Almost Two Years Ago
I grew up in Northern Utah near an Air Force base that housed a squadron of F-16s. It was completely normal to hear the distinctive scream of those planes all day long (and sometimes even at night). I loved it. When I’d hear the faint sound of the jets I’d begin to scan the skies to try to catch a glimpse of them. I loved it when the sound built to a cool high-pitched thunder and a flight of the fighters flew over. The planes were SO cool. Sometimes I’d park my car outside the base under the flight path of these fighters and enjoy the show as they would take off and land in the afternoon.
Two years and three days ago I was working at my desk in the corner of the cubicle farm that is my office at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. I remember being in the middle of a project that had me deep in thought when Barry O’Connell, one of my co-workers and friends, told me that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York and they had pictures of it on TV in the EX office.
I was actually kind of irritated at being disturbed and thanked Barry as I prepared to get back to work…then I thought about it and wondered what kind of plane it was. I decided to check out what was going on. I walked into the front office and saw the familiar image of the burning tower. I saw a silver plane flying into the picture and immediately thought how weird it was that they would let more planes fly so low over the area after this accident. The plane slammed all the way through the other WTC building. Everyone in the previously boisterous office went silent.
I watched the buildings burn and participated in the same conversation people across the country participated in as they watched what was unfolding. It was a bit stuffy in the office…at least it felt that way to me…so I decided to go outside to call Lisa to see if she was watching. I took my cell phone outside and as we were talking about what was going on I heard a very weird noise. It sounded almost like the sound I remembered growing up. It was just as loud as those low-flying F-16s only there was a much lower pitch to the sound of the airplane’s engine. It also sounded as if it were laboring. The really weird thing about it was that the sound stopped immediately…it didn’t fade away like I was used to. I mentioned it to Lisa and decided to go back inside. I was a bit jumpy and wanted to be able to see what CNN was showing.
I went inside and joined my co-workers in front of the small TV in the EX office when one of my friends came in crying. She said she had been sitting out on the balcony of the FSI cafeteria eating a late breakfast when she saw a plane fly very low overhead and crash below the trees that blocked the horizon. She said a large ball of fire went up in the area when the plane disappeared. We were all pretty nervous about this. As we were discussing what Brenda had seen CNN reported a fire at the Pentagon. They didn’t know yet what had caused it.
I saw the first tower collapse a few minutes later on the TV in the cafeteria. I had gone there to get a view of the huge plume of smoke rising into the air from the Pentagon, which is about 3 and a half miles from where I work. I could smell the smoke from the Pentegon on the cafeteria porch where I was standing (the smell of smoke hung over all of Arlington that whole week). I’m sure there were other people around looking at what I was looking at but I don’t remember them. I felt completely alone looking at that pillar of smoke rising into the sky. I went back to my desk to call my parents on a cell phone they were using. They had been on their way out to visit us that day. They were going to fly from Salt Lake and land at Reagan National Airport. All flights were cancelled while they were in the airport waiting to board. After I assured my family that I was all right the building was evacuated.
I waited outside the building to see if they would need anyone to help put together the Operations Center computer network (FSI is a secondary location for the State Department Operations staff in an emergency). They didn’t want contractors to help so I tried to figure out how I was going to get home. I walked around Arlington while waiting for a friend I had called to come pick me up. As I was leaving the FSI campus I heard the familiar sound again. I looked up in the sky and saw two low-flying F-16s. They had started the air patrol that would last most of the next few months. It wasn’t as exciting to see the planes then as it had been back in Utah. It was actually a bit depressing.
I eventually made it home…the buses were running for free because of the unexpected evacuation of DC. It sure was nice to be with my family. My wife and one month old daughter were the only people I wanted to be with.
I’ll never forget that day. I’m sure my thoughts and memories about September 11th aren’t any more poignant than anyone else’s who was watching the news that Tuesday. I just recently realized that I’ve never written my memories of that day down anywhere. I was walking into work and I looked at the beautiful blue sky where 2 years ago I saw a black plume of smoke and I remembered.
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Great article. I was hooked by the title. I had to read on ignoring my first reaction to skip over this lengthy post.
I talked to your wife that day as well, after I heard about the car bomb outside the State Department building. A year or so prior I remember eating ice cream with you in the criteria.
Anyway, I was not surprised the phone circuits were jammed. So I waited to find out that the car bomb was a fake and was able to call later.
I should post my view of that day.
Comment by Michael — September 8, 2003 @ 7:06 pm
Thank you for that article, son . . . I remember so well, that call from you while we were at the airport.
Comment by mum — September 10, 2003 @ 11:19 am