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It’s been 25 years since “the world stopped turning.” As I hope you well know, terrorists hijacked four airplanes on September 11, 2001, and flew them on a suicide mission into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A total of 2,977 American souls were lost, and we all promised to “never forget.”
But this anniversary also means that there are 25 years worth of Americans who were not alive for that day, and therefore have nothing to remember. Luckily for them, there are plenty who do, so I spoke with three locals who sure haven’t forgotten.
Marine veteran and Maryland State Police officer Keith Johnson was a 21 year old rising Sergeant preparing to deploy on September 19 from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Johnson was in the barracks when the first plane struck the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. “Then the second plane hit, and we all started watching,” he said.
Soon afterward, the Marines’ plans began changing. Their unit had been preparing for a Mediterranean deployment, but the attacks introduced an entirely different possibility: going to New York City to provide relief at the World Trade Center. For the next several days, they prepared for anything. Ultimately, they did not go to New York, but they did deploy on September 19. After a quick visit to Egypt for training, Johnson found himself in Afghanistan.
He explained that while the majority of the county was gripped by fear, his Marines were anything but scared. “We’re taught this is your job,” he said, “Your job is to defend others.”
His unit spent roughly 45 days providing security around the Kandahar International Airport. They also participated in a mission to recover a helicopter that had crashed while targeting a Taliban training center. For Johnson, the deployment was a rapid education in the realities of war and leadership.
Current Annapolis Fire Department Captain and Battalion Chief Wayne Fretterd was off-duty that day. He said he was helping a friend put up an antenna when someone alerted them that the Twin Towers had been struck. But what he remembers most about 9/11 is the immediate and alarming change in so many of his day-to-day interactions.
He said the attacks highlighted the vulnerability of nearby military installations. The Naval Academy in Annapolis went into complete lockdown, and Fretterd said crews who normally could enter the Academy with little more than a wave through the gates were suddenly being stopped by personnel carrying M16 rifles. Sandbags were placed, weapons had been mounted at the gates, service members were donned in protective gear, and emergency personnel were required to show two forms of identification to get through.
Meanwhile, retired teacher Mike Parks watched 9/11 and the weeks that followed unfold alongside his senior contemporary issues class at Cambridge South Dorchester High School. A notoriously late student barged through the door, insisting that he wasn’t late for no good reason, he had been listening to the news report that a plane had run into the World Trade Center. Parks was ready to dismiss him, but obliged to the students’ pleas to turn on the classroom’s TV. “As soon as the picture came on the television, the second plane hit the second tower,” he said. For the next thirty minutes, no one spoke. They sat with their eyes glued to the news broadcast.
Parks said he did eventually think to ask if anyone in the room knew someone in New York City, to which they all said no. So in the hours before the schools decided to dismiss students early, there they sat. Parks remembers at least five former students who immediately enlisted in the military following graduation specifically due to the terrorist attacks. One, Adam Mooney of Cambridge, became a Kiowa helicopter pilot. He was shot down over Baghdad.
September 11, 2001 has shaped the United States and how it prevents mass terrorist incidents in once unfathomable ways. Johnson said his current work with the Maryland Fusion Center is, in a very direct way, a product of the lessons learned after the attacks. Before September 11, information-sharing among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies was far more fragmented. He explained that the “see something, say something” culture and the modern homeland-security and intelligence structure grew from the realization that agencies needed to communicate better. Fretterd would become one of the first paramedics on his shift selected to participate in hazardous materials technician training. The training was part of a newly-formed special operations team, which was created to allow first responders to do more than just wait for outside specialists in the event of a catastrophic or complex emergency.
Now, on this monumental anniversary, all three grapple with whether we lived up to the “never forget” promise. Fretterd said the widespread respect for first responders and their sacrifices waned after the first decade, and the country has fallen back into complacency on the matter.
As far as preserving the patriotic and neighborly fervor that took over on September 12, “We failed,” Johnson said, “That was a moment the country came together. It was a moment that should have bonded the country.” Johnson also fears that the post-9/11 generations, having not been around to witness it themselves, will be able to forget much more easily.
While that may be the case, for those who were impacted by the attacks, “I don’t think you ever get over it,” Fretterd said.
