The names of the thousands of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America will be invoked in communities all across America on Sunday’s 10th anniversary and events leading up to it. For some of the survivors the events will be therapeutic and for some like opening an almost healed wound.
John Yamnicky was one of those victims. He belonged to Southern Maryland in so many ways. He lived with his wife on a farm in Waldorf with their children close by then and now. He worked for defense contractor Veridian in California, MD and was on a business trip that fateful day when his plane was flown into the Pentagon.
Yamnicky, 71, was a retired naval aviator. He was Navy through and through. According to his son, Yamnicky worked on the F/A 18 fighter jet. The Naval Academy graduate became a Navy test pilot, flying an A-4 attack plane. He served in Korea and Vietnam. A friend of the family, Cindy Sharpley, said, “He crash landed five times and walked away from them each. But not this time.”
The pictures and some of the material for this article are used with permission from the website www.arlingtoncemetery.net which also has information of many of the other 9/11 victims. The webmaster of the site, Michael Robert Patterson, is working on a book on Arlington National Cemetery, where Yamnicky and many of the other victims are buried.
Two documents written close to 9/11 tell more accurately than any interview 10 years removed about the trauma for those left behind. We present both below in hopes that the memory of John Yamnicky, and all of the other victims, will survive as a vivid reminder to all of us, for we are indeed all survivors who remember that day and where we were that day. The reminder is that we must ever be vigilant so that there is not another 9/11 and another 10th anniversary.
The first letter below was sent to www.arlingtoncemetery.net just short of the first anniversary by Yamnicky’s daughter Lorraine Yamnicky Dixon of Mechanicsville. The second document is the eulogy for Yamnicky read at the funeral mass by friend and Veridian co-worker Dennis Plautz. Both are presented with permission of the author. Please read them and learn first-hand about John Yamnicky.
Lorraine Yamnicky Dixon
“It’s just difficult to put words and feelings of an entire year of pain into a few paragraphs.
“My father, John D. Yamnicky, Sr. was on Flight #77 that crashed into the Pentagon.
“Do you want to know how I feel, and what I think about? I relive that morning and that day over and over and over again, and I get sick with the memories. They never go away. The closer the anniversary date comes, the more frightened I become. Over the past year, I have battled with various emotions – anger, pain, and grief. I look at my young children and cry yet again, knowing that Daddy will never see them grow up. I cry knowing how much he loved them, and how very proud he was of his grandchildren. When I cry, my children hug me and say, “you miss him, don’t you”, because they know why I cry. Then they say, “God bless Granddaddy”, and “Mommy don’t cry, because he is in heaven with God”. Then I remember when the children were so little….my son and daughters used to climb all over him – he was so big, and they were so tiny. And he was so proud.
“My father and I worked in the same building, on the same floor. I go to work and cry and feel sick inside, because I know that never again will I see him smiling at me in the hallway. I feel so lost sometimes, because there are so many times that I want to run up to him, or call
John Yamnicky was one of those victims. He belonged to Southern Maryland in so many ways. He lived with his wife on a farm in Waldorf with their children close by then and now. He worked for defense contractor Veridian in California, MD and was on a business trip that fateful day when his plane was flown into the Pentagon.
Yamnicky, 71, was a retired naval aviator. He was Navy through and through. According to his son, Yamnicky worked on the F/A 18 fighter jet. The Naval Academy graduate became a Navy test pilot, flying an A-4 attack plane. He served in Korea and Vietnam. A friend of the family, Cindy Sharpley, said, “He crash landed five times and walked away from them each. But not this time.”
The pictures and some of the material for this article are used with permission from the website www.arlingtoncemetery.net which also has information of many of the other 9/11 victims. The webmaster of the site, Michael Robert Patterson, is working on a book on Arlington National Cemetery, where Yamnicky and many of the other victims are buried.
Two documents written close to 9/11 tell more accurately than any interview 10 years removed about the trauma for those left behind. We present both below in hopes that the memory of John Yamnicky, and all of the other victims, will survive as a vivid reminder to all of us, for we are indeed all survivors who remember that day and where we were that day. The reminder is that we must ever be vigilant so that there is not another 9/11 and another 10th anniversary.
The first letter below was sent to www.arlingtoncemetery.net just short of the first anniversary by Yamnicky’s daughter Lorraine Yamnicky Dixon of Mechanicsville. The second document is the eulogy for Yamnicky read at the funeral mass by friend and Veridian co-worker Dennis Plautz. Both are presented with permission of the author. Please read them and learn first-hand about John Yamnicky.
Lorraine Yamnicky Dixon
“It’s just difficult to put words and feelings of an entire year of pain into a few paragraphs.
“My father, John D. Yamnicky, Sr. was on Flight #77 that crashed into the Pentagon.
“Do you want to know how I feel, and what I think about? I relive that morning and that day over and over and over again, and I get sick with the memories. They never go away. The closer the anniversary date comes, the more frightened I become. Over the past year, I have battled with various emotions – anger, pain, and grief. I look at my young children and cry yet again, knowing that Daddy will never see them grow up. I cry knowing how much he loved them, and how very proud he was of his grandchildren. When I cry, my children hug me and say, “you miss him, don’t you”, because they know why I cry. Then they say, “God bless Granddaddy”, and “Mommy don’t cry, because he is in heaven with God”. Then I remember when the children were so little….my son and daughters used to climb all over him – he was so big, and they were so tiny. And he was so proud.
“My father and I worked in the same building, on the same floor. I go to work and cry and feel sick inside, because I know that never again will I see him smiling at me in the hallway. I feel so lost sometimes, because there are so many times that I want to run up to him, or call
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