9/11 at the Pentagon, Part 2

Episode Transcript

Bob: In May of 1986, when Brian and Mel Birdwell stood face-to-face and became man and wife, they pledged that their marriage would be for better or for worse. On September 11th, when an airplane crashed into the Pentagon, and Brian was burned over 70 percent of his body, worse had arrived. It was all in the plan of God.

Mel: There’s been a lot of days when I didn’t like the plan, but I can’t just go, “Well, I’m done. I’m tired of this. I’m not doing it anymore.” He is alive, and that’s what matters, and you just go from there.

Brian: Visiting hours were from 8 to 8, so I always saw Mel first thing, 8:00. When I looked at that clock, and the minute hand was at the top of the hour, and the hour hand was on the 8, I’d look in that door, and there she was.

Mel: Your spouse is a gift from God, and he is the gift that God’s given me twice. He gave him to me on May 16th of 1987, and He gave him to me again on September 11th.

[applause]

Brian: That’s right.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, July 2ns. Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. Today we’ll hear the story of a marriage that was tested and refined by fire.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us on the Friday edition. It has been sobering this week as we’ve been reminded of events that took place in our nation on September 11, 2001. I think one of the things I’ve been sobered by, Dennis, is how quickly we’ve forgotten what took place on September 11gh as a nation. It seems like the reality of that event – it’s old news, and life is kind of back to normal, and that’s too bad.

Dennis: It really is, and it is too bad. Do you remember back around that time after 9/11 that you’d drive down the road, and you’d see all these fast food marquees – “God Bless America,” “Pray for America,” “May God Help Us.” We were under attack. Well, the reality is, Bob, we have been under a spiritual attack since the day this nation was birthed. Many of the spiritual components that our founding fathers established this nation under have been under attack – truth and liberty – and there is a spiritual, I believe, a spiritual component to life that we don’t see that perhaps if we could see it as vividly as those images of September 11, well, maybe it would be seared in our hearts to spend more time in prayer for our leaders and for our nation and for our churches, because America is not only under attack physically, but spiritually, for issues like marriage and family.

Think about what’s happened in the last – oh, I’d say, 12 to 18 months around the subject of marriage. Marriage, as a subject, is no longer the same sacred vow between a man and a woman for a lifetime. It’s been shredded by divorce over the past two or three decades, but now it’s being redefined. And if there’s ever been a time when FamilyLife has kind of rolled up its sleeves and said, “You know what? We are resolute about the message of Scripture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to remain steadfast and firm to present the truth as we know the Bible teaches it. And the Bible is clear – marriage is between a man and a woman in a sacred covenant relationship with their God for a lifetime.

And that’s why, a number of years ago, Bob, we actually began to honor long-term marriage, covenant marriage between a man and a woman. We said, you know, someone in the culture needs to stand up and really honor those folks who are making their marriages work. Plato said, “What is honored in a land will be cultivated there.” And we wanted to honor long-term, covenant-keeping marriage, and that’s why we created the McQuilkin Award.

Bob: The McQuilkin Award is presented annually to a recipient who exemplifies the kind of courage, covenant-keeping love that Robertson McQuilkin showed as he cared for his wife Muriel during the many years that she suffered with Alzheimer’s disease, and on our program this week we’ve been revisiting the story of an individual who showed that kind of courageous covenant-keeping love, as she helped her husband recuperate from the injuries that he received in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Brian Birdwell was at work that day when the plane hit …

Dennis: … really, right underneath his office.

Bob: That’s right. He was burned over 70 percent of his body. It was miraculous that he lived. He went through a long period of physical therapy, a long period of medical treatment, and Mel was right there taking care of him the whole way. Brian and Mel have just written a book called “Tested by Fire,” that tells their story. And we knew that many of our listeners in the Washington, D.C. area had been present at one of our arena events at the MCI Center when presented the McQuilkin Award to Mel Birdwell, but most of our listeners had never heard that presentation. And so we thought one of the things we wanted to do this week was let folks hear the rest of the story, as we had a chance to talk to Brian and Mel about what took place on that day, September 11, 2001, and about Brian’s recovery from those burns.

Dennis: You know, Bob, July 4th is a time of tremendous patriotism and, certainly, Brian and Mel Birdwell are a pair of great patriots for our nation because of the price they’ve paid by serving in the military. What you are about to hear, though, is a little snapshot into Mel Birdwell’s life and a picture of real courage applied to a marriage.

[tape]

Bob: It was one day last September when Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell left his desk at the Pentagon to go to the men’s room, and as he was walking out of the men’s room, he found himself engulfed in flames as a 757 hit the side of the Pentagon. We all remember that day. It’s frozen in our collective consciousness.

Brian Birdwell spent the next two months at Georgetown University Hospital recovering from burns over 70 percent of his body. Many of you have heard his name. In fact, I want you to watch another video clip, if you would. His story was featured on “Nightline” not long ago, as he talked about his recovery from the attack on the Pentagon.

(“Nightline” interview)

Brian: I knew I was on fire, and it hurt. I actually could see my hands, and it was just like looking at melted wax.

Man: Brian Birdwell had burns to his arms and hands, burns to his back, burns to his legs. Brian’s burns, are a pretty significant risk group for dying.

Mel: No, I never doubted he was going to make it. It was very scary, but I always had a faith in my heart that he was going to come home to us, and he was going to be fine.

Brian: There was a day or two period where I didn’t doubt God’s sovereignty, and I didn’t doubt Him why I was going through this, but I had wished I’d been taken – wished He had taken me in the fire.

Man: The heat that’s generated literally cooks the water out of the skin. The skin goes from being a flexible, living thing to something more like a tanned leather belt.

Mel: I’m staying, Brian, I’m going nowhere. I’m right here. And I wanted to be there, because I knew that he wouldn’t really understand a lot of times what they had done, and he would want an explanation and just be there to hold his hand and just to be there so he wasn’t by himself.

Most nights after surgery, I would spend the night in his room with him just to make sure he was okay and if he needed anything. It was my husband, and I felt like I need to be here.

Brian: She’s a great lady, isn’t she?

Mel: I know you pretty well.

Brian: Yes, yes.

Man: He’s not going to see very much rapid improvement. So his determination has to bridge him at this point through the slow part of the recovery.

Brian: There was a period where – I mean – I can put this hand behind my head right now. I can get this one almost there, and there was a period where if you moved this elbow any more than that, looking at my thumb, just – was excruciating.

Man: Brian, a year from now, will look pretty nearly like he looked before the injury.

Brian: Matthew was not with us for the first 10 weeks. It was hard, because I would only see him on weekends, and every time I would see him, it was like having my heart ripped out from me, because he would leave. So it was very hard. No 12-year-old should be expected to go through what he’s gone through and have separation of not just one parent but both parents, and one so critically ill. He’s a great kid. We were incredibly blessed with him, and we just want him to know that everything that’s happened that Brian has been cradled in God’s hand through this, and that nothing has touched his dad that God hasn’t sifted through His fingers. And so there is nothing that these people could do to his dad that we can’t overcome.

Brian: He has learned that his faith in God at his young age is very much strengthened.

Mel: Are you hurting?

Brian: My side is sore.

Mel: What would you like to do?

He asked me a couple of times, you know, could Dad still die? He’s so afraid of that, and he’s so protective of Brian now, and it’s just, you know, letting him know that we want him to know how much we love him, and we’re all going to get through this together.

Matt: Dad, which way do you want?

Brian: It doesn’t matter, buddy, I just want to be here with you guys.

Bob: As you watched that video, there are two heroes in that story. There is a man who survived the attack on the Pentagon, and a wife who, through her commitment and self-sacrifice, has cared for her husband. Would you welcome here today Brian and Mel Birdwell.

[applause]

Brian: Thank you very much, thank you.

Bob: You folks be seated for a second. Brian, come here. Step over here. Tell us about when you came to consciousness over at Georgetown, after you had been taken from the Pentagon, how many days after the attack was that, do you know?

Brian: Gosh, I’d guess three or four. I remember seeing you and making eye contact, but I don’t remember which day it was. Thursday morning, that would be the 13th.

Bob: And do you remember what you thought when you opened your eyes and Mel was there, and you looked around, and you were in the hospital. What did you think?

Brian: Gosh, I wish I could remember, because I was on some pretty heavy medication. I know, though, that in making eye contact, I had locked onto my helpmate. That was the lady that we had a rule – I had a rule, and she obeyed, fortunately, but visiting hours were from 8 to 8, so I always saw Mel first thing – 8:00. When I looked at the clock, and the minute hand was at the top of the hour, and the hour hand was on the 8, I’d look in that door, and there she was. So that eye contact was very important, no matter what day it was.

Bob: Tell us about the president coming to visit you that day.

Brian: Well, would you rather tell the story? I mean – I can tell the story, but I don’t even remember. I remember trying to salute, and that’s it.

Bob: Let me have Mel tell the story. Come here, Mel. Tell about when the president came.

Mel: The day the president came – it kind of starts out as a funny story. The Secret Service called me on my cell phone, and they said, “Ma’am, this is Special Agent so-and-so from the Secret Service, and the president would like to visit your husband.” And my first question was, “How’d you get my phone number?” And his answer …

Bob: … they are the Secret Service, right?

Mel: He says, “Ma’am, we’re the Secret Service.” Okay. So the president comes, and Mrs. Bush came in first, and she was – Brian had a tube down his throat, so he couldn’t talk, so I would read his lips for her, and they – she said, “You know, we’re very proud of you. We’re sorry that this has happened to you.” And she asked if we had children and pets and then they did the little Texas happy dance, because they’re both from Texas, and they talked about that. And then the president came in, and as the president enters the room, he says, “Col. Birdwell.” And when he said, “Col. Birdwell,” he raised his hand to salute Brian. And, at this point, Brian is – he only has sterile towels on his arms, because he’s going to surgery as soon as the president’s visit is over, and he has no skin on his arms. All you can see is, pretty much, muscle, because it was so badly burned.

And the president looks at Brian and sees that Brian is trying to return the salute with just the towels on his hand, and Brian probably gets to about this far, and the president just stands with tears in his eyes and watches Brian trying to return the salute, and when Brian dropped his salute, the president dropped his and said, “You’re a great American, and we’re proud of you, and this is not going to go unanswered.” It was a really awesome moment to see the commander-in-chief honoring my husband that way.

[applause]

Bob: Brian, step back here for a second. Tell us how you’re doing.

Brian: Doing very well. I’m only doing physical therapy at the hospital once a month now, which is mainly just a checkup. Mel still gets to crank on me, though, after the paraffin treatments and twist and torture me as appropriate. But doing well – I’m running again. I’m not running as far as I used to, but the bottom line is that you cannot withdraw or take out the aspects of faith from this story. God is the great Physician. He makes a great machine. I’ve got some good mechanics in the hospital, but God makes a great machine, and I’ll get back to where I was on September 11th, with God’s help. It’s going to be a little bit more of a road to travel, but we’re going to get there.

Bob: We’re proud of you. Man, that’s great. Mel, come here.

[applause]

When you said, “I do,” you didn’t know what you were saying “I do” to, did you?

Mel: Not a clue. I was 20, and, you know, “Oh, an Army lieutenant, woo-hoo.” I had no idea.

[laughter]

Bob: Woo-hoo, yeah. Your life over the last year has not been according to plan.

Mel: Not according to my plan, no. I guess, according to God’s plan, but, you know, He didn’t consult me on it. He just prepared me and said, “Move on, this is how it’s going.”

Bob: Have there been days where you’ve said, “I don’t know that I like this plan.”

Mel: There have been a lot of days when I didn’t like the plan, but the thing that we just have to keep going back to is that he’s alive, and I have so much to be thankful for. So I can’t just go, “Well, I’m done. I’m tired of this. I’m not doing it anymore.” He is alive, and that’s what matters, and you just go from there.

Bob: Brian said in the video that there were moments when he thought, “I almost wish I’d been taken.” Were there times in his recovery when you thought the same thing?

Mel: That I wish he had been taken – no. That I thought he was going to be – yeah. He told me once he couldn’t continue to do this. He had just come out of the tank, which is this whirlpool bath where they scrub your open wounds in an iodine solution, and it’s unbelievably painful, and he grabbed my arm, and he said, “I cannot continue to do this,” and he was just sobbing. And I just said, “You don’t have a choice. You have to keep doing this. For Matthew and I, you have to keep enduring this.” And so he told me later he thought – he didn’t say it out loud – “I don’t have to continue to do this. I can die if I want to.”

Bob: Who is the Lt. Col. in the family?

Brian: I may be the colonel, but she’s the chief-of-staff.

[applause]

Mel: My friends and family are not surprised that I was bossing him around in ICU at all.

Bob: Well, your faith has been tried and found true during this year. In addition, your commitment has been tried, and you still do, don’t you?

Mel: I absolutely still do. It’s a privilege to live with him and take care of him. Like Dr. Cooper said, your spouse is a gift from God, and he is a gift that God has given me twice. He gave him to me on May 16th of 1987, and He gave him to me again on September 11th.

[applause]

Bob: Well, on behalf of all of us at FamilyLife, we want to present you with this lighthouse. It says here on the front of it – “The Robertson McQuilkin Award,” and it cites Matthew, chapter 7, where it talks about building your house on the rock, and this is a granite rock that says, around the base of it, “Honoring the courageous love of a marriage covenant-keeper,” and you have shown that covenant-keeping love during this year.

And as we thought about honoring Mel with this award this year, we thought of Mel, really, as a representative of the men and women who, this year, have been affected by the tragedy on September 11th – those who are married to firefighters or to rescue workers and to the many men and women who are married to people in the military who have been deployed and are now sacrificing on our behalf. Mel is really a representative of all of those who are displaying this kind of covenant-keeping love as a result of what has taken place in our country. We want to present you with this. We also have this that we want to present to you, and would you show your appreciation to the Birdwells as well, ladies and gentlemen.
[applause]

Brian: Thank you, Mr. Lepine, thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

[applause]

Bob: I have to tell you, that ovation …

Dennis: … what a great moment, huh?

Bob: It went on and on, as people stood – I think they were standing, not only to say thank you for the display of covenant-keeping love but thank you for your service to our country, to our nation, thank you for working to keep us safe.

Dennis: You know, it’s our privilege here, as we approach the 4th of July to just take a moment and express to our military personnel and their families a heartfelt thank you for how you protect our nation, our families, and how you are part of, really, an instrument of God to help preserve freedom that we enjoy. And I just want to say thank you if you’re in the armed service in any form, whether a Reservist or active duty or past service – thank you for your courageous love for your nation.

And I think it’s also appropriate, Bob, that we honored Mel for standing alongside a man as he recovered from grave injury and just uplifted a woman who didn’t quit, who didn’t give in, but who faced a lot of fear but faced it down. And, make no mistake about it, it was her love for Jesus Christ and, I think, a great church. Emmanuel Bible Church there in the Washington, D.C. area came alongside her and her son and this couple in an incredible way to give them strength and encouragement to stay the course, and that’s a part of why we could celebrate with those 12,000 attendees at I Still Do back in that arena, and why we can celebrate it again today – a great combination of faith in Christ and the church, in tandem together.

Bob: Mel and Brian reflect on the significant role their church played in this whole situation in the book that they’ve written, which is called “Refined by Fire.” We’ve got copies of it in our FamilyLife Resource Center, and we want to encourage you to call and get a copy. The number is 1-800-FLTODAY. Go online at FamilyLife.com, and you can order a copy online, if you’d like. Maybe you know someone who serves in the military who would be interested in hearing Lt. Col. Birdwell’s story. You can call to request a copy and send the book as a gift. Again, the number is 1-800-FLTODAY to call and order a copy, or you can order online at FamilyLife.com.

As we wrap up the week, let me say thanks, Dennis, to those folks who do help support this ministry financially. We are listener-supported. In fact, more than 60 percent of our annual budget comes from folks like you who call or write or go online and make a donation to FamilyLife Today. The summer months are always – well, a little leaner than other months, and as a result when you do call or go online to make a donation, it’s a great encouragement to our staff, to all of us who work here at FamilyLife Today, and we appreciate you even considering it. If you are able to make a donation, give us a call at 1-800-FLTODAY or go online at FamilyLife.com, and we’ll say thanks in advance for partnering with us.

Well, I hope you have a great weekend. I hope you and your family are able to worship together this weekend and can be back with us on Monday when we’re going to talk about how you can do a little family goal-setting. We hope you can join us.

I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I’m Bob Lepine. We’ll see you Monday for another edition of FamilyLife Today.

FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

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