Full Remarks: Governor Abigail Spanberger Honors 9/11 Victims & First Responders at Arlington County Fire Station 5

ARLINGTON, VA - Governor Abigail Spanberger today joined families of those killed on September 11, 2001, survivors, first responders, and state and local leaders in Arlington to remember those lost and commemorate the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

At Fire Station 5 - where Truck 105, Station 5's own ladder truck, was dispatched as the first Arlington County fire unit to arrive at the Pentagon after the attack - Governor Spanberger remembered the nearly 3,000 innocent people who were killed in the terrorist attacks, honored their families and loved ones, and recognized the brave men and women who rushed toward danger that day, so many of whom never made it home or continue to contend with the health effects of their service. During the ceremony, first responders honored the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon on 9/11 by laying a wreath at the memorial outside of the station displaying a steel beam from the World Trade Center.

Truck 105 arrived at the Pentagon roughly four minutes after American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into its west facade. Arlington firefighters led the rescue and recovery operation at the Pentagon for nearly two weeks after the attack. Station 5 itself became a staging point for Arlington Police and officers from surrounding jurisdictions headed to the Pentagon.

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Click here to watch Governor Spanberger's full remarks or read her full remarks as delivered below.

On September 11th, we remember the Americans who died, the people who never came home, those who fought hijackers and sacrificed themselves, those whose days started off like every other day and never came home.

In this place at Station Five, we know that it was Station Five's own ladder truck that was the first Arlington County fire unit on the scene at the Pentagon, arriving roughly four minutes after impact.

Arlington firefighters led the rescue and the recovery operations at the Pentagon for nearly two weeks, and the fire wasn't declared fully extinguished until September 12th.

The county held the crash site until September 21st. I mention this because for everyone here who was a part of that response or a community member on that day, that heaviness lasted far longer than the day of the 11th, far longer than the time it took to extinguish the fire. Far longer for that crash site responsibility to be turned over.

And it's been 25 years, but for so many people, that morning, it feels like yesterday. And I'm sure, like me, so many of you just cannot believe it has been 25 years.

And Station Five itself became a staging point for Arlington County Police and officers from surrounding jurisdictions headed to the Pentagon.

This building was the infrastructure for the response, not just a place that firefighters worked.

The people who sprang into action continued to bring their commitment to our communities, to our Commonwealth, and ultimately our country, to bear.

This morning, I was having breakfast with my 12-year-old daughter, and she said to me, "Mommy, did anybody on the planes survive?"

And I was struck by that question, because it means there's so much more for me as a parent- for all of us as community members to make sure that the next generation understands the absolute devastation on what was the saddest day in American history.

And it was the response on that day of brave people - people from Arlington, people from New York, people from across our communities - who came together in response, and so many of whom experience that day over and over and over again because of the lasting health impacts, because so many of our friends and our neighbors, some of whom have lost their lives and who are honored here today.

I would mention, and it is with a request for his forgiveness as well, that our Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, Stanley Meador, was a first responder, a state law enforcement officer in Northern Virginia on that day. And like so many others, he went straight to the Pentagon upon realizing what was happening.

And in the years since, like so many others, he's suffered from 9/11 exposure-related cancers.

And I mention that because I think it is important for everyone here to know that in Richmond, when we think of what that day was, we know, and in some ways quite personally, that that day did not start and finish on September 11th, and our responsibility to the first responders continues into the future.

You know, 25 years ago, I was a graduate student in Germany, and I watched from so very far away as our country was attacked.

And as our fellow Americans responded, I watched from afar as there were lines at the blood banks and volunteers combing debris and American flags waving.

And like so many Americans and frankly so many people the world over, I was inspired by the heroic response of my fellow Americans, of you all right here at Station Five.

And while I had always intended to eventually pursue a career in public service, it wasn't simply the attacks of 9/11 that motivated me to move back home to the U.S. and to start that career of public service first as a law enforcement officer, then as a CIA officer sooner.

It was actually watching people like the responders in Arlington, like you all, the ones running towards the danger, the emergency, the ones who remained calm and focused, and yet oh so human.

You all are the ones that drove so many people to pursue careers of service, for some of us earlier than we had planned.

And it was you all who inspired me and so many others to pursue service and sacrifice and a life devoted to something far greater than oneself.

And as the years go on, please know that your impact wasn't limited to the weeks of that response.

It remains strong in everyone that you inspired, and continue to inspire, to service.

Now, as someone in politics, sometimes people talk to me about the unity that we felt collectively after 9/11, and the fact that so many of our differences - they seem small and inconsequential.

We raised our flags together, we came together, and people will sometimes juxtapose that with the divisions that seem to permeate some of our communities and even some of our families today.

And in reflecting on this, the lesson that we have to ensure that our children learn, and frankly, the lesson that we need to remember is that that was a choice.

It was not the obvious or the predestined outcome of experiencing the horrors of a domestic terrorist attack that people would come together in unity.

It was a choice.

It was a choice to follow the lead of the first responders like you all, and those from state, and local, and federal agencies who joined together quickly in a unified response, purposefully and focused, working to save lives, working to bring calm, working to make us feel safe.

It was a choice to honor the lead of the first responders in New York City who ran to the towers and then, upon their collapse, searched for survivors.

It was a choice to honor the example of the passengers of Flight 93, who knew that they could not save themselves, but if they came together and made the ultimate sacrifice, they could save others and set a remarkable example of bravery for the nation.

Unity wasn't a foregone conclusion; it was a choice that so many of us made.

And so, today at this challenging time, we have the choice to once again come together as Americans and choose unity.

This morning, I was sharing some thoughts back and forth with a friend whose entire adult life has been devoted to service - in his case, military service - particularly in the post-9/11 era.

And it can be hard to reflect on the last 25 years and all of the sorrows and challenges that we have felt as Americans, particularly those who served in the global war on terror.

But our conversation made me reflect on something in particular that, over the years, when asked about this challenge or that challenge, I have somewhat cheerily said, "Oh, I'm an eternal optimist," as a response to how I persist in my belief that we will continue to create progress and come together as Americans, but frankly, that's not true.

When you work terrorism at CIA, despite all of your best efforts, you really you just can't be an optimist.

So it isn't optimism that centers me in that deep, abiding belief that we can unite our country, and I presume it is an optimism that drives so many of you in continued service.

It is, in fact, an unwillingness to accept any other option.

It's a sheer unwillingness to accept that the ferocity of strength, pride, patriotism, and ultimately the sense of community that we all felt after 9/11, was just a temporary, automatic response to that day.

9/11 was a national tragedy and a day of unimaginable horror, but it is also a day that motivated millions of Americans and people the world over to choose to come together to help others, to serve others, to follow the brave example set by so many in this room, to choose to believe in something greater than ourselves, and an unwillingness to accept that what had happened to us is something that we should do anything other than reject and push back against.

I am grateful for the heroism of Station Five and all of the first responders who joined with you all, and in recognition of your service and in honor of all those we have lost on 9/11, and over the past 25 years, I believe it is all of our responsibility to ensure that generations of Americans to come understand the scope and the gravity of our loss that day and in the years since.

And it is our responsibility to ensure the generations of Americans to come know the patriotic and selfless example first responders like you all set and inspired so many more in our actions to be united, to be unified across communities and even across the world.

And it is our responsibility to ensure that generations of Americans to come remember that it doesn't take optimism to achieve a secure, purposeful future for our nation.

It takes an unwillingness for us to accept anything else.

I thank you for your service. I am grateful for the example that you have set for Virginians and for our country, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be here to honor this day and say thank you.

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