9/11 20th Anniversary remembrance [Image 3 of 4]

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, VA, UNITED STATES

09.10.2021

Photo by Staff Sgt. Kellyann Elish 

192nd Wing

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, Lt. Col. Elizabeth Topol, Virginia National Guard-Air Component deputy inspector general, shares how she was impacted by the events of that tragic day. On that morning in 2001, she was the only medical officer at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, New York. The medical staff talked in an unsettling tone as they watched the news showing the World Trade Center’s north tower in flames and smoke covering the morning sky. “We were all in disbelief as we watched a plane fly into the second tower, and in horror when the Pentagon was struck,” she said. “That's when my head dropped to my desk, and I knew at that moment the world I lived in had changed forever.” In the midst of chaos, the mission was to stay calm and give the 106th Rescue Wing Commander and the NY Adjutant General answers. Topol was a lieutenant medical administrator in charge of a joint team that walked the three inner perimeters of ground zero ensuring military members were okay. Walking through the rubble of the towers, Topol witnessed the deafening silence every time human remains, wrapped in an American flag, were lifted from the ruins. “To all who served in Battery Park during the days that followed and those who lived in NYC 20 years ago, we will never forget nor be the same,” she said. “It was surreal, we went through the motions of living because we had to. It was a time when all was loud yet quiet at the same time. We went to too many funerals, too many memorials, and sadly said goodbye to our New York City skyline that had been changed forever.” (U.S. Air National Guard photo illustration by Staff Sgt. Kellyann Elish)

• Date Taken: 09.10.2021
• Date Posted: 09.15.2021 10:48
• Photo ID: 6836331
• VIRIN: 210910-Z-ME883-003
• Resolution: 7239x4826
• Size: 7.41 MB
• Location: JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, VA, US