USA: Survivors of Pentagon attack recall events as fifth anniversay of September 11 approaches

Record ID: 739345

  • Title: USA: Survivors of Pentagon attack recall events as fifth anniversay of September 11 approaches
  • Date: 6th September 2006
  • Summary: (AM) ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA; UNITED STATES (FILE - SEPTEMBER 11, 2001) (REUTERS) PEOPLE EVACUATING
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA2D6DAUDCZJMUF326NTCCWYGD0
  • Story Text: Families of those killed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, have gathered at the memorial site to discuss what the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks means to them.
    Jim Laychak, who lost his brother David at the Pentagon, manages the Pentagon Memorial Fund, responsible for building the memorial next to the Pentagon.
    Due to be completed in early 2008, it will be a simple and elegant memorial dedicated to the victims, and will be built on the Pentagon grounds near the location of Flight 77's point of impact.
    Laychak said the memorial will be open to the public as a place for collective contemplation, remembrance, reflection and renewal.
    "I hope that people come here and remember the lives that were lost, remember what was special about each and every person. They were children, they were grandparents, they were military, they were civilian, and they all had special stories about each of them, so I hope they'll remember that," said Laychak.
    Rosemary Dillard, whose husband Eddie was killed while onboard American Airlines flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon, said that she will spend most of the day by herself, reflecting on how her day unfolded.
    "That means starting from when we got up that morning, when I dropped him off at the airport, when I found out what happened, and at the end of the day, I don't remember going to bed, or anything like that, so I don't remember that part of the day, I just remember when they definitely told me he was on the airplane and after that things kind of go in a blur," Dillard told Reuters.
    John Yates, a security manager, suffered burns to 30 per cent of his body when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
    He was thrown 50 feet from his desk but managed to crawl out alive.
    "Somebody grabbed the back of my leg. I heard a voice, after that i went out a door that happened to be at the very far end of this room, which was about 25,000 square feet, nothing but row upon row upon row of open work cubicles. I just started crawling towards that voice. Fortunately I just happened to go in the right direction," Yates told Reuters.
    Yates had worked at the Pentagon for over a decade and lost more than 20 colleagues in his office alone.
    All three will join employees and family members of those lost in a remembrance ceremony on the morning of September 11.
    President George W. will visit the Pentagon crash site on the fifth anniversary, as well as the World Trade Center site and the crash site of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
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