Fallon’s service begins at 2 p.m. in the courtyard behind City Hall.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
Twenty-one years ago, the events on Sept. 11 changed the way in which this county perceived itself and a changing world.
On this day in 2001, the single most devastating, orchestrated attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. In western Pennsylvania, a group of passengers aboard United Airlines flight 93 wrestled the controls of the jet from four hijackers, but the plane nosedived into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania., 79 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, killing all 44 aboard.
In the four incidents, 2,996 people died and more than 6,000 were injured, including 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers. It was the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of this nation. This attack with the four passenger jets was carried out by 19 members of Al Qaeda, a radical Islamic terrorist organization.
Fallon, along with Fernley and Carson City, will conduct separate observances on what is now known as Patriot Day, so designated by Congress in 2001 and later adopted in 2009 with a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Fallon’s service begins at 2 p.m. in the courtyard behind City Hall. Both Fernley and Carson City will hold their observances at 1 p.m. at the North Lyon County firehouse on Main Street and Mills Park, respectively.
The U.S. flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sundown.
For the past 20 years, Fallon has taken an active role in remembering this day.
“We honor those who served and the first responders,” said Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford, “and we remember those who lost their lives that day.”
Fallon’s ceremony has featured the area’s first responders and military personnel from Naval Air Station Fallon and the Nevada National Guard. Including the residents who attend the hour-long ceremony, attendees will place red roses on a memorial built to honor the men and women who died 21 years ago on Sept. 11.
Tedford has asked former Nevada governor and current University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval to speak.
“He always sets a nice tone,” Tedford said, adding Sandoval has previously spoken at the 9/11 ceremony. “I’m looking forward to his remarks.”
Sandoval has ties to Fallon from his youth. After his father was transferred to Nevada with the Federal Aviation Agency, the Sandoval family lived first in Fallon before relocating to Reno. Sandoval attended third grade at Northside Elementary School along with a friend he would know for a lifetime, Dale Erquiaga.
During the ceremony, Tedford will read a chronology of terror, which lists the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and how the day unfolded.
“It’s always a hard day but one we need to remember,” Tedford said.
Although this year’s event is on a Sunday, Tedford is encouraging residents of all ages to join the first responders and community. Tedford said he would like to see as many children at this year’s remembrance so they know what happened on that fateful day that killed thousands. During the week after the Sept. 11 attack, Tedford said airports and bus stations closed, communications were cut off, security was ramped up at both key civilian locations and military installations. He said it’s also important for students in high-school history and government classes to talk about the events leading up to 9/11 and the days afterward.
Tedford said he doesn’t want to see people forget the day like they did with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Until the 75th anniversary of the attack in 2016, he said Dec. 7 was just another day.
During the autumn of 2001, though, the United States united as a nation.
“On that tragic day, we were truly one nation under God,” Tedford described at a previous ceremony. “We saw the best of humanity, the best in the first responders, the best in heroic America who sacrificed their lives attempting to save others trapped in the most horrifying conditions imaginable.”
There are reminders of that day in the city courtyard. The memorial includes a piece of steel beam from one of the towers, and another monument recognizes Army Spc. Jason Disney, a Churchill County High School graduate who was killed at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan on Feb. 12, 2002. Disney deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom as a wheeled vehicle repairman and welder with the 7th Transportation Battalion's 58th Maintenance Company (GS)/530th Supply and Service Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Pastor Pat Propster, event coordinator for the Carson City Christian Ministerial Fellowship, has also presented the same message.
“When thinking of that day, which has left an indelible mark on each one of us, may our thoughts gravitate to all of the incredible people that responded in such a selfless way,” he said. “Public servants of all branches and volunteers rushing to the aid of mankind, as they continue to do daily. Yet how can our thoughts not go to another group of people that are bent on doing evil and causing harm to mankind.”
Area residents have also reflected on that day 21 years ago and what the message means now. Lahontan Elementary first-grade teacher Stacey Manning had dropped off her then 5-year-old son at kindergarten.
“I felt so sad. So heartbroken and scared ... I wondered if that meant we were at war now,” said Manning, who was taking college classes at the time.
Manning, though, went home and watched the news because of the live footage of the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
“I remember crying all day for the loss of life and sorrow for our country,” she said. “I remember praying so hard for everyone. It was a sad day, a sad time for our country. The days following, though, I do remember how we pulled together and supported one another as a country. I remember the patriotism I saw thereafter for a while. Our country seemed to come together... I miss those times.”
Janice M. McGrath, a retired the tech sergeant with the Nevada Air National Guard, thought the footage on television that morning was from an old story. Then someone shouted, “the building has collapsed” in reference to one of the towers.
“After that, they sent us all home, aviation was cancelled in this country and things became so unreal,” she said. “Like so many Americans, I remained glued to the TV after that, trying to find out what was happening. The only time I cried during this awful period was when I went to a memorial in Reno for the New York firefighters who died that day; when they actually said the number — 343 — I burst into tears, it hit home. That number still haunts me.”
