Retired Army Major Bradstreet speaks at Hoover Patriot Day ceremony

Retired U.S. Army Major Ron Bradstreet remembers where he was on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was at Ramsay High School preparing for my first class,” Bradstreet told a crowd at the city of Hoover’s 2017 Patriot Day ceremony on Sept. 11. “… I was walking down the hall to the main office, and I noticed that every television in every classroom was on. It became clear very quickly what was going on.”

Bradstreet, the recipient of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2017 Freedom Award, was the keynote speaker at the city’s annual event, which is held to remember the terrorist attacks from Sept. 11, 2001. He served more than 40 years in the U.S. Army, including 20 years of active service, two tours during the Vietnam War and more than 20 years as a Junior ROTC instructor. He retired in January 2014.

As he spoke, Bradstreet asked everyone in attendance to remember the nearly 3,000 individuals who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Men, women and children were killed. People of every ethnic group, religion and geographic part of the world,” he said. “Terrorists had killed, at will, innocent people. Why? What did they do?”

The attacks on that day 16 years ago were an attack on the freedoms Americans have, Bradstreet said.

“This was an attack on our Bill of Rights,” he said. “This was an attack on the American way of life because they don’t like our way of life.”

Reflecting on the events of Sept. 11, 2001 is important, Bradstreet said, because it gives an opportunity for education. While some people take their freedom for granted, Bradstreet said it is important to instill a sense of pride in young people.

“Take this opportunity to educate our young people about the greatness of our country, about the real reason we were attacked,” he said. “The danger is still out there. We’re not perfect, but as President [Ronald] Reagan said, ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.’”

The Patriot Day ceremony also included a bell tolling at around the same time that the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.