RICHMOND, Va. — Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore served as keynote speaker during the Commonwealth’s Patriot Day ceremony on Monday morning.
Sunday marked 21 years since Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York were attacked killing 2,977 people. September 11 is now recognized as Patriot Day to commemorate the lives of those who died in the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The ceremony was held in the Virginia War Memorial’s Shrine of Memory for the first time. The shrine includes the names of 175 Virginians who died during the global war on terrorism.
Richmond Brass and Percussion Consort performed opening music while Maj. General Timothy Williams provided remarks.
Daniel Gade, the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, introduced the former Virginia governor.
Gilmore played a rendition of “America the Beautiful” on a laptop before his speech. He asked the audience to listen to the lyrics and emphasized the importance of American patriotism.
Gilmore, who served as Virginia’s 68th governor, spoke about watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center on television from the Governor’s Mansion.
“I picked up the phone and activated the emergency operations center, which we have in Virginia for such catastrophes. I activated the National Guard and put them on alert to go wherever is necessary in Virginia if there was an attack on Virginia. I gave an order that all police departments and state troopers were to report to the emergency operations center in Virginia,” he recalled. “Then I went across Capitol Square and went to the governor's office on the 3rd floor to discover the second state attacked that morning was Virginia.”
Gilmore addressed the impact the attacks had on Richmond.
He spoke about the rumor following the attacks that a plane was traveling up the James River headed for the Federal Reserve or Capital Square. Thankfully, the rumor was unfounded.
The day after the attacks, Gilmore traveled to the Pentagon located in Arlington and visited victims in the hospital.
The ceremony ended with a tolling of the memorial bell followed by a wreath placement.
