A giant American flag, illuminated in the dark morning sky, was draped against the austere gray stone of the Pentagon’s west wall Friday morning.
The symbol was a visible acknowledgment of the values Defense Department employees died for in the wing of the building struck by American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001.
A bell rang out after each of the names of the civilian and military victims from across the services and their families, as young as 3 years old, were read before Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley reflected on the somber day.
“Nineteen years ago today began as a typical morning for Pentagon employees. They commuted to work under a near-cloudless sky,” Milley said, dressed in full U.S. Army dress uniform, including crisp, white gloves.
“All that changes at 9:37 a.m. In seconds, scores of lives were lost — 184 men, women, and children were murdered in a violent impact and fiery blast,” he continued.
Milley stressed the American principles that were threatened by terrorists that day: “The idea that all of us, men and women, black and white, Asian or Indian, no matter what the color of our skin … the idea that each and every one of us is created free and equal,” he said.
Comparing the values the terrorism victims died for to today’s struggles, Milley also spoke of constitutional and Bill of Rights guarantees, including a free press, due process, and the right “to peacefully assemble and demonstrate and protest.”
The nation’s top uniformed leader noted that nearly 3 million service members have served in the War on Terrorism since 9/11 and that 6,000 have died across the globe.
“All of the values and principles embedded in our Constitution and made real in our daily lives were paid for in the blood of the fallen,” he said.
Esper took to the podium in the foreground of the Pentagon to reflect on the terrorists’ goal that day and the humanity and national unity displayed following the brutal attacks.
“They underestimated our strength, our resolve and our unbreakable spirit,” he said. “The stars and stripes, that great symbol of our great nation, would soon adorn homes and businesses all across America.”
Esper told a story of service members rolling beneath flames in standing water to save more individuals trapped in the Pentagon’s rubble.
The defense secretary then added: “These heroes demonstrated to the world, especially our enemies, the resiliency of America’s armed forces and of our people.”
