BOYS & GIRLS CLUB 911 MEMORIAL VIDEO

Standing among 343 American flags Friday morning, Edenton Fire Chief Billy Bass was surrounded by reminders of firefighters who answered their final call 25 years ago.

For Bass, the Sept. 11 observance at Veterans Memorial Park carried an additional significance. After 37 years with the Edenton Fire Department, Friday was his final day before retirement.

The field of flags belonged to 343 other firefighters.

Each represented a member of the New York City Fire Department who died on Sept. 11, 2001 — men who went to work that morning not knowing that before the day was over, their sacrifice would become part of American history.

Bonnie Henn, Regent of the Edenton Tea Party Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, opened the 343 Flags of Honor Dedication Ceremony by asking those gathered to look beyond the number.

“The 343 flags remind us that 343 is not just a number,” Henn said. “They were sons. They were fathers, husbands and brothers. And today we remember them.”

The ceremony was presented by the Edenton Tea Party Chapter NSDAR in partnership with American Legion Posts 40, 126 and 362.

But Henn's opening message was as much about what followed Sept. 11 as the tragedy itself.

“In the days following September 11, Americans reached for one another,” she said. “We were reminded that the things that unite us are far greater than those that divide us.”

Following the posting of the colors and Chris Nagle's performance of the National Anthem, Sandra Williams, chaplain of the Edenton Tea Party Chapter, offered an invocation remembering the victims, their families and those who ran toward danger rather than away from it.

“We remember the immense bravery of the first responders who rushed into danger on September 11,” Williams prayed, before asking for continued protection, strength and peace for those serving today and for “their families, who carry the weight of their service and sacrifice.”

For one man standing before the flags Friday, the events of Sept. 11 were experienced firsthand.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Gary Kollmann was working inside the Pentagon when it was attacked. A 27-year Army veteran who later spent 14 years as a defense contractor, Kollmann now lives in Hertford and serves as adjutant of American Legion Post 126.

His morning had begun routinely.

“We went to work, we talked with our coworkers, and made plans for the day ahead,” Kollmann recalled. “None of us could imagine what was about to happen. Then, in a matter of minutes, everything changed.”

Kollmann and his coworkers were watching television coverage of the attacks in New York when the Pentagon's fire alarm sounded. They evacuated into the parking lot.

“As I was exiting, I looked overhead and did notice the smoke originating from the other side of the building,” he said. “It wasn't until a few minutes later that the news got out that the building had, indeed, been hit by an airplane.”

An individual carrying a satellite phone eventually began moving around the perimeter telling people to take cover.

“Where are we gonna hide? In the parking lot?” Kollmann remembered wondering.

Before cell phones were commonplace, another concern quickly became deeply personal.

“I remember the confusion, and unfortunately, without cell phones, the inability to call my wife and daughters to tell them I was all right,” Kollmann said.

When he returned to work the following day, evidence of what had happened remained.

“It was an eerie feeling to smell the smoke in the hallways and on my uniform.”

Kollmann said 184 people lost their lives at the Pentagon.