Des Moines, Iowa, 11 Sept. 2021 – Iowa National Guard Soldiers and Airmen reflect on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, sharing personal memories and lessons from that day.
Senior Master Sgt. Vincent Degroot
"We already knew we were heading to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to do southern no-fly zone rotations in Iraq. These missions had been going on since the 1990s.
At the time, the unit was an F-16 fighter wing. I’m with a small support unit and was headed there as documentation support; me and another guy from California. The mission was set for us to go in October.
Then 9/11 happened.
So, we still had this mission to Iraq. We go to McGuire Air Force Base first. And then we’re flying out of there on a rotator jet north at a low elevation over Manhattan.
I had never been to New York, so the first thing I saw was the metro area. Then the pilot calls out over the loud speaker that we're flying close to the World Trade Center Towers.
And that’s when people describe it as, it’s like, ‘You were in a movie.’ There was a dead silence on the plane. Everyone took turns looking out the windows to see these two perfect squares where the Trade Towers used to be. And you could see the towers were still just billowing smoke even though it was weeks later.
It was surreal. That’s where it really started to resonate. And my feeling at the time was, 'Lets get after it.'"
(U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Everett)
| Date Taken: | 09.10.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2025 16:32 |
| Photo ID: | 9308034 |
| VIRIN: | 210910-A-AY917-4999 |
| Resolution: | 1280x854 |
| Size: | 172.22 KB |
| Location: | DES MOINES, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 9 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 20 Years Later: Iowa National Guard Reflects on September 11, 2001 [Image 7 of 7], by 1SG Jason Everett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
