10,000 names: GMC Prep observes Patriot Day

Published 1:31 pm Friday, September 10, 2021

Everyone knows where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, when multiple coordinated terrorist attacks were carried out against the United States of America.

At least, those who were alive at that harrowing point in time do.

Twenty years later, no high school students — as well as many in college — were born yet when the hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. These American children and young adults came into a world where their country was in conflict, but they cannot personally recall the world-changing event that set everything into motion.

Just over a month after the attacks, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to proclaim each subsequent Sept. 11 as Patriot Day. It’s a time to reflect on the lives lost and remember the sacrifices made to keep our freedoms intact. It’s an opportunity for those who did live through that day to share their experiences with younger generations.

For the last several years, Georgia Military College Prep School has hosted a moving Patriot Day ceremony to impress upon its cadets the impact 9/11 had on this country, both the initial day itself and the ensuing Global War on Terror. The school continued that tradition Friday beginning with a short ceremony on Grant Parade Field.

“Though none of you who make up this Corps of Cadets were alive on Sept. 11, 2001, this catastrophic event has marked your lives and will continue to mark your lives,” Lt. Col. Scott Seagraves said addressing the morning military formation. “Hopefully, prayerfully, the events of that day and the subsequent 20 years have cultivated in you a spirit of service — a desire to serve the community, the nation, and the world in which we live.”

One way the GMC Prep faculty tries to get students to understand the events of 9/11 is by administering an essay contest each year and selecting a winner at the middle and high school levels. This year’s assignment asked cadets to write on “An Attitude of Gratitude,” and the two winners were recognized during Friday’s ceremony. Junior Helen Chow and eighth-grader Daisey Johnson were presented with special award pins that they will wear throughout their GMC careers, and their essays can be found in this edition of the paper.

Another recognition was handed out Friday as GMC Prep elementary schooler Greyson Smith was presented with the NewDay USA Foundation’s Allen B. Posner scholarship given to family members of servicemen and women. NewDay USA is a mortgage lending company for United States veterans, and according to CEO Rob Posner, the company puts a portion of its earnings toward its foundation. Through that avenue NewDay awards scholarships to kids attending military schools like GMC. Since 2013, the foundation has given 50 scholarships, 27 of which have gone to GMC Prep students.

Just before the end of the formal ceremony, Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV (Ret.), president of GMC, was joined by four current prep school cadets whose fathers died while in service to their country. They laid a commemorative wreath at the base of the parade field flagpole. Alex, Alexis and Madison French were there to honor their father, Staff Sgt. Alex French IV, who was killed in action in Afghanistan Sept. 30, 2009. Cadet Kade Horne, a previous Posner scholarship recipient, was honoring his father, Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, who was killed in the line of duty in 2012. Those deaths were not the only way in which 9/11 touched the Milledgeville community. Four more names — Sgt. Chad Mercer, Sgt. Michael Stokley, Specialist Daniel Gomez and Maj. David Gray, all GMC alumni — were read off as the wreath was placed and echoing taps played across the parade field.

Caldwell remembers well the events of 9/11 as he was the Army’s deputy operations officer in the Pacific at the time. The call came in shortly before 3 a.m. his time that a plane had crashed into the North Tower.

“We did not know what else was going to take place,” he recalled.

“The Army changed. The world changed. Everything about our military that we’ve done ever since has changed.”

Back in Georgia on Sept. 11, 2001, Seagraves remembers he was teaching a class that included his middle son when he got an email from his wife letting him know about the first crash. He admits thinking it was just a small commuter plane at first. Then the second plane hit. There was a television in his classroom, but no cable. He fashioned an antenna out of wire so he and his students could attempt to grasp what was happening.

“I had gone through the Oklahoma City bombing in a school setting,” said Seagraves. “Kids were wondering if something like that was going to happen to them. The same kind of question was asked on 9/11 too. Kids didn’t know whether or not they would be safe. There wasn’t a lot of teaching that went on that day, but there was a lot of loving.”

The events of that fateful day eventually led to Friday’s final form of remembrance. More than 10,000 lives were lost between 9/11 and the ensuing war. For about seven years now, GMC Prep cadets have written the names of the fallen on the brick walkway leading up to the Old Capitol Building on GMC’s campus. The work stands as a solemn reminder of all that was lost, and why we should remain grateful.

Thirteen more names were added this year. The 11 Marines, one soldier and one Navy corpsman who gave their lives trying to rescue and evacuate those fleeing Afghanistan were recognized as part of the memorial as well.

“I thought about the Vietnam War Memorial and the power of 58,000 names,” Seagraves said. “We have all these bricks. Writing the names there is an easy way to help our kids learn

about the sacrifice those people made.”