I wrote the following a few years ago and want to share it again. Just like the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, was dastardly and unprovoked.

I know I should have written this yesterday – but for me, just thinking about that day chokes me up. Let me share this so that we may “never forget.”

I was working at Naval Station Norfolk. Just returned to the office after checking on a problem on a submarine when a sailor came running in and told us a plane had hit the World Trade Center. It was on TV in the next building.

We ran out of the room and went next door.

Gathered in rooms and offices, everyone was watching the attack … only we didn’t know it was an attack … until the second plane hit. And the Pentagon, and then the plane in Pennsylvania. Would all these ships be next?

In short order, fighter aircraft were overhead. Don’t know if they were Navy or Air Force. It just felt safe to have them there.

We were ordered to get every ship we could out to sea, armed and ready to fight. Many of the ships were in some very intense repair and maintenance periods. Engines missing, holes cut in the sides to remove machinery, ammunition not loaded. Systems not ready…

Sailors and civilians of the Navy turned to and started patching up ships to get them to sea. Some could leave that day and did. We knew we had a long, hard job ahead of us. Because of security, workers and sailors had trouble getting on the base. Many parts were over at the naval shipyard about 10 miles up the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth.

I was in the same place for the first Gulf War. Even in that rush, ammunition was loaded at anchor away from the piers or up the York River at the weapons station. This was the first time I saw ammo loaded on the piers except for submarine torpedo loads.

And the ships got underway. Carrier groups with cruisers and destroyers. Submarines. Tankers (oilers), supply ships any and every ship that could get underway did so for the next five days.

Some didn’t get out to sea. The repairs in progress were so extensive they couldn’t budge. Extra security. It was a hellish five days to that point.

We slept little … ate what and when we could (Navy chow is still good) … and showered maybe twice in those days.

When the ships returned, we got them ready to go again. Many of those ships have been away a lot more since 9/11/2001. Deployments are longer. And harder. The sailors and civilians who repaired them then are still on the job, for the most part … only now they do it with a little more pride and sense of purpose. The only recognition was knowing we got them underway. Ready to fight. Ready to defend this country. Pretty good recognition if you ask me.

I lost some friends and shipmates that day. They were at the Pentagon just doing their duty and never knew what happened. I watched hundreds, no, thousands, of sailors and Marines get the fleet underway. I might have been the “boss” of them, but they required little if any direction and orders from the brass. They knew their jobs and they did them. We all pulled together in spite of our fears and anger. It isn’t easy to do some repair jobs when tears are streaming down your face.

Today I’m a little shocked and dismayed that the “brass” in charge of the fleet seems more concerned with uniform changes than with changes to get the ships at sea. Our fleet hasn’t been as small as it is today since before World War I.

I know our sailors and Marines can do the job even when they don’t have everything they need. It would be nice if they could have what they need now.

What does this have to do with the SCV? There are many of us here who were involved in some way to defend our nation after 9/11. The aerospace companies here and in the Antelope Valley got involved. Down in Ventura, Oxnard and at Point Mugu, the United States armed services all around us were doing their part.

When I retired, one of the jokes I remember was that I should head inland from the ocean with an oar over my shoulder – until someone asked me what I was carrying. That is how I ended up back home.

But make no mistake because if called, I would go back in a minute. That is just the way I am, along with a lot of others right here in our little valley.

“Anchors Aweigh” is always playing in the recess of my mind. Not a bad little tune.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived atDManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].