‘Everything was flying an American flag’: ‘Never Forget’ event remembers 9/11
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MORGANTOWN – Boonie Jarvis, Army veteran and Patriot Guard Riders member, sat on call for five days after receiving the call from his dispatcher that the Twin Towers were hit on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I had retired, bought a big truck, was doing heavy equipment moving. Putting on my boots that morning, my dispatcher called me and said, 'You've been watching the news?' He said, 'Well, we'll call you when we're ready,' and I sat for five days before things had settled enough," Jarvis said.
Adjunct Tyler Baylor of the Marine Corps League was sitting in his sixth-grade classroom during the 9/11 attacks. He said rather than deterring him from serving, watching the acts of terrorism motivated to serve for his "love of country," and he became a Marine for 21 years.
"I just kind of remember that was the day that the trajectory of my life kind of took a really hard turn," Baylor said. "Really, I had always had an interest in the military, but whenever I saw that, just as a young kid, I decided that's what I wanted to do."
West Virginia residents, government officials, first responders, veterans and others gathered at the Morgantown Armory at 90 Army Band Way to celebrate those who serve our country and remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. The “Never Forget” event was hosted by Valley HealthCare System and specifically Terry Vance, the organization’s Veteran Partnership Coordinator and Peer Support specialist.
During the event, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., attendees could speak to local organizations and vendors, including therapy services, veteran leagues and businesses.
Chuck Guste, Marine Corps veteran, is the current operator of Operation ActiveVet. The organization was founded by Guste's son, former airborne sniper in the Army, who died seven years ago in a motorcycle accident.
Operation ActiveVet hosts events such as paintball, axe throwing and kayaking. Guste is proud to hold events for veterans to avoid post-traumatic stress.
"I stay busy, and that's what I encourage veterans and first responders to do," Guste said. "Stay busy, because if you don't, your mind is going to eat you alive."
Yira Muse, Air Force veteran, agreed, and founded Waypowered Leadership to "teach people how to build hope" by meeting veterans "where they are" to teach coping skills.
"Hopelessness is the No. 1 predictor of suicide," she said. "The great news is that hope can actually be built ... It can be built as a strategy to help protect people."
Muse was working in the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) field on Sept. 11, 2001. She said she was responsible for potentially launching 10 nuclear-tipped missiles somewhere in the world.
"It was the most intense uncertainty in my career," she said. "We got orders to do things with our missiles that we've never seen before in real life, only when we were training, so it started to get really scary."
Despite the day's anxieties, Muse said the events brought her team and the nation together in incomprehensible ways.
"I think in the end, 9/11 is a connection. ... When I came out of the missile silo, 90-some odd hours later, and after that event happened, the connection in the country was visible in a way I had not seen before and haven't seen since. I came above ground, and everything was familiar, but everything was completely different. Every single house, every yard, every building, every home, everything was flying an American flag."
Myranda Klein, a full-time trainer for Hearts of Gold Service Dogs, is proud to provide veterans with a support system through service animals. She said her last class of dogs graduated in March, and she saw firsthand how the companionship impacts veterans' daily lives.
"We got an email from one of our veterans the other day, who was able to go visit his daughter in Canada for the first time in years. Because of his service dog, he was able to fly," she said. "He said, 'Instead of looking for snipers on the rooftops, I'm looking to make sure there’s no crumbs on the ground that Oliver can get into.'"
The flag ceremony began at 11 a.m. with words from West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey.
McCuskey shared memories of his 9/11 experience as a 19-year-old at George Washington University. He said he got ready for class as normal, but after hearing the news, immediately ran to be with friends in support.
He grasped that he wasn't woken up by his alarm clock that morning, but by the sound of Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon.
"I hadn't really looked around at that moment, and I sort of opened up my eyes, and I realized that there was a pandemonium around," he said. "There were cars driving 90-mph down K Street in D.C. There were people running down the street screaming. When you're 19 years old, you're just old enough to sort of understand things, but you have zero life experience to be able to conceptualize what that's going to mean, and it was at that exact moment that I realized that the world that I grew up in wasn't the world that I knew, and the world that I was going to inherit in the moments after that would never be the same."
McCuskey was proud of the greater Morgantown region for putting aside differences and coming together for the good of America. He urged the public to continue remembering those lost every day in battle.
"God bless this country, a country that was made by great people that are standing in front of me," he said. "Make sure that you continue to honor the legacy of everyone that was lost by valuing what he has and being grateful for the fact that we get to live in this country and understanding that its continued greatness can only be continued by people loving this country and loving each other.”
The ceremony included music from the Morgantown High School wind ensemble, a national anthem performance by Courtney Lippencott and covers by the Mountainaires Barbershop Chorus.
For the first time in the event's history, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and the Marine Corps League held a 30-by-60-foot flag during the ceremony. In addition, veterans from all divisions came together to raise the American and West Virginia flags.
The West Virginia Honor Guard and the West Virginia University Mountaineer fired their guns into the sky to remember the lives lost.
McCuskey encourages future generations to continue learning about the gravity of 9/11, even if they weren't alive themselves to remember the day. He felt that 9/11 changed the country for good, and he hopes that America will continue to strengthen our unity in years to come.
"I have a visual belief that this is the greatest and most amazing country in the history of the world," he said. "We need to really start taking stock of how we've allowed 9/11 to change the interactions Americans have with each other. I've always, in my public service, been enormously hopeful that we can get back to a time where we believe in American greatness."