A Sioux City native who survived the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, says it’s time for the men accused of plotting the attacks 25 years ago to finally face trial.
John Grote was in his office about 150 yards from where a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon.
He received the Soldier’s Medal for his rescue efforts and a Purple Heart for injuries he suffered that day.
“Everybody always asks me, like, why did you do it? My thought has always been, well, I would hope to God that if I was the one stuck in there, somebody else would be trying to dig me out, and I always felt like, you know, I wasn't doing anything special. I just did what I would hope somebody would have done for me,” he said.
Grote says the aftermath of the attack still lingers at times.
“My regret there and my survivor's guilt there is that we could still hear people screaming that we absolutely could not get to,” he said.
Grote retired from the military in 2015 and now lives in Wyoming. He planned to attend a ceremony at the Pentagon Friday marking the anniversary of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
In late August, a trial date was set for 2028 for the four men who have spent years at Guantanamo Bay for their alleged roles in the 9/11 attacks.
Grote has been named as a prosecution witness and has traveled to Cuba many times for legal proceedings.
