Sep 09, 2026
September marks the 25th anniversary of one of America’s darkest days — the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On that fateful day, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. The nation watched in horror believing it to be a terrible accident.
When United Flight 175 slammed into the south tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., it was clear this was no accident. Those attacks preceded American Airlines Flight 77 hitting the west side of the Pentagon in Virginia at 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, United Flight 93, was brought down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m. by a plane full of heroic passengers. They overthrew the terrorists on board, preventing them from taking out more lives in Washington, D.C., as it was believed that was the extremists’ ultimate goal.
In all, nearly 3,000 lives were lost that day to violent acts of terrorism. It was a day that would thrust the United States into a 20-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The very first military casualties of the war on terror were the soldiers and sailors on duty that day at the Pentagon.
Among the 55 service members killed at the Pentagon were two VFW members. Army Chief Warrant Officer William “Bill” Ruth and Navy Storekeeper 3rd Class Jamie Lynn Fallon perished that fateful day.
The night before the attacks, Ruth was sworn in as commander of VFW Post 10076 in Mt. Airy, Maryland. He had cut short his fishing trip to Canada to be back for his swearing-in ceremony.
Ruth first earned his VFW eligibility in 1966 when he went to Vietnam as a Marine helicopter pilot. He flew 640 missions in his 13-month stint.
Ruth later joined the Army National Guard’s 29th Infantry Division. While in the National Guard, Ruth taught geography and history at various middle schools, such as John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Maryland, until retiring in 1997.
When the Persian Gulf War broke out, Ruth went with his Medevac unit to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.
Fallon followed in her father’s footsteps and enlisted in the Navy in March 1996. Following her training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and Meridian, Mississippi, she was stationed at Bahrain (headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet) at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Center from 1996-97. There, she earned her Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and her VFW eligibility.
Having grown up at VFW Post 1503 in Dale City, Virginia, where her father, Mike Sr., was a member and her mom, Pat, was a bookkeeper, Fallon was gifted a Life membership to the Post.
From November 1997 through March 2000, Fallon served on the USNS Concord. At the time of her death, she had achieved the rank of storekeeper third class and worked for the Chief of Naval Operations Support Activity. She was awaiting her official discharge at the time of her death.
Like that which scarred the Pentagon, a gaping hole was left in lives of those who knew Ruth and Fallon. To never forget, photos of each hang in their VFW Posts in Mt. Airy and Dale City, respectively.
PROVIDING HOPE IN A DARK PERIOD
Less than two months following the terrorist attacks, VFW hosted the “United for Liberty” rally at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Michael Gormalley, then the VFW’s director of Citizenship, Education and Community Service and one of five VFW employees responsible for the rally, said he remembers the unspoken hurt and unwillingness to stop moving.
“I wasn’t sure if we were doing the right thing so soon, but I remember being told by a police officer that we needed to keep focus because this kept people going,” Gormalley said. “I met one of the volunteers that day who had lost a family member on 9/11, and he was still there working because he felt the need to do so.”
The rally was born out of a mutual decision by then-VFW Commander-in-Chief James Goldsmith and then-Adjutant General John Senk to bandage the nation’s wounds by promoting patriotism.
With unifying help from the Auxiliary and the VFW Departments of New Jersey and New York, the team out of VFW National Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, set out to host the rally.
Toby Keith performed three songs at the rally before rushing to the airport to catch a flight to an already scheduled concert.
Among the grieving faces of those being serenaded by Keith was former VFW photographer and communications specialist Gloria Montgomery, who had retired from the Navy just 10 months before the attacks.
Montgomery set out to capture the resiliency of the crowd that day. It wasn’t until later in the day when the VFW honored members of the Port Authority Police Department, however, that Montgomery snapped the photo that remains as vivid as it did 25 years ago.
“It was of a VFW member from Post 6061, who had a flag dangling from his VFW hat,” Montgomery said. “He tried so hard to hold back his emotions, but you can see his pain and the day’s chill through his watery eyes, quivering mouth and red nose and cheeks. It was a visual representation, I think, of how we all felt after Sept. 11.”
As the nation commemorates the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, let us resolve to strive to feel that sense of shared patriotism in the days and weeks following the attack. And let us never forget those killed by radicals on our country’s darkest day.
This article is featured in the 2026 September/October issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Janie Dyhouse, senior editor for VFW magazine.