Zach Wamp
What were you doing September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York, Washington D.C Pentagon and crashed a plane full of passenger in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people?
Former Third District Congressman Zach Wamp remembers the day very well saying, “It was the most traumatic day of my life.” Congressman Wamp appeared on WDEF TV, Channel 12, Wednesday recounting the events of that day with news anchor Chip Chapman.
The former lawmaker said he was at his desk in the Cannon Office building; it was his sixth year as a member of the House of Representatives.
He said, “Someone in our office said someone hit a building in New York City and that didn’t really cause alarm until word came the second plane hit." Chief of Staff Helen Hardin told him they needed to evacuate.
"I could remember the sounds, the emotion, and the smell of fuel after the Pentagon was hit." Mr. Wamp told the television audience, “I walked down to the mall to make sure the Capitol hadn’t been hit and ran back to my office.
“It was traumatic like nothing I’d ever been through in my life; it was a surprise and one of the beautiful things that happened was everyone came together. We got back up but we went to our knees that day. We were hit really hard, but they didn’t destroy us, they just knocked us down.”
Mr. Wamp said he liked to run so he went to the gym and changed clothes and ran past the White House. He said, “I ran eight or 10 miles as the sun was setting, and there was nobody out. Washington, D.C. was a ghost town. On that run I had all these deep reflections in my life about my mortality. That was the first day in my life I’d ever come to grips with death.”
The former Congressman praised President George W. Bush for his handling of the crisis. He said, “Bush went to Yankee Stadium wearing a bullet proof vest and showed the country we could still fight and come together; that was powerful."
Congressman Wamp was among members of Congress who gathered that evening on the steps of the Capitol to sing “God Bless America.”
Mr. Wamp told Mr. Chapman, “We should remember that freedom is not free, it’s very fragile. We have enemies; they are not our neighbors and political opponents. The enemies are in other places and they don’t like the way we do business.”
The Republican served the Third Congressional district in East Tennessee from 1995 to 2011.