Hard for me to go back haven’t been to NYC Memorial but from a distance. Was in US Capitol Senate Cloakroom running some business after planes hit NYC... Came upstairs to front windows to see smoke from Pentagon. Went back to my desk in Hart Senate Bldg to incessant calls from my soon to be fiance to get out there are 2 more planes in the air, turns out only one, headed for US Capitol... the one that crashed in PA. Grabbed two people, hopped in my pickup and took the back roads out by the Marine Corp baracks into MD. Had to cross back over the Potomac at Wilson Bridge. People were stopping at base of bridge, looking both ways and then gunning over the bridge. Lived in Alexandria’s Quaker Hill up on Hill. Two F-18s started doing loops around Beltway at what seemed like 500 feet. Could see the pilots in their cockpits. Oof like yesterday it all comes flooding back. October 19th I got hit by Anthrax... but that is another story of a bad couple of years. Luckily I didnt know anyone who died, but knew plenty of folks that lost friends and colleagues. Had a lot of close calls with friends and family... but for the grace of God.
P.S. Had to drive by the Pentagon on my normal way to work... saw the tail and very back of the plane and remember smelling all the jet fuel as I passed by. Took them 4-5 days to finally squelch the fire, it kept re-lighting because of the heat and you could see the flames from 395.