Pitt County man reflects on experience as he was in the Pentagon on 9/11

GREENVILLE, N.C (WNCT)- It’s been 23 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. Each year, new stories and experiences are revealed and continue to recount the resilience of our nation that day.

Everyone remembers where they were on 9/11, including Pitt County’s Pete Marksteiner, a retired U.S Air Force Colonel. He and his two brothers found themselves having a normal day of work in the Pentagon, until a morning meeting was abruptly interrupted with news of a plane striking the Twin Towers in New York. B

Before he knew it, Marksteiner was in the midst of his own chaos, only a few rooms away from a plane strike into the Pentagon.

“I said, look, we’re in the Pentagon next to the White House,” he said. “We have to be in the safest building in the country. You have no reason to worry. And literally, as that last syllable parsed in my lips. Boom. You could feel the building shake,” he said. “The room I was in didn’t have any windows or opening doors to any hallway. So, it looked like someone had sort of clapped a pillow. You know, instantly there was just dust in particular, sort of hanging in the air.”

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