Images of hijacked airplanes exploding into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, will forever be ingrained in the minds of many Americans.

But State Sen. Brian Birdwell’s memories of that day are even more vivid — the sound of a plane ripping into the Pentagon, a hallway filled with black smoke, fire burning his flesh.

Nine years ago, Lt. Col. Birdwell was working in the Pentagon as the military aide to the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for installation management for the Department of the Army.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell was injured while working in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was struck by terrorists.
Tom Horan/Associated Press

American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building about 20 yards from his office, igniting a fire that covered about 60 percent of his body.

“The blast, the vacuum, the concussion, all that should have killed me,” Birdwell said Friday. “But I survived through that.”

Minutes before, Birdwell and two other staff members knelt in prayer after watching two planes hijacked by al-Qaeda operatives hit the World Trade Center in New York in a coordinated terrorist attack.

He left to go to the restroom and that was the last time he would see the two women alive.

“You didn’t hear the jet coming, but you heard the impact,” Birdwell said. “And in the next nanosecond I hear the blast and the vacuum. It tosses me around inside the hallway and that next nanosecond I’m trying to get up as I’m burning.”

The fire burned away large areas of his body — there were second and third-degree burns on his legs, thigh, back, arms and chest. His name tag and Pentagon access card melted. His leather shoes and belt were the only clothing items that remained intact.

His wife, Mel Birdwell, recalls being at home with the couple’s then 12-year-old son Matt working on a school project. A neighbor called to tell her to turn on the news and as soon as she saw the rubble she feared her husband was dead.

“The first thing I see is the air traffic control tower and the helipad, and I knew that was right outside Brian’s window,” Mel Birdwell said.

“As soon as I saw that, I knew that if he was in his office at that moment, there was really no way he could have survived it.”

Birdwell also had resigned himself to dying as he lay collapsed on the floor, in pain and unable to see anything but dark smoke clouds and fire around him.

Though the plane had destroyed many water pipes, a sprinkler directly above Birdwell cut on and extinguished the flames covering his body. He rose to his feet and stumbled toward the building’s main hallway, where four men would carry him to get emergency medical care.

He was taken to Georgetown Hospital for care.

Dr. Michael Williams, the trauma director who attended to Birdwell, had completed a two-year fellowship at Washington Hospital Center where he studied under the city’s top two burn trauma physicians.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell underwent months of rehab after being severely burned in the attack.

Birdwell was sedated for 36 hours as doctors worked to remove dead tissue, make small incisions throughout his body to reduce swelling and begin making skin grafts.

Road to recovery

He was transferred to the burn unit at Washington Hospital Center, where he remained in the intensive care unit for 26 days.

He stayed in the hospital for another two months undergoing physical therapy.

Since his recovery, Birdwell and his wife established Face the Fire, a nonprofit organization that gives financial aide to burn survivors, wounded servicemen and women, and their families.

The organization has given more than $200,000 in aid to victims and their families since 2003, Birdwell said.

The couple also wrote a book in 2004 about how their faith in God helped them survive to inspire other burn and trauma survivors. Proceeds from the book help fund the nonprofit.

“When you’re on this side of it, you realize what a blessing that trial and tribulation is, that the Lord was preparing you for other things,” Birdwell said.

Every year on the anniversary of the attack, the Birdwells look at the clock and relive each major moment as the day unfolded. Mel Birdwell also calls the families of other people injured in the attack to check on them.

The couple will spend some time Saturday with their son, now a senior at Texas Tech University.

They also will travel throughout District 22 for events honoring veterans and emergency responders.

“As we go to our football games and experience the enjoyment living in this nation, remember who is paying the price for that,” Birdwell said. “Keep our men and women in your prayers for their safety and the success of their missions.”

rdennis@wacotrib.com

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