TYLER, Texas — September 11, 2001 — a day many Americans will never forget, including Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith.
Sheriff Smith said it was a regular day until his pager went off. He and his wife had just bought a new house and he was on a ladder completing renovations when he was called to deploy to the Pentagon following the aftermath after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west side of the building.
Because planes weren’t flying, Sheriff Smith drove from Tyler to Virginia and spent two weeks there to “dig through the top-secret documents, separate plane parts, and unfortunately, body parts."
His most memorable moment was when they would “stop and pray” when they found the deceased victims. Sheriff Smith recalls feeling “hopeless” for the victims.
Following 9/11, many Americans enlisted in the military to fight in the nation's longest war. Now 20 years later, this will be the first anniversary of the terrorist attack since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban seized control.
Sheriff Smith says remembering the “blood of the men and women who died” in Afghanistan will have a “big effect” on the anniversary this year.
Sheriff Smith will speak Saturday, September 11 at 7:30 am at the 9/11 Memorial Service at Smith County’s Downtown Tyler Square.