Navy Community Commemorates 10th Anniversary Of Sept. 11

The Navy community commemorated the 10^th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks with a moving ceremony Sunday afternoon replete with gun salutes, patriotic speeches, song, prayer and remembrances.

“We’re here for a poignant anniversary,” Submarine Base New London Commanding Officer Capt. Marc Denno told the scores of uniformed military – retired and active – as well as family, friends and other civilians.

Denno recalled the morning of Sept. 11, 2001: “We found guns, but we didn’t find the bullets that went with the guns,” he said of the frenetic activity after learning of the attack on the World Trade Center. “It was a wake-up call for how unprepared we were.”

Not anymore, he said.  

In addition to Denno’s remarks, Army Sgt. Sean Emond explained how the terror attack on U.S. soil spurred him to action.

“The attacks weighed heavily on me,” he said. “We were at war and I had not yet served my country,” Emond recalled. And so in 2004, he joined the army and would soon find himself completing two tours of duty in Iraq.

“I felt a sense of responsibility,” Emond said.

Over the course of the past month, visitors to the Submarine Force Library and Museum have put adding the names of 9/11 victims – as well as the names of more than 9,000 service members that have lost their lives in service to the nation since 2001 – on two separate banners, which were displayed – and studied by ceremony attendees.

A 21-gun salute in honor of the “fallen” startled and moved the audience. And at the beginning of the “retiring ceremony,” where the flag was burned ceremoniously, color by color, strip by strip the Old Glory poem was read: “I have borne silent witness to all of America’s finest hours…when I am flown at half mast to honor my soldiers or when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent …”

“It was pretty emotional,” said Kim Vargas, attending the ceremony with her family. “9/11 is pretty emotional.”