Where were you when you first heard about or saw the 9/11 terrorist attacks?
I had background music on the radio at my office in the Library of Congress when the program was interrupted with an announcement that there had been a freak-accident in New York and an airplane had flow into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. A little later they interrupted again and said that a second plane had flown into the twin towers and they thought it was very suspicious. Then they interrupted again and said a plane had flown into the Pentagon and there were rumors a plane had either flown into the White House or the State Department.
Some time later, I can't remember how long exactly, our intercom in the building announced that every one had to evacuate the building by a certain time - again I can't remember how long it was. A friend who paid for a garage on Capitol Hill offered to give me a ride. We stopped for gas and were the last ones allowed to fill up - they were closing all the gas stations in DC. As we left the Hill, we passed the Capitol and saw helicopters waiting and high-ranking Members of Congress were being escorted by security people with both hands on the Members' shoulders forcing them along at a quick pace.
That was an unnerving sight.
We had to travel a very circuitous route home to northern Virginia. It took around two or three hours. At one point, we had to backtrack as we approached Arlington Hospital because they said the wounded from the Pentagon were being taken there. My friend had to pick up her son at daycare because they were going to close. My friend asked me to say nothing about what had happened because the daycare had not informed the children about the events and we did not want to frighten her little boy.
We were off work a few days. I don't remember how many. When we returned to work, the Pentagon station of the Metro, which I normally used had been closed and we had to reroute to get on the Metro further back by one station.
Not long after 9/11, special "survival kits" were put on the backs of our office chairs. They supposedly had enough to get us through two days without leaving the office.
When the Pentagon station of the Metro re-opened, there were dogs sniffing brief cases and ladies' purses and on the platform inside the station there were small detector machines to alert if there was anything suspicious inside on the platform. All over the place on Capitol Hill there were security devices added to buildings and even in the streets, including devices embedded at strategic places on the streets surrounding the Hill that could be made to raise up barriers. I believe these were the same barriers that were used on or about January 6, 2021, to stop the insurrectionists.
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