irnbru@erols.com
Chun, Thanks for the concern. I wasn’t flying on Tuesday. But, I work for the federal government in a northern Virgina complex called Crystal City. This is one mile from the Pentagon. While working in my 11th floor office on Tuesday just before 10:00am I felt the building shake. We were then told of a terrorist attack and we had to evacuate the building. Outside the sky was thick with smoke. There were F16 jets flying overhead (although this is not too unusual because the air force does F16 fly-bys for funerals at Arlington Cemetery nearby). Crystal City is also right next to Ronald Regan National Airport which had just been evacuated. So, there were passengers, pilots, flight attendants walking to the Crystal City Marriot. All the roads around Crystal City were snarled with traffic not moving for hours. So I left my car in the underground garage. I was able to get home by taking the Metro (subway) at around 12:00 noon which goes directly right underneath the Pentagon. The metro didn’t make its usual stop at the Pentagon station, it just keep on going. The Pentagon Metro stop was, for the first time, dark and I could smell the smoke. Since the President wanted the world to know that business would continue as usual, the Federal Goverment was open the next day. I did report to work Wednesday morning. I traveled the same route with the Metro back to work. Again the Metro didn’t stop at the Pentagon, it was dark and the smell of smoke there was even more pronounced. Even when I got off at my Metro stop at Crystal City there was still a strong smell of smoke which had traveled down the subway tunnel. It is possible in the days ahead that I may hear of co-workers’ spouses, neighbors, or people in church that may have perished at the Pentagon. In my neighborhood there are so many uniformed people that work in the Pentagon just 6 miles away. Currently, about every other house in my neighborhood have flags flying today. I also saw many cars that have little flags on their cell phone and radio antennas. As a side issue, I take Saxophone lessons. My instructor is in “The President’s Own”, US Marine Band. No doubt, in the days ahead he will be playing at funerals in Arlington Cemetary. I saw him yesterday playing at the Capital on C-Span’s coverage of the prayer vigil. I keep thinking about all the Moms and Dads in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania that didn’t come home on Tuesday night. It’s all so very sad. Bob — In diamondbackterrapins@y…, “Chun-Ming Chew”