Alumnus recounts 9/11 events

Michelle Kalkhoff

Imagine the population of Iowa State packed into one building and then forced to evacuate.

Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew D. Swanson described just those events — explaining the rapid evacuation of the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when 23,000 people fled after terrorists attacked the nation’s central military complex.

Swanson, an ISU graduate, was there for the event, and related his view of it to nearly 300 listeners in a lecture Thursday night at the Memorial Union.

“I walked into the Crisis Action Team center (CAT) as the second plane hit the trade centers,” Swanson said. “I still didn’t know what was going on. Usually the CAT has lower-ranking people there. That day it was all generals. I thought, ‘Oh my God. It’s gonna be one hell of a day.'”

According to the Sept. 11 commission report, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 a.m. Swanson was in the basement of the building at the time.

After the crash, Swanson made frantic phone calls to his wife, his own office and the Navy CAT Center. At his own office, he received no reply, and figured his coworkers had died. No one answered at the Navy CAT center either. Everyone at the Navy CAT center was killed, and bodies could not be found because they were vaporized by the fire.

Swanson said 124 people were killed in the Pentagon.

Later, Swanson volunteered to help evacuate Air Force leadership. His team posted people at every corner within shouting distance in case power went out. At about 2:25 p.m., when visibility in the hallway dropped to five feet, their evacuation began.

Swanson remembers stopping by the cafeteria and grabbing a coke and a box of Pop Tarts, which sustained him until the next day.

On typical days, many Pentagon employees parked in commuter lots and hitchhiked to work. On Sept. 11, the system left traffic in complete gridlock and evacuees with no way to return home. Many walked up to 15 miles to get home. Some received a lift from helicopters, which were landing on a nearby parade ground and freeway.

As he was evacuating, Swanson’s wife did not know if he was alive. His children were pulled out of school and relatives kept calling. Swanson received messages from people he hadn’t heard from in 20 years. He recalled his wife telling him his daughter asked, “Where’s Dad?” and she had no response. When the children returned to school the next day, there were many empty seats of recently orphaned children.

Swanson said roughly two-thirds of Pentagon employees are civil service and most returned to work the next day.

“They came anyway just to be there to thumb their nose at Osama bin Laden. Several walked several miles to get there,” Swanson said.

Swanson said American’s support, volunteerism and memorials really affected everyone.

“There were flags everywhere. We were flooded with letters from schools; they were plastered all over the Pentagon,” Swanson said.

Swanson said the United States is doing well on in the War on Terror, but the country needs to be vigilant.