Task Force 2 member remembers 9/11

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - All week WAVY.com has been looking back at 9/11, and how it impacted Hampton Roads.

One local group had a direct hand in rescue and recovery efforts after the tragedy.

Task Force Two from Virginia Beach is a FEMA team sent to scenes of disaster. The group specializes in rescues, searches, medical treatment, logistics, and HAZMAT operations.

On 9/11 a call came for the group to, "get to the Pentagon."

"I actually had the TV on when the second tower got hit," Jim Ingledue said. 

Ingledue lead the search omponent of Task Force Two and witnessed 9/11 firsthand.

 "Man, it looked like a movie set. I thought it can't be real," Ingledue remembered of his arrival to the Pentagon.

Ingledue cannot and will not forget American Airlines Flight 77 passenger Suzanne Calley.

He found her driver's license in the wreckage of the crashed plane.

"I remember thinking this driver's license was like she had just picked it up from DMV. There wasn't a scratch on it, and it was found amongst all this [destruction]," Ingledue said.

As he collected personal items from the ruins, the license touched him emotionally.

"We had a bucket to put stuff in that we found. Then we took all the things and gave it to the FBI. Instead of just throwing the license in the bucket, I handed it to the FBI," Ingledue added. "I don't know why I picked up the license. I felt for her family. She didn't deserve it."

No one deserved it, yet in the ashes of what evil wrought, an image of resilience was generated by Task Force 2.

Video from that day shows the team shoring up the Pentagon. Shoring is done by criss-crossing wood that is usually six feet by six inches and building it to the top of a structure to provide support.

Ingledue said, "the symbolism of the Pentagon, and of America, and we were building shores making sure the building doesn't fall down anymore."

A few months later, at Christmastime Ingledue received the most powerful image of all at the City of Norfolk's grand illumination.

"I remember telling my 2-year-old daughter who was sitting in a car seat what a beautiful site it was to see the lights, and she said 'Daddy maybe a plane won't fly into it'," Ingledue, with tears in his eyes, said. "What a shame. What a shame that, that's the way she has to think about it...that made me mad...they [the terrorist] got to my 2-year-old daughter."