On the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, ceremonies will be held at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center site in New York, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania to remember the victims and honor first responders. A Vicksburg engineer, Robert Hall, led the team at the Army Corps of Engineers that developed reinforced building materials credited with saving hundreds of lives at the Pentagon when it was hit. Though the first two floors were destroyed, the third, fourth and fifth floors did not collapse for over half an hour, allowing many to escape. The retrofits developed by Hall and his team also helped nearby sections withstand the impact. Small memorial ceremonies will also be held across the country in remembrance of those lost

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TOPIC
10 Years Later
MANY
Anniversary is about remembering, rebuilding
By The Associated Press But much of the weight of this year’s cere-
MEDIA NEW YORK — Ten years on, Americans will
monies lies in what will largely go unspoken
— the anniversary’s role in prompting Amer-
Mary Elsa Hocker come together today where the World Trade icans to consider how the attacks changed
Center soared, where the Pentagon stands as a them and the larger world and the continuing
sees it all fortress once breached, where United Airlines struggle to understand 9/11’s place in the lore
C1 Flight 93 knifed into the earth.
They will gather to pray in cathedrals in our
of the nation.
“A lot’s going on in the background,” said Ken
WEATHER greatest cities and to lay roses before fire sta- Foote, author of “Shadowed Ground: America’s
Today: tions in our smallest towns, to remember in Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy,” exam-
countless ways the anniversary of the most ining the role that veneration of sites of death
Partly cloudy; highs in the
devastating terrorist attacks since the nation’s and disaster plays in modern life. “These anni-
upper 80s founding, and in the process mark the mile- versaries are particularly critical in figuring
Tonight: stone as history itself. out what story to tell, in figuring out what this
Partly cloudy; lows in the As in earlier observances, bells will toll again all means. It forces people to figure out what
The associated press
lower 60s to mourn the loss of those killed in the attacks. happened to us.”
Mississippi River: Ceremonies also will consecrate new memori- The ceremonies honor those who “fought the One World Trade Center has reached the
15.2 feet als in lower Manhattan, rural Pennsylvania and first battle against terrorism — and they won,” 80th floor in this aerial photo, taken 10
Fell: 0.2 foot elsewhere, concrete symbols of the resolve to days ago.
Flood stage: 43 feet remember and rebuild. See Anniversary, Page A6.
A9
DEATHS
Vicksburg team instrumental in saving Pentagon
Holder Horn Strong
A9
TODAY IN HISTORY
1936: Boulder Dam begins
operation as President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
presses a key in Washing-
ton to signal the startup
of the dam’s first hydro-
electric generator.
1941: Groundbreaking
takes place for the Penta-
gon, now headquarters of
the U.S. Department of
Defense.
1961: Hurricane Carla
strikes the coast of Texas
as a Category 4 storm;
Carla is blamed for 46
deaths in the U.S.
2001: America sees its
worst day of terrorism as Robert Hall points out a window modeled after the
19 al-Qaida terrorists retrofitted windows he designed at the Pentagon.
hijack four passenger jet-
liners. Two smashed into KATIE CARTER•The Vicksburg Post
New York’s World Trade
Center, causing the twin
towers to fall; one jetliner
plowed into the Pentagon;
and the fourth was
‘...For it to save lives is ... it’s indescribable’
By Pamela Hitchins good,” Hall said in a recent interview. “The from the jet fuel, but the third, fourth and fifth
crashed into a field in phitchins@vicksburgpost.com fact that what you’ve done has saved lives is floors did not collapse for more than half an
western Pennsylvania. In — it’s the highlight of your career. You never hour, allowing many to get out of the building
all, nearly 3,000 people As the country marks the 10th anniversary dream .... you always hope that your prod- where sections continued to burn for hours.
were killed. of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Vicksburg uct and your research works, but for it to be In addition, nearby sections that had recently
engineer whose work was key to saving hun- tested and for it to be proved to work suc- been renovated with reinforcements devel-
dreds of lives at the Pentagon that day views cessfully, and then for it to save lives is... it’s oped by Hall and other ERDC researchers
INDEX it as the highlight of his career. indescribable.” were largely undamaged.
Business................................ B9 Robert Hall, 62, is a 38-year veteran of the The Boeing 757 that terrorists crashed into “We had offices very close to the impact
Puzzles................................... B8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, most of that the Pentagon at about 345 mph had taken that were fine, and other offices 100 or 200 feet
Dear Abby............................ B7 at the Engineer Research and Development off from Washington’s Dulles International away that were completely blown out,” said
Editorial.................................A4 Center on Halls Ferry Road. Airport carrying 10,000 gallons of fuel. The Wayne Stroupe, public information officer at
He led the team that developed building sup- deaths included 125 Pentagon employees, ERDC.
People/TV............................. B7
ports and materials credited with keeping a 55 of them members of the military, as well “Those retrofits saved lives,” Hall said
section of the Pentagon from collapsing in the as the 59 passengers and crew onboard the simply.
CONTACT US minutes following the impact of American aircraft. Hall, a native of Crestview, Fla., came to
Call us Airlines flight 77 at 8:37 a.m. central time. The first two floors of the impact section
Advertising....601-636-4545 “Anytime you do anything that is used is were obliterated by the crash and firebomb
See Windows, Page A6.
Classifieds....... 601-636-SELL
RS AFTeR
1 YeA
Circulation......601-636-4545
News................601-636-4545 A2 • Courage of Flight 93 vic- A6 • One man’s memo- B9 • Chopper demand boosts
E-mail us tims lauded at dedication ry, minute by minute Sirkorsky in post-9/11 wars
See A2 for e-mail addresses • .S. denies plot reports
U
C5 • 9/11 impact stretch-
ONLINE A4 • An editorial: Remain vigilant A10 • two in Afghanistan kills
T
aliban truck bomb
es across globe
www.vicksburgpost.com
VOLUME 129 September 11, 2001 - September 11, 2011
NUMBER 254
4 SECTIONS
RELIEF
WORKING TO BRING As Vicksburg’s first rheumatologist, Dedri Ivory, M.D.
Dr. Ivory specializes in treating Rheumatologist
patients with arthritis, osteoporosis,
gout and other diseases that cause Street Clinic
FROM BONE AND JOINT PAIN. muscle, bone, and joint pain. (601) 883-3340

2. A6 Sunday, September 11, 2011 The Vicksburg Post
1 YeArS AFter
September 11, 2001 - September 11, 2011
Anniversary
Minute by minute Continued from Page A1.
NEW YORK (AP) — Close something deliberate that has Ware said. “It’s something I York, as well as those who people have pushed from their Chief Jim Groat says.
your eyes and picture Sept. 11. happened here. don’t want to miss. It’s become died at the Pentagon and in minds. But the approach of A few days ago, a couple
The memories are cauterized, With people around the a part of my life.” rural Pennsylvania. today’s ceremonies has con- from St. Joseph, Mich. who
familiar forever. The second world now fixed on live pic- The nation’s focus today They include the names of 37 vinced him of the value of happened to be driving
plane banks and slides in, the tures of the trade center, the turns to ceremonies at the of Lt. Patrick Lim’s fellow offi- revisiting Sept.11, both for through, pulled into the fire
fireball blooms, the towers puzzle was slowly coming into Pentagon, just outside Wash- cers from the police depart- himself and others. station lot when they spotted
peel away as if unzipped from focus. ington, D.C., and in lower ment of the Port Authority of Some of the most powerful a sign for the memorial. Groat
the top In Sarasota, Fla., President Manhattan for the dedication New York and New Jersey. ceremonies will likely be the came out to speak with them
Start with the Tuesday George W. Bush was read- of the national Sept. 11 memo- Lim, assigned to patrol the smallest and most personal. and the woman explained that
morning and the blue sky and ing to schoolchildren when rial. President Barack Obama trade center with an explo- In Brown City, Mich. — with she was a flight attendant for
walk through the day from Andrew Card, the White planned to attend ceremonies sives detection dog, rushed a population of about 1,300 American Airlines who’d been
two perspectives, inside and House chief of staff, whispered at the sites of all three attacks in to the north tower after it and no direct connection to aboard a plane the morning of
out. From that of a man who news of the second crash into and was scheduled to speak was hit to help evacuate work- the attacks — firefighters will the attacks.
managed to survive above the his ear. The color appeared to this evening at a service at the ers. He and a few others sur- lay 343 roses on a 15,000-pound Then she turned to face the
impact zone in the south tower drain from Bush’s face. Kennedy Center. vived despite still being inside steel beam salvaged from the steel beam from the trade
and from that of the helpless, Inside the south tower, Clark The New York ceremony a fifth-floor stairwell when the World Trade Center, in honor center.
watching world. was trying to lead a small, begins at 8:30 a.m., with a building fell. of the New York City brethren “She just stood there and
In those first two hours, snaking line of people toward moment of silence 16 min- In the years since, Lim said who perished in the disaster. cried. She said she was just
before anyone could put a central stairway and down utes later — coinciding with he has wrestled with survi- Since venturing to New York honored that somebody still
together the full, awful pic- from the 84th floor. Three the exact time a decade ago vor’s guilt, realizing the last of in June to claim the beam and cares,” Groat recalled. The
ture, chaos filled in the gaps. floors into the trip, they were when the first tower of the those he’d urged ahead of him bring it home, the Michigan chief observed silently, before
Brian Clark was working met by a woman, heading up. trade center was struck by a were crushed when the tower firefighters have finished offering an invitation.
at Euro Brokers, on the 84th “We’ve got to go higher,” the hijacked jet. And then, one by collapsed. building a brick plaza, lighted “Will I see you here on Sept.
floor of the south tower of woman said. one, the reading of the names The 10th anniversary has around the clock and crowned 11?” he asked.
the World Trade Center. He A debate ensued. Up or of the 2,977 killed on Sept. forced Lim to revisit an expe- by three flagpoles. Already, “I’ll be here,” she answered.
arrived at about 7:15 a.m., had down. Clark shone his flash- 11 — those who died in New rience he’s worried too many this has become a local shrine,
his cup of coffee. light on whoever was talking.
A “loud double boom” is In the middle of the discus-
the first thing he remembers.
Then flickering of the lights in
sion, Clark heard a muffled
scream for help coming from Pentagon Interior Damage
his office. Something caught the 81st floor. He and a co-
his peripheral vision. He spun worker, Ron DiFrancesco,
around. His view usually went to investigate.
looked out over the Hudson They squeezed through a
River. The river and the sky. crack between drywall and
“It was filled with flame,” door frame.
he says. “Two yards from my “I have this very clear vision
nose is the window, and it’s of all my co-workers turning
right against the glass, almost around and starting up the
swirling.” stairs,” Clark says. “And they
It was 8:46 a.m. all died.”
For reference, Clark some- Mid-rescue on the 81st floor, With ERDC Technology 50
times tells people to imagine DiFrancesco was overcome by feet north of impact
a three-by-three grid, like the smoke, coughed and sturned
first nine digits on a telephone back. Clark continued toward
keypad. The north tower sat the stranger’s voice. It was
where 1 would be, the south Stanley Praimnath, an execu-
tower at 8. tive with Fuji Bank
Clark’s office faced west, It was just after 9:30 a.m.
near the southwest corner of To the outside world, it was
the 8 button. American Air- about to become clear that the
lines Flight 11 had crashed disaster, whatever it was, was
into the north face of the north not limited to two skyscrapers
tower, the top of the 1 button. in New York.
Since the 1993 bombing “Today we’ve had a national
of the trade center’s under- tragedy,” the president told
ground garage, Clark had vol- reporters and young children
unteered as a fire marshal for at the Florida elementary Without ERDC Technology
his floor. Now, as if on autopi- school. “ Two airplanes have 300 feet north of impact Typical third floor views
lot, he grabbed the flashlight, crashed into the World Trade
grabbed the whistle. Center in an apparent terror-
Just then, the network tele- ist attack on our country.”
vision morning shows, where It was seven seconds past
the top stories of the day had
included whether Michael
Jordan might make a come-
9:43 a.m.
Another alert on the AP
wire: “An aircraft has crashed
Windows
back in the NBA, cut for the into the Pentagon, witnesses Continued from Page A1.
first time to a live shot of the say.” It was American Flight Vicksburg in 1971 as a Mis- is the size of the Pentagon, transferred to the Pentagon,” In retirement, Hall has con-
gashed north tower of the 77. Seconds later, another alert sissippi State University they’d work on components he said. tinued his association with
World Trade Center. said that the White House had graduate student working or quarter-scale models of The “window-wall retrofit” ERDC as a contractor, and is
The first alert on the national been evacuated. with the Corps of Engineers components, such as a park- had been completed in most a consultant to other agen-
news wire of The Associated Clark and Praimnath Vicksburg District. Within a ing garage. of the areas of one wedge of cies and businesses. Hall and
Press moved at 33 seconds past wound up at Trinity Church, year he moved over to what “Yes,” he laughed, “they the Pentagon on the day of his wife, Jeanine, the presi-
8:53 a.m.: Plane crashes into two blocks downtown. They was then called Waterways gave us permission to blow the attack. dent of Engineering Innova-
World Trade Center, accord- stood gripping the iron railing Experiment Station. things up, but also (to) simu- “It is a terrible way to get tions, have two daughters
ing to television reports. around the cemetery, close to “I came here to work on late with computer applica- the increased visibility and — one who lives in Vicks-
It was 8:55 a.m. what they later learned was my masters and then go to tions. Physical experiments attention ERDC received burg and like her father is an
Clark remembers a voice the burial site of Alexander a better life,” he said with are very expensive, so you after 9/11, but I’m glad we had engineer at ERDC, and one
over the PA system: “Building Hamilton. a chuckle. “Then they sent want to be able to do that the kinds of people who were a doctor of internal medi-
Two is secure.” It was, Clark says, as if they me off to school to get my numerically on the computer able to tackle those problems cine in Mobile — and five
Eight minutes later, at 9:03, had been invited to witness Ph.D. ...” — and Hall ended as much as possible.” and to produce solutions that grandchildren.
he was standing outside his the destruction of the south up staying, rising to chief of They worked to predict really work,” said Dr. Jeffery He has been a member of
office and talking with a co- tower. the Geosciences and Struc- how a wall would react to an Holland, ERDC’s director. Bowmar Baptist Church since
worker, Bobby Coll. They “Floor by floor, it kind of dis- tures Division of the ERDC’s explosion — how it would After Sept. 11, the Corps his coming to the city, serv-
were 2 feet to a yard apart, solved in front of us,” he says. Geotechnical and Structures break, how much debris worked with military offi- ing as church deacon and
he thinks, eye to eye. In an “The white wave.” Laboratory before retiring in would be cast around inside cials to get the Pentagon elder, a member of the strate-
instant, “the room exploded.” It was 10:29 a.m. 2009. the room, what would happen rebuilt within a year. Since, gic planning committee and
The feeling was of tremen- A second flash on the AP Scientists at ERDC began to bricks used in its con- ERDC, which today spends a teacher of youth and adult
dous air compression. Then wire: “Second World Trade looking at improving the abil- struction or to embedded about $1.2 billion annually Sunday school classes for
things so secure no one ever Center tower collapses.” ity of structures to withstand windows. at its seven research labs, many years.
gave them a thought, things It was 10:37 a.m. explosives in the 1980s, Hall “You have to tie that has stepped up anti-terror “I enjoy that,” he said. “I
like the lights and the floor, “Large plane crashes in said, first against smaller window frame to the floor research. Some of that over- enjoy the people.”
came loose. For several har- western Pennsylvania, offi- “briefcase” explosives and above and below, otherwise laps with work done to pro- He also likes to hunt and
rowing, torqueing seconds, cials at Somerset County Air- then progressing as terror- you just blow the wall out,” tect overseas military. fish and serves on the board
it seemed the building itself port confirm.” ists built larger and more he said. “When that blast “We always knew that what of Habitat for Humanity.
might go over. The power The official times were 10:03, destructive bombs. comes in, one of the great- ERDC was doing was impor- As Hall looks back on the
went out. for the crash of United Flight “ERDC has been involved est hazards is the breaking tant, but the impact of what 10-year response of Ameri-
“Everything was full of con- 93 near Shanksville, Pa., and in anti-terrorism ever since of the glass, and also that we were doing to support the cans to the Sept. 11 attacks,
struction dust,” Clark says. 10:28 a.m., for the collapse of the bombing of the Beirut unreinforced masonry then nation’s military just really he said he is proud of the role
He remembers terrorism the north tower of the World Marine barracks (in 1983), becomes a projectile.” accelerated tremendously his work played but thinks
crossing his mind. Trade Center. the Khobar Towers (1996), In addition to structural after Sept. 11,” Holland said. people need to enjoy the free-
It was 9:04 a.m. In all, it had taken under two Oklahoma City (1995), the supports, Hall and his team “I would say half of today’s doms they have.
The AP alert says: “Explo- hours and almost 3,000 souls. first bombing of the New experimented with lining the total ERDC budget is anti- “Even though we work so
sion rocks second World The count was 40 in Penn- York City Twin Towers inside of walls with a mem- terrorism-related, and our much in this protection area,
Trade Center tower.” sylvania, 184 at the Pentagon (1993), all of those,” Hall said. brane, a so-called geo-fabric. budget has tripled since Sept. I think people have to real-
TV networks were in the and 2,753 at the World Trade “After the bombings of all the “We started anchoring it at 11. So our largest increases ize that if we try to protect
middle of interviewing eye- Center. embassies overseas, we’ve the floor and the ceiling, and are all in antiterrorism- everything, we protect noth-
witnesses to the first explo- Clark, who lived then and worked with the Department it turned out that that mate- related work efforts that sup- ing,” he said. “We are in a
sion when United Flight 175 lives today in Mahwah, N.J., of State and several differ- rial ended up preventing port our military and our free society and freedom has
approached, slipped into the got off the island of Manhattan ent government agencies in those unreinforced masonry nation.” risk. I think the society has
south face of the south tower, by ferry. He walked east and protection of their critical pieces from becoming pro- Some of the specific tech- to learn not to overreact to
and sent a mushrooming fire- found that ferries to Jersey infrastructure.” jectiles, and protecting the nologies are protected by these terrorist activities, but
ball out the other side. City. Tests were carried out on people inside,” he said. That security concerns, but areas appreciate the freedom that
“That looks like a second He remembers chugging small- and full-scale models technology was further include all of the locks and we have and realize that that
plane,” Charles Gibson said through the dust of Sept. 11. within ERDC’s experimental developed by the Protective dams the Corps of Engineers freedom has a cost. We need
on ABC. Only when the boat got to buildings and areas as well Design Center, a sort-of sister manages, most of the major to focus more on our freedom
“And now,” Matt Lauer said the Jersey side did Clark as off-site test areas at the Corps agency of ERDC’s in tunnels and bridges in the than on trying to hide behind
on NBC’s “Today” show, “you realize that both towers had Big Black River and Louisi- Omaha, Neb., he said. U.S., border security, and reinforced structures.”
ana’s Fort Polk, he said. In “They took that technology even terrain and data analy-
have to move from talk about a collapsed.
cases where the full-scale and matured it, and that got sis, Holland said.
possible accident to talk about