Panama City Florida remembers 9/11 impact 20 years later – The News Herald
PANAMA CITY — Keith Foster, commanding officer of Naval Support Activity Panama City, says he still can remember when his grandfather, a World War II veteran, told him how the attack on Pearl Harbor drastically unified the United States.
He said the same thing happened to the country after 9/11.
With dozens of people in attendance, Foster was among those who spoke Friday during a wreath ceremony at NSA to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania that killed thousands of people and led to the Global War on Terrorism in the Middle East.
“I used to look at the flag differently,” he said. “Granted I had been in Desert Storm, but when I see that flag now, I see … the Title of Liberty. … When you see that flag, remember the blood that has been spilled to protect the country.”
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Foster said that he was deployed with the U.S. Navy in Australia when the attacks happened. Shortly after, he and his shipmates received an order to set sail as soon as possible to Pakistan. They were told to then travel through the country to Afghanistan, where they set up the first base of operations in the war — Camp Rhino.
“We need to realize that enemy is still out there (and) to not give up our vigilance (or) our determination,” he said. “When those towers got hit, something happened in this country.”
Lisa Patrocky, command security manager of NSA and a retired petty officer for the Navy, agreed and added that she vividly remembers standing on the loading dock of a battle ship when she learned a plane had collided with the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
In disbelief, Patrocky walked to the ship’s lounge just in time to see the second plane hit the south tower on live TV.
“All I could think about was that I have to send these young men and women out to fight whatever evil this is,” she said. “We didn’t know in that moment what it was, but we knew it was bad and we knew it wasn’t right.”
Patrocky, who also spoke during the NSA event, said the ceremony was held promptly after 7:45 a.m. Central time because it was at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time when the first plane hit. The second plane followed at 9:03 a.m.
She noted another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in the nation’s capital at 9:37 a.m., and then a fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.
During the ceremony, four wreaths were displayed to honor those who died as a result of the attacks. The first honored more than 340 firefighters. The second was for about 70 police officers. The third was in remembrance of 125 people, split between department of defense personal and plane passengers, along with the almost 2,400 military members who died in Operation Enduring Freedom, which began less than a month after 9/11. The fourth represented the almost 3,000 civilians who died in the attack and the hundreds of thousands of civilian personnel who have since dedicated their lives to war.
“The events of 9/11 are forever etched in the minds of anyone old enough to remember the day,” Patrocky said. “These attacks were directed not just at the American people and institutions, but through the symbols of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and also at our nation’s guiding ideals of freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
For Mike Shockey, a Monticello resident visiting Panama City, the events of 9/11 created ripple effects that altered the course of his life, not only making him more patriotic, but also leading him to become a Christian.
“I suddenly discovered that I actually loved the country more than I realized I did,” said Shockey, who now is a pastor at Wildwood Church in Tallahassee. “For whatever reason, my heart (also) was softened to such a degree that I actually came to Christ in the aftermath — about seven or eight weeks following.
“… There was just something about that event that just changed my whole perspective on everything (and) life in general,” he added. “I went from never believing in God and Jesus … to suddenly having a softness of heart that I couldn’t quite explain.”
Shockey also said he was in town to visit his best friend, John Gay of Panama City, and pick up a piece of antique furniture that he purchased from a store downtown.
According to Gay, while 2021 might mark the 20th anniversary of the attack, it doesn’t necessarily mean more to him this year because every year is a painful reminder of what happened and the lives that were lost.
Like Shockey, Gay, who was wearing both a hat and shirt that pictured an American flag, agreed the event ignited a sense of patriotism in him that still remains.
“As Americans, I think we become very forgetful of what’s happened in the past,” he said. “I think it’s just always been a moment to remember what happened and the people who have sacrificed (their lives) since then.”
Shockey added that he believes it is important for Americans to remember that it is because of those sacrifices and others from members of the military that citizens are able to enjoy their freedoms.
One such freedom he noted is the ability to passionately hold and discuss political ideas that sometimes can be vastly different.
“If I am conservative in my political point of view, I may not agree with (someone else and they) may not agree with me, but at the end of the day, I think we both have to agree that we’re only able to share those opinions, sometimes very spiritedly, because other people died so we could do that,” he said.