It goes without saying, Sept. 11, 2001 is a day we all remember well. Next Tuesday marks the sixth anniversary of that day when terrorists hijacked four commercial planes, crashing them into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. Passengers aboard the fourth plane, Flight 93, diverted the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died in the attacks.
To honor the anniversary and the men and women who lost their lives that day, Operation S.A.M., a Livermore nonprofit that sends care packages to troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, is hosting a Sept. 11 memorial event titled, “Tribute to America’s Heroes” next Tuesday.
“Our basic goal is to keep the military who are still serving in everyone’s minds, whether or not you feel it is right or wrong to be in war, and to remember the people who lost their lives on 9/11,” said Laura Rosenga, vice president of Operation S.A.M. “We hope to keep those people alive in others’ memories and in their prayers.”
The tribute will begin at 7 p.m. at the Livermore Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, located at 522 South L St. in Livermore. The event starts with the presentation of the colors by the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Livermore Police Department, VFW and military honor guards. Then, recently retired Capt. Scott Walsh of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department and Capt. Steve Sweeny of the Livermore Police Department will speak about how 9/11 affected them and their work.
Rosenga said Operation S.A.M. asked both men to speak in an effort to give a greater emphasis on the important work police and firefighters did during 9/11.
“When we planned this event this year, we said we need to remember that the fire and police in New York were the first responders on 9/11 and the military came after that,” Rosenga said. “So we really wanted to recognize fire and police departments.”
Walsh, who is also a longtime Pleasanton resident, said he was honored when Operation S.A.M. asked him to speak at the event, as well as surprised, although his wife Barbara said she understood why the organization would want him to give the address.
“I think the reason he was chosen to speak was because he almost died in the line of duty and because these people on 9/11 did die in the line of duty,” she said. Last year, Scott Walsh fell 23 feet into an empty recycling pit at the Pleasanton Garbage Company while fighting a fire. He spent four months in the hospital and has been in physical therapy for the last year. This year, he retired from the department, ending a 30-year career.
“When I went to see him after he woke up, he said that when he was falling he had time to think and he wondered if that was the way those people who fell and lost their lives on 9/11, if that was how they were feeling at the time, too,” Barbara Walsh said. “I thought, wow, only my husband would think that; that’s the kind of guy he is. He feels a connection with those people.”
Walsh said he wanted to thank all those who are serving overseas and the firefighters, police officers and nurses working on the “front lines” of our country.
“We lost 343 firefighters in New York alone that day and without their efforts, it would be many more than the 3,000 citizens we lost that day,” Walsh said.
Remembering the work and sacrifice the people serving in the military are making, as well as their loved ones back home, is an important element of the event, and an understanding Walsh hopes the community will take away from his speech.
He also plans to recount how the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department handled the events of Sept. 11. The fire department was already busy that day fighting a four-alarm fire in Livermore when news came that two planes had hit the towers.
“Then I knew we had problems,” Walsh said. “As a result, I didn’t get home for three days. I was assigned to work, and many of us stayed on because the (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) was of concern. There was a lot of planning and discussion going on by my superior officers of what to do.”
This is the second year Operation S.A.M. has held a Sept. 11 anniversary memorial event, the first happening almost by coincidence last year. The organization, which formed in 2004, scheduled an open house to introduce the community to its cause and the date happened to fall on Sept. 11, Rosenga said. Being that it was the fifth anniversary, the group decided to make the open house a memorial as well, although it was primarily focused on introducing the community to Operation S.A.M. Rosenga said this year’s event is different in that the main focus is 9/11 remembrance.
Operation S.A.M. is hosting the only large-scale community event commemorating the sixth anniversary in the Tri-Valley this year.
The city of San Ramon will host a remembrance called United We Stand in Memorial Park from 5 to 6 p.m. Sept. 11 which will feature speakers, patriotic music and an interactive public art project.
VFW Post 6298 of Pleasanton, which has held anniversary memorial events for the past five years, will not host an event this year due to logistical and time constraints, said VFW spokesperson Larry Jackson.
“We’ve always done something, but with the re-dedication of the (Veterans) Building and the renovation this year, there’s so many other things in the fire that we thought it just wouldn’t be right this year,” Jackson said.
Thoratec, the Pleasanton-based company where chief operating officer and passenger of Flight 93 Tom Burnett worked, will not be holding a Sept. 11 memorial as it has in the past, although it does commemorate the day and Burnett’s heroism throughout the year with a permanent memorial, said company spokesperson Susan Benton.
Chris Miller, head of the Military Family Support Group and Yellow Ribbons on Main Street organization, said that although his organizations are not hosting formal Sept. 11 memorials, the support group is holding a potluck barbecue for all members that night. The group honors 9/11 and the people who lost their lives through its every day work, he said.
“Our role is mostly functional; every day, every way, we are helping each other out,” Miller said.
Operation S.A.M. “Tribute to America’s Heroes”
When: 7 p.m. Sept. 11Where: Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, 522 South L St., Livermore
Cost: Free
Contact: Visit www.operationsam.com or email Operationsam@comcast.net
