Dwight Dixon, District Ranger, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
Interviewed by Mark Schoepfle, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist
January 14, 2002 at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

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MARK SCHOEPFLE: Well, Dwight, the first question I just want to ask -- an open-ended one -- from the moment you were aware of what had happened, what went on? What started?

DWIGHT DIXON: All right. I had my patrol vehicle in the shop that morning, getting the oil changed, and the owner of the shop had a TV going in his office, and came out and told me that a plane … had hit the World Trade Center, not knowing if it was an accident or what else… A short time later he came back out and said a second one had hit the other World Trade Tower. At that point, I sort of knew in the back of my mind that that couldn't be an accident. I left the shop…and went to the local Ranger station there in Hancock, Maryland. I was to meet another Ranger there that morning for another assignment, and ran into him, and briefed him on what had happened, and we went there to the Ranger station, and made a call to our Communications Center…Our Communication Center handles all the communications for the entire region, including those parts in and around the DC area.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: This Communications Center is where?

DWIGHT DIXON: It's here in the park, but it's a regional communications center, the National Capitol Region Communication Center…they had the news going, and were receiving calls about other things going on, including a report that there had been a bombing or something on the Mall area, which turned out to be false, and by that time another plane had struck the Pentagon. They had a report at that time, as well, that another plane was missing and feared down, but they didn't know the location. It turned out to be the plane in Pennsylvania.

At that point, I got the other Ranger and we started to the Communications Center, ourselves, so that we could get all the information directly. In route to the Communications Center here at Ferry Hill from Hancock, I got a radio call that the Regional Chief Ranger wanted all available law enforcement personnel to come immediately to the DC area, so through radio traffic, I had the Communications Center start contacting all of my on-duty and off-site Rangers, and have them either respond directly to DC, the staging area there, or to meet up here at Ferry Hill … We were probably here at the Communications Center for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, getting some supplies and gear together, and then we went to directly to DC, the staging area there, which was at the [George Washington] Parkway [Headquarters] there. …

We met the Regional Chief Ranger there, and he was going to give our assignments, put us into teams, and actually have us go out and help the Park Police or whoever else wanted, whatever agencies might need us in the DC area. I headed up one of the teams. The first five Rangers that got on the scene there went with me as Team One. We were dispatched from there to the Clara Barton Parkway, and there at the Clara Barton Parkway [was] the daycare center from the Pentagon -- they had evacuated all the children and the staff out to the Clara Barton Parkway. They were actually in the grass, adjacent to the Parkway there. With rollaway beds and strollers and blankets and, basically, they just got them out of the building and then they took them to that area. … There were probably about 50 to 60, altogether -- staff and children from infants up to toddlers in age that were all, I guess, children of the staff from the Pentagon. …

Our purpose was to…make sure that the children and the staff there were secure, and had whatever supplies that they needed. Interesting enough, the first thing that they were asking for when we arrived [[was] where [were the] diapers, because the infants, I guess, needed the diapers, and they hadn't been able to get any when they left the building. Someone was able to get some diapers and bring those over. We set up a perimeter around the children and the staff; blocked off one lane of the westbound traffic…There wasn't much leaving that route, at least out of DC. So, we blocked off that lane to make it a little safer with the children being there, in the grass along the side of the Parkway.

We got information from the Air Force. There was a Captain there from the Air Force that was kind of overseeing this part of the moving of the children, and he had…acquired the use of a DOT facility. If we could get the children there, they would be a lot safer in this building rather than out there in the grass along the Parkway, but the problem was getting them to that location. DOT is next to the Naval Annex Building. It's a short distance from the Pentagon, but on the other side of the Pentagon. About the time we were trying to figure out how to get the folks moved up there, a[n empty] tour bus came along, leaving DC. So, we basically just stopped the tour bus, and commandeered it, and asked [the driver] if he would be willing to help, and [he said] he would. He offered his assistance. We loaded all the children and blankets and everything we had there -- staff -- all on to the bus, and escorted it up to the DOT building, next to the Naval Annex. There we moved the children and staff and the rollaway cribs they had into that building. Someone was able to order up some food for them -- for the staff. I guess they hadn't had lunch or anything.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: Wow.

DWIGHT DIXON: The children -- I believe they got some food for them, some formula for the infants, and that sort of thing. We set up security around that building, and basically waited for the parents to come and pick their children up, and not knowing who these parents were, of course, we checked ID and had staff members confirm that these were, indeed, their children that they were picking up. And we assisted with some traffic there in front of DOT. It was also a staging point for the State Police, and some of the FBI, so we assisted with some of the traffic control in that location. A lot of emergency vehicles were using that route to get down to the Pentagon.

The bus route over to DOT from Clara Barton, unfortunately, took us right in front of the Pentagon. The staff from the daycare evacuated out of the back of the Pentagon, and had not seen the front where the plane had hit the building. So unfortunately, they had to see that, and a few of them, of course, were emotional about seeing that -- that scene. Pretty much by 5:30 or so, all the children had been picked up by a parent. The only remaining were a couple of staff members, and the Air Force Captain and his wife, who was also in the Air Force. They only lived a short ways from there, and of course, they couldn't get their vehicles, because that area was blocked off…at the Pentagon, and so we transported the Air Force Captain and his wife to their home. The other staff members -- there was a motel across the street, and they went to that location to call to have someone come pick them up, as they were unable to get to their vehicles, as well.

A second Park Service team had gotten together after we had departed the staging area, and they went to the Mall. I'm not sure what their duties then were.

Once we had completed that, and all the children were picked up, we called back to the staging area to see what our next assignment was, and pretty much they had gotten everything secured, and the Park Police had secured the Mall area along with Park Team Two, and we departed DC, and we came back home. …

MARK SCHOEPFLE: When you say that you secured the area where the kids and the staff were -- what did that entail?

DWIGHT DIXON: Well, I had six people on my team, and we spread out, and basically had a secure perimeter around the children. Of course, these were all well-armed Law Enforcement officers. I had a couple of them -- were being sure that traffic was safe, and getting by them there on the Parkway. I had a couple of others that were stopping folks that were bicycling or walking along the trail there, adjacent to the Parkway, between the Parkway, and the Potomac River, asking them to get off their bikes and walk through the area, because of the children, and being sure that no one came into the area armed that was not a local officer, or known to us. And just generally being sure of the safety of the staff and the children.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: Okay. And did anybody come into this that was armed?

DWIGHT DIXON: Yes. There [were] a couple of officers, and I forget the department they were with. I can't recall whether they were Secret Service Officers. They had their credentials, and were badged, and I believe they're actually the ones that [got] diapers and other provisions for the children. But they were in plain clothes. They properly identified themselves. They were of great assistance to us.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: … What else did they do?

DWIGHT DIXON: Well, some blankets for the children to lay on. I believe they also brought some water down.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: How were the kids taking it? I mean, how were they --

DWIGHT DIXON: Well, I don't believe at their age they realized what was going on. I think it was probably more like a field trip for them -- you know, we're going -- the idea of going down to the river, and they have a picnic … but I don't think they knew exactly what was happening.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: And the staff? How would they operate under this?

DWIGHT DIXON: They were extremely professional in doing their job. Again, they went out the back, so they weren't really completely aware of what had happened. They knew a plane had hit, but they weren't aware of the damage that it had done, and had not seen it until we drove by, relocating them -- particular, they were all composed, and doing their job, and doing a great job in taking care of the children. …

MARK SCHOEPFLE: So you all were finished --- did you say about 5:00 o'clock?

DWIGHT DIXON: I'd say 5:30, maybe 6:00 o'clock we were probably leaving the DC area, 5:50-6:00 o'clock.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: What happened then?

DWIGHT DIXON: We weren't sure if we were going to stay all night, or a week, or whatever, but we all knew that that was a possibility, so we were a bit surprised when we were released that night. I had my team go ahead and take their vehicles to their residence in case we were called back out that night or early the next morning. The thought was that most likely we would be dispatched back down there for additional security or other details the next morning. We got a call the next morning about 10:00 o'clock -- 9:00 or 10:00 o'clock -- that pretty much everything had stabilized and was secure, and just basically to be on the radio in our park.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: Okay. So, for the rest of [the second] day, what happened?

DWIGHT DIXON: We just kept on our normal duties here in the park, and monitoring the radio. Of course, there's a heightened awareness in our patrols, looking for anything suspicious. We kept getting communications, through our dispatch of vehicles that may or may not be associated with the terrorist acts, and we were looking for those. … The park on the first day was shut down. The superintendent closed all buildings and sent everyone home.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: So, on the 12th were they back in business or what?

DWIGHT DIXON: Pretty much. They may have had some areas down towards DC that -- they probably weren't back to complete normal down there, but everybody up in Western Maryland was back to pretty much normal operations.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: Okay. When you say that you were on a heightened level of alertness, the one thing you mentioned that you were doing was keeping close attention to the radio dispatches to watch out for vehicles and suspicious characters. What other things were part of this awareness?

DWIGHT DIXON: Suspicious packages in and around buildings. We checked our camp grounds to be sure that somebody would not be holed up in our camp grounds.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: Did you find anything of interest, or did anything happen that was noteworthy or anything like that?

DWIGHT DIXON: No. We -- pretty much everything was normal for now.

MARK SCHOEPFLE: What happened in the days after that? This was sort of the second day we're talking about. And the park had been closed down the first day. By the second day things were more or less, you're saying, back to normal?

DWIGHT DIXON: Back to normal, as far as park operations; we were still getting requests for personnel to go out on security at other areas. I sent two Rangers up to Boston for a security detail up there, … I think it is as normal as we can get it at this point, given our staffing, and what we're being asked to do, as far as helping out with some of these other sites. It's not unusual to be short-staff at any park. We're all -- you know, we all need staff, and so you learn to adapt and kind of cope with that. There were some long days and long weeks, of course, right after the events of the 11th, but that's kind of fit into the schedule now. …

I know that the team I have -- the team of Rangers -- were the most professional. We got there. We had a job to do; it wasn't completely clear at times, but we did it. They were great guys. We accomplished what we were sent down there to do.

September 11, 2001 Oral History Documentation Project
National Capital Region, National Park Service

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