LITHOPOLIS, Ohio — This Saturday will mark 20 years since tragedy struck America.
For Alan Wallace, it’s a day he won’t soon forget.
"You could not imagine how blue the sky was. It was just hauntingly blue like it was a warning or something. Certainly, we were lucky, we should've been killed,” Wallace said.
As a firefighter, Wallace was working at the Pentagon's firehouse near the helipad. That's where he learned of what happened in New York City.
"The first plane was 8:46… Just after 9 o’clock. That's when 175 hit the South Tower,” he said. Shortly after that, he and others saw American Airlines Flight 77 headed straight for them.
"When we saw the airplane probably less than a half a second, I felt the pressure from the explosion. There was nothing but burning,” said Wallace.
Wallace remembers 64 people on that airplane died and another 125 died inside the Pentagon. He and others tried to save people who were in the building.
This is a day that will stay etched in his mind forever. And 20 years later, Wallace still talks about it.
On Wednesday morning he will be driving to Arlington, Virginia to be where he was 20 years ago. Wallace said he wants to make sure his story continues to be told to remembers those who lost their lives.