9-11: ‘LIKE YESTERDAY’

Like most Americans, Janie Campbell vividly recalls the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I thought at first it had to be an accident,” said the Wasilla resident about watching the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center unfold on television. “Then I saw the second plane hit and knew right then it couldn’t have been an accident. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Nine years later, Campbell was among the more than 500 Valley residents to attend a Sept. 11, 2001 remembrance service at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla.

Sponsored by the Conservative Patriots Group, the non-partisan event was a somber one; the crowd silent as a slideshow of images from the Sept.. 11, 2001 attacks played. Some prayed as the slideshow progressed, others broke into tears when Wasilla resident Rich Hendren began playing a moving rendition of “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes.

Remembering the event s from the day that claimed 2,977 lives, including 411 emergency responders, was painful for many, like Janie’s husband, Scott Campbell.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who did two tours of duty in Vietnam, he also recalls what he felt that morning.

“Simply horror,” he said. “Horror that somebody would actually do that to the twin towers, to the city of New York and to the country. It was a cowardly attack. They attacked civilian populations to get their point of view across. I personally don’t think they have the (intestinal fortitude) to stand up to anybody.”

Angie Cupples of Wasilla also remembers that morning, when at 4:46 AST that first plane hit the World Trade Center. She was living in Conroe, Texas, at the time, and her older children told her to turn on the television. One of those children, Donnie, would later enlist in the military.

“I told them right then it was going to change our lives forever,” Cupples said. On Saturday, she brought her younger children, ages 7 and 9. They’re homeschooled, and Cupples said it’s important they learn about one of the defining moments of the past decade.

A 22-year veteran, Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright had a passionate response to those who question why people should remember horrible times in history like Sept. 11, 2001 or Dec. 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

“What would’ve happened if my dad’s generation had ‘moved on’ after Pearl Harbor?” he said. “What would’ve happened if my great-great-granddad’s generation had quit the field after Gettysburg?”

Like many others in Alaska, where the local time is four hours behind the East Coast, Rupright received an early phone call.

“I flip on the TV and the place was burning,” he said. “Then my daughter, Beth, got up, and she’s only 5. She sat on the couch with me and we watched that second plane and I thought, ‘This ain’t no accident.’ It just hit me broadside. She thought it was a TV show and I was trying to explain it to her.”

Sept. 11, 2001 “is a defining moment” for America, he said, admitting his first reaction was, “Where’s the guns? Let’s go!”

As much as that day showed America is not untouchable by terrorism, it was also a “unifying event,” said Joe Miller, Republican nominee on the general election ballot for U.S. senator.

“It was an important event in several respects,” he said. “What came of that in the next several days as a nation is we saw … everybody pulling together in New York City heroically trying to save those who were still alive. It was an incredible (example) of human compassion and also of heroism. It helped us focus on a threat that had been growing for years.”

Contrary to theories that the attacks were a response to U.S. foreign policy or activities in the Middle East, Miller said there was only one real reason for the terrorist attacks.

“We were attacked because we’re America,” he said. “Americans have got to understand that the reason we are a threat to others is because we are an exceptional nation. We are a nation founded with the concept that we, the people, are sovereign and the rights we set the government cannot take away.”

As much as Saturday’s ceremony was in remembrance of the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, it was also a message and effort to renew a resolve to continue the fight against terrorism, said Jennie Bettine, Conservative Patriots Group president.

“Some ask why remember such a horrific event,” she said. “We must not forget because the threat is still there and we must not settle back into our comfort zone thinking everything is going to be all right.”

She also had a message for militant Islamic factions that would wage terrorism on America or others around the world. “We are tolerant of all religions, but we do not have to be tolerant — nor will we be tolerant — of terrorism.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.