About the Book
US marks the 21st anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks
Introduction It's how we relate to a minimum of each other as we reflect on the day of 1 of the foremost horrific attacks on the American people in U.S. history Sept. 11, 2001. For the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), we join the rest of the country this Sunday in remembering and honoring the lives of various who were tragically taken from us during the terroristic events that happened in NY City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania twenty-one years ago.
Every generation seems to possess their day in history that impacted them. Tragic events bit as the attack on Pearl Harbor and thus the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Luther King Jr. were mournful memories etched in everyone's minds at the time. If we were alive then, we remember for the foremost part where we were, what we were doing, and therefore the way we heard the news.
However, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were unlike anything ever seen before because, for the first time in history, death and destruction on an enormous scale were televised and updated in real-timeIt was at 8:46 a.m. Eastern standard time on Tuesday morning when the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the North Tower of the Earth Trade Center in NY City.
The second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, struck the South Tower of the Earth Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. News anchors announced that planes were being hijacked and employed by terrorists as guided missiles the state was under attack.
Thirty-four minutes later, at 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77, crashes into the Pentagon collapsing a neighborhood of the building. Then at 9:59 a.m., the burning WTC South Tower collapses.
At 10:28 a.m., the WTC's North Tower collapsed. in just 102 minutes, 19 hijackers would achieve taking the lives of two, 977 Americans and terrorize the entire country with the entire world watching in horror.
Yet, within the midst of this unimaginable tragedy, stories of unbelievable heroism were being reported from every location. Firefighters and enforcement officers ran into the burning World Trade Center buildings, rescuing many of us.
Service members led others through the burning, smoldering Pentagon rubble to safety. Passengers of flight 93 decided to fight back against hijackers to prevent them from getting to their intended target.
The selfless sacrifice would come to define that day the utmost amount, if less so than the attacks themselves.
Our world looks much different today. The wars that came after Sept. 11, 2001, are over. While the fight against terrorism remains, what's left of the persistent conflict within the center East looks like it too will soon draw to a thorough.
There are men and ladies entering service that weren't even alive twenty-one years ago. apart from those folks who were in uniform or were deciding to hitchhike the military, nothing strengthened our resolve to "support and defend" our Constitution, our nation, and our way of life quite like 9/11. A-bit the rest of our fellow Americans who were present then, that day changed us forever.
This Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance, the VFW encourages every American to pause and honor the victims, reflect on the extraordinary courage of first responders and ordinary citizens alike, pay tribute to people who took the fight against the enemy and sacrificed to protect and defend our freedom, and never let Sept. 11, 2001, fade from our memory.
Never Forget.
