Lisette Riley
Staff Writer
Can you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001 at 8:45am? For many it is a day they will never forget.
For many, it’s a day to honor and pay respect to those who lost loved ones and for those who sacrificed their own life to save another life.
It was the day 12 years ago when 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.
This act of terror against the United States killed more than 3,000 people including more than 400 police officers and firefighters and deployed thousands of our armed forces personnel to the Middle East.
Jackson State University’s Veteran Center, in collaboration with the Jackson Vet Center, honored first responders, veterans, police officers and Fire Department personnel who sacrificed their life and served their nation during the September 11 attack.
Yesterday at 10 a.m., in recognition of the day, Jackson State University students received information, brochures and giveaways to honor veterans and family members who were first responders.
Tim Abram, director of the JSU Veterans Center and an army veteran serving as a Captain in the Army Individual Ready Reserve, stated “the Veteran Center currently serves 310 veterans – veteran students, active duty military, Reservists, National Guard, and spousal dependents. Jackson State University has provided this ceremony since 2002.”
The Jackson Vet Center, located on Lelia Drive, champions the effort to aid veterans in reintegrating back into society through outreach via education coupled with other advocacy initiatives that can help facilitate the difficult process of readjustment.
Terry Wynn, a readjustment technician in the Vet center mobile unit, ventures out into the rural and urban areas where veterans are in need of a variety of services such as counseling, veteran eligibility and benefit services, referral and education.
“Our goal today was to develop partnership due to a lot of veterans transitioning back from Afghan and Iraq war,” Wynn stated. “They’re starting to attend college campuses and JSU has a large population of combat veterans and to let the veterans know that we’re here to keep our promise and that we’re here to help them readjust back into society.”
Abram remembers where he was on September 11, 2001; he was serving as director of Service Learning in the JSU School of Education en route to a meeting with the vice president when he was informed by students of the attack that morning.
He remembered that all flights had been grounded due to the plane hijacking and threat of further attacks.
Abram’s initial reaction was an overwhelming sense of shock in trying to understand the severity of the situation that the country was facing at this frantic moment in our nation’s history.
Abram said that student veterans face many challenges since 9/11.
Students attending school are always anticipating deployment, and the Veteran Center advocates for veteran issues and for those who are eligible to receive education benefits.
LeMarcus Johnson, a graduate student majoring in social work from Cleveland, Miss., remembers where he was on 9/11.
He describes it as an event that he’ll never forget, that changed his life.
Johnson, an Army service-connected veteran, said: “I was a Jackson State University undergraduate computer technology student and had just arrived to my dorm room where my roommate and I saw the planes crashing into the twin towers on the news over and over again. I immediately became worried that I would have to deploy because of this act of terror.”
