Vets recall day of national tragedy

Area veterans recalled where they were when 9/11 changed America.

“I can remember it. I was home for some reason, I was talking on the phone with someone and they were watching TV and they said ‘oh my goodness,’” Dean Kentner said.

Kentner served in the military from 1972 to 1978.

“They thought, you know, that it was an accident,” Kentner said. “The phone rang 25 minutes later and they said ‘I don’t think it was an accident because another one just flew into the other one.’ I said oh man. I went in the house and flipped on the TV and it was all you saw,” Kentner said. “We knew what happened and why, we were scared it would happen again so we were going to take care of that problem and hopefully keep it over there.”

He believes the U.S. military has done a great job.

“At least they didn’t attack over here any more,” Kentner said. “As long as that was going on we could sleep pretty good. A lot of people didn’t sleep good for weeks.”

He remembered the change in security.

“It still lingers in today’s society,” Kentner said.

Mike Ott served in the U.S. Army from 1966-67, and recalled that morning.

“Somebody came into the shop when we were at work and said ‘somebody just hit the towers’ and a few minutes later said something about somebody else hitting it,” Ott said.

He said he was in shock.

“It was a tragic day for America,” Amvets Post Commander Al Nance said. “A lot of us were confused about what was happening and weren’t sure what to do.”

Nance was at Andrews Air Force Base when it happened, as he had been recently discharged from the military after serving from 1997 to 2000.

“There were a lot of mixed emotions that day,” Nance said. “I had a lot of people still in the military, friends and family, it was a tough time. We came together like we should have. I’d like to see that happen again. We are in a different world now unfortunately.”

The veteran would like to see the country return to standing together.

“We have a great military. I think there are a lot of great Americans and patrons still trying to do the right thing for the country. We should stop being red or blue and start being American again,” Nance said.

He said his emotions were also mixed on Afghanistan.

“I am glad we got our troops out of there,” Nance said. “I wish we could have done it a little different maybe. I hope we are able to get the rest of the people out of there and that we are vetting the people that are coming over here the right way to make sure we have the right people that want to become Americans.”

“Everyone forgot about their differences, and said ‘hey this is our home and we are going to protect our home,’” Kentner said.