RAF Fairford Remembers Published Sept. 14, 2008 By David Craig 420th Air Base Group RAF FAIRFORD, United Kingdom -- Seven years seems like a lifetime for a child, but for many adults it is like yesterday. Nearly 200 active duty, DoD and MOD civilians, and family members gathered to memorialize the victims of September 11th through a Freedom Walk that began at the RAF Fairford main gate. Although rain made the morning skies gray, by the time the walk began they were brightening and blue, much like the skies over New York City and Washington D.C. seven years ago. As the procession led by the Color Guard passed, people on the street saluted the American flag or held their hands over their hearts and then fell in behind, adding to the walker's numbers. Along the route the walkers stopped to remember those lost that fateful day and pay tribute to those lost since fighting for our freedom. Chaplin Brian Hochhalter spoke to the walkers at the base park, a green treed hillside smaller, but not unlike the field in Pennsylvania. He brought back vivid reminders of the stark contrasts between September 10th and September 11th, of how the tragedy united a nation, brought nations together around the world, and yet made the world seem a little smaller. The American and British flags flew at half-staff in honor of Patriot Day. On that day, whether at the Pentagon, in the twin towers, or, on an aircraft over Pennsylvania, patriots found the courage to act and arose unwavering to face terror head-on. Speaking at the base flagpoles Fire Chief Garry Pascoe recalled for the walkers the sense of family that embraced him in the hours after the attack when the Anderson Air Force Base fire department and civil engineering squadron took care of his family. He was away in Florida at the time and then some ten months retired. With all air traffic grounded, he had no way to get back to his family, but the words, "Don't worry about it Garry, we'll take care it," provided comfort from thousands of miles away. Stopping at the POW/MIA memorial, Major Jon Willoughby spoke of the thousands of families around the world whose lives altered on September 11th 2001 and the years since; not only American lives, but lives of people from more than 90 countries around the world. He recalled how his own grandfather was killed in Europe during WWII, leaving his dad to grow up without a father and him without a grandfather. His message brought home the expansive loss that occurs with each person lost to conflict, affecting not just the immediate families, but generations to follow. The walk culminated at the base theater for a briefing by Adrian Cronauer, whose experience in Vietnam was loosely characterized by Robin Williams in the 1987 movie Good Morning Vietnam. In 2001, Mr. Cronauer left the private sector to serve as the Special Assistant to the Director of the Pentagon's POW/MIA Office. He provided a fascinating look inside the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command or JPAC for short. While the remains of many civilians that died on September 11th have never been identified, JPAC's mission is to ensure every US service members lost in conflict around the world is found and returned to their family. Following the briefing by Mr. Cronauer, the base held a special retreat ceremony. The American flag being slowly lowered to the national anthem provided a poignant reminder that seven years after the first attack on the American way of life, the flag still flies and our enemies have not won, because of the extraordinary commitment of the US Armed Forces.