I was coming from a physical therapy appt at NNMC Bethesda, on the morning of the 11th of September. (It was a Tuesday) Everyone was listening to our car radios and heard about the World Trade Center Towers being hit by planes. It was obvious that we were under siege, just how much, no one knew.
I was driving my blue Astro Van down the George Washington Parkway, getting ready to merge onto the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge, when all of a sudden everyone stopped. There was a plane directly over us, headed in the direction of the Pentagon / National Airport. We were all trying to get to the top of our cars so we could watch...what was about to become history - my generations Pearl Harbor...From my standpoint, I didn't see the plane actually hit the Pentagon, but I knew it had, the black smoke bellowing up to the heavens, was a telltale sign...wasn't sure at first if it was the Pentagon or National Airport. But I pretty much knew it was the Pentagon.
We all knew the magnitude of what we had just witnessed....numbness took over my body. I got in my van and drove like a mad woman to get to BUMED, (took a whole 30 seconds) to give them the details of what I just saw...I drove straight to the CDO's (command duty officer) office to see if I could be of any assistance...knowing the Red Cross would be calling me to deploy me to the scene or to the DC Emergency Operations Center.
