With the forever infamous World Trade Center catastrophe’s 7th anniversary just passed, I thought it entirely appropriate to share a story with the world of one persons alarmingly close encounter with death on that fateful morning of September 11, 2001 when two United Airlines flights slammed into the imposing figure of New York’s iconic buildings.

This article has to start with remembering that thousands of New Yorker’s were either in the towers at the time or making their way to work at the World Trade Center when the worst terrorist attack in history unfolded around 8am that morning. But it wasn’t just the world’s financial epicentre that was in the path of an airliner that morning; the Pentagon was also hit by a hijacked flight not long after the towers had been struck one after the other.

In a previous article I shared my experiences of that fateful morning from an overseas perspective and had an overwhelming response from readers commenting on their actions that morning. One comment however really struck a nerve with me and I felt the need to share it as it is a first hand account of terror and what it can do to a person.

The person known only as JennRose315 poured her heart out to the world and shared her experiences with the readers of my article on the events of her morning as an employee of IT2 in the U.S. Navy stationed at the Pentagon outside Washington, DC.

Her story is as follows:

“That morning, I was sent to work from one of our offices located in the Command Center. As I walked in, I watched as the events happened in New York at the Twin Towers.

Somehow, I knew this was no “accident” and that if that could happen at the Twin Towers why couldn’t it happen here, at the Pentagon??

As everyone must know, the Pentagon is a huge, so as I went outside, there were a few options of places to go. As I pushed the door to go to a nearby smoking area, I heard an “inner voice”. It told me to go the other direction. For some reason, I trusted this voice, so I went the other direction, into the center courtyard….

Not 5 minutes later, the ground shook, and I saw smoke coming from where my office was located.

Yes, that’s when the plane hit… it hit my office…I wasn’t inside. Everything I had seen, everyone I had talked to 20 minutes before…Gone.
I literally ran for my life. I had never been so scared.

It killed at least 7 people I worked closely worked with and became friends with. This seemed unreal to me because if I would have been 5 minutes earlier or later…who knows.”

(JennRose315, September 20, 2008)

As the writer of that article I was totally stunned at the thought that someone who had had first hand experience of such an event would share it with me. I am grateful that she did and wish her all the best for the rest of her life.

You can read her full comment and that article by viewing the page: September 11: A View from Down Under

Thanks, JennRose315, for sharing your story with me.