On the morning of September 11, 2001, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul “Ted” Anderson noticed that his Pentagon colleagues were gathered around a television. When he arrived, he learned that a plane had just crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
“I watched them in amazement as the second plane hit the second tower. [at 9:03 A.M.]Said Anderson, then working for the secretary of the military’s office of parliamentary and legislative affairs. “We watched it live and I almost threw up.
Shortly after, Anderson got a call from his then-wife, a sixth-grade teacher in North Carolina, who was already watching and discussing the attacks with her class. He was on the phone with her and her class when a third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon between Corners 1 and 2. Anderson was in Corner 2.
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Colonel Paul “Ted” Anderson stands outside the Pentagon, watching planes leaving the National Airport, August 2002.
Michael Williamson / The Washington Post via Getty Images
“The whole building literally felt like it had completely lifted off the foundation,” he says. “I said, ‘We were bombed, I have to go,’ and hung up. And I got up and started screaming for people to leave the office.
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The attack on Department of Defense headquarters in Arlington, Va. Killed 189 people in the building and on the plane (including hijackers), and could have killed more if not it is for the actions of civilians, military and first responders that day.
When the plane struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., those in the building did not immediately understand what had happened. As Anderson mentions, his first thought was that it was a bomb. A security guard warned Anderson to be careful to open the exit doors, fearing the bomb might be a way of scaring people out of the building so that the shooters could shoot them.
Anderson didn’t hear gunshots outside, so he opened the doors, told people to get out, and helped escort a pregnant worker to safety. Once outside, he and Staff Sergeant Christopher Braman – who was then working as a cook in the Pentagon’s general officers’ mess – ran to the site where the plane had crashed.
“Chris and I noticed at this point that there were two women lying outside on the floor,” Anderson says. “The first woman I came to had a compound hip fracture and you could see the exposed bone. And at that point, she was in shock.
Anderson took the woman away from the building. Then he and Braman ran inside the Pentagon to look for more. They found a woman pinned under a nine-drawer safe (like a filing cabinet, but heavier because each drawer is a safe), pulled her out from underneath, and helped her out. They also found a man who was on fire and worked to put him out and transport him outside.
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Staff Sgt. Chris Braman sits on one of the benches dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that make up the 911 memorial at the Pentagon, August 22, 2011. “I come here from time to time to remember” , he said. After escaping the fire, he ran into the burning building several times and ended up saving a woman and taking 63 dead. He received the Purple Heart for his injuries and the Soldier’s Medal for his bravery.
Astrid Riecken / Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The burnt man told them there were more still stuck inside, so Anderson and Braman returned to the building. They weren’t the only ones; other Pentagon workers were also trying to get inside to save their colleagues.
“And that’s when the confrontation with the firefighters happened,” Anderson says.
Firefighters are trained to prevent people from returning to a burning building once they escaped, and they told servicemen trying to return to the Pentagon that they should stay outside. The conflict became heated and some general officers had to intervene to defuse themselves.
“Everyone outside was in disbelief,” Anderson says. “We know we have fellow soldiers, other sailors on fire and… we pledge never to leave behind a fallen comrade.” But he says he understands the position of the firefighters.
“It was not [long] then that whole part of the Pentagon collapsed, ”he says. “If we had been there we would all have been killed.
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Lots of heroes that day
Firefighters in Arlington County, Va., Watch the Pentagon before entering as flames reappear from upper floors on September 11, 2001.
Michael Lutzky / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Three-year-old Hanna Born and her little sister Heather were at the Pentagon daycare on September 11, while their father worked in Alexandria and their mother, Lt. Col. Dana H. Born (now Brigadier General of the Army of the United retired), worked across the Potomac River at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC Because their parents could not join them immediately, the sisters depended on the adults present that day to evacuate daycare and ensure their safety.
“I am so grateful that even in the midst of such a tragic and horrific event, they came to take us to safety,” Hanna said in a 9/11 commemoration speech she gave in 2019 as a student. of the Air Force Academy. “I continue to be inspired by their resilience and professionalism and so many others that day who asked to return to the Pentagon to help others.
Another person in the Pentagon that day was Lt. Col. Patricia Horoho, an army nurse. With nothing more than a simple first aid kit, she set up a triage area outside the building to treat dozens of injured people. (Horoho became the army’s first female general surgeon.)
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Although the majority of the approximately 22,000 residents of the Pentagon that day survived the attack, many sustained injuries resulting in chronic health problems and suffered profound mental trauma. Braman developed a type of asthma from breathing in smoke, asbestos, and jet fuel while saving other people. His rescue work also exacerbated existing problems with his spinal discs, requiring surgery.
Lieutenant-Colonel Marilyn Wills, then the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, was injured while crawling out of the burning building. When a woman behind her looked like she couldn’t do it, Wills hoisted her onto her back and continued to crawl. (Wills tells the story on HISTORY Channel 9/11: The Pentagon.She later lost consciousness and had to go to hospital for treatment for burns and smoke inhalation.
Almost 20 years after the attack, the Pentagon is rebuilt and continues to serve as the headquarters of the Department of Defense. A memorial now sits just outside the building, honoring the 59 people on board the plane (not including the five hijackers) and 125 people from the Pentagon who died that day.
WATCH: “9/11: The last minutes of flight 93” will begin on Friday, September 11 at 8 / 7c.
