Published Sep 9, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
A Pentagon Widow’s Message 25 Years After 9/11: ‘Remember How We Were as a Nation’
A Pentagon widow remembers the kindness and unity that followed 9/11. Twenty-five years later, she hopes Americans can find it again.
Laurie Laychak remembers the flags. They flew from houses and cars in the Washington, D.C., area after Sept. 11, 2001. But she remembers something else, too. People talked to strangers in grocery stores. Drivers seemed kinder to one another. Political differences suddenly felt insignificant. The country had suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in its history, and Laychak had suffered an intensely personal loss: Her husband, Dave, was killed while working as a civilian budget analyst for the Department of the Army at the Pentagon. Twenty-five years later, as the nation prepares to mark a milestone anniversary of the attacks, Laychak wants Americans to remember more than what happened that day. She wants them to remember who they became afterward.
Let's remember how we were as a nation, Laychak told Military.com. How kind we were to one another.
