On September 11, 2001, I was a Pensacola Police sergeant. I was teaching a class as an adjunct instructor at West Florida High School on that Tuesday morning when my wife called and informed me that an airliner had struck one of the towers of the World Trade Center. We turned the television on in the office and watched history unfold on a terrible tragedy. 2977 people were killed including 415 emergency workers who went into the building to save others.
In all, four airplanes were used as weapons against America. The entire country was shocked, then devastated. However, the terrorists intended goal – to cripple the United States was not realized. Instead, the opposite happened. The nation was galvanized as one, turning the greatest terrorist attack in a uniting event that made our country stronger.
Since that fateful day, an entire generation has grown up without the experience of seeing a heartless attack on our people. They don’t know the flood of emotions that we experienced. Let us not allow that event to become lost in history.
Learning experts say that a single great event (JFK assassination, first man on the moon, etc.) is almost always indelibly burned into the mind. Probably the greatest example of that is the 9/11 event. Everyone who was old enough remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing.
So, where were you? What is your story? Please leave a comment.
Mike Simmons
#oldpolicestories