SAN ANTONIO – The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 76 in San Antonio gathered to honor the lives lost on 9/11.
Thursday marked 24 years since the deadly terror attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and shocked the nation. This year, the VFW 76 remembered the event near the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument.
“It can be a very emotional day,” said John Roberts, senior vice commander of VFW Post 76. “(This ceremony) is to give everybody a little bit of a history lesson on what happened that day … and pay our respects.”
Roberts recalled that 9/11 is the reason he went to serve in Iraq.
“We even play taps at the end,” Roberts said. “Thinking of all the lives lost … and we went to war in Iraq and lost a lot of military there. This day is the reason I went to Iraq, so everything changed when this day happened.”
Several veterans gathered and shared their memories of 9/11 to KSAT.
William Smith is a former San Antonio police instructor. He was teaching at the police academy during the attack.
“I saw the TV when the first plane crashed,” Smith said. “When I saw the second plane crash, I knew as an 11-year active-duty military veteran and a Green Beret and then being in the reserves that we’re at war. And I let the cadets know, times have changed, and it’s been a big impact.”
Candy Martin, a combat veteran and member of VFW Post 76, said she lost her only son in Iraq in 2007.
“I served in Iraq from 2005 to 2006,” Martin said. “Patriot Day really means a lot to me, because not everybody really gets what all of this is about.”
The VFW has ceremonies for remembrance days throughout the year to educate the public and remind them to never forget the lives lost.
“On one hand, we honor the dead, but in honoring the dead we need to acknowledge that the dead want us to live,” said Corey Schultz, an Army veteran. “I’ve struggled many years with survivor guilt and PTSD, and so my message, if I have any message, is there’s hope. There’s hope in getting over bad things that happen to you out of the clear blue sky.”
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