Roughly four minutes after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, a ladder truck from Arlington, Virginia’s Fire Station 5 was the first unit on the scene.
Twenty-five years later, hundreds gathered at the same firehouse to mark the anniversary and remember the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard the plane.
The ceremony also focused on the first responders.
Arlington County Fire Department Chaplain the Rev. Ashley Goff remembered those who arrived at the wreckage “with ax and hose line and timber, every tool our hands could carry.”
“The images we carry still, some that weigh heavy, and some that are held close,” Goff said. “We remember so we do not forget.”
County Fire Chief David Povlitz said the effects of that day continue for many responders.
“The physical and emotional consequences continue. Some have died from 9/11-related illnesses. Others still live with lasting injuries and health conditions,” Povlitz said.
Congressman Don Beyer, whose district includes Arlington, called 9/11 “the saddest day in American history.”
“Sadder than our assassinations, sadder than D-Day, Antietam, even Pearl Harbor,” Beyer said. “These are the deaths of 3,000 innocents, men and women who are going to work, not to war.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger called 9/11 “a national tragedy and a day of unimaginable horror,” but said it also motivated millions of Americans and people around the world to “come together and help and serve others.”
“I am grateful for the heroism of Station Five and all of the first responders who joined with you all,” Spanberger said.
In Prince George’s County, Maryland, leaders and community members gathered in Bowie to mark the 9/11 anniversary with a solemn ceremony honoring the people who responded that day — and those who never returned home.
Beneath a giant U.S. flag draped between two ladder trucks, County Council member Jolene Ivey read the names of the 24 county residents killed in the attacks.
Bowie leaders spoke of the first responders called to service that day.
“They came to run into the fires,” Mayor Michael Esteban said.
“We think of our military, that’s the front line of defense, but yet here we are on our own country’s soil, and those taking the toll are our first responders. And still we have amongst us today a strong cadre of people who are willing to do that,” Bowie Mayor Pro Tem and Council member Dufour Woolfley.
One of those attending the ceremony was Lisa Rivera. She was working on the 73rd floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center when she was told to evacuate.
“Immediately we felt, or I at least I felt, like the building jumped up, like it jumped up and came down,” she told WTOP.
As she descended down the stairs, she could feel the structure straining.
“It’s very frightening because, you know, when it wobbled, you just felt like, OK, is it going to fall down? You know, is it going to, you know, how much time do we have to get out?” she said.
When she emerged, Rivera remembers being frozen in shock. She kept walking only because a first responder helped escort her away.
It’s an image she would see on the news years later. Today, she wonders if he survived too.
Twenty-five years ago, three teachers and three students from D.C. Public Schools boarded American Airlines Flight 77, bound for a National Geographic conference in Los Angeles. They never made it to California.
At the Arlington County ceremony, retired Fire Chief James Schwartz, who was the incident commander at the Pentagon during 9/11, spoke about Asia Cottom, Rodney Dickens and Bernard Brown.
“They perished that day without their parents,” Schwartz said.
But they were with three of their teachers.
In Northeast D.C., Cottom and Sara Clark, her teacher at Bertie Backus Middle School, were remembered at another ceremony.
The University of the District of Columbia unveiled a memorial plaque near the main entrance of the UDC Community College Lamond-Riggs Campus on South Dakota Avenue. The campus was previously home to the Bertie Backus campus.
“This was a project of love,” Juanita Gray, UDC’s director of community engagement, said during an unveiling ceremony.
The bronze plaque replaces a memorial to Clark and Cottom that had begun to deteriorate, and school officials said a new memorial was needed to properly recognize the pair.
Keith Sellars, an advisory neighborhood commissioner who’s lived in the neighborhood for 19 years, said he didn’t realize two people from Bertie Backus were killed in the 2001 attacks until he saw the old plaque last year.
After he spoke with UDC officials and other community leaders, a committee was quickly formed to put together a new permanent memorial.
“One thing I’ve learned over the years is that when you’re passionate about something, and it’s a great cause, people generally kind of galvanize around that,” Sellars told WTOP.
UDC is footing the bill for the new plaque, Gray said, and the older memorial was given to D.C. Public Schools to be placed in the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives. A small placard recognizing Clark and Cottom is the only portion of the original memorial that remains at the site.
During Friday’s ceremony, local leaders addressed the importance of keeping Clark and Cottom’s memory alive. D.C. Council member Zachary Parker said the new memorial will serve as “a continuous marker” for future residents to visit and “remember the lives lost.”
Before 9/11, Clark, 65, taught sixth grade at Bertie Backus and had been with the school system since 1965. Cottom, 11, was new to the school but was known by many in the community because her father was an aide.
For Cathie Reid, Clark was more than her sixth grade teacher. While calling her strict and a no-nonsense type of educator, Reid said Clark was her favorite teacher, who was fair and cared about her students.
“She was like a mother to us,” Reid told WTOP. “Even though she had her own children, but she was like our mother away from home.”
She also she was “blown away” by the plaque and called it a proper memorial for the two lives lost.
“I don’t want her memory to end with the flight number,” Reid said during the ceremony. “I want to remember the woman, the teacher who made a child feel heard and understood. That’s why this plaque means so much to me.”
Martina Williams lives a block away from the campus and said she noticed the previous memorial had started fading over the years. Clark was her sixth-grade teacher at Keene Elementary School on Riggs Road.
Williams hopes the new memorial is the beginning of new ways to honor her former teacher, including scholarships and programs like those Clark helped her students apply for.
“There’s no reason why the experience that she provided for us can’t be replicated,” Williams said.
Steel from the World Trade Center site in New York will now help new D.C. firefighters understand their calling.
“This steel survived one of the darkest days in American history today,” D.C. Assistant Fire Chief Tony Kelleher said during a dedication ceremony at the D.C. Fire and EMS training academy in Southwest. “It stands where generations of D.C. Fire and EMS members will begin and continue their training.”
Kelleher also said the academy is an appropriate home for the artifact.
“When the unimaginable happens, someone still has to answer the call. That is what I hope this steel teaches every recruit and cadet that walks past it.”
The steel, now permanently on display, was given to the training academy by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The piece is about 3 feet tall and 18 inches wide. It’s fastened to a base that resembles the Twin Towers. The steel also carries the inscription “WTC 9/11, Never Forget.”
Vito Maggiolo, a former public information officer for D.C. Fire, spearheaded the effort to acquire the piece.
“It will now forever serve as a reminder to all who blaze their paths as future fire fighters of the courage and sacrifice that took place on 911,” he said.
WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander, John Domen, Kyle Cooper and José Umaña contributed to this report.
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