When Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he said that the date, Dec. 7, 1941, “will live in infamy.” This can also be said for the attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. As the tenth anniversary of the attacks passes us, we are left remembering that frightful day. Among the students on campus are a few veterans who told their stories and opinions.
“I think honestly that the attack on that day had the same effect as Pearl Harbor. It was meant to totally scare us out of doing anything, and in reality it just totally backfired on whoever did it,” said Petty Officer Second Class and social studies education senior James Donohoe. “After Pearl Harbor we built up the biggest military ever and the most powerful navy and destroyed the people who did it.”
United States Navy veteran and criminal justice sophomore Cal Broussard was on active duty at the time of the attacks and was conducting a weight test on a United States Navy destroyer at the naval station in Norfolk, Virginia.
“It was an hour and a half test and 45 minutes into it one of the guys come out of the crane barge. They had an office in the bottom and he said, ‘Hey a plane just landed into the World Trade Center.'” said Broussard. “They were all looking at me since I was in charge of the test and I said ‘Okay, anything else? We got 45 minutes left of this test, we are going to finish it before we do anything else.’ And I guess it was a while after, when they got it on the TV, a guy said, ‘Hey another one hit.’ I said, ‘We got 10 minutes left.’ We finished, packed up and went back to the office. It wasn’t long after that they shut the base down.”
Broussard added that after all the panic was over, they were given a list of those killed at the Pentagon. This list contained the name of one of his friends.
“We got a list and I thought a friend of mine was on there, and I came to grips with her being gone. Then about two years later, at a Military Appreciation Day, we walked around a corner, and she was standing there and scared the hell out of us,” said Broussard. “Me and my best friend thought she was dead. There happened to be two Melissa Barnes’ and we didn’t know it wasn’t her.”
One currently active was in the Virgin Islands during the attacks, which led her to join the Air National Guard.
“I was in either third or fourth grade,” said Senior Airman and social studies education junior Harmony Tadlock. “We were just sitting on the ground, watching TV, and I was thinking how far away that was. I never really quite got the gist of it when I was that young, but when I got older I realized what it was all about. It really motivated me to do things to protect the country, make it safer and do my part.”
For the anniversary, the Southeastern Student Veterans Association (SSVA) set up a table with a piece of the USS New York on display to raise awareness of the group. The piece, fashioned out of a beam from the World Trade Center, was used in the construction of the Navy vessel’s bow-stem. It was on loan from industrial technology instructor Anthony Blakeney, who is trying to have it made into a monument for the 9/11 attacks.
“I want to donate it to the university and come up with some sort of memorial to commemorate what happened on that day and to give thanks to those who support us, such as the military, the firemen, the policemen and all the emergency responders,” said Blakeney.
As for the anniversary, Broussard says that it should remind people of the sacrifices that the men and women of the military make every day.
“I hope it reminds people of the gullibility we have here and the great life we live because of all the people that are overseas keeping the jerks who attacked the World Trade Center over there,” said Broussard.
For more information on the SSVA, contact the group’s president via email at [email protected].