Sunday night Megan Leech, of Pinehurst, and her husband, Army Sgt. First Class Gregory Leech, were in a Washington, D.C., area hotel room preparing for bed when they turned on the television at the urging of a friend’s text message.

They heard the news that U.S. troops had killed Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and minutes later they were standing in front of the White House, part of a gathering crowd.

“It was chaos,” she said. “Really loud like a rock concert.”

She said attendees were decked out in red, white and blue. She described the moment as friendly —  no pushing or shoving —  with a lot of people chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” and singing songs.

The couple stayed for two hours before heading back to their hotel.

“By the time we left the crowd was backed up a couple of blocks past the White House," she said. “It was pretty crazy and pretty cool.”