Ceremony at NAF-El Centro honors 9/11 victims
EL CENTRO — The noblest way to honor the victims killed during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, is never to surrender the freedoms and the values that define the American people, especially in a moment of fear.
That was the message delivered Tuesday morning by Capt. Brent Alfonzo, Naval Air Facility El Centro Commanding Officer, during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on base that honored the more than 30 officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. Navy who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country on that tragic day. Also recognized were the 343 firefighters, and 72 law enforcement officers who also lost their lives answering the call of duty.
“We must never forget that there are those in the world that wish to kill Americans and to kill those allied with us, [and] to utterly destroy the United States,” Alfonzo said. “Never forget that we are vulnerable to those that would do us harm. We place ourselves at risk because we adhere to our founding father’s ideals of freedom and liberty. We choose to be susceptible to some foes and some threats because we simply refuse to live in a police state. To do so would cede victory to our enemy without a fight.”
During the ceremony the American flag was raised and then lowered to halfstaff, and the names of the Navy personnel who died on 9/11 were read aloud before a crowd including members of the Navy and officers from various law enforcement agencies, as well as a Royal Air Force contingent currently training in the area.
Near-miss
Robert Moffat, currently serving in a civilian role as an NAF-El Centro administration officer, was working in the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 at 9:37 a.m. local time crashed into the western side of the building that housed the Naval Command Center. About 42 members of the Navy were killed, according to Navy News Service.
Had the plane struck moments later, Moffat himself may not have survived since he was on his way to that area of the building.
“I heard so much noise and people screaming in the passageway,” Moffat said during the ceremony. “Everyone on the concourse … was rushing at me and yelling, ‘Bomb!’ Bomb!’”
Moffat said he followed procedure and evacuated the building.
“I had 15 personnel evacuate with me,” he said. “We walked to triage units to see if anyone needed help. I did not see what occurred at the Pentagon until 1400 that day.
The next day we went back to work and we could smell smoke.”
Cmdr. Jeremy Doughty, NAF-El Centro executive officer, was blocks from the Twin Towers the day before the attack
“On the morning of Sept. 10, 2001, I found myself in Lower Manhattan, Battery Park, only blocks away from the World Trade Center at the U.S. Coast Guard Station, picking up my U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariners license, thus the last piece of documentation I needed to officially graduate [and] be officially sworn into the United States Navy.”
During the attack, he was safely reporting for duty in Maine.
Master at Arms, Second Class, Lieb, who is a security officer at NAF-El Centro in attendance at the ceremony, said the events of 9/11 were shocking to Navy Personnel stationed overseas. At that time, Lieb was stationed at U.S. Naval Base Yokosuka in Japan.
“It was the middle of the night,” he said. “I was ironing my uniform for the next day, and my buddy comes in and says, ‘Hey, check this out.’ I said, ‘What movie is that?’ He said, ‘It’s not a movie. It’s news.’”
Lieb thought to himself, “Here we go. This is what we are here for, and I was ready. We were all ready.”
Similar to military installations around the globe, Naval Base Yokosuka prepared for imminent attack.
“On the base, we heightened security and we stood double watches around the clock,” Lieb said. “We were ready for anything. We were armed up and had more machine guns out at the front gate and more personnel. That day changed everything.”
Even half a world away, the terrorist attacks would change the course of Lieb’s life, he said, noting that in 2010 and 2011he was stationed at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, which was invaded by the U.S. military and its allies in response to the 9/11 attacks.