Memories of 9/11: ‘I do feel peace, but the memory is always there’

When Lieutenant Colonel Marilyn Wills was a university student, a professor taught her an important lesson: “Always know your exit” from a building.

Little did she know that, years later, on September 11, 2001, while working as a Congressional Affairs Officer at the Pentagon in Washington DC, that advice would help save her and her colleagues’ lives.

Pentagon employees watched George W. Bush’s address to the nation on TV after two hijacked American Airlines planes struck the World Trade Center in New York.

Minutes later, at 9.37am, a third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon and everything went black.

Wills was delivering a presentation to a dozen or so colleagues when she was flung across the table and a fireball ripped through the ceiling of the second-floor conference room.

The former lieutenant colonel reached for the nearby door leading to the outer ring of the building, but was met with scalding heat. From underneath the door, Wills could tell there was a wall of flames on the other side.

Remembering her professor’s advice, she recalled a window she could reach. She started crawling towards it when she felt someone grab her, a colleague named Lois.

Wills encouraged her to hold on tight, telling her they would move together. She then led a group of others towards the window, which, to their dismay, would not open.

A young Army specialist heaved a printer at the glass. It bounced back and landed on Wills. At that moment she feared they would all die.

Eventually, Wills and her colleagues pushed against the window with their feet, detaching the frame from the building and opening up just enough space for them to escape.

They jumped 15 feet from the window, where they were caught by Commander Craig Powell, who was serving as a Navy SEAL and responding to the Pentagon attack.

He saved Wills’ life that day and that of her colleagues.

A new documentary series, 9/11 Reunited, revisits the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history through the extraordinary human connections formed amid the chaos, courage and heartbreak of that day.

The three-part series features a number of emotional reunions, including that of former Lieutenant Colonel Wills and former Navy SEAL Powell.

Wills, 65, says she would not be alive today without Commander Powell.

“Had Craig not caught me, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation, because I do believe I would have hit the ground,” says Wills.

“None of us could have survived that fall. It was just too high up. But when he caught me, I remember seeing this big Navy officer.

"He was tall, with broad shoulders, like a big football player. And when he caught me and looked me in the eye and said, ‘I got you,’ that’s the last thing I remember about Craig Powell.”

Wills was unable to thank Powell because she did not know his first name, so she was grateful when National Geographic got in touch while making the documentary.

“I had not seen him or heard of him, and for years I didn’t even know his first name was Craig. All I knew was that he was a Navy officer, and that was it. And it was too hard to find someone with so little information.

“So, when we were documenting this film, the director called and said she thought she had found the file. My heart just sank, and I was like, ‘You did? Now? I’m in the Army and I couldn’t find him. How did you do this?’

“And so they pulled it together. That was the first time I had seen him since.”

Reflecting on the events 25 years on, Wills says: “I do feel joy now. I do feel peace, but I also have that memory always in the back of my mind of what happened and the fact that I lost a lot of good friends.

"So, while I do find that peace, joy and tranquillity, I still have that memory in the back of my mind. I will never forget them.

“I’ve been asked to go back to Washington to the memorial at the Pentagon, and I’ve declined. This year, I want it just to be my husband. I think my daughters may come down. Just my immediate family. Just to sit in a moment of peace.”

Another reunion featured in the documentary series is between German bond trader Stefan Horlacher and Debbie St. John.

Horlacher was working near the World Trade Center on September 11 when he witnessed St. John suffer catastrophic injuries after being struck by a plane engine blade by the South Tower.

While others fled the scene, he stopped to help, administering first aid, shielding her from the chaos unfolding around them and ultimately flagging down an ambulance that took her to safety.

Horlacher, 65, recalls seeing a woman lying beside him and wanting to help her.

“I didn’t know her; she was just next to me,” he recalled.

“The debris came towards us, and I thought it was going to hit me. It happened so quickly. There was a big impact, and the blade bounced away and landed maybe 50 or 100 metres away, further down the street.

“Then she was lying on the kerb. That’s something you never forget, how difficult that was. The woman I had just seen running next to me was suddenly lying in the street.

"I’m pretty sure it was the blade that hit her, and I stopped and saw what had happened to her. She was in shock.

“It was pure instinct. She was next to me, literally, and then it didn’t hit me, it hit her. I had to stop and see what was going on with her.

"Then you see all the other people. Everybody was running around like crazy, right? It was like a stampede, and she could have been trampled.

“I protected her at first and looked at how she was injured. Her clothes had come off, so I covered her with my polo shirt. Then I found out the extent of her injuries, really, pretty much having my hands inside her intestines and all that.

“And then, you know, you’re protecting her, and a few other Good Samaritans came in, also protecting Debbie so she wasn’t going to get run over.”

Speaking about reuniting with the woman he saved 25 years on he says: “It was very, very emotional and very special. I always knew that, at some point, I wanted to meet her.

“We were just waiting for the right moment to come along.”

9/11 Reunited is available to stream on Disney+ and National Geographic channels.