Family Remembers Alexander City Man Killed in 9/11 Attacks

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By Jessica Gertler

Story Created: Sep 11, 2012 at 6:50 PM CDT

Story Updated: Sep 11, 2012 at 11:09 PM CDT

People across the country will never forget where they were and what they were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. For one Alexander City man, those moments constantly replay in his mind. That's because his brother was killed in the attacks.

Jimmie Holley was an Alex City native, a Vietnam Veteran, a husband, father and a casualty of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Today CBS 8 News sat down with Bobby Holley and relived the morning he found out his brother died.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks. For Bobby Holley, one of those lives lost was his brother.

"Eleven years ago I was at work, and that's when I heard the terrorists had hit the Twin Towers in New York. I didn't have any idea that Washington would be next," he says. "When I got the first call we just knew he was in there."

It wasn't until the afternoon when Holley found out his brother Jimmie Holley had died in the Pentagon attack.

"They found a foot and his handkerchief," he says.

The only remains of a 54-year-old man, an accountant for the government, a Vietnam veteran, and a husband.

"This is his daughter Kelly. This is his son Dan. This is his heart right here. This is granddaughter Kate," Bobby Holley says pointing to a picture.

All four visited Jimmie Holley's grave in Arlington Cemetery on Tuesday morning.
A tradition his wife Martha tells CBS 8 they've been doing for the last decade.

"When I went to the cemetery today, it was like the first day I went there. It wasn't a day passed that I didn't cry, and I still cry today. I carry him in my heart every day. Every day I think about him," she says.

And even though Bobby Holley couldn't be there with his sister-in-law visiting his brother's grave, he's remembering him his own way through prayer and knowing his brother is watching over him from up above.

"He's probably saying family don't worry about me. I'm in a good place," he says.

Martha Jackson-Holley says she's still healing after the attacks. She says the last words her husband said to her that morning were, 'I love you.'

Bobby Holley says before the attacks, his brother had survived Vietnam, a kidney transplant and a quadruple bypass surgery.

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