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At Marion ceremony, man recalls leaving Pentagon on 9/11

A dedication ceremony for a Sept. 11 memorial in Marion included a first-hand account of the day.

Bristol Herald Courier

The 9/11 memorial in front of the Marion Volunteer Fire Department includes a steel beam from the World Trade Center. The two gray pillars represent the center’s towers.

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Allie Robinson Gibson | Bristol Herald Courier

Thursday, September 12, 2013

MARION — Jason Berry was at work in the Pentagon when the plane hit.

“There were so many emotions. … I was overwhelmed,” he said Wednesday, remembering the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as he spoke at a ceremony in Marion to dedicate a beam of steel from the World Trade Center there. “To put it mildly, we felt hell had just broken loose.”

Berry — then 25 and a civilian budget worker — was in the Pentagon’s B ring, and remembers seeing the smoke and rubble as he exited the building. He said he remembers hearing about the first two attacks on the trade center towers, and then the fear after the Pentagon attack that another plane was headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol. He remembers seeing the first responders aid the wounded and the police officers direct traffic and people to safety.

“I thank God for people who still care, and are willing to help those in need,” he said, calling firefighters, emergency personnel and law enforcement officers his heroes.

Firefighters who took a trek to Port Authority in New York two years ago to bring home the 2-ton steel beam unveiled it Wednesday night, in its permanent spot in front of the Marion Volunteer Fire Department. The steel is mounted on two dark gray pillars, which represent the twin towers, and is set at waist height so people can touch it, said Ken Heath, the town’s director of community and economic development.

Firefighters also dedicated a marker to Marion firefighter Charlie Snider, who served the department for many years. That memorial will serve as a marker for firefighters, and on the back is inscribed the firefighter’s prayer.

“We can’t forget what happened, can’t forget the lives that were lost,” said state Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Bristol, who spoke at the event.

Mayor David Helms said he wants people to make a commitment to remember 9/11 and the sense of patriotism that was felt then year-round.

“On the 11th of September in 2001, hijacked planes [flew] through a cloudless sky,” he said. “The entire world changed that day.”

Saturday, September 14, 2013