9/11 Story

I received this story in an email today and thought it was worth sharing. I do not know who originally posted it.

Subject: Marines - A story about 9/11 that you may have not heard!

This came from a memorial ceremony here at NORTHCOM. Chaplain Robert Leivers led the group in a
ceremony here at the headquarters. During the ceremony, he relayed this little-known story from the
Pentagon on 9/11:
"During a visit with a fellow chaplain, who happened to be assigned to the Pentagon, I had a chance to
hear a first-hand account of an incident that happened right after Flt 77 hit the Pentagon. The Chaplain
told me what happened at a daycare center near where the impact occurred.

"This daycare had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor,
looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do; there were
many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be taken out with the cribs.
There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers.
"Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed. After hearing
what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director
thought, 'well, there we are on our own.' About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 others in
tow.
Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers. The director and her
staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac
and the Pentagon.
"Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a
fabulous thing- they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered
wagons in the West. Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off.
Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children, awaiting instructions.
There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children."
The NORTHCOM chaplain then said- "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories
of the day. It was an incredible story of our men there.''
I must say there wasn't a dry eye in the room. The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast
they reacted.... could we expect any less from them? It was one of the most touching stories from the
Pentagon I've EVER heard.

Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence.
W. S. Bowden