Students, faculty, and staff at Craven Community College in New Bern were among thousands across the U.S. to pause in tribute to those that lost their lives 24 years ago, when al-Qaeda militants hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets that included the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon.
The keynote speaker at the 9/11 tribute, Christopher Previglian, is a veteran that watched the events in New York unfold firsthand. He said, “I was right on the Hudson River, and I could see both towers from the south side of the building I was on.”
In his speech, Previglian said, “Love is what unified this nation at the onset of 9-11, and it brought the blow to the brink of true peace.”
He noted that many of the students that gathered in Congleton Courtyard on the CCC campus had not yet been born when the terrorist attacks unfolded, and said that’s why he said it’s important to keep the collective pledge born in the aftermath of 9/11 to remember the victims, heroes, and events of that day – to "never forget."
“I do find it to be our responsibility, as those that witnessed it firsthand or on the news, to make sure that these generations that were too young or not even born yet, that they understand what it was about and why," he said, "Because we made that promise never to forget.”
More than a commitment to teach younger generations about the significance of the day, and honoring the nearly 3,000 Americans who died, Previglian said such tributes are also a call to remember the resilience and unity shown across the U.S. the aftermath of 9/11.
“We had a unification, a unity. We mourned as a whole nation, and there was just this peace around the globe that was felt as the rest of the world mourned with us and felt our suffering and our agony, he said, "September 12th, it was just different. There felt like there was just kindness everywhere, and we don't see that today. It feels like our world is overfled with hatred.”
A moment of silence was held before students planted American flags to line the walkways of the campus.
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Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks. In eastern North Carolina, Christopher Burford of Hubert was a U.S. Navy electronics technician; he was killed in the Pentagon.
Also in North Carolina, flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw of Greensboro was on board United Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against the hijackers. Lt. Cmdr. Eric Allen of Drexel died working in the Pentagon, and Sandra Teague of Granite Falls was a passenger on Flight 77.
