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9/11
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Title: Darin Pontell Calls Home from the Grave
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/278515.shtml
Published: Sep 18, 2007
Author: Carol Valentine
Post Date: 2007-09-18 13:25:39 by honway
Ping List: *9-11*     Subscribe to *9-11*
Keywords: None
Views: 217
Comments: 5

DARIN PONTELL CALLS HOME FROM THE GRAVE

According to the Washington Post, January 20, 2002, "The Last Watch," (front page, Style section), the entire chain of command of the super secret Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot (CNO-IP) were killed in the September 11 attack on the Pentagon.

One of the victims was Darin Pontell, who worked in CNO-IP. The Post reported that two days after the attack, Darin's parents were still hoping Darin was alive. Here is an excerpt from "The Last Watch," Washington Post, January 20, 2001, pg.F1.


"'Where'd I put my cell phone? Where is it?' Marilyn Pontell, Darrin's mother, grew frantic looking for her purse. Her Nokia was chiming 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.'

"Marilyn would be sick if she missed that call. Maybe it was news about her son. maybe it was Darin himself.

"Two days later, Marilyn and Gary Pontell still hoped their youngest boy had been spared. Gathered at Darin and Devora's apartment in Gaithersburg on Thursday afternoon, they could barely process the idea that he was dead...

"Navy officials gave garbled reports: One person said someone who looked like Darin walked from the scene. Somebody else claimed he was working far away, in the A-Ring. An officials said they couldn't find his Acura Integra in the Pentagon lot...

"The Nokia sang again, then silence. Too late. when she finally got to the phone, Marilyn scrolled through the menu. One missed call: 1:57 p.m. No message. But the incoming number was clearly identified. It was Darin's.

"My God, maybe he was alive.

"For five more days, they waited. On Sept. 18, the Navy informed the Pontells that Darin's body had been positively identified. His cell phone was never returned to the family. They presume it was never found. Perhaps the flip-phone had somehow dialed Marilyn's number when the rubble shifted. But didn't all cell phones have to be turned off upon entry into the CNO-IP [Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot]?

"The FBI offered a one-word explanation for that call: 'anomaly.'" Subscribe to *9-11*

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http://lexidiem.blogspot.com/2006/09/911-tribute-to-ltjg-darin-h-pontel-usn.html

9/11/2006

A 9/11 Tribute to LTJG Darin H. Pontel, USN

This 2,996 Tribute is dedicated to Darin Howard Pontell

When Darin Pontell was 14, he decided that he would join the Navy. Lt. Darin H. Pontell, USN Photo Hosted at BuzznetHis older brother Steven was a Navy pilot, and he was killed in a crash on the USS Lexington off Pensacola, Florida in 1989.

"When that happened, Darin mentioned that he'd like to pick up where his brother Steven left off, to complete the circle," his father, Gary Pontell, said.

Darin Pontell, a native of Arlington Heights who moved with his family to Baltimore in 1985, graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1999. Photo Hosted at BuzznetUpon graduation, he reported to the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Command in Dam Neck, VA. He was assigned to Carrier Air Wing Seven as the Collections Officer. He was later deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. He received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Naval Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal and National Defense Service Medal.

Lt. Pontell married Devora Sue Wolk, a lawyer, in March 2001. He began working at the Pentagon in April and celebrated his 26th birthday that August. He and his new bride lived in Gaithersburg, MD.

"He was thoughtful and generous and wanted to make everyone around him happy," said Devora. " He would do whatever it took to make his family and friends smile."

He was completing his second night of training in a new position with the Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot at the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. He and six colleagues were piecing together information about the attacks on the World Trade Center when American Airlines Flight 77, a highjacked Boeing 757, crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 AM. The jet aircraft slammed into the west side of the Pentagon, where the CNO-IP office was located.

Photo Hosted at Buzznet

"When he returned to the Pentagon, we felt he was so safe," his father said. "Who would have thought of the Pentagon as a target?"

"He was a good kid. He liked athletics," his grandfather said, and described him as "a computer wizard. He was smart. He had an awful lot of friends."

"I had known my husband since we were about 11," stated his wife Devora. "All he wanted to do was go to the Naval Academy like his older brother, but it was a challenge for him to get in and make it through the four years and graduate with honors. And this is his Naval Academy ring that he wore every day, that marked his accomplishment; he accomplished something that he had set his mind to when he was so young. He was proud to be a Naval Academy graduate and an officer in the U.S. Navy.”

Before Darin Pontell went to the Naval Academy, he worked with his father, an architect, who was left with one son, Michael, now 38.

"Darin and his brother Mike were my best friends," Gary Pontell said shortly after the attack on the Pentagon. "And being that both of them were such family people, we always spent a lot of time together. That's what I'm going to miss. The Sunday afternoons and Sunday evenings. I'm going to miss the phone calls."

It can only be presumed that Lt. Pontell and his colleagues were killed immediately. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

Darin Pontell was buried next to his brother in the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.

He is fondly remembered by former shipmates and many others.

honway  posted on  2007-09-18   13:30:37 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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