On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, team members working at Arlington National Cemetery were preparing for a day conducting funerals for America’s military service members and their families. For many, their workday had just begun when, at 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 soared past the cemetery’s serene landscape and crashed into the Pentagon. Plumes of dark smoke coming from the building contrasted with the meticulously uniformed white grave markers in the background. As the dust finally settled during the following days, Americans heard a call for national unity. As the years passed, many who gave their lives in the subsequent war would be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Twenty-four years later, on Sept. 11, 2025, members of the Army National Military Cemeteries and Office of Army Cemeteries team, some of whom were employed at the cemetery on the day of the attacks, gathered in fellowship with personnel from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall (JBM-HH). They were remembering the anniversary of the attacks, honoring the lives of those lost and reaffirming the importance of unification. The luncheon and ceremony, held at Patton Hall on JBM-HH, was hosted by the ANMC Chaplain directorate.
Over lunch, Deputy Command Chaplain Lt. Col. Lou Foyou, ceremony emcee, introduced Office of Army Cemeteries and Army National Military Cemeteries Executive Director Karen Durham-Aguilera. Durham-Aguilera remarked on how the events in 2001 catapulted the United States into a war, with young men and women serving in what is now known as the longest continuous conflict in U.S. history. She called for unification among the nation today, sharing that a united nation is a strong one, and unification should always be a priority among Americans, as it was in September 2001.
This was an opportunity for team members to pause, reflect and share personal stories about those harrowing times and how they have impacted their lives today. JBM-HH Garrison IT Director Heriberto Ruiz, his left arm adorned with a tattoo of the American flag and a silhouette of the World Trade Center, shared his story of walking from Manhattan to the Bronx after the planes struck the towers. This experience later inspired him to join the Army and serve in three deployments to Afghanistan, including one in 2010 with Team Merrill, the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment special operations task force. “This luncheon and ceremony touched me,” Ruiz said. “We are honoring those who we lost and sharing our stories.”
