An Arlington, Virginia, family recently met someone who has an indelible connection to their deceased father that was forged in the chaos and smoking debris at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Lloyde England nearly was impaled in his taxicab that day by a flying utility pole that was knocked down by American Airlines Flight 77 as it crashed into the Pentagon at 530 mph. After realizing his cab wouldn’t start, England eventually began walking home, dazed and in some pain.
He walked some of the way with a military officer from the Pentagon. Before parting, one of them spotted a dollar bill on the ground.
“He signed one part of the dollar bill, I signed the other part of the dollar bill, and he gave me the side of the dollar bill that he signed, and I’m going to keep this,” England told News4 on Sept. 16, 2001. “It might not mean anything to anyone else, but as long as I’m alive, it means something to me.”
He died Dec. 28, 2020, after a lengthy illness.
On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, News4 reporter Shomari Stone surprised England’s daughter Nancy England-Adams by locating the military officer whose signature was on the half of the dollar bill her father kept and which she still had. Marc Vandeveer still had his half, with Lloyde England’s signature on it.
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Vandeveer had moved out of the D.C. area, so when the opportunity to meet England’s family came in early June, he took it.
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“Everyone on the planet that observed the 9/11 events knew where they were, and no one will ever forget that moment, and it’s these human stories and connections that make it all the more special,” Vandeveer said.
“We stayed in contact the whole time since our first interview,” England-Adams said. “We called each other, we wished each other holidays and Father’s Days and Mother’s Days and texting, so we stayed in contact.”
