Patriots Day and Why We Should Never Forget 9/11

September 11, 2024

   

Dear Beloved Students,

Today we stop to reflect on Patriot鈥檚 Day. You will most likely hear the refrain 鈥淣ever Forget鈥� repeated several times during various remembrance ceremonies. 

It occurs to me that many of you may rightfully respond with 鈥淣ever Forget What?鈥�  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1.7% of the U.S. Population is between the ages of 0-24, which makes up Generation Z. This means that most of you are in Generation Z and your only understanding of this day is through news reports or memories by family. 

Please allow me to share a personal reflection on 9/11 that may provide further context for Patriots Day to help clarify why it matters.

Career of Service

As many of you know, I was a career military officer following my undergraduate work at Mother Tuskegee. After about 10 years of service, a few select officers at the grade of Major are allowed to spend a year in graduate studies. In the Air Force, we call this program Intermediate Service School. You can equate this to a year in graduate school ending in the award of a Master鈥檚 Degree. I was a part of the 2000-2001 Air Command and Staff College class at Maxwell Air Force Base Alabama. I left Maxwell thinking that the U.S. had no peer competitor. 

With a year of study and confidence in the institution, I graduated Air Command and Staff College and headed to the Pentagon in the late summer of 2001.  The Pentagon was then, and is now, a very busy place.  Over 26,000 people go and come into the Pentagon each day. The building is open 24 hours a day for 7 days a week including holidays.  It can be a grueling place to work with work schedules exceeding 12 hours each day without adding on your commute time. However, it was equally rewarding as National Security issues are routinely being worked with your daily engagement, including the highest levels of the U.S. government. 

A Brisk Fall Morning

I was determined to be successful in my Pentagon tour, which meant getting an early start each day by leaving home around 5 a.m. to beat the traffic.  On this particular morning, my early start was closer to 6 a.m. The leaves had started turning and the temperatures were dropping overnight, to deliver crisp mornings.  The 6 a.m. departure meant that I would see the sunrise. There was not a cloud in the sky as a blend of bright colors grew larger on the horizon. It was a beautiful morning. 

I worked in Air Force budget and we were focused on fiscal year closeout, and would often strategize by phone with my Army counterparts. In fact, I recall being on the phone with my Army counterparts when some of my co-workers gathered around a computer screen to watch CNN. A commercial plane had  plowed right through one of the twin towers in downtown New York as they showed smoke flowing from two of the tallest sky scrapers in the world.   Suddenly, a second commercial plane would interrupt their reporting and hit the second twin tower.  New York City erupted into utter chaos when they watched those two towers crumble into a mound of debris, concrete dust and smoke. 

I continued to work through financial issues on a call, when the entire Pentagon building shook. A ball of fire appeared to be wedged behind the center courtyard.  Our phones went dead and the issues being discussed with Army Financial Management no longer seemed to matter. The Pentagon went into evacuation mode as it was now evident that the United States of America was under attack. 

I rushed through the building following security, with  the smell of burning rubble so strong it stung my nose. First responders worked frantically to save souls. Security led us to an emergency exit I previously did not know existed. Cell phones had no service, and the nation鈥檚 capital was at a virtual standstill. People stood around in shock, struggling to process what they were experiencing. Once the federal agencies released their employees, there was gridlock on all roads leading to and from the Pentagon. 

Back in Chicago, my mother had already summoned her pastor. With no communication, she and many others only knew what they saw on the news. Reports of a burning Pentagon with rescuers pulling many from the rubble and countless, many nameless at this point, dead. 

My wife Gwendolyn and my boys were on Bolling Air Force Base just outside of downtown Washington, D.C.  Gwen would later confirm through office staff that I had survived and was likely on my way home, but delayed by the massive traffic jam.  I had piled into a very small Volkswagen with six other desperate co-workers who left keys and IDs in the Pentagon during the swift exit.  My commute to Bolling Air Force Base was normally 20 to 25 minutes. This day, it was well over 8 hours before Gwen and the boys could hug me. 

Why We Remember

The date, September 11, 2001 or 9/11 as it is commonly referred to, was the beginning of a War on Terrorism that would last well over a decade.

On Sept. 12, the war on terrorism started in earnest with military members deploying to Middle Eastern countries around the world.  To my amazement, we reported back to the Pentagon the very next morning even as parts of the building continued to burn.

As for me, I was a major and one of the most junior persons on the Air Staff. The Air Force operations center stood up and I was assigned to the night shift, working 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.  I worked a 10-12 hour shift answering calls on financial matters that supported worldwide deployments.  President George W. Bush had made it clear that we would search down the terrorists, bringing them to justice 鈥渄ead or alive.鈥�  He expressed an equal amount of disdain for the countries that would harbor them. 

I was working the night shift when I learned why the phones had gone dead while I was talking to the Army Financial Management personnel the day before. These Army personnel, many of whom were civilians, were in that wedge of fire that took the direct hit from the 747 commercial airliner.  Many of them perished that day.  Their names are enshrined in the Pentagon鈥檚 9/11 Memorial.  

Here鈥檚 why we Never Forget! On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 Americans, who started their day innocently, perished in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Over, 6,000 Americans were injured either through the attack or attempting to save others.  

Coming Together as a Nation

This day 鈥� 9/11鈥� is also a day when Americans of all political parties, religious faiths, and economic standing, came together to protect an attack on Democracy and the fundamental concept of Freedom. First responders, military service members, political leaders, and students, like you, came together to support each other in the common cause of freedom. 

The human and financial cost of the Global War on Terrorism was significant; however, no price was too high for freedom. Today you enjoy freedom of speech, the freedom to worship as you please or to not worship at all, the freedom to love those who you wish, and the freedom to travel around the country and abroad with very little resistance. And yes, you enjoy the freedom to vote and indeed the responsibility to do so. 

A Patriot is by definition a person who supports their country.  A Patriot does not necessarily agree with their country on every issue. Indeed, historically Tuskegee graduates and students are perhaps the greatest of Patriots.  Tuskegee Airmen are Patriots who loved their country before their country loved them.  You all, in  your own way, are Patriots.  As  a Patriot, I want you to be curious about how your government works and world affairs. Decide how you will contribute, shape, and if necessary change our country for the good. That鈥檚 the Tuskegee Way!

So, on this Patriots Day I provide a quiet salute to all the Patriots who left the Pentagon with me on 9/11, those who would never leave again, and those who returned to fight the good fight for some time to come! And to those on watch today. God Bless America! And yes, at Mother Tuskegee we will 鈥淣ever Forget鈥�!

     

   

鈥� Contact: Thonnia Lee, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
    

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