Cmdr. Matthew Sass watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center from a college dining hall in his Navy uniform. About 100 students turned to stare at the 19-year-old.

Twenty-five years later, Sass serves as executive officer of Naval Station Everett, the waterfront base home to about 6,500 sailors and civilian personnel.

Sass shared his story in a Everett Post interview published Sept. 10. He had signed his Naval ROTC contract at the University of Wisconsin just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Tuesdays were the day ROTC students wore uniforms to class. Sept. 11, 2001, fell on a Tuesday.

That morning, Sass was eating breakfast with his roommate when the TV showed the first tower burning. Then the second plane struck.

Sass told the Everett Post he knew immediately the crash was intentional. "Because I wanted to be an aviator and I knew a thing or two about that life," he said. "Pilots don't do that on accident, on a clear day."

He returned his tray and walked straight to the ROTC building.

Sass graduated, earned his wings as a naval flight officer through training in Pensacola, Florida, and Texas, and joined his first squadron: VP-40, the Fighting Marlins, based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. His first tour began in 2007.

Anti-submarine sensors, repurposed for IEDs

In 2009, Sass deployed to Tallil, Iraq, flying the P-3C Orion on combat support missions. The P-3C was built to hunt submarines. Its infrared cameras and radar could spot a periscope breaking the ocean surface. In Iraq, those same sensors found improvised explosive devices (IEDs) buried in dirt roads.

Sass described how it worked: from 20,000 feet, the infrared camera could detect cooler soil where someone had dug up ground to plant a bomb. The disturbed earth showed up as a dark spot, visible from 20 to 30 miles away. Crews would radio convoys to reroute, then call in explosive ordnance disposal teams to destroy the devices before troops reached them.

Ground forces could watch the P-3C's camera feed in near-real time from their vehicles, Sass said.

VP-40 deployed to Iraq in May 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), according to the squadron's official history. The Fighting Marlins earned the 2009 Commander, Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet Battle Efficiency Award after that deployment. Sass logged 121 combat missions and nearly 2,000 flight hours over his career in the P-3C.

The P-3C Orion has since been retired from active Navy service. VP-40 conducted the aircraft's final deployment in 2019, Navy Times reported. The squadron now flies the P-8A Poseidon.

From Whidbey Island to Everett's waterfront

Sass told the Everett Post he is relatively new at Naval Station Everett, having recently served aboard an aircraft carrier. He also served as commanding officer at Naval Training Activity Great Lakes and as navigator aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On Friday evening, Sept. 11, a color guard from Naval Station Everett is scheduled to take part in the Monumental Talks remembrance ceremony at the Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave., according to the Lynnwood Times. Capt. Stacy Wuthier, identified as the base's commanding officer by My Edmonds News, is expected to present the colors. Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin and Everett City Council President Don Schwab, a retired fire division chief with 33 years in the Everett Fire Department, are also on the program.

For Sass, the memory is fixed: a Tuesday morning, a uniform, and a dining hall full of faces looking his way.