Sept. 11 Attack Welcomed Back to Pentagon

W A S H I N G T O N, March 11 -- Sheila Moody is one of only three workers from the Pentagon accounting office to survive the Sept. 11 attack — just three from a 34-person office.

Moody received a special welcome as she returned to the Pentagon for a special ceremony today, six months after the attack. She and her family were accompanied by a special honor guard as she met with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other dignitaries. But her survivor's status remains painful.

"Some days I do have difficulty and I wish that I didn't have the burden, you know," said Moody. "'Cause it feels like a burden sometimes to have to carry those images around with you."

Physical and Mental Scars

When American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the west face of the Pentagon, Moody was settling into her second day of a new job. Two days later, she lay in a hospital bed with her hair singed, her face blistered and thick bandages resembling oven mitts covering her badly burned hands. Between telephone calls from concerned friends, she described the moment the American Airlines jet hit the building.

"I heard a whistling, like a whistling sound and then a rumble, and then just a big whoosh," Moody said, her voice raspy from smoke inhalation. "It felt like air at first but then I realized it was fire, just a big ball of fire. It felt like it came in through the window and just engulfed us."

Moody spent weeks in the hospital recovering from severe smoke inhalation and third-degree burns. But after six months, the only visible signs of her ordeal are the slight scarring on her face, and the glove-like bandages that match the natural medium-brown tone of her skin. With her hands held clasped in front, it is hard to know anything had happened.

"The physical scars will disappear, not completely, but they will fade," Moody said. "The mental scars are just something I deal with day to day."

Taking It Day by Day

Moody's determination to reconstruct her life mirrors the massive renovation effort that continues at the building. Restoration at the Pentagon is months ahead of schedule. The goal for construction workers is for almost 5,000 displaced employees to return to their old offices by the one-year anniversary of the attack.