After a loud explosion, the 28-acre building was shaking as the smoke flooded the passageways.
A Plantation Bay resident, William Toti, shared the experience and totally remembered the impact caused by the American Airlines crash inside the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001.
According to Toti, it was a remarkable moment in his life after he realized at first that he was alive. Toti shared that it was joyous at first until the moment he realizes that a lot of other people have just been killed.
The Plantation Bay resident stated that it was a bizarre feeling, a mixture of emotions but it did not last a few seconds because he ran right away towards the point of impact.
The Plantation Bay resident was a retired U.S. Navy captain and worked in the office of Admiral William Fallon inside the building of the Department of Defense, in Pentagon's fourth floor. And every other day, they had CNN on to keep track of what was happening around the world.
Toti had just watched the two planes hit the World Trade Center, but the Navy Command Center afterward informed their office that a hijacked third plane was heading towards the White House, Palm Coast Observer reported.
Aside from being an ex-captain for the U.S. Navy, he was also a former pilot, and after analyzing the possible targets Toti knew that the White House would be a hard spot to target from the air for the attack that they are executing. But just like the World Trade Center, the former captain knew that Pentagon had thousands of persons inside, and there were 20,000 in fact, and the majority of them were civilians.
Because of his done analysis, he said out loud that it is coming for them. But the conclusion made by the former pilot frightened the office secretary and he immediately apologized for his words.
Around two minutes after the announcement made by Toti, the plane struck the building.
Aiding the Injured Amid the Attacks
Moments after the second tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175 in New York, Toti called his wife, Karen back in Arlington in Virginia but when tried to reach her Karen was not home and worked out at the gym. This forced him to only leave a message on their answering machine instructing her to take their children out of school and stay home until he called again.
After this Toti aided those who were injured in the building. He also narrated helping a woman who tripped down and mistook him for a doctor, asking him if she was going to die. In 2004, he wrote an editorial piece about him finding the woman named Antoinette entitled, "Three Thousand Antoinettes" published in The New York Times.
The survivor also recalled seeing comrades die during the attacks. Around 125 people were pronounced dead inside the Pentagon on 9-11
Toti, the 9/11 survivor will appear in a documentary under History Channel entitled "9/11: The Pentagon," which will be aired at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 11, on the 19th anniversary of the terrorism act.
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