Remembering 9/11: Retired Police Officer Recalls Sacrifice, Solidarity after Terrorist Attacks

On September 10th, 2001, the country was at relative peace. The American people went to bed not having a clue what their next morning was going to bring. It occurred to me as I planned this article that an entire generation knows the events of Nine-Eleven purely as a history lesson - much as most people alive today remember Pearl Harbor as something they learned in school. Many were so young that, while they were alive when it happened, they were too young to remember the events. For anyone born, probably in or after 1993-1994, some memories exist. For some of us, the details still feel fresh in our memories - as if it happened last week. 

While I was still a sworn officer at that time, with a small agency just outside Washington, D.C., I was working a side job that morning, doing sub-contract work for a communications contractor to the government almost two hours from my home. I was also still serving in the Maryland Army National Guard with a Combat Engineer company. 

After American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46am, the owner of the company I was subcontracting to came around “cube land” and told everyone that something major was happening and we should all go to the conference room where the news was on the big screen televisions. I walked in and was standing next to the owner when United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the South Tower at 9:03am. I will never forget the company owner turning to me and saying, “Oh my god, we’re at war.” At that moment I thought he was being a little dramatic. Little did I know. 

We were all still watching the news when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon - and I later learned that a friend of mine was supposed to have been on that flight but was delayed by a day. Instead, he was on highway 395 where it passes the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed. He literally felt the shockwave from the crash and resulting explosion(s). 

I called my wife, told her to get the kids out of school and go home. I’d be there when I could get there. I knew that the capital beltway would be a mess and it might take me a lot longer than two hours to make the drive home. Before I could get in my car, the Readiness NCO for my National Guard unit called and told me I had until noon to have all my gear packed and report to the unit. I knew I wouldn’t make it by noon and assured him I’d be there as fast as I could. The unit’s command staff had received no orders yet but was spinning up the unit on standby because the unit HQ was only an hour southeast of D.C. and they expected an engineering company to be spun up in short order. Those orders never came.  

I remember the news of the South Tower collapsing and wondering how many brothers and sisters in uniform I had just lost. The loss of life was estimated in the 25,000+ range… a horrific number, but I felt the loss of police and firefighters as if they were family - because they were mine. I had been a volunteer firefighter for 11 years and was still wearing a badge. My family had sacrificed in service and I felt it. 

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania while I was driving home. The radio reported car bombs and other threats in and around Washington, D.C. It took me almost five hours to make the (normally) two hour drive home. Before I got home I received another call from the Readiness NCO telling me to stand down. I’d be called if the unit was activated. 

I remember the news of the North Tower collapsing and felt like I’d been punched in the gut again. More citizens, brothers and sisters lost. The count of heroes went far beyond those in uniform that day and how we, the American people, responded to the attacks is something we should equally remember and let the pride fill us. It may have taken the country days or weeks to respond to the attacks, but the American people did it before the attacks were over. The brave people on Flight 93 took action to ensure that if they were lost, no other citizens would be. 

Memories of the attacks still bring tears to my eyes and make it difficult to speak. 

I kept my kids home from school for the next two days. My fear was that a heat-resistant bio-weapon had been on one or both planes in New York. I’d be quite happy to never experience another day like that for the rest of my life. But you know what I WOULD like to experience? 

The way the United States was on the morning of September 12, 2001. We were a nation united; not divided by political ideology, race, gender or anything else. We were ONE people waiting to find out who had the audacity and hatred to attack us. The American flag was flown outside every home and from almost every vehicle I passed. On my way into my next drill weekend for my National Guard unit I couldn’t even pay for my own coffee in 7-11. I was in uniform and the outlook I got was, “You have more important things to worry about right now.” 

I encourage you to remember, if you’re old enough, where you were and how you felt. Remember the lives that were lost, the sacrifices that were made and how our nation was changed by the events of that day. Never forget.