by Glenn Porter
As a Department of Defense contractor, I arrived at HQ Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) at 9:00 A.M. to sign a new contract scheduled for 9:30 A.M. – it was supposed to be a good day. We walked into the conference room, and everyone was watching the burning World Trade Center North Tower in New York City on TV. Three minutes later, my heart and lungs felt physically crushed as I watched Flight 175 crash into the South Tower. Our meeting was canceled but no one left – we continued to listen and watch in disbelief, silence, and tears as the news tried to keep up with the events of that morning. One of our team arrived 5 minutes late and shouted that an airliner had just passed low over our building. It turned out to be Flight 77 that then crashed a few seconds later into the western façade of the ill-fated Pentagon, a little over a mile to our east.
Almost directly between my location and the Pentagon, my daughter was working in Wing 7 of the Navy Annex just across Route 27 from the Pentagon. She was entering a conference room when the plane hit and had to grab the doorframe as the building shook so much. She and others then went outside and saw the Pentagon burning.
All who worked there were told to leave immediately (as were many in the area), but she could not get to her car as it was in the parking lot nearest the Pentagon. She started towards home with a friend by car. Many of my company’s employees worked in Government buildings, and we spent the rest of the day accounting for each one, including one who worked in the Pentagon – thankfully all were safe. Because of the overwhelmed phone and cell systems, we didn’t get confirmation until late in the day. I tried to get my daughter but couldn’t connect. After our daughter took buses and got rides from other friends, she finally showed up at our house in the late afternoon.
My wife and I took our daughter back after midnight to get her car (figuring the security perimeter would have been reduced by then). I used my retired Army ID card to be allowed through law enforcement checkpoints to reach her car. Before leaving, we stood together on the shoulder of Route 27 facing the still burning western Pentagon façade, emblazoned in lights, workers and vehicles in action everywhere, with the iconic huge American flag illuminated and hanging down – at that moment I felt an overwhelming sadness, a boiling anger and a feeling that things would never be the same again. My family remembers my anger. God bless all who died that day.
Glenn, I think each one of us remembers where we were when the planes hit. I was working on Wall Street during that time. As it happened, I was walking south down Broadway toward my office. We heard an explosion of some kind and all of us on the street were trying to determine the source. Looking up, we saw the hole with flames coming out of the North Tower. The crowd continued walking on while looking up. Minutes later, I was standing at the corner of Liberty and Broadway. We heard the roar of the second plane coming north up the Hudson and watched with horror as it slammed into the South Tower. I lost two employees and six friends that day. They were attending a conference up top of the second tower hit. It is scene is etched in my brain forever. I was scheduled to speak at that conference that afternoon.
I was living in Pa. at the time and my Assistant told me that her husband told her that a commuter plane had just struck the WTC. I was able to get a news broadcast just as the plane hit the Pentagon. Word went all around the plant and we began to run all the operations w minimum staff so that employees could watch the news. Our small town did not suffer any casualties there.
My wife grew up and taught in Rockland Cty, NY and it was a different story. Word got to her school and teachers heard that loved ones were probably dead. One friend lost the best man and several groomsmen from a recent wedding. All over the county the story was the same. Recently we sold our house to a retired firefighter who was buried under his engine and eventually suffered significant lung damage. To people in the Hudson Valley this is still a vivid memory.
Thanks, friends, for these poignant remembrances of that day. May we all be better, stronger, and kinder having lived through these many years together.
My husband, Chuck Hastings, was on a business trip in Houston, TX. I went to work – at an undisclosed location – for CIA. When the secretary said – ‘hey come look at this on TV’ many of us crowded around the TV. I was stunned to see the 2nd aircraft slam into the WTC. Almost immediately we were notified to evacuate our building as we were in the flight path of Dulles Airport. I immediately called my son in Denver, CO, and told him to GO HOME! I asked if he saw the planes that crashed into the WTC? I warned him if this were a coordinated attack, he worked to close to the Denver Federal Building – PLEASE go home! Then I called Chuck and told him to buy some underwear. There is no way he was flying home this afternoon. I then called a close friend, a retired Army LTC at the Pentagon. His Secretary said he was in a meeting and could not take my call. I told her it was urgent – a matter of life and death. She put me through. I told Jerry about the plane crashes. In turn, he told his meeting members to turn on the TV. I asked Jerry to please, please evacuate from the Pentagon. He said he had to get off the phone and find out what was happening. One of his meeting attendees was in his office on the other side of the Pentagon, and participating via telephone with Jerry and his colleagues. Jerry told me later they heard and “felt” the plane slam into the Pentagon and his friend on the other side of the building was gone – dead as it turned out. About then, my son in Denver called me back and asked if I had talked to his boss?? Apparently his boss sent everyone home, as they were ‘too close to the Federal Building’! Since I didn’t need to go home and felt the urge to help somehow, I called a friend that produced the Presidents Daily Bulletin (PDB) to see if he needed any extra hands to cope with today’s activities. They had already evacuated the CIA Hqs by then, and Bill said he would call me if he needed me. My previous job had including record keeping of the PDB. I locked up the office and headed out. Without realizing it, I headed for the Pentagon. I had working in 5A910 for 4 years – I was the NCOIC of the the Army Communication Center – and felt like an old friend had been hurt and I needed to help. There was already a Security perimeter around the building when I arrived and they would let anyone in. I watched from a nearby hill as the building burned. I was surprised that I didn’t see an airplane – not even a tail. I learned later that the impact was so intense nothing was left of the aircraft turned missile. My friend Jerry got out of his side of the Pentagon and eventually got home. I met him and his wife, Joan, at their home. We talked over the horrendous events of the day and watched the news late into the night. Chuck ended keeping his rental car, then picked up 3-4 strangers who also wanted to get back east. He drove for the next 2 days dropping off people in different cities. The next day, on the 12th, I talked my second son, a student at VA Tech, from dropping out of school and joining the Army! I convinced him, Uncle Sam needed him with an education! Clay is now an Army Major and a Dentist. He is also Airborne and Air Assault qualified. Important skills for a dentist! He spent 9 months in Iraq and Kuwait and is now with the 7th Special Forces. 9/11 was indeed a turning point for us all.
I was at home near Tacoma when my PA, retired Army, called telling me to turn on the TV. A friend and neighbor who worked in the South Tower survived snd wrote a nine page vignette about his experiences that day including being ferried by small boat to NJ. I flew into Newark Airport the first day flights resumed and the smoke from the remains of the WTC were still significant. Thanks Glenn