Col. Brian Birdwell Recalls 9/11 Pentagon Jet Attack

When the rescuers came to get him out of the smoking rubble
of the Pentagon, he was burned over 60 percent of his body.

Each time they reached to get a grip on his hands or his
limbs, the grasp of his rescuers made his skin come off in
sheets of charred tissue. He was only 15 yards away from
the spot where the 80-ton jet crashed into the walls - right
outside the men's room door, as he recalls.

The most horrible sensation of all was stumbling around in
the dark after the airliner crashed into the building at 530
miles per hour, Col. Birdwell said. Aside from the
overwhelming pain, the disorientation was staggering. They
had to start the IV of saline solution and the morphine drip
in blood vessels in his feet, as he recalls.

Of freedom, Col. Birdwell praised the people of his nation
in their free spirit.

"We're honoring the men and women who kept it that
way...because the men and women of America do not require
adult supervision."

The crowd applauded wildly at that remark.

He recounted it all for an audience of about 80 people who
gathered on the courthouse square in Meridian for "Tax Day,"
the Tea Party celebration of one year of protesting
Washington's inside-the-beltway mentality.

One of four candidates vying to fill the unexpired term of
Senator Kip Averitt, Col. Birdwell is a Hood County native
who lives now in Granbury.

In response to allegations of felony violations of election
law, Col. Birdwell said, "That's all totally false."

He said he is familiar with the documents presented by a
lawyer who has requested a ruling from the Secretary of
State.

"There isn't any truth to it," he said.

Former senator David Sibley has made a case that Col.
Birdwell has not been in Texas as a resident the full five
years required for eligibility to run as a candidate for
State Senate.