Memories of THAT September 11

Today is a rainy 9-11, unlike the clear skies on this date in 2001. I was in Washington, DC that morning, there to attend a class later that week in Arlington, VA. Stayed at the Washington Hilton, the same hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot, situated a few blocks northwest of the White House. Woke up and had the television on, and it looked like they were playing the movie Die Hard, so when I changed the channel and saw that "movie" again, I knew this was real. A plane had crashed by "accident" were some early reports, and you saw the smoke coming from the World Trade Center tower. Then as you're watching this, BAM, another jet hits the other tower. I don't recall exactly when I then heard, "We have reports that the Pentagon has been hit by another jet". But, if the NY incidents made your jaw drop, knowing you were blocks from the White House and Washington was a target really shook you.

Washington was in a lock-down, you couldn't get in or out of the hotel without a few forms of identification. There were military humvees along the roads and hardly a soul was walking around for a day or two. I did end up getting to that class later in the week, which was amazing they still had it, a few miles from the Pentagon, in Arlington.

I saw this video on the Internet a few days after 911, and kept it since then. Hope nobody minds me sharing this here, assuming the link still works!



911 video

I have those memories, but also knowing how the heroes of Flight 93, that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, saved many lives and whatever targets in DC, by their actions, and I thank them!