by MustBTVSome of our parents talk about where they were when Kennedy was shot. Some of our grandparents remember the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Today marks the 18 year anniversary of that unimaginable day in which the world froze with stunned horror at the images of September 11th. From the smoke aftermath caused by World Trade Centers collapsing to the mandatory evacuations of major buildings in the United States to the P.A. announcement that filtered through the overhead speakers of a small elementary school room. We shivered to hear of an attack on the Pentagon. We mourned as a nation the tremendous loss of life, the pain and the tragedy. “We will never forget” became a four word battle cry for all Americans in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and we all remember exactly where we were when it happened. For me this day will always carry a significant meaning in my life that has strands tying back to being in such close proximity to part of the event.
September 11th, 2001 at 8:45am my wife and I were standing in Wal-Mart in Clinton, Maryland shopping for supplies in preparation for me to fly to Lima, Peru the following day. Our squadron was on its way there to replace a motor on one of our airplanes that had ingested a bird in flight. We were happy to spend a bit of time alone as both of our children were already at school. When the planes were reported as hitting the World Trade Centers we never once assumed that it was something that would be this earth shattering. After arriving at our house on Andrews Air Force Base, we turned on the television to see what all the reports were really about. That moment is where we began to really get the scope and horror of what was going on. We also were now made fully aware that at 9:37am American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon. Federal Buildings, Public Buildings and Schools were being evacuated for fear of another attack. My two boys’ school was located less than half a mile away from the Pentagon, and the only real separation between being the Potomac River and the Capital Beltway. As the school was being evacuated we started to fear that they were in harms way. We attempted to call the school but the phones were busy and cell phone usage wasn’t allowing any calls outgoing or incoming. We knew that we had to attempt to maintain calm because while their school was close to the Pentagon, from the reports on the news there wasn’t a widespread path of destruction. After what seemed like hours and hours had passed attempting to find out where our boys were and if they were okay we finally were able to contact someone from the school. They couldn’t tell us where the buses were actually taking the children because they weren’t sure as they were attempting to get all of the children further inland away from the Pentagon. They provided us with a list of 11 school sites that were going to be evacuation sites for all the schools in their area. They suggested that we drive to each school and bring identification proving who we were and that would allow us to pick them up. We drove around for hours fighting traffic, full of parents who were just as fearful as we were that something bad had happened to their children. Finally at 5:39PM we picked our two boys up from Brandywine Elementary School, which was less than half a mile from our house. We were able to get back on base and into our home that evening by about 6:30pm after navigating the hyper-vigilant military security that the base had put in place. We spent much of the night attempting to answer as many questions as we could for our two boys who as you would guess were very curious. My squadron Master Chief showed up on our doorstep at 10:45pm that evening and said that until further notice we were not to leave the house for anything other than runs to the local base commissary for necessary food items.
Master Chief Cangelosi also reminded me that we would not be leaving for Peru in the morning and that the squadron would be looking for people to go and help out with body recovery and debris removal from the pentagon in the coming days as well. I remember looking at him and saying that anything that I could do to help he could count me in, and having known this man for nearly 3 years his response to me wasn’t very shocking at all. He looked me in the eyes and said, I have other people who can do that. I’ve already put your name down on the detachment list that is heading to Manama Bahrain and will be departing on the 17th. Make sure that you get all your affairs in order because we will be the only heavy lift squadron in the theater, and I don’t know how long we’re going to be there for. I remember being proud knowing that he wanted me to be there for our country and for my shipmates, but I felt fear deep down inside me knowing that we were going to a place where bad things happen every day and I was going to be there for the unforeseen future. The morning of the 17th I kissed my wife and children good bye and told them not to worry about me that I would be just fine, all the while hoping that the nervous and afraid interior of me wasn’t coming across on the exterior of me in hopes that they wouldn’t worry more than they had to. I boarded a C-130 headed for Manama Bahrain and the rest is history.
Obviously you’re reading this email from me, so you can see that I made it back from the desert just fine and mostly the same as I went over. For me September 11th is my generation’s version of Pearl Harbor. Growing up I never really thought much about Pearl Harbor and the “Day that will live in infamy,” but today I’m looking back on the last 18 years and seeing that as we have progressed farther and farther away from September 11th the trend appears to be that those who remember it most are those who were touched irreparably by it and for most it’s business as usual. I’m sending this email out to everyone to say never ever forget about any attack that is unwarranted on your fellow countrymen. Take pride in your nation and always remember that the land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is a place where often times the brave people who provide the blanket of freedom that we walk upon do so anonymously and we should remember all those who have given their lives not only during the atrocity that is September 11th, 2001 but those who have since given their lives to the cause that is our freedom.
