When Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he said that the date, Dec. 7, 1941, “will live in 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 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 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 mark.lawerence2@selu.edu.