On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex, as well as major damage to ten other large surrounding structures.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side.
The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its brave passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
In total, 2,977 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians on the four planes and 412 first responders in New York City.
On September 11, 2012, a heavily armed group of militant terrorists attacked the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya. The attack began at night in a compound meant to protect the main diplomatic building. A second assault in the early morning the next day targeted a nearby CIA annex in a different compound. Four Americans were killed, U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Ten others were injured.
Although this attack took place in Libya, it happened on American soil. Our embassies and consulates are U.S. soil, and the attack in Libya violated a U.S. territory. These terrorist attacks are as heinous as if they happened in Honolulu.
The first submarine fully integrated for mixed gender crews will join the Navy fleet next week during a commissioning ceremony in its namesake state of New Jersey.
The USS New Jersey (SSN 796) is the 23rd Virginia-class submarine, but it is the first of its kind — designed from the keel up with specific modifications for gender integration.
The White House is asking Congress for $1.95 billion to make up for a price gap for two submarines already funded as part of the congressional Fiscal Year 2024 budget, USNI News has learned. The request was included in a list of anomalies the White House asked Congress to support in the event the government is funded by a continuing resolution past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
USS Hawaii (SSN 776) and its U.S. and Australian crew pulled into Australia’s western naval base HMAS Stirling on Thursday August 22 for a maintenance period with submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS-39). It’s the first time a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine will undergo an overhaul on foreign soil.
On August 26, 2021, 13 U.S. military members part of Operation Allies Refuge, the mission to evacuate American citizens and Afghans who assisted the U.S. and its allies during their 20-year war in Afghanistan. Were killed near the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. The bomb was a vehicle born improvised explosive device, or a car bomb. The attack marked one of the deadliest days for American forces in the past decade of the 20-year war in Afghanistan — and took place just days ahead of the U.S.’s planned full withdrawal.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza, 20 – He was originally from Laredo, Texas, and he left behind a brother, mother, and his stepfather.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, 20 – He achieved the rank of Lance Corporal and was from Ranch Cucamonga, California. Merola was only in Kabul for two weeks before he was killed and students back home at his old high school even wore red, white and blue in his honor. He texted his mother that he would not be able to call and talk to her while on his evacuation assignment. “He wrote…’I love you and I’ll talk to you soon,’ ” said mother Cheryl Merola.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20 – Schmitz was from St. Louis, Missouri, and had achieved the rank of Lance Corporal. He was even honored in a Facebook post by State Representative Nick Schroer. The State Representative has also made several other posts since Schmitz’s death.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20 – He was originally stationed nearby at Camp Pendleton in California and he even sent his father a video of him talking with Afghan children and giving them candy at the airport. The video was sent the day before he was killed.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20 – McCollum was from Bondurant, Wyoming, and was on his first deployment. He had only just graduated from high school in 2019 and was recently married and only 3 weeks away from becoming a father. There is a Go Fund Me page set up to help raise money for his child’s education and it has raised well over it’s goal of $5,000, which is very impressive and will be worth the while for his family.
Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22 – He was from California and wanted to be like his parents after his deployment. He planned on becoming a sheriff’s deputy once he returned home, to follow in his parents’ footsteps. The family would like all donations made to the Riverside County Deputy Sheriff Relief Foundationin honor of Lopez.
Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, 22 – He was a Corporal from Logansport, Indiana. Sanchez was only out of high school for 4 years when he was killed and had the Indiana State Representative Jim Baird posted and identified him, Indiana Senator posted on Twitter, and the Logansport Mayor post on Facebook indirectly about Sanchez.
Navy Hospital Corpsman Maxton Soviak, 22 – Soviak was a Navy Medic working with the marines in Afghanistan, since the Marines do not have their own medical field. He is from Berlin Heights, Ohio, and there is a Go Fund Me page started by a family friend as a memorial fund for Soviak.
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23 – She was a Sergeant who originates from Roseville, California, and was a maintenance technician with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Gee posted an Instagram pic the week before she was killed talking about how much she loves her job and Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who was her roommate and friend from Camp Lejeune posted a painfully heartbreaking post about Gee on Facebook. While Gee was deployed, Harrison was asked to look after her car and couldn’t let the image of the car go when she stated, “Her car is still there & she’s gone forever.”
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23 – Knauss was from Knoxville, Tennessee, and has been the first Army soldier to be identified from the attack. He had just completed Psychology Operation Training and hoped to move to Washington, DC, when he came back from his deployment. He left behind his Stepmother, Grandfather, and his wife, who he loved to help with her garden.
Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan Page, 23 – He was from Omaha, Nebraska, and was the 2nd Regiment of 1st Marine Regiment (aka “The Professionals”) at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Page planned to go to trade school after his deployment. He left behind his parents, step-parents, grandparents, four siblings, and his girlfriend.
Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25 – She was a Sergeant who was from Lawrence, Massachusetts, and was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Female Engagement Team. Rosario Pichardo was also part of the Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and was on the ground aiding in the evacuation that took place. At this time, her family wants privacy and want their loved one to be honored as the hero she was.
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover Jr., 31 – Hoover was from Midvale, Utah, and was a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps. He played football in high school and loved what he did in the marines and spent most of his life fighting for the country. The Utah Governor ordered that flags at all state facilities and public grounds be at half-staff through sunset on Monday, August 30, 2021, in honor of Taylor’s memory along with all the other soldiers that have been killed.
An American submarine tender recently arrived in Western Australia, where sailors are training to service U.S. and British nuclear-powered fast-attack boats under a mutual defense pact.
The USS Emory S. Land, a Guam-based tender crewed by American and Australian sailors, pulled into naval base HMAS Stirling, near Perth, on Aug. 16, the Navy announced in a news release that day.
The crew will perform maintenance on a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine over several weeks, the release said, without naming the boat.
A U.S. submarine recently trained with American and allied forces in the Mediterranean Sea as the Pentagon bolsters its forces in the Middle East amid deepening worries of an Iran-Israel conflict.
The guided-missile submarine USS Georgia finished a series of training events with Force Reconnaissance Marines from the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion and special operations forces on Monday, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said in a statement posted to its website on Friday.
Bill Dillon was a submariner on the USS Sailfish, a radioman first class, and collaborated with the author Stephen L. Moore to tell the harrowing story of how the Sailfish sunk a Japanese Carrier.
Bill Dillion was just 17 when he signed up for military service. He received two Bronze Stars, one with valor, but it’s what he did after the war that he says is most important to him. “During the war I was killing people,” he recounts. “After the war I began helping them.”
Today, he is the sole survivor of the 200 men he served with on the Sailfish, and the last American survivor of the battle of Formosa. Bill served in the Navy from May 1942 to November 1947.
After an undefeated football season, Bill quit high school in his junior year to join the Navy. He was sent to submarine school in New London, CT and then assigned to the submarine the USS Sailfish (SS 192). This submarine was formerly the USS Sgualus which had sunk off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive in 1939. While 26 crew members were lost, there were 33 rescued and the ship was later salvaged and renamed the USS Sailfish.
Bill served on the USS Sailfish from January 1943 until it was decommissioned in 1945. They had 5 Major War Patrols. The Sailfish sunk several Japanese commercial and military vessels, including an aircraft carrier and 2 destroyers. And rescued 12 pilots and crew that had been shot down or run out of fuel during the Battle of Formosa. They took the rescued airmen to Saipan and returned to their combat war patrol.
Bill remained in the service and got married January 5, 1946 to, Janet, his high school sweetheart. Bill received his GED and applied for college the same date and graduated in June 1951 from the University of Florida.
The U.S. space industry was just beginning, and I became a member of the launch team that placed the first U.S. satellite into orbit. He worked on several different programs including 13 down-range tracking sites; developing the first electronic checkout of launch vehicles; the initial working on the GPS system for Assistant Defense Secretary David Packard; served as Solid Rocket Booster Manager for the Air Force Titan 3 Program; and become the Systems Design Manager for the highly secret system of satellite-tracking all vehicles in space. Receiving a major citation.
Bill and his late wife, Janet, were married for 72 years and had 7 children. There are now 12 grandchildren and 12 great- grandchildren and the family is still growing.
Bowfin Pearl Harbor Base 