BOISE, ID. – For some in the military, September 11th was their motivation to enlist. That was the case for some of the soldiers who make up the 116th Cavalry Brigade of the Idaho National Guard. Scott Ki met up with them at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, where they shared their memories of 9/11.
Specialist Shawn Ryan of Boise was seventeen years old on September 11th, 2001.
Shawn Ryan: I was on my way to high school my senior year and my dad called me, called my cell phone and told me what happened. . . A lot of people were crying that day in, in mourning because a few of my buddies lost their families – their fathers because they worked at the twin towers.
Zachary Cavanagh: I’m Specialist Zachary Cavanagh (21 years old). I remember it was in the morning and I was . . . it was like the first period of the day. I remember watching it on the news and it was kind of a pretty bad event. That’s about all I remember of the day, probably the reason why I joined. . . Wanted to join and try to get some revenge you know.
John Crumpton: Staff Seargant John Crumpton (43 years old). Was actually working for a sign company in North Carolina hanging signs from a ceiling when my wife called me on the phone and said, ‘Hey, this is happening.’ It was a pretty devastating time for us. . . . It sucked. I mean it put a damper on everybody’s I want to say day because it was a lot longer than that.
Vernon Richmond (29 years old): Woke up you know sleeping in and my mother actually came down. I had just graduated from high school just a little bit ago that spring. And she came down and just kind of informed me that there was a terrorist attack in New York. I was nineteen I didn’t really comprehend what that meant. I kind of just slept it off for a little bit. But when I woke up and actually watched the news and saw what actually had happened. You know the reports were coming in and how many people died and what an impact it was. I think it really hit me even as a nineteen year old I remember that day pretty well.
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