Today is the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest foreign attack on American soil since the attack on Washington, DC in War of 1812. On 9/11/2001, nineteen Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed them into the Twin Towers in NYC, a field in Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Virginia.
A total of 2,966 people died on 9/11/01, an additional 6,000 were injured and countless others have died in the aftermath. At 9:37 a.m., a plane crashed into the west side of the Pentagon. Officials reported that 125 people died inside the Pentagon, including emergency responders. Additionally, the passengers on the plane died and many others were injured.
The members of the military who perished because of the attack were awarded the Purple Heart medal.
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial includes photos and tributes to each of the 184 victims who died on 9/11. Eleven Montgomery County residents died at the Pentagon on 9/11, according to county Fire and Rescue Service.
William Edward Caswell
The 54-year-old Silver Spring resident was a physicist and former University of Maryland faculty member who worked as a civilian for the Navy.
Born in Boston and the eldest of six children, Caswell loved chess, bridge, and cryptic crossword puzzles.
“He was a wonderful dancer. I will never be able to dance with anybody else,” his wife, Jean, said. “He was my perfect partner. Above all, he was a good, caring, and loving man.” [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Dr. Gerald Paul Fisher
Fisher, 57, was born in New York City, grew up in Los Angeles, and lived in Potomac.
The 14-year Booz, Allen & Hamilton consultant was known to friends and co-workers by his childhood nickname, “Geep.”
On 9/11, he and two other colleagues were at the Pentagon to brief the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel on a system for survivor benefits for military employees.
“My son was a precious spirit, a special guy,” his mother, Muriel Fisher, said. “He was the fulcrum of the family. He had a dry sense of humor and always came to the rescue. You were laughing before you were distraught.” [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Capt. Lawrence D. Getzfred
Capt. Getzfred was born on May 29, 1944, in Elgin, Nebraska. He enlisted in 1963, after graduating from high school, and followed his older brother into the Navy.
He started his Navy career as an antisubmarine warfare technician and then went to college in California. In 1972, he graduated with a degree in Mathematics from DeAnza College and Santa Clara University.
That year, he completed Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, and was commissioned an Ensign. He received his wings in July 1973 and was designated a Navy Flight Officer.
Getzfred climbed the ranks and eventually reported to the Pentagon on the staff of Deputy Director of Plans, Policy, and Operations (OPNAV N3/5).
He was an advocate of employing reservists within the Navy Command Center. And he became the “Sea Daddy” for Naval Reservists within the Naval Command Center. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Michele M. Heidenberger
Heidenberger, 52, of Chevy Chase, was a flight attendant for American Airlines for approximately 30 years. She was a senior flight attendant aboard Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon.
She and her husband — Thomas, a captain for U.S. Airways — have two children.
Before she died, Heidenberger spent many hours working with children at St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home, the American Red Cross, Stone Ridge of the Sacred Heart, Mater Del, and Gonzaga College High School. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Angela Marie Houtz
Houtz was born on Sept. 6, 1974, in La Plata, Maryland.
She graduated as salutatorian of Maurice J. McDonough High School in 1992 and was awarded a full scholarship in the humanities program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC).
She interned with the Office of Naval Intelligence in Prince George’s County and was offered a full-time position following graduation.
Houtz was later recommended for a position at the Pentagon, working for the Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot, and also served as the Naval Intelligence Watch Officer in the Navy Command Center.
She most recently worked as a senior analyst at the Pentagon. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Teddington Hamm Moy
A day before the terror attacks, Moy was celebrating his wife Madeline’s 50th birthday at Outback Steakhouse with their 14-year-old son, Daniel.
Moy, 48, worked at the Pentagon as a program manager in information management support for the Army.
On Sept. 11, 2001, a package arrived in the mail. It was Madeline’s birthday gift from her husband.
Madeline, who worked at Charles R. Drew Elementary School in Silver Spring, had planned to open her gift when her husband came home from work. But he never returned. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Lt. Darin H. Pontell
Pontell, a 26-year-old Howard County native, was wrapping up a 12-hour shift when the Pentagon was attacked.
“Darin was one of those people who you hope to run across in life,” his wife, Devora, said. “He was thoughtful and generous and wanted to make everyone around him happy. He would do whatever it took to make his family and friends smile.”
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1998, Pontell worked as an intelligence officer for the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Command in Dam Neck, Virginia.
He later deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf aboard the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower. While there, Pontell was responsible for providing intelligence information to pilots on dangerous missions.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Scott A. Powell
The father of three from Silver Spring shared a love for music with his twin brother Art.
The pair attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., and were college roommates.
As adults, they started a production company called Dem Twinzz Productions and went to conventions in matching outfits to promote their music business.
The two played pop and jazz, rhythm and blues, and traditional Somali and Arabic songs while on tour in Sweden and the United Kingdom with a group called Shego Band.
Powell then became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, which led to a job at the Pentagon where he worked as a civilian contractor.
Art followed suit and even worked in the same office at the Pentagon as his brother.
“He really busted his butt and got through things,” Art said. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Todd Hayes Reuben
Reuben, 40, of Potomac, was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77.
He was a corporate partner at a D.C. law firm called Venable, Baetjer, and Howard, specializing in tax and business transactions.
Rueben was a graduate of Churchill High School, Emory University, and The George Washington University’s National Law Center.
He was an avid fan of the Maryland Terrapins and all D.C. sports teams. What he enjoyed most: coaching his 11-year-old twin boys, Jason and Jeffrey, in basketball and soccer.
Reuben is survived by his wife of 14 years, Vivian, and their two sons. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Patricia J. Statz
Statz was born Jan. 25, 1960, in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
She pursued a degree in theater at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire that she completed at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1983.
A year later, Statz moved to Germany to work as an actress and director at U.S. Army base theaters.
In 2000, a newly married Statz moved back to the U.S., bought a house in Takoma Park, and started working at the Pentagon.
She was pursuing a doctorate degree in education and was involved with local schools. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
Ernest M. Willcher
In April 2001, after 40 years of service in the Army, Willcher retired from his civilian post in the Army General Counsel’s office and worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, consulting at the Pentagon a few days a week.
On 9/11, he and two other employees were at the Pentagon to brief the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel on a system for survivor benefits for military employees.
Willcher was married to his wife, Shirley, for 23 years and was the father of two sons, Benjamin and Joel. [The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial]
