpse of something falling outof the corner of my eye on TV. Later, a woman I was interviewing said the WTC towers had collapsed. I was sure she was wrong.
The streets outside were jammed and the sidewalks packed with people trying to leave the city. When we were interviewing a family near the WH, a guard came screaming across the front lawn, shouting to run as fast as we could away from the WH. "The next plane is only 5 min. out" he yelled.
The crowd froze and then turned into the buildings. The family of six that a reporter and I were interviewing began to run. The adults figured if we heard the roar of engines, we'd each pick up a child and run like hell. No plane came. And the 3 year old in the group announced she had to go to the bathrooms, which were now being guarded by police with automatic rifles.
While walking toward the Pentagon, following the black plume of smoke, I kept trying to reach my brother in law, who was to have B-fast that day at the Pentagon. I found out later that the morning meeting was switched to Crystal City. So he was alive. Otherwise, he would have been having b-fast in the outer ring of the Pentagon, in the Navy section, which took most of the brunt of the impact. I'm sure he's alive now, because of that last-minute switch.
I'm also sure that many people, including myself, owe our lives to those who fought the terrorists on flight 93.
barbara clements, Kent Wa.
Collection
Citation
“story5252.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 2, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/8662.