It was one of the single most tragic days in our nation’s history and many of us thought it was the worst day of our lives. – VFW Post 7720 Commander Bill Miles
It was a seminal event that forever altered the landscape of America. Not only did 9/11 shatter buildings and lives, it awakened Americans to the fragility of life and the true cost of freedom. But the fires that took down the World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon on Septemer 11, 2001, forged something far more powerful than the terrorists who started them – unity.
Although the strong sense of national unity that existed after the attacks has been tested and weakened in the nearly two decades since, commemorative events rekindle it.
So it was Wednesday in Cornelia.
Around one-hundred people gathered at the Habersham County Veterans Wall of Honor to commemorate the eighteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. They paid tribute to the 2,977 people who died that day, including 413 first responders.
Local veterans, police, deputies, firefighters, and EMTs were among those who attended Wednesday’s event. Woodmen of the World treated them to a cookout before the vigil.
The Grant-Reeves Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7720 in Cornelia hosted the gathering. A VFW choir sang patriotic tunes as local Boy Scouts passed out candles and lit them as speakers took to the podium.
Post commander, retired U.S. Army Sgt. Bill Miles, delivered an inspired speech about the impact of 9/11.
“It was difficult for us to grasp the scope of the tragedies that day,” Miles said. “It was one of the single most tragic days in our nation’s history and many of us thought it was the worst day of our lives.”
Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell vividly recalled that fateful day. He was in class at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth when they received news that something had happened. Terrell was surrounded by law enforcement personnel and firefighters when he learned the nation was under attack.
“There’s probably a couple hundred of us gathered around a TV watching,” he recounted. “We watched the second plane fly into a tower and right then we knew, this is not an accident.”
Together they watched the South Tower collapse.
“Then we watched the second tower fall. Then we learned that there was a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania and then we learned that the Pentagon had been attacked,” Terrell said, recalling the frightening succession of events on September 11, 2001. He added, “I got to thinking, ‘All those people were trying to rush out of that building…who’s rushing in?'”
Eighteen years later as he stood in front of the Wall of Honor and looked out over the crowd, Terrell pointed to deputies and first responders. “Them folks in the brown and tan back there are the kind of folks that were rushing in.”
The human spirit
“The accounts of hope and heroism that emerged from the rubble of Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the rural Pennsylvania field inspired us all,” Miles said. “To this day, those remarkable chronicles of valor continue to serve as a reminder of all that is good and true in the human spirit.”
Ed Hendrix expemplifies that spirit. The now-retired physician told the crowd he was at work in his medical office in Demorest when the nation came under attack. As he and the nurses in his office stood around the television set watching the news, he said something inside of him changed. “9/11 was a moment in my life that turned me around.”
Hendrix signed up to join the Georgia Army National Guard in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It took him four-and-a-half years to convince the military to take him but he was eventually accepted into service. He was 56 years old at the time.
“It was a life changing event. It was something that I felt I had to do.”
Hendrix recounted how, in the aftermath of 9/11, military recruiting staions were overrun with new recruits. “We all wanted to get in there and do something.” He did. He left behind his thriving medical practice and served military tours in Afghanistan and Kuwait.
As much as Americans would like to think that something like 9/11 could never happen again, Hendrix cautions, “I wouldn’t bet on it. I think we all just need to be realistic that, although we’ve committed ourselves to peace in the world, not everybody else has.”
It’s those lingering threats that heighten the danger of military and public safety service and accentuate the selflessness it takes to choose those career paths.
“I salute men and women who put on a uniform to protect our country overseas,” Sheriff Terrell said as he closed out his remarks. “I salute men and women who put the badge on, whether it’s a shield or a badge or a Maltese cross, whatever it is, to protect us here at home every day and I thank you for your service.”
As the candle flames flickered and the vigil drew to a close, Miles talked about the people on the planes, the workers in the buildings, and the first responders who died. He rang a bell after each mention and concluded by saying, “For generations, America has served as a beacon of hope and light to the world. We must continue to be that inspiration. That’s the best way to honor the memory of those lost during the events of September 11.”
After a moment of silence, the VFW Honor Guard fired off a final tribute with a 21-gun salute.
Now Habersham livestreamed the vigil. You can watch it in its entirety below or on our Facebook page
