AGAINST ALL ODDS
On what had once been the sixth
floor, Capt. Randy Norfleet, a Marine
pilot, was hurled against a wall with
the force of a hurricane at the instant
of the explosion. With quickly fading
eyesight, Norfleet saw that he had
landed about five feet from where the
front of the building was sheared off.
Then everything started to go black.
When he put his hand to his head,
Norfleet could feel what he knew
was a severed artery pulsing from his
mangled right eye. The blood pour-
ing from his face distracted him from
noticing that flying glass had also sev-
ered arteries in his arm and wrist. He
was quickly weakening.
But as Norfleet’s strength ebbed, a
powerful instinct came over him. He
knew he could not wait for rescuers
but needed to risk everything to get
out of the building and get medical
help. To wait, he sensed, would be
fatal.
Someone clamped a T-shirt to his
eye socket to stanch the flow. With
others helping him, he dragged him-
self toward a rear stairwell, fighting
through rubble clouded with thick
dust, and staggered down six floors,
where he collapsed into the hands
of paramedics. When he reached
the hospital, he learned he had lost
50 percent of his blood volume. Af-
ter more than five hours of surgery
and 280 stitches, Randy Norfleet
survived—though he would never
again be able to serve as a pilot.Despite the agony of the moment
and the ongoing threat of danger,
volunteers from around the
country mobilized to save as many
lives as they could.rd.com 99Special Reportfr
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