Remembering 9/11 – One Veterans Perspective

Tuesday morning, 6:30 a.m. I exited my home, climbed into my Dodge Dakota pickup, and pulled out of the driveway on my way to work at Texas Instruments in Santa Cruz, California. It was the same routine I’d followed morning after morning since Kay and I bought our first home in the hills of Ben Lomond, California. The California sun was already shining, and the morning air was only slightly brisk.

Where were you on the morning of 9/11?

My commute to work was about 25 miles, taking roughly 40 minutes in good traffic. I was just a few miles from home when the jumbled mess of radio noise became clear—a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center! I immediately reached for my cell phone, a primitive Nokia with horrendous coverage, especially in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

I made my first attempt to call Kay while driving through Felton, California—the first area with decent cell reception. She didn’t answer, still sleeping. My second attempt was just north of Santa Cruz as I made the final descent from the mountains to the city streets. This time, she answered. I told her to turn on the TV; by now, the second tower had been hit, and we knew we were under attack. Our connection cut out.

By the time I got to work, America was in panic. Phone lines were jammed. The internet was overwhelmed. No work was happening as everyone gathered in cubicles, trying to glean any information they could from sporadic internet reports and radio broadcasts. By 8:00 a.m., I was back in my truck, heading home, where I glued myself to the TV for the next two days.

By Thursday, I had decided to re-enlist and do my part. On Friday, my recruitment officer informed me that my health would prevent me from redeploying.

Like tens of millions of Americans, I was angry. I was very satisfied when Shock and Awe pounded the terrorists. Watching the CCTV footage of missile strikes brought a sense of relief to my soul. Twenty years later, my frustration with politicians prolonging the war has had a crushing effect, but that’s another story.

This morning, as I was sitting at my desk wrapping up another audiobook recording session, I turned my attention to the article I had been planning for The Veterans Club to commemorate 9/11. My computer must have sensed what was next because it displayed a link to a Pew Research study published in 2021, which discussed American perceptions of 9/11 then and now. I’ve linked the study at the bottom of this article for your reference, but the crux of the story is this: as our population ages, a growing portion of Americans were not alive to remember the impact of 9/11. Like the Kennedy Assassination or the Moon Landing, American anger over the attacks of 9/11 is dissipating.

Why is this important? As I see mobs of Americans marching in the streets of our big cities chanting support for Hamas, I am reminded of the importance of history…and how entrenched those who wish to harm America are in our education system.

My grandchildren, except for my oldest grandson, who served two tours in Iraq, have no emotional connection to terrorism. To them, 9/11 is just a story told by Gramps, who didn’t even serve at that time. In their eyes, Gramps is not up to date on world politics, so his opinion doesn’t carry much weight. War is bad. Guns are bad. Bad people are bad. If we could all just focus on happy things, all the evil in the world would dissolve. Like the gun violence argument—if more gun laws were enacted, there would be no mass shootings.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to receive a solid civics education in school remember this important quote from Benjamin Franklin: “They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Military enlistment is at the lowest level in our nation’s history. Our youth have bought into the notion that peace can be achieved through submission.

“Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.“ -Thomas Jefferson
Translated: “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.“

How long will it be before stories of 9/11/2001 are erased from history books? How long before monuments to the heroes of the War on Terrorism are trampled?

I see my final mission on this earth as that of a teacher. While my grandchildren have grown tired of hearing my tales of American glory and, now in their 30s, don’t come around much anymore, I believe using other platforms to memorialize my thoughts and feelings is critical.

As a veteran, you hold a perspective on America that is slowly fading into the dustbin of history. Our public schools no longer extol the greatness of America but instead harp on the woes of humanity, blaming all the bad on American prosperity—though, of course, they don’t call it prosperity; they use different, more negative terms.

We must keep history alive. My good friend John Spencer saw this need and wrote a book titled When Boomers Are Gone: Character of an Era – WWI to Korea. He wrote his book specifically as a workbook for grandparents to share with their grandchildren. John also writes articles for local newspapers, each exposing the exceptionalism that is America. We should all take a page from John’s efforts and follow suit.

Documenting your emotional stance on American exceptionalism will be an important record of history…one day.

On September 11, 2001, I felt great pride in my country, for the resilience of our character. On September 6, 2024 (the day I am writing this article), I feel great pride in having been born in a nation that has touched and saved hundreds of millions of lives over the last 248 years. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to have served my country.

I do hope one day my grandchildren will read these words and feel the same.

Pew Research Study:  https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/