Comments:

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   Sergio Warnick:

   Hi Kasia and everyone. I was in high school when this happened. On the morning of the 11th I remember my dad and mom talking in their room next to mine about something very serious. My dad mentioned something about a plane hitting a building but I didn’t think much of it and went to school. Once I got to school my teacher had on the TV set in the room and all we did that whole period was watch what was unraveling before our eyes. Except me. I was sitting there the whole time with my head down in disbelief or shock or something; I’m not quite sure why but I never looked up just listened. Then in every class period after it was a similar thing. The TV was on and some teachers talked to us others just sat there and watched in silence with us although as the day went on there was more talking about what we were seeing, at first it was just shock and horror.

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   Barry Kevin Oliphant:

   Hi Kasia. I remember this day quite well. I remember that I was at work checking email as I normally do first thing in the morning. I had a friend who had ran into the office I was working in from across the way to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and to come to his office to watch the coverage on TV. He had told me this because he knew I was born and raised in NYC. I was in awe and I called my mom to tell her. She had been asleep when I told her to run to the window and look towards the twin towers. She saw the smoke billowing towards the sky and was speechless. We stayed on the phone together for the next half hour and together, watched the second plane hit.

   I finally had to hang up and go back to work and she told me to be careful. I was really concerned at this point. Why? Well, because I was a United States Navy sailor and I was watching all of this TV coverage and talking to my mother from the Secretary of Defense’s Office within the Pentagon. Within 10 minutes of hanging up with my mother, the building lifed off the ground in succession with a HUGE bass-like explosion. The main lights went off and the emergency lights came on along with loud sirens. The first thing I had thought of was that a bomb had been ignited within the building. Military and Civilians alike chaotically exited the building. It wasn’t until I left the north side of the building and walked around to the south side (where the medical triage had been staged) that I realized a large fuselage of an airplane lying across the Pentagon helipad. It’s surreal, but the thing I remember the most was after I had hung up with my mother, I was talking with a Navy Captain and a Marine Corps Sargeant against a desk when the Captain said “Can you imagine if they tried to attack the Washington DC area? It can never happen.”

   There is a lot more to this story after the evacuation. All military members had to stay behind to assist with the wounded and dead. I’d rather not go any further into it than this. I would say that this is one story that will stick with me for some time.

   On a lighter note… I am now living in Siedlce, Poland. I have been in Poland for a total of 3 years, living on my military pension and teaching English. (And they are teaching me Polish). Thanks a lot for your interesting blog posts, Kasia. I read them religiously. 🙂

   Sincerely,
   Barry