Veterans remember victims of 9/11 terror attacks
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Today marks 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, but to visitors at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Somerset County, it sometimes seems like only yesterday.
Retired member of the Air Force Kirk Lear was found Tuesday, standing beside First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr.'s name on the memorial wall. He and Homer served together from 1985-86.
Homer was still flying Lockheed C-141s in the Reserves, Lear said, but was also employed by United Airlines, where on Sept. 11, 2001, he was the First Officer on Flight 93 when it was hijacked.
Lear didn't know when he first learned Homer was killed, but he remembers it was in the alumni system.
Walking through the visitor's center and the stone memorials, Lear said the story of Flight 93 is a "statement in American heroism."
"They made a decision; they had like 15 minutes," he said. "I'm 30 years in the Air Force, Navy. We were trained to do this kind of stuff. None of these people were."
Making a split-second decision, the passengers and crew tried to contact their loved ones to say goodbye, knowing they weren't going to survive the crash.
"That's just powerful," he said. "Ordinary people in crisis circumstances who rise and come together" to prevent what would have been an even bigger tragedy had the plane reached its suspected destination in Washington, D.C.
A Chippewa couple, Army veterans James and Mary Carney, both vividly remember where they were when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City.
"I heard it on the radio," James said, noting he was working as a wastewater treatment operator at a steel mill. "After that, I went down to the lunchroom, that's where we all ate in the steel mill, and they put it on television."
Mary recounted hearing the news while working at a bank in Chippewa. As a former military policewoman stationed in Germany, she said Americans who haven't traveled outside the United States live in a bubble.
"This should be a wake-up call," James said. "This could happen again very well."
He said people should learn from our history.
Serving as an Air Force captain on Sept. 11, 2001, Mynda Ohman remembers receiving the news of the planes hitting the Twin Towers in the afternoon.
"We knew something was going on because the boss up and left to go to the base's command center, and soon we were learning that something was happening," she said, while standing beside her mother and sister after their hike around the Flight 93 memorial site.
She remembers the threat level being elevated and being sent home to wait for further instructions. While at home, her Italian neighbors stopped by.
"They said in Italian to us, 'This is really terrible. We are very, very sorry,'" she said.
Thinking about the years following the attacks, she said Americans should remember the attacks every day of every year.
"There are 40 passengers/crew on that plane, a group of people who decided to get together and do something about it," she said. "They had the courage, and I think it's that courage that we want to honor, not just every 25 years."
Former Army soldier Charles Weller said the day started out as a normal business day, wrapping up peacekeeping duties at the Coast of Oregon. Then, one of his soldiers informed everyone that one of the World Trade Centers was hit.
"A little while later, someone was like, 'A plane flew into the Pentagon,' and we're all instantly going into soldier mode," he said.
It wasn't until someone brought in a TV that they saw the attack on the second tower, causing them to shut down their operations. They knew it was a terrorist incident after the first two attacks, so everyone was sent to retrieve their rifles and gear, he recalled.
"We spent an extra 72 hours out on the wire; didn't know what asset was going to get attacked next," he said. "All of Coast of O, they just got quiet as a mouse. No one really wanted to make any trouble for us."
Weller said he took a few days off this week, spending time walking the 9/11 National Memorial Trail. This time of year is difficult, he said, noting that Tuesday was his first time visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial.
"What a powerful place," he said. "It's sad, the purpose for this place."
Regardless of where someone is remembering the anniversary of 9/11, he said people should remember that freedom isn't free.
"Sometimes just ordinary Joes, you'd step up to the table and fight for our freedom."
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.