John Butler (C), American Legion Post 49, speaks about Honor & Remember and the Honor & Sacrifice flag, being held by two other Legion members, during a memorial ceremony at the Legion in Warsaw Sunday, Sept. 11. Sitting behind Butler are Ken Locke and Mike Cox, members of the Kosciusko County 9/11 Memorial Remembrance Committee. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, transformed the United States and the world, but a lot has changed since then.

A whole generation was not even born when 9/11 happened, Ken Locke, a member of the Kosciusko County 9/11 Memorial Remembrance Committee, reflected in his address during the annual memorial ceremony.

The ceremony was held Sunday afternoon at American Legion Post 49, Warsaw, after the weather required it to be moved indoors from the Kosciusko County courthouse lawn. Usually, it’s held at the Center Lake Pavilion next to the 9/11 Memorial but the pavilion is under renovation. 

“On Sept. 11, 2001, the world watched as two jetliners slammed into New York City’s World Trade Center while another crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Passengers aboard a fourth airplane averted even more destruction by trying to regain control of their airplane, which was intended to hit either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. As a result, the hijackers crashed into a field outside of Shanksville, Pa.,” Locke said. 

Nearly 3,000 lives were lost that day, he said.

Locke said he was at a bowling party Saturday with some kids. There was a little boy named Jacob who told Locke that his class read last week about what happened in New York 21 years ago. 

As Locke sat there, listening to Jacob, he said he realized, “We have a whole generation that wasn’t even alive when this happened. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it, how quickly time has passed? And here we are, 21 years later. It’s also hard to realize where we’re at sometimes in our country right now. Obviously, in some ways, we didn’t learn a whole lot on Sept. 11, but I’m hoping and praying that things will change in some ways as the days go by.”

He said terrorism has taken a “devastating and emotional toll” on the world. On average, 24,000 people are killed worldwide each year due to terrorism and the numbers keep growing. 

“We can’t kid ourselves 21 years later that terrorism has gone away because it hasn’t and it keeps morphing into different forms,” Locke said. 

Over 7,000 American military personnel were killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “We lost a lot of good men and women, and thousands are wounded, suffering from PTSD and other things as a result,” Locke said. “We had people serving five tours in the Middle East. We asked a lot of them in serving and trying to fight terrorism and trying to at least bring peace and safety to us. You realize, in this country, for the most part, we’ve had relative peace and safety. It’s because of the sacrifices of so many that we’ve been able to do that.”

It’s estimated that veterans who served after 2001 are at a 50% higher risk of suicide than people who did not serve, he said. “The suicide rate of veterans is very high, and so we need to make sure we are taking care of our veterans and that we are telling them how much we are appreciating them because the cost of terrorism has been high.”

Locke said sometimes he wishes the country could go back, not to what happened on Sept. 11 but what happened afterward.

“I remember a rare spirit of public unity that I had really never experienced in my lifetime,” he said. 

Growing up during the Vietnam War, Locke remembers how divided the country was then. He remembers how military personnel were treated when they came home and how no one should be treated that way after serving their country.

“But after 9/11, it was a rare spirit of public unity. It didn’t matter if you were a Republican or a Democrat, whether you were Black or white or Hispanic. It didn’t matter, did it? We were all coming together because we wondered what in the world the future had to hold. It was a rare spirit of public unity,” Locke said. 

He said he hopes someday everyone can come together like that again.

He also remembers that after 9/11 there was a return to faith in large numbers. 

“We seem to live now in a situation where we’re trying to move away from God sometimes. But I hope we can move back the other way. Not that it’s forced on people, that’s not what I’m saying. But in all reality, everything we have has been given to us by the providence of God’s hand. We should honor Him in that way,” Locke said.

After 9/11, he said there was a newness of support for service people.

“We saw law enforcement, fire, corrections, dispatch and EMS in a different light on Sept. 12,” Locke said, who put their lives on the line for others every single day.

“What has happened to us in this day and age? All of a sudden, we decry and we cut down our police, we cut down our personnel. We want to cut funding, all kinds of crazy stuff going on. How in 21 years has that happened? I don’t know, but I hope we always have a place in our hearts and support for those personnel who make sure we live in safety and peace as much as possible in this country,” Locke said.

In his concluding remarks, he said 9/11 should always be “a reminder to us of how precious life really is, how precious liberty is and how precious those freedoms are that we have that have been endowed to us by our Creator, that we enjoy them each day and make sure we pass them on to the next generation. We thank God for those blessings today.”

The Kosciusko County 9/11 Memorial Remembrance Committee member Mike Cox gave the opening welcoming remarks and invocation, followed by the post of the colors by the American Legion Post 49 Honor Guard. Bryce Lippe sang the national anthem, and Boy Scout Troop 715 led in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

In his brief remarks, Cox said it was the Committee’s goal to annually commemorate Sept. 11 so the losses are never forgotten.

“If you remember, on Sept. 12, 2001, we as a nation pledged that we would never forget,” Cox said. 

He also reminded everyone that there’s an election coming up and he encouraged everyone to vote. 

John Butler, American Legion Post 49, talked briefly about the Honor & Sacrifice and Honor & Remember flags and their significance.

The closing ceremony included a 21-gun volley by the Honor Guard, followed by the playing of Taps.