That first saved the country in 1814 when Thomas MacDonough defeated the British fleet on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Plattsburgh.
Control of the lake was vital to move supplies through what was the wilderness of New York MacDonough’s defeat of a superior fleet with a history of victory over all sorts of odds was so decisive that even Lord Wellington stated that without British control of them there was no point sending him to America to fight.
At the crisis point of the battle MacDonough managed to wear his primary ship Saratoga 180 degrees due to springs and cables that he prepared the day before, that allowed him to send broadsides from his undamaged side into the equally damaged British fleet.
His taking of the entire fleet meant that even though the British Armies had a 3-1 advantage in troops they were forced to retreat back to Canada.
On September 11th 2001 the second great American victory took place in the skys over Pennsylvania. When a group of passengers of the hijacked flight 93 discovered the fate of the planes that crashed into the world trade center they decided that it was necessary for them to take action. With a cry of “Let’s Roll” the people on that flight ceased to be victims and instead became soldiers and warriors. Their will to fight and make a difference denying a victory to our foes and was the first of many US victory’s in the war on Terror.
It was that moment when 9/11 ceased to be another of many terror attacks and became the War on Terror for me, before then it was just one of many terror attacks and other than the scale and coordination of it was no different than other terror attacks all over the world. After flight 93 Americans were now in battle and all the emotions that come from a shared struggle.
That is what 9/11 means to me.
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