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The 9/11 attacks have drawn comparisons to Pearl Harbor ever since the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers that morning 25 years ago cemented the event as an intentional act of mass violence on U.S. soil rather than a freak accident.
But as the years have gone by, a new comparison between the two events has come to take center stage – as the Tri-Valley and countless other communities throughout the world reflect on the attacks, their impact on the ensuing quarter-century, and how to keep the memories and lessons learned alive.
“Recent surveys approaching the 25th anniversary show most Americans who lived through it still say they remember the moment and still call the day of 9/11 sorrowful, hurtful, and filled with rage and anger,” San Ramon’s Mike Conklin, founder of Sentinels of Freedom, wrote in a short piece reflecting on the upcoming anniversary.
“But a growing share of the country was born after, or was too young to form their own memory,” he continued. “For them it arrives already packaged: a chapter, a ceremony, a meme, a political talking point. How much of the original weight survives that packaging?”
The portion of the country – and the Tri-Valley – without first-hand memories of the attacks that went on to irreversibly impact facets of society ranging from domestic air travel to geopolitics has only continued to grow 25 years later.
Among those who do still remember is former San Ramon mayor, local history buff, and incoming San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District board member Bill Clarkson, who recalled what it was like to be both at home watching the attacks unfold on TV, and at Ground Zero five months later as part of a local delegation that went to assist first responders in New York City.
Like many, Clarkson turned on the TV after getting word of the first tower strike and went on to experience the surreal sight and real time reactions to the second strike. A third plane hijacked that day damaged the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth went down in a Pennsylvania field after the passengers – including San Ramon resident Tom Burnett – overpowered the terrorists.
“When the second plane hit, everything changed, because it went from being this horrifying accident to knowing that we were under attack,” Clarkson told the Pleasanton Weekly. “And that’s when it was so eerie, because that evening the skies were all clear, because no one was flying an airplane. For a week, no airplanes flew.”
Clarkson noted that for him and others who had grown up during the Cold War, the attacks marked the end to the sense of relief during the previous decade following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
“We kind of fell into a lull and forgot to realize how dangerous the world was,” Clarkson said. “We had to re-recognize – I think that was part of a hard adjustment that we made after the 10 years of so-called peace after winning the Cold War.”
Passing down memories of historic events through generations – amid the risk of forgetting key pieces of historic context in the present day – makes ceremonies such as Friday’s lineup in the Tri-Valley all the more important, according to Conklin, who founded Sentinels of Freedom in the wake of 9/11 when his life was among those forever altered by the ensuing wars in the Middle East.
Conklin’s was one of countless families impacted in the months and years after 9/11 when his son was wounded in Iraq, a lesson that was driven home by encounters with other wounded service members during hospital visits.
“Can constant press media, texts, emails, calls, political pundits, and entertainment crowd out an event like 9/11 in one’s memory and life, competing for our attention? Older traumas offer clues,” Conklin wrote. “Pearl Harbor remains a recognized date for many, yet its emotional texture has thinned for those who never heard a parent or grandparent describe the radio announcement.”
That makes regular conversations with younger friends and family essential for maintaining the memories and perspective that stem from having lived through the event and the years that followed, according to Conklin.
“Talking to your children, grandchildren, co-workers, and friends about the impact 9/11 had on you and our nation on 9/11 will help us to ‘Never Forget 9/11’ the sacrifices on that day, and the following sacrifices made by so many as a result of that day,” Conklin wrote.
While younger generations might not have the distinct, vivid, and often surreal memories that come from having watched the 9/11 attacks unfold in real time, they have come to be a growing presence on the forefront of ongoing sacrifices in the present day. The average military enlistment age was at 22.7 years old as of last year, prior to the ongoing war with Iran that started early this year.
That means younger people are set to make up a growing number of those served by Sentinels of Freedom, whose mission is “to provide severely wounded or injured post-9/11 veterans with comprehensive personal support and financial assistance as they complete their higher education and achieve success in their post-military careers”.
“It’s like dropping a stone in a pond, and it’s a ripple effect that affects this whole country, and unless you remember properly it will be forgotten,” Conklin told the Pleasanton Weekly.
The chaotic and deadly aftermath of 9/11 with multiple years-long wars has been “a terrible 25 years”, he added.
“Twenty-five years for our family, watching them deploy and come back, and then deploy again because they’re career Army guys – it’s too much for people,” Conklin said.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Chris Starling, this year’s keynote speaker for the San Ramon Valley Exchange Club’s ceremony in Danville, was also contemplating the events of the past 25 years ahead of the upcoming anniversary.
“My son went to Afghanistan, so it’s really an intergenerational thing, and as I look at it, it’s a lot of reflection,” Starling told the Pleasanton Weekly last week.
As Starling worked on boiling down decades worth of experience and thoughts on 9/11 and its aftermath into a 10-minute speech, how to pass on and maintain the memories of the attacks, ensuing wars and impacts on the present day with younger generations – including his own teenage daughter – were also on his mind.
“To talk to a 17-year-old about 9/11 – it was like talking to me when I was in grade school as a kid, talking to me about Pearl Harbor – so I can picture that in my mind,” Starling said.
The 9/11 attacks have come to be among a series of flashpoints in U.S. history 25 years later that are unforgettable for those who were alive, Starling noted.
“Twenty-five years past 9/11 and I’m just sitting there thinking about Dec. 7, 1941,” Starling said. “Everybody my grandparents’ age knows where they were at that time, and for my parents’ generation in 1963 it was JFK, and for my generation it was this thing.”
Having already completed tours during the Gulf War, Starling was serving as an assistant professor at West Point when the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
As the only Marine installed at the U.S. Military Academy at the time, he said “right there I knew” that he would be deployed again.
“I went out looking for WMDs; I went out looking for all this stuff; I spent nearly two years of my life in Iraq,” Starling said.
While the war in Iraq famously did not result in the discovery of any weapons of mass destruction despite widespread media and government reporting on that possibility in the lead up to the U.S. invasion, Starling emphasized that he and those flocking to the military at the time – including his son, who enlisted right out of high school – did not know that, nor did the public.
But Starling noted that finding WMDs wasn’t the only purpose of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and said he believed “the larger thing leading was always Iran and its nuclear weapons”.
“Iraq also borders Iran. I think the grand strategy was with Afghanistan democratic, Iraq democratic, it was really only a matter of time before the theocracy falls,” Starling said.
“It was a flawed grand strategy,” he continued. “We didn’t know it at the time. We underestimated how hard it is. These are tribal cultures, and all those borders are artificial since back in the First World War.”
From his perspective, Starling said it was clear early in his deployment to Iraq that the United States had a lot to learn, pointing to an occasion in which he went to investigate an area that had been identified as a terrorist hotspot.
“They’re trading eggs and fuel and stuff – they’re not terrorists,” Starling said. “There were plenty of terrorists coming in too, but not there.”
While the United States had learned more by the time his son was deployed, Starling said that generation faced its own challenges.
“There was a lot more scrutiny the more we did this, and for certain good reasons too – you didn’t want to kill the wrong people, obviously,” Starling said.
Another major difference was that by that point, the United States’ role had shifted from the frontlines to training and assisting the Iraq Armed Forces.
“You have an all-volunteer force training a conscripted country’s forces,” Starling said. “So his war was different than mine.”
Starling said that cooperation between Democrats and Republicans through the end of the 20th century, as well as the widespread unity in the immediate wake of 9/11, are also at risk of being forgotten as the years go by.
“When you had the elder George Bush and Clinton, the Democrats and Republicans still talked to each other,” Starling said. “We disagreed on things, but there was more of a will to compromise on things. Then we ran into the Bush and Obama times, and things just got more and more – I don’t know why it became this way.”
“It almost seemed like for 9/11 we were all unified that we needed to go find the people who did this and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he continued. “So we’re all unified at that point and the country is pretty together, and then it just slowly drifted in different ways.”
The Tri-Valley recently served as a glimmer of hope for some that the page might be starting to turn on post-9/11 polarization, with the swearing-in of Rep. Aisha Wahab making national headlines last week as she became first-ever Afghan American elected to Congress, less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the ensuing U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
“Americans are tired,” Wahab said during her first remarks after being sworn in at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 2. “Tired of Democrats and Republicans fighting with one another. Tired of the division that this Capitol sometimes represents, because Democrats and Republicans alike are struggling to afford housing, utilities, groceries, education, health care, and the basic necessities of life.”
Back at home, Starling’s keynote speech for the Exchange Club ceremony in Danville is just one part of the lineup for Friday’s events aimed at unifying the Tri-Valley and maintaining memories of one of the defining moments of modern history.
“Sept. 11 is a day we pause to remember the people we lost and honor the extraordinary courage of those who responded,” Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert said in a press release Aug. 14. “As we mark 25 years, I hope our community will come together in remembrance and carry forward the spirit of service, strength and unity that brought us together.”
Haubert’s District 1 office is hosting a 25th anniversary and memorial ceremony at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton alongside service members, veterans and other local officials, featuring a military tribute, a recognition of first responders, and remarks from speakers who have been impacted by 9/11.
The ceremony is scheduled for the fairgrounds’ amphitheater from 9-11 a.m. Friday, with guests required to be seated by 9:30 a.m
Across town, the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department is holding a ceremony at its Nevada Street firehouse starting at 9:45 a.m., inviting the community “to join us as we pause to remember the lives lost, honor the bravery and sacrifice of first responders, and reflect on a day that forever changed our nation”.
Starling, Pearl Harbor survivor Chuck Kohler and Gold Star mother Roxanne Langevin are the featured speakers for the San Ramon Valley Exchange Club ceremony in the All Wars Memorial at Oak Hill Park in Danville from 5:15-6:45 p.m. Friday.
“I’m honored to be able to go and share my reflections on 9/11, and I hope it helps to kind of unify our country,” Starling said.
Although there appear to be no formal, public events marking the 25th anniversary in Livermore, memories and reflections on 9/11 are on tap for the Bankhead Theater early in the new year.
The Tri-Valley Theatre Company is preparing for its production of “Come From Away”, based on the true story of thousands of passengers stranded in Newfoundland in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks.
“Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the people of Gander cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we’re all part of a global family,” Livermore Valley Arts organizers wrote on their website.
The play kicks off a three-weekend run on Jan. 16, which is set to be interspersed with a number of other Bankhead events.
That includes a return to the Livermore stage for John Ondrasik – better known as Five for Fighting – whose 2001 single “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” became part of the country’s unofficial soundtrack of the wake of 9/11.
While ceremonies and cultural events mark important moments for the community to unify and share memories, Conklin noted that smaller, everyday acts on the 9/11 anniversary, Veterans Day and throughout the year are also critical to recognizing and appreciating veterans.
“You can’t underestimate what the words ‘thank you’ mean to our veterans,” Conklin said. “And you have to reach out to them, because they’re proud. They don’t tell everyone ‘hey I’m a veteran’ every five seconds. They don’t wear it on their sleeves.”
Following the upcoming remembrance ceremonies, the Exchange Club is set to close out the day with its annual student essay contest, one piece of the ongoing effort to keep the memories and lessons learned from 9/11 alive for the next generations.
“What drives people to run into danger when instinct screams to run away? I think it’s love. Love for life, love for community, for the communities they protect,” wrote Sophia Yu in one of last year’s winning submissions.
“True courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the triumph of love and purpose over it,” she continued. “Our first responders and military aren’t superhuman; they feel exhaustion and uncertainty like anyone else, but when crisis calls, they answer again and again.”
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