The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Pain, Memories Slow to Fade After Ten Years

An American service member kneels at the Pentagon Memorial
A service member kneels before one of 184 memorial benches at the Pentagon. (Steven Groobert)

Ten years ago, thousands of people ran from the World Trade Center and Pentagon. America had been attacked in a way that no one could have possibly imagined. This past Sunday, many of those people returned to the memorials that now mark the places where America had been forever changed.

New York dedicated its memorial, Reflecting Absence, at the foot of a new World Trade Center building, which remains under construction. In the Pennsylvania countryside, a wall of marble with the names of each passenger and crew member on United Airlines Flight 93 was unveiled. And, in Arlington, a private ceremony honored those who died at the Pentagon.

President Obama visited all three sites, joined by other dignitaries and officials, but the true emotional power of the memorial sites comes from the families of victims. It comes from the son of a World Trade Center victim, memorializing a father he never met, or from a soldier grieving the loss of a friend at the steel and marble bench dedicated to him. Allison Barber, a former Pentagon employee, was in Atlanta at the time of the attacks. She only saw news reports of the day’s events after the Pentagon had been hit. She was able to get back to Washington by rental car, and arrived at the Pentagon the next day just 30 minutes before President George W. Bush arrived to assess the damage.

“When a plane crashes into your office building, you can’t help but change the way you do your job,” said Barber. “The fact is, we were so consumed with our work at the Pentagon in the days after 9/11…even though we were attacked, people were still working inside the Pentagon.”

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The American History Museum offered a special 9/11 exhibit, displaying artifacts from all of the attack sites. People waited for well over an hour in line to see the exhibit, with the line extending halfway across the top floor of the museum at times. The Newseum offered free admission on September 11, and the museum’s exhibit dedicated to the attacks was packed with visitors. The permanent exhibit includes the antenna that topped the North Tower of the World Trade Center and a wall of newspapers from Sept. 12, 2001.

Most of our memories from 9/11 were of the absoulute chaos and confusion of that day – even as we sat in elementary school, largely unaware of what was happening. Panicked parents rushed to pull their children out of class. Droves of New Yorkers evacuated Lower Manhattan by boat after bridges and tunnels were closed off, with some people even jumping into the water in a desperate attempt to flee. News reports announced possible attacks at the State Department, the National Mall, and other locations around the country – all of which were, of course, false. For Americans who never considered an attack on this scale to even be possible, it now seemed as though violence could happen anywhere, at any time.

Today, the fear has mostly subsided, but our recollection of the day’s events will not. Those that lived through September 11 are forever changed by the events of that day – some more visibly than others. Each person has their own story. We all remember where we were, what we thought, and how we felt in those first moments. With ten years to reflect, our confusion has likely given way to a better understanding of the day that changed America’s history as well as our own.

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