Pittsburg State University ROTC conducted the annual Patriot Day Remembrance at the northwest corner of Carnie Smith Stadium on Joplin Street on Sept. 11. The Sept. 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated attacks by the militant Islamist organization, al-Qaida, against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.
Cadets took turns reading each of the 2,987 names of those who died as a result of the attacks, and for each name, cadets did a pushup. Everyone in attendance was invited to do a few pushups to contribute to the effort. They also may watch and reflect for as long as they desire during the memorial. The memorial lasted around three hours.
“The memorial is very important to a lot of us,” organizer Cadet Darion Yager, a senior majoring in general studies, said. “It (the Sept. 11 attack) is one of the main reasons why I joined. I was only six years old when it happened, but I have a few friends who also deployed during the war on terrorism, who also still kept deploying even after. I’ve lost a few friends that went over. I unfortunately did not get to. It was one of the main reasons why I joined, so it serves a big importance. It’s one of the key elements of why I made my decision to serve out country.”
Cadets fired the ROTC cannon four times, one for each time a plane crashed on that historical day. These were at 8:46 a.m. when Flight 11 crashed into the north tower, 9:03 a.m. when Flight 175 crashed into the south tower, 9:37 a.m. when Flight 77 impacted the Pentagon, and 10:03 a.m. when Flight 93 went down in a Pennsylvania field.
Master Sergeant Johnston and Yager organized the event and did the outreach. Yager explained that usually the planning and organizing can get done in a day or two.
“The first responders were easy (to organize), it was just trying to find the time for them to take time out of their days, because they are busy,” Yager said. “They are busy with everything they’re doing for our community, as well as others who also have their everyday lives. It was just trying to see their time frame and what will fit their schedule generally. A lot of time went into trying to get everything that we needed to expand this event.”
Yager was in prior service and hit his 12 years this August. That is how he got involved in ROTC. His plan was to go from enlisted to commission to progress his career.
“We tried to involve as many first responders as we could,” Yager said. “Any important personnel or past service members, veterans. We wanted anyone we could get involved with. We’re trying to expand this event as you can tell, it being very important to us. It’s one of the main reasons why we joined the military to do our part for our country.”