BURLINGTON — Every time I drive through Burlington on Ind. 29, I find myself thinking of what it was like to be there on that fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001.
It was on that day my father and I met my brother and his wife for dinner at a restaurant, hours after the twin towers fell, the Pentagon was attacked and a valiant group of passengers aboard a flight over Washington, Pa., prevented what might have been the most devastating attack of all on Washington, D.C.
I remember the long lines of cars pouring into the Marathon gas station in Burlington that September night.
Those memories were vivid Saturday night when I returned to Burlington — this time for a program hosted by the Burlington Masonic Lodge. Local veterans were honored during a free program at the Burlington Community Center. Amazingly, even in a community hundreds of miles from oceans, there was one Navy veteran and one Coast Guard veteran recognized, along with those of the other branches of the armed forces.
But the dinner, as was made abundantly clear, was the only free thing about freedom. The nation has paid a price for the events since 9/11, and many have paid with their lives.
My thoughts were heavy with what had to be happening in Fort Hood, Texas, where 13 people lost their lives after an Army doctor allegedly shot and killed soldiers, apparently fearing that he would or could lose his own life if he were sent to Iraq as anticipated. It had to be on the mind of one of Purdue’s football players who was from Fort Hood. Even though it was a huge day for Purdue, which defeated Michigan for the first time in Ann Arbor since 1966, the mood of elation had to be muffled by what his family was experiencing back in Texas.
The Rev. Steve Cole, who taught for 33 years before retiring, was the guest speaker for the event in Burlington. He spoke of one Ohio man who volunteered to serve after 9/11. That soldier became a casualty — one who was remembered by thousands who filled a stadium in Cincinnati to honor him. Cole, who also has met with jail inmates, talked about what it means to have freedom when you enter a place that doesn’t have it.
Cole recited another passage from a work that reminded me it was the soldier, not the reporter, who earned the Freedom of the Press, and the soldier, and not the poet, who won the Freedom of Speech.
It was a good message to hear for about 50 people who attended. It was a message that said as much about who we honor today on Veterans Day as what we honor.
My one regret is that my children and niece were the only people there under 21. They may be too young to understand what was happening, but my greater fear is that the generations of X, Y and Z will have to pay for the freedom we’ve already earned and for which this generation of Americans has had the luxury of letting volunteers fight for them.
In the Burlingtons of America, honoring veterans matters. In every community, what we honor on days like this is even more important.
• Dave Kitchell is a columnist for the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com.
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