Let Us Never Forget

Let Us Never Forget

September 11, 2016

Words cannot describe the feelings that I have today.  That is an impossible task to even attempt.  With great clarity, I remember the moments almost in slow motion.  When the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, hit the North World Trade Center Tower at 8:45 AM EDT, I was in disbelief.  At the time I was doing a morning radio show with Joe Jackson.

I was getting ready to head to the station when my wife came and told me what had happened.  I hurried and ran to the kitchen where the television was playing.  In shock, I called Joe, and he already knew.  He was listening to a broadcast feed in the station, I guess our radio plans had changed for the day.

My wife made breakfast and at 9:03 AM EDT, as I was finishing, I watched United Flight 175 fly into the South Tower.  We were at war.  I just witnessed the death of hundreds of people on live television as it happened.  My thoughts rushed to my father, who we buried earlier that year, talking to me about December 7, 1941.  The day the world changed.  I listened with rapt fascination as he told me the details.  The sadness in his voice as he talked about the men and women who lost their lives that day, and for all of the lives lost and affected by those actions. The pride as he talked about the country and the rally cry around the flag, and the troops and president.  

Now, fifteen years later, we are telling this story, our story, to a new generation.  And it’s fascinating to listen to their questions and observe them trying to understand the insane reasoning behind those actions, and the actual event itself.  I can honestly say that I don’t tell the story well.  I am scarred.  I am a changed person and I no longer live my life in the innocence that I did before that day.  Just like my father and those who lived through Pearl Harbor lost their innocence on December 7.  I heard a reporter in the last several days say that September 11 was the day America lost it’s innocence.  It’s an inaccurate statement.  It’s when those of us who didn’t live through Pearl Harbor lost our innocence.   

There is sadness for the loss of lives that day and for all of the lives lost and affected by those actions.  I find immense pride when I talk about how the good people in those areas who were attacked rallied and attempted to rescue those who were trapped.  The first responders, the neighbors and family members who comforted those who lost people.  And the armed forces of this country who suddenly realised that their lives were going to get much more difficult.  And lest we forget the heros on United Airlines Flight 93 who caused the hijacked aircraft to crash into the ground in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  I remember every American rallied around the flag.

I kissed my wife and kids, I told them that I loved them, and grounded all of them.  There is always a first time grounding your wife, right?  

At 9;40 AM EDT I flew into the station and took my seat in front of the microphone.  At 9:43 AM American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.  And then at 10:10 United Flight 93 went down.  

Needless to say, we sat in the studio that day and for the entire week, listening to the news from the media sources around the world.  

We can’t allow this day from 2012 fall out of our sights.  We lost brave men that day in Benghazi.  Everyone says it's a highly politicized event.  It is.  The nation was lied to by the very leaders we trusted,  and our people were abandoned by those same leaders to be slaughtered.  Those are the facts.  Not political subjection.  But, nevertheless, it was a terrorist attack against the country in 2012.  

This is a day of tragedy that we can never forget.  A time when we need to rally around the national ensign, and be proud of who we, as Americans are.  We have issues amongst ourselves, but those issue pale in comparison to the evil that was wrought upon American this day fifteen years ago and then again four years ago.

May we always keep the importance of working together in the forefronts of our mind, and work together to make America a safer and more prosperous nation for everyone.