Nevada lawmakers remember 9/11, honor those who serve

By Karoun Demirjian

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013 | 10:21 a.m.

Washington is marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a spectrum of memorials and remembrances, from the White House to the Pentagon to the steps of the Capitol.

Here’s what some members of the Nevada delegation had to say:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined other members of Congress in a ceremony on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday morning and shared his memories of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I can remember where I was 12 years ago, on a morning like today,” Reid said, likening it to the day he heard of the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Reid, then Democratic whip, had been in a meeting with then-Democratic leader Tom Daschle when news of a plane hitting the World Trade Center came on the television. Soon police came to evacuate them by helicopter to a secure location, and it would be several hours before they returned to the Capitol, where Sen. Barbara Mikulski suggested they all sing “God Bless America.”

“We came here. Without a lot of speeches, prepared, unprepared, to show each other that we knew what was going on, what had happened,” Reid said. “The day is something I will never forget.”

Reid made similar comments on the Senate floor.

Other members of the Nevada delegation not afforded the same pulpit as congressional leaders released statements recognizing the anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Sen. Dean Heller directed his comments early Tuesday to troops engaged in conflicts in the 12 years since Sept. 11, as well as the victims that day.

“Since that day, our men and women in uniform have been willing to stand up and defend the freedoms we enjoy amid incredible adversity,” Heller said. “The resilience they have shown in an effort to spread freedom and democracy represents the very best of this nation.”

Rep. Joe Heck added to that list the many more Americans who have since answered the call to service in various ways.

“Today we are called not just to remember those we lost in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and on Flight 93, but also to honor their legacy by answering the call to service for our communities and our country,” Heck said in a prepared statement. “America was as strong as it has ever been following those horrific attacks and today is a somber reminder that we must continually strive to reach out to our fellow Americans and unite as we did in the days, weeks, and months following September 11, 2001,” he said.

Rep. Dina Titus added a remembrance for first responders who acted close to home.

“My thoughts and prayers today are with the families of those who were lost on September 11th as well as with all the service members and first responders who continue to protect our country and our freedom at home and around the world,” she said in a statement.

Rep. Steven Horsford offered a personal anecdote of remembrance.

“Every day on my way to work I pass the Pentagon building where a plane struck 12 years ago today; it is a constant reminder of the solemn anniversary our nation marks every year,” Horsford said in a statement. “The attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the hijacking of Flight 93 are seared into our national memory, but from those horrific attacks the United States emerged stronger.”