Never Forget: Brevard Ceremonies to Remember 9/11/2001
From Saturday September 9 through Monday evening the 11th, seven major ceremonies were held in Brevard County to remember the terrible events 22 years ago in New York City, Washington DC and a farm in Pennsylvania.
The commemoration at Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (VMC) was arranged by Brevard Club 10-13 and had 350 witnesses and participants in a solemn remembrance. A number of speakers talked about their eye witness accounts of that day and some events since, because of that day.
Club 10-13, led in Brevard by President Marco Calderon with Al Boettjer as event chairman, is an organization around the country of retired New York City Police Officers. The name 10-13 was chosen since it is the radio call sign for “Officer Needs Assistance” heard so often that day. Brevard Club 10-13, Brevard Police Chiefs Association, the Good Deeds Foundation of the Cape Canaveral Chapter of the Military Officers Association (MOAACC) and others contributed to funding the event which included honoring those who have died from toxic exposure in NYC during clean up, and afterward carrying the fight to the 9/11 terrorists bases around the world. The US military has lost more than 7200 in direct combat and thousands more as a result of military service or exposure to toxics. Nearly 3000 died on 9/11/2001, more than the number killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
There were very few younger citizens at the events around the county since no high school and most college students were yet to be born, and many of their parents were still students. Recently Florida has begun to return civics and related courses to the schools and 9/11 will be a part of such programs in the historical framework. To that end, MOAACC is already working with Brevard school officials, through the Vets Back to Class Program, and hopes to get Brevard Club 1013 to join an effort to hold short remembrance ceremonies at all Brevard High Schools next year on the 23rd Anniversary of events that changed America.
The challenges of counterterrorism are still with us, but most often we learn from the news about such actions taking place abroad. Most would say that is because we took the fight to the enemies after that terrible morning of a beautiful day in 2001.
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