We Will Not Forget
Washington, D.C. (September 11, 2026) | Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), issued the following statement in rememberance of the 25th Anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001.
“President Ronald Reagan warned, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” On September 11, 2001, that warning was realized by a new generation of Americans. A generation who had not experienced such a direct threat to our freedoms but had learned from a previous generation of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. And, just like that generation, we too were saddened, grief-stricken, scared, and angry.
“As the previous generation of Americans responded to the attacks in 1941, this new generation also experienced a surge in patriotism, nationalism, and prayer. We stood in lines at recruiting stations eager to answer our nation’s call and filled our church pews as we petitioned God to comfort our aching hearts and heal our wounded country. As always, God answered those prayers; and over time, our nation began to heal. But, as with any wound, the healing from this tragedy left many scars; however, scar tissue is thicker, harder, and tougher than the original tissue it replaces; and ultimately America became stronger and mightier as a nation.
“Two-and-half-decades have now passed since the attacks in 2001, and a new generation of Americans are now poised to lead our nation. However, as Reagan further admonished, this freedom is not naturally inherited by our children, it must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
“It is for this reason that today we remember those whose innocent lives were stripped away by a cowardly and ruthless enemy. We honor those who willingly gave their lives trying to save others. We thank those who have fought to ensure our freedoms can be passed on to the next generation.
“We must also heed the call of President Abraham Lincoln, ‘…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth’, otherwise our children’s only experience with freedom will begin with the words, ‘Once upon a time…’”
Congressman Barry Loudermilk
