The sight of the twin towers of the World Trade Center being slammed into by commercial jets full of innocent Americans and jet fuel, of employees in those gleaming buildings concluding that jumping to certain death was preferable to being burned alive, and witnessing the horror of the collapse of these two symbols of American freedom, strength, capitalism and innovation, created a brief but shining moment that Americans would be reminded Evil does exist and that we must, individually, and as a nation, re-engage that never ending battle with the structures of darkness. And that we must Never Forget.
But, twenty-five years after the national trauma, galactic suffering and human carnage of 9-11—even after watching and remembering the wise and weathered New York Fire Department heroes weep and make the Sign of the Cross as they discovered and reverently recovered the bodies of the deceased in the rubble at Ground Zero—I worry that, in fact, many Americans have forgotten to ‘Never Forget.”
If I may recall that fateful day for me, personally:
When friends and family have asked me over the years to recount my experience of 9-11 for them, I still struggle to fully describe what I saw and felt that day. It was unlike any other day of my life and I’m certain I’ll always feel that way.
On 9/11, I was in Washington, D.C. with the late Clyde C. Holloway, former U.S. Congressman and Louisiana Public Service Commissioner. We were there to try to build support from members of Congress we knew, and raise funds, for our campaign for Congress.
The day began uneventfully. We spent the night at a hotel in Crystal City, Virginia, which is only a few hundred yards from the Pentagon. That day we woke, had coffee and Mr. Holloway left for the first meeting of the day while I stayed behind.
Sometime in the next 10-15 minutes or so, I heard a roar. The sound startled me. I walked out to the parking lot of the hotel and looked across the way and saw black smoke billowing from a corner of the Pentagon. Shortly thereafter, there was an exodus of terrified-looking people from the Pentagon into Crystal City.
After this panic, D.C. was locked down. All I saw was black military helicopters circling in different places over D.C. and fighter planes circling high above. There were black suburbans with black-clad men holding serious looking weaponry out of the windows.
I was numb; unnerved and disconcerted. I struggled to comprehend what had happened so near me and across America that day. I had also been stressed and nerve-wracked to know that my older brother, Tom, an attorney who served as Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Jon Kyl at the time, worked in the Senate Hart Office Building and, had the Capitol sustained a direct hit as I think was the plan, he would have been in danger.
As the day wore on and the sun began to set, I was able to walk some distance closer to the Pentagon. The gaping hole in the building burned brightly and would for days. When night came, the emotion of the day weighed heavily on me. I remember thinking that in some way this marked the end of innocence for America; That we were no longer the safe and insulated nation that generations of us had believed we were.
9/11 is indelibly imprinted in my memory both because of the evil that is reflected in such an act—and the 2,977 American lives tragically lost—and because of the powerful sense of patriotism and unity that can exist in our great country when we stand together.
On this day, and on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I say a simple prayer in gratitude for those who have suffered and died on our behalf—and remind myself to strive to be worthy of their sacrifice. I include in my prayer the hope that we may find a way—without a tragedy—to be as united again as we were then.
In so doing, we must rededicate ourselves to the survival of this ‘Great Experiment in Democracy’, this ‘Last Best Hope for Peace on Earth.’ And we will! May God bless America.
Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different Members of Congress from Louisiana.