RAF MILDENHALL, England -- Emergency responders from the RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath Fire Departments, 100th and 48th Security Forces Squadrons and 48th Medical Group joined together Sept. 11, 2018, for a ceremony at the 100th Air Refueling Wing headquarters building.
Leadership from both bases were also in attendance.
The sound of the “last alarm bell/call,” followed by a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace, gunshots from the honor guard firing party, and the playing of taps on the bugle marked the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks which changed the world forever.
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airlines and flew them into the World Trade Center’s Twin towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the Pennsylvania countryside, resulting in the loss of 3,056 lives.
“It’s been 6,209 days since that morning, but I feel there is no amount of time that can diminish the pain and loss of that day,” said Chief Master Sgt. William Taylor, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron fire chief and guest speaker at the event. “The terror attacks of Sept. 11 sparked a sense of patriotism within our nation, akin to the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941; and just as the attack on Pearl Harbor defined a nation, so too did the attacks on the World Trade Center.
“It think it only fitting that we make this correlation as we stand on this hallowed English ground – ground where a nation and her allies stood opposed to the tyranny that oppressed mainland Europe,” continued the fire chief, who was a staff sergeant working in the fire department at Osan Air Base, Korea, when the events of 9/11 took place. “Ground where the heroes of the 100th Bomb Group walked across Thorpe Abbotts’ field. Ground where the Bloody Hundredth moniker was gorged. Now, unlike the strategic attack on Pearl Harbor, on Sept. 11 our nation was attacked by an enemy that didn’t operate under the flag of any one nation. Their goal was to strike fear in people’s hearts by murdering thousands of innocent and unsuspecting men and women – innocent victims who held no ill will towards others.”
Team Mildenhall and Liberty Wing leadership, Airmen and civilians formed the audience for the ceremony of remembrance, some of whom were just young children in 2001.
“Being involved with the 9/11 ceremony means a lot to me; I was in third grade when the terror attacks happened, in class doing some homework,” said Staff Sgt. Bruce Lovett, 48th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department crew chief and co-lead for the 9/11 ceremony. “When everything started happening, our teachers told us to go to the library. While we were in there, they made us look away from the television, but as I’m kind of nosy, I turned around and saw a plane hit the towers.
“I really didn’t understand what was going on at the time – it was more of a movie to me – but once I got home and I realized it was deeper than that, it suddenly hit home to me that this was a real-life thing happening,” the crew chief said. “I was just a young kid at the time and it made me grow up a little bit; it was one of the reasons I joined the military, because it made me determined to do something about it.”
Lovett explained he felt it was important for the two bases to work together for the 9/11 ceremony on RAF Mildenhall.
“It’s important for us to get together and commemorate those people who selflessly went in to save as many lives as possible, as well as the others who died as a result of the attacks,” he said.
In his speech, Taylor described how one way to honor those lost is by building a nation worthy of their memory.
“Let us live up to the selfless example displayed by those heroes who died that day,” said the fire chief. “Even in the midst of terror and chaos, our country has and always will emerge victorious, solely because of those who demonstrate an uncommon valor. A courage to act at just the right time, in just the right place and for just the right reason.
“May this day be a reminder that the darkest of times can produce the brightest beacons of light,” Taylor said.