'I’ll never forget': Richmond Hill man remembers mother lost in Pentagon attack on 9/11
Every September, Mark Jonas places flowers outside his Richmond Hill home, continuing a promise to the mother he lost in the attack on the Pentagon 25 years ago.
“I’ll never forget,” Jonas said.
His mother, Martha Reszke, was an accountant for the Department of Defense. She was working inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building.
Jonas said he was in Savannah when he learned the Pentagon had been struck.
“I remember when that plane hit the Pentagon that I felt the shock of it and was concerned about my mother’s well-being,” he said. “I called, and there was a voicemail.”
She never called back.
Jonas traveled to Northern Virginia that night, but information was scarce, and confirmation took time. It would be about a year before the family received Reszke’s ashes.
“They’re in three urns,” Jonas said. “My stepdad has one, my sister has one and I have one.”
The urn Jonas keeps is among the few physical reminders of his mother that he has left. Reszke was camera-shy, he said, and the family realized after her death that they had relatively few photographs of her.
When Jonas remembers his mother, however, he said his thoughts do not begin with the attack. He remembers childhood summers, Christmas gatherings at her home and telephone conversations at least once a week.
“She was my best friend,” he said. “We had that type of relationship. We could travel together, and it was always a friendly relationship.”
Reszke came to the United States from Germany and became an accountant, Jonas said. She was smart, especially gifted in mathematics and loved her job.
She also loved to cook, a passion Jonas now uses to preserve her memory.
“I try to keep those recipes alive the best I can and share them with my kids,” he said. “I’ve got two grandkids who never knew her.”
Jonas also carries a permanent tribute on his arm: a tattoo reading, “A son never forgets,” above the date 9/11. Another tattoo he has honors the military members who served in the years following the attack.
On Friday, Jonas joined others in the Washington, D.C., area to mark the 25th anniversary.
Jonas said the anniversary brings back the pain and uncertainty of the days after the attack.
“You relive it again,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s 25 years.”
But he also remembers the national unity that followed.
“We were all Americans,” Jonas said. “There was no division. That unity you saw was awesome. Short-lived, but awesome.”