Tomorrow, the U.S. is marking the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that left 2,997 dead and more than 6,000 people injured.

The hijackers took over passenger planes that were flown into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Centre, and the world was forever changed.

The attack is considered the worst domestic attack the US had ever experienced, it directly led to then-President George Bush launching the “War on Terror”, which continues to have ramifications today. 

9/11 is this generation’s Pearl Harbor or JFK assassination. Everyone can remember where they were when they heard the first plane had crashed into the Twin Towers.

I was 11 when the attacks happened, and in the sixth-grade at Wilson School in Lauderdale County.

I remember coming in from P.E. that morning and sitting in my math class, which also served as homeroom.

The TV was on with the footage of the plane smashing into the tower, and in my mind, I thought it was purely accidental.

I remember the principal came over the intercom instructing teachers to turn their TV’s off, but that, of course, did not stop the flood of questions coming from all of us. If anything, it intensified it.

No work was done that day despite some of our teachers’ best efforts.

Our history and social studies teacher finally broke down to us what had happened that morning.

I remember hearing the word “war” and in my 11-year-old mind, I went into panic mode about what was coming.

It terrified me.

I remember even the lines to the gas station after school that day were lined out to the highway. It seemed in my adolescent mind as the end of the world.

Flash forward 17 years later, and the aftermath of 9/11 is all that I’ve known in my adult life.

Regardless of what your opinions are on the aftermath War on Terror and everything else, we must never forget that there are fellow American that lost their lives that day.

Even now, let us never forget those that lost their lives that day.