I Will Never Forget

Today is September 11th. Today it has been seventeen years since the lives of tens of thousands of Americans changed forever. Nearly 3000 families lost a loved one on that fateful day in 2001. More than twice that number have said goodbye since then. Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day? Country music singer Alan Jackson wrote a song about it shortly thereafter and performed it for the first time on the Country Music Awards just shy of the one month anniversary. The following year the song “Where Were You” won a Grammy award for best song of the year and song and single of the year at the Country Music Awards. But, “9/11” is hardly about a song.

“9/11” is one of those days we can all recall where we were when we heard the news. There are a handful of these days that have affected different generations; Pearl Harbor, the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr, the Space Shuttle explosion and 9/11. The earlier events did not have the media coverage that 9/11 did, however, each of them impacted America as a whole. Our hearts broke as one and we cried together as a country.

Five months earlier, my eighty-three year old grandfather had succumbed to cancer. He was a WWII veteran who honorably served our country. He returned home after earning a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart and started a family that would eventually grow to include my son, Ben. My grandfather was Ben’s idol. I always felt fortunate that my son got to know and spend quality time with his great grandfather. Many people never get to meet, much less have a relationship with their grandparents. This went one generation further and would prove to be the most influential relationship Ben would have.

Ben took notice of his great grandfathers medals in a curio cabinet when he was seven years old. This is when his interest in the military began. He questioned what it was like to be in the Army and wanted all the details. My grandfather patiently answered him. This kept up for several years. As the love, respect and admiration grew between them, Ben began saying that he wanted to grow up and join the Army and be just like his great grandfather. My grandfather told him that imitation was not flattery and that he should become who he was meant to become and not “imitate” anyone. He said one day he would know what this was - his gut would tell him.

My grandfather’s death was the first Ben had experienced. He was absolutely crushed. He said he didn’t want to talk about it because it hurt too much. He kept quiet until five months later - when 9/11 happened. His sorrow turned to vengeance almost immediately. As we watched the endless news coverage together, Ben declared that he was going to become an Army Ranger, find Osama bin Laden and make him pay. He was thirteen. I didn’t doubt him from the moment those words left his lips. He spoke with a conviction I had not seen before. Here was that gut feeling his great grandfather warned him about. He never looked back. In hindsight, I believe 9/11 sealed Ben’s fate.

As promised, Ben joined the Army during his senior year of high school and trained with the Infantry in the same place as his great grandfather some sixty years earlier. Seven short months later, he was assigned to a Ranger Battalion. I imagine there were thousands of young men just like him showing up to Basic Training posts all over the country. Young men, who, like Ben, relentlessly watched 9/11 coverage and were inspired to join the military. Each of them wanted a hand in making certain America would never witness another tragedy like this.

With two deployments to Iraq under his belt, Ben faced a third, this time to Afghanistan. Halfway through, he was caught in a firefight with the Taliban. While saving six of his brothers in arms, Ben took a bullet to the leg. He would die eight days later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. His final wishes (will) requested that he be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. I understood why he wanted to be laid to rest here. He would be surrounded by heroes from all generations.

Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery is filled almost exclusively with the men and women Killed In Action during the Global War On Terror. It is hallowed ground for those of us whose loved ones bodies are laid to rest here. It is hallowed ground for America - almost a default location where a collective respect can be paid for thousands, all in one place.

My son, along with countless young people near his age, joined the military to avenge the murder of innocent lives lost on 9/11. I have met few people who knew what their purpose was at such a young age. Ben stayed the course with an intense grit and dogged determination that is truly rare. Rare among the masses, but not among those like him who ran towards the gunfire to save future lives. Ben’s death certificate lists his cause of death as “Homicide”. He died defending his great grandfather’s legacy. He died defending freedom. He died defending the oppressed and the innocent. He died because 9/11 lit a fire in his belly that roared until he sacrificed everything he was to make absolutely certain our beautiful America would never see another 9/11. His cause of death should read “Humanitarian.”

In early 2003, another country music singer released a song entitled, “Have you forgotten?”
Less than two years after the terrorists attacks, there was concern that 9/11 would be forgotten. As I sit here seventeen years later, I can tell you that I never will. Today is a day that altered the course of my life, my son’s life and innumerable others in our great country. Freedom has never been free and remains bought and paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of those willing to sacrifice everything to defend it.

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day? Have you forgotten?

6 thoughts on “I Will Never Forget

  1. Our kids who serve/served their country are all tied to this tragic day. So many vowed to serve because of it. Too many never came home. Too many came home with visible and invisible wounds. We will NEVER FORGET! ❤🇺🇸

    1. I will never forget!! That day is etched in my memory. When it rolls around year after year, I am sad, sullen, and disturbed at how little hegemony our country has. That day certainly united a lot of people. I was naive to think things would be better for us by now. I thank Ben and you for your sacrifices and am so humbled that he fought and died on my behalf.

  2. Beautifully written, Jill! I just wrote a blog about Thomas “Patrick” Payne who was just awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing hostages in Iraq. He, like Ben, was inspired after 9/11 to join the Army. These men and women who answer the call to serve our country are incredible people. Thanks for keeping Ben’s memory alive! Blessings, Meg Corrigan

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