September 11, 2001—a tragic day that took the lives of 2,977 people after two hijacked commercial aircraft hit the Twin Towers in New York, another attacked the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
This event may seem far away from Bozeman, but law enforcement and veterans came together Monday morning to remember how close it hit to home.
Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer, says "Every single FEMA Director and every Department of Emergency Management Director was here in Big Sky. And so as soon as we started getting the pages and started learning what was going on, I remember waking up and seeing the first tower after it had been hit. Pretty soon my pager started going off and we, the sheriff's office, was dispatched to Big Sky. Given the fact that every one of those directors were up there, the concern was that maybe they would be a next target."
Sheriff Springer says a tragic event like 9/11, no matter where you were, has a real impact.
“It hits home. I mean, it obviously was something that was a very traumatic event in this country. And I think many of the people mentioned today how some good always comes out of the bad. And when you look at how this country came together and the pride that this country showed for the number of years after that," says Sheriff Springer.
For the American Legion's Dan Ritter, these terrorist attacks brought him out of retirement to defend this country.
"I was in the Marine Corps for 23 years, and I was actually just getting ready to retire when I was actually on a range shooting when we found out that the first tower went down and we got a call back to our units and kind of changed my life and my family's life considerably. So I didn't retire. I stayed in the Marine Corps for a few more years," says Ritter.
Ritter says no matter how old you are, it's always important to remember the lives that were lost.
"I think it's very important that we don't kind of forget what's going on. I was thinking this morning, there's kids like in college that are seniors in college that weren't even alive when September 11th happened. And I think it's important that we never forget," says Ritter.
Ritter also emphasizes remembering first responders who lost their lives to save others.
"We as a community don't ever want to forget those first responders. I mean, they sacrificed as much as we did when I was in the military. Of course, my son was in the Marine Corps as well. And there's a ton of sacrifice that families go through," says Ritter. "And unfortunately, some of those families had the ultimate sacrifice. And we want to let them know that we remember them."
