Students view Sept. 11 attacks through presidential lens

As the Director of Presidential Advance, Brian D. Montgomery traveled the globe with then-President George W. Bush.

He has fond memories of visiting people in every state in the country, and meeting leaders in numerous foreign countries – he personally logged nearly 1 million miles on Air Force One while traveling with President Bush.

“That was the cool part of the job,” Montgomery said. “Air Force One is comfortable … and lands on time 100 percent of the time.”

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Montgomery was with the president as their limousine pulled up to Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla. Bush was there to congratulate the students on their achievements in reading and to speak about his plans for education reform.

As the terrorist attacks of that day began to unfold, Montgomery started to take notes, writing down events as they happened, and chronicling what he knew was going to be an unprecedented day in American history.

Montgomery shared his experiences alongside the president that day with the students and faculty of Austin Preparatory School in Reading on Tuesday. He was the guest speaker for the school’s St. Augustine Lecture Series, which features notable public figures speaking on a wide range of topics. Montgomery spoke about the Noble Work of Public Service.

His experience in government is extensive – Montgomery also served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary in the Executive Office of President Bush, and held many other positions, including Commissioner of the Federal Housing Authority, where he directed the $600 billion Federal Housing Authority insurance portfolio. He is also a former Housing & Urban Development Secretary for both President Bush and President Obama.

Montgomery told students among the accomplishments of which he is most proud happened while he was HUD Secretary and FHA Commissioner. He helped establish reforms to increase the amount of money available to families for housing and preserve affordable multifamily rental housing, achieved primarily through mortgage insurance as well as flexible refinancing options.

He also led HUD’s efforts to reform the 30-year-old Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) to favor the consumer, not the industry.

Currently, he is vice chairman and co-founder of The Collingwood LLC, a business advisory firm established in 2009 that serves the needs of corporate entities seeking new lines of business or strategic counsel on a range of issues within the mortgage, financial, and secondary markets.

The purpose of the lecture series is for the school’s middle and high school students to “learn from people who have wisdom and experience greater than our own,” Austin Prep Headmaster James Hickey said.

Montgomery has been recognized with awards from the National Association of Home Builders, the HUD Office of the Inspector General, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, Lenders One National Alliance of Mortgage Bankers, and NeighborWorks America among others.

The students asked him numerous questions about his job and accomplishments – what he liked most and places he wants to visit again – but they were riveted by his story of being by the president’s side during the terrorist attacks. A majority of the students were not born when it happened.

Over the course of that week in 2011, the president visited the damage at the Pentagon and the wreckage at the World Trade Center in New York. Montgomery was with Bush as the president talked with first responders, survivors, and the families of victims.

Montgomery said he will never forget the smell of the wreckage or the pieces of fallen buildings and crushed vehicles. He will never forget the layers of grime on everything or the chalky paste layered on everyone’s shoes.

“I couldn’t bring myself to clean my shoes,” Montgomery said. “I put them in a container and sealed the container with Duct Tape, where they remain to this day.”

Most of all, he will never forget the first responders who were covered in ash because they had been working around the clock for days, or the anger and sadness in their eyes.

“These are our true heroes,” Montgomery said. “I think we ought to reserve that title for people who head up a staircase with 50 pounds of gear strapped to their backs to potentially save someone they have never met.”

We all have the potential to be an everyday hero, by helping a distraught classmate or consoling a person who has lost a loved one.

“Rise to the challenge when it is presented to you,” he said. “Our triumphs can teach us as much about ourselves as our failures.”