WVU faculty recount personal experiences of 9/11 attacks 25 years later

Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, 2001, three West Virginia University faculty members are reflecting on the lives lost, the fear that took hold, and the moment the world changed before their eyes.

Sean Ruth, Tom Witt, and Mark Lambert experienced the attacks from dramatically different vantage points: Ruth from a Morgantown apartment while trying to reach his father at the Pentagon, Witt from beneath the World Trade Center Twin Towers, and Lambert in Charleston preparing for a fire marshal shift.

To honor one of American history's most fateful days, WVU will host a Sept. 11 memorial event at 11:30 a.m. on the anniversary day in front of the Downtown Library Complex, featuring remarks from Witt and WVU President Michael T. Benson.

Morgantown - An agonizing wait for news from the Pentagon
"If you read all these stories about people explaining what the morning of Sept. 11 looked like, they all say it was a beautiful, sunny day with not a single cloud in the sky," said Sean Ruth, a WVU military c cience instructor. "It didn't matter whether you were in Washington D.C., New York City, or here in Morgantown. We all looked up at the same beautiful, blue sky."

Ruth was a student at WVU during the fall of 2001 while also serving in the West Virginia National Guard. He stopped by his apartment in downtown Morgantown after an early class that day. His roommate was the first person to tell him what happened.

"I walked upstairs and he had the news on. The first plane had hit. We were looking at smoke coming from the tower and as we're watching, the second plane hit. Being in the military, I knew this was not a coincidence and that we were under attack."

Ruth's father, William R. "Bill" Ruth, was an U.S. Army veteran of the Gulf War, a U.S. Marine helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, a UH-1H Huey pilot for the Maryland National Guard, commander of the Mount Airy Veterans of Foreign Wars, and an Army chief warrant officer at the Pentagon. He was also a high school social studies teacher.

"I remember when I was younger, he would take me to drill with him on weekends. Just seeing him in his uniform hop on the helicopters, I knew that I wanted to be a soldier when I grew up," Ruth said. "

He watched the news unfold as he prepared for his next class.

"As I opened the door to leave, I heard them say the Pentagon was hit and the TV showed smoke rolling out of the building. I immediately called my dad and got a busy signal. I tried calling all the way from Eighth Street to Eiesland Hall and even though I couldn't reach him, I could still hear him in the back of my mind saying, 'You need to go to class,'" Ruth said.

Later that evening, Ruth received a call stating that his father had been in the Pentagon that morning and was still unaccounted for. He withdrew to his bedroom and tried to shut out the world for the night.

"That's when my fraternity brothers in ROTC came and grabbed me and said, 'You're not going to sleep. You're coming and hanging out with us,' and they just kept me company the rest of the night. That shows just how important the bonds of fraternities and ROTC are. We all care about each other and that's something that even today hasn't changed at WVU," Ruth said.

The support continued when Ruth's West Virginia National Guard sergeant drove him from Morgantown to Washington when the Pentagon requested victims' families be present for confirmation that 125 people had been killed in the attack, including Bill Ruth.

He withdrew from WVU on Sept. 12, 2001, after his unit was activated. He was unable to deploy overseas, however, because he was responsible for handling his father's estate; his older brother died two years earlier.

Ruth later served in Iraq in 2005 and in Afghanistan in 2008. He spent 20 years with the West Virginia National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) before retiring in 2019.

Whether it was fate or a full-circle moment that led him back to WVU is still unclear, but when the military instructor position presented itself, he once again followed his father's example and found a passion for sharing his military knowledge and experience with students.

"It's a dream job of mine. WVU being my alma mater, I bleed gold and blue. Being a part of the WVU ROTC program allows me to be back on campus with students," Ruth said. "I'm helping future generations of U.S. soldiers and future leaders of the military that my generation, my father's generation, and my grandfather's generation helped build. It's so special to be part of that tradition and pass that on to my students."

Manhattan - Witnessing tragedy, finding community
Retired WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics professor Tom Witt found himself in the middle of a tragedy.

Witt was in New York City with his wife, Grethe Myles, for the National Association for Business Economics annual conference, held at the Marriott World Trade Center that stood between the North and South towers. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Witt attended a breakfast meeting in the hotel's grand ballroom and heard an explosion that rattled the walls and chandeliers in the building. Witt and other conference members made their way outside to investigate when they saw clouds of smoke pouring out of the North Tower and fill the clear blue sky above them.

"I found a pay phone and called my office to let them know where I was. We weren't quite sure at that stage what had happened, but while I was on the phone, I looked up, and I saw the second plane hit the South Tower.

"I was dumbfounded; it was such an unbelievable event. We could see where something had hit the first tower, but then to see an actual large plane hit the second tower, it was just beyond comprehension."

Myles was hearing impaired, but she recognized the flaming debris falling outside her room window as a sign to evacuate the building. She grabbed a few items and made her way down 10 flights before being redirected through the South Tower by a security guard. She was halfway through the plaza of the shopping mall underneath the World Trade Center when the second plane hit the South Tower.

Myles escaped safely and walked toward the East Side of Manhattan, while her husband continued traveling through the West Side, still alongside several conference members.

"Bodegas were providing free water and drinks to individuals. Some places were bringing out television sets that were showing what was going on in the world. We could see that the Pentagon had been hit," Witt explained. "We saw fighter jets in the sky. We weren't quite sure if the United States was being invaded or not. We went into one bodega to get some water, and as we came out, we looked up and saw the first tower fall."

Witt said a lot of people think that Manhattan is a cold place and not very personal.

"I'll tell you on that day, we saw various groups of people coming together, offering comfort, support, food, drinks, and phones to call loved ones, it was like a series of small villages coming together to support each other and that's one of the things that really has stayed with me over the years."

Witt and his wife were reunited with nothing but the clothes they had on and were unable to return to West Virginia for several more days.

Witt recounts his experience annually for articles and news interviews but says he'll never let that moment define him. Instead, he's let it reshape his life for the better and encourages others to have the same approach in hard times.

Charleston - Responding amid uncertainty
In Charleston, Mark Lambert, WVU Extension Fire Service director, was preparing to begin a shift as an investigator with the West Virginia State Fire Marshal's Office.

Before heading out the door, Lambert saw breaking news coverage from NBC's "Today" of the first plane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

"I remember Matt Lauer saying, 'We're going live to Manhattan where a plane appears to have just struck one of the Twin Towers,'" Lambert said. "Everyone was in shock just wondering what had happened, and then the second plane hit. Then everything started going off - my pager, my phone, my radio. It became sort of a whirlwind, because by the second plane we knew this wasn't an accident."

A graduate of the WVU International Studies Program, Lambert had a background and understanding of foreign affairs, but like most people, could not have predicted what was that day would bring.

"I knew it was going to be one of those defining moments in history, but once both towers collapsed, I also knew the world would never be the same," Lambert said.

In 2001, the state bomb squad operated jointly with the West Virginia State Fire Marshal's Office. Throughout that shift and in the days that followed, Lambert worked alongside bomb squad members and the West Virginia State Police, responding to a surge of calls reporting suspicious activity.

"Everybody was paranoid about suspicious packages and things like that. Fortunately, everything turned out to be a false alarm, but at the time nobody knew, and everything had to be treated with uncertainty," he said.

Lambert said he spent the following weeks traveling around the state to increase law enforcement visibility and reassure residents.

"We were resilient as a country. Americans supported Americans when it mattered, and that's the thing to remember," Lambert said. "I like to think of us as a family. We can fight among ourselves, but we stand up for one another when it's coming from somewhere else. I think a lot of Americans believe that in their hearts."

-WVU-

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