Lincoln M. Starnes - American Phoenix: Heroes of the Pentagon on 9/11

Copyright 2021 by Lincoln M. Starnes

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Poem Nothing More Than This Lincoln M. Starnes

Published by Girl Friday Books, Seattle

Produced by Girl Friday Productions in association with Little Martha Press

girlfridayproductions.com

littlemarthapress.com

Cover design: David Drummond

Development & editorial: Karen McNally Upson with Dan Crissman

Production editorial: Laura Dailey

Project management: Karen McNally Upson

Image credits: cover Shutterstock/Douglas Litchfield

ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-7348802-3-6

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-7348802-4-3

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7348802-5-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021905552

First edition

For those who gave their lives so that others might live free

The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there is no limit to the power it can generate.

Winston Churchill

He heard no distant trumpet

As he faced the fires alone

He wore no gleaming medals

No light upon him shone

There were no saints before him

Nor seraphs by his side

There was only prayer

To give him strength

As those around him died

He thought to turn

And run away

To reach the light

Once more

But the darkness

Held his brothers

His sisters huddled

Near the floor

Gravely wounded

And defenseless

He charged the black abyss

For home and hearth

And brotherhood

And nothing

More than this

He carried them all

To safety

From the grip

Of the demon fire

But he alone

Would pay the price

For the cause

Of something higher

They found him

In the morning

Amid the ashes

And the stone

His body

Burned and broken

His face

And name

Unknown

The arms of God

Close round him now

Hes shining

In the midst

Of home

And hearth

And brotherhood

And nothing

More than this

This project was first proposed to me by my brother, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin W. Starnes of the United States Army Medical Corps, and his colleagues Lieutenant Colonel James Goff, USAMC, and Lieutenant Colonel Ed Lucci, USAMC, all of whom responded within the first hour to the attack at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. They wanted to record their recollections of this event, and they asked me to assemble their memoirs into one manuscript.

I accepted, but found that when I completed their story it did not amount to enough material for a major nonfiction book. I cast around for other published accounts of this event to round out the narrative, but found to my dismay that such sources were almost nonexistent. At that point I decided to write a complete account of the attack on the Pentagon on that one day from the perspective of those who were there, incorporating the memories of my brother and his colleagues.

The task, I soon discovered, was monumental. I pored over hundreds of accounts and statements to try to find out what really happened. I also conducted a series of in-depth interviews of the principal participants. The description of the plane crash is based on numerous eyewitness accounts and on established facts contained in The Pentagon Building Performance Report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (January 2003), a comprehensive technical assessment of the crash and its aftereffects made by several of the worlds foremost structural engineers. I also visited the Pentagon in August 2002 and investigated the site of the attack.

The full picture, however, will always remain out of reach. Many of the scenes depicted aboard American Airlines Flight 77 and in the initial moments of the crash were dramatized using a combination of what little factual information has come down to us, the statements of family and friends, personality profiles of certain individuals, and, where possible, actual eyewitness accounts. I have tried my best to do justice to the memory of those who perished.

As a result of writing this book, I found one thing that consistently reappeared time after time, and this was the courage, self-sacrifice, and heroism of Pentagon personnel who, in a matter of seconds, were thrown into a terrifying maelstrom of death and destruction and who just as quickly rose to the challenge. This is their story.

Lincoln M. Starnes

It has been twenty years since that fateful day in September that changed our world forever in so many ways. The attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, has largely been overshadowed by the nearly simultaneous attacks on the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. While often not discussed in detail, 189 people perished at the Pentagon that day, which, exclusive of the events in New York City, would have made the attack there the largest terrorist attack on American soil since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The searing memories of that as my colleagues and I responded to the Pentagon are never far from my mind. As a witness, physician, husband, father, son, and soldier, the feelings I experienced that day were those of horror, sadness, anger, dejection, resilience, and pride.

The acts of heroism and bravery that ensued minutes after the impact of Flight 77 against the west wall of the Pentagon have seldom been written about. Although obscure names like Christopher Braman, Craig Powell, David Tarantino, Tony Rose, Victor Correa, Eduardo Brunoporto, Isaac Hoopii, and Phil McNair are little known to American history twenty years later, they should be household names and held in reverence. These were individuals who spent their whole lives and careers working to serve their country and had secured a place at one of the most revered and protected places on earth, the cream of the crop working diligently at a premier establishment. Everything they did that day embodies what we know to be the best of America. Contrary to some opinions, these soldiers were prepared for this event. They leaped to action using their training and experience to save lives. In retrospect, the terrorists decision to aim the jet at the Pentagon was foolish, as it only emboldened those serving in uniform for a decade or more to come. The terrorists doubted Americas resolve to stand together. They were wrong.

In February 2020, a new and invisible threat reached our shores. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc and destruction on our families, our economy, and our way of life. Having been a witness to the valiance of the heroes at the Pentagon and those serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have seen Americans at their best. Courageous, fearless, self-sacrificing, unwavering, and unafraid, these heroes provide us with a strong example of what we are capable of when we are united together and care for one another. As Abraham Lincoln once said, This, too, shall pass. America will forever rise again as an American phoenix. The acts of selflessness displayed in this book give the reader some insight as to why this is truth.