{"id":9935,"date":"2026-10-28T13:28:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T17:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=9935"},"modified":"2026-10-28T13:28:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T17:28:43","slug":"veterans-honor-service-share-9-11-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-9\/veterans-honor-service-share-9-11-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans honor service, share 9\/11 memories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4456 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/PEF-Vet-Committee.jpg\" alt=\"PEF Statewide Veterans Committee\" width=\"249\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/PEF-Vet-Committee.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/PEF-Vet-Committee-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/PEF-Vet-Committee-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 249px) 100vw, 249px\" \/>October 30, 2026 &#8212;<\/em> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">The annual Veterans\u2019 Luncheon at Convention began with the National Anthem and the solemn <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/warmemorialcenter.org\/missing-man-table\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Missing Man Table<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> reading honoring U.S. service members who are fallen, missing in action (MIA), or prisoners of war (POW), followed by remarks from President Wayne Spence and attendee reflections on September 11th.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Most veterans who were on the ground during World War II and many who served in Vietnam are no longer with us, President Spence said, and following the attacks on Sept. 11, many Americans left their jobs and joined the service.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cI was born toward the end of Vietnam,\u201d the president said, \u201cbut there was an ending, there were conflicts here and there, but young people today say all they\u2019ve known is war. It was shocking to hear that.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Today, people are divided, even among the veteran community, he said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cMany times, when we have a common enemy, we come together,\u201d President Spence said. \u201cBut when we don\u2019t have that common enemy, we turn on each other. I hope at the end of the day, we can come together as a country to serve our veterans.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Veterans across the world are not getting the services they should be, but the United States is considered one of the worst offenders, with mental health crises and homelessness among the significant problems impacting veterans.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After lunch, Bruce Jagroop invited attendees to reflect on their experiences on Sept. 11, 2001, and several stood up to share with the room.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One survived the collapsing towers but lost a friend. She had not spoken of her experience until that day and still cannot travel beyond Brooklyn Bridge. Another talked about the hours and days that followed the attacks, recalling the chilling silence where there once was music and friends coming together at each other\u2019s homes.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cFor days, the only sound you heard was the fighter planes flying over,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were no cars driving, no music, no people talking. We sat outside in our backyards or on our stoops just waiting for our friends to call.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To this day, she can\u2019t stand silence.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The PEF Veterans\u2019 Committee reports to the president and is charged with reviewing issues concerning veterans and making recommendations to the president. The members of the committee are Christopher Buman \u2013 Chair, Region 3; Catherine Adams \u2013 Region 11; Troy Decker \u2013 Region 5; Robert Harms \u2013 Retiree; Bruce Jagroop \u2013 Region 1, Michael Singleton \u2013 Retiree; and PEF Contract Administration Director Ben Traslavi\u00f1a.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9951 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Vets-Lunch-Web.jpg\" alt=\"Vets Lunch at the 2026 PEF Convention \" width=\"1200\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Vets-Lunch-Web.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Vets-Lunch-Web-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Vets-Lunch-Web-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Vets-Lunch-Web-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 30, 2026 &#8212; The annual Veterans\u2019 Luncheon at Convention began with the National Anthem and the solemn <a href=\"https:\/\/warmemorialcenter.org\/missing-man-table\/\">Missing Man Table<\/a> reading honoring U.S. service members who are fallen,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-9935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-9"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Veterans honor service, share 9\/11 memories - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-9\/veterans-honor-service-share-9-11-memories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Veterans honor service, share 9\/11 memories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 30, 2026 &#8212; 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