Department of Defense (public domain)
For me, the greatest loss was at the Pentagon. Some twelve years earlier, I worked there, although on the opposite side of the building. Army and Navy were most seriously affected; I worked for the Air Force.
I rode the Virginia
Railway Express (VRE) to work with some of those who were injured and killed.
One of the fatalities was from my hometown. He was much younger than I and grew
up in another part of town than I, so we did not know each other, but I still
mourn his passing. Four others were from the town where I lived in Virginia.
One of those four survived but with terribly severe burns over a large part of
his body.
Fatalities at the Pentagon, including passengers on American
Airlines flight 77, numbered 184. The youngest was 3 years old; the oldest was
71 years old. They came from all walks of life, from civilian, contract, and
enlisted personnel through several senior officers to a vice admiral. They
hailed from all around the country and from as far away as Japan.
On Friday after the attack, I rode the VRE to downtown DC.
As we passed a field not far from the Pentagon, we still could see smoke rising
into the overcast and gloomy sky. September 11, 2001 had been a beautiful,
crisp, clear, sunny day. That sounds backwards, doesn’t it?
No, I will never forget.
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