Remembering 9/11: A Northern Virginia Native and an NYC Resident Looks Back

Every Friday, the editors of the Ballston-Virginia Square Patch and the Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn Patch will be talking to Northern Virginia residents and visitors about what they remember, what they experienced and what this 10-year milestone means to them.

This week, Dabney Ellett, a Northern Virginia native and a New York City resident, remembers how the ground shook near the Pentagon.

I will always remember where I was when I heard the news of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

I was sitting in Latin class at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes Middle School when we heard and actually felt the muffled impact of the airplane as it collided with the Pentagon just a few miles away.

We were all curious as to what had just occurred, but class continued for about 10 minutes until a voice on the loudspeaker announced that we must all assemble in the gymnasium. The whole middle school joined together in the gym to hear the devastating news of the terrorist attacks at the nearby Pentagon and in New York City.

Although the faculty was able to keep everything under control, the rest of the day was rather chaotic and understandably stressful and scary. We all piled into the hallways of the middle school because they needed to keep us in one confined space and away from the windows in case of other attacks (mainly because we were so closely located to The Pentagon).

Students were crying, everyone was trying to contact their family members, and cell phones were not working because of the extremely high call volume in the U.S. that day. I remember sitting on the floor in the hallway crammed next to my friends just wishing my parents would come pick me up. Eventually they did, and I went home to spend the rest of the day watching footage of the plane crashes replay over and over.

The rest of that week is a blur, but those memories of that Tuesday, Sept. 11 will always remain vivid in my mind.  As an Alexandria resident, I was easily able to go see the damage to the Pentagon, and watched the progression of the repair work done following the 9/11 attacks.

Now, as a resident of New York City, I feel an even stronger connection to the 9/11 attacks. I have visited Ground Zero many times, and will undoubtedly gain a whole new perspective of this symbolic sight in a few short years. As an employee at Conde Nast, I will actually be working in the rebuilt 1 World Trade Center beginning in 2014.  

I continue to have mixed emotions about working directly at the original site where so many innocent lives were lost, but I also believe the rebuilt World Trade Center will be a symbol of hope, remembrance and American pride.

Personally, I will always have the memory of the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11, but I will also always remember the unity and pride it evoked from Americans throughout the country that has continued to this day almost 10 years later.

If you are interested in contributing to the "Remembering 9/11" conversation in the coming weeks and months, email us at lauren.sausser@patch.com or abigail@patch.com. We look forward to hearing your stories.