09/05/2026
9/11 REMEMBERED: ALICIA O’DONNELL
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Alicia O’Donnell started her day with a run on the National Mall.
She returned to her Capitol Hill home, ate breakfast and read the Washington Post. Later, she arrived at the Rayburn House Office Building, where she was working as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Doug Bereuter of Nebraska.
Then a co-worker rushed into the room.
An airplane had hit the World Trade Center.
At first, Alicia and her colleagues wondered if it had been an accident. Then another co-worker gasped.
A second tower had been hit.
When word came that the Pentagon had been hit, Alicia was afraid the U.S. Capitol could be next. Soon, Representative Bereuter announced that his staff would evacuate.
Alicia emailed family and friends to let them know she was safe. She signed it “Love,” not knowing what might happen next.
With the Metro shut down and roads clogged, Alicia and a co-worker walked home. Other congressional staffers gathered at her Capitol Hill home after being unable to get back to Virginia.
With so much uncertainty, Alicia decided to do something ordinary: grill the chicken she had been marinating. People would be hungry, she thought.
Later, she called her grandmother and spent part of the afternoon reading in Lincoln Park and rollerblading along East Capitol Avenue.
The streets were empty.
“The empty sky was a beautiful blue with very few clouds. It was eerily quiet.”
The next morning, Alicia walked back to the U.S. Capitol. Overnight, barriers had appeared and the National Guard had a visible presence. Seeing soldiers in her neighborhood and at the Capitol made her “sick to my stomach and heart.”
Just nine days earlier, Alicia had eaten dinner with friends at Windows on the World in the World Trade Center, marveling at the view.
Her story captures how quickly an ordinary morning changed.
Five years ago, the Hastings Museum opened 9/11 Remembered, sharing personal stories from September 11, 2001. As we approach the 25th anniversary, we’ll share more stories from the exhibit to help us remember September 11 through the experiences of those who lived it.
