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SHREVEPORT, LA – On Friday, Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins released the following remarks via video in front of Captain Shreve High School on the 19th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on our nation.

September 11th is the day that changed the trajectory of his life and led him to accept a nomination to the United States Military Academy:

“It’s a day I’ll never forget.

I was sitting in my biology class, right here, at Captain Shreve High School.

My plan was to go run track at LSU and become an engineer or an architect. But my plans changed that Tuesday morning.

The teacher next-door came into my class and turned on the TV. Smoke was billowing from the World Trade Center. Minutes later, my classmates and I watched in disbelief as a second plane crashed into the South Tower. Within an hour, a third plane had hit the Pentagon and another crashed in Sommerset.

My path of service began that morning.

I saw fear on the faces of my classmates and teachers, and I said to myself, “Someone has to do it. Someone has to raise their hand and step forward.” I decided to accept a nomination to West Point on September 11th and later served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All told, we lost 2,977 people on September 11th, and today we honor them. We remember the moms and dads who never got to say goodbye to their children. We remember the husbands and wives who parted ways for the final time that fateful morning. We remember the brave, selfless first responders who ran into harm’s way to save others, and the heroes aboard Flight 93, whose decisive actions prevented the further loss of life.

We will never forget them.

Today, we also remember America’s resolve. We put politics aside and came together after 9/11.

Right now, we’re in the grips of a deadly pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Louisiana is just beginning to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Laura.

These are difficult times, but our spirit is not broken. We will pull together and pull through this. I know that because America has done it time and time again.

So this year, on 9/11, let’s honor the fallen. Let’s remember the tragedy, but also the triumph.”