EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS COMMENTARY FROM UTAH COUNTY COMMISSIONER THOMAS SAKIEVICH IS PART OF UTAH POLITICAL UNDERGROUND’S OPINION SERIES REFLECTING ON 9/11’s 20th ANNIVERSARY.

From our Norfolk, VA offices of the then U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Atlantic, I and other Marine officers witnessed the televised September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City’s “Twin Towers.”  As everyone else we soon learned of the subsequent attacks on the Pentagon and United Flight 93.  At the time none of us said it but we instinctively knew the second attack was not another accident – it meant the beginning of war on the United States. 

For a great many Americans over the age of 30, “9/11” conjures horrific and searing memories. Not since Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, has the United States been so viciously attacked and our country so brutally taken by surprise. 

That Tuesday morning four attacks once more assaulted our county; one attack was ultimately prevented by passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 – at the cost of their lives.  Within moments thousands of police and firefighters converged on the New York scene with many more from surrounding states.  These first responders would be part of an exhausting 24/7, weeks-long and emotionally painful search for survivors, clearing rubble, and providing security on the ground.  For New York City, the Pentagon, and in an open quiet field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania the world was unexpectedly turned upside down. 

Immediately after the fall of New York’s “Twin Towers” hundreds of civilians voluntarily used their harbor ferry boats to rescue many thousands stranded on Manhattan Island.  Scores of Harbor Boat Police, Fire, and Coast Guard supported at-will rescuers.  With significantly overloaded boats, harbor ferries repeatedly crossed to rescue those with no means to leave the island.  The “9/11 Boatlift” surpassed World War II’s “Miracle at Dunkirk,” rescuing nearly 500,000 people to mainland safety within 9-hours. 

What does 9/11 mean to me?  Through those terrible, uncertain days and now, I’m reminded that it is the individual, the “run of the mill” moral man or woman that makes America good.  While our military honorably protects the nation from outside threats, it is the moral strength of our First Responders that fateful day that makes America great.  Our strength isn’t in armaments and wealth alone, it is our character and reliance on our Creator that matters.  “9/11” demonstrated that a powerful government or defending “our way of life” are ends in themselves, rather it is in the individual unalienable life, from the unborn to those breathing their last breaths that have value.  Those made in the image of God have an imaginative fire and expansive heart, when left alone, can create and do unimaginably remarkable good.  

Having served 30-years as a U.S. Marine and as a War on Terror in Iraq veteran, my family and I feel a little of the First Responders’ difficulties.  Their often unseen and very difficult sacrifices encourage me to thank every one of them.  While I recognize the outcomes of external and internal wars are in the hands of our Supreme Judge, I consider what we can do to unify all peoples and recognize our First Responders.  

To that end at 8:46am, 9:03am, 9:47am, and 10:03am September 11, 2021, the sirens of several parked law enforcement and fire vehicles in many Utah County cities will sound to mark each of the four 9/11 attacks, their flashing lights will continue through dusk as a reminder of that day in 2001.  I hope you will join me in thanking the God of Heaven for men and women in uniform such as these, our First Responders.