Chattanoogans Reflect on 9/11 Attacks
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- 23 years ago, the worst terrorist attack in modern American history was carried out against our country.
The 9-11 Memorial and Museum in New York says 2,977 people were killed in the attacks
Wednesday, Chattanoogans took time to remember the innocent lives we lost that day.
The Scenic City Women’s Network hosted a remembrance ceremony at the Hamilton County Courts Building.
Retired Four Star Army General B.B. Bell has deep ties to Chattanooga, being a 1969 graduate of UTC, and served almost four decades in our military.
On that fateful day 23 years ago, he had traveled to Washington to conduct meetings with lawmakers when the horror of 9-11 began.
Gen. Bell said, “Then they switched the camera to the other building, and sure enough a second aircraft, and of course that did it for all of us, I said, “Gary, there’s been a damn terrorist attack, and somehow they’ve crashed into the World Trade Towers.” and quite frankly I said to him straight up, “We’ve got to get the hell out of here.”
The nightmare only got worse when he went on the front steps of the U-S Capitol.
“I’m looking that way across the Potomac, about four miles away, at the Pentagon where I wanted to go, when the Pentagon exploded in front of my very eyes. Now it’s four miles away and it was surreal. Now I’ve been in a warzone before, and this was a warzone,” said Gen. Bell.
In all, at least 184 people died at the Pentagon according to the Department of Defense, many of them military personnel.
One of these victims was Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, who General Bell says was a close friend to him, and recalled a harrowing conversation with his widow shortly after 9/11.
Gen. Bell recalled that his widow said,“Just between us, they can’t locate any of Tim’s remains or many of the other folks’ remains. They were incinerated. But I thank the Lord, they found his wedding ring, his wedding band, and I’ve got it.”
He says the day still haunts him as, “And I said to myself, “Why did God let me walk away from this? I could have, maybe should have been killed in the Pentagon. Could have, maybe should have been in the Capitol Building, but I didn’t have a scratch on me. But all of my friends did, and it affected me.”
The 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Hamilton County Courts Building.
