The Attack on America

    Interview:   Betty Jean, Washington DC

    Interviewer:  Betty Dotson Lewis

    Date:    September 12, 2001

    It certainly was an incredible day.  I heard about the first hit on the World Trade Center and  then the second while I was driving to work.  Between the time I parked my car in the garage and  turned the radio off and the time I got upstairs to my office, the Pentagon had been hit.  We were evacuated from my office area around 10 a.m., but weren't allowed for another 1-1/2 hours to go down to the garage to get our cars (we were all waiting on the sidewalk outside;  thankfully it was in the 70s (temperature-wise).  Several folks commented that it would have been much worse if the temperature had been up in the 90s like it had been a week or so ago. 

    While we were still standing on the sidewalk, someone in the crowd announced that free refreshments were being served at "Brothers" (a local business behind the building), which took away some of the crowd.

    Folks on the sidewalk also commented about how remarkable it was that all of the area schools seemed to be the most efficient operations in town in terms of deciding to dismiss the kids pronto.  Of course, all the parents were stuck downtown and couldn't get home to be there when the kids got home. Total pandemonium with folks trying to contact daycare centers, etc.  I seemed to have the only cell phone on the sidewalk that was functioning about one in every 10 tries, so everybody was using my cell lphone to contact family, etc., which I was very happy to be able to provide this service.

     Then  everything was totally gridlocked (as I'm sure you know by now) but once I got out of DC, it wasn't hard at all to get home.  (The building where my office is located is practically next door to the Capitol.) 

    The way I ended up getting out of DC, I did drive right by the Pentagon when it was fully engulfed, around 1 p.m., I guess.  Even though I had already seen pictures on TV at work, it was an incredible sight to see.

      I was very low on gas that morning and pretty much flipped a coin going in on whether to gas up then or after work.  Thank goodness, I went ahead and got gasoline because I'm not sure I would have made it with all the gridlocked traffic.

    This was a day in history I will never forget

    I really appreciate the invite to Bridge Day in October to see the festivities on the world famous New River Gorge Bridge.  I know the mountains will be beautiful.