Guest Speaker: Ryan Yantis
All but forgotten in the retelling of 9/11 is the story of what happened at the Pentagon, and how military and civilians joined forces to help the injured in the wake of the attack there. For one Army veteran, his memories of the day are as vivid as ever...and he seeks to tell a new generation about what happened that day, so that they will understand and remember.
Lt. Col. Ryan Yantis, USA (Ret.) was a Public Affairs Office with the rank of Major that day; he says he understood immediately what was happening when he first learned that two planes had hit the World Trade Center -- that the Pentagon could be next. He immediately told his assistant, nine months pregnant, to get out of the building and head home; then he followed an officer to an emergency meeting which had been called for the recently-remodeled Air Force portion of the building.
But the officer didn't know where they were headed (it can be easy to get lost in the Pentagon), so Yantis headed back to his own office to get directions. A lucky break, as it turned out -- the place where they had stopped to discuss where the meeting was supposed to be, was hit just minutes later.
He immediately had his staff evacuate the building; once assured they were safe at the rally point, he went back inside along with others to effect rescue operations -- getting people out of the danger areas, moving them to triage and otherwise helping in a still-dangerous situation. Yantis dismisses the various conspiracy theories which have sprung up in the intervening 15 years; he saw for himself the injuries, the deaths and the people who risked their own lives to help.
And he says one aspect of the event which was overlooked was the days and weeks which followed at the Pentagon; while the building itself kept operating as best it could, hundreds of volunteers stayed on site to help with the recovery and clean-up effort. Local restaurants and stores provided meals and materials at no charge, and the community at large pitched in to help out.
Yantis now spends his time with American Pride, Inc. This non-profit organization is composed of 9/11 survivors, who travel around the country telling their story to civic groups, students and other organizations; he says anyone who was alive then is a 9/11 survivor, and it's up to those in close proximity to the attack sites to keep the memory alive for future generations.