On October 12, 2000, 11 months before the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole was refueling at a port in Yemen when a motorboat approached and suicide bombers detonated 1,000 pounds of explosives. The blast killed 17 and injured 39 crew members, while blowing a hole forty-feet wide in the side of the ship. The attack was attributed to a cell within the al Qaeda network.
When I talk about the twin mission of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to commemorate and educate, we often say that the events of 9/11 are part of an ongoing story, one that began well before that day and that continues to shape our world well beyond it. Like the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people in New York City, the USS Cole bombing was an attack by al Qaeda terrorists on United States citizens—an event that preceded September 11, 2001, and is critical to understanding the questions that arose after that day.
Ten years ago today, 17 U.S. sailors were killed far from home. Their parents had sent their sons and daughters off to protect our country and the values that make it great. They might have expected a letter or a call home that day, but instead they were met with the news that their brave children had become casualties of a heinous terrorist attack. On this anniversary, we remember the families of those killed aboard the USS Cole ten years ago.
To learn more about the USS Cole please click here.
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum will honor the 2,982 people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Today, please join us as we remember that 9/11 and 1993 exist in the context of other dates like October 12, 2000. By honoring the memories of those murdered by terrorists, we reaffirm our determination to prevail against hate.
By Joe Daniels, President and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial
