A girl and her older sister who were in the Pentagon’s daycare center on Sept. 11 are both serving in the military now, CBS News reported.
Second Lieutenant Hanna Born, and her sister midshipman Heather Born, were both inspired to join the military after the heroism that they had witnessed during the 9/11 attacks, CBS News reported. (RELATED: Sister Of Pilot Killed In 9/11 Rips Comparisons To Jan. 6th Riot)
An infant girl and her older sister were in the Pentagon day care center on 9/11. Today they’re in the U.S. military. https://t.co/fgilKZhFqm
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 7, 2021
Hanna and Heather, along with 138 children, were at the Department’s Child Development Center 30 yards away from where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
Heather, who was four-months-old at the time, had no memories of what had happened. Hanna, who was 3 years old, remembers bits and pieces of what had happened.
“I was in the day care center playing and dancing with some of my classmates,” Hanna told CBS News in an interview in Washington, D.C. “We were playing with those dance ribbons, and then the next thing I can remember was kind of being in the hallway.”
Hanna recalled feeling overwhelmed by the things going on around her like the panic of the people trying evacuate the building, hearing the sounds of fire alarms, sirens from emergency vehicles, jets and helicopters overhead, and the smell of burning jet fuel and smoke.
Service members were sent to help evacuate the children since some of the workers were elderly and could not evacuate the children alone.
“I don’t think we know really any of the names of anyone involved,” Hanna said. “Despite not getting any public recognition for what they did that day, I just hope they know how their actions have inspired my sister and I and how we hope to pay it forward.”
Both of the sisters’ parents were ex-military but were not present in the Pentagon when the attack took place. Their mother, Dana Born, was a retired Brigadier General and was at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling at the time of the attacks and their father, who was a retired marine had been previously stationed at the Pentagon.
During the days after the attack, their father would take them to a hill that overlooked the Pentagon, so they could watch recovery efforts as their father explained to them what was happening.