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Members of the Bainbridge Rotary Club met at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday for their regular weekly meeting. The main focus of the meeting was honoring 9/11. After watching a brief video of the day’s events and the aftermath, Rotarian Marlene Free took to the podium, recounting what that September day was like for her, then a teacher at Fairfax County, just outside Washington DC.

“It was just a normal day, kids are lively, talking, chatting. Totally normal,” she recalled. “Then, all of a sudden, there’s a knock on the door, and an administrator is there, and the word was, ‘We’re going into lockdown.’” The school remained in lockdown for several hours, she explained, as the faculty informed students who had relatives at the Pentagon.

School ended early that day, and Free recalled the feeling of chaos and unease in the aftermath.

“Telephone communication was basically out,” she said. “Parents were trying to get to the school to see that their children were okay. Spouses that were in classrooms with students were concerned about spouses that were at the Pentagon working. No one knew where anyone was. It was a scary feeling, it was a frightening feeling.”

Free recalled how the damage to the Pentagon was visible from the road, and how it served as a constant reminder of the attack.

“It’s something you’ll never forget. It’s something that makes an impression on you, just like other disasters we’ve had through the years,” she said.