COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – It was a somber 9/11 Memorial Monday morning at Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d’Alene, ID.
Law enforcement, firefighters, EMT’s, veterans, and the public, all remembering and reflecting the day that changed the U.S. forever.
“A sense of national community was born,” Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said.
A sense of community that has been lost in the shadows of time.
“Our nation rallied as one. And if we can take a moment to remember that,” Sheriff Norris said, recalling the unity our country once had in the dark days that followed 9/11.
“It was interesting how such a tragic event could bring a nation together,” Sheriff Norris said.
From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, millions of Americans, feeling the same pain.
“We all know and remember what we were doing,” Ken Johnson, a veteran and former employee at the Pentagon, remembered vividly.
He was at the Pentagon during the attack on our country.
Johnson said its important to remember and reflect 9/11.
“To honor the lives of the innocent victims of the attack. The mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, and yes the occasional fiancé that perished that day,” Johnson said.
His soon-to-be wife passed away in the attack.
“A war would start the next month in Afghanistan as a result of this horrific act of terror,” said Theresa Hart, the mother of Nick Newby, a fallen soldier.
Nick fought the war on terror in Iraq.
“I had no idea that my then 11-year-old son would go away to that far away place nine years later and die when an IED hit his convoy,” Hart said.
9/11 is undoubtedly an event that affected every American in some manner.
22 years ago seems far away, but the fallout from this atrocious attack would stretch far beyond imagination.
“We hug our kids a little bit tighter. We honor, praise, and respect our first responders, we appreciate our military service – men and women. Patriotism will always be stronger than terrorism,” Johnson said.
