‘Like a footprint in the sand’

As the United States marks 20 years since 9/11, one Graham County man has an intimate connection to the country’s worst terrorist attack. 

As a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent based in Knoxville, Tenn., 73-year-old Gary Holloway was one of several agents involved in the investigation and cleanup of the United Airlines Flight 93 crash near Shanksville, Pa. The Boeing 757 was one of four aircraft hijacked in the attack and was believed to be headed for the U.S. Capitol – or another high-value target in Washington D.C. – before passengers staged a revolt, causing the plane to crash into the Pennsylvania field. All 44 on board perished. 

The flight was initially headed from Newark Liberty International Airport to San Francisco International Airport. 

“We got the call and I was the person that took care of the equipment on the evidence response team,” Holloway said. “We had a big Suburban packed with all of this crime scene stuff and we had a big dual-axle trailer. As soon as we saw what was going on, I knew that’s where we were going.”

In their hurry to leave their base, the agents nearly destroyed their transport.

“Luckily, they found it had a cracked bearing, and that would’ve wrecked us, loaded heavy and pulling out pretty quick,” Holloway said. 

He discussed the work he and other agents did at the crash site.

“It looked like a footprint in the sand. You could see the outline of a plane in the ground,” Holloway said. “Best I recall, it went down 55 or 65 feet to bedrock. It was a reclaimed coal mine.” 

He said that in the impact of the crash, the rear of the jet had been thrown into nearby woods.

“We’d go through there and pick up debris, and the next day you’d go back through there and something else would fall out of a tree, and you’d pick that up,” Holloway said. “I think they had two trackhoes right at the pit, and they’d dig it out and set it on top. Then a guy would come with a rubber tire backhoe and scoop up a big bucket full of that and come out there where we were, and we had rakes and stuff, and raise his bucket up as high as it would go, then back up real slow and dump it in a big, long strip, maybe a six-inch, four-inch pile of dirt and we’d take our rakes and go through every bit of that.”

Holloway said it was difficult to find much in the wreckage due to the high-speed impact the aircraft had made with the ground. He said the passengers’ remains could not be identified and were only confirmed through DNA testing. 

“We did find a passport of one of the bad guys,” Holloway said. “It was in an old, ragged suit coat pocket. We called that in, and they sent helicopters from D.C. down and got it back right then – because we didn’t know who they were – and that was really a big help right there. That was their big find, I think right there. There was 44 people on board and we got DNA off of 44 people.”

With emotion in his voice, Holloway said the work was still a difficult memory for him and that he did not return for memorials at the site. 

“I’d rather be at home, be low-key and do my own thing,” Holloway said. “I was just proud to be able to go do my part. I think it’s sacred ground up there.” 

Still, he keeps some mementos from his FBI service, including a plaque with a poem about Flight 93 printed on it, and another presented to him at his retirement from the FBI after 38 years of service. 

The license plate on his truck reads “LESROLL” for the phrase “let’s roll,” said by Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer before him and other passengers attempted to take back control of the plane. 

After working at the Flight 93 Crash site, Holloway spent some time working at Ground Zero in New York City, where he assisted in the recovery of a pistol carried by one of the 37 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officers killed in the attack. 

“There was snow on the ground,” Holloway said. “It was cold. We found a lot more at the trade center than we did at Shanksville.”

He said that he wished the nation was as unified as it was following 9/11. 

“The way the world’s going, and the way the United States is going, it’s not what we were 20 years ago,” Holloway said. “I think everybody was just pulling together and very patriotic right then, and that was such a good thing. We needed that then. 

“It’s a shame that we had to have a catastrophe like that pulling people together, but that’s just the way it is.”