A quarter of a century has passed since Islamic terrorism changed the nation and world on Sept. 11, 2001. But Union County continues to uphold the promise to Never Forget by emphasizing the pain of that terrible day – and the resilience that followed – for the benefit of those who came after the attacks.
That is why hundreds of students at Union County Schools joined local veterans, first responders and county leaders for the annual 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at the Fine Arts Center on Friday, Sept. 11.
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Directed by Will Stafford, the Union County High School Band started the morning with a patriotic performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by Harmony Grove Baptist Pastor Scotty Jarrard offering a moving invocation before a time of mourning and reverence.
“We stand today, 25 years after the actual event,” Blairsville-Union County Chamber of Commerce President Steve Rowe said as he greeted those gathered. “We look around and we know many of y’all weren’t even born back then, 25 years ago.
“And as a matter of fact, a lot of your teachers were still in school 25 years ago, but we believe it’s important to make sure that our history is remembered and recalled lest events like 9/11 happen again.”
Union County Fire Chief David Dyer shared some facts about the day, aiming to teach the high school students in the audience what happened.
As many still recall, the first two planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and then a third hit the Pentagon. A fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a Pennsylvania field when passengers and crew bravely fought back against the terrorists that hijacked the aircraft.
In total, 2,977 innocent people perished that day, including 343 firefighters.
“The death toll would have been much higher if it weren’t for first responders, military, civilians – just people helping out,” Dyer said, “but most especially the firefighters who were doing everything that they could to save as many lives as possible.
“On Sept. 11, we acknowledge the attacks, we acknowledge what happened, and we acknowledge why. We remember and we honor those who died, especially those who died in the attempt to save as many lives as possible, and we always try to keep our promise of ‘Never Forget.’”
Dyer added that the people who were alive to experience the events of that fateful day will always remember where they were and how they felt when they realized what had just befallen the country, but they will not always be around.
It’s for that reason that the younger generation must learn what happened and keep their own promise to Never Forget.
Introduced as an IT management sales expert, former Vice President of the Towns County Fire Corps and current board member of the Appalachian Veterans Memorial Park, resident Rob Mawyer served as the keynote speaker.
Mawyer started by describing his own memories of the Sept. 11 attacks. At the time, he was in New York City on a business trip, due to check in for a trade show scheduled for Sept. 12.
When Mawyer heard about the first collision, he believed it was a fluke. When the second attack occurred, he wondered if it was a hoax. When he got news of the third, he accepted that the nation was at war. From there, he watched history unfold on live TV, like so many Americans.
Panic set in. Cellphone service and even landline telephones in the area were overloaded, so he had to resort to creating an email chain to check on his coworkers. In the wake of the tragedy, he was stuck in New York until he was able to rent a vehicle to drive back to Atlanta.
That drive will always stick with Mawyer because, across the nation, convoys of first responders, military units, construction workers, clean-up crews and more traveled to New York City to aid a profoundly hurting people.
“There were 25, 35, 55 people on the overpasses waving American flags,” Mawyer recalled. “Civilian Americans stood on those bridges all day … They’d been out there every day, waving their American flags, supporting these guys going up to help New York City.”
When he returned home, he heard the story of an entire company of firefighters that responded to the smoking scene of the World Trade Center. Knowing the risks, the firefighters made it a point to tell each other that it was an honor to work together. In the end, they all perished.
“But those firefighters and those like them and the policemen who went into those buildings, too, they saved thousands upon thousands of people,” Mawyer said. “Somewhere between 20,000 to 25,000 people went to work every day in those buildings … (so) 20,000-ish were saved by our first responders.”
He closed his emotional comments in part by asking students to respect and thank first responders for pledging to protect their community, because he himself didn’t realize how deep that dedication ran until the events of 9/11.
For the second part of Mawyer’s closing statement, he suggested showing the same appreciation for America’s military, keeping in mind all the brave men and women who answered the call to protect their country in the wake of the attacks.
The Union County High School Chorus, directed by Alicia Covington, marked the end of the ceremony with a stirring performance of “Amazing Grace.”
