U.S. Naval War College Holds Ceremony to Commemorate 25th Anniversary of Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks

NEWPORT, R.I. - On the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) held its annual ceremony memorializing those killed – including 11 war college students and alumni –  in the terrorist attacks that day.

On that day a quarter century ago, two planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York, another was crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.

“On the 25th anniversary of these tragic attacks, we remember those who died and why we continue to educate, train and, when necessary, fight,” said Rear Adm. Darryl Walker, NWC president. “We must never forget and never let our guard down. We will continue this solemn occasion to offer our deepest and enduring condolences to the families who are still - to this day - affected. And we must reflect upon it as we renew our commitment to our mission, so that nothing like this can ever happen again.”

NWC professor and retired Navy Capt. John Jackson, who has led coordination of the event since it was first held in 2002, read out each name of a war college student or alumni killed in the attacks. A bell was rung after each person was named.

Jackson was serving at the war college as the director of what was then called the College of Continuing Education (CCE) at the time of the attacks.

“The next day, Dr. Charles Chadbourn – now the college’s longest serving faculty member and marshall of the faculty – called and advised that at least two CCE students had died in the Pentagon attack,” Jackson recalled. “A committee was established that day to commemorate this sacrifice. In the days and weeks that followed, we learned of other current students, and of college alumni, who also perished in this tragic event.”

The ceremony also included remarks by Walker – who was a lieutenant commander and student at the war college at the time of the attacks – as well as a wreath-laying at the NWC Patriots Memorial on-site by the war college president and NWC Command Master Chief Abel Griego.

“The focal point of this memorial is a broken fragment of limestone from the west façade of the Pentagon, which was carefully conveyed to Newport by a team of Navy Seabees,” Jackson said.

“This stone, though damaged, is standing upright, signifying the restored and strengthened Pentagon building, and the continued strength of the United States Armed Forces.”

Family members of the late Navy Capt. Gerald F. DeConto, a 1998 NWC graduate, attended ceremony, as they have done for years.

DeConto was working in the Pentagon’s Navy Command Center when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building.

He was killed along with 124 others inside the Pentagon, including nine other service members or civilians who were either alumni or active Naval War College students enrolled in Jackson’s distance education program.

An 11th Naval War College alum, retired Navy Capt. John Yamnicky, 71, was among the passengers aboard Flight 77 who was killed that day.

In addition to DeConto and Yamnicky, the NWC students and alumni commemorated in the ceremony Friday were Navy Lt. Cmdr. Robert R. Elseth, 37; Navy Capt. Lawrence D. Getzfred, 57; Navy civilian Angela Marie Houtz, 27; Navy Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Jude Murphy, 38; Navy Lt. Jonas Martin Panik, 26; Jack D. Punches, 50, a retired Navy captain working at the Pentagon as a civilian; Navy Cmdr. Robert A. Schlegel, 38; Navy Cmdr. Dan F. Shanower, 40; and Army Lt. Col. Kip P. Taylor, 38.

“The final tally from the cowardly attack showed that three students who were actively enrolled in the Fleet Seminar Program and eight Naval War College alumni had been killed while on the job, serving their country,” said Jackson. “Their names are inscribed here on a bronze plaque, and their memories – along with the others who were killed that day – are enshrined in the hearts of all Americans.”