Remembering 9/11…

     Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 marks the 20^th anniversary of what’s becoming known simply as “9/11.”

     On Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, four hijacked passenger airplanes caused death, injury, and destruction in the U.S. Two planes hit the two World Trade Center towers in New York City. One plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. And another plane went down in a field in rural Pennsylvania.

     In the Monticello Express’ coverage of 9/11, the Sept. 19, 2001 issue featured an article on the front page telling the story of a couple of locals as tied to the terrorist attacks. Mike Bollwitt was an airline pilot for American Airlines. He was in D.C. on 9/11.

     On that day, former Monticello resident Tom Erdahl was working near the Pentagon when the plane hit.

     At the time, Erdahl was an electrical engineer working for Sebesta Bloomberg (nowNV5/Sebesta) in Minnesota. He was assigned to work in the Remote Delivery Facility, about five football fields away from the actual Pentagon. This is a 250,000-square-foot shipping and receiving facility. The construction of such a facility improved the physical security of the Pentagon, with now a secure location to received and screen items mailed to the Pentagon.

     “It’s a low-profile facility,” said Erdahl.

     Erdahl parents, Elvin and Joyce Erdahl of Monticello, reached out to the Express hours after the attack to tell them of their son’s story.

     “Most remember that day as a Tuesday,” Erdahl said of the specific day of the week 9/11 took place.

     Erdahl had been in D.C. since the previous Sunday evening.

     “I wasn’t even supposed to be there that week. I subbed for a co-worker.”

     While working in the Remote Delivery Facility, at 9:45 a.m., Erdahl heard a thud.

     “That’s normal in a warehouse facility,” he said, not thinking anything about it. “I was oblivious to it.”

     But then following the noise, fire alarms started going off and the air ducts bulged out due to the air pressure from the crash.

     “My foreman told us to clear out because a plane hit the Pentagon and two more hit the WTC,” recalled Erdahl. “I couldn’t imagine that.”

     The plane that hit the Pentagon, on the west side, hit on the opposite side from where Erdahl was working.

     Erdahl calming picked up his bag, not thinking what he was just told could have actually happened.

     “I didn’t know what to think,” he said.

     As he made his way outside, he saw smoke billowing out from the Pentagon.

     “It was jet black smoke.”

     At the time, he didn’t think it was a terrorist attack. Erdahl thought perhaps there was a breakdown at an air traffic control tower and a passenger plane inadvertently came down.

     While remaining calm, Erdahl noticed that the center courtyard area of the Pentagon was turned into a triage center.

     “People were freaking out,” he said. “They set up tents for the bodies.”

     Prior to 9/11, that courtyard was the place to be for recreational activities and picnics. The irony is that the snack bar inside the courtyard used to be called “Ground Zero.”

     “That took on a whole new meaning (after 9/11),” said Erdahl. “I’m sure it didn’t re-open with that same name.”

     Erdahl backtracked and headed to the construction trailer his company had on site. Once he got inside, he noticed the ceiling tiles were all “discombobulated” from the blast of the plane hitting the Pentagon. His co-workers had all cleared out, but Erdahl took this as an opportunity to call his parents back in Monticello and inform them of his safety.

     Cell phone service that day was non-existent, so he used a landline inside the trailer.

     “I had to get ahold of my parents right away.”

     After informing his father that everything was fine, Erdahl said his mother was on her way to St. Matthew Lutheran Church for a prayer circle.

     “Someone at the church told my mom that a plane hit the Pentagon,” shared Erdahl. “She got upset, but then my dad called the church and told her I was fine.”

     He also quickly checked his work email account, and had an email from his company’s receptionist back in Minnesota. He replied back that everyone was ok.

     “They were glad to hear from me,” he said.

     Has it would happen, two of Erdahl’s co-workers were inside the Pentagon when it was hit, but were unscathed. He later learned one of the guys had trouble breathing because his lungs hurt from taking in jet fuel.

     With the D.C. Metro trains down and out of service, Erdahl walked to his company’s main office building in downtown Virginia.

     “It was a long walk,” he recalled.

     He talked to the building secretary, but everyone had since left the building.

     Then, Erdahl walked a mile and a half to his hotel. He immediately turned on the news.

     “Every channel has the same news feed on everywhere,” he said of footage from New York, D.C., and Pennsylvania. He went to the hotel bar, and same new footage.

     “I hadn’t heard about the plane in Pennsylvania until I got back to my hotel,” said Erdahl.

     On Sept. 12, employees with Erdahl’s company were ordered to stay away from the Pentagon. On Sept. 13, “it was just another day at the office,” he said. “I was there to do a job.”

     Air traffic was also halted for some time, and Erdahl and his co-workers thought they’d have to remain in D.C. for a month or so. Newly engaged at the time, he wanted to get back to Minnesota.

     As luck would have it, Erdahl was able to catch a flight out that Friday, just two hours later than previously scheduled.

     Erdahl shared his story with the Express for the 20^th anniversary, not to draw attention or glamorize what happened that day or the fact that he was there.

     “I don’t tell the story regularly,” he said. “But when people want to know, I’m happy to give my account of it.”

     On Oct. 11, a month after the attacks, Erdahl went back to D.C., but everything was still shut down at the Pentagon.

     “Everything was surreal,” he said.

     The wedge of the Pentagon that was hit was still chard from the fire and smoke.

     Erdahl attended a memorial service on Oct. 11 at the Pentagon to commemorate the one-month anniversary. Thousands were in attendance, as were families of the victims from the Pentagon (125 were killed), Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush.

     A year later, Erdahl also returned.

     When he finally made it home to Minnesota, walking through his office building, he said it was if no one wanted to look at him, knowing what took place while he was in D.C.

     That summer, Erdahl came back to Monticello to attend his 15^th class reunion as part of the Class of 1986. (This past weekend he was back for his 35^th reunion.) His classmates all had his email address and when they heard he was in D.C. on 9/11, his personal email account was flooded with concerns.

     “I told them all that I was fine.”

     Erdahl said it’s a bit disturbing how on every anniversary of 9/11, all that we see are the repetitive images of the planes hitting the WTC.

     “Can we retire that footage now?” he asked hypothetically.

     Today, Erdahl still lives in Minnesota. He left Sebesta in 2003, and now works as the principal electrical engineer for the Metro Council of the Twin Cities. He’s remarried, and has two children: His son just started his freshman year at the University of Minnesota, and his daughter is a senior in high school.