The White Falcon - 17.09.2003, Blaðsíða 1

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Vol. 62 No. 37 online at www.nctskef.navy.mil September 17, 2003
Sept. 11 remembered at NAS Keflavik
Haraldur Stefansson and Capt. Mark Laughton join base
firefighters to pay their respects during a Sept. 11 ceremony
at the fire station. This ceremony was the first of two memor-
ial ceremonies held at NAS Keflavik.
Story and Photos
by J02 Travis D. Eisele
To this day, many people still
remember exactly what they
were doing when they heard
about the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. Thursday, these
events were remembered at
NAS Keflavik.
A somber first ceremony
was held at the NAS Keflavik
Fire Department’s flagpole to
particularly honor the fire,
police and emergency workers
who risked, and in some cases,
lost their lives that day. During
the ceremony Haraldur Stefan-
sson, the Fire Chief at NAS
Keflavik, spoke of the tragedy
and how it affected so many
people ranging from military
officials, to civilian business-
men to emergency responders.
“The entire communities of
the world suffered a great loss
on Sept. 11, 2001,” said
Stefansson. “Those who suf-
fered a severe loss were those
who protect the freedom of
America and its allies, the U.S.
military in the Pentagon, the
fire, police and emergency
workers and the civilians who
were in the aircraft and those
that were in the buildings that
were struck by them.”
Following Stefansson’s brief
remembrance speech, those
who attended bowed their
heads for a moment of silence
as a bell was rung to honor
those who lost their lives that
day.
A second ceremony at
Andrew’s Theater, organized
by the CPO selectees, included
a slide show of photographs of
Sept. 11 events and memorials.
Following the opening cere-
monies, Air Force Col. Thomas
B. Thompson, the Deputy
Commander of the Iceland
Defense Force and a survivor
of the attacks on the Pentagon,
retold some of the events of the
attack on the Pentagon.
“I remember it was a normal
day for me at the Pentagon,”
said Thompson. “We were hav-
ing our division staff meeting
late for some reason that morn-
ing, when one of our guys
came into the meeting all out
of breath and somewhat upset.
He said, ‘Turn on the TV, an
airplane has hit the World
Trade Center and then another
one hit the other tower.’ I
remember we watched just as
I’m sure most people did, with
complete awe and horror as to
what was happening to our
nation.”
He continued on, “I remem-
ber what happened next, played
out as three distinct and sepa-
rate actions, but happened only
in a millisecond. I remember
hearing the roar of a fan jet
engine. I remember the feeling
the impact of the airplane hit-
ting the building and I rememr
subsequent explosion and
everyone in the office remem-
bers me saying, ‘It’s time to
go.’”
As he closed his account of
the attack on the Pentagon,
Thompson said, “It’s people
like you sitting here today that
prevented a much greater cata-
strophe and people like you
today, who remember, that will
prevent it in the future because
of what you do day in and day
out. You have chosen a higher
calling that doesn’t come
cheaply or without sacrifice.”
Representatives from the
firefighter, military, police,
civilian and Navy chief com-
munities each read a bio of
someone who was killed in the
attack. A marker for each was
then placed in front of an
encased flag that had flown
over the Pentagon to represent
all of those who died in that
community during the attack.
The ceremony ended with a
moment of silence.
MAC(Sek) Rosario Matson,
one of the organizers of the
event said, “Tragedies like
Sept. 11 unfortunately generate
heroes both willing and unwill-
ing who give their lives so that
others may live. They deserve
to be remembered so that their
lives weren’t given in vain.”
------------ 9-11, pg. 4
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