Remember 9-11 Like It Was Yesterday

Today is a day I will never forget and a day no American should forget. It
is September 11, when the most violent attack in my lifetime occurred on
American soil and when our lives were changed forever.

I remember 9-11 like it was yesterday. I had gone to work just as I did
every day. After my wife and I talked as we did each morning, I was
checking my e-mail when she called me and told me turn on the radio cause
they were taking direct news feed from New York.

I turned on the radio in time to hear about the first plane having hit the
North tower of the World Trade center. I remember thinking, oh my gosh,
what a terrible accident.

Then, the second plane hit the South tower. This was no accident, America
was under attack. I remember thinking, this isn't supposed to happen here.
This kind of thing happens in places like Israel. Well, it was happening
here.

I spent most of the day glued to radio coverage. I remember how America
came together after 9-11, with a resolve to do whatever was necessary to
defeat the brutal enemy that was the terrorists who want us all dead.

Sadly, we've lost much of that resolve. People have forgotten what happened
on 9-11 and that's really sad. The enemy is still out there and we must do
whatever it takes to rid America and the world of terrorists.

I took a trip to Ground Zero on Halloween of 2006. In a cell phone call to
my wife from there, I could hardly talk as I was crying so hard. I remember
talking for an our and a half to a fireman who lost many of his brothers in
the rescue effort after 9-11. Afterwords, I shook his hand and thanked him
for being one of the first soldiers in the war on terror.

Today, let's remember the almost 3,000 people needlessly killed on 9-11 in
New York, Washington DC at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Let's also
resolve as Americans once again to defeat terrorism and keep it off our
soil.