Retired Army Lt. Col. David Okada said he is forever grateful his life was spared that fateful day on Sept. 11, 2001 when terrorists hijacked a plane and intentionally crashed it into the Pentagon where he was working. He was supposed to be in a meeting in an area where the plane hit, but was called to an emergency meeting after the first plane hijacked by terrorists hit the Twin Towers in New York City.
“They were burned in place at the meeting that I was supposed to be at. That’s miracle number one,” Okada told the Rotary Club of Guam, which invited him to share his story on Thursday, the 24th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Okada said he thanks the Lord for keeping him alive as he could have died that day. “From my perspective, I’m going to say that I was very lucky,” Okada told Rotarians at Crowne Plaza Resort Guam in Tumon.
He said there were miracles and blessings along the way. “I think He had plans and He didn’t want us to forfeit those plans,” he said. He had just married his wife, Guam Community College President Mary Okada, earlier that year and he’s thankful he survived the attack. The next year, they celebrated the birth of their daughter. A total of 2,996 people died on Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and into the Pentagon. Another plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt.
