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Veteran reflects on 9/11 at mobile memorial in McAlester

McAlester News-Capital - 9/8/2021

Sep. 8—An Air Force veteran looked up at light beams honoring the Twin Towers and reflected on the terrorist attacks on American soil nearly 20 years ago.

Harry Jackson, a Pittsburg County resident, said he remembers thinking something was amiss when officials didn't show for several morning briefings that morning at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. A public affairs official later told those gathered about the first plane hitting the north tower of the World Trade Center before they watched the rest of the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfold on television.

"It was horrendous," Jackson said.

Four coordinated terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 killed nearly 3,000. Two planes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Jackson said a headcount ensued at his installation — and his boss forgot he was at the intro briefing.

"So I was actually a missing person the first couple hours after 9/11," Jackson said.

But instead of being stranded after the country locked down borders, Jackson was on the installation and accounted for later that day.

Jackson and Brenda Angel, a Pittsburg County artist to which he is married, visited a mobile 9/11 memorial Tuesday in McAlester called the 9/11 Never Forget: 20th Year Memorial.

Gen. Tommy Franks was Commander of the United States Central Command on the day of the attacks. He retired from the Army in 2003 and started the General Tommy Franks Leadership Institute and Museum in Hobart, Oklahoma.

The mobile 9/11 memorial includes a piece of a steel beam from the Twin Towers, debris from the Pentagon crash site, a New York City fireman's uniform and helmet and more.

The museum's permanent 9/11 display is open 10 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 507 S. Main St. in Hobart. More information on the memorial is available at www.TommyFranksMuseum.org/911-exhibit or via phone at 580-726-5900.

Angel said she hopes to display her own 9/11-inspired sculpture at the museum.

Her "Liberty Leads Her People to Justice" bronze statue features the Statue of Liberty holding an American flag and riding a horse named Valor. She said the statue represents the American people rising and healing through faith in God following the attacks.

She was later hired by Oral Roberts University for three sculptures, including a bust of professor emeritus and dean of education Clarence G. Oliver. Angel's work has been featured in Washington, DC, and she sculpted a 16-feet tall statue of Jesus for a church in Broken Arrow.

Angel said the "Liberty Leads" statue's concept came to her in a dream after watching the terrorist attacks unfold on 9/11 from her home.

"I went to my dresser and I just needed to wear something patriotic and I just started praying for the country," Angel said of that day.

After the sun set Tuesday, memorial staff set up displays and kicked on a generator as light columns ascended in honor of the Twin Towers.

Angel said she enjoyed the memorial and being able to honor the people who died in the attacks.

"I think they did a good job and that's awesome," she said. "I think it's important that people remember."

Contact Adrian O'Hanlon III at aohanlon@mcalesternews.com

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