RICHMOND, Va. –
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation Public Affairs Office is running a week-long series Sept. 6-10 telling the stories of DLA Aviation employees who remember where they were and what they were doing that fateful day.
Name: Leon Moore
Organization: DLA Aviation Richmond, Virginia
What is your job title, and what do you do, specifically? I am a public affairs specialist within the DLA Aviation Public Affairs Office in Richmond, Virginia, on Defense Supply Center Richmond. We advise the commander and execute the commander's community relations, media relations, command information and protocol missions. We also provide oversight of web content and have sole release authority and act as the spokespersons for the command. My collateral duties include serving as the environmental and media public affairs lead for our office.
In a paragraph, please tell where you were and what you were doing on Sept. 11, 2001. I was a month into my job as a TV reporter/anchor at a small station in Augusta, Georgia after serving 11-years in the Navy. We were gathered around watching the national media coverage on the TVs in the newsroom, and all I was thinking was how could a plane flying veer off course and hit the World Trade Centers. The next thing we knew, the second plane hit the WTC and then a plane hit the Pentagon and another crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I knew then, these were no accidents and since I was still on Navy terminal leave, I thought I was going to be recalled back to active duty, which I wasn’t. I just remember thinking this is just the beginning of more attacks that day, which thankfully it was not.
What can we do to ensure future generations never forget that fateful day? I am a firm believer that we never let future generations forget what happened on that fateful day when more than 3,00 innocent people were killed. We have to constantly remind them that freedom isn’t free. It comes with a steep price, one that tens of thousands of service members have paid in these last two decades, either killed or injured for life. I honor them and this country still through my service as a public affairs officer in the Navy reserves, having deployed to Afghanistan and other parts around the world in support of the Global War on Terrorism.