Remembering Ronald J. Hemenway

As the years tick by, the importance of telling our piece of the story of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks increases.

If you are in your 30 or 40s or older, you recall with clarity the moment you learned people had used planes that morning to attack several locations around the U.S., killing thousands.

Older Americans remember the helpless feeling in the days and weeks that followed. So we made donations and hung flags. We mourned for those souls lost and for our nation’s lost innocence.

This is our nation’s shared story of struggle and triumph. There is a much more personal chapter to this moment in history for Alaska and the Mat-Su Borough.

His name is ET1 Ronald J. Hemenway. He grew up playing in Hatcher Pass and graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982. He was working at the Pentagon in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations the day American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building, killing 125 people inside the Pentagon and all 64 on the plane.

His remains were never recovered.

Every time the young men and women attending Wasilla High School enter the school’s main doors, they pass a Battlefield Cross marker installed on the 10th anniversary of his death.

Our responsibility to tell this story — Hemenway’s story — increases with each year. High school students who will graduate this spring were just beginning kindergarten in 2001. We struggled then to help shield them from our fears and to help them understand the importance of that moment.

This is really the last group of our young people who will have any first-hand memories of this event. It is up to us to teach this story to those who follow. And to tell them why remembering matters.

We are still struggling to parse meaning from this tragedy. What did our enemies hope to accomplish by killing so many people that day?

By declaration of Congress, Sept. 11 is “Patriot Day” and “National Day of Service and Remembrance.” These are just empty words if we don’t act in service on this day.

We should all make it our practice to mark this day with our families by spending it in service to our community in a tangible effort to recognize and honor the sacrifices made by service members like Hemenway. Start by telling your children, family and friends Hemenway’s story.

He left behind his wife, Marinella, and children, Stefan and Desiree. Now it is up to us to honor their sacrifice by teaching our children Hemenway’s life and death. Every Alaskan should know that these weren’t nameless, faceless strangers killed by foreign enemies in faraway locations. This is our story, the story of a local man who died serving his country on one of the most tragic days in our history.

Thank you to ET1 Hemenway, and to all who stand in harm’s way on our behalf.