by Remembering the 20 year anniversary of 9/11
This is an account of my experience while I served in the Coast Guard on 9/11
We are about to embark on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I was proudly serving in the Coast Guard on board the CGC Tampa. We had just left in the beginning of August for a 78 day patrol through the Caribbean Sea, stopping in Cuba, Puerto Rico as well as visiting several other cities in South America.
My one son was only 8 days old when I left the pier in Portsmouth, VA. I, along with my fellow Coasties had no idea as to what we would encounter and occur on that horrific day. My shipmates & I did our regular routines of standing watches, keeping the ship in good order, commencing drills; such as fire & flooding, just to be prepared in case of an emergency would occur, work, and of course a little joking around. When you are at sea for days on end, you gotta have some “fun” time.
When we first got word of a bombing at one of the World Trade Centers, my first thought was “Not again!” as I was in the Navy when there was a bomb explosion in the garage of one of the Trade Centers in the early 90’s.
We didn’t have great internet connection as the internet had just came out as well as being in the middle of the ocean, it was tough to get much information. We were finally able to get some information as to what was happening in New York City, Washington DC & in that field in Pennsylvania. As more information came our way, we didn’t know what to do or even how to handle such tragic news. We all wanted to go home & be with our families.
I had 3 young children back home in Virginia & we weren’t allowed to have any communication for several days as we didn’t know what else might have happened, luckily there wasn’t anything else, but as we all know, we were just attacked & America would look completely different when we came back home to be with our loved ones & families.
We continued our patrol and we were able to still visit several places in South America. We didn’t want to but we were informed that we had to continue with our patrol and as to what the information was passed to us…”We had to protect the back door of the USA.”
We finished our patrol a month later and arrived back home in Portsmouth & I couldn’t have been prouder to have served in the greatest military in the world especially during the events that happened on that tragic day.
The first thing I did after I embarked the ship when we came back was hug & kiss my children as they were on the pier awaiting my arrival. It was one of the greatest feelings I have ever encountered in my lifetime.
Please let us all take a quick moment on this 20 year anniversary of that fateful day & say a quick prayer as well as giving thanks to all those who have served & are still serving this great country. Thank you.
Christopher J Schroeder
