Good morning. Today is 9-11; the 21st anniversary of the attack on our homeland in New York, New York, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was a dark day for America and 20 years later, we must remain vigilant as a Nation. To jump ahead, in my journey, here is the story of where I was on September 11, 2001.
By this time in my journey, I was the commander of the 341st Services Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Malmstrom is located in Great Falls Montana. Great Falls is the third largest city in Montana, at that time, about 55,000 citizens.
On that morning, I got to my office at about 6:00 am. Getting ready for the day, I was just getting my plan together for the day.
As the commander, I had a TV in my office, and just before 7, one of the sergeants from downstairs ran into my office where I was in an informal discussion with two others in my office discussing issues. Wondering why he interrupted the meeting, there was a pause - and he said, Sir, turn on your TV. What? Turn on my TV? We are in a meeting. He repeated -really, turn on your TV.
What we saw was unimaginable. As the images of the first plane into the World Trade Center unfolded, the word spread to those in the building and my office became packed very quickly.
We were watching and listening, stunned, like the rest of the nation. Just moments later, it looked like they were repeating the crash of the plane and I said, wait, no, that is a second plane. Just then, the announcer exclaimed - this is a second plane. The office continued to get more an more people as the duty day was officially starting.
As we watched the horror unfold, I was taking the opportunity to talk about implications for the Pentagon and Administration, having been assigned at the Pentagon two tours earlier and going to Malmstrom from teaching national security strategy at the University of Texas at Austin. I noted there have been much smaller attacks by terrorist groups in the past, including the World Trade Center in 1993. I continued saying, what they have not done in the past is to coordinate an attack in another major city at the same time. Just minute later, the announcement of the crash into the Pentagon was broadcast. Everyone looked at me! By the time the plane crashed in Pennsylvania; we were all wondering what was happening and what was next.
Air Force Services is responsible for mortuary affairs and with that, we have the most experience with mass causalities. From a civilian perspective, you may have remembered that it was Air Force mortuary that handled the crash of Secretary Ron Brown’s plane from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware; and more recently, during the war in the Iraq and Afghanistan; images on TV showed that fallen military members are brought first to Dover AFB for dignified processing. With that small background, the expert in mass casualties was at the Air Force Services Agency in San Antonio. You may remember that all planes were stopped in US Air Space. The plan carrying his gentleman did fly from San Antonio to Washington DC because his expertise was sorely needed.
I remember vividly, living in a relatively small city; as one drive down the streets in Great Falls, nearly every single home and business was flying the flag.. There were flags on the lawns, flags draped on buildings, and a sense of patriotism was clear - we are united and we are Americans. I suspect that was similar in nearly every place else across the country.
Malmstrom is home to the 341st Missile Wing. It is is one of three U.S. Air Force bases that maintains and operates the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. So you can imagine that we were on high alert and the base was locked down. Leaving the base was not an option for those that lived on base. When the lock down was lifted, a colleague of mine shared this story. They were getting to drive off the base when one of their young children started screaming and crying. What was going on. What they learned was that because the young child saw the images on TV over and over, he thought it was outside the base and was scared. I remember how that impacted my own lens as a person that doesn’t have children. For those who remember, TV stations stopped showing the clip of the planes crashing into the buildings because of the concern the images would have on viewers. I’ve had the opportunity to go to the museums in New York and Washington DC, seeing artifacts of that tragic and dark day in American history. Unfortunately, the Newseum closed and hopefully the artifacts will be displayed in other museums.
I’ve lived in Arlington for many years, was stationed in the DC area twice, including at the Pentagon, as you’ll learn, and currently live just a mile and a half from the Pentagon today. The Pentagon was repaired, the Towers in NYC were replaced with Freedom Tower, and there are monuments in all three locations honoring those who lost their lives.
As time passes and memories start to fade over time, today, on the anniversary of September 11, 2001, we must take the time to both remember and more than remember we must remain vigilant. As Americans, we must not let our passion for our way of life of freedom and democracy fade. I offer this - America continues to represent democracy and freedom…
As our national anthem goes,
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Ending with
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave
