This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue here with our American stories.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Peter Braxton was the first military

pilot in the air over the burning Twin Towers. It was his first day on the job, and this is his

story. Here's Peter. My name is Peter Braxton from upstate New York, originally, Rome, New York, a little town.

There was a base there called Griffiths, Air Force Base. My father was in the Air Force, and I guess this is where the story begins.

My father, you know, sat me down when I was 15. And he, you know, he had this kind of father-to-son conversation, and he was, you know,

a man of few words, but he said, hey, you should serve this country before you enjoy this

country.

You will look back on your service fondly.

And I, you know, I was 15. I didn't know what that meant, but I did have an older brother

who was about two and a half years older than me, and he ended up going to the Air Force Academy.

So I'm guessing at this point, you know, he must have had this conversation with him

a couple years prior.

And so now it was my turn.

And I think out of maybe laziness, I just applied to the Air Force Academy, followed my brother there.

I got in.

I got into a number of other kind of Ivy League schools out east.

And my brother, I remember telling me, you know,

you should, you should probably go to Princeton or you should go to Yale, you know, but, but out of

respect for your father and his wishes at that point, I think I was like, okay, well, I guess I could

do that later. It was, you know, it was a good experience having a sibling there because he was going to look out for you.

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