Iowa Veteran Reflects on Surviving the Pentagon Attack 25 Years Later

John Grote, a Sioux City native and former Iowa Army National Guard major, survived the 9/11 Pentagon attack while helping rescue others, earning a Purple Heart and Soldier’s Medal and later grappling with survivor’s guilt; now retired in Wyoming, he plans to attend the Pentagon’s 25th-anniversary ceremonies and continues observing the Guantanamo Bay pretrial proceedings for the four men charged in the attacks, a case delayed to 2028, as he advocates for justice over closure and credits his family’s military paths to that day.