ARLINGTON, Va. - When American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon, Maryland State Senator Mary Beth Carozza was one of the people inside of the building.
Carozza was working under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the time.
"All of a sudden someone said did you hear that noise? And I'm a little curious so I stand up, walk out to the hallway and realize that the Pentagon is being evacuated," she said.
Carozza, who does not often talk in depth about that day, says she quickly knew this was no accident, but a deliberate attack on our country.
"After the second plane hit the Twin Towers, we knew that this was a terrorist attack, and we realized at that point that we would not be going up to Capitol Hill to brief on missile defense, we would be going up to brief on who was responsible, who were the terrorists that attacked our country," she said.
Carozza says in the hours after the attack, she was back in the Pentagon, as the Defense Department defiantly held a press conference.
"Secretary Rumsfeld wants to send a message to the world that while we may have been hit, we are up and running at the Pentagon. And that was a very powerful message for the world to hear and to reassure Americans," she said.
Carozza says she was guided by a higher power on that day, and in the years that followed.
"It was my faith that I think allowed me to be as supportive as I could be."
Carozza says that fateful day changed everything for her.
"September 11th became a life changing event for me both professionally and personally. I didn't make a decision that day but what has come about since September 11th and I look to that day that it became a pivotal moment that the rest of my life would be spent in public service," she said.
Carozza says in the moments after the plane hit the Pentagon, she assisted with a makeshift morgue on the grounds of the building. At least 189 people died at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
