Photo By Corinna Baltos | Cynthia Fleming shares her experiences from Sept. 11, 2001, with members of the...... read more read more
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FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – Many Americans paused on the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attack to remember those who died and how we, as a nation, changed forever.
One of those groups was the American Society of Military Comptrollers, Alamo City Chapter, whose members listened during their annual luncheon at the Fort Sam Houston Golf Club where two of their members told them about the day that changed their lives.
Sept. 11, 2001, started out like any other day in America. For some, the topic may have been on the disappearance of Chandra Levy. For others, it may have been about a press conference with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the day before, in which the Department of Defense could not account for $2.3 trillion.
For the nearly 3,000 people who were at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on four hijacked planes however, Sept. 11 would be the last day of their lives. For the rest of us, it was the first day of a new era.
“We were attacked,” said Patrick Reynolds, chief financial officer and director of resource management for U.S. Army North (Fifth Army), who is also the president of the Alamo City Chapter of the ASMC. “The United States of America was viciously and diabolically attacked. America has not been the same since.”
On 9/11, Reynolds said he pulled into his parking spot outside the Quadrangle shortly before 8 a.m. He heard on his car radio that a plane crashed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” said Reynolds. “I headed into work like I always did.”
The first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into the north tower of the WTC at 8:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
“Shortly after arriving at work, I heard a second plane had hit the towers,” said Reynolds. “After that, we were all glued to the TV set. After the second plane hit, our guys started planning on how to respond.”
As part of its mission to assist Army National Guard and Army Reserve units west of the Mississippi River with pre-mobilization training, Fifth Army had a weapons of mass destruction response task force designed to respond to WMDs used in the continental United States.
And then, the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the south tower at 9:03 a.m. EST.
As part of his talk about the events of 9/11, Reynolds focused on the day before. He asked what was America like Sept. 10, 2001?
“As I pondered how we could commemorate Sept. 11, 2001, I asked myself what I was doing on Sept. 10. What were the headlines that day? What was big in the Department of Defense?” he said.
For Cynthia Fleming, a fellow ASMC member who works at the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center as a Defense Travel System budget analyst, Sept. 11, 2001, also started out as an ordinary day.
“I worked at the 11th Wing customer service office on the fifth floor of the Pentagon,” said Fleming. “I was always the first one in and usually I was the first to leave. However, on this day, I was the last.”
Shortly before 9 a.m., as she was preparing to take burn bags to the basement and then stop and chat with a customer, Fleming’s husband called her to tell her a plane had hit the WTC. Like Reynolds, she said she didn’t think much of it ... at first.
“We opened the office as usual, and then we heard a second plane had hit the tower,” said Fleming. Like many people, Fleming and her co-workers went searching for a computer with Internet access or a TV.
“I remember talking to this staff sergeant and saying, ‘Wow, those planes are hitting buildings and here we are at the Pentagon – we are sitting ducks,’” she said. “Five seconds later, a plane hit the building.”
The third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
“We ran out to the parking lot,” said Fleming. “We were crying, holding hands and praying. The phones were down and I couldn’t call my family. I didn’t get home that night until 9:30 p.m.”
“Even though I got home late that night, I was grateful,” said Fleming. “I was alive. When I returned to work on Friday, I found out the customer I was planning to talk to that morning was one of the people who died in the attack.”
America changed that morning. Once again, like our parents and grandparents nearly 60 years before following the attack on Pearl Harbor, people came together as one and discovered they were not alone – they were united.
“We were all shaken,” said Reynolds. “Some of us stood up and shook our fists in anger. Others dropped to their knees in prayer. But we all proudly proclaimed that we were Americans.”
| Date Taken: | 09.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.13.2013 17:20 |
| Story ID: | 113633 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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